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SAMS

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Everything posted by SAMS

  1. SAMS
    1980-11-08 WWF Bruno Sammartino vs Ken Patera Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA ★★★ Card When Bruno is criticised for just punching and kicking, it’s matches like this that make that hard to refute. The problem with the criticism is that it overlooks all the other elements that are being brought to the table. The “lack” of action may put a cap on any rating somebody would lay down on it, but it doesn’t preclude it from being good. This match certainly could be described as simple or basic. A large section early on was built around Bruno repeatedly trying to escape a hold Patera had on him, but Bruno is all about emotion, he knows, more than almost anybody, how to channel the energy of the crowd and focus that into the psychology of the match. As soon as Patera began favouring his left arm Bruno was like a dog with a bone and wouldn’t relent until Patera was forced to resort to illegal measures and plastered him with a couple chair shots for the DQ finish.
  2. SAMS
    1980-11-08 PNW Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot vs Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver Non Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA ★★ Card Lightfoot was really feeling himself in the first fall. High energy, high impact offense. He didn’t need much help at all from Youngblood at all to dispatch Oliver and Rose. Thought this all was pretty fun and Rose teaming with Oliver was definitely an upgrade on the Cuban. However in the final two falls the pace of the match slowed WAY down. Lots of headlocks, lots of chin locks. Because of how much Lightfoot took the first fall on offense and because Oliver and Rose targeted him throughout the following two falls we really didn’t see Youngblood at all, and the short section he was in matched with Oliver we had a pretty boring and poorly executed headlock/trunk grabbing pin sequence which went on for far too long. The best part of the match was Rose by a large margin. This was the most interesting and most fun he’s been in a good few months, with some of his lustre wearing off after Martel and Piper’s departure. I loved the dynamic of him doing anything to avoid Youngblood unless his team had the advantage. He would immediately tag out if they were matched, forcing Oliver to carry the burden for his team. Later on when he and Oliver were firmly in control with Lightfoot we finally saw all the little flourishes that he can add to a match. Hard to describe but things like choking Lightfoot behind Sandy Barr’s back and then delicately applying a chin lock when he turned around. I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve got the full Buddy Rose experience but we got it here. It was just a shame that the match as a whole didn’t equal his performance. It went on for far too long and for my tastes it seriously lacked enough action in the final two falls to keep in engaging considering the run time.
  3. SAMS
    1980-11-06 NJPW Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs Steve Keirn WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match City Gymnasium, Tsu, Mie, Japan ★★ Card I really don’t think these two match up well at all. Their bout in February was boring and this match was just as dull. We got a lot of generic matwork, mostly headscissors, and none of it really went anywhere at all. It took until we were 15 minutes in before the intensity jumped a level and Fujinami began pushing the pace and working Keirn’s leg with some nasty kicks. If the match had been worked how they worked the final 4 minutes this would have been good at least, however in reality it was merely adequate. Very disappointing because Fujinami obviously has had some bangers with other people throughout the year and I’ve seen Keirn be pretty good during TV matches in Georgia as well.
  4. SAMS
    1980-11-05 Joint Promotions Jon Cortez vs Keith Haward Drill Hall, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK ★★★ This was ⅔ of a classic, just missing that final stretch to push it over the top. Cortez was a technical wizard and Haward matched him every step of the way, probably not surprising considering his amateur credentials (1976 Olympic participation at only 16 years old), but being only a professional for under a year this certainly was an exceptional showing for him. The only knock against Haward would be that, despite being so technically proficient, he doesn’t exude much personality or charisma while he’s going about his business. Cortez on the other hand did this in spades, and that is what separated this match really. The first fall and a half were clipped and Cortez was already down a fall. He quickly levelled things in the 2nd and we had a mighty back and forth the rest of the way, things ultimately ending in a tie. Cortez was the lighter man and I thought he was absolutely terrific here both in terms of selling but also conveying a story. The bigger moves that Haward hit he would always give an extra second or two to let the impact of them settle in and to subtly show the incremental damage that they were doing to him. When caught in a hold, especially one particular Full Nelson, he made this choking noise that really got over the move as painful, or at least uncomfortable, in a way I certainly have never seen before. As the match wore on he visibly started to wear down, breathing harder and harder, his posture became more slouched and his stance became looser, his attacks became more desperate. I both thought that while he might be able to land the killer move it was more likely that he was leaving himself open to a counter. Things finished a bit prematurely perhaps but both men came out looking the better for it and there’s a rematch coming down the pipeline that I’m now eagerly anticipating.
