Superstar Sleeze

NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Road Warriors - AJPW 3/12/87 I did a little research on the tag team titles in All Japan. The NWA International Tag Team Championship was the Main Championship it was primarily held by Baba & Jumbo and when Baba went into semi-retirement it became Jumbo & Tenryu's titles and this was the title that they feuded with Choshu & Yatsu over that I have not gotten to yet because I am saving it for a day when I can knock out all four major matches. The PWF Tag Team Titles were only created in 1984 and these were Stan Hansen's titles. He won them with Brody and then it was awarded to DiBiase when Brody left and when DiBiase departed it was awarded to Austin Idol, which is an interesting pick. It was only in 1987 that non-Hansen teams started to win them. Jumbo & Yatsu would feud with Tenryu & Hara over the PWF titles during the Jumbo vs Tenryu war. Jumbo & Yatsu would be the team to unify the title two sets of tag titles to form the Double Cup. This was pretty good and I think if the Road Warriors either worked in Japan more or were heel more in the US they would be more fondly remembered in the ring. Monster babyface is probably the hardest role in wrestling to play and I think Roadies' style was better suited to being roughhousing heels. I really liked this match as a power wrestling match and these four big dudes hitting hard and throwing each other around. Jumbo Tsuruta is a big dude. Animal makes it look easy to Press Him Over Head and slam him. Loved Jumbo's response to this, really TRUCKS him with the Lariat. Tenryu and Hawk have a great exchange. Hawk takes a nice doubled over somersault bump off the middle. They are a lot more giving here than normal but I think it being in Japan and they are playing heels is the cause. It is just great power wrestling. Short heat on Tenryu, gets a back suplex to tag in Jumbo. Hawk hits a big bodyslam but misses elbow. Jumbo hits that great High Knee, but they both collide hard on lariat attempts. Axe Bomber by Hawk sends Jumbo cashing to the outside. Japan being so offense-focused really helps the power-oriented Road Warriors. Tag out to Animal and a miss move lets Jumbo tag out. Tenryu misses his reverse top rope back elbow. This starts the Tenryu heat proper. Lots of fake tags and chinlocks. Hawk misses a middle rope splash and hot tag to Jumbo! Jumbo is rolling; between this & Hansen/DiBiase match I just watched, Jumbo is a phenomenal hot tag. Great fire and loved the high knee in the corner! Scorpion Deathlock by Jumbo, I usually associate the Boston Crab with him, I wonder if that is some Choshu influence. Tag back into Tenryu which may be too fast. Best spot of the match: Tenryu whips Hawk into the ropes, Animal presses Hawk and THROWS HIM INTO TENRYU! Massive powerslam by Tenryu! DOOMSDAY DEVICE~! Jumbo is barely saving on these covers. Animal press slams Tenryu like he is nothing. Crazy! STUFF PILEDRIVER ON TENRYU ON THE OUTSIDE! AWESOME! Countout victory! Japanese titles can change hands on countout so the Road Warriors are new Tag Team Champions! The Roadies would only defend it three times in over a year as Crockett was sending their wrestlers to Japan less & less. Not surprising that PWF Tag Team Titles became more important as a result. Loved the power wrestling, the chinlock stuff dragged, but the Jumbo hot tag and the finish stretch were ultra-hot! Fun power wrestling match. ***1/2

Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase - AJPW 12/12/86 WESTERN LARIAT! Hansen & DiBiase look at each other as if to say "Do you know the plan?" and then BOOM! Hansen explodes into a LARIAT on the unexpecting Tenryu at the bell. Everyone brawls on the outside this is off to a red hot start. Things settle down into an incredible Tenryu face in peril segment. What I love more than anything are the frequent tags and the cutoffs. It really feels like Tenryu is overwhelmed with these two beasts. Hansen sets low and Tenryu punt kicks him, but DiBiase YANKS Tenryu down from behind by the hair to prevent the tag. Tenryu backdrops DiBiase and Hansen rumbles in and cuts him off with a well-timed knee to head. The offense is brutal and they are snuffing out hope spots with precision. Deep Boston Crab by Hansen. Jumbo cant take anymore and saves Tenryu from the Boston Crab, but DiBiase and the ref force him out of the ring. Tenryu Enziguiri! Hansne wrangles him before he can get to Jumbo, each time Tenryu is getting closer and closer. They are buidling to the hot tag so well. DiBiase knocks Jumbo off the apron and makes sure to get his licks in on Tenryu before leaving. BIG HANSEN DROPKICK! For Two! DiBiase backdrop! Tenryu holds onto ropes and DiBiase crashes & burns on dropkick! My favorite cutoff, Tenryu is so damn close and Hansen comes charging in full force and bowls Tenryu from clear across the ring to prevent the tag. They have built this hot tag to a fever pitch! Tenryu gets the boot up on a charge and HOT TAG! WHAT A FUCKING HOT TAG IT IS! JUMBO TRUCKS DIBIASE WITH A LARIAT! ATTAKCS HANSEN! HIGH KNEE TO DIBIASE! HE IS TAKING ON TWO MEN AT ONCE AND PLAYING TO THE CROWD! HE IS ROCKING! HANSEN TACKLES DIBIASE TO SAVE HIM FROM JUMBO MONSTER LARIAT! OUTSIDE THE RING HANSEN CLOBBERS DIBIASE WITH THE LARIAT! JUMBO GETS BACK IN THE RING! COUNTOUT VICTORY! HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS AWESOME! Awesome sub-ten minute sprint! That I dont think a lot of people talk about. I was totally expecting a 30 minute draw or a long match at least, I think the pace & structure caught me totally off guard. This was a great curveball! ****1/4

