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[1972-05-02-IWE Japan] Andre the Giant & Franz Van Buyten & Ali Bey vs Isamu Teranishi & Rusher Kimura & Thunder Sugiyama


Jetlag

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A trios from 1972! Easily one of the funnest matches ever. Whoever booked the near-midget Ali Bey on the same team as Andre had some serious saviness. We start off with some swank technical work between Van Buyten and Teranishi, but soon shenanigans from the apron involving Andre ensue. The interactions between Van Buyten and Andre are solid gold. The wrestling isn't much worse - Andre bumps big! Ali Bey has some hilarious selling, including constantly hitting his head against things! Sugiyama is another hilarious character, and only tagged in for about 3 minutes. Teranishi does the bulk of the work for his team (probably for the better) and gets to look really slick. But the dedication Andre and Franz have to miscommunication spots is something else here. Andre is just incomparable. At one point, Franz keeps getting flung over the top rope to the outside, onto Andre and then back inside. It leads to Franz taking a huge bump to the outside. I like how the foreign heels still remain dangerous despite being total knobheads, as Andre finishes opponents off in a matter of minutes.

 

So yeah, great match that will have you in stitches if you have an ounce of humor in you. One of my favourites from Andre, good showcase for Teranishi, and so cool to see what Franz could do when he wasn't playing babyface. A must watch.

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I wish we had more Van Buyten in general. He was already in his mid 40s when the 80s came around. Also keep in mind he was paralyzed for a good chunk of the 70s, and looking at the way he flew over the top rope here kind of gives you an idea why.

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  • 11 months later...

The interactions between Van Buyten and Andre are solid gold.

 

That is absolutely true. They come up with countless variations on the "Malfunction at the Junction" spot here, plus the Japanese team gets flat-out "We Lie, we Cheat, We Steal-era Eddie and Chavo" in terms of making Andre think that Buyten is double-crossing him.

 

Also: Teranishi's nickname is "Carpenter" because he's so good at making oter wrestlers look good... and you can really see that in action here.

 

It's just pure "joy of wrestling" for the whole run of this match.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1972-05-02-IWE Japan] Andre the Giant & Franz Van Buyten & Ali Bey vs Isamu Teranishi & Rusher Kimura & Thunder Sugiyama
  • 2 months later...

Teranishi is someone I'm definitely interested in watching more of, he was great here. At one point, he climbs onto Van Buyten's shoulders to work an arm slicer, which is incredible, and I still was mostly focused on Andre messing with Bey in the corner. The dynamic between the foreigners was the focus of the match, for good reason. They just have a really entertaining act and get a lot out of it. The match carries on in that tone, with Andre and van Buyten starting to do the miscommunication spots after cornering Teranishi. Teranishi is still isolated in the corner and there's some good struggle of him trying to get to his team. Despite his size, Bey gets a deep guillotine on him. Eventually, Kimura tags in and everyone bumps for him. Teranishi comes back in and gets to run a bit crazy, Andre gets trapped in the ropes (don't know how else to explain that one) and Teranishi starts throwing van Buyten on to him.

Andre gets the first fall on Kimura a little bit later. The second fall starts a lot like the first played out, with Kimura in the foreigners' corner, except he's not as good as Teranishi in that regard. I'm also not sure how to describe the spot where everyone piles onto Andre but it was great. Kimura beats van Buyten for the second fall shortly thereafter. Andre is done with van Buyten at this point. And Thunder Sugiyama starts agitating him further! He throws van Buyten onto him and fucking rushes out from the opposite corner and punches Andre and rushes back while he's not looking. Sugiyama ain't even fast at all! Bey throws his arms up in complete resignation.  Sugiyama's barely in this thing but I liked him. That bump that van Buyten takes is pretty insane. Enjoyed this a whole lot. Appreciate the recommendation.

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