  5. SAMS
    1980-11-03 NJPW Kengo Kimura (c) vs Chavo Guerrero NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title Match Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan ★★★ Card This was right on the cusp of being a great match, perhaps if the finishing stretch had been elongated just a couple more minutes it would have made it. This really felt like they were trying to chip away at each other, looking for that opening to hit the killer surprise blow and steal the match. For the first two thirds we had several resets as neither man was able to gain the upper hand and I thought they did an excellent job of positioning both as being equals, without them belabouring the point. I would say as the bout progressed Kimura became more emboldened, he threw out a sequence of moves that I don’t recall him being able to execute in his previous match with Chavo, nor his match with Fujinami - backdrop suplexes, backbreakers and at one point he hit successive jumping piledrivers that popped me out of my seat. Kimura saw his path to glory and became over eager, and error in judgement had him attempt a plancha which failed catastrophically, Chavo recovered enough to get back into the ring and Kimura wasn’t as lucky. With the countout decision the belt changed hands and it looks like Chavo would be taking it back to the US. Chavo gave a good account of himself but Kimura really jumped off the screen for me. I was disappointed in how their previous match together went down for a number of reasons, but Kimura, even in defeat, felt like a more fully rounded and legitimate competitor. He feels like he is turning the corner somewhat.
  6. SAMS
    1980-11-01 AJPW Abdullah the Butcher (c) vs Terry Funk NWA United National Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Culture Gymnasium, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan ★★★★ ¼ Card This is one of those classic matches that just built and built, organically layering elements on top of each other to the point that something like a double DQ finish was not just a satisfying ending, but the only ending that seems possible. Terry started out pretty cautious here, wary of Abby’s strikes, constantly going for the leg takedown instead of going toe to toe with him. That didn’t last too long as, once Abby got a few strikes in, Terry was in trouble fast. The attack was mostly focused on the side of the head and the ear, and it wasn’t long before we got some blood spouting from that region. Just when it looked like Terry was going to be in real trouble though he caught Abby with a surprise Thesz Press to snatch the first fall. Terry was more expansive in the second, buoyed from having taken the first fall, and things were looking good for him before they tumbled to the outside. Abby managed to post Terry’s leg, already heavily bandaged, and that turned the tide in a major way. No longer able to even put pressure on it, a feeble attempt to climb onto the apron was thwarted and the only outcome was a countout to tie things up. The final fall devolved into more primal brawling than what had come before. Abby was now bleeding, to nobody’s surprise, and by the time we got the referee bump we were already on the verge of this getting way out of control. I absolutely loved the visual of Joe Higuchi being dragged like a ragdoll from the ring as the two continued to tear at each other. With no referee left things got more wild and woolly, more eye gouging, and Terry even began raking Abby’s bald head, which is something I can’t remember seeing before. A timid looking man tried to interject to establish some order, but he was rebuked in no time at all and the match ended in a double DQ, or more likely a no-contest. Running through the action I don’t believe really does this match justice. Abby is someone I’m coming around to somewhat. He’s in a few of my favourite tag matches (specifically those against the Funks), but it’s still a little jarring to see him in a situation where he isn’t using the fork and the match is presented as a more “traditional” straight up wrestling match. I think he did a good job here, plus when things really got out of control, the more brawling action suited him to a tee, but I think he was more effective here as a foil to Terry, a symbol, merely being “Abdullah the Butcher”, than anything particularly special or noteworthy that he actually did. While this may not have been the match of the year, I’m strongly leaning towards the opinion that Terry’s performance here was the best performance of the year, and I’m struggling to think of a standout contender to challenge it. Terry is an all-timer in terms of always being on. At no point does he break character or reset himself. We saw him be incredibly sympathetic in the first fall, taking a real beating, making Abby’s offense look crazy effective, then pouncing for a desperate, but successful, attempt at a pin. He got more confident, timed his comebacks and hope spots perfectly to maximise their impact, then delivered an unparalleled sell job of the leg to finish the second. The third fall was all brawling but again this is where Terry excels. The desperation, the escalation, the triumph despite falling short, it was all there. Honestly I’m running out of superlatives.