NWA International Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/18/86 Stan Hansen has been since stripped of the AWA Championship in a infamous story. He is defending the International Heavyweight Championship against Jumbo , which was traditionally Jumbo's title. This is considered the greatest of their matches of a rivalry similar to Hansen/Misawa that generally people are lukewarm on. Joe Higuchi's all orange outfit with a white accents was ******, eat you heart out, Omega. As I was watching this match, I was like what is the big deal? Yes, it is great and I would say it a cut above the other two from 1986, but I didnt see it as a major leap up. Patience is a virtue and if you wait, you will be rewarded with a terrific double juice brawl! I did like how chippy this started out. Some great slashing chops from both men. I really liked how Jumbo fought through the onslaught to earn his offense. He ends up eating the railing. Hansen starts in on the left shoulder. At first it is nerve holds and such, you are not too sure this will become a focal point or if he is just wasting time, it does become the object of his attack. There's a nice moment when he was going to send Jumbo into the buckles but if he would hit the wrong shoulder so reverses course so that when Jumbo takes the bump it is on the correct shoulder. What could look like a flub to the untrained eye, was a brilliant moment of psychology. Hansen really grinds on the arm. Offensively, there are two Hansen's: Bull In The China Shop Hansen and Grind It Out Hansen. I greatly prefer the former. I was gobsmacked at this point that this match fared so well. I was like yes this might be the best grinder Hansen has looked at targetting one body part and Jumbo is not going to make a Top Ten Seller list is doing a great job selling, this is still more like in **** territory than anything else. Then the high knee happens... Jumbo nails the High Knee as a hope spot. In the follow-up, Hansen drops down and Jumbo goes sailing over the top rope. WESTERN LARIAT! JUMBO BLADES! HOLY SHIT! In one moment, I go from this is great to this is fucking great! I love when a heel has held control, loses control for a brief moment and his reaction is to just hit the biggest possible bomb and then on top of that JUMBO BLADED! Ok, I think I can fuck with this. Hansen attacks the cut and Jumbo''s selling is the best he has ever done! The way he was stumbling around ringside. Hansen DROPKICK! Exposed kneelift to the cut! Bloodstain on the thigh! Fuck yeah! If it is right armed Lariat is it Eastern Lariat? Eastern Lariat gets two. Hansen is pressing his advantage. It is the full court press. Big jumping elbow drop from Hansen just kicking Jumbo in the cut as he is down. This is killer. Football shouldertackle sends Jumbo careening out of the ring. I like the change of pace. He was not getting the job done inside the ring. Lets brawl! He sends Jumbo into hard metal objects and JUMBO REVERSES HANSEN INTO THE RINGPOST! HANSEN BLADES! I love that they used the outside as a means for Jumbo take over. He was in such a deep hole that this was the only plausible way for him to regain control. Big, meaty snapmare to bring Hansen back in over the top rope. Jumbo is FEROCOIUS on offense! Attacking the cut! Great clenched fist in the ring to pump up the crowd! Jumbo HIGH KNEE! 1-2-NO! Crowd has been rocking since the blood started to flow. Jumbo goes nuts attacking the cut, Hansen lunges at Jumbo out of desperation but eats the buckles and goes tumbling to outside. Again, it is the outside where the match changes hands. Jumbo HIGH KNEE TO RINGPOST! Great double countout tease! I thought Higuchi called for the bell, but no the match continues. Jumbo suplexes Hansen back in on a bad knee. Jumbo misses the Bombs Away Knee! Holy shit! Hansen wicked short elbow to the knee. Hansen grinding the leg. Jumbo HAMMER FISTS TO THE CUT to get Hansen off the leg. I love it! Single Leg Crab by Hansen! I love the shifting gears. WESTERN LARIAT~! He does NOT cover! Protects the finish. He also hit it differently, he kinda hugged Jumbo on follow through. All to protect the move. Hansen takes the Bret Bump as he is reeling backwards, Jumbo scoops him up into a Small Package to win the match and regain his Championship. Hansen ever the sore loser attacks Jumbo after the bell, but he is vanquished and all is right in Japan again. JIP to the high knee, I could see people calling this *****. I think lets take the average and call it ****1/2. I really enjoyed the bloody brawling. Uptempo, gritty, lots of struggle and lots of earning the offense, great selling and loved the transitions. Definitely check this out, but be patient!

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu vs NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 9/3/86 These two have excellent chemistry and the 1985 series seems to be when Tenryu finally got it (I will say he had a terrific match with Ted DiBiase in 1983, but this was different). The 1986 is less heralded except for the review above, which is both excellent as a review and extols the virtues of the match well. Choshu comes out with his ribs taped up a result of the war with Killer Khan just a little over a month prior. Choshu returns to his typical heel roots against #2 babyface Tenryu. In a great display of Choshu drama, he rips off the tape in front of Tenryu and the crowd in defiance. The velocity by which they run the ropes and Tenryu BOWLS Choshu over with a shoulder tackle is very 90s All Japan as is Choshu catching Tenryu subsequently and hitting a Back Suplex! Tenryu powders to regroup. This would not be out of place in a 1996 Kenta Kobashi match. They trade side headlocks. Their lock-ups are ferocious. Choshu knows how to make every little detail so big. Excellent Fireman's Carry by Choshu whilst maintaining wrist control to seamlessly transition into a cross-armbreaker attempt. Genius wrestling. Love it. Great struggle over the hold. Choshu wins the Shouldertackle takedown and figure-4s the head as he is wont to do. Choshu has been in control of most of the match, early Back Drop Driver and controlling the action via tight holds. Tenryu is able to reverse into a Bow & Arrow and for the first time, Choshu is in retreat as he powders to regroup. Tenryu allows him back in and is another of those batterring ram lock ups. The first strike is delivered a Tenryu overhand chop. Choshu hits a reverse elbow in the corner. He has his back to Tenryu. Tenryu kicks him with the toe of the boot right into the injured midsection. Dick move by man who hitherto was not known for his dick moves but would later become a King Prick. Tenryu does not continue the attack there, rather consolidates around arm work. The idea is perhaps that is more honorable and that that kicks to the injury was a desperation tactic and he was back to wrestling with honor. I LOVE how Choshu struggles to get out of these holds just throwing kicks from his back in the hold trying to connect with any part of Tenryu's body. They are doing a great job changing the holds as Choshu struggles, Tenryu repositions, rinse, lather, repeat for maximum entertainment value. Choshu bullies Tenryu into the corner to force a break but does not give one. Instead, he attacks Tenryu's knee and then delivers two WICKED, HEATED ELBOWS to Tenryu's head that pops the crowd. Tenryu's responds in turn with an AWESOME DROPKICK! Best exchange thus far! Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat on Choshu wins the Criss-Cross battle. Kneedrop re-consolidates his advantage into an armbar. Showing Choshu's rally was really just a hope spot. Choshu feels more like the babyface and Tenryu the heel here, which probably suits their personalities better. I LOVED Choshu catching the High Knee, Sweeping The Leg and IMMEDIATE SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Great struggle to turn it over, slapping Tenryu's in the face, but too clsoe to the ropes and Choshu goes right back to it. But again too close to the ropes. Choshu takes full advantage of the count. Huge highspot when Choshu goes up top and Tenryu hits an Enziguiri wicked bump by Choshu to the apron. They battle on the apron! Choshu ducks the Lariat and nails his own to win the Apron battle. I like their Battling Ram Mini-Battles. Choshu is too injured to captialize. It is actually Tenryu, who is grabbing his jaw, that drags Choshu out by his hair into the railing. CHOSHU DANGEROUSSSSSSS BACKDROP DRIVER ON THE APRON! HOLY SHIT! This would not be out of place at all in mid-90s All Japan! Choshu is Winding-Up but Tenryu has a well-placed knee to the injured side of the charging Choshu. Choshu crumples into a heap. Tenryu turning full heel here is great. Choshu is writhing in pain as Tenryu delivers a series of standing elbow drops. Struggle over the Back Drop Driver, Tenryu breaks the clasp and kicks the injured side. SLINGSHOT SUPLEX BY TENRYU! WOW! This rocks! Tenryu applies The Octopus Stretch which pops the crowd but Tenryu loses his balance and they end up in the ropes. Toe kick to injured side. Choshu catches a kick and MUSCLES his way into a Scorpion Deathlock in the middle of the ring! Great heat for this! Choshu injured ribs force him to break the hold. Vertical Suplex by Choshu gets two.. Tenryu lunges at Choshu from his knees and attackes the injured side. Choshu MANS UP and fights through the pain and hoists Tenryu over in a Dangerous Backdrop Driver. Tenryu tries for a Top Rope Reverse Elbow. Choshu pulls him down with a Back Suplex! Tenryu moved too quickly to go up top in my opinion. Another Backdrop Driver and gets a heated nearfall for two. Choshyu hammerlocks Tenryu and drives him shoulder first into the post and then he BASHES Tenryu's head into the ringpost to bloody him. It is amazing how bloody All Japan was compared to the sterile 90s. Choshu tees off on the open wound in typical awesome Choshu fashion with great punches. Tenryu collapses into the ring as Choshu winds up! MACK TRUCK LARIAT! I love how Tenryu doesnt budge initially to absorb all of the blow to make it extra meaty and then collapses. Choshu smashes him into the railing. Back in the ring he continues to brutalize Tenryu and he triggers a DQ in the only surefire way to trigger a DQ in 80s All Japan by attacking the ref. Tenryu nails an Enziguiri in the post-match but other than that Choshu is a man possessed punching Tenryu and Young Boys. I am shocked this placed #63. You have Prick Tenryu, Badass Rockstar Choshu fighting from underneath to overcome Tenryu's dickishness, you have the side injury, you have a ton of MOVEZ~! and blood. DQ finishes dont bother me too much and I thought this was a good one honestly. Choshu was seeing red. Tenryu had been a docuhe to him the entire match. He bloodies him and just starts teeing off. He cant stop, the ref does the right thing to protect Tenryu and Choshu does the right thing to signal to the audience how pissed he is by decking the ref. I really liked that Tenryu always had to use the injury to gain the advantage and as the match wore on he would become more & more focused on it. I didnt think the beginning (as much as I liked the early Backdrop Driver) was wrestled at a ***** level even though the later stages of the match got there for me. The Lariat battle on the Apron and the BackDrop Driver on the Apron were NUTS! The finish stretch was crazy! Call me crazy, but I liked this definitively better than Choshu/Killer Khan match. ****3/4

