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[1973-10-09-AJPW] Terry & Dory Funk Jr vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta


paul sosnowski

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This is for the NWA International Tag Team Titles, which the Funks had just regained from Ciclon Negro and Killer Karl Kox in Lubbock TX on September 26, 1973.

 

It is a 60 (61?) minute draw, but it is not complete. However, the footage I have lasts about 44 minutes and is PERFECT VQ.

 

Jumbo has been wrestling professionally less than SEVEN months. He already faced Dory back in May for the NWA World Title in a 55 minute match!!! (not taped) :( That was 4 days before Dory lost the title to Harley Race in Kansas City. (Did Dory ever have hair? Lol)

 

Someone famous enters the ring and shakes hands with all 4 competitors...Unfortunately I'm not sure if it's Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson or someone else...

 

Dory and Baba start the match...within seconds...it is clipped!!! Arrgh. We pick up with Baba wringing Dory's arm and shoulder. Tags Jumbo who continues. Dory backdrops Jumbo. Jumbo and Dory struggle, but Jumbo kip ups and hits a backslide for one count. Frustrated Dory tags his brother. Terry slams Jumbo and legdrops his face. Jumbo slams Terry, tags Baba who proceeds to stomp Terry three times in the stomach. Jumbo whips Dory into the corner, both turn around ready to swing fists, but cooler heads prevail. Dory gets a full nelson on Jumbo, Terry runs in and tries to elbow Jumbo in the face, but hits Dory instead!!! Baba comes in and hammerfists Dory's back. Big chop, tags Jumbo who slams and hits a great overhead belly to back suplex on Dory for a 2 count. Terry tags in wild and piledrives Jumbo, hits the over the knee backbreaker. Dory tags in, big elbowdrop, Funks then double team elbow Jumbo in the face. Terry eats a dropkick from Baba, Jumbo comes in and does it again. Jumbo hits a high bridging suplex for the pin at 23:57 (ONLY 8:11 shown...)

 

Second Fall--- Jumbo whips Terry hard twice into the corner, Terry hangs upside down on the outside. Baba gets Terry in a very high bearhug into a boston crab. Jumbo in with a grinding standing headlock on Dory and hits a very high backdrop for a 2. Dory nails him with two of the hardest uppercuts I've ever seen. Terry struggles to double underhook Jumbo. Baba tags in with uppercuts and chops of his own. Terry and Baba are out on the floor, and Terry nails him with a dropkick!!! Terry comes off the top rope with a big elbowsmash. Baba chops Terry and he flies over the top rope. Dory takes Baba down with a headlock, then transitions to a rolling cradle for 2. Dory and Jumbo have a long test of strength which Jumbo turns into a double wristlock. Terry drops an elbow on Jumbo, who struggles and bridges out. Baba tags, takes Terry's arm and hits giant chops to Terry's chest, big boot to the face for 2. Baba stomps Terry's stomach, then hooks him in the abdominal stretch, Dory saves. Jumbo tags in and immediately gets Terry back in the stretch. Jumbo running bulldogs Terry hard into the top turnbuckle. Terry hits the rolling cradle. Jumbo is up with two shoulder blocks. He goes for another, but Terry catches him and rolls him up for the pin at 17:24 (COMPLETE)

 

Third Fall is JIP!!! Arrrgh. Jumbo is stomping on Terry's knee, takes him into a boston crab. Dory tags in, takes Jumbo down. Shoulderblock. Jumbo hiptosses Dory, backslide for 2. Dory gets Jumbo in an abdominal stretch. Terry sneaks in twice and punches Jumbo hard in the ribs. Jumbo reverses and now Baba sneaks in and kicks Dory's ribs. Jumbo hits a double underhook suplex. Terry gets in and nails Jumbo hard in the face with punches. Then picks him up and executes one of the fastest airplane spins I've ever seen. Baba saves Jumbo from the pin, Dory slams Baba and stomps him. Dory ventures to the top rope and is caught and slammed, ala Flair. Baba drops knees on Dory three times, then hits another DROPKICK!!! He misses a second dropkick, Terry comes in and nails Baba with some huge elbows into his neck. TWO MINUTES LEFT!!! Baba stomps Terry's back and then hooks a one legged crap and armbar. Jumbo stomps Terry and throws a big dropkick in Terry's face. Baba chops! Jumbo backdrops and slams Terry. Baba slams Terry and knees him in face for 2. Dory tags in with a high backdrop suplex on Baba for another 2 count. Dory uppercuts, Baba chops. Baba hits a swinging neckbreaker on Dory....ONE COUNT...and the bell rings. IT"S A DRAW!!! Jumbo is pissed, but everyone shakes hands afterward. Funks retain the titles. (9:02 shown of 18:39)

