Superstar Sleeze

National Heavyweight Champion Masked Superstar vs Butch Reed - GCW TV 8/22/81 Masked Superstar as the champion is feuding with a whole lot of people like Tommy Rich, Mr. Wrestling II and Steve O. Now on TV he has young upstart Butch Reed. Really fun TV match that Superstar gives a lot to Reed. Eadie stayed true to his form he would start out as the aggressor only to have Reed overwhelm him with power and technique. Reed looked great with his crossbody, punches and arm work. Superstar took his powders only to eat a headlock. Anybody have a better headlock than Reed? Reed did some nice arm work. I liked Superstar snapmaring out of a hammerlock only to have Reed keep it on. This was the start to a great 20-25 minute match unfortunately there was only two minutes left. Reed ate mat on a flying shouldertackle attempt and then a lariat followed by a Cobra Clutch was the finish. Reed looked like a future star. Superstar was definitely generous and made Reed look like a million bucks. Good TV match. ***

Harley Race vs Barry Windham - CWF TV 7/4/83 Harley is the World's Heavyweight Champion at this point, but this is non-title. The beginning is the usual Harley bombfest with no rhyme or reason, tons of momentum shifts, no struggle. It just feels like an exhibition. Barry was great at selling and firing up, but Harley just refused to take advantage of this. Barry tried. I would say between this and the Bass match that by 83 you could safely call BW a great wrestler. After the first commercial break, the moves started to matter and the drama built. You got that real sense of veteran champion against young upstart. Harley bashing his head into the post and really following up his moves and actually stringing them along to build to the drama of Barry's comeback. So Barry could sell and that selling led to a hot comeback with great strikes and him busting Harley open, which is great revenge. Contrast that to the opening match where because Harley would bump and feed and then hit move there was no drama and there no feeling of Barry proving himself because there was no challenge. It does get a little move trade-y at the end, but the double juice and excitement help assuage my feelings of annoyance. Windham misses the big lariat, but gets an O'Connor Roll to score a HUGE upset!!! Really nice finish. Harley is pissed and wants to piledrive BW on the floor, but Dusty saves only to be piledriven himself. Second half is very good and overall an entertaining TV match with a cool finish. ***

Big ups to Steven (Grimmas) for all his effort in putting this together and overseeing it. Great job!

Cant wait for Matt's head to explode!

Jack Brisco vs Buzz Sawyer - CWF 11/18/81 High stakes in this Florida TV studio bout as Gordon tells us the winner will be in line for NWA World Title shot and Flair is out to watch the match. Really smooth, technical match. Brisco's arm drags are great and I love how fluid his transition from a hiptoss into a short armscissors is. I love the rolling short arm scissors. Sawyer plays it great with tights on the roll up. Brisco accidentally gets caught with a knee on a criss cross and Sawyer does from great work on the arm. Again it is on a criss cross the match is decided, Sawyer goes for a bodyslam in motion but Brisco jumps high and topples him with a Thesz Press to get the three. Fun and brief.

Awwwwwwww shucks, you know how to make a couple guys feel like a million bucks! I would really to hear people's thoughts on our number 1's and my argument for them to be number one.

Matt D with a post of the year candidate! Cracked me up!

I know I saw the date of the match and that it had like 8.5k views and was shocked that no one was talking about it. I tweeted Charles, Pete and Dylan and was totally prepared for them to tell me they had seen it like five years ago. The only reason I believe it has not been talked about was because it was from Southwest and that's pretty unexplored. I found it by accident trying to see if Terry Funk vs Tully Blanchard existed from Southwest. Orton's performance was great, I should have went more into detail about his punches and his selling! His selling was phenomenal heel selling. Loss, I can totally see 4.5 given it was 20 minutes and a draw. I don't see anything lower than that. I got 4.75 just because how well connected everything was.

I think I will definitely enjoy World Of Sport given what you, Matt and others have said about it. I want to completely master American and Japanese wrestling, first is all. So in like 5 years I will catch up to everybody!

Everyone stop what they are doing and watch Terry Funk vs Bob Orton from May 26, 1983 Southwest World Championship Tournament. I am not even going to spoil any awesomeness. I gave it ****3/4. Incredible narrative building. One of the most logically progressive matches ever!

