Giant Baba vs. The Destroyer

[9.0] "The match between The Destroyer and Giant Baba is a true masterpiece of classic Japanese wrestling. For 60 minutes, both men displayed incredible mat skills and ring psychology - The Destroyer as a cunning heel and Baba as a charismatic face. Destroyer expertly blended comedy with genuine threat, using hidden objects to injure Baba and manipulating the referee. Baba countered with both intelligence and raw power, executing impressive throws and reversing many of Destroyer's moves. Despite the slow pace, the match remained tense and strategic, with long holds and submission attempts making sense in the battle for control. The only minor critique is the finish, which could have been more decisive, but it still highlighted the characters well. Overall, it's a timeless, captivating showcase of heel vs face, where both The Destroyer and Giant Baba shine brilliantly."

[4.0] "I don't mind a 60 minute match with slow methodical submission attempts and rest holds as long as they have a pay off at the end. The Destroyer working on Giant Babas arm for half an hour didn't really make sense to me if he is trying to lock in a figure four leglock. Cheating with a foreign object, constantly teasing that the referee might see but he ends up not seeing. But it doesnt matter anyway because Giant Baba gets the pinfall (isn't selling the arm at all). The Destroyer doesnt sell the long holds either and finally in the last ten minutes he decides to work on the leg and Baba is selling!"

[10.0] "Just cracking stuff. We run to a 1:0 victory for Baba, which is an interesting booking decision that works. The Destroyer is just fantastically good, greatly charismatic and just fantastic on the mat. The first fall is incredibly long (48:10) and never really lags. It has sub-stories within it - particularly a long section where Baba has Destroyer grappled, and Destroyer is just working hard to escape, usually to be comically foiled. Destroyer heels it up in obvious but minor ways - there is a foreign object at one point which he doesn't use for ages, he bites a bit, he shouts at the referee and crowd. This works better than if his antics were more extreme. Baba works really well with him on the mat - it's not a carry job, even if Destroyer is the key actor here. The second fall (officially 11:50, though actually shorter, which Destroyer rightly complains about) ends as Destroyer finally gets to lock in the Figure Four - we can see that he's slowly worked his way to some degree of control over Baba, but too little, too late. This is smooth, clever, engaging. Nothing finally explosive or decisive, but really good. 5/5"

[9.0] "Awesome match, one of the best matches from 1960s Japan. Couple of great near falls. Baba busted open. **** 1/4"

[10.0] "This is up there as one of the best hour long matches I've ever seen. I'm twenty-five years old. The oldest match that I gave a five star rating to was Magnum vs. Tully in the I Quit Steel Cage Match in 1985. This match from sixteen years beforehand has usurped it. This match does something that seems to be a nigh impossible task that modern wrestling can barely do. Be entertaining for the entire length. I feel like that's not a tall ask if your gonna go an hour. But many have tried and very very very few have succeeded. This match has the Destroyer playing the fool to every great comeback Giant Baba does, this has some of the most intense holds I've seen put on, one of them actually turned Giant Baba's hand white from blood loss. The Destroyer is not a cool heel, he is the arrogant fool who always gets his comeuppance immediately after, he is the funniest wrestler of all time. Giant Baba has so much damn charisma, and he's actually a damn good technician and seller here. Baba doesn't make The Destroyer look like a chump, The Destroyer does that to himself. This is all about appreciating the little things, and the little things they do are so damn good and rewarding to watch as a viewer. Now there may not be any holy shit moments to some modern fans, but I did say those words when I saw Giant Baba do a hip toss to The Destroyer. It wasn't even like a rope rebound Hip Toss, it was like he deadlifted him into the mat, it looked crazy, and made me rethink of Baba's strength and power actually is, The Destroyer is no small man. The ending is fantastic, of the first fall at least. Destroyer bleeds Baba which surprised the heck out of me, and then Baba grabs Destroyer's mask like he'd done all match, and slammed his head in the corner like a caveman and they just let loose after. The finish of the match could've been done better, as Destroyer probably could've put on the Figure Four earlier, since Baba doesn't really give up, but they got their point across and the crowd wasn't sure until the ring announcer said it, ah I'll give it a pass. Excellent match, I've never loved a match from this era like this before. And I think that means I'm getting old. Five Stars out of Five."

[10.0] "Everything I've heard about this match was true: Destroyer's performance is among the best heel work of all time. His body language, his massive array of antics and cheats, the way he blends comedy and genuine threat, how he can convey emotion with his face when most of it is covered, everything. He provides the greatest possible canvas for a face champion like Baba to thrive and get a huge crowd reaction for every major moment. The way he bloodies Baba with some little piece of metal and manages to constantly pull it out of his trunks to nail him again and then put it back without the ref seeing it is remarkable, and so is his cute little celebration after the time limit expires where he thinks he's submitted Baba (and somehow won the match despite being a fall behind). Baba shows some great technical prowess and has a couple moments of fire here but this is The Destroyer Show and it's my favorite episode. *****"

