Antonio Inoki vs Andre The Giant-NJPW 30.5.1978.

You could classify the matwork here as "NWA" style-in  that holds are worked and worked over until there is a transition and that transition really determines the quality of the match. Sometimes it feels like a waste of time but sometimes it's worth sticking through it. It's worth sticking with it here. Before the match Andre gets annoyed by Inoki getting a bigger reaction than him and refuses to shake hands. He attacks Inoki's arm early on-no sitting in a hold for five minutes but repetead wristlocks and armlocks that really establish his dominance. Andre easily drags Inoki to the middle of the ring once Inoki reaches the ropes and does a cool hammerlock slam, both of which make for cool visuals. Andre gets frustrated with the ref over.....something, leaving himself open to Inoki who goes for his leg, thereby establishing Inoki could get in control that way. When Andre goes to attack Inoki's arm again Inoki tries to kick away at Andre's legs, but they don't transition into Inoki's control quite yet. Eventually Inoki manages to counter Andre's armlock with a Headscissors-which looks amazing. Andre then manages to cross over Inoki's legs and changes his focus on attacking them. Inoki eventually manages to counter that with a Keylock-another big visual. They do tease Andre countering it a couple of times but before countering it Inoki turns him back into the Keylock to further establish the armwork. Once Andre does pick Inoki up into the air instead of placing him on the top rope like the norm is in 70s matches he throws him out of the ring, putting over the peril of the situation. Andre nurses his arm for a bit but Inoki quickly returns to the ring and we get to the finishing stretch, with Inoki nailing a couple of big Enzuigirs that connected well and Andre doing a Suplex and a ot of headbutts. I particularly liked the Canadian Backbreaker counter where Inoki pushed the corner-post instead of the ropes to counter Andre into a Back Body Drop. Unfortunately politics get in the way here-as Inoki can't even get a visual count-out win, Andre immediately no-sells him and only loses because he started brawling with a remember wrestler ringside, then gets back in the ring and lays out Inoki to get his heat back. Damn that 50/50 booking :) Very good match based around strategy, though I doubt Andre had the skills to produce anything truly great with lots of matwork. ***1/2

Antonio Inoki vs Kantaro Hoshino-NJPW 5.12.1978.

This match is such a huge mismatch-Inoki is like two heads taller than Hoshino and their difference is status is even larger. It's worked like that and that's precisely what makes it so intriguing. Hoshino has to desperately throw everything at Inoki not to get 2.99 counts that and interpreter then twists as "surviving"-he has to do that just to make Inoki register his offence. When Inoki trips Hoshino it's a show of dominance. "look how easy it was for him". When Hoshino does that he has to time it perfectly because he doesn't have Inoki's strenght and size that would allow him to just push him away-and the narrative makes it work even more when you add the meaning of a payback spot to it. Hoshino's offence consists of super awesome punches that Inoki sells *perfectly* which ties into the finish-in a modern match after Hoshino's managed to weaken Inoki you'll usually see a wrestler in his position spam go into the *I do big moves/nearfalls now*. Inoki still fights him off-culminating in one of the best Snapmare spots I've ever seen if not the best (I doubt those 2006 ROH "Snapmare is suddenly the world's deadliest move" matches are going to hold up seamlessly). And then, in the portion of the match where you'd usually just have Inoki go on a rampage Hoshino immediately dives at his legs because he knows he's dead if he doesn't stop him. Hoshino sells Inoki's palm strikes like death which adds another dimension to the strike exchanges and makes them feel more significant and consequent AND they do the "Jumbo slams Misawa's head into the canvas" spot 12 years before Misawa/Jumbo! ****

Antonio Inoki vs Karl Mildenberger-9.11.1978.

Karl Mildenberger is a german boxer. He was the european boxing heavyweight champion and even fought Ali for the title. Hence this being billed as wrestler vs boxer, though the boxing part is more present in how they lay out the match. They both wear boxing gloves and Inoki tries to hang with Mildenberger on the feet. Occassionally he tries leg kicks and takedowns but they get blocked, don't do much damage or the ref makes them stand up. Initially it starts out with a lot of swaying, gauging the distance and the stuff you'd expect from an actual boxing match but as it progressess Mildenberger manages to find openings, first cornering Inoki and making him go on the defensive and then repeteadly knocking him down. At the height of Inoki's puril at the opening of the fourth round MIldenburger rushes him with a flurry, Inoki escapes with a clinch, the ref breaks them up and in the split second Mildenberger takes to complain to the ref Inoki lands a BEAUTIFUL Enzuigiri that knocks him down and quickly follows that up with a Boston Crab and it's all over. Boxing gloves make a lot of submissions virtually impossible, and with the ref not allowing them to spend much time on the ground I doubt one could've come up with a better finish that woud play up to everything that they set up during the match as well. ***1/4