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu vs Ricky Martel - AJPW 12/03/86 If there is one wrestler I cant resist, it is Ricky Martel, baby! I enjoyed this match. I like a good narrative and the fact this didnt really have one puts a ceiling on how much I enjoyed it. However, besides a narrative, this had everything else I really enjoy in pro wrestling. Lots of struggle, trading holds, and huge charisma. You cant have a bad time watching Rick Martel work. He is so quick and moving with such vigor. Watch his side headlock into a toehold. Or watch his O'Connor Roll. He is such a joy to watch. Choshu is a total rockstar. Just a really hot opening to the match without any highspots. Martel shoulder gets rammed into the post. Choshu nails a suplex and thinks Scorpion Deathlock but cant get Martel over. Martel goes tenaciously after the leg. Great struggle over the Figure-4. Martel does the 'ol AWA standby of dropping his weight down on the knee after the figure-4 is relinquished. Martel starts driving the knee and misses the second knee into the mat. Choshu gets two deep Scorpion Deathlocks and Martel sells well. Martel goes into his finish run...reverse crossbody...gutwrench suplex...bodyslam...backbreaker. He goes up top and crashes and burns on the Top Rope Splash! Dangerous BackDrop Driver...Windup...MACK TRUCK LARIAT for the tidy 1,2,3. Not a whole lot of substance and Martel blows off what little legwork there was. Not a whole lot meat on the bone, but what we did get was fun. ***1/2

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu vs Killer Khan - AJPW 7/31/86 I am just finishing Jack Weatherford's excellent Genghis Khan and specifically the chapter about Kublai Khan trying to invade Japan twice. In the first invasion, they were only thwarted because a massive Wind storm blew up and destroyed the Mongol fleet. This Divine Wind is known as the "Kamikaze" in Japanese. The use of a "barbaric" Mongol heel in the 1970s/80s, 700 years after the Mongol Invasions of Japan shows the impact of history. It is only fitting I watch a Killer Khan and one of his three classics at that. Riki Choshu is such a badass rockstar. What is the backstory here? This is heel vs heel, no? They tagged in 1985? Where was the falling out? This a Clash of Titans brawl. It is very Choshu and Khan is a perfect villain for the the Choshu style. He is much larger than Choshu, very imposing and can go blow for blow with the meaty Choshu. Lots of intense lock-ups. The unique aspect to me in this match was Khan's use of "War Cries" or "Ghoulish Screams". He sounded like a banshee. He clubbers Choshu down, mostly focusing on the midsection. It is a stomp to Choshu while he is in the supine position after being battered by relentless barrage of kneelifts that we hear the first of these war cries. He continues to use the War Cries throughout the match. Another aspect of the match that makes it great is the amount of struggle in the match. There is a lot of fighting through offense. The first major turning point is when Killer Khan misses his favorite Bombs Away Kneedrop from the top rope to the floor! Choshu begins to go to work on the larger Khan by clubbering away. There is such a great intensity to Choshu that makes this engrossing. In the ring, he uses the Dangerous Backdrop Driver and the Scorpion Deathlock to get the quick victory. This is an aspect of 80s Puroresu, dont fuck around, humiliate your opponent by beating him so bad that it is a quick win. Khan gets to the ropes and escapes to outside. It is here we see the most emphatic use of the War Cries! Khan SCREAMS as he unloads with the Mongolian Double Chops! Choshu fires right back and bashing Khan's head into the ring post twice, he signals to the crowd that he is a badass and Khan is wearing the Crimson Mask! This is killer! Khan is stumbling and bumbling. I love how quickly Choshu closes the gap when Khan is trying to scale the apron. Those punches were wicked and the acceleration was ferocious. Choshu just keeps punching the head while Khan sells blood loss/concussed really damn well. He looks like he has been beaten to a bloody pulp on the floor. Choshu allows him to get back in presumably to end him. Choshu mercilessly punches the open wound but have he feels enough punishment has been meted out, he winds up for the Lariat but eats the BIG BOOT?!?! There is life in Killer Khan yet. Kneelift back to the midsection. Big double kneedrop followed up with the BOMBS AWAY KNEEDROP! Khan cant capitalize! He is too beaten up. Khan covers for two! Khan is incredulous! He is so besides himself, that he collapses outside to tell the front row fans that was three. This is crazy! I have never seen anything like this. He is telling anybody that will listen that was three. Back in the ring, KNEEDROP! He still has three fingers up to the crowd. Again Choshu kicks out! Killer Khan is besides him as the crowd chants for Choshu. I think the end is nigh for Khan. He settles for choking the life out of Choshu with his care hands and then with wrist tape. Choshu kicks him off and the tape goes flying. Choshu pours it on with Big Dangerous Backdrop Drivers, BIG POPEYE WINDUP, Mack Truck Lariat, 1-2-NO!!!! Are you shitting me? Another Lariat does Khan in. More things change, the more they stay the same. The extra Lariat would become a staple of All Japan, NOAH and now New Japan and WWE. I dont think it was necessary at all. There was more heat on the penultimate pinfall attempt than the final. This is Clash of the Titans Tokyo Dome, WrestleMania Main Event structure to a tee. Everything feels huge. Khan not accepting his two count felt very Ultimate Warrior looking at his hands at WrestleMania VII for instance. Very simple (Khan works the midsection, misses Kneedrop, Choshu kicks ass, bloodies Khan, misses Lariat, Khan finish run, Choushu hulks up final finish run), but incredibly effective because of the heat. The heat is Khan's War Cries, his Kneedrops and his crazy awesome selling. The heat is Choshu oozing badass charisma out of every pore, not giving an inch and just kicking ass. Not quite tippy top, Greatest Match of All Time, but definitely an awesome Clash of the Titans-style, Dome Main Event match that Choshu excels in. ****1/2

