THE FUNKS vs. ROBINSON, HOFFMAN

THE FUNKS vs. BILL ROBINSON, HORST HOFFMAN

ALL JAPAN, The World Open Tag Tournament
1977, KYUDEN KINEN TAIIKUKAN (FUKUOKA)


First of all I want to tell the result of this match, it was called a draw.
When the FUNK brothers fought with babyfaces, nearly always the time was up, and the match ended in a tie.
I wonder why they were popular with children in Japan.
For that matter, I liked DORY, too. (^_^;

HOFFMAN must have been a competent wrestler.
But probably his style misfitted ALL JAPAN's Americanized wrestling.
In 1975, when he was invited by BABA, he lost out to TSURUTA who was a green hand.

From what I hear, HOFFMAN was the inventor of the bow and arrow backbreaker.
It was INOKI's favorite hold.
This is my later thought, HOFFMAN ought to have joined NEW JAPAN, and fought with INOKI.

THE DESTROYER, RED vs. THE BUTCHER, THE SHEIK

THE DESTROYER, TEXAS RED vs. THE BUTCHER, THE SHEIK

ALL JAPAN, The World Open Tag Tournament
1977, KYUDEN KINEN TAIIKUKAN (FUKUOKA)


THE DESTROYER had been joined ALL JAPAN, and he was active as a TV comedian.
He was contesting with THE BUTCHER for U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP.

His partner TEXAS RED ...was RED BATIEN who was said the expert of tag matches.

To all appearance, THE SHEIK was too old to play a hard match.
However, he was an important person in this series.
Poor the team of masked men had to be beaten.

I don't know THE DESTROYER's best days.
I remember that he tried to get the figure of four leg lock on a TV announcer in a comic program.

SUPER FIRE PRO-WRESTLING X

This is the popular video game for SNES.

From the beginning, it was PC-ENGINE's game, named FIRE PRO-WRESTLING.
The maker was HUMAN.
For SNES, they sold SFPW1, 2, 3, special, and X.

This game, X was sold in 1995.
In those days, the wrestling world of Japan was confused. There were many small parties.
Playing this game now, I remember the situation.

My impressions of this game...
The computer is fool !! Why does it try tricks at the edge of the ring ?
At first, we can select only the limited wrestlers.
If we want to select all, we have to win more than 100 matches.

To tell the truth, I was tired of that works !!

THE NEW WAVE OF WRESTLING

I think that the biggest new wave of wrestling in the 80's was the invention of WESTERN LARIAT.

Perhaps this trick is called CLOTHESLINE in USA.
In JAPAN, it's very popular as LARIAT. The inventor was STAN HANSEN.

Because of appearance of HANSEN, a confrontation of good and evil became meaningless.
HANSEN might be playing as a heel, but we recognized him as an athlete.
He made the type of a strong wrestler.
Following him, HULK HOGAN and BRUISER BRODY became stars in JAPAN.

LARIAT got back the persuasive power of a finishing hold.

HANSEN fought with BABA many times, and these fights were highly praised.
But I like the fights against INOKI in his youth.
I think HANSEN learned from INOKI, and grew up into the superstar.


my another site (Japanese)

BABA, TSURUTA vs. THE BUTCHER, THE SHEIK

GIANT BABA, JUMBO TSURUTA vs. ABDULLAR THE BUTCHER, THE SHEIK

ALL JAPAN, The World Open Tag Tournament
1977, KOURAKUEN HALL (TOKYO)


ABDULLAR THE BUTCHER was the most popular heel in JAPAN.
He teamed up with the veteran, THE SHEIK.
This combination was what is called the most violent team in the world.
But probably THE SHEIK was past his prime in those days.

The Japanese team, BABA and TSURUTA were the relation between master and pupil.

We expected that the heel team would split up at once.
But they fought right. THE SHEIK used a nail a bit, but as a whole, they showed a clean fight.

THE SHEIK's crafty actions trifled with The Japanese team.
When TSURUTA climbed up a corner post, THE BUTCHER's karate attack hit his throat.
THE BUTCHER took a fall from BABA with the elbow drop.

It was wonderful finish !!

But that was not a finish.

The FUNK brothers, DORY and TERRY broke into the ring.
They struggled hard against the heel team.
TERRY was bloodied terribly. (TERRY, you were the professional !)

It was very exciting night !!

But at that time, my mother turned off the TV. Oh, no !!

