Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza (AJPW, 12/5/78)

Hey, it ain’t the prettiest matwork but it’s effective, especially when you got Bock and Dory Jr. interacting, with the added grit of Lanza and the magnetism of Terry. Nick shows good control over the arm of Dory early on, keeping it in check through Dory’s escape attempts. They also stay friendly throughout with their chops and uppercuts. Blackjack isn’t quite on the technical level as the other three but Terry sells so well for him, bumping like a madman off his irish whips, and when Lanza gets the claw on, the fans lose their shit. I love that Dory protects his baby brother being whipped into the corner by sacrificing his own body. When Terry finally gets the tag, Dory comes in suplexing and piledriving -- even Terry’s back in to get a little revenge with his shuffle jabs and haymaker punch. Blackjack’s claw is the bane of Terry’s existence and he keeps running into it, even when he’s trying for the spinning toe hold.  Eventually he counters out with a knee breaker and Dory comes in with the spinning toe hold, with Terry playing defense against Bock long enough for Lanza to give up. A fun tag with a sympathetic crowd for Terry. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund (NJPW, 7/27/78)

Knowing well in advance that this was going the full 60:00, I had some trepidation about sitting down to watch it. Turned out, this was quite the match, with solid limbwork and selling throughout, and a ton of offense in the back half. Bob “Whoa! Whoa!” Backlund trades holds with Inoki in the early goings, with Inoki working him all over before settling on the arm. Backlund shows of his strength by deadlifting Inoki while Inoki’s got the arm but finds himself grounded quickly, slapping the bloodflow into his hand. Seriously, Backlund has deadman hands.  Terrific submission finish to the first fall with Inoki’s manjigatame, Backlund teasing the rope break and the crowd brewing in anticipation. For the second fall, Backlund initially focuses on the left leg, building up to a great bow-and-arrow hold, and then switching the focus to the back. Love his big releases on those back-to-back double arm suplexes. Backlund gets a few more two counts and out of frustration, scoop slams Inoki on the floor before picking up the fall after a running atomic drop. 

They fire up the offensive engines for the third fall, as Backlund continues targeting Inoki’s back, booting out of a leglock, applying a crab hold and even delivering a ridiculous over-the-shoulder backbreaker onto his knee! Shit! Inoki keeps coming after Backlund with the manjigatame attempts but Backlund manages to evade them and in turn, delivers suplexes and a piledriver. As the clock winds down, Inoki slips out of a suplex attempt and tries for a backdrop but when Backlund struggles, he turns it into the manjigatame! Backlund is able to force them both out of the ring, albeit a bit comically, before he hits a backdrop on the outside onto uh, himself as the time limit expires. A little messy there at the very end but a good match overall, probably my third favorite 70’s Inoki match behind Robinson and Brisco. 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Harley Race (AJPW, 1/20/78)

The first two falls of this match are unfortunately clipped, roughly half an hour of footage, but when the first fall opens with Harley in a grounded side headlock, you get the sense that he’s already been through a battle as he’s grunting and sweat-drenched, swigging beer between falls. Jumbo really works that side headlock, releasing at one point to elbow the back of Harley’s head (that facial!) before reapplying it. Race backdrops his way out of the hold and delivers a big vertical suplex for the first fall. The second fall kicks in with Jumbo working Harley’s leg, and turning an atomic drop into a small package to even the score. During the third fall, they start throwing the bombs: suplexes, piledrivers, elbows, and headbutts. I love Jumbo’s beautiful deadlift belly-to-bellies and Harley’s awesome grinding knees.  In the end, Jumbo is chasing Harley around, trying to submit him with the spinning toehold before the time limit expires. Based on what’s available, the match seemed like a really good slog but without the complete narrative, it’s hard to really evaluate it.  

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go (NJPW, 11/30/78)

Similar competitive touch-and-go matwork to open with neat takedowns and reversals, including Fujinami showing off his strength as he lifts Go while he’s still in the armbar to reach the ropes. After jockeying a bit for control, things heat up as they start throwing some heavy slaps. Go is persistent with his little side kicks to break up a leglock and a pissed off Fujinami busts him open with a hard smack to the face. The fans eat up that violence. Again, while Go isn’t quite as slick as Fujinami on the canvas, he more than holds his own and works an effectively aggressive style, never letting up on Fujinami, keeping him on the rocks. Loved his repeat elbow drops to the knee to set up the figure-four leglock, with some terrific selling from Fujinami during the struggle. Go also gets some nice elevation on those knee drops before he goes back to the leg, working in an Indian deathlock. It was if they were constructing a good narrative with their meticulous ground game, but then they had to finish it off mid-sentence with an exclamation point. They throw chops, slams, and suplexes, and after Go no sells a piledriver, Fujinami puts him away with the dragon suplex hold. Enjoyed this a shade more than their 7/27 match. 

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go (NJPW, 7/27/78)

A slick hold-for-hold junior heavyweight exhibition, with Fujinami showboating on the mat and Go more or less keeping pace. This never really moved past the exposition but it had some cool moments. When Go tries to get out of a toehold via slapping, Fujinami responds by smacking the taste out of his mouth and wrenching the hold even harder. Fujinami continues working over the leg for a bit while Go tries to avoid getting trapped but it doesn’t go anywhere as they shift offensive gears. Fujinami’s offense is swanky, with his double wristlock suplex into the armbar, his sick piledriver, and the German suplex hold to finish off Go. An easy watch and something that wouldn’t look too out of place by today’s standards. 

Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW, 12/15/78)

Terry Funk was terrific here, exuding a ton of charisma and selling to the sympathy of the Japanese fans, whom, by the end of it, were in full support of the Funks winning. I thought Dory looked more fired up than usual and both guys outshined Jumbo and Baba for the most part. Loved Funk selling Baba’s chop early on, tagging out in frustration only to return to shake Baba’s hand. Some of the extended hold sequences dragged a bit with Jumbo and Baba on offense but there were a couple spots like Dory delivering a knee crusher to escape a side headlock but Jumbo keeping it cinched in while still selling the leg. Or Terry physically walking Jumbo toward the ropes while he’s in the camel clutch. Terry worked from underneath as the FIP through most of this as Jumbo/Baba targeted his injured ribs with abdominal stretches. Love Jumbo’s kneeling uppercuts and him going nuts on Terry with the chops. The final minutes of this match sizzled with panic and desperation as each side unloads on offense trying to pick up the fall before the time expires. A plodding first half builds to a hot finishing stretch, with the Funksters all riled up and the crowd fully in support. Turned out to be a lot of fun.