@soup23 Chad! Brutha, glad you are taking the time to listen! Carolina Dreamin' was a big reason, I got hyped for this project! @JKWebb& I have reached our Top 50 Greatest WCW and Jim Crockett Promotion Matches of All Time on the Place To Be Network, the only Place To Be in your Pop Culture World! This is the front half of the Top 50 so #50-26, so buckle up because this is when the motors start to redline and your heart beats just a little bit faster. Enjoy! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-38saw-f74b66

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 7/26/86 An under-recognized aspect of Stan Hansen's AWA World Title Reign is that it served as a major marketing ploy for the All Japan office after losing dates on Ric Flair & NWA Championship in '86. By having Stan as the World Champion, they were able to consistently book the World Championship Defenses on their tours throughout 1986. Baba must have known slightly ahead of time what Crockett/Flair were doing. I wonder if thats why he negotiated with Verne to do this deal and Verne probably needed the money. By using Hansen instead of Jumbo or Tenryu, Verne got an American who could cut promos and participate in angles. Genichiro Tenryu has basically been the United National Champion since 1984 except for a sight hiccup when he voluntarily relinquished the belt in 1986 due to being pinned in a tag match, what an honorable man. He defeated Ted DiBiase in tournament final, I loved their match in 1983. I am kinda surprised that this finished #119 as I thought it was pretty damn great and I know the All Japan set was fucking stacked but this had blood, struggle and great performances by both men. I think I prefer the inverted match structure that Stan Hansen provides as opposed to the traditional match structure. The way Jumbo wrestled him was typical with Jumbo having the advantage early and Hansen taking over for heat. Since Hansen does not bump around like a traditional heel and shine the babyface, it leaves these segments feeling like heel in peril. By doing the inverted match structure, you have Hansen open with heat and then when the babyface fighting from underneath takes over and works the Lariat arm it is still heel in peril BUT it feels more dramatic because you have seen what the Grizzly Bear can do and the babyface has earned the wound on the Grizzly Bear. Hansen comes out in all his clubbering Tasmanian Devil glory. He feeds Tenryu a bodyslam and takes an enziguiri, but he keeps on trucking. He works a side headlock. If there is one chink in the Hansen armor is that he is not always a great, entertaining grinder. Bret Hart and Greg Valentine are great grinders. Hansen relies on chaos and the bull in the china shop mentality to generate entertainment and excitement. He tends to leave the viewer longing for more when he is working headlocks. One thing Hansen does very, very well, maybe the best of all time, is that he makes you believe the babyface is fighting for his very life when he is in the ring with him. Hansen ends up missing a charge and then taking a knee to the lariat arm on a charge. Tenryu starts throwing Enzigiuris at the arm. Tenryu works the arm over like a champ. At one point, he is just grinding his knuckles into the elbow of Hansen. It is pretty typically great, work Hansen's lariat arm segment with Hansen, who is a very underrated seller doing great. I love when Hansen, Vader, Andre or Brock sell, that wounded Grizzly Bear selling is so good. Hansen flees to the safety of the outside only for Tenryu to bash Hansen's head into the announce table and slam the bad wing into hard metal objects. Hansen actually pulls Tenryu out after Tenryu went back in to break the count and this time Tenryu smashes Hansen's head so hard into the announce table he draws blood. He punches the open wound and a series of Enziguiris serve as nearfalls for the challenger. Tenryu goes for the powerbomb but Hansen blocks. Hansen BULLDOZES Tenryu with a Lariat that sends both men crashing to the floor. Tenryu is kicking at Hansen from his back on the floor in a great heated, scrappy moment. Hansen holds him back and as this is double countout as expected as it is a double championship match. Hansen crowns Tenryu with a chair and they brawl to the back. Given the blood, the great arm work and the sudden finish, I thought this was better than the two Jumbo matches (though the second one did feature some choice Jumbo working the midsection work). I loved the desperation, home run Lariat that basically said "I am fucked", "if I am going to Hell, I am taking you with me", "Fuck my bad arm, I am going to lose, I just need to clobber him with my killshot and take the draw to keep my World Championship" all in one blow. It still was not the epic, must-see classic but this was strong pro wrestling: establish the Monster, create vulnerability in the Monster, build heat to the big finish with blood & brawling, make you believe the Hero has a chance to win with nearfalls and then a badass climax and that hooks you in for rematches. ****

