DORY FUNK JR. vs. JUMBO TSURUTA

Dory's Spinning Toe Hold

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
ALL JAPAN, The World Open League
Dec. 18 1975 Kawasaki-Shi Taiikukan (Kawasaki)

At last, it was the closing day of the league series. Baba and Dory had a possibility of winning the championship, Dory fought with young Jumbo Tsuruta, and Baba's opponent at the main event was Horst Hoffman. It was very strange that Baba didn't fight against Dory in the last match. I think Baba and Dory might have saved their faces each other. Baba had to win as the big boss of ALL JAPAN, and Dory was also the ace of the foreign wrestlers and the important person as a promoter. In fact, Dory had defeated Baba in a small hall without TV broadcast.

Dory decided that the ring of ALL JAPAN was his main battlefield after he lost the NWA belt. His fight-style influenced deeply on the wrestling world of Japan. A wrestler do his best to show his technique and strength, to use his all moves one after another. This style of 'an honor student' is the base of pro-wrestling in Japan since in the 70's. When Dory came to Japan for the first time in 1969, he defended the NWA title from Baba and Inoki. The experiences at that time might have created ALL JAPAN and NEW JAPAN. (Though it is my personal thought.)

Tsuruta's Front Suplex

Well, Dory fought with Jumbo Tsuruta at the semi-final. I thought this match would end on a count-out or a time-limit draw, because Baba had to get points and to win the championship at the main event. Tsuruta was a young star and the prince of ALL JAPAN, but he was a pupil of Dory in USA. Dory used Elbow Smash harshly, and attacked hard by Double Arm Suplex and Spinning Toe Hold. Dory was basically a technician, but he was also good at a rough fight. He had a splendid career that he had kept the NWA belt for over four years.

Tsuruta was like a child in comparison with Dory. I wanted him to get anger and to show violent fight, but he was a quiet and a courteous young man. Though Tsuruta also used Spinning Toe Hold and various Suplex, he only made his master a present in return. It was his biggest weakness that he was a bad actor and his performance was always unnatural. And then, the referee Joe Higuchi declared a time-limit draw. As a whole, that was a good semi-final match. Somehow Tsuruta could show his moves faultlessly, and that might have been Dory's parental love.