  7. SAMS
    1980-10-31 Houston Andre the Giant vs Stan Stasiak Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA ★★ Card Lacked some rhythm in the first fall. Andre did some of his usual spots, but they plodded a bit between the action. Stasiak again and again went for the heart punch before finally nailing it and sending Andre to the mat like a ton of bricks. Massive credit to Andre here, he sold the hell out of that move for the whole break between falls and even after the match was done. In fact, this may be the most vulnerable I can recall seeing Andre period. Suffering the effects of the punch going into the second fall (Stasiak was actually DQ’d in the first for using the banned move), Stan jumped on Andre to begin the second and Andre was really hurting, taking blow after blow to the head. Finally he steadied himself, got serious and proceeded to pummel Stasiak into the mat for a straight falls victory. Overall this was brief, but Andre’s selling and subsequent intensity in destroying Stasiak was worth it.
  8. SAMS
    1980-10-25 PNW Buddy Rose vs Jonathan Boyd Non Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA ★★ Card This feud continued from the previous week. I’ll admit I pretty much hated the first fall. Too often we get a strong shine from the face and the heel just hands it over, there’s no struggle whatsoever. This was the case here with Rose. He tried to stall briefly at the beginning, but he foolishly turned his back and Boyd jumped him and then we got essentially a squash with Boyd beating the daylights out of Rose for several minutes and Sandy Barr counted SLOW for the pin. What makes this all the more frustrating is that Rose obviously has the offensive chops when let loose to do so. He snuck some tape into the ring to start the second fall, and began it by choking Boyd. Later on after a missed knee drop from Boyd he smelt blood and he targeted the injured leg relentlessly until Boyd had to capitulate. Rose tried to continue on the leg in the third, but Boyd managed to turn the tide and ended up wrapping Rose’s leg around the ringpost, which was enough for Rose and he bailed, handing the victory to Boyd. I wish there was more struggle in the first fall, even if it was inevitable that Boyd was going to take the majority of it, I at least wanted him to fight for it. We also got a cheap finish, but it played into Rose’s character, even if it’s disappointing from a match perspective. Another key factor is that I just don’t find Boyd that likeable as a face. He’s ok, but not great on the microphone. I’ve seen him stumble here and there, plus occasionally he veers into unsavoury territory, even for 1980, and I just don’t get how I’m supposed to get behind him in this feud. I’m actually enjoying these matches the most when Rose is kicking the shit out of him.
  9. SAMS
    1980-10-24 Houston Ivan Koloff vs Dusty Rhodes Texas Death Coffin Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA ★★ Card I always associated the Coffin match with the Undertaker, but I guess that proves there are no new ideas, only recycled ones. They had an interesting spin on this one though, unlimited falls. I’m not sure how well this worked in practice compared to concept, but at least the inclusion of falls meant that these two actually attempted to wrestle each other for the most part, even if the falls (it ended 2 apiece) were ultimately meaningless. We weren’t subjected to them struggling over pushing/forcing each other into the coffin for 15 minutes. They set up the coffin in the middle of the ring, and it served as an unusual and interesting obstacle for them to navigate around. Occasionally one would get thrown towards it and they would take a side bump to narrowly avoid it. Really though, this was just a slog it out fight, both were busted open from chair shots and Koloff was flung into the coffin for the finish. No need for a closing the coffin lid finale, he just lay there in his own blood, resigned to his defeat. As I said already, the falls were pretty meaningless, and they were pretty pathetic to boot (Dusty was pinned after Koloff countered a back body drop with a simple kick for example). Fun little brawl and certainly one of the better coffin matches I’ve seen, but that isn’t really saying much.
  10. SAMS
    1980-10-24 Houston Les Thornton (c) vs Gino Hernandez NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA ★★ Card Les Thornton is a stocky little Brummie with a terrible haircut that looked like he plopped a bowl over his head and went to town. Presumably he has the technical chops, hailing from England and all, so Gino had to take a different strategy than beating him at his own game. Thornton got the upper hand in the first though, even if it was with an awkward small package that looked more like he muscled Gino into it rather than cradling him. I did appreciate Gino’s offense here, it was very piecemeal. He would almost peck at Thornton, send him to the outside and then throw a kick or a punch through the ropes, then distract the referee and give the chance for Gary Hart to get involved. The style fits his character to a tee. I guess he’s been working like this all year, but it stood out to me more here and I definitely appreciated it more. He did manage to level things with a rather brutal suplex back into the ring from the outside where he basically dropped Thornton on his head because they couldn’t get the requisite height. The final fall was all about Thornton being riled up and going after them both, Gino tried the same trick he used to take down Mark Lewin (rubbing some substance in his eyes) but the referee was wise to it and gave Thornton the win via DQ.