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA International Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 7/31/86 Their next match in the series, quick recap in April, Hansen worked the arm, Jumbo lit off some fireworks, Hansen bulldozed Jumbo with a Lariat, but they both tumbled out for a Double Countout finish. Since this is again a double championship match, I expect a similar finish. The work in this match is a step above the work in the April match. We get the same intense struggle at the beginning of the match with Jumbo controlling with a side headlock. We see maybe more of a concerted effort targeting of Hansen's Lariat arm by Jumbo even applying a cross-armbreaker before Hansen is able to clasp his hands. From there, Hansen is able to gain control. He starts rattling off Vaderbombs but on the third one he eats knees and this would be important. He flees to the outside. Here, Jumbo hits Lariat to his kidney/ribs/side of Hansen. Hansen sells this like a million bucks. Jumbo gets greedy and Lariats the ringpost when Hansen evades. Now we get glorious dueling body part psychology with Hansen working the arm and Jumbo working the ribs/side of Hansen. This dueling body part psychology is what puts it over the April match for me. I love that Hansen never forgets to sell the ribs as he is the one who has control of Jumbo's arm first so it would be easy for his ribs to be lost in the shuffle. He goes hard charging into the buckles and make sure to take brunt of it on his side. Jumbo for his part is always wailing on this part of the body, coming down hard with body blows, double axehandles, driving the knee and even a stomach claw! Ted DiBiase comes to ringside to exhort Hansen on. Jumbo even remembers at one point to switch arms and hit the Baba Neckbreaker Drop with his left arm. That is commitment. Big Jumbo bodyslam! I love the struggle between the two. Everything is earned. Abdominal Stretch with a stomach claw! Great stuff from Jumbo! I love how laser-focused Jumbo is. Hansen kicks his feet off the top rope on a back suplex attempt and now the playing field is more levelled as Jumbo is shaking the cobwebs loose. Jumbo is up first as Hansen was trying to create distance and escape to the outside. Great dropkick by Jumbo. The biggest and best bump of the match was when Jumbo comes flying across the ring on a High Knee and Hansen backdrops him over the top rope. Insane bump by Jumbo! I thought for sure that would be the finish. The finish is anti-climatic and shocking at the same time. Hansen is selling like a million bucks on the outside. Hansen sandbags him on a suplex into the ring, just falling to the side. Then out of nowhere Hansen applies an O'Connor Roll of all things to win the match!?!?!? What the fuck? Hansen doing an O'Connor Roll is not something I expected. I definitely did not expect the title change. I looked it up; Jumbo had been champion for over THREE YEARS at this point, so a pretty shocking. So how can something this shocking, surprising be anti-climatic. There was no heat in this pinfall. It was too out of nowhere. Jumbo had been dominating him for five continuous minutes. I think the out of nowhere Lariat would have been cooler. Double Countout Tease off the High Knee bump to the floor was smart because I think every smart fan in 1986 was going to bite on that. The sandbag/O'Connor Roll just didnt do much for me. Hansen's midsection selling was really good and Jumbo's offense was smart, stiff. Even with a better finish, I dont think this touches the very similar, but even more compelling Hansen vs Taue '94 classic. The finish keeps it just under great status for me, but the body part work was really, really good in this. ***3/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA International Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 4/18/86 Double championship match means there is going to be some sort of skullduggery at the finish. Hansen had just dropped his PWF Championship to Riki Choshu earlier in the month, who would keep until he returned to New Japan in 1987. Even though, Jumbo & Hansen are each considered two of the ten greatest wrestlers who ever lived, their rivalry is generally considered lackluster and I dont really hear of anyone pointing to them having that one match that is held up as GOAT material. I do see a match from 1986 did finish highly in the DVDVR voting. It was not this one, mind you. Jumbo starts off pugnacious. He takes it right to the ornery, Texan bully. Overwhelming him to start and really smothering him on the ropes. I was not expecting such a hot start from Jumbo, it was most likely a fighting fire with fire deal as Hansen loves to jumpstart matches and cause chaos. Jumbo started to try to just control Hansen with a side headlock. Maybe sap his energy. Lean on Hansen, make Hansen carry his weight. Hansen is like the Tasmanian Devil. I think Jumbo is thinking it best to just control/contain until he can strike. It is a feeling out process that drips with struggle as each man has their hands in each other's faces and they are really grapple for best position, but still it is not the most entertaining or stimulating beginning to a match ever. Hansen looks poised to work an arm injury but Jumbo armdrags out of trouble and back to side headlock. Hansen eventually does get a hold of this arm and just wails on it. He drags Jumbo out of the ring and wrenches the arm against hard, metal object. Great selling by Jumbo while Hansen continues to clobber. Jumbo is able to get a well-timed kneelift up which Hansen sells well. Hansen DECKS Jumbo with a wild swinging Lariat from the apron albeit from a stationary position. Jumbo recovers, blocks the suplex attempt, and hit shis own. This kicks us into the finish stretch with Jumbo rattling off those big Jumbo highspots that we are accustomed to Baba Neckbreaker Drop, Russian Legsweep, bodyslam, High Knees Galore! Hansen goes for the Lariat, but Jumbo decks and gets the Sleeper. On the Second Attempt, Hansen BULLDOZES Jumbo with the Lariat and then both careen outside the ring. Hansen restrains Jumbo from getting back into the ring by holding onto the foot. Lame, albeit, expected finish aside, I liked the work, but didnt love it. The early strategy of trying to contain the normally chaotic, havoc-wreaking Hansen was smart even if it was not visually stimulating. I did appreciate all the struggle. I liked the arm psychology at first as Hansen was working the arm well, but it was ultimately meaningless and just a means to fill time. Jumbo's finish stretch was good, but I know he has bigger fireworks in his arsenal. This was only their third singles match together. Their first was in 1982 and second was in March of 1986. So they might not have had their chemistry down, BUT even more importantly, they did NOT want to blow their wad yet. With Baba waning, these were the two big stars of the promotion so you want to get a lot of rematches out of the rivalry so as a "first" match in the series, this match is tastefully executed to make you want more. ***1/2

Masa Fuchi vs Hiro Saito - AJPW 6/12/86 Masa Fuchi is two for two in unexpected, bloody brawls in 1986! I am pretty sure I have seen Hiro Saito in New Japan or MUGA against Fujinami. He has a very similar body type and tights as his namesake the awesome Masa Saito. Much like the Kobayashi match, the tape cuts right to a chaotic start where Saito is roughing up Fuchi on the outside and ends up bloodying his ear ala Piper/Valentine from 1983. Saito punches, stomps and chomps on the bloody ear! He throws in a piledriver for good measure. The ear much like Pipers is a bloody mess and this already unique and badass. The match really picks up when Fuchi back suplexes Saito as a transition to his offense. I love the back suplex as a transition. The best part of the match by far is Fuchi just walloping Saito with some of the best potatoes you would ever see. He was fucking clobbering him. In addition to badass punches, we get a lot of enziguiris and a piledriver on the floor! I dont think I have ever seen babyface Fuchi but he is pretty damn good. The fight over an abdominal stretch, Saito with a wicked German! Saito crashes and burns hard on the Top Rope Senton! I like how this has gone from bloody brawl to high end All Japan finish run. Fuchi gets a Gutwrench Suplex and then Saito a Fisherman's Suplex, I love how Fuchi breaks it up. Love the variety of throws. Fuchi hits a gnarly back suplex from the apron to the floor and as someone mentioned previosuly it leaves a blood stain on Saito's chest from Fuchi's ear. Fuchi bumps into the ref. Saito yanks the chair out from under the timekeeper and jabs into Fuchi's head for a hot nearfall. Second German puts Fuchi away. Another great bloody, kickass brawl. Similar complaint to the last match, bit too much ragdolling, I would have liked to seen more fighting through offense. This has the pinfall finish as opposed to the DQ finish, but I thought it was a little anti-climatic. We had seen the German already and if Saito was going to go over, I think the steel chair jab to the head was a better route. Still this was a killer Fuchi performance and everyone has to see those punches!!! ****

Masa Fuchi vs Kuniaki Kobayashi - AJPW 4/6/86 I love unexpected bloody brawls! I saw this on paper was thinking oh this is a technical gem. Kobayashi bumrushes Fuchi at the bell and just beats him pillar to post like he found out he slept with his girlfriend. This was a mugging. He starts swinging the steel chair with all he has got. Relaxed rules Japanese pro wrestling is the best. He tears into Fuchi and they end up in the ring. They spill back to the outside. FUCHI WHIPS KOBAYASHI THE HARDEST I HAVE EVER SEEN INTO A STEEL RAILING! That fucking railing most have went back 6 feet and really hurt some people's knees and shins. Wow! He wiped out! Then Fuchi took him a bulldog headlock and rammed his head hard into railing. OW! Then again slammed his head into the railing. Kobayashi ends up a bloody mess...brawling and juice! What a match! Fuchi kicks some major league ass while soaking in some jeers, he is clearly the heel as expected. Kobayashi chants start up. Kobayashi gets a tremendous finish run...amazing backslide...Fisherman's Suplex...bitchin' spinkick...SICK German Suplex! Wicked heat on all these nearfalls! The action spills to the outside again, it is raucous, a chair gets involved and FUCHI PILEDRIVES HIM ON THE CHAIR ON THE OUTSIDE! Fuchi beats the ever loving shit out of him in the ring with the chair and kicks the ref in the gut triggering the DQ. Kobayashi goes and gets a chair after the match. Hot Damn! My only complaint is they kind of ragdolled for each other. I would have liked their to be more struggle and fighting through offense, but regardless this was a badass, uptempo brawl. Doesnt look like they had any rematches which is a shame because this ruled! ****