 

This is a legendary match. It's a great match. I LOVED this match. But WTF with the weird crazy editing. I would rather they heavily clipped the first two falls and shown the 3rd fall in its entirety. I really enjoyed this, but I can't rate it higher because we are missing so much of it. We only get to see about 35 minutes out of the 60. SOLID FOUR STARS * * * * !!!!

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Yes, of course I have seen your Dory thread. Funny story, yesterday I thought I had discovered a new match that sounded pretty great. It was the Dory and Murdoch tag from 12/12/71 against Sakaguchi and Yoshimura. Then about a half hour later, I was going through your thread and saw that you had already reviewed it. Lol

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  • GSR changed the title to [1973-10-09-AJPW] Terry & Dory Funk Jr vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta
  • 2 years later...
On 6/25/2017 at 2:12 PM, paul sosnowski said:

Someone famous enters the ring and shakes hands with all 4 competitors...Unfortunately I'm not sure if it's Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson or someone else...

Anton Geesink, probably the most important gaijin in postwar judo history. His victory at the 1961 World Championships, the first by a gaijin, was what finally drove Kodokan to approve the implementation of weight classes, which had been the only thing keeping the sport from the approval of the International Olympic Committee, in the attempt to avenge the loss. He went on to win the openweight division at the Tokyo Olympics anyway, and won the World Championships a second time the next year, against none other than Seiji Sakaguchi. Despite pushing 40 at this point, Geesink was recruited for AJPW - specifically by Nippon TV - as part of their early efforts to secure exclusive gaijin performers to compensate for the slim native talent. It was at this same event that his signing was announced, hence his presence.

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  • 9 months later...

Giant Baba & Tomomi Tsuruta vs. Dory Funk jr. & Terry Funk - October 9, 1973.
Looking at this match, all these years later, it's easy to just see four Hall of Famer and forget the actual context of the match, which is more toward two absolute legends, Giant Baba and Dory Funk Jr. (who 4 days before lost the NWA World Title to Harley Race in Kansas City), Terry, who won regional titles wherever they traveled but was still very much in the shadow of his older brother, and Tsuruta who debuted a little more than 7 months ago and was still going by his first name Tomomi. Tsuruta is an absolute phenom, he already faced Dory back in May for the NWA World Title in a 55 minutes match less than 2 months into his career. This match is for the NWA International Tag Team Championship, which the Funks had just regained from Ciclon Negro and Killer Karl Kox in Lubbock, Texas on September 26, 1973. Anton Geesink enters the ring and shakes hands with all 4 competitors. Geesink, is probably the most important gaijin in judo history. Dory & Baba appear to be the driving forces in the match, but both have their own direction. Dory embraces the struggle for each hold and counterhold, working a measured technical style where to some extent it doesn't matter what the hold actually is, while Baba is more concerned with just breaking free so he can get a few signature moves in. Tomomi, however, is already a top worker, doing a great job of following Dory in the struggle oriented technical wrestling as well as doing more action oriented sequences with Terry. In the first fall, Tsuruta again getting the push, pinning Terry in a German suplex. (23:57) However, in the seond fall, the finish was rather unsatisfying with Tsuruta running bulldogs Terry hard into the top turnbuckle. Terry hits the rolling cradle. Tomomi is up with two shoulder blocks. He goes for another, but Terry catches him and rolls him up for the pin. (17:24) The wrestling is generally really good in the third fall, in the end, Dory and Baba exchange moves before the bell rings. (19:39) It's a draw! (61:00) Everyone shakes hands afterward. Funks retain the titles. Very good match. Rating: ****1/2

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