The Thrill Of Anticipation
[This was originally written back in February or March of 2022, pitched and accepted by FanFyte back when it was still a thing. It never ran, although I did get a kill fee for this, so in that respect I did get compensated. I miss FanFyte and I would have written for them forever. C’est la vie. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. If you want to see the match I am talking about, links are below after the piece.]
As New Japan Pro Wrestling is in the midst of its 50th Anniversary year in 2022, one might be tempted to recount the glorious matches, brutal feuds and classic moments that made people become fans in the first place. However, as a quick look at this very website will tell you, wrestling is made up of a lot more weird ideas, goofiness, and noble failures than it is made up of classics.
NJPW’s founder Antonio Inoki is one of the greatest wrestlers and promoters ever to have graced the business. This much cannot be argued against. Inoki had a LOT of ideas about how pro wrestling can, could, and should be. Not every idea hit the mark. Occasionally, the reason was, the idea was way ahead of its time.
The Bed Of Nails match between Antonio Inoki v. Umanosuke Ueda that took place on 2/8/1978 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, the penultimate night of that year’s New Years Golden Series tour, could definitely be seen as one of those Way Ahead Of Its Time ideas. But was it a bad match in of itself? That is debatable.
First, some context for those not familiar with Inoki’s opponent on the night. Umanosuke Ueda was born Hiroshi Ueda on 6/20/1940 in Yatomi, Aichi Prefecture. His eventual ring name would come from a historical figure of the same name, a samurai who was part of the Shinsengumi, the shogun’s personal police force from 1863 – 1869. He debuted in 1961 for Japan’s original wrestling promotion, the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, whilst Rikidozan was still the top man in the company. He would also wrestle in Los Angeles and other NWA territories, bouncing around various promotions, including a brief stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1973, and the IWE promotion in Japan, where he would briefly become an IWA World Heavyweight Champion.
What set Ueda apart in those days, were his look, his style, and his alliances. Ueda was the innovator of the bleached-blonde hair look in Japanese wrestling, which nowadays is pretty common, but in the early 1970s was considered scandalous in Japan. He was considered a “traitor heel,” not only because of his looks, but also his lawless brawling style. Wrestlers such as NJPW’s Tatsutoshi Goto and FMW’s Mr. Gannosuke would find inspiration in Ueda’s look and antics. More recently, NJPW talents Toru Yano and EVIL would be influenced by Ueda for their characters.
Then there was the matter of Ueda’s chosen partner by the time he arrived in New Japan in 1977 – the hated foreign nemesis, Tiger Jeet Singh. Inoki’s rivalry with Singh is pretty storied, and the combination of Singh and Ueda brought fan animosity that most heels would kill for in this age of wrestling. It’s worth noting, that the combo of Ueda & Singh were the first tandem to ever win titles in both NJPW and AJPW.
The pair ran roughshod, terrorizing NJPW, until the match was made for the biggest date of the 1978 New Years Golden Series. Antonio Inoki would face Umanosuke Ueda in a match where the ringside floor area would be covered by boards with nails sticking up from them. A decade before the advent of FMW, W*ING, and what we know now as deathmatch wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling was running what they dubbed a “Nail Floor Death Match” in the hallowed halls of Budokan.
When you advertise a Bed Of Nails deathmatch, it comes with certain expectations in the modern fan’s mind. Did it meet those expectations? Well… not quite.
The match started off as you’d figure. Ueda was seconded by Singh, both wearing matching red and white outfits (I think – the video quality wasn’t the greatest), complete with t-shirts reading CAPITAL on the front, with their names on the back of the shirts. Inoki meanwhile arrives in the ring in his customary robe and scarf. Inoki is presented with not one, but two floral bouquets in the ring. Ueda had to dodge trash being thrown at him. Clearly, ownership has its privileges.
A VERY BUFF REFEREE forces Singh to leave the ringside to much drama, as the match begins with some good ol’ RASSLIN. Inoki is the first to gain control here with an early enzuiguri that nearly sends Ueda over the ropes for the first tease of a spill into the nails, to the crowd’s delight.
