(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Antonio Inoki vs. The Great Muta – NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 1994

If there was ever an example of “Hollywood Hogan versus The Rock” done in another company it would be Antonio Inoki vs The Great Muta.

There are plenty of similarities between the two matches. Both were clashes of generations with a fabled icon of the past taking on the top star of the new generation to see if he could still go. Both matches took place in front of tens of thousands of fans in packed stadiums. Both matches were less about the action and more about the spectacle. Both matches received underwhelming reviews from wrestling’s most notorious critic despite getting plenty of praise from almost everyone else. And both were tremendous examples of the less-is-more philosophy working in wrestling, which goes against the contemporary standard of doing more even if means less.

But while Hogan vs Rock has aged well and is still admired some pockets of fans, could the same be said of Inoki’s one and only match with wrestling’s most famous mist-spitter?

The story

Inoki was a massive wrestling star in his native Japan, but even the biggest stars eventually fade away. Aware that this fate awaited him but was still some ways off in the distance, Inoki started his farewell tour in 1994. This tour, which would stretch over the next four years, would see Inoki try and relive some of his most famous career moments and see him try and have one last hurrah before leaving the squared circle for good.

At this point in his life, Inoki was 51 years old with over twenty years of wrestling and thousands of matches behind him. Sandwiched between the end of his ‘main’ run and the start of this retirement run was a six-year stint in politics that made Inoki an even bigger name in his home country. But while he was dealing with politics, one of his pupils was rising fast, to the point that Inoki thought it would be a wise idea to give this young kid the legend’s rub.

But Inoki wasn’t facing Keiji Muto the standout straight-laced wrestler but his demon alter-ego Muta. The lore behind Muta is a bit murky; some say that he’s the spawn of the Great Kabuki while New Japan’s own archive once included a short film showing how Muta was spawned in Hell and came to inhabit Muto’s body.

Either way, whenever Muta appeared, his opponents were in for a wild ride. Muta knew no boundaries, limits, morals, or restrictions. He would hiss at anything that moved, use any weapon he could find, and of course, spit blinding mist at his opponents, often at unexpected moments and sometimes more than once per match. In simpler terms, Muta was a wrestler but he wasn’t a ‘human’ wrestler. With such an out-of-left-field character standing before, him, could Inoki, the man who had faced pretty much every wrestling legend still alive at the time at one point or another, find a way to out-wrestle this strange creature?

The match

This took place on May 1, 1994. It was rated ***1/4 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Before we get to the action I want to focus on the entrance here. Without knowing any of the background or context these two guys sell this match and each other as big deals just by their facials and body language as they approach the ring. Muta, all painted up like the demon he is, slowly walks backwards towards the ring as Inoki walks forward, cautious, his fists already clenched tightly. The crowd’s going nuts as both guys remove their sequined robes. Inoki, who has seen more shit in his career than most people will see in their entire lives judging by the bags under his eyes, continues to approach Muta cautiously as Muta parts the second and top rope for his opponent. Inoki slows down starts entering the ring slowly, and then finishes his entrance in a flash to avoid any surprises from Muta. Fantastic entrance to set the tone for the action to follow.

The bell rings and Muta spits red mist as he slithers out of the ring. He teases locking up and tries finding a different vantage point from which to attack but Inoki’s too well-guarded. Frustrated, Muta slithers back out and stalls. Once he returns he goes for Inoki’s leg but Inoki kicks him away. Muta stalls again but each time he tries getting close Inoki brushes him off. We finally get some contact as Inoki waistlocks Inoki and starts working him over on the mat. He floats over into a double-wristlock and keeps switching to it as Inoki tries powering out. Muta switches to a cross armbar attempt but Inoki clasps his hands together to block. Inoki gets a quick ropebreak which forces Muta to let go. Even though Muta’s in control he’s still apprehensive since he’s dealing with Inoki, after all.

Muta takes Inoki down again but Inoki remains guarded so Muta switches to working a leg. Inoki counters into a heel hook which forces Muta to get a ropebreak and then to the floor again. Muta channels his inner Tarzan and climbs up a rope ladder that appears out of nowhere. Count-outs must no longer exist in New Japan because Muta continues skulking around and under the ring as Inoki waits patiently, by now likely fully recovered from Muta’s earlier matwork.

Muta stalls some more and at this point even Inoki’s frustrated; he just wants to fight, dammit. Muta obliges him and offers a Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Inoki goes for a quick calf kick but Muta responds with a mist to the eyes and then bites Inoki’s forehead. The crowd goes nuts. Muta follows with a snap suplex onto the entrance ramp and then sprints up to the top of the ramp. Muta gets a big running start and goes for the same clothesline he hit on Hulk Hogan the year prior, but this time around Inoki dodges and Muta goes flying into the ring.