  11. SAMS
    1980-10-22 AJPW Terry Funk & Billy Robinson vs The Asteroid & The Avenger Civic Gymnasium, Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan ★★★ Card This was a major step up for Robinson as a tag worker compared to his showing paired with Wahoo. He seemed a lot more comfortable here, spending a large chunk of the first half working as the face in peril, and we even got a fired up hot tag from him at the end - which was a nice shift, as I often view him as a clinical technician, especially in Japan. I won’t belabour any discussion on Terry, as he was excellent in all the ways you would expect. In fact, he was so good despite it feeling like he was merely going through the motions, or at least his version of it. I will say that he really stands out as a top tier apron worker, which was particularly obvious in this match. Their opponents however were what surprised me. I will say I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out which was which. Cagematch said that Asteroid (Scott Irwin) was the shorter, and Avenger (Moose Morowski from recent German Catch vs Dieter fame) was the taller. The commentator’s had it the other way around and I’m liable to believe them here. Either way, both men worked pretty similarly, but they were agile in the Slaughter/Eadie mould. Masked US wrestler’s have always intrigued me as they seem to have vanished by the time I started watching, the hood reserved for Luchadores mostly, but at this point in time we were awash with them, including The Assassins, Masked Superstar, Mr Wrestling I & II and all the Super Destroyers. I’ll admit in some ways it comes across like a second rate gimmick to me, not having been raised with the concept, so I had some trepidation about these two. But as I said, they were a pleasant surprise. Solid meat and potatoes offense, could move about the ring with no problems and operated functionally and effectively as a team, allowing Robinson and Terry to do their thing. This match also ended in a classic call, the commentator shouting over and over again “Terry Funk, Spinning Toe Hold!”, for every revolution he made of the move. Needless to say, The Avenger tapped out. This was all the more enjoyable for how infrequent these kinds of clean finishes seem to be. On the same note, I’d be interested if anybody could identify the commentator in question. A cursory google search led me to this blog, but I couldn’t pinpoint which ones would have worked this match, but my frontrunner would be Kousuke Takeuchi (竹内 宏介).
  12. SAMS
    1980-10-20 WWF Larry Zbyszko vs. Tony Garea Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA ★★ Card Fun little sprint. Garea is a bit generic but Larry was his usual self. They went to the finish perhaps a little prematurely, with Zbyszko absolutely clocking the referee with a forearm while on the apron, but it was fun while it lasted. Perhaps it needed another 4-6 minutes to truly be something.
  13. SAMS
    1980-10-20 WWF Bob Backlund (c) vs. Sgt. Slaughter WWF Heavyweight Title Match Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA ★★★ Card You get the classic Slaughter bumps and the Backlund strength spots. Those two things alone were good enough to carry this to being a very good match. This was the first chance to see Slaughter in MSG and that initial corner bump he did took my breath away. He was a pinballing machine. Backlund for his part had some excellent moments, I think the highlight for me was when he effortlessly caught Slaughter mid-air rebounding off the ropes and then wheeled around the ring before slamming him. There are few who can deliver a strength spot the way Backlund can. The connective tissue is where this falls down though, and this is a consistent issue in my mind for Backlund. I don’t find him working a limb or a hold particularly compelling, like at all. Here it was the arm and the match ground to a halt in the middle due to this. It’s not uncommon for Backlund to take a lot of the match, but here it must have been 90/10 in his favour and I wasn’t seeing the hook for any future matches if he was just going to steamroll Slaughter so easily. In the end Slaughter did manage to lock on a surprise Cobra Clutch and in a pathetically poor thought out finish (unless they did some serious explaining on TV later on) Skaaland comes out of nowhere to nail Slaughter with a bright red chair to ensure a DQ loss for Backlund but a title retention nonetheless. A heel move if I ever saw one!
