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Superstar Sleeze

DVDVR 80s Project
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Everything posted by Superstar Sleeze

  1. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura - NJPW 12/12/85 IWGP Tag Team Championship Fantastic intergenerational match! Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig vs Mantle & Maris or Bruno & Pedro vs Hogan & Savage. Sakaguchi was the number two babyface in 70s New Japan behind Inoki. He is the biggest guy in the match, a bruiser and definitely the spark plug of the match. Kimura is Fujinami's running buddy. Fujinami is the biggest babyface star of 80s New Japan and Inoki is of course the biggest star of the 70s and the biggest star of all time in New Japan. To add to the stakes this is to crown the inaugural International Wrestling Grand Prix Tag Team Champions. As is customary, it was decided in a round robing format with actually Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka actually in the lead at the end of the round robing format, but they NO SHOWED the finals and JUMPED to All Japan. Insane! Instead we get this badass native vs native match. So there are three threads to follow in this match. The 70s superstars vs Kimura. Kimura is the junior partner on his team and definitely number 4 on the totem pole. When he is in the ring, can he survive the two best wrestlers in history. He faces two heat segments and manages to get out of both. Sakaguchi as a bruiser and Inoki as a wrestler are able to get their way with him, but Kimura does hold his own and we see down the stretch that he is pivotal to victory. The second thread is Fujinami vs Sakaguchi. This is the fiercest and chippiest of the matchups. Sakaguchi is larger than Fujinami and disrespects Fujinami early by picking him up over the top rope and placing him on the apron like a good little boy. Fujinami reacts by slapping the taste out of his mouth. IT IS ON! Classic David vs Goliath with lots of heat. The last match up and the biggest is Superstar vs Superstar, Main Event vs Main Event, 70s vs 80s, Inoki vs Fujinami. HUGE FIGHT FEEL when they are in the ring! This much more respectful. Inoki vs Fujinami begins with a stalemate then we get Sakaguchi vs Fujinami, which is the apron spot I speak of above. Then we get Kimura getting his ass kicked by the 70s superstars. Sakaguchi bruises. Inoki hit Demolition Decapitation and a butterfly suplex. The middle of the match is a lot of jockeying for position and teasing different control segments. Kimura saves Fujinami from an Argentine Backbreaker from Sakaguchi by chopping down the big oak tree. Inoki and Fujinami have a great stand up battle with Inoki baiting with the right and tagging Fujinami good with a left. Inoki hits his enziguiri on Kimura who does a somersault bump, but Fujinami saves. The finish stretch is really good. Fujinami has Inoki in a figure-4 and the crowd is chanting for Inoki. They focused so much on Inoki & Sakaguchi beating up Kimura, but the crowd still loved the old guys. Inoki finally reverses and tags in Sakaguchi who comes in roaring against Fujinami. Hits a running high knee but hurts his knee in process! Gets a cover for two and then Fujinami & Kimura go to town on Sakaguchi's leg in the best control segment of the match. They are flying all around and kicking ass. Some really good double teams. Fujinami applies the Scorpion Deathlock on Sakaguchi while Kimura drops the kne eon his back. Fujinami is jawing with ref. Inoki gets tag and just starts kicking ass and throws Fujinami out of the ring. Sakaguchi is fucked. Inoki brngs him in with a suplex. Fujinami tags out. Inoki hits a picture perfect dropkick on Kimura right to head. He is hitting monster closed fists on Kimura's head. ENZIGUIRI~! 1-2-NO! BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-NO! Kimura hits his own! Tag out1 Fujinami OCTOPUS STRETCH! Will the Martial Arts master tap? He breaks free. They do a ring around rosie, Fujinami hooks in Full Nelson, hoists, DRAGON SUPLEX, BRIDGE 1-2-3! Fujinami & Kimura win! Fujinami is in total shock that he pinned Inoki. So am I!!! Huge victory for Fujinami & Kimura. I was just as surprised as Fujinami that they won the match and that he got a clean as a sheet pinfall on Inoki! Huge momentum boost going into the UWF invasion angle, which will start in January 1986. Kimura was great as feisty junior surviving heat segments and being pesky by saving Fujinami. Sakaguchi was a great bruiser and generating heat in the match. Inoki brought that starpower and some great offense. Fujinami was the star. Standing up to Sakaguchi and then going toe to toe with the Great One and winning. Loved the layout at the end with Sakaguchi hurting himself and the 80s guys destroying the knee. The pivotal moment in the match is Kimura kicking out of two Inoki death blows and holding his own against Inoki. That was huge. Then Fujinami took care of the rest. The stars aligned with isolation of Inoki, Kimura stepping up to the plate and Fujinami bringing it home. Great story and an even bigger moment for Fujinami with a clean pinfall over Antonio Inoki. ****1/2
  2. Charlotte/Becky!!! YAY! Im going to Smackdown tonight in the Real Garden (Boston Garden) with my mom. She likes the "Good Day" so she will be excited to see them. Kevin Owens is so lame. Sami Zayn sucks. But they are replacing people I don't care about. I just cant stand Nerd Video Game wrestling anymore. At least we are getting AJ vs Orton. It is gonna be GLORIOUS!
