JerryvonKramer

I'm not going to watch Survivor Series, but like some others I think it's a shame that Sting has appeared in WWE.

Bill Apter

Just a FYI I went full ***** on Funks vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (8/31/83) and ranked it 4. for 80s AJPW, but I seem to recall that I was a high vote on that match. And reading comments from Will and Childs, I think I am higher on the longer Funks tags in general than the committee were.

I'll give it a rewatch and new review tomorrow as well.

Hmmm, I had the 83 match significantly higher. A (****3/4) 11. Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen (4/14/83) C+ (***) 109. Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (9/11/82) To be honest, if you don't like that 83 match I don't know what planet you're on. That's Funk's retirement match right?

Yes, but you need to register for vk.com -- you'll find them on there.

Bumper crop in tonight's batch with three matches breaching the B+ line: Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (12/18/75) Great sprint worked with intensity and heat. Good shorter showcase for both workers. Rating: **** / B+ Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (03/13/75) Masterpiece. The first fall alone is a work of art, but the violence keeps escalating up the gears through the second before a hot finish. MVP performance from the young Jumbo, but everyone on great form here. Rating: ****3/4 / A Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/15/78) While it starts off slow, this one builds and builds towards a great finishing stretch. Great "peril" performance from Terry here, and some unusual fire from Dory. Very good match, despite some boring stretches. Rating: ****1/2 / A-

I reviewed five more 70s Jumbo matches here vs. Dory Funk or tagging with Baba vs. the Funks. He was just excellent in all of these matches, including the one from 1973 when he's *really* young. Great on offense whether working holds, throwing bombs and in strike exchanges, great at selling, great at showing fire and emotion, great intensity. He was in there with three real pros and didn't look out of place at all. The '75 tag match is a masterpiece.

Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (08/29/74) Early going sees Dory out-wrestling the young Jumbo with a superior ground game which culminates in his Indian deathlock. Jumbo tries to counter with armwork but eats a hip toss. Dory applies a "scissors" on the arm and Jumbo deadlifts him, Dory clings on. Rolling cradles gets two for Dory. Jumbo goes back to the arm. Some good work here as he drops knees and other such things on it. Because of Dory's rare facial condition (inability to show emotion), he sells all this by slamming his other arm on the canvas and writhing around. Deliberate and effective control sequence. Decent opening 10 minutes but on the boring side. Dory comes back and hits a big back suplex. And then the butterfly which gets three. That's the first fall. Dory shows no emotion in raising his arm to celebrate, he's focused on Jumbo. Second fall, both guys are dripping with sweat. Doesn't seem to be a lot of heat here. Dory starts out the aggressor with some uppercuts and a snapmare. Cover gets two. Into the armbar -- but this is a smart armbar because he sweeps the leg away and leans in on the shoulder. Wristlock. Jumbo gets a slap across the face in. Dory does not release the wristlock. And again. And again. Dory does not bat an eyelid -- if Jumbo was trying to rile Dory, he's going to have to do better than that. Headlock takeover. Back into the armbar. Adbominal stretch. Jumbo reverses it with a hiptoss. Big elbow drop by Dory. Piledriver??! No, backdrop by Jumbo. Uppercut and an elbow smash by Jumbo. Gets two. Butterfly suplex attempt by Jumbo, but Dory blocks it. No, it's not happening. Rope running spot ends with a knee from Dory. Drop kick by Dory, but Jumbo fends it off and that's enough for three. 1-1 Dory should stop trying to do that dropkick, I've seen him drop a fall because of it a few times now! Third fall. Starts with a cradle pin attempt by Dory but Jumbo goes back to the arm he was working back in the first fall. Dory pulls it back into a pin again. Some struggle over this. Jumbo manages to get himself into the Indian deathlock position and then bridges back to leverage the pain. Dory registers the pain with smacks to the mat but then sees a chance for a pin attempt as Jumbo is still prone and bridged back. He bridges up with Dory on top of him now and gets on a body scissors -- similar to the spot in the Brisco vs. Lawler match. Still in this position and Dory starts walloping Jumbo in the face with his fist -- these look like real nasty potato shots. Man. Highlight of the match so far. Neat little set piece now with a double rise move in which both guys almost handstand into each other, but Jumbo gets a body scissors in. STF by Dory now. Single chickenwing on the mat. Jumbo sells this really well, pain on his face is intense. Dory comes back up with a double wristlock from behind, which Jumbo reverses into a rack. Another of these big chops to the face. And then two more. Shit, if I was Dory I'd be getting pissed off, but he doesn't. Instead we get a vertical suplex from the apron back inside by Dory. Jumbo with the smacks and uppercuts. Knee to the gut. Backbreaker. Only gets one! Snapmare by Dory. Boston crab! But he can't quite get him over and Jumbo twists out of it. Double leg takedown and goes for the crab again but Jumbo kicks him off and Dory goes flying to the outside. Jumbo with the strikes again and a delayed ... gutwrench suplex. Huh?! Never seen that before. And now ... delayed belly-to-belly suplex. Never seen that before either! The young Jumbo pulling out all the moves here. Cover only gets one!! Big leg drop by Jumbo gets two. Dory is still kicking out with authority though. Flapjack. Bridgeup but then we get another one but Dory happens to be one top and this gets three. They shake hands and Dory pats Jumbo on the back as if to say "you did your best kid". But, honestly, Dory looks like he doesn't give a fuck and is looking to go and get some Japanese beer or something. This match had some really great moments and some superb counter wrestling. Dory's potato shots during that little stretch looked genuinely nasty. Jumbo was very spirited here and came across like a plucky young face going in against a real pro and doing his very very best. And it makes you believe that he might actually beat Dory, even if -- and this is a criticism -- Dory wasn't exactly going out of his way to make him look good. I thought it was a dick move to kick out at one after two big suplexes. Jumbo was very good at selling here, and delivered some pretty unique high-end offense in the third fall. This was not one of Dory's better outings, he didn't seem that interested and was mostly on auto-pilot here. This won't be a match to turn around Dory haters, because he shows basically no emotion at all during this -- although I do think that that was part of the narrative. Jumbo was pushing his luck with the slaps across the face -- big show of defiance and even disrespect -- but Dory didn't react and just stuck to his gameplan. Still, he might have given his opponent more. I also thought that while there was some neat counter wrestling going on, the match lacked heat, even by 70s Japan standards. Crowd was sitting on their hands here. Very good outing for young Jumbo, not the best showing for Dory. ***1/2 Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (12/18/75) Let's see what these two do in a shorter match then. Starts