  14. SAMS
    1980-10-20 WWF Ken Patera (c) vs. Pedro Morales WWF Intercontinental Title Match Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA ★★★★ Card On a whim I chucked this on, more curious as to what Patera could do with Morales than anything else, but needless to say, it was a surprise. Pedro has always been a guy that I’ve been a bit confused about. How did he have such a lengthy WWF title run? Was he always this boring? And his return in 1980 hadn’t done much to sway that so far from his less than captivating TV appearances (granted it’s pretty hard to distinguish yourself on WWF TV in 1980 unless you’re smashing Bruno over the head with a chair). Well this match is at least one step to answering these questions. Pedro was a man on fire, like he was channelling the blood lust from the crowd. He didn’t give Patera a second to set himself before he was on him, fists flying. This felt very similar to the Flair/Valentine match from Buffalo a couple nights earlier. Same rabid fans, same kind of structure, but this pushed the pace more. Pedro showed less cockiness and more fury than Flair and Patera, perhaps he didn’t match the nastiness of Valentine’s offense, but he always does an excellent job of representing his character while he’s in the ring, and this was absolutely no exception. In fact, in addition to the intensity of his offense, Pedro really threw me off with his bumping. He took a big bump over the top rope where he got some significant hang time during the first transition and later on took what looked like a pretty reckless one shoulder first into the turnbuckle post. These were both excellent sympathy generating bumps, made Patera look like a real threat and were cool to watch to boot. Once they started shoving the referee around the DQ finish was obvious to see, but there’s been worse finishes this year no doubt. I probably could have done with them breezing through the obligatory bear hug spot a bit faster, but otherwise these two knocked it out the park.
  15. SAMS
    1980-10-18 MACW/MLW Greg Valentine (c) vs. Ric Flair NWA United States Heavyweight Title Match Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York, USA ★★★ Card The first long singles match I’ve seen of Flair so far on tape for the year. This definitely had a house show vibe, and a house show finish, but to just go out there and deliver a strong 3 star match shows what these guys could do. This was chunked up into a beefy shine sequence -> heat -> comeback stretch -> finish. Flair seemed to handle Valentine pretty handily for the first 5-8 minutes. He had the bravado and the ADHD energy and after the initial use of punches and forearms to the head, he wrestled Greg down into a hammerlock and maintained his control. Flair had been pretty decent up to this point, but I was concerned about when Valentine was going to show some stuff. He’s always been a subdued seller (face flop spot aside) and often that’s a plus, but I also wouldn’t say it’s his strength either and being rammed face first into the mat for several minutes didn’t give him a lot to work with. I shouldn’t have been worried though, as we got the transition soon enough and boy did Valentine not pull any punches when it was his turn to lay them in. His strikes were fast and vicious and looked fantastic. I love it when the heel can actually dish it out when required. He went to the same well that Flair did and ground Flair down into a hammerlock of his own. This time however they really slow burned the comeback. Flair got to his feet, then back down they went. Once again he managed to get to his feet, but he couldn’t lift Greg, and back down they went. Finally, amid a torrent of crowd noise, he managed to stand for a third time, and it was this time that he managed to lift Greg, dump him in the corner and then the comeback was in full swing. I’ll briefly stop to mention that the crowd were solidly behind Flair all night, but at this point they were thoroughly and totally losing their collective shit. One of the more veracious crowd’s of the year no doubt. Flair ran through his stuff, did his strut and woo’d to the crowd when needed before we had the countout finish with Greg on the wrong side of the apron. Despite being the main event, and part of a pretty heated feud, this felt very meat and potatoes from a structure standpoint. They weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel here, but deliver a satisfying match. The crowd didn’t get the result they were hoping for, but they were completely invested, and at least their guy picked up the win. I would say very good performances from both men in my first long hard look at either in a singles setting. Valentine gets kudos for his offense while Flair’s comes from being a ball of charisma.
  16. SAMS
    1980-10-11 WWF Ken Patera (c) vs. Andre the Giant WWF Intercontinental Title Match Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA ★★ Card This was a great character performance from Patera for sure. When he was on top, he wouldn’t stop running his mouth, denigrating Andre the whole time, which made the comeback all the more sumptuous as Andre repeatedly beat away at Patera’s braced knee and Patera sold that like an absolute champ. They perhaps spent too much time with Andre in a front face lock and the finish, with Patera deciding to cut bait and leave, wasn’t the most satisfying, but they delivered something fun at least for a sub ten minute match.