Ueda manages to get Inoki on the ground with a double wristlock, but Inoki powers out of it, almost dumping Ueda over the ropes to the waiting nails below. More of the same comes when Inoki ducks a clothesline from Ueda, Ueda nearly falling over AGAIN, but that transitions into a Boston Crab from Inoki instead.
The biggest moment of suspense comes as Ueda does finally get Inoki on the ground, and begins kicking him out of the ring, under the ropes, trying to get Inoki to fall. Inoki deftly hangs on to a rope for dear life, as the crowd screams, not wanting their hero to fall and injure himself in the nails below.
Inoki manages to get to his feet, and get himself around the ringpost to apply an armbar to Ueda through the ropes! This leads to a minute or so where it looks like BOTH Ueda and Inoki will go to the floor with the nails waiting for them. The crowd is on needles and pins, so to speak, eager to see whether or not one or both of these men will hit the floor.
Ultimately, Inoki and Ueda are both in the ring once more, as Inoki attacks Ueda’s arm and shoulder. This leads to a towel flying into the ring, as the bell rings, with Inoki winning via TKO. Inoki continues to attack Ueda’s arm, with Ueda with yet another tease to the outside. Ueda’s arm is put into a makeshift sling with the towel, once the VERY BUFF REF and Singh manage to get Inoki off the prone Ueda.
Despite the stipulation, despite the teases and suspense, neither Antonio Inoki nor Umanosuke Ueda ever actually make it onto the boards of nails outside the ring. Was this a waste of a stipulation? Did the match fail because of this?
The answer is: it depends on what you were looking for to begin with.
Had this match taken place in the mid-90s, the time of Kawasaki Dream (aka “King Of The Deathmatch,” the infamous tournament won by Mick Foley) and exploding rings, there would have been, at minimum, three spots with Inoki, Ueda, or both going full on into the nails, blood gushing from them. No question about that. But by then, the definition of what a “deathmatch” was had changed.
Audience expectations had changed by then as well. In 1978, Bed Of Nails deathmatches were not common at all. Barbed wire matches were a thing, but usually with the wire wrapped around the existing ropes. Wrestlers were not shy about bleeding either, even back then.
On the other hand, take a look at the horror genre. Some works are atmospheric, with fog and shadows, merely hinting at the terrors lurking, in order to create a mood of suspense. Others are gory, filled with jump-scares and visceral imagery. Neither are a wrong method, neither one is intrinsically superior to another. It all depends on what the expectations are, and what’s trying to be accomplished. The old Universal monster movies, FRIDAY THE 13TH and DARK WATER all work as horror, for many and varied reasons. For the pro wrestling audience in Budokan in February 1978, the mere anticipation of one of the two, or both, competitors MAYBE going into the nails was enough. And going back and watching the match, the fans were engaged and into the match all throughout. Sure, the danger was never actualized, so perhaps it fails the Chekhov’s Gun test. To the fans in Budokan, that didn’t matter.
Would the nail boards not being there in the first place have changed the match itself? Beyond a few spots, most likely not. All that said, the nails on the floor did add a little extra juice to it going in. (A very good example of a great Bed Of Nails deathmatch? Look up Ryuji Yamakawa v. Tomoaki Honma for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship from 6/20/1999.)
Antonio Inoki liked to experiment. Experiments don’t always work. Perhaps the most infamous of his “deathmatches” was the Island Deathmatch, from 10/4/1987, a literally 2+-hour match on an island between Inoki v. Masa Saito. I don’t recommend it.
Of course, less than two years after Inoki’s “epic” on Ganryujima, Atsushi Onita would form Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, and forever alter what a “deathmatch” meant to wrestling at large.
Inoki’s experiment on 2/8/1978 may not have worked through modern eyes, and modern expectations of that match stipulation. As a match, it was just fine. Sometimes, it’s the thought that counts.
Links to the match: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uamsWjxvIno
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDZHlAaYeXQ
Part 3:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBY8y1eacuc
