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[1975-07-25-AJPW] The Destroyer vs The Spirit


Phil Schneider

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End of the road Killer Karl Kox might be one of my favorite wrestlers ever. Just a nasty old bastard who will split your eyebrow with a right hand or knee you in the throat. I also loved the early matwork portion too, nothing fancy, nothing tricky but really impactful. These are a pair of old dudes with crazy tendon strength and it was fun to watch them struggle in tests of strength in weird angles. Wrestling matches are full of traditional knuckle lock tests of strength, these guys were struggling from their back or their knees. Then we get the great mask hiding foreign object section. Destroyer is an old master at that and it is fun to see him have to deal with someone using his own tricks on him. It is like a Lawler match with the heel hiding a chain too. Every one of those foreign object shots were extra violent looking, the headbutts were sold like they should be, and the chain assisted punches really thudded. These no bump Kox matches are the best, I could watch him not bump forever.

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  • 1 year later...
  • GSR changed the title to [1975-07-25-AJPW] The Destroyer vs The Spirit
  • 2 years later...
This is for the Destroyer's PWF US Heavyweight title. It's fascinating to watch the Destroyer try to reckon with an opponent who performs in the same heel manner as him here. The matwork at the beginning is slow but fun, watching these bodies contort in weird angles while trying to overpower one another and make them bend to their will. Kox wins the first fall at 9:38 with a loaded headbutt, which also busts open the Destroyer. For the second fall, we enter the weapon-hiding section. What a delight this is. Kox's punches are fantastic too. Kox hurts his knee when he tries to hit the Destroyer's face with it, and Beyer dodges to make his unprotected knee hit the mat. Destroyer's got a vulnerable body part to work with, and work with it he does, until he locks in the figure-four to even the score at 12:50. The Destroyer wins, but only with the assistance of Jumbo, who's had enough of this shit and grabs Kox's leg, allowing Beyer to win the match with a cradle. This finish might not be to one's liking, but I was fine with how it somewhat protected Kox, and since I like Jumbo's dynamic with the Destroyer I appreciated that. (Side note: as the first gaijin to ever receive a full-time contract in Japan - parallel to this, he was also performing in a popular Nippon TV television show - Beyer was kind of the devil on Jumbo's shoulder to Baba's angel in this period. ) Upon a rewatch, I think this is yet another 1970s AJPW match that I underrated the first time around, but this is an especially major case. If you want to get to know the Destroyer, this should be one of your first stops, and this is a top contender for the best gaijin vs gaijin singles match that All Japan held in the decade. Very likely the AJPW MOTY as well. ****1/4
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