Gaffney Mat Chronicles Volume 4: New Japan Double Dip

This was certainly the case last year and, unfortunately, things eventually fell apart big time going into the summer months, but now on the road to Sakura Genesis, New Japan Pro Wrestling is in an excellent spot coming out of the annual New Japan Cup, won this year by 23-year-old Romford, England native Callum Newman. In reality, it's hard not to feel even somewhat enthusiastic, even from afar, about New Japan's short and long-term future, given their core of fresh and relatively young talent, who are being given legit chances in key spots, ranging from the tag team title scene all the way to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship picture.

In light of that, we're reviewing one of the best matchups from this year's New Japan Cup: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Zack Sabre Jr. from the Round of 16. But before that, we're going all the way back to 1986. This can only be described as one of the most infamous happenings in the history of the Pro Wrestling medium.

Andre the Giant vs. Akira Maeda (NJPW Big Fighter Series Night 15, 4/29/86)

It's one thing to hear about matches with crazy reputations that go in either direction; it's another to see them for yourselves. That perfectly describes the only ever encounter between Andre the Giant and the infamous Akira Maeda, one of the godfathers of Japanese shootfighting and a man who...well...to put this bluntly, has a reputation for himself in the wrestling realm. A little possibly accidental shot kick to Riki Chosou's face that cracked his orbital bone here, a shot kick to Tiger Mask 1's balls there, refusing to do a program with Antonio Inoki in the mid-80s, ehhh who's to say!?!!?!

Some fascinating timing on this bout, as this is only a few months after Maeda's return stint in New Japan after that kick to Tiger Mask's "groin" in the fall of 1985, which all but led to the end of the UWF's first itteration, and this is just mere weeks after Andre won a battle royal at the critically panned three city WrestleMania 2, that featured Pro Football Hall of Famers Russ Francis and William Perry, and only about three weeks into what was his final run in New Japan Pro Wrestling; which saw him get a semi-finals berth in that year's IWGP League, and later on, a win over Antonio Inoki in the Sagawa Express Cup tournament finals.

The legend goes that either Andre, who by this point was physically cooked, but was still... well...Andre, was drunk for this match (which, given some of his drinking tales/legends, is somewhat hard to believe, but there's some evidence that helps out here) or that Inoki effectively told him to beat some respect in Maeda, but you can clearly tell that something is off just by looking at the big man as this one gets underway, and even when he's making his way from the back. He plants himself in the middle of the ring, and there are some close-up shots where you can see a man who's not engaged with what's happening; hunched over, with a blank smile and glassy eyes. Maeda is trying to get Andre to engage in a test of strength for the first minute and change, and for his troubles, he gets swatted away before being collapsed onto the mat after trying to go for a shoot single-leg takedown.

The next five or so minutes of this match then consist of Maeda, who wasn't exactly a small guy by any means, getting physically toyed with by Andre on the mat. This leads to a moment where Maeda gets himself a rope break, but Andre still has this makeshift hold on him for an extra 20 seconds. This certainly feels like where Maeda understands that he's in the ring with an uncooperative Giant, and decides to go rogue on a guy who was clearly doing the same to him. As such, Maeda, over the course of the next five minutes, successfully gets off multiple shoot takedowns of Andre, one of which leads to him raking Maeda's eyes and is responded to by a near two-minute cross armbar to the 500 pounder. We then get to what can only be described nearly 40 years later as a hilarious moment, where Andre is then taken down again, put in what feels like a heel hook, and Andre throws up a hand as if to say "what the hell man," as if he hasn't been sandbagging and practically sleepwalking through a match, which by this point is nearing the 15 minute mark.

After another brief submission attempt by Maeda, things turn. The two proceed to go into a three or so minute cycle of Andre circling, and Maeda getting off thunderous kicks to Andre's left thigh, and only that. And off in the distance, oh my, could it be??? IT IS!!! The big man, Antonio Inoki, has arrived!!! Not quite with the fire and anger he would show about 25 or so years later when he interupted and effectively stopped a Luke Gallows and Sylvester Terkay matchup in the IGF (see below), but he's clearly not happy, and enters the ring to try and get things situated to no avail.

