Austin Region, Tokyo Subregion, Second Round: (8) Antonio Inoki vs. (9) Verne Gagne

Who Wins This Match?

  • Antonio Inoki

  • Verne Gagne


Results are only viewable after voting.

klunderbunker

Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
This is a second round match in the Austin Region, Tokyo Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

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#8. Antonio Inoki

Vs.

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#9. Verne Gagne



Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster. Assume that the wrestlers are coming in fresh after their first round match.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.
 
Gagne saw some success in Japan, though he wasn't remotely the megastar Inoki was. If you're a fan of old school grappling, this would be the match for you. Otherwise, it'd probably be a real snoozefest.

Gagne was all but untouchable in the AWA, it's easier to be the top star in a promotion if you also happen to own it. As a result, I'm skeptical of Gagne taking on someone of Inoki's star power outside of his territory, so I'm going with Inoki.
 
Pretty shitty luck for Gagne that this is happening in Japan. That alone makes it extremely difficult to vote against Inoki who was a wrestling god in his home country and can honestly be considered for the title of greatest Japanese wrestler of all time. The guy beat the likes of Hogan and Andre (albeit by CO or DQ respectively) in Japan, beat Backlund for the WWF title (although it's unrecognized), and wrestled against Muhammad friggin Ali.

That being said, Inoki has lost in his home country to American wrestling's biggest stars before, and Gagne was undoubtedly one of America's biggest wrestling stars in his heyday, so it's not inconceivable to think he could pull it out here. Still, the venue puts the odds drastically in Inoki's favor. I'll see what the arguments are like before I make a decision.
 
Oh geez, I was not expecting this one to take place in Tokyo.

If (and that's a big if) Inoki loses this one, it has to be by countout or disqualification. If Verne loses this one, it can be by either of those means or by pinfall. While we all are aware of Inoki being squashed by Vader, we're also aware of why the resulting aftermath of that match means that it can never happen again in history. Japanese people are pretty placid, when you get them to riot you know you did something beyond fucked up. While Inoki has lost other matches in more respectful ways, his record in Japan is comparable to that of Goldberg's in the US.

I so wanted Verne to go far this year, but I don't know.

For now, I plan on voting for Inoki on principle. I really hope someone sways my judgment though.
 
Lots of similarities between these two men. Both owned and operated their own promotions for decades and placed their championships on themselves, but in order for that to have worked, they had to have been moneymakers. And they were.

Verne Gagne was a 10 time AWA champion, and held the belt for nearly 13 years combined. Before the creation of the IWGP world title, Inoki owned the formally American based title of the National Wrestling Federation which he defended in Japan. He held the NWF championship 4 times for nearly 7 years combined. Inoki would only lose the championship when he was pumping some money back into the business.

Verne trained more future champions than anyone else in the industry. Stu Hart included. Inoki had his fair share of students as well, but not as many as Gagne. Verne had a more successful early career as well. He won the NWA United States title in 1953, and at the time it wasn't very prestigious. Over the course of 3 years he was able to raise the value of the championship until it was seen as almost equal to the NWA world title. Verne was one of wrestling biggest stars in the 50's. Inoki worked in Baba's shadow after the death of Rikidozan until the mid 70's when NJPW exploded in popularity, thanks to Inoki's feud with Tiger Jeet Singh.

Verne is still known to wrestling fans all over the world even though the AWA is long gone, and Gagne has passed. Inoki on the other hand is a cultural icon in Japan. Video's and photo's of the famed "Inoki Slap" can be seen online. It is considered good luck to have Antonio Inoki slap you in the face. Seriously. In them Inoki can be seen slapping ambassadors, politicians, pop stars, and Olympians. He's also a politician that has used pro wrestling has a peace keeping tool. He organized and ran cards in North Korea, China, and the Middle East years before it became commonplace.

I went into this match up with the desire to back Verne Gagne, but the location of the match has changed my mind. The winner likely gets to face Steve Austin next round, and Inoki has the opportunity to pull off a major upset.

Vote Inoki.
 
I voted Gagne, and I was surprised I was the only one. I mean, I get that it's in Japan, but if Thesz could beat Rikidozan there, then I don't see why Gagne couldn't beat Inoki. Inoki winning isn't a travesty, but please, take the time to see beyond the making himself the champion in his own company to one of the most marketable stars in the US in the 50s. The idea of a national mid card champion was basically invented to capitalise on his popularity - he was a big deal. Gagne wins.
 

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