Muta brings Inoki back into the ring and hits a Backdrop suplex followed by a piledriver onto a ringside table which doesn’t break. Once again the crowd erupts in cheers. Muta smashes Inoki into a ringpost but Inoki keeps resisting. Back in the ring Muta kicks Inoki’s head and then kneels on his throat for a choke until the ref makes him back off. Inoki struggles to his feet so Muta applies a sleeper hold. By this point Inoki’s bleeding from the forehead as he struggles around the ring. Muta throws him from the ramp to the ringside mats and then into the barricade. He grabs some cables to choke Inoki but Inoki hits first with his patented enzuigiri.

Both men return to the ring with Muta appearing to have some weapon with him when Inoki kicks him in the head a second time. Muta starts bleeding now as well as Inoki lands some punches. Inoki dumps Muta ringside and the chaotic brawling continues. Muta swings off that ladder once again and then uses it to choke Inoki. They continue their fighting in the ring and Muta goes a snap suplex but Inoki counters with a sleeper. Muta sinks down and Inoki thinks he has won but the referee tells him no. Inoki goes to pick Muta up but Muta spits mist again. Muta springs to life with demonic speed and power as he hits a rib breaker and goes to the top rope. Snap diving moonsault. One, two, and – Inoki kicks out. Muta repeats the same combo a second time. Same result. Bridging German suplex. Two-count once again. bridging dragon suplex. “Inoki” chants fill the stadium as he kicks out yet again. Inoki dodges a handspring corner elbow and locks in a sleeper with bodyscissors. Muta goes limp so Inoki covers him for the three-count.

Winner after 20:12: Antonio Inoki

Review

This was a fun chaotic match that was exactly as promised. I didn’t expect much in terms of logical follow-through; after all, Muta was chaos incarnate whose modus operandi was to do literally everything at random and without rhyme or reason. He was like a mixture of Umaga, The Undertaker, and slithering Randy Orton during his carefree head-punting phase, all rolled into one. While Muta’s stalling was a bit annoying (it might’ve been fine for this crowd but I can easily envision outside fans screaming ‘DO SOMETHING’ over his constant inaction) it also had the secondary effect of making the few moves he did land more meaningful. His complete lack of structure on offense made him the perfect foil for the sportsman Inoki, who was on edge and cautious from start to finish. though I didn’t think that Muta ever stood a chance of winning (Inoki was the founder of the promotion starting his retirement tour and wasn’t going to allow such a promotional angle to start with a loss/him looking vulnerable), there was still a sense that Muta might hurt Inoki or surprise him so much that the legend would be forced out of his comfort zone. As such, this was an interesting match, though not as spectacular as I was hoping for.

That said, when they finally got down to it and fought, the match was pretty good. Inoki showed he could still go and hadn’t really slowed down all that much (seriously, for a 51-year-old politician with wrestling as his side hustle, Inoki looked to be in amazing shape). He still had good mat game. His wrestling instincts were still intact. And when it came to showing off his mastery of combat sports, Inoki was still above Muta. This forced Muta to go to the extreme when on offense. He spat mist to blind Inoki for an unfair advantage. He busted Inoki open and piledrove him through a table. He used underhanded tactics to get Inoki into a disadvantageous position and for a short while the crowd bought it. They believed for a moment that Muta might win because he cheated. But Inoki just kept going no matter what. Despite moving slowly with saliva dropping from his mouth as though he had been genuinely gasping for air, Inoki persevered. He hulked up New Japan-style, overcame Muta’s second wind (which also came courtesy of the green mist), and kicked out of every big move Muta had, some of them twice. It was the Hogan formula but it was exactly what the crowd wanted to see. And while I wish the finish was a bit more spectacular and more stretched out (Inoki’s win kinda came out of nowhere), that’s just a minor nitpick since it did fit the anything-can-happen-because-sports theme that New Japan was going for at the time.

Final Rating: ***3/4

This is a spectacular match that’s worth checking out if nothing than for the opening minute. The visual of Inoki and Muta entering the ring in the way do is nothing short of cinematic and is a tremendous example of showing over telling. Pretty much everything I wrote in the story section above these two men expressed without saying a single word. That doesn’t happen that often anymore, so for these guys to that so successfully makes this match all the more special.

As a match, though, this is fun in a wild sort of way, but not a groundbreaking or industry-changing epic. It’s a bit of mindless nonsense that doesn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence, which, likewise, is hard to come by in the colorful and at times nonsensical world of pro-wrestling. You can credit those strengths to Muta’s dedication to his gimmick and Inoki selling the seriousness of the gimmick the way he did. It goes to show that a wrestler can know all the moves and have all the talent in the world, but that stuff doesn’t mean much when neither the audience nor the wrestler on the opposite side of the ring takes them seriously.

Thanks for reading.