  3. YES! YES! YES! Im pretty excited for AJ/Orton
  4. SO NO AJ?!?
  5. Bray Wyatt better not fuck with Braun Strowman. I agree it does feel like they are just swapping the main eventers with each other. Very weird. I figured 1 main eventer, 2 mid-carders, 1 woman and 1 tag team. AJ Styles vs Orton seems like the program for the Spring. But they also need a big pick for the Finish of the show. I am going with AJ staying and Orton going. SD! ends up with Brock.
  6. Antonio Inoki vs Dick Murdoch - NJPW 12/10/85 This was the same month Murdoch was working excellent bloody brawls against Ted DiBiase in Mid-South. This match was not an excellent bloody brawl. It was a very good technical match. It wont change your world, but it will remind you that Dick Murdoch is such a damn entertaining wrestler to watch. New Japan was in an interesting position in 1985. They lost their shoot style crop (Maeda, Fujiwara and Takada) to Sayama's UWF and they lost Choshu & Co. to All Japan. Choshu vs Inoki seemed to be poised to be the big feud of late 84 into 85. It was not all losses. New Japan did acquire Bruiser Brody. The main program of 1985 seemed to be centered around Inoki vs Brody. So while the house may not have dipped, the quality of pro wrestling sure did. As only two matches from 1985 cracked the Top 100 in the New Japan 80s project. I checked this one to refamiliarize myself with Inoki, but ended up remembering that Murdoch is the man. Murdoch is so great on top. He just tortured Inoki's arm. It was brutal and interesting. Just so many combinations and contortions. Always great with the facial expressions of determination. He knew when to create movement and hope spots for Inoki. Then cutoff him off with a bruising elbow. Really great stuff. Then selling was just so good. That one punch by Inoki where did the perfect tooth loss sell and the way he kept selling afterwards was great. Inoki did sell the arm by wringing it out, but his facial expression was so mute. He runs the ropes funny. He genuflects when he hits the ropes. He is very mechanical in how he wrestles. I don't doubt his shooting prowess but he is not smooth. Some good hope spots before he gets a drop toehold. That first fall back on he drop toehold got a huge pop. I think that is what he added most to this match. Just being Antonio Inoki because the crowd was totally behind him chanting his name. He definitely gave it heat. I loved the economy of the finish stretch. Murdoch hits a great enziguiri. He was a great athlete. Rides him down the knee calls for the brainbuster hits it, but Inoki is outside the ropes. Inoki press slams him off the top, gutwrench suplex and Enziguiri by Inoki with THE GREATEST SELL EVER BY MURDOCH! It was such a basic layout, but everything was tight flowed. Murdoch's great heat segment then Inoki working the deathlock, Murdoch's finish run and Inoki's finish run. No wasted time. The matwork was pretty much forgotten about so it felt like you could have JIP'd to Murdoch enziguiri and not missed anything. Inoki really only brought crowd support to the table. Murdoch really carried this both in terms of offense and really amazing selling. Just a very good, economical old school match with some fun touches from Cap'n Redneck. ***1/2
  7. Martel is definitely a Top 25 greatest wrestler of all time for me. AWA stuff is fantastic. Strike Force stuff is incredible! Check out Tag Teams Back Again on the Place To Be Nation to hear Kelly and me rave about it. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel - AJPW 10/21/85 Really the last of its kind, the big gaijin vs gaijin champion match. Flair would do tours up until 87. Of course, they ran Hansen/Doc/Gordy, but those were AJPW regulars that happened to be foreigners. This is the last gasp of All Japan as the 80s all star promotion as the changing tides in the US and the Choshu invasion caused Baba to go in a more insular direction. Probably the best disappointing match you will ever match. It is undoubtedly a great match and very entertaining. So why is it disappointing is that it feels very plug n play. I love the Flair Formula, but with someone as dynamic and versatile as Martel it just feels stifling. Martel is so good at selling and that infectious energy that match is still a joy, but you know can be so much more. '85 Flair so lots of respectful mat work to start. Flair gets bested, but respects his opponent so he gives him handshakes and will go back in. That all changes when Kerry erm I mean Martel press slams him. Flair feels the match slipping away he lures him into the corner and hits a big atomic drop. Martel is such money selling. Flair takes him outside and posts the arm and begins working on the arm. People bitch about Flair working the arm, but it is so silly. The Figure-4 is a home run, you don't need to build to it. Flair is taking what he is given. Martel and Flair stand up exchanges are great. Martel can be so fiery, he works well. Martel misses the elbow so Flair hits a butterfly suplex. The figure-4 by