Do you remember playing as a kid with another boy in the neighborhood, but at some point something just snapped and one of you went ape shit? Whether someone got too rough or the other kid just didn’t play “right”, all the sudden you’re wailing on each other like rabid animals. Well, that’s kind of what happened when Antonio Inoki wrestled The Great Antonio. The damn fool didn’t play right.
Entire books could and have been written about the Japanese Pro Wrestling deity known as Inoki. He famously faced Muhammad Ali in mixed-rules competition. He was trained by the “Father of Puroresu” Rikidōzan (no stranger to legit beating the hell out of his opponents either) and catch wrestler Karl Gotch. Inoki was even immortalized a cartoon character.
On the other hand, the Great Antonio? Getting soccer kick KOed by Inoki is pretty much his most famous moment. This is what happens when you don’t put respeck on Inoki’s name.
Listen to Bill Burr talk you through the beatdown as it plays out.