Terry Funk vs Bob Orton - Southwest 5/26/83 Southewest World Championship Tournament Kudos to the modern guy who does commentary on this. He was not half bad and got the psychology over pretty well. Holy shit! Why has no one talked about this match? Probably because it happened in Southwest! This may be the most logically progressive match I have ever seen. Like every move that one did to the other caused a reaction and had a consequence. It was a beautifully constructed narrative. Easily one of the best matches of 80s. They start off with mutual respect deal and it is chippy, but respectful. Then Funk starts elbowing the back of the neck. Then he slaps Orton. That's the story of the early part of the match. Funk is disrespecting Orton and it backfires on him! Orton gets madder and madder. First Orton whips him into the corner hard and he goes to work on the back. Some of the best bearhug spots you will ever see and again Funk is using elbows and non-technical ways to get out. Finally, when Orton goes for a pin, Funk kicks out and LUNGES at him with a nasty JYD-style headbutt. It was one of the nastiest I have seen Funk throw. He throws two more nasty ones crawling at Orton hard. Orton takes a breather, but now Orton is fucking pissed. He gets in the ring and now he is slapping Funk. He throws Funk out hard right onto the Japanese photographer. Orton basically turns heel mid-match because Funk was being a dick to him! Plus we get two Orton control segments back to back that are totally friggin different!!! HOW COOL IS THAT! Funk's selling is so fucking awesome. Those Orton punches and Funk holding on for dear life on the apron. Holy shit! BEST PART OF THE MATCH: Funk sort of half falls into Orton and half tries to attack him and Orton sees he is in a position for the piledriver and hits it for two. That's what I mean by logical progression. Funk single leg pick up and just goes all out on the knee hoping to escape this match with the Spinning Toehold. Rake of the eyes because Orton is a douche. Funk is so sympathetic. Bang heads! HUGE Suplex Struggle! FUNK WINS TO EARN HIS CONTROL SEGMENT! God Bless this match! Funk works over the knee with a variety of toe holds, but is still out of it cant put Orton away. Orton crotches Funk on the top rope out of desperation. Orton is great in this. Orton brutalizing Funk with rights. SLUGFEST! We are getting it all. FUNK BALLSHOTS ORTON WITH HIS LEG! Perfect. Funk atomic drop and punches. Bell rings for a draw!!! NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!! Still brawling! I could have watched another 20 minutes of this easy. Nearly perfect wrestling. Only reason not to go ***** is it just does not feel complete. Like they had so much more to give. Awesome, awesome. ****3/4

Terry Funk vs Mark Lewin - Big Time Wrestling Detroit TV 1978 It is mayhem on Professional Big Time Wrestling out of Detroit. Terry Funk has a bone to pick with Mark Lewin and some incendiary remarks about Detroit Rock City. I love the big time wrestler interrupting a squash match to have an impromptu match. Funk is really good in this. Lewin is fine throws some nice punches and seems legitimately pissed. Lewin is working the arm. Funk's selling is great and Funk is the one providing the energy. Funk trying the headbutt to get out only to sell the headbutt was great. The finish was great with Funk and Lewin brawling in the crowd and Lewin jabs a wooden stake into Funk head. Only for Cleveland Browns Water Johnson to hit Mark Lewin with a slapjack. Funk is bleeding, Lewin is the on the ground. a Browns football player is a heel in Detroit and Detroit is chanting "We Want The Sheik"! Awesome ending.

Diamonds are forever and so is Ric Flair

I thought Crockett had bought out Central States in 86? Why do a title switch in America at that point?

So what's up with All Japan doing a tag team championship switch in KC apparently in an AWA ring between Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Gordy? According to comments this was when Bulldogs wrestled RNRs, which may make sense since Bulldogs were in AJPW. This was February 2, 1989. So who was running KC in the late 1980s? Geigel? AWA? Whats the connection here?

I wish I had more time to write responses to this podcast. I just want to take credit for starting the Kawada as the Ultimate Choke Artist/Best Loser talking point. I am up to the Top 5 and this is top shelf stuff. Also, I had Kobashi at #1 and Michaels at #14 with a spirited defense of Michaels. So I am consistent.