Flair's opponent on Flair is just as over in Tokyo as it is in Greensboro. Lots of typical Flair spots down the stretch, Flip, Flop (the flop was great with the blood), and the press slam. The dueling leg psychology was good. Flair selling his own leg when attacking Martel's was a nice touch. The Flair figure-4 was a good nearfall for him going into the big finish run. Martel busts Flair open. Flair screaming at Martel during their fire fight was great. Martel was kicking ass on that open wound. Finally, Martel gets to hit his own spots, the Splash into the ring, which was his finish in the AWA, great nearfall near the ropes and then Splash off the middle rope to eat knees. Martel crossbodies Flair, but they both tumble over the ring ropes and double countout. Tons of action, Martel selling his ass off, lots of energy, two hot runs during the end with Flair working the leg and then Martel battering the bloody Flair. Cons were a little bit longer than necessary, transitions were not always memorable and things got forgotten and Martel felt like Kerry Von Erich or Flair's opponent du jour when he could have been so much more. Enough stuff to call it great, but not much more. ****
  8. PWF World Tag Team Champions Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 8/31/85 These are the two tag team championships that would be unified into the Double Cup. Only the PWF Titles are on the line as Hansen & DiBiase are the only ones that come out with titles. I like how Japanese do early tags. Both teams grab a hold and then tag out to give their partner an advantage in the match. That's good tag wrestling. The big plot point early is that Jumbo's arm is still injured. We learned this in the first Choshu tag back in June of 85. I don't know what the Kayfabe reason is for the injured arm. I thought Tenryu/DiBiase had a good reprise of their 83 classic with some good fire and bombs. While Jumbo/Hansen being teased early was good to make it a big fight feel. Hansen/DiBIase's first heat segment comes from double teaming and then they do a great job wit frequent tags and frequent pinfalls. Highspot-nearfall->tag out. That's really smart tag wrestling. I liked the double football tackle. What you learn in this match is that Americans telegraph their back body drop way too often. Tenryu gets some chops and then a bodyslam, immediate tag out. GREAT JUMBO HOT TAG! Fired up, chops, HIGH KNEE and then a piledriver. Jumbo is looking for the Butterfly suplex, but settles for sleeper. I will never understand the Jumbo is not emotional enough arguments. DiBiase crashes down on Jumbo. Hansen GOES FOR THE ARM! Jumbo chops and grabs a hold before tagging out. I loved the Double Butterfly Suplex with great deadweight struggle from Hansen. There is a great spot when Tenryu is going for enziguiri but Hansen hits a cross body and bowls him over instead. Welldone. Double atomic drop with a tag out to DiBiase. I am not digging these Tenryu heat segments. Not that great at selling and not enough hope spots either. Kinda ragdolling. Jumbo is definitely showing more energy than Tenryu. He wants that butterfly suplex again and Hansen cuts off with a big back suplex. DiBiase tags out and Hansen sets too early again. Enziguiri/Face kick combo sweet! One of my favorite spots was Tenryu throwing Hansen into ropes and hitting Hansen with an enziguiri as he runs by into a tag. Enziguiri for DiBiase and now powerbomb! Jumbo cuts Hansen off and sends him into post. Tenryu tags out. Jumbo hits a MASSIVE LARIAT! Grabs his arm! BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-NO! AWESOME HEAT! Jumbo sends him into the corner and misses the Lariat and Hansen attacks the arm immediately. Sending it into every hard object he can find. They are merciless on the arm. Total turning point of the match that been foreshadowed early in the match. Once the gaijin got a hold of this they weren't letting go. Tenryu sensing how much danger Jumbo was in, tries to help LARIAOTOOOOOOOO BY HANSEN TO TENRYU! Hansen tries a diving Lariat to the bad arm which would have been cool if it connected. Alas! It was a pretty epic whiff. I love that He has Jumbo backs against the ropes and punches Tenryu in the head behind him. LARIAOTOOOOOOOO TO JUMBO! Crazy drama with Hansen wrenching Jumbo's bad arm in a top wristlock. You cant believe that Jumbo, the Ace, would submit but that's what happened! I thought from Tenryu dishing out enziguiris to the finish that this was phenomenal! The powerbomb on DiBiase followed by Jumbo taking out Hansen to allow him to hit that Monster Lariat and Back Drop Driver was great nearfall stretch for the home team. Then Jumbo injures his arm and the gaijin just decimate the arm was great. Tenryu tries to save but Hansen decapitates him with a Lariat. The beginning was solid tag wrestling, but that last 5 minutes is what makes this special. ****1/4
  9. The Two-SWEEEEEEEEET after every two count is the greatest thing a wrestling crowd has ever done! Smackdown even has better crowds than RAW!