with the Jumbo deadlifting Dory from a headscissors sort of position. Dory twists Jumbo's head and he feels his neck in pain. Boston crab position and Dory doesn't fully sync it in -- noticed he does this spot a lot. Jumbo twists out. Elbow and collar tieup. Armdrag by Jumbo. Into the arm bar. Wristlock. And Jumbo wrenches it. Dory comes back with an elbow smash. European uppercuts. Chickenwing down on the mat, guess you could call it a "double arm lock". Jumbo bridges up and we get a repeat of this spot with Dory on top of the bridge now. Jumbo goes for a headlock but Dory hits an explosive back suplex. Goes for the butterfly, but Jumbo charges for the ropes. Dory has big mutton lambchop 70s sideburns here -- most excellent. Slugfest now and it culminates in another of Jumbo's ace gutwrench suplexes. Over into the corner and we get a clean break. Greco Roman knucklelock. Side russian legsweep by Dory. Big elbow drop. And another right on the back of Jumbo's neck. Dory goes for the butterfly again but Jumbo blocks it. Headlock takeover. Jumbo hits a knee for two and goes for the butterfly again. Dory backs into the ropes. This butterfly suplex isn't happening today! Elbow and collar tieup once more. Uppercuts by Dory. Delayed belly-to-belly suplex by Jumbo!! That gets two. Swinging neckbreaker! Awesome. Just two for Jumbo. DEATH power slam by Jumbo. Two. Flapjack. Dory bridges up but Jumbo cathes him. Delayed gutwrench suplex again! Big strikes back and forth. But now ... now Dory hits the butterfly suplex. TWO! Uppercuts by Dory. Indian deathlock.Jumbo reverses. Spinning toehold by Jumbo!! Dory rolls away. Jumbo catches him and tries to turn for the Boston crab. Big chops back and forth. The bell goes for a time-limit draw. This was obviously part of the 75 Champions Carnival. Both guys raise their arms and they are all buddy buddy. Wow, this was an awesome match -- a sprint between these two in 1975, so basically a lot of the high spots we see in the 74 match minus some of the boring matwork with more pace and more heat. I loved this. Jumbo has looked terrific in these last couple of matches. **** Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Tomomi Tsuruta (10/09/73) Let's take a look at Jumbo when he was a real baby, 1973!! The Funks are wearing some pretty swank looking tag belts. Believe they are the International NWA tag titles. At this point Jack Brisco was already NWA champ. Dory starts out with Baba. Goes to ground early. Baba starts on the arm. Tags in "Tonomi" (Jumbo). We get the flapjack bridging spot again but it results in a backslide with Jumbo getting two. Oooohhh, Dory didn't like that and he goes to punch him. Thinks better of losing his temper any more and tags in Terry. Bodyslam by Terry. Leg drop. Lateral press gets two. Another big body slam but Terry misses an elbow. Jumbo with a slam of his own now and Baba tags back in. Stomp by Baba and Terry tries to escape on his knees. Another stomp by Baba and Terry rolls out of the ring. Dory goes over to comfort and protect him -- brotherly love. Dory tags in and we're back to Baba vs. Dory. Elbow and collar tieup. Jumbo tags in. They lock up. Headlock by Jumbo. Match seems to stall here. Both guys back up and consult their partners. Another lock up, Dory slips behind into a full nelson. Terry comes in and tries to clothesline Jumbo but he ducks and Terry nails Dory instead -- seems like a real US-style wrestling spot that, wonder if it's out of place -- this 73 tour is Terry's first time over I believe. Baba dominates Dory for a while now and he tags out. Terry comes in with a piledriver! Baba holds the top of his head -- the piledriver does hurt here you know. Cover by Terry gets two. Dory tags in. Backbreaker! Elbow drop. Cover gets two. Crowd is really into this. I am too, I love a heat sequence like this. Double teaming by the Funks now. Jumbo tags back in. Headbutt by Terry seems to leave him more staggered. Baba in with a chop to the top of the head. Dropkick! Jumbo in with a missile dropkick! GERMAN. Wow and that gets a hot first fall. Great match so far. Jumbo looks emotional to get the fall. Second fall: Jumbo starts out with Terry who wounds up getting stuck in the bottom rope. Dory comes over to untangle him. Terry is very "cartoony" for this environment. Baba is back in with a bearhug. Boston crab by Baba now. Keeping the pressure on the back. Terry tags out, as does Baba so it's Dory vs. Jumbo. Headlock. He wrenches it massively -- reminds me of a Jack Brisco or Rick Martel in the way he's doing it -- seems like Jumbo get "got it" right from 1973. Dory busts out of this with a back suplex. Multiple uppercuts now. Snapmare. Armbar but with both legs over the arm for additional leverage. Terry back in. Goes for the butterfly suplex but doesn't look like it's happening. Staggering back and forth in this position. And eventually Terry gets him over. Baba in now. Terry goes to butterfly suplex him! More struggle so Dory tags in and takes over trying to do the butterfly. Baba blocks it. Dory gives up and hits an uppercut instead. Terry comes in and Baba pastes them both. Russian leg sweep. Uppercuts by Dory and then he dumps Baba. Ties up the ref while Terry attacks Baba. Dropkick outside. Ref goes out to break this up. Jumbo has gone over too. Dory waits in the ring. Baba rolls back in. Uppercuts and strikes back and forth. Dory hits the block forearm smash. Baba with the headlock. Terry