I went to the Smackdown tapings in Manchester last night definitely a better show than Boston. Who knew going with your Mom would be more fun than going with your friend. She was loving it. Popped big for Enzo's schtick, which was the highlight of the night for me. Flair told Nattie to kill herself, but it was clearly just him working himself up in a lather against Bret. Nattie had to stop herself from laughing when he said it. It was just an outrageous statement. Clearly you should not tell someone to kill themselves and it is insensitive but there no malice. Match of the night was a really fun Owens vs Swagger match worked around their usual spots but with interesting set ups and occasional misses (people should miss moves more often!). Owens was bumping huge for Swagger and Swagger threw a great right hand at one. Excellent pacing. That match will be on Main Event. Check it out!

Told Nattie to kill herself last night and now his behavior at Logan Airport. Cmon Naitch! I wish I could have partied with him last night

Kevin Von Erich vs Chris Adams - WCCW 9/2/85, No DQ This is the singles blowoff to the Kevin/Adams singles feud that started at last year's Cotton Bowl show and kicked off the Dynamic Duo/Von Erichs feud. Gino is suspended in a cage above the ring. It does not start off as hot as expected as Kevin goes to the bodyscissors, but once Adams takes over. He really kicks some ass and throws Kevin around. It must be exhausting wrestling Kevin, you have to stay on him to stay on top. Adams thinks piledriver, but Kevin kicks off. Kevin is thinking Claw. I love it! You hate that muthafucka you use that claw. Adams retreats to the ropes and Kevin tenaciously puts the claw on the abdomen and Adams basically has to fall out the ring. Adams throws a chair into the ring. Then match gets wicked hot. They struggle on the outside and leads to Adams choking Kevin with mic cord so Kevin puts the CLAW ON ADAMS!!! Love that escape! Kevin pulls Adams across the ring with Claw. Adams ballshots him to get Kevin off. KEVIN HITS HIS SPLASH! Wow! He almost always misses it! The ref is bumped and Gino throws down some knuckledusters to Adams, but he loses them and Kevin blasts him to win the match. The post-match is glorious, one of the best in wrestling. Lowrance had told us throughout the match that Dynamic Duo had been cutting people's hair and that was a double hair match on the table. So they pull Gino into the ring via the cage. Kevin humiliates Gino by ripping his clothes off, but Adams attacks Kevin from behind with a belt and locks him in the cage. GINO HAS SCISSORS!!! OH SHIT! Kerry of course saves and Kevin is so pissed he accepts the challenge for the hair vs hair match!!! Which will take place at the Cotton Bowl!!! AWESOME! Match is great, but not the classic I was hoping for. Just a great heated blowoff match. ****

Kerry & Kevin Von Erich vs Chris Adams & Gino Hernandez - WCCW 2/22/85 Call me crazy, but I think the Dynamic Duo had better matches with the Von Erichs than the Freebirds. They were more willing to meet the Von Erichs with fire rather just feed and bump. This match felt downright Japanese. Everyone was just running into each other and breaking stuff up. It was total chaos and I loved it. The beginning was great with Adams hitting a superkick out of nowhere on Kerry. So Kerry had to scramble for the tag. I love how Kerry had the presence of mind to hold Adams for Kevin. Kevin was a total madman in this match. This match is a perfect example why I love Kevin (and at times I hate him). He goes at everyone full force, but sometime he recovers too quickly. He takes some big missed splashes. You know that lamest spot in wrestling, you know the one where, a wrestler is on his back and the opponent is coming off with a double axehandle I think and eats a boot. Like honestly what did you expect to hit. Well Kevin takes that bump with full on splash! Kevin is the man! The problem is Kevin does not sell these for long and is ready to get right back on offense. At the same time, this is just a chaotic fight. This would not feel that out of place in All Japan 1980s. Kerry nails Adams with a wicked discus punch. As soon as Kerry gets the ab stretch, Gino interferes and Kevin comes flyin in to smack Gino. There is one time where Kevin so desperately wants to attack Gino he trips over Kerry and Adams' bodies. It was awesome. Gino & Adams have to fight for their lives just to get offense in. Kerry was great at selling and definitely needed to do that since his brother just straight refuses to. I loved the kneecrusher as a set up for the abdomen claw. Adams attacks and here comes Kevin! Adams cant prevent the tag. Kevin and Adams have this great clash before a wicked Kevin dropkick. This is just gnarly how they are fighting for everything. Kevin's bodyscissors, which I love is the first time the match has not been an all out-sprint. Adams selling and Kevin working it into covers makes it a great spot. Gino finally gets tired of it and elbows Kevin. Kerry just blasts Gino. Kevin drags in Gary Hart into the ring and Adams hits Kevin hard in the back of the head. The ref calls the match off, which I totally buy because this match was a melee. Don't have a problem with that finish. As I said in the body, this feels like an 80s All Japan tag with Kevin playing the role of Hansen just an absolute madman. The offense and general story is not as high quality, but it is immensely entertaining. Adams & Gino have to fight for their lives to stay on top. They bump when they have to see Adams on that Discus punch and there are some other times, but they are willing to meet the Von Erichs toe to toe, which gives these matches more of a gritty, fight feel than the feel-good Freebirds matches. Really, really looking forward to hair vs hair now! ****1/2