[10.0] "The Destroyer once again delivers some of the best heel work you'll ever see--absolutely loved it. While I wasn't as into the mat wrestling here as I usually am, the match was still enjoyable throughout. But once it picks up, it really picks up. The climax is phenomenal: both men ducking each other's moves one after another, both clearly exhausted yet still pushing themselves to fight on, and the blood. The Destroyer plays the perfect villain, but Baba doesn't just take it--he fights back with real fire. That's one of the biggest differences I've noticed between Baba and Rikidozan, despite both having faced The Destroyer. Baba gives it right back, either one way or the other. He doesn't hesitate to fuck up Destroyer's mask. Sometimes you just can't keep showing respect. I can't praise The Destroyer enough. Old-school heels like him didn't try to get heat the way modern heels often do--they just naturally had it. Even as a smark, I found myself getting worked. The little things they did--their body language, their attitude, their instincts--it all just felt so authentic. That's the kind of stuff that makes these matches timeless. **** 3/4"

[9.0] "Late 60s' way of doing face-heel clash in the best possible way. baba's determination in the final minutes to take a W was really enjoyable."

[6.0] "It's certainly not bad but I just don't see how this could be seen as a classic in any way. It's far too long with not enough going on - lots of rest holds and methodical mat work. It did pick up a little towards the end which accordingly made the crowd get a little loud after being pretty tame for the vast majority of the match, and understandably so. Destroyer was watchable as always as his heel work is great, but Baba didn't do much for me. Overall a very competent match but not anything at all memorable for me. ***"

[8.0] "An 8 is kind but also fair, they deserve it. The first 25 minutes are golden, The Destroyer is such a brilliant heel because he's just a dickhead here and Baba wrestles really well with some nice counter holds and strikes. After the 25 minute mark its a bit of a downgrade but still entertaining and very worthy. Not everything looks great or works out and there is a story beat of a foreign object in The Destroyer's trunks but it wasn't very clear and did distract a bit. Look, its dated and overly long but its the best 60s match I've ever seen and its my favourite Baba performance. For 1969, this is great."

[9.0] "This had some ingredients that might have made me sour on it... I am not the biggest Baba fan and any match that goes 60 minutes is a hard sell to me, but overall this was actually great! Baba looked extremely good, highly technical with some good clapping strikes snuck in, and Destroyer was just as fun as he always is, what a character and a great wrestler as well. Would have still preferred 30 minutes over 60 but I liked it a lot."

[6.0] "Nothing remotely blow-away by today's standards, but I couldn't help still enjoying this just because of both men's impressive dedication to their styles and to their strictly methodical pacing. They went 60 minutes (of which I believe all but maybe 5 minutes made tape), and it was thus really slow and involved quite a few holds. What made that all tolerable, however, was how the fixation on those holds actually made them a major focus of the match, thus they weren't just "rest" holds applied without any thought except for the sake of taking up time, and were instead treated by both men as their actual attempts to control and submit each other. It also wasn't like they were constantly, rapidly trading holds in a self-indulgent exhibition-type way like what we'd see on the indies in the early 00s, which was a bonus. As others have mentioned, I have to say that Destroyer was the star here. He was a loudmouthed complainer as usual, but in an entertaining way and without becoming comically over-the-top like we usually see from such foreign US heels. It also of course helped that he's shown to be very talented with his wrestling, since he's very athletic and slick, had an array of interesting holds, and he really only ever supplemented his offence with cheap shots and outright cheating instead of making it his sole strategy, which allowed for some extra variety in terms of action without dragging the match down. He always came off as appropriately gruff and arrogant when in control, and appropriately deranged whenever Baba was in control. There was still a bit of a clear "I'm playing up my annoyance and my prideful boasting" when it came to his selling and character work, but he never approached annoying levels, thus he came off as a fun character without bordering on cartoon villain territory. Baba himself was good here, and at times really good, but I do think it was more the case of Destroyer doing the hard work to put Baba over, rather than Baba himself looking like a star through his own actions. I enjoyed his ardent focus on various different leg scissor holds to control Destroyer, and I liked how he was positioned as the more intelligent wrestler, as seen by how he was constantly able to trap Destroyer in the same holds and how he constantly forced him to flee outside the ring to catch his breath and reformulate a plan of attack, or how he always got the better in their straight-up interactions and thus forced Destroyer to cheat and take cheap shots. Baba also had some pretty cool grappling transitions and takedowns that displayed a decent level of athleticism and speed relative to his massive size and gangly body type, which is still weird to see considering what I know of him from the 90s. I do wish we saw more of that, though maybe that took a big toll on him physically, who knows. Baba's strikes were a weaker point of his game but not as weak as I've previously seen from him. His holds themselves were decent, though it was usually Destroyer's somewhat animated selling that really put them over. He came off more convincing whenever he was just consolidating positions rather than going for submissions. While the match did have quite a few memorable moments -- like the period where Destroyer was struggling to escape Baba's shoulder-dislocation type armbar variant, or when Destroyer was constantly evading Baba's bigger moves as he came off the ropes -- I still thought they were mostly retreading a few too many of the same story beats one after the other following those detours, instead of using them as transition points to develop the match into distinctive periods. 90% of the match was basically split between grappling, a bit of scrappy striking, and Destroyer taking cheap/illegal shots, so a bit more variety would've been nice. They did at least switch things up more in the 2nd half as Baba got more annoyed and thus more aggressive, which was nice, although I wouldn't say his offence itself entirely reflected that attitude (i.e. his strikes still didn't look the best, and his brawling seemed limited to just pulling at Destroyer's mask a bit and maybe slamming his face into the turnbuckle once). The match most significantly switched up following their brief crowd brawl around the 45-minute mark, at which point Baba got quite bloodied but actually seemingly got invigorated as a result, leading to a pretty fun period as he quickly chaining together a lot of his bigger moves and went for pin falls before finally getting the 1st (and only) fall of the match off a quick roll-through Thesz-Press-type counter. The final 5 minutes saw both guys trade some brief control periods and then throw a lot of counters/evasions at each other, all of which looked good and were aided by the other's dedicated selling and bumping, plus the crowd getting more vocal as the announcers intermittently announced the remaining minutes/seconds, thus adding extra drama. Destroyer should've been more urgent in the final few minutes, since he should've known how close he was to losing, but I did still like the finish as he worked over Baba's injured leg and then finally applied the Figure Four right at the very end to tease that he might get his own first fall right at the very end to cause a draw. There was many cool ideas here and a few concretely cool moments, but the massive length and the lack of significantly developments until only the final 1/4th definitely held it back. As far as old school matches go, however, this may as well be a 4-star 'great'-level match, and it's definitely an alright viewing if you've got the time and are interested in seeing a match very 'of its time'. ***"