hits an elbow from the top to break it. Chop from Baba sends him 360 to the outside. Dory back in. Baba whispers something in Jumbo's ear. Headlock takeover by Dory. Rolling cradle gets two. Bodyslam. Chinlock. Rack. Baba's arms are so weird! He's able to reverse this and tags Jumbo in who takes over on the rack (two arms being pulled back with a leg in the middle of the back). Dory tries to reverse it but after a lot of struggle with Terry shouting "COME ON JUNIOR". he fails. Then they go through it a second time, but Jumbo still comes out on top. Dory springs out of it with a forward roll and thrust. Terry in. Armdrag into an armbar. Wristlock. Shoulder charge. Elbow drop. Terry grinds his elbow into Jumbo's arm. We get the bridge up spot now with Terry on top. Baba back in. This second fall is going long. Wristlock by Terry. He smashes some forearms on Baba's arm. Baba comes back with a slap. Big boot. Cover gets two. Bodyslam but Baba and it's a big one. Another big slam. Stomp. Cover gets two. Abdominal stretch by Baba! And Dory comes in to break it. Jumbo in and he takes over the abdominal stretch. Terry comes back with a sort of armlock in the "pump handle slam" position, only down on the mat. Series of shoulder blocks culminate in a rolling cradle by Terry for three and 1-1. Second fall went pretty long and while the crowd is into it, it wasn't as heated or well structured as the first. There are actually some Japanese commercials on this footage, it's been taped from G+. Some good stuff in this second fall, but I think there were a few repeated spots that were designed almost entirely to eat up time. Man, these Japanese adverts are weird. Third fall now. And Terry is on the mat taking big stomps from Jumbo. Boston crab! After a near fall, Dory comes back in and ties up with Jumbo. Armlock by him. Chinlock now. Backslide! That gets two for Dory. Abdominal stretch! Jumbo sells this great. Terry sneaks in with a punch to the gut while the ref is distracted with Baba. But Jumbo manages to reverse the abdominal stretch into one of his own. Butterfly suplex! Jumbo hit it! Cover gets two. Dory gets in a shoulder block which sends him down too. Grabs Jumbo in a waistlock and hits a belly-to-back suplex. Tags Terry in who is starting with the Texas jabs. Airplane spin!! He spins and spins! Drops Jumbo does but is clearly giddy himself -- more cartooniness from Terry. Jumbo tags out. Dory comes in with a slam on Baba. Goes to the top but gets slammed off the top -- Dory with a Race spot there! Dropkick by Baba. Cover gets two. Another dropkick but this time Chessmaster Dory grabs the ropes so Baba misses. He tags out. Terry in with elbows across the back of the neck. He goes for the atomic splash but misses into the ropes. Baba applies some sort of hold now but Dory hits him in the back to break. Jumbo in. Irish whip and a dropkick. Dory grabs his head and drags him off Terry to break a count. Bodyslam by Terry. Baba in with one of his own. Dory tags back in. Back suplex on Baba from him gets two only. Baba wit the chops. Swinging neckbreaker! And the bell goes for the time limit draw. This match has some very good action, the first fall is excellent and heated. The second fall slows down and has too many sequences that feel like they are eating up time. I also think that Terry was much too cartoonish in this match -- it was ill-fitting of the environment and I found it quite distracting and out of place. He brought things down a bit in truth. Third fall was okay, but lacked the heat and intensity of the first, despite some cool offense being thrown around. I also thought the match lacked a little structure and focus at times. Still, some very good stuff. And the baby Jumbo didn't look out of place at all in there with the other three. ***3/4 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (03/13/75) Jumbo and Baba have the belts this time. Should note that The Destroyer is one of the guys outside the ring. Dory and Jumbo start out, but soon Terry tags in and we get a test of strength spot. Some nifty counters result in a hammerlock for Jumbo befor Dory tags in. Fireman carry takeover by Jumbo (shades of Brisco!). Jumbo goes to the arm after taking a hip toss. Rack, but Dory flips out of it before the leg could go up. Headlock by Dory. Flips round to a hammerlock. Sweeps the leg. I wish I could isolate that little moment to demonstrate just how smooth and great Dory was at that sort of shit. Very fluid, and it's the sort of fast chain wrestling that guys like Race, Flair or even Terry just couldn't do. Really fine work by Dory there. Terry back in and he goes to an armbar which he smashes a few times for extra pain. Quick tags in and out by the Funks now working on this arm. This has been a great stretch sequence, Jumbo a fine FIP too. Jumbo comes back though wrenching on the arm and Terry goes flying. Fair play, Terry made Jumbo look like a million bucks there. And Jumbo showed fire and intensity in the comeback -- you can see why this guy was a future ace. Top stuff. Baba comes in now and it's the Japanese team's turn to double team someone's arm. Terry runs around shouting and trying to escape but they reel him in. Jumbo works an armbar. Terry shouts and struggles, but Jumbo keeps this locked in for several minutes. Baba comes off the top with a double axe-handle. He picks up the armbar now. Terry charges the turnbuckle but misses.Baba looks like he