Curt McGirt Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 I remember seeing Inoki descend on the cross live on HDNet at like 3 in the morning, drunk as shit, and my jaw just dropping. Then he almost got in a fight with Tiger Jeet Singh and his kid or something. So bizarre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Epic intro is epic. 7:45 for THAT suplex. I readily admit, without hesitation or shame, that this is IMMEDIATELY the very first thing I skipped to in this thread. Ya know what really makes that moment? It's not just the suplex itself or the crowd reaction,although both were amazing. It's that surreal, almost motionless, feels-like-it-never-ends camera shot of Inoki selling afterwards. He's barely even breathing, looking as close to a corpse as any living conscious man possibly can. And whoever was directing in the truck made a downright brilliant decision to linger on that one close-up as long as possible. We ignore whatever Vader did after the move, however the referee responded, we ignore everything else except for Inoki's face as it is locked in what I can only call a loose rictus of agony. He's not wincing, he's not being all OH MY GOD THAT HURT, he's showing absolutely no Fighting Spirt~! whatsoever... he's just laying there, trying to goddamn live. Now THAT is amazing. And in the fuzzy unfocused background of that shot, who do I notice this time? Tiger Hattori, sitting at ringside. (Why he's not refereeing this main event, I have no idea.) But Tiger is actually... kinda... almost... emoting after the suplex. Not much; he is still one beady-eyed frozen-faced stoic motherfucker, even at the worst of times. But here, he sort of looks worried. "Geez, boss, was THAT really necessary?!" He even nervously glances around a few times. It's like the closest to genuine human feelings that I've ever seen that guy express. Likes to kick it in North Korea despite the rebukes of the Japanese Diet, bought an island from Castro for buried treasure, ruined his own company by trying to go shoot-style, friends with Tiger Jeet Singh (uh oh Rippa, I think I found tomorrow's candidate), horrible no-seller of wrestling moves, changed his name and supposedly religion to curry favor with Arab oil sheiks, won his own retirement match. But damn, he does have a lot of good matches out there. That's my short-version opinion too. Yeah, he's absolutely fucking insane, but in a way that I find amusing. (Remember him in The Bad News Bears Go to Japan?) And his best matches are pretty damn spectacular, despite the fact that I'm often bored by most of his not-best matches. He's also not afraid to lash out physically if he thinks any particular match is TOO bad to be excused, which is something I always find hilarious. But then again... Tiger Jeet Singh, man. Tiger Jeet Singh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 He's also not afraid to lash out physically if he thinks any particular match is TOO bad to be excused, which is something I always find hilarious. You remember any specific examples of that? I remember one match where it kept panning back to him stone-faced at ringside where you can just feel his anger, and another where I believe he actually got up and told the guys to wrap it up, but can't remember who was involved in either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 I'm excited to see who we get tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 He did punch Nakamura in the face that one time for no apparent reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultimoDANK Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Inoki bought an island because he was convinced there was buried treasure on it. Not much else has to be said.I hope thats the same place he did the death match vs masa saito. Anyone have any backstory on that island match? I like to think I know my puro history but I had no clue about that til I stumbled onto it a few months back. I alternated between captivated and bored the whole time. It did make for an interesting spectacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Too this day I have no clue why Inoki did this, Nakamura doesn't either:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amKHQV_-rvw#t=26m16s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 He's also not afraid to lash out physically if he thinks any particular match is TOO bad to be excused, which is something I always find hilarious. You remember any specific examples of that? I remember one match where it kept panning back to him stone-faced at ringside where you can just feel his anger, and another where I believe he actually got up and told the guys to wrap it up, but can't remember who was involved in either. I wish I could remember; and I don't just mean stiffing Great Antonio (which is one legit example, though). It was some tag match from sometime fairly recently, involving a buncha young guys. Inoki was at ringside, and basically threw a one-man riot at how terrible the whole thing was. It was as if Vince actually came down from the back and personally shut down a match, rather than just screaming at the announcers to bury the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Vince actually did that once, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubbymark Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 He's also not afraid to lash out physically if he thinks any particular match is TOO bad to be excused, which is something I always find hilarious. You remember any specific examples of that? I remember one match where it kept panning back to him stone-faced at ringside where you can just feel his anger, and another where I believe he actually got up and told the guys to wrap it up, but can't remember who was involved in either. He did it to DVDVR