10 Wrestling Matches That Ended In Unbelievable Locations
3. Antonio Inoki Vs. Masa Saito - The Island Death Match
Long-time rivals Antonio Inoki and Masa Saito decided the only way to bring an end to their bitter beef, was to head to the island of Ganryū-jima in 1987 for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Pulling inspiration from a legendary fight to the death between swordsmen Kojiro Sasaki and Musashi Miyamoto on the island back in 1612, this Inoki vs. Saito offering was dubbed an Island Death Match. The premise? The two rivals would be dumped on the island and left to duke it out until one man outlasted the other.
By the time the contest wrapped up - Saito eventually passing out to a sleeper hold - the action clocked in at just over two hours. A laborious, sluggish sight to watch, the Island Death Match was helped none in an audio/video sense by how far away the recording TV cameras were.
One has to remember, this happened at a time when NJPW was struggling, and so the idea of Inoki and Saito going to bloody, brutal war on a remote island locale was an attempt to ignite interest in a flagging product. Instead, this match ended up being a genuinely tough watch due to how outright boring it was.
It was only when a certain Big Van Vader made his presence known later that year - shockingly decimating Inoki in five minutes and handing him only his second loss in a decade - that New Japan began to slowly generate renewed interest.