  10. Mr. Webb, aren't you the guy who put Big Poppa Pump at number one? Not casting judgment, Scotty Steiner made my list and I am a big fan (Go Blue! I went to Michigan for school). I just want to make sure I am not confusing you with someone else. I think Bock made 12/13 on my list. I would find some way to get him in my top ten next time. I think Kawada (#10) should have been a little lower. Nick Bockwinkel vs Billy Robinson - AJPW 12/11/80 Verne Gagne is AWA World Champion at this time so no titles on the line that I know of. There is a clip. The beginning is some of the best 70s/80s American style matwork (I usually call this NWA Champion-style, but with both working for AWA that seemed wrong) you will ever see. To me American style matwork is your headlocks, wristlocks, armbars, short arm scissors, hammerlocks, chickenwings, toeholds, figure-4s, and crabs and these two just work it beautifully. We clip to Bock with a standing reverse top wristlock. He just has this evil, sadistic grin on his face that no one else can replicate. He is taking immense joy in wrenching Robinson's arm. The struggle is real for Robinson to buck Bock. First gets a headscissors (this is when the ankles are crossed), but when he tries to put Bock in motion, Bock converts an armdrag into a kneeling reverse top wristlock with him kneeling on Robinson's face, so now he is in a worse predicament. Robinson is able to get his leg over Bock's head and gets a double underhook, but Bock does a beautiful job blocking by grapevining the leg. Lock-up and Robinson grabs a tight and I mean DOUBLE TIGHT headlock. They work in out of that headlock, but Bock has lost control. Until one criss cross where he gets a marvelous drop toehold and rolls up right into a figure-4 of the left calf (this when one leg is straight and other is tucked behind the knee of the straight leg making a "4" with your leg). The commitment of the drop toehold was great because Robinson did not just go with it Bock got it tight and you really felt Robinson trip because of it. The match winds up once they get standing. Bock slaps Robinson hard. Robinson is incensed and goes to clobber Bockwinkel, but Bock ducks sending poor Billy crashing over the top rope out onto the floor. Bock gives chase, which was unexpected, I thought we would get King of Mountain. Robinson ends up bodyslamming him on the floor. Should have sticked to the script, Nick. Robinson comes charging in again for a punch and Bock back drops him out. Robinson really wants to wipe that smirk off Bock's face. Bock waits for Robinson to come to him this time and bodyslams him into the ring. Bock's heat segment is pretty damn good. Piledrivers, whip into the buckles and just generally kicking ass. Bock throws some serious bows and this wakes Billy up who starts blocking and then roaring back. Neckbreaker, back suplex ROBINSON BACKBREAKER!!! Only getting two. Hits a second Robinson Backbreaker, but hurts his plant leg. Bock POUNCES on this! Robinson shakes him off. Bock scrambles from outside back into the ring. Applies Figure-4 tons of drama. Robinson makes the ropes. The time calls get closer together. Fire fight to end it and they call it off as a draw. Pretty incredible match from the tight matwork to the hot finish run. Besides Lawler, I don't think there are two people that can get more out of so little in regards to highspots. You really see Bock in full display here. The opening matwork, then trying to incense his opponent and then pouncing on a weakness. Just great selling and pacing. Robinson is so great at offense, but I thought he sold really well for Bock with those two big bumps to the floor and then his knee. ****1/2
  11. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Giant Baba vs Harley Race - AJPW 9/10/80 The initial title change was pretty much panned and that fact that Race is already one of my least favorite wrestlers means I am skipping it. This is the rematch to switch the title back to Race. They actually had a classic in 1979 that I really enjoyed. I thought this was very good. Didn't overstay its welcome. Just a totally bomb throwing sprint. They packed a lot into a short amount of time. Harley starts the match off with the bang of Piledriver! So you know he is invested in regaining this title. He misses the second middle rope headbutt. Baba takes over and sends him flying over the top rope in typical Harley Race fashion (its the bump that HHH stole if you cant picture it). Chair gets involved and Baba slams him in the head with it during the struggle. Baba press slams him off the top. There are no real transitions or selling. It is just offense and bumping, which is Harley's style. Baba hits his Russian Legsweep and goes for a multiple covers. Back to the floor and Baba busts Race wide open on the post. Good baldejob by Race adds to the drama. Really hot finish run with Baba style lariat and piledriver. The heat was awesome for these nearfalls the one where Race just got the foot on the ropes was something else. The Giant wants to fly but Harley crotches him. The Giant falls to the ground in a heap. Harley collects him into a pinfall win. I love his wife giving him a little kiss and then being all grossed out by the blood and wiping it off her face. Harely putting over Baba at the end for the live crowd was really classy. Just a collection of offense and bumps, but thought they put together a really hot finish with the blood, big Baba nearfalls and a cool finish. Not as good as their 79 match, but recommended. ***1/2
