JerryvonKramer

Dates for the two tags are 10/17/81 and 10/19/81

Title switch vs martel and Garea, battle royal where they joint win and first defense vs martel and Garea.

Slept on portion of Ricky Martel's career where he proved himself a COMPLETE babyface tag wrestler. Excellent doing arms drags in the shine, excellent face in peril, excellent got tag. All-time level great talent. Thing is though, Garea is at least very good at all those things too despite the fact he was getting on by the time of this team. They also have a cool Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in the Color of Money dynamic. Contenders for best WWF through to 1981.

Not a joke nomination, these two were a classic combo, Saito the super worker, Fuji the all schtick master of BS. Contenders for best WWF team of up till 1981.

Hard to separate incredible mic work when assessing these guys but terrific Andersons psychology, you feel like you're going to a clinic in every match you see them destroy a limb.

Incidentally my whole point with this thread wasn't to prove anything about Dory, the original title was intended ironically. I just wanted to go in without prejudging him. And on the whole, I've really dug a lot of his stuff, especially in tag and brawl settings. People could probably find me making Dory is boring jokes on shows before, that was me prejudging. I do try to be impartial in my reviews as far as possible. I'll say when I think matches are great and when they suck. Edit: oh wrong thread, but you know what I mean.

Considering how much Will liked Dick Mirdoch sitting in a head scissors for 15 minutes, my feeling is that he's playing favorites and isn't consistent with criticisms across matches. He told me on that show we did that high spots don't mean shit, but this one is criticised for having none of them after 25 mins. I'd like to see his review of the Backlund vs Valentine match from 79 that goes an hour and consists of a single boring headlock for 35 minutes and we have Greg and Bob saying in shoots that Greg was blown up. But I think Will likes Greg so he'll find reasons to like it. That said, I've not reviewed Dory vs. Terry yet.

Just stumbled on this and I think it makes a decent point:

I'd like to request Jack Brisco vs. Giant Baba (12/05/74). Can find it here: Uploaded by yours truly.

Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan (11/9/84) Pretty sure this dating is correct looking at both Duggan's hair and the fact that this had no stips with a clean (cheap) finish. These two have excellent chemistry and this was a sprint. Not quite up to some of their other classic matches, but it had super energy and, if my dating is correct, provides a neat, logical in-ring context for the next chapters of the feud in Houston. i.e. There's no way this match can not have some sort of stip or else Ted will just cheat to win. Very fun. ***1/2

Kamala & Kareem Muhammad vs. Jim Duggan & Cowboy Bill Watts (7/26/85) This was pretty much an abortion. Kareem looks awful in that t-shirt. I've long thought that the Zambuies were a real low-rent territorial act. Watts still has a great punch on him.

I know this past week has been real busy on the feed, but don't want this one to get lost in the shuffle. I REALLY want to know what people make of these two matches. I will probably review Dory / Jack again in written form so I can take in commentary.

Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express (5/3/85) I really dug the simple structure of this one. Rock n Rolls got to shine until the transition where DiBiase rammed Morton's back into the ring post and then the heels went to work focusing on the injured back until the finish. The formula is the formula for a reason, it's effective. Ted demonstrated what I've said many times about him: he's one of the best FEEDERS in the business. Look closely at that early shine sequence again and see how quickly he's back up to his feet again and again to take another dropkick. It's little things like that that made DiBiase an ELITE level worker in the mid-80s. He made Robert Gibson look incredible during that early portion. Doc was solid in this match and I liked the fact that he didn't milk that bearhug but instead threw Morton down to the mat after a couple of seconds like a ragdoll. His multiple backbreakers were good too and Ted dropped a HUGE backbreaker himself. This is real solid stuff featuring two good teams and two all-time great performers (Morton and DiBiase). Probably a bit short to go much higher than ... ***3/4 Cool little segment post match with Ted giving a good promo and tussling with Paul Boesch over the prospect of a rematch.

How come magnum travelled with Ric?

Will be interesting to compare to Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA (9/28/85) from AWA, which really felt like "JCP on the road".