Genichiro Tenryu vs Ole Anderson - AJPW 4/6/86 When Ole Anderson was wailing on Tenryu's arm with a steel chair on the outside, I was thinking to myself how the fuck did this finish #147. Then the match ended like 5 minutes later and that's what was criminal. It was so short and there was not enough meat on the bone but what we did get was great. Ole was his usual, surly, ornery bastard self. Tenryu was NOT quite TENRYU~! yet but they had a damn good exchange early. Not much a feeling out process. Ole bodyslams him, double wristlock switches to hammerlock and throws Tenryu HARD into the buckles and I mean HARD! Tenryu takes a nasty bump on side of his neck. Ole was relentless on this arm as expected. Lots of throwing it into hard objects, the aforementioned swinging of the chair and some hard punches right in the front row. I wish I knew what the Japanese girl said to Tenryu as he was getting beaten up because her girlfriend kinda gave her a playful slap on the arm after that as if to say "I cant believe you just said that!". Ole continues the beatdown but before you know it is Eniziguri, Reverse Top Rope Elbow and Powerbomb for the win. Man alive, I think these two had a great match in them. Ole is a shit person, but I love watching the bastard wrestle. Tenryu gave a good selling performance, but this was the Ole Show. Ole in Japan is pretty rare. I figure he wanted a quick payday without having to come back from Crockett early. It doesnt get much quicker than this. What we got was pretty damn good. ***1/4

Tiger Mask II vs La Fiera - AJPW 8/26/84 For what ever reason, I have never been interested in watching 80s Misawa, this is literally my first ever 80s Misawa match. For all intents & purposes, in my mind, his career started on 5/26/90. I am looking to start back up my All Japan watching in 1986, but I just wanted to double check I didnt miss anything from the first six years and this was the only major match I didnt see. So I came back to cross it off. La Fiera translates to Wild One or Wild Beast. He was not what I was expecting. He is an unmasked, leather-clad, chain-donning, punk luchador very hip for 1984. Sub-ten minute match, tons of fun. If you like today's style, you will love this. I think in a lot of ways this is even better because the highspots are super high, but they let them breathe. This is just a bomb throwing spotfest to the nth degree. La Fiera in the traditional luchador style takes two massive bumps one off a monkey flip and the over over the top rope to the floor. Massive hang time on both. To follow up, the second Misawa did a Swanton Bomb over the top rope wiping La Fiera out on the floor! HOLY SHIT! The crowd was chanting Misawa early and then switched to Tiger Mask. Was there ever a day this dude was not over? Misawa was pretty good at mimicking Sayama's karate I have to say. Some really, really nifty takedowns that I highly recommend watching. He does the Misawa flip over the ropes only to flip back, which I always figured was something he did as Tiger Mask. La Fiera gets a great run of offense. HUGE SPLASH from the Top Rope to Floor! Tombstone! Frogsplash! Great climax! La Fiera crashes and burns on a somersault splash from the top rope. I MEAN HE PLANTED HIMSELF! Great sell. Running Senton from Tiger Mask for two. AWESOME TIGER SUPLEX FOR THE WIN! I cant go much higher than **** since there was not much in the way of connective tissue, but every highspot was entertaining, worth the ten minutes or so, lots of fun!

IWA World Heavyweight Champion Rusher Kimura vs Spike Huber -IWE 7/20/80 IWE is mostly famous for two matches: Strong Kobayashi vs Andre The Giant and Verne Gagne vs Billy Robinson. Its main star from 1975 until it closed in 1981 was Rusher Kimura, who I dont think I have ever seen wrestle. I am coming off watching a lot of St. Louis footage and look who it is, Spike Huber! If you have watched a Spike Huber match, you have heard it a million times he is the son-in-law of Dick The Bruiser. I shit you not, I hear the Japanese commentators say "Spike Huber" then some Japanese and then distinctly "Bruiser" I really hope they were saying he was the son-in-law of Dick The Bruiser. When that is the highlight of the match, there's not much going on. It was solid action. ~10 minutes, JIP, no clips after that. They hit hard, good stand up, wrestling was solid. Kimura did not come off as a huge star. The most unique part was Huber really put over how hard Kimura's head was late. He really sold his hand on a punch to the head. He knocked himself loopy after this with headbutts in a bearhug. Kimura wins with my favorite hold, the Butterfly Stretch, my finish growing up against my brother. For that and Huber's selling, ***

Welcome aboard KinchStalker! Thanks for the cool insight and answering my question! I am going to look into IWE more now.

@BigBadMick, thanks for the listen! I have been to Newry got gas there on my way to Giant's Causeway and then partied in Belfast, good craic! Last place I travelled before Lockdown. @Ricky Jackson shit brutha I couldnt remember. I didnt realize you pulled the plug. My personal life was chaotic during then and for another year. We will hook up soon, brutha. Pro Wrestling Love coming at you hot & heavy w/ @JKWebb tearing through another 25 matches in each of our lists. We are breaking down #75-#51 of the Greatest WCW/JCP Matches of All Time! Keep the feedback coming! I hope everyone enjoys! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-uerts-f697a2

Happy New Year my fellow PWOites! PWO 4 life, bruthas! Cuz we are just too sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Pro Wrestling Love has moved on from TNA/Impact Wrestling, but we would love to hear more feedback from the listeners, to the Greatest WCW/Jim Crockett Promotion Matches of All Time in conjunction with the Place to Be Nation! I welcome Justin, you know him as @JKWebb , I know him as a good brutha, we are taking his podcast virginity baby! We are going All Night Long in tribute to the Nature Boy, himself! Buckle up, baby, it is another FIVE, yes you read that right, FIVE-Part Mini-Series, this time devoted to the Greatness of WCW, daddy! In this episode, you get to know Justin & his love for WCW and then we break down #100-#76. Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think whether you agree or disagree we wanna hear it! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-qpcpd-f46cb9 @SomethingSavage Did you listen to the final TNA episode yet? What did you think of each of our Top 5's? MORE IMPORTANTLY, what is your Top 5, brutha?

Is there a better way to ring in the New Year than to listen to two dudes who have watched way too much TNA in their lives? Here it is, the moment you all have been waiting for the Grand Finale of the Greatest TNA/Impact Wrestling Matches of All Time According to @El-P & Moi! Who will finish number one is the obvious hook for this podcast? But this also means it is over so that means you can start hootin' & hollerin', what matches did we miss? What did we rank too high? If you agree with us, shout that out too! Ain't nuthin' wrong with a little love baby, especially Pro Wrestling Love! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-g2j6c-f4469c @SomethingSavage just calling it as I see it. Definitely more power to you & Jerome for loving it. I thought Angle was great. I just could have used more from Anderson. It would have made my Top 30 easy. It was a last five cut. Samoa Joe when he is vibing with the crowd and in that groove there is no one better. I think I mentioned but maybe I didnt but the Christian Cage BFG 2007 matches is one of my all-time favorite Samoa Joe matches. He comes off like the coolest, most badass ace asskicker of all time in that match! If Memphis continued into the 90s and early 00s as a viable money-making territory that you could raise a family on, then I think we would be talking about Jeff Jarrett as a top 100 worker of all time. He had all the tools and the know-how, but he got sucked into bad fads and ego-trip booking. It is a real shame. I could see him being a great heir to Lawler as both a babyface or heel in Memphis. @MoS Thank you for the kind words and listening! Let us know if you have comments or recommendations!