[10.0] "I think when you rate matches, you have to put yourself in the time and place of the match. I know it's *hard* to do that, but it's not impossible. It requires thought, and some small, tiny knowledge of history. Anyway, there is a strong case to be made that at the time this happened, in 1969, it was the greatest professional wrestling match of all-time. Therefore, 5* match and a GOAT contender. Maybe it's the George Mikan of hall of fame matches, sure. But guess what? George Mikan was the GOAT once too. Saying he would get dusted on the court today (while inarguably true, lol) does a disservice to his great career. Saying this match doesn't hold up today (while again, probably true) is irrelevant. It was incredible on the day it happened. Probably. Idk I was two decades away from being alive"

[8.0] "This 8.0 is exclusively for The Destroyer. He delivers what might honestly be the greatest single performance ever. To be this entertaining and this evil for 60 minutes is a downright impressive feat. Baba was also in the match, because Destroyer cant wrestle himself. Although with a performance like this, even that is up for debate."

[8.0] "One of the best "60 minute draw" that I've ever seen. I can comfortably call The Destroyer one of the greatest wrestlers ever on the strength of this one match. The depth of knowledge of working holds as well as heel psychology he shows in this match is masterful. Giant Baba is awesome in this and absolutely keeps up with Destroyer. This is one of the foundational building blocks of the "Giant Baba was a great wrestler" movement in the US fans of Japanese Wrestling subculture. For as important as this match is for Giant Baba's career in terms of perception of him as a worker, this match is still all about The Destroyer being one of the best ever."

[9.0] "A 50+ year old broadway sounds like it has the potential to be a complete snoozefest, but Destroyer injects a boatload of personality and comedy into this that keeps your attention even during the many, many lengthy holds featured here. Baba has a good grasp on psychology and knows when to throw a big strike and he's surprisingly good at keeping up with Destroyer once the technical exchanges pick up in speed. Destroyer uses a lot of a wide array of subtle heel tactics to gain an advantage, including concealing a foreign object in his trunks and then using it 20 minutes later to bust open Baba. The comedy here is strong too, as I really dug when Destroyer would do all kinds of technical spots which would always end up with him with his head locked into a leg scissors, frustrating the masked gaijin to the delight of Baba and the crowd. The finish is a bit crap, but there's so much to love about this once you give it you give it the patience it needs, that I can overlook it."

[5.0] "This is another case where I feel less would have been more, a lot of these hour long matches fall into the trap of long rest holds and this one was no different. I get that it was a different era and working holds like this was a much more important thing back then, but it means that most matches of this era that are this long are a real slog to get through. I'm not being too harsh on it though because The Destroyer was an interesting heel, I can see why he is so loved and he kept it from getting too dull."

[7.0] "As might be expected for a match of its time, this is a match of fantastic fundamentals and matwork, showing off the strong crowd response of Giant Baba and the heel classics of Dick Beyer. The repeated leg scissor spots alone make this match a worthwhile watch if you have an hour to spare, though the questionable finish and some sloppiness here and there take it down a peg from being a true classic. Definitely something to watch if you're interested in the old school, and want to see where Japanese wrestling has developed from recently, or if you just want to see one of the all time great heel acts."

[10.0] "As old as it is, I thought this match entirely rewarded the patience I gave it, and then some. This is an old-school matwork masterpiece with fantastic heelwork from Beyer, and Baba makes his body work very well here (i. e. frequently thwarting matwork with leg scissors). Even with the bullshit finish, this is a true classic. I was captivated by this match, and it's an absolute joy to see the Destroyer do his thing. ****1/2"