  12. I couldn't find Flair vs Tenryu from '81 brutha. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - AJPW 10/7/81 Eight years before their classics in NWA, they met in All Japan with this being Flair's first tour as champion. First fall: Even though I have seen this before, I had forgotten it was three falls. So I was surprised when Flair won the fall with a figure-4. I thought he just gave the hold up in the middle of the ring. I was going to be pissed. Then I saw he won I knew it must be 2 out of 3 falls. Pretty basic NWA style fall. Funk worked the surfboard and Flair the headlock. It wasn't until the ten minute mark they ramped it up. Funk went up and over the turnbuckles. Flair kicked some ass on the outside. Vertical suplex inside and figure-4 to polish him off in about 12 minutes of action. It would change your life, but solid opening fall. Flair 1-0. Second Fall: Excellent fall. Really makes up for the tepid first fall. Flair is a shark that smells blood. He beats the piss outta Funk. He is really hammering him. Some great punches. Funk escapes to the outside and back in Flair is right on him with those big time punches to the head. Funk catches him good with one and then headbutt. Great Funk selling. Great stand up fight with these Funk scores the knockdown and SPINNING TOEHOLD! Flair submits! Funk keeps punching him in the head. How does your own medicine taste, Slick Ric? Tight, urgent and violent! Great fall to knot it up. Tied 1-1. Third Fall: Great limp by Flair. Tries to protect his leg. Funk is wild throwing great punches. Funk throws Flair out. Flair gets press slammed off the top. SPINNING TOEHOLD FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP! Kick off by Flair into the buckles, schoolboy, nada. Flair goes for the Butterfly Suplex, reversed into a pinning combination, 1-2-3!!! NEW...NO FOOT ON THE ROPES! GREAT NEARFALL! They go right home after that with the wild double countout finish. First fall is pretty pedestrian. The last two falls are pretty awesome. Great selling and urgency. So glad we have the '89 classics because these two foreshadow the greatness that is come. ****
  13. I have seen this before and could have sworn I wrote a review for this. Amazing match. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 6/8/82 I love All Japan in the early 80s. It feels like an all-star promotion with the all the stars of Japan, NWA and AWA come together and compete. Jumbo vs Flair has the biggest fight feel of them all. It really feels like the best of America against the best of Japan. Flair is decked out in his coolest robe and the way Jumbo rips off his jacket, you know he is jacked for this one. GAME TIME! Jumbo brings the offense to Flair. Working NWA-style holds, headlocks, wristlocks and surfboard. The early sleeper gets a pop. Flair is working his usual style. Trying to go on the mat, create movement, but nothing works. He starts to try go toe to toe with Jumbo. There were some really big meaty exchanges in this. I love the sound of flesh on flesh. Flair tries after the sleeper to bring it to Jumbo with hard shots, but Jumbo is game for a fight. Jumbo fires up and climaxes with a HIGH KNEE! First big nearfall of the match. Flair tries to use the short headbutt to stall Jumbo's momentum. He is able to hit a couple kneedrops and a chinlock to stall out Jumbo. But in the fire fight, Flair loses control, Jumbo in showing he can chop with the best of them. BUTTERFLY SUPLEX! Only two! Boston Crab! Abdominal Stretch! HIGH CROSSBODY! 1-2-NO! Huge pop! Flair heads to the hills. That felt like a basketball game where someone goes on a 12-4 run. Jumbo was just firing and Flair was overwhelmed. Flair uses the outside to break momentum. You see when Flair gets back in he goes for a test of strength. That's psychology! You are 15 minutes into a match and going back to a tie up. That shows poise. He knows he needs to slow it down. It is just laughable that people don't think Flair has psychology when he is a top 5 Ring General ever. Period. Flair gets his own ab stretch, but Jumbo hiptosses out. MISSILE DROPKICK! 1-2-NO! Flair is desperate goes for a suplex, but get reversed by Jumbo into his own. Flair avoids the elbow and immediately goes for the Figure-4. People are always like why doesn't Flair work the leg. Well the Figure-4 is a home run shot. If he applies it, he will win. He sets it up when he is in control. In a match he is being totally overwhelmed and nothing is going his way, you bet his ass he is going for the figure-4. So that's ends up in an inside cradle, but once he gets the kneecrusher, now he is working the leg because now he has the time and is control. Flair had gotten offense but it was always short-lived because he never was able to really connect with a game-changer. Jumbo was ready for a fight. The kneecrusher represented the first time he made a significant in-road. Big Tsuruta chant for when he is in the figure-4. Big pop for him turning it over. Jumbo is really good in the figure-4. Sells it well and really adds to drama. Flair gets a back suplex, but kick out. Flair goes up top, this is not going to end well...WATCH OUT BELOW! 1-2-NO! TOP ROPE CROSSBODY! Jumbo applies the figure-4 to a MASSIVE POP! It does not matter if it is Greensboro, North Carolina or Tokyo, Japan that spot is OVER LIKE ROVER! I thought that was a really good climax to the match. I thought either Jumbo needed to one up it with a Back Drop Driver or something big or they needed to go home. It took them a little while to go home. Flair got some really good punches in when they were both on the mat. Flair throws Jumbo out so I was thinking here comes the countout finish. Flair suplexes him back in, which did not feel like an earned highspot for Flair. It kinda feels like the match is going backwards into a Flair heat segment with the elbow and then sleeper. So big chops and strikes late that I dig. Feels like a war of attrition. Whip into buckles and Flair Flop...Crowd pops! Love it. PILEDRIVER! 