Early IWGP Title Question

[The Crowbar King]

NJPW @ Nagoya, Japan – 06/13/1985
IWGP champion Antonio Inoki defeated World champion Hulk Hogan by count out at 11:25; only Inoki’s title was on the line.


I thought the IWGP title was only an annual tournament until 1987. If so, why was Inoki defending it in this match? Could someone clear up this confusion for me?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Yes, it was an annual tournament, but the match was held at the end of the IWGP Championship series as a special match. Inoki didn't defend the title and vacated it right before entering the annual tournament in '86.

[The Crowbar King]

Okay, I'm a bit confused. It's listed in Wrestling Title Histories, Volume #4, that Inoki defeated Andre the Giant (who won a tournament previous to that to face Inoki) by count on June 11, 1985. So wouldn't this mean that Inoki won the 1985 IWGP tournament and then defended it against Hogan two days later?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Inoki-Andre match was the final. I thought the Inoki-Hogan match was for WWF title (not for IWGP), but it could be just a non-title special match. Haven't been able to find any record saying that the match was for either title.

[The Crowbar King]

I found that result from Graham Cawthon's www.thehistoryofwwe.com site. I would imagine he found it on Kayfabe Memories.

[SK3]

Tokyo, Japan 6/14/84: Antonio Inoki beat WWE & IWGP Champion Hulk Hogan by countout to win the IWGP title (the WWE Championship was not on the line)

That's what I found also for my Hogan results site. I never really questioned it, but it does confuse me a bit.

[The Crowbar King]

I apologize for bumping old threads, but has anyone ever found out anything for certain about this?

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Again IWGP was a tournament but not the acutal title. Hogan was the defending champion from the previous winner. The '84 tournament winner Inoki beat him for the IWGP (annual tournament) championship. It was handled completed differently from WWF title.

I was watching the match on TV back then, but I don't remember WWF title being on the line at all. The finish (Choshu, who was feuding with Inoki, gave Hogan a lariat outside the ring which caused Inoki to win by COR) didn't make sense, and the audience caused a near riot at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. New Japan was banned from the venue for a while because of that. If WWF title was on the line, the finish would have made a little more sense (since the title doesn't change hands by COR or DQ), and the fans probably wouldn't be upset as much as they were at the time even though kayfabe still existed strongly back then.

[Greek Crippler]

Actually he situation is a bit confusing . GO figure , right ?