Wednesday 19 October 2016

NJPW Apr 29th 1995 - Antonio Inoki vs. Ric Flair (NJPW in North Korea)


Legend vs. Legend in a packed out house in a venue you would have never thought possible. No idea of crowd size here but there are certainly a LOT of people here. Wikipedia lists the venue as having 150-160,000 people in it making it the largest wrestling crowd ever.

Collar and elbow tie up to start which Inoki gets the better of to the delight of the crowd. Inoki gets Flair's arm caught up in an armbar and Flair reaches the ropes and Flair retaliates with his own arm breaker which Inoki escapes by kicking Flair in the back of the head repeatedly which the crowd love.

Off the ropes and Inoki stops Flair cold with a hard shoulder block and then pummels Flair down with wild stomps. Flair bails to the outside and composes himself then re-enters going to the classic chops to put Inoki down. Both men here are yelling at each other to bring it and fight, Flair throws Inoki out and in to the ring post to buy himself some time. Flair pulls Inoki on to the ring side and beautifully suplexes him back in to the ring and goes for the cover, which only garners a hot two count. So Flair goes for several pin attempts in a row which get the same strong crowd response but are not enough to keep Inoki down.

Flair keeps it on the ground and applies an STF and then focuses like he does best on Inoki's leg. Stomps, shin breakers, chop blocks, the full works and then Flair gets his patent hold the figure four locked in, in the middle of the ring too. Inoki tries so hard to reach the ropes so Flair wrenches back and keeps the pain in full force on Inoki though he won't submit. Inoki uses his strength to separate Flair's legs and escapes the hold, so Flair reapplies it only for the classic spot of a sudden inside cradle by Inoki drawing out a very close two count.

Hip toss attempt by Flair is lowered into a backslide by Inoki and again it scores only a two count and the crowd continuing their support for Inoki. Flair regains himself first and drops some kicks and a chop but Inoki stands up to him and they start launching fists at each other with each sending the crowd in a loud roar and Inoki comes out on top. Inoki starts feeding off the crowd's response and essentially begins "hulking up" not ready to be weakened by any of Flair's offence. More punches, more chops both going full force on each other with Flair backing off taking the worst of the attacks and is thrown up and over to the outside.

Flair gets back in and waits for Inoki to lower his guard and punts him in the chest and snapmares him down. Flair goes up to the top rope but of course is caught and thrown off by Inoki, Flair stumbles back to his feet so Inoki hits a big dropkick and gets several two counts in a row off it. Flair turns the tide with chops but it again turns in a wild battle of back and forth attacks until Flair simply slams Inoki down. A standing elbow drop by Flair gets a two count, Flair delivers a massive back body drop and takes a long time to get the cover, which only results in a two.

Flair picks up Inoki to slam him again but Inoki reverses it sending Flair off and away from him but Inoki doesn't delay and hits an incredible rolling enziguri kick, which the crowd erupt when they see. Inoki wastes no time and climbs on up to the top and leaps with a diving knee drop to the prone Flair adding even more damage to Flair's head. Inoki stands up a dazed Flair and hits the final and decisive blow of a standing enziguri and its more than enough to get the three as everyone is over joyed with the result.

This match is wild and shows that its not about what moves you do but more about making it so that the crowd care and believe you are trying your best to win, intensity and determination carry a lot of weight. It was very well paced and was thoroughly entertaining from the start until the final blow and quite the spectacle considering the location and those involved.