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Post by elliott on Jul 17, 2018 21:03:57 GMT -5
Vader vs Antonio Inoki (NJPW - 01/04/1996)
How the fuck has this not been nominated? Vader dishes out maybe the most brutal beatdown in wrestling history against 50+ year old God of Wrestling Inoki. Greatest german suplex and chokeslam in history. Someone needs to get Lesnar a copy of this and all of Kandori's big matches ASAP.
I also absolutely adore Inoki's entrance in this. It gives me goosebumps 22 years later.
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Post by mvz on Jul 23, 2018 19:47:34 GMT -5
I’ll enthusiastically second this. I haven’t watched it in a while but the spots Elliot refers to still stick in my mind. Vader is a monster dishing out punishment. Atmosphere goes a long way with me and this has a real clash of the titans feel to it.
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Post by microstatistics on Aug 11, 2018 14:18:39 GMT -5
Third. The greatness of Vader on full display here with neat stuff like him palm striking Inoki on the mat and generally playing the monster role to perfection, while selling a ton so an overall complete performance.
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Post by superstarsleeze on Feb 3, 2019 21:04:37 GMT -5
Great geriatric abuse match!  Vader beats the shit out of Antonio Inoki on his Final Countdown tour. The German Suplex is famous. Inoki takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. The Dome crowd is raucous. Antonio Inoki vs Vader - NJPW 1/4/96 A match befitting the Dome to the tee. Antonio Inoki the biggest Japanese save for Rikidozan on his Final Countdown tour against the last behemoth he made, Vader, with history dating all the way back to 1988. Vader is in between WCW and WWF stints. This match does drag in parts due to the fitness limitations of both wrestlers, Inoki (age) and Vader (weight), BUT these are two of the best of all time and they more than enough tricks to knock one out of the park. Vader slaps the taste out of Inoki's mouth before the bell. He set the tone this was going to be a fight and he was ready to kick the old man's ass. He proceeded to do just that, those trademark Vader punches and that big slam on the table. It looked like Inoki was about to be forced into retirement. I love shit like Inoki grabs a sleeper, but Vader goes to the eyes to break. He is a 400lbs monster kicking this old man's ass, but he goes for the eyes. What a prick. Then comes the most famous spot of the match, The German Suplex. VADER HURLS INOKI BACKWARDS ACROSS THE RING CRUMPLING THE OLD MAN IN HALF! You got to see it. Vader sets up his own transition. He goes flying over the ropes from the apron. Inoki hits a diving knee drop. On the outside, Inoki creams him with a steel chair, busting the Mastodon open, a modicum of revenge. In Japan, Vader's arm has always been seen as weak, with Inoki, Hashimoto and Takada all targetting it. Inoki looks to get the submission, but it is too early and this grizzly bear bear paws him on the ground. Not far behind the German, is the chokeslam Inoki takes. Inoki evades the Powerbomb, but eats the Vaderbomb and the Vadersault each for two! The raucous pro-Inoki crowd is eating this up with a spoon. This David vs Goliath done right. Vader squishes him in the corner, but on the second charge eats nothing but turnbuckles. I love how Vader sets up these transitions with missed moves. Inoki uses his momentum to bodyslam him and Cross-Armbreaker gets the tapout victory to a MASSIVE POP! This has the David vs Goliath feel with the additional bonus of David as the aging warrior and everyone always want to see their hero live forever and one of the nice things about pro wrestling is that it can become a reality. **** |
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Post by elliott on Jan 11, 2021 17:41:31 GMT -5
I will never ever forget Inoki's entrance with the harp and all the smoke, Vader's german suplex and Vader's chokeslam. I'm gonna try and focus on the other stuff they do when I rewatch it this week.
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Post by elliott on Jan 12, 2021 17:12:55 GMT -5
Rewatched this and my God did I love it. Both of these guys have technically had better matches, but this will always stick with me more than a Backlund vs Inoki or Vader vs Sting match ever could. It feels closer to Rock vs Hogan or Onita vs Funk than anything else. Just a total spectacle that is perfect in pretty much everyway from the entrances to the finish. Amazing to watch the beating Inoki took compared to Hogan vs Vader in 95 and knowing Undertaker would threaten to get Vader fired for working to stiff later in the year. Meanwhile here's this god of wrestling (and was he still a fucking senator at this point???) getting mauled like the fucking Grizzly Man in front of 50,000+ people. Insane.
If this was Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tatsumi Fujinami and they did the exact same match move for move would it make for an all time match? I don't think so. Antonio Inoki in there raises the stakes. I love shit like this where only two people who ever lived could possibly have this match and they did it and it was awesome.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 13, 2021 13:58:17 GMT -5
Yeah, Inoki's legendary status definitely carry this to another level. Not saying the match is not greath, though, it is (or, at least, pretty close to being great). Elliot was right about Inoki's entrance: definitely one of the best ever. That alone set the mood for something special.
They worked pretty well the "juggernaut vs old fallen hero" dynamic. Inoki had an amazing performance thanks to how wisely he chooses the offense to go with against Vader (and exactly when to use it), and obviously with his dramatic selling after the most important spots (the German, the Chokeslam, and the kickouts after both the Vaderbomb and, specially, the Vadersault). Vader was great in his own, but there were a couple of times when he had to sell too much because Inoki wasn't agile enough to capitalize sooner, even if Vader was still kinda fresh in the match, or cooperate in a very obvious way like in the bodyslam spot.
I didn't like the finish, it was a bit anticlimactic to me. I think the match needed a bigger Inoki comeback to truly make the climax of the match legendary (just imagine how that crowd would've had reacted to a series of Inoki slaps, enzuis and a cobra twits nearfall, for example). That's the only thing that's keeping this match away from true greatness to me, but it is no doubt a match that has a special aura around it.
