Abdullah The Butcher vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
ALL JAPAN, Champion Carnival '79 Final
Apr. 6 1979 Akita-Ken Taiikukan (Akita)
Jumbo Tsuruta went on the ring, and he waited his enemy with a stern expression. And then Abdullah The Butcher appeared in the hall. Abdullah's attitude was very arrogant as if he was saying that Tsuruta was a mere green hand. The referee Joe Higuchi searched The Butcher for a weapon carefully. Tsuruta was driven by youthful ardor, and he tried to attack his opponent before the starting bell. I liked his recklessness like that.
The Champion Carnival was the biggest event in ALL JAPAN. That was the seventh series, and Giant Baba had won the championship five times. But in 1976, Abdullah defeated Baba and won the trophy. In that year Baba fell to qualify, and his pupil Tsuruta advanced to the final. Everyone was thinking that Jumbo Tsuruta was a successor of Baba. So that Jumbo had to defeat The Butcher, and he had to win the championship at any cost.
The starting bell rang. Tsuruta attacked Abdullah very speedily. He used Brain Buster, and The Butcher fell from the ring. Jumbo followed his enemy. He showed Pile Driver on the floor. Giant Baba (TV commentator) said The Butcher was not damaged. That was right, and Abdullah knocked Jumbo's head against a table. Both of them were bloodied severely, and Joe Higuchi declared a draw on a double count-out.
The final match ran into an extra-round. Jumbo kicked The Butcher's forehead, and he went up to the top of a corner post. He tried Elbow Drop as a finishing move, but that was abdullah's skillful trap. As the same time of Jumbo's jump, The Butcher gave his opponent a karate thrust. Tsuruta was knocked out, and The Butcher took a fall finely. Abdullah was the cruelest heel but very tough and strong. He won the trophy twice, and that was certainly an inspiring deed.