wants to rip Terry's arm right out of its socket. Jumbo comes back in and takes over on the arm again. Armdrag right over the shoulder. This has been a systematic and sustained attack on Terry's arm here. Eventually he gets in a knee lift and tags in Dory. Dory with a splash on Jumbo's shoulder! Dumps him to the outside. Piledriver outside the ring by Terry on Jumbo! Wow. He's rolled back in and Dory hits an elbow smash and a bodyslam. Vertical suplex! Brainbuster! That's 1, 2, 3. What a phenomenal first fall this was! Terrific, focused work by both teams on offense. Excellent FIP sequence, even better control sequence and then they ramped up the violence in the closing moments. If this fall had been the whole match it would get ****1/2 Second fall and Dory hits a stiff uppercut on Jumbo. Snapmare. Kneedrop. Tags in Terry. Double forearm smash. Legdrop by Terry. The Funks are so awesome when they are working a stretch sequence. Terry with the jabs but Jumbo comes back and gets a tag to Baba. Big boot to the outside. Terry is doubled over by the timekeeper's table and Dory goes over to get him up. Neckbreaker by Baba! Dory back in to drop the knee and break the cover. Terry is on easy street here, he's staggering. Big chops by Baba. Side Russian legsweep. Dory once again breaks the cover. Jumbo in with an uppercut and the jumping knee smash! Baba in. Big boot! Cover gets the three for a quick second fall to make it 1-1. This was really good. Fast paced. Funks with some aweomse offense. Babyfaces recover their heat for an exciting final fall. Third fall. Baba works over Terry a bit before tagging in Jumbo who hits the butterfly suplex! Two count! Some back and forth strikes, but Terry is able to get in a butterfly suplex of his own. Knee drop. Elbow smash on the back of the neck. Dory in and he holds Jumbo to take a big Texan left off Terry. Side Russian legsweep. Baba has to run in to break the cover. Uppercuts by Dory now. But Jumbo comes back with some HUGE punches. Elbow drop. Butterfly suplex attempt by Jumbo, but Dory blocks it. Struggle but it doesn't look like it's happening. So Jumbo gets his swank delayed belly-to-belly suplex in instead! Goes for a dropkcik but Dory blocks it. Atomic drop! And Terry comes in for an assist on it. Abdominal stretch by Dory, but Jumbo blocks. Baba in with the big boot. Cover is broken up by Terry. Bodyslam on Dory by Baba. Abdominal stretch by Baba now. Terry in with a chop to break it. Back suplex by Dory. Diving kneedrop by Terry. Double suplex by the Funks on Baba! Jumbo comes in and fights with Dory, but Dory gives him a suplex. Somehow they land badly and Baba is able to roll Jumbo over for 1, 2, 3!!!!! What a fucking match! Post-match Terry goes nuts and get Joe Higuchi (the ref) up for a suplex! Someone throws a chair in the ring. Jumbo is overcome with emotion from this win and they get some interviews after the match as they are presented with some trophies. This was absolutely great this match. First fall was awesome, heated, focused, intense work with the Funks decimating Jumbo's arm in a great FIP sequence before Baba and Jumbo pay the back in full by destroying Terry's arm. That fall alone is amazing. Second fall doesn't see the pace drop, we get an escalation of violance, and is an instant reply by the faces to make this 1-1. Third fall sees the drama ramp up further. Jumbo is just GREAT in this match as a firey young babyface, in many ways he upstages Baba with his spunk and emotion. Terry seems to have learned from 73 that the cartoony shit doesn't fly in Japan because he's toned it right down here, and he is great throughout. Dory seems to be "on" here as well and he is pretty spirited in the offensive stretches and delivers some great bombs. Baba for the most part is there for a few hot tags but he does nothing to bring this down. Really great match. ****3/4 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/15/78) Dory's had his hair cut since 1975. Jumbo is bigger than he was in 75. Terry has his back and sides bandaged up, presumably from the carnage of the Abby / Sheik match a few days before. Dory and Jumbo start out. Jumbo goes for an early hip toss by the wily Dory grabs the middle rope. Tags in Terry. Armbar on Jumbo. Into a rack. Plenty of struggle here. This seems to go on forever. Dory comes in and takes over stretching the arms. Very long and boring spot this. Jumbo turns it around to prolong it. He sticks a knee into Dory's back and pulls back on the arms. Dory rolls over and flips Jumbo off, and sends him down with a single-leg sweep. Chinlock now. Headlock. Up to a vertical base. Jumbo punches Dory in the kidneys to try to escpae. We get a fast backslide by Dory which gets a very close nearfall. That woke the crowd up. Terry in. Elbow and collar tieup -- you'd think Jumbo might want out here, he's been in there a long time. And as I type that he tags out! Terry and Baba lock up. Chop suey. Comedy handshake spot, crowd laugh. Dory in. European uppercut and with authority. Dory looks unusually pissed off tonight. Headlock takeover. Baba tries to prise Dory off him using his arm. Shoulder block by Dory. Big boot by Baba. Jumbo back in with a headlock takeover. Dory tries to turn Jumbo over while he's in the headlock for a pin attempt. Jumbo bridges up to put extra leverage on this headlock. This has been a rather dull match so far. Dory stops the monotony with a MASSIVE shinbreaker. But Jumbo