1-2-Foot on the ropes! Jumbo high knees sends Flair crashing out to the floor. Jumbo is feeling the strain. WICKED ENZIGUIRI! Jumbo falls out too. Piledriver on the floor. Jumbo into the post. Tease Double countout! It being All Japan, I totally bite. Jumbo tries for a deadweight German, but Flair falls on top. Both shoudlers are down. DRAW! Jumbo tries to sell he won, but crowd is too smart. They know both men's shoudlers were down and there is no pop. I thought first 3/4s was really good classic NWA style championship match. Flair trying a bunch of stuff but getting thwarted. Lots of good fire fights that Jumbo would win and led to big high spots like the Knee and then Butterfly suplex. That big Jumbo's offense run in the middle of the match was double hot. Flair was a master of bringing it up and down. Cooled it off a bit then went back to a Jumbo highspot of a missile dropkick and that's when Flair got so desperate that he finally got the figure-4. The dueling figure-4s was so over. You could feel Jumbo was getting his energy sapped from trying to win this match. Flair will tax you that way. Liked the chops late and the Piledriver. The high knee and that enziguiri was great. I think a double countout would have been better than the double pin. I thought they should have went to the finish quicker they lost some momentum because the crowd was molten for a good 15 minute stretch from the first high knee to the Jumbo figure-4. Flair really knows how to make a classic happen and let his opponent shine. ****1/2
  14. Loved those leapfrogs too! Remember when Cena had like best leapfrog in the business from 2012-2014. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - AJPW 6/4/82 Four days before a title defense against Jumbo in Japan, Flair has a tune-up match in Japan against his favorite opponent, Ricky Steamboat. This is the condensed sprint version of their typically classic match. Nowhere near as good as the sprint they have at Chi-Town Rumble, but I liked this a lot and am surprised it did not do well in the final rankings. The way to think about this match is instead of a heat segment with babyface hope spots. Think of it as a babyface control with heel hope spots. I think by changing that lens people will appreciate this more. Steamboat works a great headlock segment early. Once they get into the movement portion of the match, it is just beautiful. Steamboat is so fluid and Flair is so great at creating movement. He is taking ridiculous bumps to put over Steamboat's chops. Flair tries everything, running the ropes, crowding in the corner, elbows, headbutts, chops, but they are no match for THE DRAGON! Steamboat has a great babyface shine just around movement, chop variations and Flair bumping. The weakest part of the match is Flair's transitions. He will sometimes get on offense too easy like the piledriver-gutwrench or how he just trips Steamboat and wraps the leg around the post. It is too easy to get to, bit too easy to get back to Steamboat and not enough heat during his run on top. Flair's second kneedrop is caught and it is the Steamboat figure-4 to good heat. Steamboat is pretty over in All Japan. He probably could have been the new Terry Funk if he wanted to instead of going to WWF. Steamboat eats knees on his splash. But Flair cant get him up on a suplex. Flair was selling his back really well in this match especially an early atomic drop and big time suplex. Steamboat gets the press slam in motion and then a standing one. He has Flair on the ropes. Really big bumping from Flair at the end. Steamboat top rope crossbody, roll through by Flair and a victory for the champ ahead of his big title defense against Jumbo. Bump n run match. A really good one that is totally action packed. Steamboat was on fire in this match and Flair was at his bumping & hollering best. Yeah Flair could have gotten more heat and Steamboat could have done more selling. It was nice to see them doing something opposite. It was a very much a greatest hits match with a lot of their common spots. No Flair Flop & No press slam off the top see Flair does not always have to get everything single spot in!!!! ****
  15. Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody vs Dory & Terry Funk - AJPW 4/20/83 Just a scant six days after the classic Hansen/Funk singles match, this awesome tag gets lost in the shadow of the EPIC Terry Funk Retirement Tag, which may be the match of the decade. Definitely one of Brody's best individual performances and one of his best matches. He still did not sell or bump. But at least his offense looked really good here. The first half of the match is four pros executing the tag formula really well, but once Dory tags out to Terry...IT IS FUCKING ON! Terry goes apeshit on Brody's knee. Nailing Hansen. The knee work on Brody is so damn exciting and urgent. Terry holding the leg while Dory came crashing down is great. Terry taking off Brody's boot and wailing on his knee with it was AWESOME! Funk sends Hansen packing to the outside. As he is struggling with him, Brody comes from behind with a big knee. Hansen and Brody are just wailing on Terry with some wicked stiff shots but Terry takes it like a man and never goes down. Little things like that are lost today. Funk is selling, but he never leaves his feet. It is such a powerful moment. The ending is wild with the Monsters double teaming Terry, Dory trying to save, but this ends with the Spike Piledriver on Terry. So Dory has had enough now. Now the Monsters can isolate Dory. Going to set him up for the Western Lariat, but at the last second, Terry tackles Hansen's knees and they roll to the outside and they get tangled up in streamers. It was wild. Funk and Brody brawl in the ring and the ref counts everyone out for a double countout. The match was totally fine with the monsters dominating early and a pretty good heat segment on Dory. Holy shit, what an ending. Terry losing his mind on Brody. Brody crashing down on him. The way he stood up to the monsters only to be overwhelmed and felled by the Spike Piledriver. Then saving his brother from certain DOOM. Really amazing finishing stretch. ****1/2
  16. THAT VIDEO IS THE GREATEST THING EVER! The passionate kiss to the ringside girl cut to sleeper on a bloody Harley Race is what pro wrestling is about. Didn't bother with the match, but that VIDEO WAS GLORIOUS!
