BRUISER BRODY vs. JUMBO TSURUTA

Bruiser Brody vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
ALL JAPAN, International Championship Match
Aug. 31 1983 Kuramae Kokugikan (Tokyo)

International Championship is the heirloom of the wrestling world of Japan. Rikidozan, the father of wrestling in Japan wrested the belt from Lou Thesz, and since then it was the flagship title of JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING. Rikidozan suddenly died in 1963, and his pupil Giant Baba succeeded to the championship. Baba defeated many great wrestlers, Bruno Summartino, Gene Kiniski, Crusher Risowski, Bobo Brazil, etc. and defended the most important title, but in 1972, when Baba went away from JAPAN PRO, he relinquished the belt.

Baba established ALL JAPAN, and the bereaved family of Rikidozan sent back the belt to Baba. And then the championship tournament was held in 1981. Of course we thought that Baba would win the championship again, but surprisingly Baba lost to a young foreign wrestler, Bruiser Brody at the semi-final. And in the final match, Dory Funk Jr. defeated Brody, and Dory won the re-established International Championship.

After that Dory and Brody contended the title hard, probably because there was no Japanese strong wrestler. The big boss Giant Baba was already too old, and his successor Jumbo Tsuruta was too young to take the belt. As a result, Brody wrested the championship from Dory, and he defended the belt for two years. In fact, at that time Brody was the ace of ALL JAPAN, and he defeated Japanese challengers, Baba, Tsuruta, and Tenryu one after another.

Most of wrestling fans regarded that Brody was one of the strongest wrestlers in the history of wrestling in Japan. We thought nobody could defeat Brody and nobody could become new champion. Just then, Lou Thesz was invited by Baba as a referee of The World Tag League '82. Thesz admired Tsuruta's talent, and he taught his special move Back Drop to Tsuruta. To be continued.

(I'm sorry, now The Sumo Autumn Tournament is being held in Tokyo. Because I am crazy about Sumo, I can hardly watch wrestling videos !!)

ANTONIO INOKI vs. JOHNNY POWERS

Antonio Inoki vs. Johnny Powers
NEW JAPAN, NWF World Championship Match
Dec. 10 1973 Tokyo Taiikukan (Tokyo)

Antonio Inoki established NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING in 1971. But he could not join hands with NWA, so that he could not invite famous foreign wrestlers. In the early days of NEW JAPAN, the ace of foreign wrestlers was Killer Karl Krupp, and the shortage of talented person was a major concern. Inoki wanted good foreign wrestlers and a champion belt. And he aimed at NWF. I think this fact shows Inoki's genius as a story teller. Though NWF was a local organization, it was recognizing the 'world' champion. Inoki invited Johnny Powers, in short, he got a famous wrestler and the world title match at a time.

Johnny Powers was one of my favorite wrestlers, but he had a bad reputation. Because he was a friend of notorious Pedro Martinez, and he was a miser. At that time NWF was in financial difficulties, and they say Powers sold the champion belt to Inoki. I don't know the truth of the matter, but it was sure that Powers was a good rival of Inoki. Powers was a tall and handsome guy, and his cruel fight-style was very cool. Inoki fought Powers in 1966 for the first time, their friendship (?) began since then. Inoki rather may have hated Powers because Johnny always wished to become a hero.

At the first round, Inoki used Cobra Twist and Powers surrendered. Afterwards Inoki fought many rivals, for example Singh, Hansen, Hogan, Vader, but I think Powers was the best victim of Inoki's Cobra Twist. And in the second round, Powers attacked Inoki's leg persistently. That was his fight-style. Or he had nothing any more. (^^; When Inoki failed Knee Drop from the top of a corner post, Johnny used his special move Powers Lock !! Inoki could not but give up. Though the last round started, Inoki could not move, and Powers attacked Inoki's leg again and again. Inoki avoided it skillfully, and he caught Powers with Octopus Hold !! As a result, Inoki became the 'world' champion at a bound.

After all, Powers sold all titles of NWF to Inoki and NEW JAPAN. NWF World Championship (Inoki), North American Tag (Inoki and Sakaguchi), North American Single (Sakaguchi). Probably NWF nearly failed at that time, but these were very foolish acts. It was natural that Powers had a bad reputation. Johnny fought in Japan until 1980, and his fights in his last days were pitiful. However, at any rate, Powers was the first famous foreign wrestler of NEW JAPAN, and he showed a memorable good fight with Inoki. In this meaning we have to admire him forever.

BABA, TSURUTA vs. BOCKWINKLE, LANZA

Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Nick Bockwinkle, Black Jack Lanza
ALL JAPAN, The World Tag League '78
Dec 9 1978 Kuramae Kokugikan (Tokyo)

This league series started in 1977 as The World Open Tag League, and The Funks won the championship of the first series. Baba and Tsuruta, the team of the master and the pupil, strongly wished to win the league in this year, but they drew with the cruelest team (The Butcher and The Sheik) on a count-out, so that it was very difficult for them to outstrip the Funk brothers. However, surprisingly The Funks lost to the cruelest team on a foul at the semi-final, and now conditions were favorable to Baba and Tsuruta.

Though the Funk brothers were fighting against the cruelest team bloodily as ever, the feature of this series was an appearance of Nick Bockwinkle, AWA world champion. Baba joined hands with NWA and AWA, and NEW JAPAN (Antonio Inoki) succeeded in cooperation with WWF. At that time pro-wrestling of Japan was running into the marvelous best days. Well, the hard fights between Jumbo and Nick began in this match. Tsuruta would wrest the AWA belt from Nick in 1984, but it may have been a Gagne's strategy to push into Japan.

In this match Lanza showed a good fight. He had a wonderful build which was a match for big wrestlers like Baba or Tsuruta, but he had few effective moves except for a good old Brain Claw. Lanza attacked Jumbo with it persistently, and when Tsuruta was outside of the ring, he caught Tsuruta's head and pulled him up to the apron. Or Jumbo may have gone up by himself. (^^; Just then Baba kicked Lanza, so that Lanza released his opponent, and Tsuruta used wonderful Rolling Clutch Hold over the rope !!

In those days I was thinking Tsuruta would become the NWA world champion before long. But if Tsuruta had done it, he couldn't have passed his master Baba. Tsuruta became the first AWA champion as a Japanese, in the same way Baba took the NWA belt for the first time as a Japanese. In this sense, probably Baba's tactics was right. In the early 80's, Baba mainly fought Race and Hansen, and Tsuruta contended for AWA belt with Nick. I think that was the best days of ALL JAPAN and we pro-wrestling boys.