Bob Backlund vs. Antonio Inoki, NJPW 7/27/1978
A
bonafide old school 60 minute grappling epic. Backlund goes a bit
howdy and doody doo at the first lock up, but otherways he’s quite
serious. The atmosphere here is tremendous with folks breaking out
into “INOKI” chants constantly already in the first fall, even
when Inoki is just locking in a headscissor. The wrestling is what
you expect: Simple, occasionally sprawling into amateur-esque
sections, both guys wrenching holds and working intense pinfall
attempts already in the 1st fall. Inoki is good at keeping
things exciting and unpredictable, occasionally mixing in some rope
running, hitting a slick hip toss, going for an enzuigiri out of
nowhere because why not. There’s a moment where Backlund goes for
his signature one arm lift and Inoki lands a bit awkwardly but they
segue right into Inoki launching Backlund across the ring and into a
big back body drop. The first fall is just Inoki catching Backlund in
an octopus hold as he comes off the ropes. Just the kind of neat
unpredictable thing that would keep folk excited.
2nd
fall continues in a similar vein with more mat wrestling and holds
that have a clinical feel to them. You have your classic stuff like
abdominal stretches into indian deathlocks. The crucial moment comes
when Inoki hits this amazing Russian Legsweep to counter a side
headlock and then follows up with a dropkick. Backlund is able to
fire back with a dropkick of his own, but he is so knocked silly he
can’t follow up. The crowd goes nuclear at the prospect of Inoki
potentially winning 2-0. Inoki goes for a butterfly suplex but
Backlund forces to the ropes like the move means death. Inoki keeps
going for the offense and Backlund hits a butterfly suplex of his
own! He lands another absolutely beautiful one that launches Inoki
across the ring, but he is too damaged to make a proper cover. Some
intense pinfall attempts occur before Backlund finds his groove and
drops Inoki with an absolute beauty of an Atomic Drop to win the 2nd
fall.
The
3rd fall begins pretty tentative and both guys trying some
legwork. They eventually get to the 70s style bomb dropping. You get
your abdominal stretch reversals, a belly to belly suplex over the
ropes, Backlund totally nuking Inoki with a huge shoulderbreaker,
even Inoki hitting a big knee off the top in a great moment. There’s
also a bit of slow down and it feels not quite as tight as it should
be. Inoki locks in a short arm scissor that feels so blatantly filler
just to kill sometime before inevitable time limit draw, with the
ending almost feeling rushed as it felt like they had to get in a
bunch of stuff in under a minute, though there’s a really cool big
bump on the floor.
There’s
some slowdown here and there, but it’s a really enjoyable old
school grappling epic, made to look as legit as can get by 70s
standards.
Bob
Backlund vs. Hussein Arab (Iron Sheik), WWWF 6/4/1979
They
start with the 70s territory version of shootstyle, with both guys
doing some great looking greco roman pummeling and struggling over
takedowns. Sheiky baby does a nice job of keeping the crowd engaged
through selling frustration and complaining about having his tights
pulled and such. The MSG crowd is super into everything, just
hollering with joy when Sheik is thrown out the ring during a
scramble, and reacting with big indignation when he goes to pull the
hair. They move into a lengthy section with Hussein putting some
weardown holds on Backlund. They do a good job keeping things active
even when working holds, and Backlund had some cool pin attempts as
hope spots. After a bit of this kind of work they move back into back
and forth holds, with Backlund getting the crowd excited here and
there by doing things like hitting a hip toss or a flying headscissor
because why not. At one point he goes to dive off the middle rope but
the ropes are so loose he kind of struggles and catches a kick from
the Sheik on the way down. Sheik goes to attack the arm bit, but it
doesn’t really come together for anything and Backlund doesn’t
sell it in particular. One cannot overstate how into it the crowd is.
When Backlund goes for an arm stretch like 20 minutes in, they still
happily count along as he tries to pull Sheiks arm off his torso.
It’s looking like quite the clinical match. They do classic
abdominal stretch reversal spot before they both bust out some
suplexes, they are quite exhausted now but still kicking out at 1 for
everything. Then, Sheik goes for a chair, beating on Backlund right
in front of the referee, which is somehow not a DQ? They keep going
with the 70s version of a nearfall-ladden 50/50 finishing stretch,
Sheik even diving off the top rope and missing a big splash, Backlund
getting the chair, Sheik trying to load up the boot only to have it
used against him moments later. One cannot overstate how overjoyed
the crowd was with Backlund, any babyface in the world now would kill
to be this beloved. It could have been tied together a bit better, as
it does feel meandering especially in the middle and the blatant
chair stuff was a little baffling, but for what it’s worth they
both worked hard and displayed wrestling in raw form. Both when it
comes to the hold stuff as well as the spectacle with the gimmicks
and big nearfalls and an engaging heel vs. face story.
Bob
Backlund vs. Pat Patterson, WWF 7/30/1979
Alright…
you want heat? This match was pure undiluted heat. A total house of
fire. An inferno, even. Patterson tries to attack Backlund with the
belt to begin with – WWF always loved belt shots – but Backlund
avoids him and starts throwing him around like a laundry bag with
these amazing body slams. Just launching him across the ring.