  17. I think the only version available is clipped. AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Terry Funk - AJPW 7/12/83. This is a Non Title match. Oh Bock, how I have missed you! JIP. The first available ten minutes is just great NWA-style holds and struggle within the hold. I could see people complaining Bock just sat in that headlock, but I think there was a lot of struggle and technique in the side headlock. The last ten minutes is fierce. Bock sent Funk out with a back suplex. King of the Mountain in Japan baby! The World Over, Bock is The King! Just don't let Lawler find out. Bock targets the knee of Funk with ferocity. Funk sells the knee for the rest of the match superbly and Bock is just a hawk. The holds, the strikes everything looks great from him. There are some many cool trips and leg pick ups and ankle picks that are just great. Eventually you got Funk working the leg and even gets close to a Spinning Toe Hold. Funk collapsing on the suplex attempt due to the bad knee was great. My favorite spot was Funk grapevining Bock's leg while standing and transitioning into an earned Russian Legsweep. Texas Cloverleaf by Funk but he turns Bock into the ropes. Bock counters with a beautiful figure-4. Great struggle from Funk. They roll into the ropes. Bock is relentless on the knee on the apron. It is a race against the count. Funk throws him out to win the match by countout. Just a great old school encounter. Funk's selling was great and his determination to work his way back into the match was gripping. Bock looked so damn good. They don't make em like they used to that's for sure! ****
  18. Thanks, Paul! I know you want me to watch Flair/Tenryu from 1981 and I will. I am working on a specific project right now, but Ill get there brutha.
  19. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 6/8/83 2 Out of 3 Falls Exactly six years before I was born. Seen this twice or thrice before, loved it, lets see how it holds up. First 20 minutes: Jumbo is a wrestler who tries to control his own destiny but so many things end up out of his control. He always takes it to his opponent; it is that challenger mentality. But he always gets hosed by a DDQ or Countout finish, but goddamnit he tries to win it, but somehow things awry. It is all Jumbo in the first ten minutes. I thought this was a good demonstration of Flair's commitment to selling especially verbally. Good work on the arm, liked the Irish whip into buckles great bump and then holler by Flair. The best attribute of Flair is he never stops trying to win so he makes his opponent work for it. Flair tries to create something off a criss cross ends up in an ab stretch. From there we transition to back psychology and Jumbo really never relents for the rest of the twenty minutes except when he is on defense. Flair is not throwing as many short knees or chops, but does land a couple after a bearhug. He misses the elbow and sells his back! Nice! Jumbo pounces. The weakest part of the first twenty minutes was definitely the transition to Flair's first heat segment. Flair takes a stroll to break Jumbo's momentum, but comes back and just takes over like it is his turn. So pretty weak. Great arm work though. Punches to the armpit, tight hammerlocks, short arm scissors using the ropes. Jumbo uses a drop toehold to hold Flair why getting his arm rejuvenated. Then it's right back to the Boston Crab. Never lets go of the ankle, but is able to get back on the back of Flair. Good wrestling. Flair breaks the hold and tries to go for the arm. Stump puller and Jumbo right back to the Boston Crab. Flair makes the ropes. He is grabbing his back and Jumbo is feeling it. Now Jumbo is ready to throw some bombs. Atomic drop. Flair HOLLERS and Flair Flop! BUTTERFLY SUPLEX! Only a two! Flair is feeling the heat, big chop and chucks Jumbo outside. Besides the transition, very solid opening twenty minutes. The challenger, Jumbo has picked a body part used holds to finally build towards bombs that will yield a pin. Flair is using momentum breaking tactics and focused on arm. Thought Flair's selling and movement were great. Jumbo has had most of the highspots in the match thus far and is wrestling soundly. Second Twenty Minutes: Flair is selling inside the ring so well. Huffing and puffing, grabbing his back, not going after Jumbo. The turning point for Flair seems to be a back suplex. It rang Jumbo's bell and Flair was able to put him in a surfboard. "Cmon Jumbo!" yells Flair. I love tests of strength especially in this context. With the first fall on the line about 25 minutes gone by, feels like do or die time. Some weird botches in this match. Like the crossbody and Jumbo ducking a punch ending up in the piledriver position just to reverse it. Flair begs for Jumbo to chop him over the top. Great bump by Flair, feels like a great fist-pumping moment for Jumbo fans. Flair is so good. Flair grabs the leg from the outside! Yanks it across the apron! Desperation Flair! Here we go! Flair big time suplex back in, inside cradle off the figure-4 though. Flair has the foot, ENZIGUIRI! HIGH KNEE!!! MUTHA OF ALL BACK DROPDRIVERS! JUMBO TAKES THE FALL! 1-0! Pretty incredible first fall. Really sound opening twenty minutes followed by a red hot last five. The in between five was marred by weird botches and awkwardness. After losing the first fall, Flair clearly needs to come out cooking, but also look Jumbo to press the advantage. Flair has an interesting