The Best of the Barbarian

The Barbarian & Rip Oliver vs Tatsutoshi Gotoh & Sakurada

JIP. Barbarian looks great on offence here. His strikes look effective and he gets real great height on a legdrop. Barb and Oliver look good in control and I did their use of logic: after Barb drops Gotoh over the railings, he works the ribs with some headbutts and a bearhug, and Oliver follows suit. Sakurada gets a backbreaker on Oliver for the sudden win.

The Barbarian vs Sakurada

What I dig with the Barbarian is the suddenness of his moves, the way his diving headbutts see him drop straight down with velocity instead of just falling. He hits Sakurada with a gorgeous powerslam and leaps halfway across the ring to try a diving headbutt from the top. Sakurada really struggles to retain control, as Barb forces the fight to the outside. Sakurada brings a chair in to try and subdue Barbarian, but this gets taken off him and used against him. Oddly, this doesn’t get Barbarian disqualified, but him relentlessly battering Sakurada in a tree-of-woe does.

The Barbarian vs Antonio Inoki

The dominance of Barb in the last two matches means he goes into this Inoki match looking like a monster. Very cat and mouse feel to start, and I love Inoki learning from a Barb slam and reversing a second attempt into a headscissors. Barb is very much in control and predictably dominates a test of strength. The momentum swings in a lovely manner – Barbarian goes for a strike, but Inoki quickly hits a big chop to the face, stunning Barbarian. He looks like my dog did, when she first saw a hissing cat: confused as to what is happening, but not particularly happy that it is. This gives Inoki hope, showing a weakness in Barb, and he peppers more chops in to send Barbarian to the mat. Barb fires back, but Inoki catches the boot and works over the Barbarian’s legs on the mat with a legbar, a deathlock and an STF, switching holds to stop Barb breaking free. Barbarian goes for the top rope headbutt, but misses and Inoki nails the enzuigiri for the win. Really good match.

The Barbarian & Marioman vs Antonio Inoki & George Takano

Odd bout here. Marioman is a fat black guy in a white singlet and generic white mask. He doesn’t seem particularly good, and this match is disappointingly off. For example, when Inoki manages to pull Marioman to his corner during a test of strength spot, Takano goes to the top rope, doesn’t seem sure what he’s going to do and climbs down again, entering through the ropes instead. Barbarian does perform a swank leglock reversal, which isn’t something I expected to see from him, but the rest of the bout is non-descript with everyone going through the motions. Marioman pins Takano following a splash and an elbow drop.

The Barbarian vs Tatsumi Fujinami

Big upgrade in match quality here. They work a quick tempo to start here, with Fujinami frustrating Barb. Barbarian grabs a chair, playing to his strengths, only for Fujinami to grab the chair and waffle him with it. Fujinami wisely goes to the mat, grounding Barbarian with headscissors and headlocks to negate the power advantage. I loved how they showed Barb’s raw aggression working against him, as he hurts his shoulder on a corner charge, then gets rammed into the ringpost shoulder first when he tries taking the fight to the floor. Back inside, Fujinami is able to escape a suplex and nail a German suplex for the win. Fun stuff here.

The Barbarian vs Steve Williams

Very much a change of pace here, with two big lads having a power match. Loved Williams wisely grabbing a chair at the outset to combat Barbarian’s chain. We clip to them brawling on the floor, and Williams belts Barb with a chair so hard that the seating panel flies into the crowd. These two match up really well, with both feeling comfortable to lay in some snug moves. Loved Barb finally getting wise to Williams reverting back to the chair by big booting it into his face. Impressive press slam by Barb gets a big pop, but he misses the diving headbutt. Williams misses a three-point stance, falling to the floor, and Barb wraps his arm with the chain for a DQ-causing clothesline. Stupid ending considering Williams was battering him with a chair throughout the match, but the meat of the bout was fun.

The Barbarian & Black Bart vs Antonio Inoki & Keiji Mutoh

Bart looks positively bumbling in there with Mutoh, who paces around him. Barb is quicker and less clumsy, so he fares better in there. Bart’s offence looks a bit off, like an odd second rope legdrop he hits on Mutoh. Barb using a standing overhead one-armed choke looks far more impressive. Barbarian is definitely positioned as the superior member of the team, so when Bart lets Mutoh tag out, Barb stops Inoki cold with a boot to the head. Even Bart’s selling is worse – after Barbarian saves him following an Inoki enzuigiri and a Mutoh moonsault, he just gets to his feet despite having been hit by two big finishers. Things break down and Barb chokes out both Inoki and Mutoh with his chain for the DQ.

The Barbarian vs Tatsumi Fujinami

Love seeing Barbarian scare the shit out of the crowd on the way to the ring. Barbarian is seemingly allowed to use his chain freely to attack Fujinami at the start. Fujinami is able to get an advantage using his superior speed, but gets planted with a lovely Barbarian spinebuster. Fujinami is still quicker though, and is able to avoid a chairshot and dropkick the chair into Barb’s face. Fujinami then wears down Barbarian with repeated chinlocks, with Barb selling his grogginess in between each chinlock really well. He noticeably slows down by the time he escapes the final chinlock, and levels Fujinami with his chain, causing a DQ.

The Barbarian vs Antonio Inoki

This is more angle than match, but is still a pretty fun bit of business. Barb is even more aggressive to start here, putting Inoki in a tree of woe, and tying him in place with the chain. One of Inoki’s entourage, a big fat guy seems particularly enraged by Barb’s actions. When Inoki escapes, I dug him wearing down Barbarian with kicks to the leg, like chopping down a big redwood. Eventually, the match ends with chaos, as the fat guy gets fed up with Barb’s cheap tactics and interferes to draw the DQ win for Barbarian.

The Barbarian & Tony St Clair vs Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura

Another fun bout, with Barbarian destroying Kimura to start. Inoki fares better against the big man, but his team loses control when Kimura grabs Barbarian by the beard and almost gets his head knocked off with a big strike. Barbarian and St Clair work surprisingly well as a team, and I dug St Clair’s apron work in trying to quiet the crowd down. Barb is played up at the strongest link of the team, and as things break down, it’s St Clair who gets pinned following an enzuigiri

The Barbarian vs Antonio Inoki

These two know each other pretty well by now, so it’s cool to see Barbarian add a few new tweaks to the match. I loved him grabbing Inoki by the bicep out of the ref’s view to prevent a clean corner break and allowing him to attack a prone Inoki. Dug Inoki chopping down the tree again with kicks to the leg, which gave him the leverage to lock in a big armbar. Barbarian does a good job of selling his frustration of being stuck in the armbar, with a nice close escape attempt. Barb does a little bit of bodypart focus himself, hitting a piledriver then a headscissors to work over the neck of Inoki. Barbarian is in control, but his second Buzz Sawyer tries to clotheline Inoki with the chain, but only hits Barbarian. One enzuigiri later, and Inoki wins. Nice bout to end the comp on.