doesn't let go of the headlock and shakes off the damage from the shinbreaker. That was cool. Baba in and he takes over the headlock. He wrenches it. Baba can really work a headlock. Dory tries to Irish whip himself out of it, but Baba's not letting go. He starts trying to punch himself out of it, but to no avail. Jumbo in and he takes over the headlock. Jumps up for a big headlock takeover. This has been a lengthy control segment on Dory now. Eventually Dory breaks free and tags out but Terry ends up eating headlock too. Jumbo switiches tac and gets on a bearhug instead. Keeps this on long enoug for Terry to collapse and Jumbo gets a two count still in the bearhug. There has been far too many boring holds in this match. Terry tries to elbow Jumbo to break the bearhug but he doesn't release it. Clubbing forearms from Terry now and this does get Jumbo to let go. But he just starts stomping his back instead. Baba comes in to follow up this back work with an abdominal stretch. I should mention that Terry has his side taped up and Baba buries his fist into the wound and twists his fist. It sounds like the crowd might be chanting "Terry Terry" during this but I can't be sure. The Japanese guys have been on offense for almost this whole match so far. The way Baba is twisting his knuckles into Terry's wounded and bandaged up side is some nasty work. Terry tries to escape but Baba locks him back in the abdominal stretch. Christ, we a headlock that went on forever, then a bearhug that went on forever, and now with abdominal stretch. Jumbo in now and he applies the camel clutch. This is an example of something that has good psychology but is also boring as fuck. What are they doing in this match? It's interminable. Jumbo stays in this camel clutch for some time as Terry struggles. He eventually escapes only for Jumbo to get in a chinlock. And FINALLY he gets a back suplex, but Jumbo tags out and Baba gets the abdominal stretch. This is weird, it seems like Terry is the FIP here and the Japanese guys are working this match as the heels. The crowd even seem to be on Terry's side. Baba attacks Terry's wounded side again. Jumbo in with an elbow drop from the top. Big uppercut by Jumbo, but Terry gets an abdominal stretch in: hip tossed by Jumbo! And finally Terry tags out. Dory comes in and immediately Jumbo headlocks him. But Dory catches him with a chop to the throat and a great gutwrench suplex. Body slam. Uppercuts. Boston crab! And this time Dory actually "completes" it and turns it all the way over. Armbar now as well as a chinlock. This is a painful looking hold. Terry in and a big clothesline from him, which the crowd pop for. The crowd seem to be opening cheering the Funks against Baba and Jumbo here. Interesting. Reverse chinlock by Dory now. Goes for the butterfly suplex, but Jumbo struggles and blocks it. He strains for it but can't hit it, so Terry comes in to try. Jumbo isn't going over. Instead, he hits a backslide for a nearfall. Dory in with more uppercuts. Jumbo comes back with some of his own. Tiger knee! Baba in. Double big boot! Swinging neckbreaker. Chops. Hip tosses. But eventually Dory back suplexes him! And the crowd pops. Cover is broken up because Baba gets a foot in the ropes. Terry in. Texas jabs. And a big left sends Baba down. Crowd pops. Jumbo in and the strike exchanges become increasingly heated here. Headlock by Jumbo. But he gets dumped outside. He tries to get back in but Dory plays king of the mountain. Now he suplexes him back in. Jumbo really sells this suplex. He's hurt the back of his neck. Match has really heated up now. MASSIVE butterfly suplex by Dory gets two because Jumbo gets a foot to the rope. Terry in with a big elbow. Spinning toehold!! Jumbo reveres into an inside cradle for two. Dory in. Uppercuts. Forearm block. Terry in. Sleeper!! Jumbo struggles wildly but he goes down. Terry wrenches it like a madman. Jumbo is going out here. They end up in the same corner as Baba who is able to tag himself in and hit a dropkick. Cover gets two. Big chops to the top of the head. Big boot. Cover gets two with a foot in the ropes. Jumbo in. Dropkick! Cover gets two only! Texas jabs by Terry now and he's fucking boxing here. Jumbo's had enough and hits a massive back suplex. Rope running and a collision. Terry is wobbly legged but makes it over to Dory. Jumbo goes for a dropkick but Dory grabs the ropes. PILEDRIVER! Ah fuck, time limit draw!! The opening twenty minutes of this match features very focused but ultimately boring work by Baba and Jumbo. The crowd dynamics are interesting, because they seem to want the Funks to win throughout. But the match really picks up after the abdominal stretch and keeps building pace and intensity towards a very hot finishing stretch, which reminded me of post-Choshu 80s All Japan in terms of how it was worked with stiff stikes and bombs flying everywhere. The Funks were both great here, Terry doing a terrific sell job, Dory showing -- unusually for him -- some good fire, urgency and intensity. I thought Baba and Jumbo had too much on offense and they stayed in the holds far too long in the early going. Of the two, Baba was the more compelling working holds, but Jumbo was better at emoting and selling, especially in the hot second half of the match. All in all, this is a very good match -- and an exceptional one once you get past the "boring" early portion when the Japanese guys are working holds. ****1/2