strategy to start. He comes in firing at Jumbo with heavy hands and at first Jumbo is able to overwhelm him. Flair now down 1-0 just keeps firing. He tries an atomic drop, but it is reversed, he blocks. He gets a suplex and then a piledriver. What's interesting is Flair is trying to win with bombs. Then we see a strategy more up Flair's alley. The front facelock. He locks that in. Saps Jumbo's energy, totally grinds his momentum to a halt, gives time for Flair to recover and the biggest thing of all he basically wastes ten minutes off the clock here. He is still going for pinfalls, but he is killing time. This is boring as hell and the match rating is gonna suffer, but you cant deny it is smart. He throws Jumbo out. Jumbo takes a couple tries and yanks him out. He throws him into the post and busts Flair open. Jumbo up 1-0 & Flair is bleeding. Can he pull out the championship victory with twenty minutes left. Last Twenty Minutes: These two are athletic freaks. They wrestle a grueling 40 minutes and now they decide to have a fireworks show. I loved Jumbo pounding on the cut and Flair throwing those wild punches. Flair was killing it in the selling department. Collapsing and hollering as Jumbo was kicking ass. Jumbo feels like an ass kicker. There was some really great fist fights. HIGH KNEE! I was urging to Jumbo to cover and I already know he wont win that's how good that spot was. Flair Flip. Flair headbutts down low! Great spot! Jumbo reverses a suplex attempt into a back drop driver attempt, but Flair blocks by grapevining the leg. Jumbo grabs a sleeper. There is a HUGE nearfall, 1-2-Foot on ropes! I marked out for it. Flair throws him out and Jumbo comes back covered with streamers with a MISSILE DROPKICK off the top! Awesome visual. I think I figured it out Flair just cant take a Thesz Press. Jumbo GOES FLYING over the ropes in an insane bump when Flair ducks the High knee. NOW We Go To School! Jumbo earns his keep in selling here. Flair is relentless on the leg and Jumbo is great selling in the confines of the figure-4. Flair runs the clock out with really compelling leg work and a figure-4. Jumbo was selling so well and the drama was high. Jumbo does not submit, but the clock runs out on him and winning the NWA Championship. The first fall is an incredible, basic strategic wrestling match. The last twenty minute is this insanely dramatic action-packed match with blood, bombs, bumps and drama down the stretch. Two things keep this from classic status the beginning ten minutes of second fall are pretty damn boring. Even if it makes sense, it was boring. During the finish run, it felt incomplete. It was missing that big Jumbo run. It would be like a tag match without a hot tag. It just did not feel right. Flair was awesome at selling and really timed the match out well. Jumbo killed it offensively and then in the end came through in the selling of the leg. Just an awesome NWA Championship and one of the best Broadways ever. ****1/2
  20. My gimmick is blown! I am no longer the youngster. Sad!
  21. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/26/83 I have a lot of problems with Harley Race, but boredom is not usually one of them. This was a boring 30 minute draw. When he put on a front facelock in the middle of what I thought was the finish run I was thinking "Fuck they are going 60 and I just wanna go to bed." Harley just had no fire. Very few bumps, not much selling, just no character work. It was the opposite of his fun Iceman Parsons match which was just 20 days earlier. Jumbo brought enough that I would say the match was good. Even though Jumbo is a big star, he often a challenger for a major title against a foreigner. So he has a challenger's mentality so you get some nice offense. I liked the struggle over the Butterfly suplex early. We get the most Harley transition ever where he just grabs a side headlock out of Jumbo's and just starts hitting headbutts. Now Jumbo is forced to sell. Where is the momentum shift? He hits his diving headbutt, but Jumbo kicks out. Jumbo hits this amazing overhead belly to belly! Now that's a momentum changer! THESZ PRESS! Harley just hits a swinging neckbreaker. Jesus, Harley! Act like you care, bro. Back to headbutts and a front facelock. There is a cool Harley tombstone, so we finally get a big Harley spot Harley gets busted open on the outside. The actual Jumbo finish run is the best part of the match. Tons of cool offense and a fired up Jumbo and a crowd that believes. Jumbo accidentally knocks out the ref twice. Triggers DQ. They have the absolutely coldest brawl to end a match ever. Jumbo had some really good offense and did wrestle well. So I will say it was good. Harley just did not give a fuck in this match. No bumping, barely any trademark big Harley offense, barely selling, no character work. Really long 30 minute match. ***
  22. You must hate fun, hard hitting action with great selling and bumping. Good escalation. Moves that actually have consequence. Two really good nearfalls instead of sixty. Then a really well-built finish. Wow that's a lot of things you must hate.
  23. Pope Francis needs to canonize AJ Styles right now because he is a MIRACLE WORKER! FUCKING PHENOMENAL‬ ****1/2. They killed it! That's pro wrestling!
  24. Lol. I saw that movie in theatres on a date, was not that great. 13 matches! WOW! That's most 80s thing they have done in forever.
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