[1980-09-25-NJPW-Bloody Fight Series] Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-09-25 
NJPW
Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Stan Hansen
NWF Heavyweight Title Match
Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan
Card
★★★

Not his best match of the year but perhaps Inoki’s best performance. Hansen came in with more of a standup attitude than you normally see, breaking clean from the ropes early on which drew a wry response from the crowd, but when he did get his offense in, Inoki showed glimpses of vulnerability that broadcast the notion that Hansen might be in with a real chance of overthrowing the champion tonight.
Inoki himself had a couple big highlight spots on offense, first a nifty rebound off the middle rope to extricate himself from an arm hold and then rolled Hansen into an arm hold of his own that I popped out of my chair for. The second had Inoki meet Hansen’s Lariat attempt with a Lariat of his own. It didn’t take Hansen out for long, and in fact Hansen was the first on offense, but it negated Hansen’s biggest weapon and certainly surprised him. Oh, and finally Inoki laid in a nasty stiff chop right into Hansen’s throat that to his credit he ate like a champ and moved on, but it legitimately looked like he was discombobulated for a moment.
In the end Inoki was able to use Hansen’s late aggression against him and grab a backslide for the win and then toppled Hansen out of the ring post match for the decisive victory. My feeling that this might be the (temporary) end to this pairing seems to be true as I think Inoki pivots to facing Hogan more as the year winds down.