Exactly, there is no way Austin thinks he is in top 25 wrestlers of all time. I almost want to send him an email to read out loud on his show just so he can say just what WingedEagle said "You all need to watch more wrestling".

BRET AND AUSTIN FINISHED OVER TAUE & AKIYAMA!?!?!? What the fuck! I love Stone Cold! He is hilarious. Besides Wargames and maybe maybe SuperBrawl II point me to these all time Stunning Steve matches! He is a committed midcard heel that's it. I say this as someone who loves the Bash at the Beach 94 match that everyone shits on. The rest of his 94 is boooooorrrrring. That's it. Dustin Havoc '91 very good. Hollywood Blonds very good. These are very good years with someone who understood basic psychology executed. Look no one takes basic psychology for granted because hell not a lot of wrestlers can do that. But that's NOT top 25 material. People pretend his 96 something great. It is better than expected Savio Vega matches, a decent match with Mero then does shit until the Bret match. 2/3s of his 97 is awesome and 2001 is great. I had him at 50 and some of that was sentimental because of the podcast. How the fuck does someone with two years of greatness get in top 25??? That's absurd!

I cant believe Bret is going to finish higher than Shawn. Bullshit. I cant wrap my head around a Bret is better than Shawn argument. Rockers >>> Hart Foundation 90s Shawn > 90s Bret Then Shawn has the entire post-comeback run to bolster his case. This is just silly.

American Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich vs Chris Adams - WCCW 2/8/85 They tease that they are going to work that Kerry is woozy right off the bat from an enziguiri by Adams complete with selling in and out of the ring, which would have been fucking awesome (like Mutoh/Tenryu 2001 just in Texas), but what we got was pretty sweet. Kerry works the best singles front facelock sequence you will ever see. So good, really versatile and works a three spots from that base, really nice. Really makes sense for him to use that hold given the enziguiri. World Class has such strange psychology, the closest thing is WWF psychology in the Backlund era. I do like it, but there is something about it that I think prevents traditional classics from developing plus at only like 11 minutes it is hard for this to reach that status. What we get is so good. Adams heat segment is pretty good, but what makes is Kerry's selling and always fighting back. As much as I like Kevin as Scrappy Doo what makes Kerry so great is that he sells too. Ab stretch is such a great move for Kerry coming out of criss cross to put on the Claw. I love how Adams sells it, gripping his midsection throwing a chair down. Kerry is relentless trying to get the claw on. Adams fighting for dear life from him putting it on his head was so dramatic. Kerry actually goes back to the front facelock, interesting move. He misses an elbow and Adams hits a nice dropkick. Kerry applies a sleeper that move was so popular in the mid-80s. DISCUS PUNCH~! Hart gets Adams' foot on the rope in a nick of time. The finish is fucking excellent. Kerry gives pursuit to Hart and Adams nails him with a superkick on the apron. Ref reprimands Adams so Hart takes his shoe off Kerry and conks him. Kerry back in the ring dazed and confused (even he was not already) nailed with a second superkick to lose the belt. It is two best workers in World Class and this one never dragged. The finish is really good, but other than that it does not have much of a hook. I like the finish a lot. Lets go ****

I NEED to see Butch Reed vs Crusher Blackwell