No, "turn off the TV" heat doesn't count. Also, I wanted to note, as I said on the show, that Angle is in for 99-00 run almost exclusively for me.

I don't believe there are that many great heels beyond 2000 anyway.

Two "mark" commentators that absolutely need to be mentioned here are David Crockett and Kal Rudman. Crockett adds about 25% excitement on top of any match he calls. I'll take him over a Bob Caudle any day of the week. I'll never understand why the Wrestling Observer guys hated him as much as they did. Kal Rudman -- a total hero to us on Titans of Wrestling -- was a mad genius and a poet. But boy could you tell when he was into a match. I think our love of Rudman started out as a kind of toungue-in-cheek thing, but I defy anyone to watch that Slaughter vs. Backlund cage match and tell me that his call isn't genuinely amazing. Both of those guys are so into what they are watching that there are times when I question if either of them ever quite knew that wrestling is a work.

Same OJ. Tony seemed to take Jesse's bullying personally, which makes it both hilarious and at times genuinely uncomfortable. Tony was a company man, so Jesse could have a great time ruffling his feathers. Also, by 93, Ventura wasn't pulling any punches -- he didn't really give a shit and so would just say things to amuse himself. On some shows Tony is visibly struggling to stay on point. On others he's dying to crack up. If I was to rank Ventura partners on "on screen chemistry" with Jesse they'd go: 1. Vince 2. Tony 3. Monsoon 4. Jim Ross Ventura was trying to be all "Eduard Carpentier" workrate sports caster with Ross, especially as Ross would no-sell his attempts at banter. Probably also because Ventura was a little bit scared of Bill Watts. I think they made an awkward pairing. Jesse is at his best when he can bully and cajole the play-by-play guy. With Vince it's entertaining because Vince was so over-the-top ridiculous in his support of Hogan and other faces that they'd have some tremendous back and forths, and because he was legit the boss there's only so far Jesse could go. Tony gave a lot less back but Jesse dominating this nice family guy who is trying to do his professional best is gold. I really wish we'd got Jesse / Mooney and Jesse / Eric just to see how each of them would have handled it. I think Ross handled it the worst by quite a long way, although Jesse would be a bit easier on Monsoon because there was that respect thing there for a fellow wrestler.