favorite Doc Gallows in Inoki Genome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Never mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Tenryu makes history as the only Japanese wrestler to pin both Baba and Inoki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCDbtecHkfY Off topic but I'm new to Puroresu so I wouldnt know but has the shear awesomeness of Genichiro Tenryu been discussed on this board yet. Guess I could venture into the Japan subforum but Tenryu has seemingly wrestled everybody. You could almost do a six degrees of Tenryu. Back to Inoki, here he is vs Sting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4SZUpsjohA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAxXUkKyrU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 You could almost do a six degrees of Tenryu. But it would only be two degrees, cuz everyone's wrestled someone who's wrestled Tenryu... EDIT: okay, maybe three degrees. "Jingus wrestled Bobby Eaton (yeah, just once in a six-man, but it counts!) who wrestled Ric Flair who wrestled Genichiro Tenryu." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 He's also not afraid to lash out physically if he thinks any particular match is TOO bad to be excused, which is something I always find hilarious. You remember any specific examples of that? I remember one match where it kept panning back to him stone-faced at ringside where you can just feel his anger, and another where I believe he actually got up and told the guys to wrap it up, but can't remember who was involved in either. He did it to DVDVR favorite Doc Gallows in Inoki Genome. I love how he's got nobody to beat on so he just picks a front-row Chono to push around. Poor Gallows, god knows Inoki has booked FAR shittier talent on his shows (Montanya Silva, anyone?). As far as Tenryu is concerned if you don't like him you might as well just quit posting here judging from how we feel about him. WOTD with him is gonna be nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Jesus, how far would I need to stretch that to get myself into that? "Cristobal once locked up with a 70 year-old Destroyer who wrestled Genichiro Tenryu..." "Cristobal once took a hip-toss from Donovan Morgan who, if he didn't wrestle Tenryu at some point in his NOAH run, surely wrestled someone who did." "Cristobal once got stared at awkwardly by Bison Smith who was changing in the men's room because the locker room smelled like donkeybutt." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Tenryu is obviously terrible and he's no Big Hayabusa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Is it because you two are the same age Tenryu is obviously terrible and he's no Big Hayabusa. The best part of that match was the fans chanting "KOBASHI!" because they thought it was him in the Hayabusa gimmick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Holy shit, that's Tenny under the mask?! I had no idea. Is that a wig, or did he manage to do something even stranger to his hair than his normal 'do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon-E Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwv3R5e7oHs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjNWHk0qKLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4oNiwPANc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14awOdEjxcs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vOLTM1-jho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon-E Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwbmlSvP-UU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmPPDVy_n5Q Haven't watched it in forever and don't recall where it ended up in the scheme of things in the '80s project votes, but hey, it's the North-South Connection! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rdDRQWTkVs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5HQjU7_xOA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6SVdHp6L9g I refuse to believe this might be less than excellent. Remember kids, a little Dick Murdoch makes everything better. EDIT: Presuming the date is right on the file, that match didn't end up on the set at all. The one on there is 12/7/84. Either way, probably worth a watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Holy shit, that's Tenny under the mask?! I had no idea. Is that a wig, or did he manage to do something even stranger to his hair than his normal 'do? I think that's just how it stuck out of the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 If you want to see his two FMW matches as Dai Hayabusa, here ya go. Linked instead of embedded cause it's the entire DVD. He re-used the gimmick in WMF and also GUTS World of all places. H is unmasked Hayabusa in case you were wondering. You're better of not knowing why unless you want to dig into the Entertainment era of FMW. 1 FMW @ Tokyo2000/06/16 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)H and Dai Hayabusa defeated Kodo Fuyuki and GOEMON (14:45 minutes)2 FMW @ Tokyo2000/06/21 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)H, Dai Hayabusa, Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Ricky Fuji defeated Kodo Fuyuki, Mr. Gannosuke, GOEMON and Kyoko Inoue (23:16 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiVI2SuN6n4#t=1h21m17s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 IMO Inoki had precisely three matches after this one that are worth watching: the Dome match vs. Tenryu, the '96 Vader match, and the Flair match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Given this discussion, I figured this would fit: http://grantland.com/features/antonio-inoki-japan-politics-pro-wrestling-ric-flair-saddam-hussein-iraq-north-korea-kim-jong-un-hostages/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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