Maeda, whose kicks had been slowly getting to Andre as this one had gone on, only needed a few more to effectively get Andre to give up on the mat after he collasped, essentially inviting himust pin him, but Inoki thought better and called this one off, and is now in the books as a no contest ending in 26 minutes and 35 seconds. It somehow gets funnier, though, as Maeda, after this one was wrapped up, goes for a pin on Andre, which gets immediately swatted off before any unofficial one count.

As a pure wrestling match, this absolutely stinks, but that isn't the appeal here. This pretty much immediately turns into a borderline freakshow attraction that has to be seen to be believed. Additionally, for all his prior and future transgressions as a pro wrestler, I don't think Akira Maeda did anything wrong here. He gave Andre the exact amount of professionalism he was getting, and for better or for worse, I was entertained.

The Gaffney Rating: 1 Star

The Gaffney Scorecard: Akira Maeda 10 - Andre the Giant 8, First Round TKO

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ryohei Oiwa (New Japan Cup Night 8, Round of 16 Matchup, 3/14/26)

Now to an infinitely better wrestling matchup between a pair of tag team partners, and more so than that, faction leader and understudy. Ryohei Oiwa, probably my favorite of these Under-30 New Japan guys on the come up, sported a 0-4 record against TMDK (The Mighty Don't Kneel) figurehead/ex-IWGP Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr., going into their second round matchup in the New Japan Cup. It would've been a hell of an opportunity to break that streak, pull off the biggest upset of the tournament, and have that kind of a win on his resume against some of his contemporaries, such as Yuya Uemura, Shota Umino, and Callum Newman.

Not that this isn't anything groundbreaking as far as ZSJ matches go, although this is still a great match, is helped out a ton by English play-by-play man Walker Stewart, breaking down the story of this one to perfection, down to both men being understudies of Yoshinari Ogawa and the eventual journey for Oiwa to get into TMDK at the tail end of 2024. Especially in the back half of this match, the crowd in the Kinjo Pier Arena in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, really gets into this one, and heavily with Oiwa at that.

This match is a great case of two guys picking a limb and simply putting in a shift if there ever was one, with Sabre Jr going after Oiwa's arms for the bulk of this match, and Oiwa going after ZSJ's legs. Tons of good, crisp submission and chain work throughout this one, but the first tide shift is off, with Sabre ragdolling Oiwa to the mat with wrist control, and when I say this ring didn't budge on what was a pretty good bump, believe me. After some good submission counter work, though, Oiwa is able to get back in, thanks to the size advantage, and really gets things back in his favor with some of the nastier dragon screws I've seen in some time. This leads to a spot that I really liked where things kind of grind to an even halt, and ZSJ is able to get mat control, but attempts to catch his legs so they don't hit the ropes, but in doing so, gives up Oiwa's damaged arms, but he has the wits to reach out for a rope break to his right.

We get a bit of a reset before what's ultimately the final stretch, in which Oiwa breaks out a chaos theory German suplex, a pair of false finishes off The Grip and Zack Driver, but ultimately, we get a last stand finish where ZSJ beats Oiwa to the punch on what would've been a second Grip lariat, and dumps Oiwa straight on the back of his head with the Zack Driver for the three.

Simply a spectacular match from bell to bell. No other way to say it, and the student-teacher dynamic certainly helps out in a big way. Kind of stinks that Oiwa didn't get as strong a run in the New Japan Cup as Uemura, Newman, or Umino did, but if the mindset is hold off on Oiwa getting that win in a bigger spot, I agree 100%. This could absolutely be better served in a bigger spot on PPV or even past the block stage of the G1 this summer. The great thing about this is I don't think Oiwa came out of this loss losing much, if at all. That crowd in Aichi was super behind him and for good reason. He’s going to be just fine, and this is a great ZSJ performance anyhow. Very excited for them to take on the Knockout Brothers again next month now.

The Gaffney Rating: 4.25 Stars