ANTONIO INOKI vs. HULK HOGAN

Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
NEW JAPAN, IWGP Final
Jun. 2 1983 Kuramae Kokugikan (Tokyo)

Strange to say, it is true that Antonio Inoki's fanciful actions were moving the wrestling world of Japan. Inoki was banished from JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING in 1971, and he helplessly established NEW JAPAN. But after that JAPAN PRO failed, and NEW JAPAN became one of the major organizations in Japan. Because Inoki couldn't invite famous wrestlers, he called himself the martial arts champion, and he fought against Willem Ruska and Muhammad Ali. It was a base of the martial arts boom in the 90's. And UWF, the popular organization in the 80's was originally a dummy company which was established by Inoki.

Inoki practiced many absurd plans, and the biggest of them was IWGP league series. He declared to decide the real world champion, but of course wrestlers of NWA and AWA disregarded it, and after all it was not different from the annual league series. However, the famous wrestlers of WWF - Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Adrian Adonis, Dino Bravo, Killer Kahn - participated in this league, and wrestling fans in Japan enjoyed it very much.

And in the closing day of the league, Inoki fought against Hogan at the final match. Everyone believed that Inoki would defeat Hogan and win the championship. Someone says that Sakaguchi, the vice-president of NEW JAPAN had made that scenario. But there were several problems. One, this league series became smaller than the original plan, and Inoki had to hold himself responsible for it. Two, the condition of Inoki was very bad because of many troubles. And three, Hulk Hogan had become the superstar of WWF, and Inoki could not defeat him easily.

I am often surprised to see the fights of Hogan in USA. That's a comic show. But in Japan, he was fighting with Japanese-style wrestling. In short, Hogan learned wrestling from Inoki, and he began to use many moves and holds very skillfully. Surprisingly, at that time Hogan was a wonderful technician who was a match for Inoki !! It was natural that a powerful wrestler who learned many skills became a monstrous strong man. (It might have been only in Japan.)

To be continued.