Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair

[8.0] "This is the first noteworthy title defense in Flair's first ever run as world champion. Here he takes on a yet to be world champion Tsuruta, Japan's hottest rising star. In other words, this is a golden opportunity for Tsuruta. The future face of the company finds himself in his biggest match yet, and the crowd understood the assignement. The atmosphere is incredible! The crowd goes crazy for everything Tsuruta does. On top of that, their chemistry is impeccable and they work a very good match. The crowd rallying for Tsuruta as Flair locks the Figure-Four is something else. Tsuruta locking a Figure-Four of his own is great as well. The finish makes sense but remains quite anticlimactic, which is a pity because they were putting on a great one. At least their rematch one year later makes up for it. ****"

[10.0] "What an epic match. I'm seeing people talk about "crowd reaction" here and the way they talk about it just easily gives it away that they are probably young. That crowd reaction IS what it's about. And this isn't even the best crowd reaction you'll see, even in Japan. I do have my tiny issues with Flair (specifically with the whole "Flair formula") but I'd be a fool not to admit how much I love his bouts. My current favorite wrestler to watch is Buddy Rose and yes I'd pick Rose over Flair for now because his body language feels more natural, his psychology is exceptional and his storytelling unfolds in a more organic way, without relying as much on structured, formulaic spots as someone like Flair. It probably has to do with more real time improve heavy vs improv but with pre planned ideas. But even though I would pick Rose above flair, I highly doubt if Rose could ever deliever a world title bout as epic as this (though I shouldn't say that since I still have yet to watch a lot of Rose's work). Coming back to this match, it just kept going and somehow just kept getting better. There were multiple moments where I thought "This has to be the finish" simply because it already felt too good to continue. But it DID continue, and each extension elevated it further. It was very competitive but wasn't some shallow back and forth. Both wrestlers were given the time they needed which allowed the dynamic between them to fully develop. I do wish Flair was as over in Japan as someone like Funk or Hansen but he still managed to work the crowd. His sense of pacing and structure is incredible. They'd build the energy bit by bit with each spot, getting the crowd hotter and hotter, and when the spot ended, the energy would drop back down. Then they'd start again, building it up once more and keeping the energy longer than the one before until it drops again, repeating this cycle, each time letting it last longer than before. And finally in the last stretch, they wouldn't stop at all, keeping the energy high all the way to the finish, creating an absolutely epic climax. The kind of high every wrestler dreams of chasing. Modern wrestlers often aim for these epic climaxes but many lack the necessary psychology and foundational dynamics to make them truly resonate. And on top of that, they simply aren't as over with the audience that these wrestlers did. Beyond structure, the match was filled with unforgettable moments. Some of those kickouts were unbelievable. Tsuruta reversing the figure four had me internally losing my mind. Every time he mounted a comeback, I genuinely believed he might pull it off. I was on edge, completely invested, almost shouting internally "This could be it! " Just a great, great match."

[9.0] "The crowd's enthusiasm for Tsuruta is thrilling; a very good old-school match that allows me to delve deeper into the classics. I'm very curious to discover their TLD."

[9.0] "Fantastic match up. Didn't like the first five minutes tbh, but the rest was incredible action. I gave it a ****1/2 but I wonder if it could've been even higher had the first five minutes been more to my liking. The finish didn't bother me."

[8.0] "One fall match here, which shows the direction of travel. This is just maybe the most immensely competent match of all time. You have the two best in the world running an exceptionally high-workrate, psychologically robust, exciting, ever-changing match. It obviously goes to a wash finish - though, contrary to popular opinion, the double pin is one of the better-executed versions, with Jumbo landing his Bridging German just really hard, Flair landing right on top of his head, and Joe Higuchi having an excellent little moment where he begins to count and spots Jumbo's shoulders down and switches to the double count. There aren't really any super-explosive spots, though one Flying Crossbody from Jumbo is a Top 10 iteration of the move. The technical exchanges don't go as far as Jumbo could push them if he was allowed to. But it's just fun and good throughout. One of those slightly inferior matches that in their own way communicates perfectly just how good the participants are. 4/5"

[8.0] "The long term planning of Giant Baba had some seeds planted here. Ric Flair, as NWA World Heavyweight Champion, could never be the centerpiece of AJPW, but as Baba established the King's Road, he had Flair stylin' and profilin' here against the man who would take the top spot as the homegrown talent, Jumbo Tsuruta. Jumbo is full of piss and vinegar, selling like crazy for the champion, and putting together a comeback that had the people chanting Tsu-Ru-Ta, Tsu-Ru-Ta. Jumbo's dominance would come later in the decade, but his underdog fight here against the Nature Boy made it quite clear who would be first to walk this road. Funny enough, his eventual challengers for the same spot accompanied Jumbo to the ring, as attendants-Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. Giant Baba, as a teacher of puroresu passed down from Riki Dozan and shared with Antonio Inoki, spotlighted the current star of the new age in Jumbo, and cast a far net to the shining pillars that would eventually stand tall along King's Road ten years on. Flair and Jumbo would see each other again, many times throughout the 80s, each as important stops along the way. Fantastic stuff ****1/2"

[9.0] "A very entertaining match! It starts off quite slow but when it picks up, it's really fun. The crowd also loved it, and this gives the match a small rating boost, at least for me. Not a perfect finish, but the ending minutes were quite good, also."

