Hiro Matsuda Wins the NWA Junior Heavyweight Belt

by Mark Long

Hiro Matsuda - historyofwrestling.comHiro Matsuda defeated NWA Junior Heavyweight champion Danny Hodge for the title belt in Tampa, Florida. Hodge had been injured and suffered from a knee infection in the weeks prior to the match, having held the belt for almost four years. The two met in a best out of three match that turned into a brutal, bloody battle. Matsuda played the heel and continued to attack Hodge’s injured knee. Much of the audience was calling for Matsuda to be disqualified, but instead he gained a pinfall in the third fall.