THE TRUE VALUE OF KARL GOTCH

In USA, probably KARL GOTCH is unnamed, or undervalued by wrestling fan.

In contrast to this, Japanese fans apotheosize GOTCH. His nickname is GOD of WRESTLING.


1961, when GOTCH visited to JAPAN for the first time, He showed German suplex hold.
It surprised spectators very much.
Japanese fans were deeply impressed by GOTCH's arts.

GOTCH was the great master of ANTONIO INOKI.
When INOKI founded NEW JAPAN, he fought GOTCH at the opener. And GOTCH won.
The ace of the party lost the first match. Do you believe it ?

GOTCH educated many young Japanese wrestlers.
SATORU SAYAMA (TIGER MASK), AKIRA MAEDA, NOBUHIKO TAKADA were trained by GOTCH.
These students made up several groups.
Especially, UWF created a big boom in the 80's.

GOTCH's thoughts and techniques are still alive in the wrestling of JAPAN.

THE FUNKS vs. TENRYU, HATA

THE FUNKS vs. GENICHIRO TENRYU, ROCKY HATA

ALL JAPAN, The World Open Tag Tournament
1977, KOURAKUEN HALL (TOKYO)


GIANT BABA had opened The World Open Tournament in 1975.
This event was its tag match version.
And it was the opener.

THE FUNKS, DORY and TERRY were the ex-world champions.

TENRYU had been a sumo wrestler. He is the great wrestler now, but in those days he was a green hand.
HATA was a tall, talented young man. He was expected very much. His name ROCKY was named for the movie.

In conclusion, THE FUNKS overwhelmed the Japanese team.
TERRY's spinning toe hold beat HATA.

Now, this match is interesting to me in two points.

One, TENRYU was weak and awkward.
I cannot help laughing at that sight. (Later, he defeated BABA and INOKI !!)

Two, ROCKY HATA's nice body.
He could not attain greatness, died young.

UMANOSUKE UEDA DIED

UMANOSUKE UEDA (1940-2011)

nickname: the golden wolf

UMANOSUKE UEDA died. This is very sad information.



UEDA liked training.
He was a powerful fighter.

1972, GIANT BABA and ANTONIO INOKI withdrew from JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING.
Top managers made UEDA play as the ace of babyfaces.
But several months after, JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING failed.

UEDA turned to a heel.
He joined in NEW JAPAN (INOKI's party).

UEDA teamed up with TIGER JEET SINGH.
Their attack was very, very violent.
Especially, SEIJI SAKAGUCHI and STRONG KOBAYASHI were terribly bloodied week after week.
UEDA and SINGH were often disqualified without standing on the ring.

In those days I was a kid, this bad Japanese was a great surprise to me.

A few years after, UEDA entered ALL JAPAN (BABA's party).
The most impressive match was vs. BABA.
BABA injured UEDA's arm.That was very exciting scene!!

TSURUTA vs. BOCKWINKLE

JUMBO TSURUTA (INTERNATIONAL) vs. NICK BOCKWINKLE (AWA), double title match
1984, KURAMAE KOKUGIKAN (TOKYO)

As the successor of GIANT BABA, TSURUTA had been too young. But in the previous year, He had wrested INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP from BRUISER BRODY, and he was growing up into a strong wrestler.

Unexpectedly, NICK attacked hard. TSURUTA endured for long time.
Finally, TSURUTA's back drop defeated NICK.
TSURUTA had been learned this beautiful bridge from LOU THESZ.

TSURUTA was the only Japanese wrestler who experienced the circuit in USA as the world champion.
He died young...
This match is the lasting memory of us.

RIKIDOZAN'S TIME

Do you know RIKIDOZAN?
RIKIDOZAN is the father of wrestling of Japan.

RIKIDOZAN had been a famous sumo wrestler.
1951, He turned a professional wrestler, be trained in Hawaii, and played many matches in USA.
1953, He founded JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING ASSOCIATION, invited the SHARPE brothers.
They created big wrestling boom in Japan.

1958, RIKIDOZAN wrested INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP from LOU THESZ.
He was not only a great wrestler, but also an outstanding promotor.
Very big event, THE WORLD LEAGUE TOURNAMENT was opend, and many famous wrestlers were invited. LOU THESZ, THE DESTROYER, FRED BRASSIE, KARL GOTCH, etc.

RIKIDOZAN was the master of two great wrestlers, GIANT BABA and ANTONIO INOKI.
1963, He was stabbed by a ruffian, and died.