Antonio Inoki (c) vs Andre the Giant (15 Dec 1974) Review

Introduction

Over at the NJPW subreddit, there is a spreadsheet of recommended matches from New Japan's history. I thought it could be fun to go through the 'highly recommended' ones and write about them. This will increase my knowledge and enjoyment of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and my skill in writing about wrestling, as well as hopefully entertaining others.

When I watch the match, I have a pad and pen and write down anything that I find interests me. Perhaps a high impact move, perhaps an exchange, perhaps a bit of character work. I'll write these out in bullet point form, then write my overall thoughts and give a personal rating out of 10.

This match is my first exposure to Antonio Inoki. I know Andre from my childhood watching the WWF. This match is for Inoki's NWF Championship and is in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Moments

• After the bell, Inoki speeds around Andre to get better positioning, and trips. He recovers like nothing happened.
• Andre intimidates the referee. Inoki uses the distraction to dropkick Andre in the upper back. Inoki has a nice dropkick but there are limits to how high he can jump.
• Andre has Inoki in a headlock. Inoki keeps jumping up and uses gravity to flip Andre over him onto his back with a flying mare.
• The referee is scolding Inoki for using a closed fist on Andre. Inoki doesn't care and keeps hammering away.
• Andre is standing with Inoki's neck between his legs. He jumps up and performs an atomic drop on Inoki's neck, slamming him to the mat.
• Inoki dropkicks Andre into the ropes, and his arms get twisted in the top and second rope trapping him there. The ref helps to get him out and falls to the floor. Inoki whips Andre into the opposite side and one arm gets caught in the same way. As there is no referee, Inoki starts stomping on Andre.
• Inoki uses a chop block to the back of Andre's knee to fell the giant.
• Andre picks Inoki up in a giant bearhug. Inoki forearms Andre in the face to release the hold.
• Inoki runs to the top rope but Andre is already on his feet. Andre grabs Inoki and delivers a nasty body slam all the way to the mat below.
• Andre uses headbutts to drop Inoki to the floor.

Finish: Inoki takes Andre to the ground and has him in an armlock. Andre gets to his feet, carrying Inoki on top of him with the armlock still applied. The two fall over the top rope to the outside. The ref checks on both and then calls the match. It's a double ring out.

Thoughts

The ending confused me. I thought perhaps it was a countout victory for Inoki as he dived back in the ring before the bell, but listening to the Japanese announcer, the words "double ring out" were clear. I was surprised that despite Andre being this giant monster and Inoki being the champ, Inoki was the badguy here. The closed fist and just his general demeanour. He was tormenting the giant and never really payed for it. I'm also astonished that no one went for a pin attempt during the whole match.

It was great seeing Andre in his prime, and him and Inoki have great chemistry in the ring together. I'd love to see another face off between the two.

Rating: 7/10

If you have access to NJPW World, the match can be watched here.