[8.0] "Excellent match, very strong display of fundamentals here, this match was very japanese, both guys were respectful and serious, and the bout was focused on the purity of wrestling, it was all about the graps, and the level was very high. The crowd really erupted whenever Flair prepared the figure four, and when he actually did it was a pretty cool moment, but Jumbo escaped and managed to do the classic reversal. Jumbo also had a false finish submission, and the ending stretch was very good, with Jumbo locking in the suplex that he teased sometimes before, but a double pin happened, and Flair retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title. This match had a really good pace, and despite not extrapolating the limits of excitement, the incredible quality is undeniable - {***3/4}"

[8.0] "The crowd loved it and eventually so did I. It starts slow but really does deliver some great wrestling, some drama, some tension and some great striking exchanges. Jumbo looks superb here, he is on fire. Yes, the finish isn't the best but what can you do? Flair was the NWAs man, so he wasn't going to drop the belt here, Jumbo was AJPWs man, so he wasn't going to be pinned clean, just a fact of life with these types of matches."

[7.0] "It certainly started off slowly, and ramped up with some admittedly awesome back and forth between the 2 legends, but a lame finish certainly sours it."

[6.0] "A very enjoyable match, especially considering the timeframe that they were wrestling in, these guys were far and away some of the best workers on the planet at this point. Other than the fact that the match does start to lose some steam by the end, the main problem is that the ending really sucks, I was really hooked to see who would come up on top. They had them go outside, pummel each other and come back inside. And then Tsuruta hits a really weird suplex and they both get pinned."

[8.0] "Only major critique is the opening is a bit slow but once this heats up this is my favorite Flair in Japan match I've seen. The back and forth throughout and the crowd reaction really make this one a match to search out."

[8.0] "They started this off slow with the two trading holds for a while, which was good as these two had a sense of urgency while doing so and werent just phoning it in to bring the time up for the match. After about 10-15 minutes of doing this, they started to pick up the pace and started going back and forth. Flair is a great heel, and Jumbo plays off that perfectly with his intensity and fire in his offense. They built this up well because by the end this crowd was hot and fully behind Jumbo. Jumbo selling of the figure four was great, and tremendous drama. The ending is what it is, but that didnt take away my enjoyment from this match.****1/4"

[7.0] "That was decent, but clearly not as good as some people may say. It was slow at the beginning and sloppy in general. The ending is strait up terrible and made everyone look bad, even the referee. Yet still it has some good spots and last third, except for the ending obviously, was almost great. Not the best example of Japan in the eighties, but enjoyable anyway."

[7.0] "A really good match that just happened to have a not so great, confusing finish. Honestly if Flair would have just gotten counted out after that Piledriver to the outside it would have made more sense and protected both guys as he still would have retained the title. Still a good match, but with a better finish it could have been a classic."

[8.0] "This is a very tightly worked, competitive matchup that feels far beyond the majority of US wrestling that I have seen from the early 80s. It is a bit slow at times, but it's all building to a fast paced finishing stretch where the crowd is absolutely electric. The finish is underwhelming but makes sense in context. There are aspects of this that feel understandably dated, but a surprising amount still holds up fairly well too."

[9.0] "Usually watching 40 year old matches doesn't feel quite as exciting as watching stuff live does. However, here I could buy into the excitement & truly felt the big match feel. I know the double pin finish is hated but seeing this from a modern perspective I can't help but find it creative. Certainly beats 50-50 booking or run ins every other match."

[9.0] "Only reason this doesn't get a 10 is the pretty rough finish. Kind of confusing and not the best executed version of the double pin from a German suplex. Everything before that was incredible though. The crowd is electric and super behind Jumbo, who is incredible when on top. Flair is great as well, really milking both his and Jumbo's Figure Fours. Flair also bumps his ass off for Jumbo, maybe a bit over the top for some, but I liked it. Made Jumbo look like a monster. Great match, don't sleep on this one"

[9.0] "This was phenomenal. If there is anything wrong with this match, besides Flair's usual ridiculous selling, it's that the match peaked too early, but then they were able to build it up to a fever pitch all over again. The ending isn't ideal but you come to expect it in this era because neither promotion wants make their main star look weak. All around great stuff and a great gem from the 80s. ****3/4"

[8.0] "The only negative about this match to me is the fact is it feels like its a build to next years 2 out of 3 falls match but it doesn't take to much away because of the great story telling it is."

[9.0] "Crowd was pretty hot, match was great, but the execution of this finish was just awful and brought the match down in my eyes. Tsuruta's post-match antics made him look like the dumbest man on Earth."

[7.0] "Solid match that puts over both wrestlers. Jumbo's not quite at that peak of crowd investment yet but he's still pretty solid, his selling works very well but at the same time he doesn't look weak at all against Flair. The ending is what lets this match down, through. I get that both guys were extremely over and them losing was a big deal, but Flair obviously didn't have much stock in Japan in terms of staying power and Jumbo could have taken the win just fine considering his megastar status and solid booking as a powerful heavyweight. The draw ending just feels like a cop out and no one really earns anything from it."

[8.0] "A great mix of brawling and grappling as control ticks back and forth endlessly. Plenty of big moves, great psychology, and a non-stop crowd going crazy for every movement by two of the very best the world had to offer in 1982. The selling by Tsuruta on the figure 4 is magnificent and made all the better by the reversal. A truly win at all costs affair as both lay everything they have out the entire half hour. It's a shame it ends in a double pin, but still a MOTY contender. ****1/4"

[6.0] "Flair and Tsuruta had a good match, but it would have been a lot better had they had a conclusive finish instead of the double-pin draw, which was very unsatisfying."