Bob Backlund vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 10/5/98)

It's always a blast watching Bob Backlund in this "shoot-style" environment, especially against a bruiser like Daisuke Ikeda. Here, he stooges around for most of the first half until they start slapping each other and Ikeda headbutts him out of the ring. Backlund's selling of the headbutt is the best kind of comedy, as he collapses into some of the fans in the first row while Ikeda mocks him in the ring. Backlund's able to reverse an abdominal stretch into a big ole double arm suplex and in true Backlund fashion, he powers up out of an armbar and sets Ikeda on the top rope...only to get leveled with a flying lariat. Backlund hits his big running atomic drop and a piledriver and while they fight over a chicken wing, Backlund scores the pinfall with the European clutch. A fun easy, breezy watch.

Bob Backlund vs. Masakatsu Funaki (UWF, 5/21/89)

Bob Backlund in Japan, in UWF specifically, is a riot. He’s such a goober -- such a pro-wrestling caricature as if Elmer Fudd was a former NCAA Champion. The way he sells Funaki’s kicks, whoa-ing and scuttling around. When Funaki cranks on the kneelock, Backlund casually bends Funaki’s leg and reverses the hold into a reverse Indian deathlock. He’ll fling Funaki off with this “gee, what’d I get myself into here?” expression on his face, only for Funaki to continue pelting him with kicks.  His takedowns are erratic and somewhat impulsive, the strike exchanges are chaotic between wild misses or hard wallops. No-nonsense Funaki is especially vicious with his feet, stomping his way out of holds and high kicking Backlund in the head. After Funaki grounds Backlund with an armbar takedown, Bob leg muscles up through the hold and sets Funaki on the top rope, seemingly pissing him off. Funaki then gets himself disqualified with a top rope dropkick, of course. What a show.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund (UWF, 12/22/88)

Bob Backlund, in UWF, looking bewildered as ever but somehow managing to pull it off, with his "whoa whoa-ing", his silly taunts, and his vicious elbow shots to counter Takada's stiff kicks. Backlund's quirkiness adds charm to the match,  a fun, almost unpredictable element that distinguishes this from a lot of other "shoot-style" bouts of the 80's. I won't go through the whole match because at times, it's all over the place, but there are so many cool touches and moments. When Backlund is on the mat, working the arm, he throws his weight into the hold. He has answers for Takada's offense -- at one point, taking a rush of knees from Takada and turning into a backdrop before immediately going into a reverse armbar and forcing Takada to use another rope break. Once Backlund's nose is bloodied, his intensity level picks up and his elbows are some of the best thrown. The work on the mat becomes more desperate, the strikes less yielding. One of my favorite moments of the match comes when Backlund uses a fireman's carry slam to put Takada in leglock and Takada responds by heel kicking his way out of it. He really takes it to Backlund in the final minutes with his kicks, using a belly-to-belly slam to set-up a calf slicer, turning that into a single leg crab. With Backlund's face a crimson mess, Takada slaps on the double wristlock, the match ends, and Backlund's like "what the heck?" -- great, great stuff. Watching Backlund fight his way out of this giant predicament of a match was a blast.

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.