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Post by elliott on Jan 13, 2021 14:21:43 GMT -5
I think the finish works because it was basically a flash pin (well, submission) after he took a massive ass beating. Its not really credible for super old Inoki to go on a huge offensive run against slightly past his prime Vader who had been wrestling a competitive and normal schedule. Especially after the beating Inoki had taken. That he survived with the submission equivalent of a school boy roll up feels right to me.
I also like that its the same finish Takada will use to beat Muto later in the night.
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Post by kas on Jan 13, 2021 15:02:14 GMT -5
Inoki's performance here was special. His selling was a masterclass, from the progressively weaker kick-outs throughout the match, to the way he made Vader's bodyslams feel huge without going overboard and taking away from future moments like that German Suplex (seriously, that's easily the best German Suplex I've ever seen). The timing on his offence was also great, knowing when to sell and when to start his attack on Vader. His bravado to always take the fight and never back down made his eventual victory that much better. To give credit to Vader his performance was good, but Inoki completely outshone him. I do agree with Tetsujin though - one extended Inoki comeback, even if it didn't lead directly to the finish, would have helped the finish greatly. Great match overall.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 13, 2021 15:06:51 GMT -5
I think the finish works because it was basically a flash pin (well, submission) after he took a massive ass beating. Its not really credible for super old Inoki to go on a huge offensive run against slightly past his prime Vader who had been wrestling a competitive and normal schedule. Especially after the beating Inoki had taken. That he survived with the submission equivalent of a school boy roll up feels right to me. I also like that its the same finish Takada will use to beat Muto later in the night. I get that, but Vader was vulnerable too: he was bleeding as well, and Inoki has great selling, moves and strikes to build a good comeback focused on that bladejob and make it believable while still fighting for his own life. Somewhat similar to the Lesnar/Reigns match, maybe? Idk. The same finish would have still worked a bit later after a false-comeback sequence, to add more drama to the whole experience, instead of right after the two big Vader nearfalls. And the armbreaker itself wasn't very good looking either... The Takada/Mutoh thing is a great psychology detail though! Didn't knew that (never watched that match, iirc). |
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Post by elliott on Jan 13, 2021 20:38:16 GMT -5
Something I also thought about re: the finish is the beginning of NJPW. Inoki lost his first big NJPW match against Karl Gotch. The goal wasn't to create an "anyone can beat anyone any night" vibe. It was to be realistic. The story surrounding this was Inoki lost because he hadn't been training because he was busy setting up a brand new promotion and was therefore rusty in the ring. Gotch meanwhile had been training day and night and wrestling. So the idea is that he was sharp and that's why he was able to beat Inoki.
Fast forward to 1996 and keeping this in mind (Inoki is old and a senator and definitely rusty), it kinda makes sense that Inoki doesn't go on an extended run of offense and instead wins by the skin of his teeth on more of a banana peel type finish. Additionally 53 year old Inoki can't really be suplexing Vader or putting him in the Octopus hold. So I'm not sure what else he would have done except more enzugiris (Inoki had that great flying knee that he hit). I guess he could have gone down on the mat and dared Vader to come get him as a nod to Inoki/Ali. (Actually, that mightve been awesome haha.) BUt I'm not sure at this point against this opponent Inoki could put together a really great offensive run after being fed his lunch by Vader up to the end.
I mean I totally get it. An extended run even of slaps would have been great and the crowd would have loved it, but given the ass beating Inoki took and his continued selling after the match, I think this finish makes the most sense.
Considering the goals going into a match like this:
Inoki has to win
Vader has to be kept strong
The Cross armbreaker should really be the finish.
I thought this was a best possible case scenario for a match between Inoki and Vader in 1996. Better than best case scenario even.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2021 22:00:10 GMT -5
A great spectacle and a match I was initially expecting to be down on turned out to be really good. Not up there with the likes of Inoki v Fujinami/Robinson or Vader v Takada/Sting for me but something that anyone interested in either wrestler should see at least once.
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Post by Cap on Jan 15, 2021 15:33:16 GMT -5
My initial thoughts are that this is the best version of what Hogan/Andre was trying to do. I know it isn't an exact equation, but I still think it works as an analogous match in some really key ways. Elliotts point about how this wouldn't work with two other people is spot on. This is carried by, in order, 1) status 2) The movement between the action and 3) minimalist drama. It isn't easy to pull off, but it requires high skill and high status.... far more than moves and/or athleticism.
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Post by club on Jan 27, 2022 10:16:06 GMT -5
Very interesting thread. I rewatched this yesterday and can definitely agree it wouldn't work without Inoki. In fact I think the whole thing is dependent on how much, going into the match, you already buy into the idea of Inoki the greatest fighter of his day. I don't think theres anything in the match that would change your mind on this. He takes a beating, fires back although he's clearly outgunned, and eventually his skills and never say die spirit are able to snatch a victory. It's a match structure that plays to Inoki's late career strengths and negates a lot of his weaknessess. I love Inoki and his weird charisma and so I love this.
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Post by puropotsy on Mar 12, 2023 14:46:07 GMT -5
I felt Inoki started out looking strong, had a third act where he looked weak and finished strong with the armbar. Vader looked like a monster throughout. His bleeding added a lot. Fun stuff that makes use of the atmosphere of the Tokyo Dome.
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Vader beats the shit out of Antonio Inoki on his Final Countdown tour. The German Suplex is famous. Inoki takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. The Dome crowd is raucous. 
