Billy Robinson vs. Giant Baba (AJPW, 7/24/76)

Billy Robinson is so awesome. Not to sell Baba short, he was great here too, but Robinson’s performance was fantastic. From the apprehension he conveys about locking up with Baba, maintaining a certain distance and treating him like a major threat throughout the match, to his movements, his takedowns, his quick snakebite strikes to the legs.  He tries to overwhelm Baba rather than get tangled up in his spindly limbs, chopping him down at the knees. I’ve said it a million times but it’s the little things that add up and Robinson is a master at incorporating them into his matches. The way he pushes his weight back onto Baba’s chinlock in order to pin his shoulders to the mat, or cranking Baba’s leg over his own head, using it as a battering ram to weaken the leg. When Baba realizes Billy’s not going to tie up with him, he starts slapping and chopping away, picking up the first fall after a backdrop.

Robinson sells Baba’s strikes so well, making them look extra painful, trying in vain to block them. He starts firing back on offense, hitting a gnarly neckbreaker, and when he’s unsuccessful with the double arm suplex attempts, Robinson takes out the leg and quickly submits Baba with a single leg crab to even the score. And he doesn’t let up, hitting leg enziguris at the start of the third fall, once again trying to submit him before Baba builds any momentum. At one point, Billy drapes Baba’s leg on the ropes and executes a tope onto the leg through the ropes, causing them both to tumble outside! By the end of this thing, Robinson is delivering everything he can in his arsenal to down the giant, including an impressive backbreaker, but when he runs into the neckbreaker drop, it’s game over, emphasizing once again the danger that is Baba and how every move could be the last.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 6/11/1976)

A hell of a match. Prime time Terry Funk, baby, with his Looney Tunes selling and Amarillo, Texas-style, forearm-grinding limbwork. Terrific first fall, as Terry controls early on, working the arm and building to Tsuruta’s inevitable escape, and when it happens, you can see just how hard Funk fought to keep Jumbo in check as he’s out of breath and sweaty. Now Jumbo’s got Terry on the Rocks and I love Funk working to shake Tsuruta off, firing off knight-edged chops and trying to toss him over the ropes only for Jumbo to hold onto the arm and bring him back into the ring.  Funk tries to find an opening with an atomic drop but Jumbo scouts the elbow drop and arm drags him back down to the mat, holding on. Just a great sense of struggle throughout. Funk finally delivers the double arm suplex but Jumbo’s too fast for him and pins him with the sunset flip.

Between falls, Terry is selling the arm on the outside and back inside the ring, he knows he has to put some distance between he and Jumbo, so Funk cheap shots him during the lock up. Terry focuses on the neck for the second fall, hitting a swinging neckbreaker and a piledriver before he goes to the sleeper hold. The finish here is awesome, as they fight over an abdominal stretch which leads to Funk scoring the second fall following his rolling cradle. By the third fall, the tactical approach is thrown out the window and two go back-and-forth trading suplexes. With all these big bombs being thrown, I thought the finish of the match was a little disappointing, as Terry catches Jumbo throat-first on the ropes and pins him, but it did the trick. Awesome match and build to that explosive third fall.