I'd also like to see other people's top 10 heels.

It was like Ricky Morton trying to get in offense against Bruiser Brody and Ole Anderson.

How could I forget Pat Patterson!

Hey I've gone on record to say that Vince / Jesse is my all-time favourite announce team. I really really dig Vince as an announcer, either 70s / early 80s Vince or shouty 80s babyface-loving moron / foil to Jesse Vince.

Horseman show was great lads, maybe if I have time later I can give some picks. A lot of fun. My one thought was Van Hammer for "male bimbo" valet.

If Vince is always in their ear, why doesn't he just do the commentary himself? I mean he's probably the best commentator they have on the books and has over 25 years experience in the role.

I wonder how she worked that out ... Matt: I've been thinking, I'd like to try something new ... Mrs. D: Yes, dear .... Matt: It's called "King of the Mountain" ... and ... er *producing perfect 'Teddy Boy' blonde wig, white suit, and replica AWA belt* ... I'd like you to wear this.

It is some way down the line, but I'd be interested if we were to do a top 70s workers "in the world" how many would be WoS, how many US and how many Japanese. Interesting talking point. Pete and I will probably do an Xtra on the US workers in the next couple of months, but once I've got a lot more WoS under my belt, I'd like to think about a world-wide one too. I believe there is very little to no 70s Lucha right?

Never change Kelly, this shit is awesome. LMAO! Those should be the quotes on the poster. I'm pretty interested in that tag match though. Like you say, the sheer randomness of it! And you make Destroyer sound phenomenal.

Incidentally, jdw, since you're around: we've been reviewing quite a few matches from Japan in the 70s in the Microscope for this project (see Dory, Brisco, Race) Would be interested to see your views on any of the matches reviewed and if there are any gaps in my Dory listings for matches that are out there. I really liked the Brisco vs. Jumbo 74 match, the 76 iteration is one of the four Brisco matches in Japan that I've yet to see (others are Dory 74, Inoki 79, Fujinami 79).

Well let's see, who would definitely be above Jumbo for the 70s? Let's take the NWA champs as a given, even if each case is debatable: Dory Funk Jr Jack Brisco Terry Funk Harley Race Let's also throw in as "gimmies": Giant Baba Billy Robinson The Destroyer That's 7. From World of Sport who is definitely better? Jim Breaks for certain. Who else? Who else from elsewhere? Bockwinkel? Stevens? Carpentier? Jumbo has a lot more complete matches on tape than most of these guys which helps him. But then again, he's having great matches with a lot of these guys so you can look at it both ways. Would be unfair to hold it against him that he was young and so being carried by "seasoned pros".

I have to go soon but ... This would be really sad if there was anyone actually voting like that. I guess I'll have to have a look at a few more shoot-style matches if it really does warrant looking at. I have been thinking that I could try to come at it with the mindset that it's no different from WoS or early 70s US/ Japanese work, we'll see. If someone can put together 10 matches in the shoot style that are thought of as ***** classics, I will watch them. That's the equivalent of giving Miles Davis or John Coltrane a fair shake I think.