Fuckkkkk I cant believe they didnt tape that Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter title defense. Biggest discoveries of the St. Louis Wrestling footage was how good those two were. Also Early Dawn is a fucking badass name for a wrestler. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes - St. Louis 1/1/82, Sam Muchnick Retirement Show 2/3 Falls I want to say we get like 3/4ths of this so we can judge this pretty fairly. I dont see this as a lost classic, but it is still entertaining wrestling. We JIP to Dusty working Flair's arm and Flair takes the turnbuckle bump arm first. I really like when he does the Flair Flop through the ropes outside the ring. I love 80s Flair use of short strikes to the breadbasket to break his opponent's rhythm and create offense for himself. We see that when he doesnt give Dusty a clean break and uses the short knee and then lunges with the headbutt to the gut out of the corner. That is the one that lets him take over. Flair gets too chinlock-y for me. I like Flair working in and out of headlocks, but this was too stationary. Dusty does not sell this like 5 minute chinlock at all and just has all this energy. He misses the big elbow drop that he was using as a finish at least in St. Louis. Flair pounces with a Sunset Flip, cradle for the first fall. Second fall, Dusty has a terrible sleeper on Flair but I have seen worse. I like the symmetry of this fall where Dusty hits the Big Elbow and wins the fall. It bear mentioning that Gene Kiniski's performance in this compared to Starrcade 1983 is night and day. Here he is a presence and tastefully interacts with Flair. Two years later he looks like a confused old man that is just interrupting the flow of the match. As you will read about at Sam's Retirement Banquet, Gene Kiniski absolves himself of his Starrcade 1983 sins with a great promo at that. I liked the third fall the most by a country mile. Terrific wrestling. Lots of Dusty charisma early in the fall with the Bionic Elbow and the Flip Flop & Fly! Flair comes back with a toe kick right above the knee! What a dick! Great leg work by Flair, he was on fire, loved the use of the Strut. What a jackass! Great selling by Dusty. Dusty reverses the Figure-4 and then applies his own! This is just classic. In the KC title change, Dusty gave out on a suplex attempt and then Flair scrambled for the pin. Dusty is able to execute the suplex, but it is on a bodyslam his knee gives out and Flair falls on top for the pin. Really enjoyed the third fall would give that **** on its own, first two falls were more like *** so lets split the difference. ***1/2

Raven & Daffney vs Abyss & Taylor Wilde - TNA Slammiversary 2009 Monster's Ball This was the most surprising match in my opinion to make Jerome/El-P's list and I promised him I would watch it. I liked it! I really liked it! This was during the Dr. Stevie angle that I vaguely remember where he was trying to "treat" Abyss, but was really evil. Raven and Daffney were doing the usual Raven gimmick. Taylor Wilde feels like a weird choice for this but she works her ass off and she is the MVP of the match for me. She diving off top rope on all the heels and then diving off some really high structure through a table on Daffney. Even in between those spots, she had a ton of fire, great use of the weapons and I loved her kicks to Daffney, just swift & stiff kicks. Raven has some fun heel miscommunication at the beginning, Raven & Daffney get thrown together, Raven splashes Daffney and Abyss press slams Daffney on Raven & Dr. Stevie to the floor. Overall, long & strong babyface shine. After Wilde crazy table splash, it was up to the men. Not quite as fun as Taylor Wilde kicking ass. Stevie interferes liberally. We get some classic Raven spots. There's a funny spot where Abyss was supposed to chokeslam Raven through a trash can, but Raven's heels accidentally knock the trash can out of position. It cracked me up. Announcers cover for it that Raven had the presence of mind to knock the trash can out of the way. Taylor smashes Raven with a trash can lid when Raven was choking Abyss. Thumbtacks and Daffney takes it!!!! TAYLOR WILDE THREW HER ASS DOWN! WOW! Dr. Stevie breaks it up. Raven DDT! Abyss Black Hole Slam throwdown through the tacks! Very fun garbage brawl! ****

THIS MATCH ROCKED! Holy shit, I forgot how hard this fucking rocked! I had this #7 on my Greatest Impact/TNA Matches of All Time countdown with El-P on the Pro Wrestling Love show on the Place to be Wrestling feed, but I was wrong. This should be top 5 easy. I could even see the case for this being #1. It has a little bit of everything: violence, brutality, glorious punches, blood, big AJ bumps, Macho Pride, Bully Heel, Coming of Age Babyface, Resilience, HUGE highspots (that Superman Chain Punch, Bodyslam dump by AJ to the outside, the fucking finish). Just Badass. Match of the Decade Contender for me. ****3/4

Holy Shit! This was even better than I remembered! I knew it was a hate-filled brawl and they were just committed to teeing off on each other. Some details I missed in my original review that I want to point out here. Watch where AJ hit his dropkick. That was a Jim Brunzell murder dropkick directly to the head! Daniels was wearing blackout tape on his fingers such that it looked like he was giving he middle finger when he was holding up all four fingers. Daniels shows that from his knees, AJ stomps the hand! Loved how they used the weapons tastefully in this match. No furniture movers. No feng shui wrestling. It was a steel chair set up in the middle ring. BANG! Nasty urnage through it. Great use of the steel steps first for Daniels to draw blood and then tilted on its side for AJ to draw blood. Daniels really threw himself into that bump. Double juice. They work the cuts like a couple 80s Southern pros. Terrific. I have mixed feelings about the finish. The Styles Clash through the table from the ramp is INSANE~! WOW! What a finish! However, I thought the Kazarian interference even the Quebrada into the DDT just took the edge off the heat ever so slightly. I am borderline between ****1/2 and ****3/4 now. I really, really dug this. Highly recommended, this match will be considered timeless. Loved it!

Watched this match without reading my review. I kept noting ok if I need to bring up this highspot or this plot element, but my original review covers it all. The match totally holds up. Although it is longer than I remembered which is a pleasant surprise I am glad they got the time to flesh out a story. I co-sign everything I wrote along with the rating. It is their babyface vs babyface, clean technical marvel match with a ton of cool scouting/counter touches. They force each other to wrestle completely different match than normal. Definitely one of the greatest TNA Matches of all time! Highly recommended.

