AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championships - AJPW: Super Power Series 1992 (5/25/1992)

Today I want to pay tribute to one of the scariest wrestlers I've ever seen. The madman of NJPW, the monster enforcer of Suzukigun and master of the iron fingers, Takashi Iizuka!

I will admit at first, I did not understand the appeal but as I got older and looked deeper into the character, I grew to appreciate and fear Iizuka.

He started out as a great technical wrestler and tag team specialist, with his team with Nagata having some great matches against the likes of Tenkozy and the team of Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi.

However once he turned heel, he slowly turned into a monster. He shaved his head bald, grew a long goatee and started attacking people with chairs and his Iron Fingers. He also attacked one of the commentators who name I sadly cannot remember but he is known as a huge fan of Blue Justice.

He grew more wild and out of control over the years, to the point he acted like a wild animal and only screamed and roared.

Iizuka has been the chief enforcer for 3 heel groups in NJPW; GBH, Chaos and most famously Suzukigun. When I started watching NJPW Iizuka was a member of Suzukigun and honestly, they were the best group for him. They gave him a home and in exchange, he was unleashed on anyone who crossed them.

There is a bit of tragedy to his story, because the one person who still cared about Takashi was his old tag team partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Iizuka retired in 2019 and had his final bout against Tenzan in a 6 man tag team match. After the bout, Tenzan begged Iizuka to go back to his old self. For a moment we saw a glimpse of the old Iizuka. The Iizuka who was honourable and treated others with respect. The Iizuka who helped Tenzan several times in the past.

For a brief moment, the humanity behind the monster briefly came up from the surface and he shook the hand of his old friend Tenzan. And then he attacked him. The monster was too strong but at least fans saw the old Iizuka.

Since then, Iizuka would make a few cameo appearances over the years, most notably at the end of the retirement match of Tenzan, his old friend. But this time, what little humanity within Iizuka came up again but in full force and he not only shook the hand but hugged him. And he immediately went back to attack his favourite commentator but for one moment, Iizuka was back to his former self. He even reunited with his old GBH faction during their tag team no 1 contenders bout with the KO Brothers.

I love Iizuka because he is a throwback to the likes of Bruiser Brody who would scare fans whenever he came to the ring, swinging his chain through the crowd.

He was an absolute menace and played his role as monstrous hit man and enforcer very well. We need more demonic heels like Iizuka on wrestling, especially today.

I was sad when Iizuka retired. I never thought I get emotional over a psychotic wrestler who does nothing but scream incoherently, bites people and hit them with a metal glove but the way the story was presented was just so compelling. It reminded me that even monsters cam be human. Just a little bit.

Thank you Takashi Iizuka. You and your Iron Fingers will never be forgotten.

Match recommendations

Iizuka before he went mad:

Takashi Iizuka izuka vs Kazunari Murakami njpw dome impact 2000

Iizuka and Nagata vs Kawada and Fuchi NJPW 2nd judgement 2000

Iizuka and Nagata vs Tenkozy G1 Tag league 2000

After he went mad:

Takashi Iizuka vs Yuji Nagata Dog Collar match 2004

Takashi Iizuka vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan chain death match 2008

Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano vs Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Suigura GHC tag title match 2013

Takashi Iizuka vs Maybach Taniguchi Pro Wrestling NOAH great Voyage 2015

Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki vs Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr WTL 2018

Retirement 2019: Takashi Iizuka, Minoru Suzuki and Taichi vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada.

If you have a favourite Iizuka memory or match please share it.

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