Backlund goes to work an armbar and just proceeds to put Pattersons
arm and shoulder through the wringer for like 15 minutes. It’s
never boring – Backlund is really good at finding different things
to do while working the arm. Stomping on it, grinding his elbow in
it, dropping legs. Patterson tries a few different ways to fight back
and bumps around for Backlund some more. You get some more amazing
looking Bob Backlund bodyslams and your 70s staples like hip tosses
and flying headscissors. Pattersons shoulder bump into the post was
probably the highlight. Patterson finally manages to turn it around
tossing Backlund over the top rope. Backlund comes back up with a bad
leg and Patterson does some basic but vicious looking stuff smashing
his knee into it. I liked how Backlunds attempts at comebacks became
increasingly savage – smashing Pattersons head into the mat,
punching at his bad shoulder. They both keep selling the damage to
their arm/leg respectively. Essentially this match is a limb work
lovers dream. All the while there is insane heat and the crowd going
nuts for everything. Backlunds attempts to comeback keep getting
hampered by his bad leg. Eventually there’s an amazing spot where
Patterson gets his leg caught in the ropes and Backlund goes to town
on him stomping the crap out of him. Another posting later Patterson
is bleeding and Backlund starts throwing punches. Amazing spot where
Backlund is able to hit his big atomic drop but can’t continue
because of his bad leg. Patterson busts out the brass knuckles and
some distraction finish occurs, proving those have been a thing for a
really long time. It was all good though, not the kind that makes a
match look meaningless. Regardless, the selling and layout here were
insanely good. Both guys did a tremendous job and had the crowd in
the palm of their hands. Perhaps Backlund could have sold a bit more
desperately when he was in Pattersons leglocks but that’s a very
minor issue. An all around great match that displays top notch
selling and psychology to the tee while getting the most out of
largely basic wrestling moves.
Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine, WWWF 2/19/1979
This is a one hour draw. Bob Backlund was building one hell of a body of matches in 1979 alone. Valentine has an amazing cocky smirk to begin and he disrespects Bob by handshaking his little finger before the bell. The match begins how you'd expect - with Bob hanging on to a side headlock, though they do keep it pretty lively. Backlund comes off the ropes and leapfrogs over Greg, catching him with a dropkick with Valentine doing his signature timber sell. They do a neat thing where Valentine tries to get out of the headlock by grabbing the leg, and Backlund monkey flips him over. Wild how you can see things in a 47 year old match that you've never seen before. Valentine starts going to town on Backlund earlier than you'd expect, trying to break him down with his knees and elbows, Greg Valentine style. I could watch Valentine beat the bricks off of someone with elbows and knees all day, everything he does looks so bone-crushing and awesome. He hits this brutal knee drop to the stomach that looks like something Super Dragon would do, and displays some creativity putting Backlund in an indian deathlock so he can drop some more knees and elbows across his spine. When Backlund comes back, he ends up putting Valentine in another side headlock. Which is to be expected, as they are only about 10 minutes into this 60 minute bout.
They keep going at this rhythm - working and wrenching holds, building up to explosions. Backlund as usual is really good at cranking back on holds - the crowd counting along when he goes for the rowing arm stretch. Between the holds they do a really good job of mixing things up and keeping it interesting without resorting to anything too trite. I especially dug all the missed attacks which were really well timed. Backlund takes some spills out the ring, which always feel like they could now be a turning point in the match. He also busts out some things like a sunset flips over the ropes which you don't expect to see in a 70s match. It's rock solid work oozing with old school charm, just feels slightly slow here and there as they keep going back to holds to kill a few minutes and they aren't always super interesting. They do some neat selling - Valentine slapping his own hands to get blood circulation going while in an armlock, Backlund also doing a nice job acknowledging some damage to his arm, but nothing overarching. Of course, you have the freakish spot where Backlund lifts Valentine up with one arm. 30 minutes in Backlund hits a huge bodyslam across the ring followed by a hard dropkick. This freak of a man just had endless stamina.
About 40 or 45 minutes in Valentine finally starts to get something going when he starts working Backlunds legs and trying to go for the figure 4. GREAT spot where Backlund hits the atomic drop but his leg gives out, seems to be a signature sell from him. They last 15 or so minutes are absolutely boiling hot as they make everything look like an epic struggle. Valentine holding on for tear life to resist an irish whip (into an abdominal stretch of course) , Backlund trying to gut it out to hit his suplexes and escape the figure 4. Valentine looks pretty fucking tough here surviving everything Backlund throws at him. Backlund throwing punches at the last minute was also pretty epic. The most oustanding thing here is that these guys pretty much never missed about - they were 100% on the whole time. You can say that they may have slowed down working some holds but they were never lazy with them. Just a bunch of basic, but ultra-tight believable work that came together beautifully, and that's where the art form really lies doesn't it. A great entry to the canon of old school epics.