The WWF announces its schedule for August! *loaned or freelance workers in brackets * Nick Bockwinkel not listed because he is loaned on an ongoing basis * Steve Regal not listed because he is loaned for first three months full-time * The following workers are scheduled for all TV tapings: Bret Hart, Bobby Eaton, Tommy Rogers, El Gran Apollo, Dr Death Steve Williams 8/2/83: MSG (Larry Zbyszko, Abdullah the Butcher, The Sheik, Harley Race) 8/3/83: TV tapings 8/4/83: Harrisburg, PA - Zembo Temple Mosque (The Women) 8/5/83: Detroit, MI - Cobo Arena (Abdullah the Butcher, Mil Mascaras, The Sheik, Harley Race, The Women) 8/9/83: Philly Spectrum (Larry Zbyszko, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Harley Race) 8/10/83: TV Tapings (Tully Blanchard) 8/11/83: Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena 8/12/5/83: Warren, OH - WD Packard Music Hall (Abdullah the Butcher, Mil Mascaras, The Sheik) 8/16/83: Boston Gardens (Tully Blanchard, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Mil Mascaras, Harley Race) 8/17/83: TV Tapings 8/18/83: Johnstown, PA - Cambria County War Memorial Arena 8/19/83: Cleveland, OH - Convention Center (Abdullah the Butcher, Mil Mascaras, The Sheik, Harley Race, The Women) 8/23/83: Meadlowlands (Tully Blanchard, Mil Mascaras, Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk) 8/24/83: TV Tapings (Ted DiBiase, Dick Murdoch) 8/25/83: Scranton, PA - CYC 8/26/83: Canton, OH - Civic Center (Abdullah the Butcher, Mil Mascaras, The Sheik, Harley Race, The Women)

According to Bruno and other detractors it's because he didn't always do great return business.

Also Mr Perfect was wearing a suit. In Vince's thinking that is too confusing for fans and toy manufacturers.

Terry Funk in WCW circa 2000. I had completely blanked on that and had no memory of it whatsoever until a random Funk vs. Meng match came up in a search I was running the other night.

Just a thought but I suspect the robe thing was to give him a unique look and not confuse him with Ted DiBiase who also wore a suit. Vince is all about giving each and every guy a USP, Flair's Slick Ric persona with the rolexes etc. were probably a bit too close to Million Dollar Man for Vince's tastes.

I did a show with Will last night (see here -- and I'd definitely LOVE to hear other people's views on those two matches) in which I think we nailed some of the real differences in what we like as fans. I like big performers. I love Pat Patterson who plays to the cheap seats. I love guys like Jack Brisco, Rick Martel and Ricky Steamboat who do HUGE selling that you just can't miss. All three of those guys sell a punch like they've been shot, they'll sell a piledriver with full body convulsions and the shaky leg. I think this sort of large over-the-top performance is fantastic. A lot of the guys I am high on -- Flair, Funk, Arn, DiBiase, Race, Heenan -- excel at the big stuff. I think wrestling in some sense is pantomime and the performance SHOULD be large. Even I think Mr. Perfect probably goes too far, but I still dig him. Will seems to favour a smaller performance. He's looking for tiny little things in matches like the positioning of a guy's knee during a hammerlock. He seems to privilege this sort of nuance over aspects of a performance that are more "obvious". I think at times where I'm seeing a guy lying in a hold for 15 minutes, he's appreciating these little things. Where do you tend to lie on this? Is it a false dichotomy? Do you dig both things? Is this something you've ever thought about?

Beast - when Vince Sr did storylines he really pulled them off and they are among the best feuds I've ever seen. Just that WWF Title ususally wasn't involved in them. 1980 had Bruno vs. Larry, which is must-watch 1980 also had Grand Wizard double-crossing Patterson and bringing in Patera. 1981 had Sgt. Slaughter Cobra Clutch challenge going into Slaughter vs. Patterson, which is must-watch 1981 also had the legendary Andre-Killer Khan angle. Typically there'd only be ONE big storyline going at a time but in each case they are either super high end or all-time level. Vince Sr seems to have booked it so that Backlund didn't really get a ton of angles until late 1981. The title getting held up at MSG was a sort of a storyline (NY only), then in 82 Graham busting the belt. But it would be totally wrong to think that the period has no storylines, it has some of the very best.

http://placetobenation.com/good-will-wrestling-70s-live-watch/ Join Will and Parv in a live viewing of two matches from the 1970s featuring four legends: Dick Murdoch vs. Pat O'Connor (12/15/75): www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwXdMjWuwhc www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWrSaEEGq5A www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl9mLMWg2V8 and ... Dory Funk Jr vs. Jack Brisco (2/8/72): www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfGE3vpHksQ

What will Harley be doing? Same question to you Grimmas. The purpose of these dates is to get over the idea of the NWA World Champion over to the crowd in order to build for the 12/27 Meadowlands title vs. title match down the line. Harley will likely defend against people like Bob Backlund and Billy Robinson on the big shows and against Mil Mascaras on the smaller ones.