[1980-12-01-AJPW-Real World Tag League] Abdullah the Butcher vs The Sheik

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[G. Badger]

Here's my first impression of the match:

 

Wow! This is the match that pre-dates ECW in just about every way & makes me remember why I loved that crazy old promotion. There are massive amounts of blood and stabbing and tons of fighting in the stands. This is not a move-fest by any stretch but they make up for it with hate. What's even neater is I sort of figured out the offensive psychology. They don't use moves or holds because those are essentially defensive tactics. Traditional moves encompasitate or weaken the opponent as to make them submit or be pinned because in essence most wrestlers fear the losing, the pain of wrestling etc. These two do not & that is why they fight they way they do...they don't fear losing, they don't fear pain. They invite it as a means to an end.

 

One would think putting these together would make a crappy match but, no! This was an amazing spectacle really up there with the better deathmatches of the 90's & maybe even the Terry vs. Catcus IWA Duel of the Wilds match for psychological perversity. Watch the crowd as much as you watch the wrestlers.

 

I'll call it a classic.

[SAMS]

1980-12-01
AJPW
Abdullah The Butcher vs The Sheik
Nakajima Sports Center, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
★★★
Card

This wasn’t a match, this was an attempted murder. Sheik came in with a drive-by chair attack, levelling Abby with shot after shot and within a minute or so Abby was already bleeding like a stuck pig. Just when it started feeling like it was becoming gratuitous for the sake of it, Abby finally made his comeback. Taking a spike to the head one too many times he dug deep into his reserves and managed to unleash a few jabs of his own. It’s not hyperbole to say that when Abby reached down to pull out the fork it felt like some superhero shit! Fighting fire with fire, two monsters going at it full tilt. Sheik was on the defensive the rest of the way, a brutal attack on his arm left him a similarly bloody mess. Mephisto ran down to double team Abby and the referee was forced to call it. Kamata showed up in support of his partner, but these two couldn’t be contained. The remainder was just arena brawling but we finished with Sheik turning tail and bailing and Abby standing tall in just a classic image, up in the stands by the hard camera, hands raised like some kind of religious figure, blood pouring down his face. Say what you will, but at its worst this was no less than a grand, bloody spectacle.