Home Stretch here as this is Disc 10 featuring exclusive content from San Muchnick Retirement Show on 1/1/82, Kiel Auditorium. Unfortunately we dont have much footage from the Kiel, but this is a real treat. We get highlights of Dusty winning the NWA Championship from Harley which I have seen before with the crossbody. The crowd & Dusty go apeshit. What I had never seen before is Flair's first championship victory which is weird because I am a such a Flair mark. So many people place emphasis on the Starrcade 83 win they kinda forget the first Flair title reign, which is still a dandy of a reign. It is Flair winning after Dusty's knee gives out on a suplex attempt (Flair had been working on the leg the whole match). Very muted response from Kansas City. With Flair being such a heel and Dusty being such a massive babyface in the southeast, it ruled out those promotions. So I guess Harley's home promotion in KC made about as much sense as anywhere else. Ric Flair Squash. This may be the mutha of all Ric Flair squashes. Not only does he beat the shit out of this jobber but he also talks a metric ton of shit while doing it. "If you keep the women off me, I will show you what a champion looks like", "NOW he knows he is in there with the champion". Flair cuts a promo exactly like he would in 1986 and it shows the Nature Boy had the gimmick down pat early. Dusty cuts a pretty great pre-taped promo. I love how he says Missouri. These two were meant for each other and I am glad the stars aligned and we got them full-time in Crockett together. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs Butch Reed & Spike Huber - Three bonafide legends and an always game Spike Huber make this an easy slam dunk great Wrestling At The Chase match. The Sheiks team up before they were the Sheiks and they have great chemistry. Patera is the bump man and Blackwell is the heavy. Huber, the son-in-law of Dick The Bruiser, is the stand in for the Brusier in his feud with Patera. So main crux of this match is the Patera/Huber interaction. Huber beats the shit out of Patera and Patera takes a BIG back drop. In contrast, Blackwell does not give an inch this match. Whether, it is Reed or Huber, Blackwell was on a mission to kick ass. If you like Blackwell offense, boy, do I, this is the match for you. He does not bump or feel, he mowed these dudes down. After Huber ripped through Patera, Blackwell sizes him and out of nowhere NAILS A STANDING DROPKICK! I marked out so hard! The story of the match was Blackwell would dominate and then Patera would lose control of the match. End of the match, Blackwell CRUSHES Reed with his Runaway Freight Train Splash. Patera is poised to lock on the Full Nelson when Dick The Bruiser interferes and triggers the DQ. Not competitive enough to be a great match, but Patera/Huber stuff was heated & energetic, Blackwell was an offensive juggernaut, wish we got more out of Reed. ***1/4 Dick The Bruiser tells Larry out of respect for Sam Muchnick retirement he will play by the rules and only kick ass in the ring, he will not get DQ'd and he is going to bring home the Missouri Championship for Sam and the fans! Dick The Bruiser squash he hurls the jobber out of the ring but he does not give chase. This is the New Bruiser. Atomic foot stomp wins it for The Bruiser. The dance the Bruiser does I have seen it also when he was mocking Flair with his robe on is impossible to describe and is simultaneously endearing and repulsive. It is not just Sam Muchnick's retirement night, it is Pat O'Connor's too! He defeats Sweetan with a sleeper. O'Connor was insanely over both on his rind entrance and his victory. Nice way to go out to thunderous applause! Did a little research and that's not entirely true, he did a tour of Japan after this which makes sense, you want to say farewell. He participated in a legends battle royale held by WWF in 1987 that Lou Thesz won. What is interesting is he did a job to Bobby Duncum in the AWA as his last American singles match, maybe as a way to say goodbye to Verne. Crusher Blackwell vs Ox Baker & Butch Reed in a handicap match, we get all 5 minutes of this and Blackwell is just at his absolute physical peak. His offense is great and his taunting Reed by hitting the double bicep flex is great. That Runaway Freight Train splash in the corner is terrific. He beats Baker with a Powerslam. Larry has a great quote from Blackwell, "I am not fat, I am short. If Andre was my height, you would call him fat too.". Dewey Roberston pins Baron Von Raschke with a reverse crossbody. Harley Race & Greg Valentine vs David Von Erich & Rufus R. Jones - The Jones/Von Erich Connection lives! We only get the last two minutes or so. David looked fantastic, awesome uppercut dropkick. I am a mark for the falling headbutt into the Iron Claw! Things get too rowdy and the refs get decked in the fracas leading to a no contest. Sam Muchnick's Checkerdome Retirement Ceremony includes local political & sports dignitaries, ex-announcers, but lets focus on the wrestling representatives AWA is represented by Verne & Wally Karbo. The NWA is represented by current President Bob Geigel who puts Sam over huge in his speech. Frank Tunney of Toronto is there and seems to be Sam's closest friend. Pretty telling, no representative from the WWF. Semi-surprised that Baba didnt send someone over but it is a long trek so understandable. NWA Missouri Heavyweight Champion KEN Patera vs Dick The Bruiser - What better way to ring in 2021 than to watch Dick The Bruiser from exactly 39 years ago! What the fuck? 1982 was 39 years ago thats insane! Anyways, we get very little. The Bruiser made a big deal he was not going to get disqualified in his Wrestling At The Chase promo. A steel chair is introduced by Patera but he hits the top turnbuckle and it ricochets and hits him in the head. Lame finish, but Dick The Bruiser is still wicked over. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes - 2/3 Falls, I want to say we get like 3/4ths of this so we can judge this pretty fairly. I dont see this as a lost classic, but it is still entertaining wrestling. We JIP to Dusty working Flair's arm and Flair takes the turnbuckle bump arm first. I really like when he does the Flair Flop through the ropes outside the ring. I love 80s Flair use of short strikes to the breadbasket to break his opponent's rhythm and create offense for himself. We see that when he doesnt give Dusty a clean break and uses the short knee and then lunges with the headbutt to the gut out of the corner. That is the one that lets him take over. Flair gets too chinlock-y for me. I like Flair working in and out of headlocks, but this was too stationary. Dusty does not sell this like 5 minute chinlock at all and just has all this energy. He misses the big elbow drop that he was using as a finish at least in St. Louis. Flair pounces with a Sunset Flip, cradle for the first fall. Second fall, Dusty has a terrible sleeper on Flair but I have seen worse. I like the symmetry of this fall where Dusty hits the Big Elbow and wins the fall. It bear mentioning that Gene Kiniski's performance in this compared to Starrcade 1983 is night and day. Here he is a presence and tastefully interacts with Flair. Two years later he looks like a confused old man that is just interrupting the flow of the match. As you will read about at Sam's Retirement Banquet, Gene Kiniski absolves himself of his Starrcade 1983 sins with a great promo at that. I liked the third fall the most by a country mile. Terrific wrestling. Lots of Dusty charisma early in the fall with the Bionic Elbow and the Flip Flop & Fly! Flair comes back with a toe kick right above the knee! What a dick! Great leg work by Flair, he was on fire, loved the use of the Strut. What a jackass! Great selling by Dusty. Dusty reverses the Figure-4 and then applies his own! This is just classic. In the KC title change, Dusty gave out on a suplex attempt and then Flair scrambled for the pin. Dusty is able to execute the suplex, but it is on a bodyslam his knee gives out and Flair falls on top for the pin. Really enjoyed the third fall would give that **** on its own, first two falls were more like *** so lets split the difference. ***1/2 Sam Muchnick Retirement Banquet backstage is much more chill and fun to watch. Lots of good old-timey ribbing going on. Pat O'Connor was very sentimental and looked teary-eyed as a combination of his own retirement and what St.Louis & Sam meant to him. Then there was the show-stealer fucking Big Thunder Gene Kiniski. He made me laugh out loud twice. Joe Garagiola is the classic quick-witted funny dude that shocks you with how tough it is for him express genuine sentiment. As soon as it is time to start teasing though he starts shining. He calls Gene Kiniski what it would sound like if a brillo pad could talk. Kiniski just comes on and owns him..."Sarcasm is a very low form of wit" with a cool, intellectual tone. Gene who is massive in a high, white turtleneck sweater has his arm wrapped tightly around Joe. Then delivers this epic, "What talks and is black & blue all over...the first one to make a Polish joke!". Damn! Joe makes remark, you get one Pope (John Paul II was the first Polish Pope) and you think you run the world! LOL! This was awesome! Gene that makes a heartfelt tribute to Sam's late wife, Helen, which I think was just damn classy! Gone, but not forgotten. With that Gene Kiniski forever absolved himself of the Starrcade 1983 debacle. Epic performance. Sam came off as a really personable, affable fellow throughout this. Cool watch.