Stan Hansen vs Antonio Inoki - 02/08/80

This was one of many matches I intend to cover here between perhaps the greatest wrestler ever for me, Stan Hansen and another favorite of mine, Antonio Anoki.  Stan Hansen is American wrestling's biggest loss and one of Japanese wrestling's biggest gains.  If you had to look at Hansen without knowing anything about him, you'd be forgiven if you assumed he wrestled in backwood Southern territories all his career or bullying people in saloons.  But no he didn't do that, he spent most of his career in Japan.

This match was excellent.  It started off looking like a basic wrestling match when it all of a sudden it turned into a brief spell where it looked like they were shoot fighting.  To be honest they probably were.  If not they sold those punches well.  Afterwards, it progressed into some excellent slow paced mat wrestling, with long spells dominated by Inoki, but Stan Hansen held his own and managed to get back into the match and establish dominant spells of his own with some dirty roughneck tactics and impressive match wrestling of his own.  What does Stan Hansen do to you when you're on the mat, laying down?  He either wrestles and puts you in a hold or he starts digging his knees into your throat.  Inoki was able to use his speed to reverse much of Stan's superior power, but the match ended with a good ol' fashioned dirty ass whoopin' by Stan on Inoki where he clotheslined him off the apron to outside of the ring, causing Inoki to be counted out.  We're even treated to an insulting promo by Hansen afterwards that ends with a ''WOOOOOOo.''

Overall, great match, great chemistry and one of many between these 2 legends.