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Keiji Mutoh vs. Tony St. Clair
on September 18th, 1985

Event: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Location: Fukuoka Sports Center
Attendance:  Unknown

They circle each other to start, tie-up, St. Clair pushes Mutoh into the ropes but he gives a clean break. Armdrag takedown by St. Clair and he goes for Mutoh's arm, Mutoh returns to his feet and dropkicks out of the hold. Tie-up, side headlock takedown by St. Clair, Mutoh struggles to his feet and Irish whips out of it, but St. Clair shoulderblocks him down. Side headlock takedown again by St. Clair and he keeps the hold applied on the mat, again Mutoh Irish whips out of it but again St. Clair shoulderblocks him down. St. Clair goes off the ropes but Mutoh catches him with an armdrag. Elbow drop by Mutoh, cover, but it gets a one count. Back up, armdrag by St. Clair, Irish whip, but Mutoh hits a sunset flip for a two count. Knee by Mutoh, snapmare, and he applies a reverse chinlock. Side headlock takedown by Mutoh, but St. Clair gets out of it. Uppercut by St. Clair and he hits a knee lift, snapmare by St. Clair and he applies a headscissors. Mutoh gets out of it and applies a modified stretch hold. Elbow drop to the back by Mutoh, Irish whip, and he delivers a dropkick. Mutoh goes for a crab hold, but St. Clair grabs the ropes before he can get him over. Side headlock by St. Clair, Mutoh Irish whips out of it but St. Clair shoulderblocks him down. Back bodydrop by Mutoh, and he dropkicks St. Clair out of the ring. Mutoh then goes to the ropes and flies out onto St. Clair with a pescado. Mutoh gets back in the ring but St. Clair pulls him back out and throws Mutoh into the guard rail. St. Clair returns with Mutoh slowly following, and St. Clair suplexes Mutoh back into the ring. Cover, but it gets a two count. Irish whip by St. Clair and he delivers a back elbow. Cover, but again it gets two. Irish whip by St. Clair but Mutoh ducks the lariat and hits a crossbody for a two count. Mutoh applies a headscissors but St. Clair gets out of it and pulls back on Mutoh's leg. Mutoh scooches to the ropes and eventually makes it to force a break. Irish whip by St. Clair and he nails a lariat, cover, but it gets a two count. St. Clair picks up Mutoh and hits an uppercut, then another one and a knee lift. Scoop slam by St. Clair, cover, but it gets two. Irish whip by St. Clair to the corner, another Irish whip but this one is reversed and Mutoh hits the Space Rolling Elbow. Backbreaker by Mutoh, he goes up to the top turnbuckle and nails the moonsault! Cover, but St. Clair kicks out at two. Side headlock by Mutoh, St. Clair Irish whips out of it and hits a back elbow. Cover, but it gets two as well. Irish whip by Mutoh, but St. Clair rolls up Mutoh with a cradle and picks up the three count! Your winner: Tony St. Clair

Match Thoughts: For a match that went 12 minutes, not a whole hell of a lot happened. This is a match that some clipping wouldn't have hurt, as they were repeating the same basic wrestling manuevers until the last few minutes. Don't get me wrong, only a year into his career there is nothing wrong with going over the basics especially when wrestling a gaijin, but it made for a pretty boring encounter when shown in full. St. Clair seems like a very solid technical wrestler but I don't know enough about him to know if that is the extent of his abilities. I actually liked that the moonsault did not get the pin, as up to that point St. Clair had been dominating pretty well and it would have seemed really weird if Mutoh could take so much punishment and then so quickly take the match. Overall it wasn't actively bad, but it was slow and probably was longer then it needed to be. Score:: 4.0


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