  17. SAMS
    1980-10-11 WWF Bob Backlund (c) vs. Larry Zbyszko WWF Heavyweight Title Match Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA ★★★★ Card This was a Zbyszko match through and through and boy did he deliver a tour de force performance here. Backlund was fine to good, and he played his part as required, but Larry was the driving force narratively and was totally on from bell to bell. The stalling tactics were there from the beginning, and I’m sure we had 3-4 minutes of time elapsed before we even got the initial lockup. Zbyszko does such a good job of mixing it up and ensuring that something that could get tiresome really quickly is still thoroughly engaging. Usually you’ve got guys telling the referee to check the hair or check the tights, but in this case Larry was set on the referee making sure Backlund didn’t attack his bandaged knee! As ridiculous as the concept was, it was genius for Larry to be shouting “Watch the leg, watch the leg” as Backlund got him up for the knee breaker. Larry sold the hell out of the leg and bailed to the outside as he was prone to doing. But something was afoot and I had a sense this was building to something. While Larry could never gain the upper hand when he tried to go toe to toe with Backlund, he was biding his time and sure enough we saw him untie the ropes to the turnbuckle pad. When the time came this was his equaliser. Zbyszko dropped his selling of the knee, indicating it was all a ruse - playing possum to throw Backlund off, the pad came off and Backlund went headfirst into the steel. They did such an excellent job of building towards Backlund’s comeback and the payoff of him returning the favour and sending Larry headfirst into the turnbuckle. And if Larry’s leg wasn’t really injured before it certainly would be after the continued work Backlund put on it down the finishing stretch. Just as it looked lights out for Zbyszko he had a final ace up his sleeve. An airplane spin from Backlund took out the referee and in the confusion Backlund took a foreign object strike to the face. After plummeting to the outside and with the referee having shaked the cobwebs off, he was counted out and Zbyszko was the victor. He wouldn’t take the title, but he had defeated the champion, at least in his mind.
  18. SAMS
    1980-10-11 WWF Bob Backlund (c) vs. Larry Zbyszko WWF Heavyweight Title Match Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA ★★★★ Card This was a Zbyszko match through and through and boy did he deliver a tour de force performance here. Backlund was fine to good, and he played his part as required, but Larry was the driving force narratively and was totally on from bell to bell. The stalling tactics were there from the beginning, and I’m sure we had 3-4 minutes of time elapsed before we even got the initial lockup. Zbyszko does such a good job of mixing it up and ensuring that something that could get tiresome really quickly is still thoroughly engaging. Usually you’ve got guys telling the referee to check the hair or check the tights, but in this case Larry was set on the referee making sure Backlund didn’t attack his bandaged knee! As ridiculous as the concept was, it was genius for Larry to be shouting “Watch the leg, watch the leg” as Backlund got him up for the knee breaker. Larry sold the hell out of the leg and bailed to the outside as he was prone to doing. But something was afoot and I had a sense this was building to something. While Larry could never gain the upper hand when he tried to go toe to toe with Backlund, he was biding his time and sure enough we saw him untie the ropes to the turnbuckle pad. When the time came this was his equaliser. Zbyszko dropped his selling of the knee, indicating it was all a ruse - playing possum to throw Backlund off, the pad came off and Backlund went headfirst into the steel. They did such an excellent job of building towards Backlund’s comeback and the payoff of him returning the favour and sending Larry headfirst into the turnbuckle. And if Larry’s leg wasn’t really injured before it certainly would be after the continued work Backlund put on it down the finishing stretch. Just as it looked lights out for Zbyszko he had a final ace up his sleeve. An airplane spin from Backlund took out the referee and in the confusion Backlund took a foreign object strike to the face. After plummeting to the outside and with the referee having shaked the cobwebs off, he was counted out and Zbyszko was the victor. He wouldn’t take the title, but he had defeated the champion, at least in his mind.
  19. SAMS
    1980-10-11 PNW Buddy Rose vs Jonathan Boyd Non Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA ★★ Card This had a lot of cool elements: Rose opening up an old cut on Boyd’s eyebrow and him gushing from the first fall onwards; Boyd beating the ever living daylights out of Rose in the second fall; the continued work by Boyd on Rose’s leg until he literally couldn’t, or wouldn’t meet Sandy Barr’s count. With Rose going into a hair vs loser leaves town match against Popovich, Boyd wanted to ensure that Rose would be the one entering at a disadvantage and his aim here was to soften Rose up. That definitely ended up being the outcome, as Rose had to be assisted out of the arena by the members of his army after the beating his knee had taken. In this sense the match was a success, and certainly built the anticipation for Rose’s match with Popovich and the actual chance that Rose might be defeated. In many ways this was merely a setup match, which we get a lot of in Portland on Saturday nights. My main issue was with the length and the pace. Both men had periods where they locked on a static hold, something like an abdominal hold, and this just ate up the clock rather than adding anything to the match. Rose’s selling, especially the expressions of resignation late on, were excellent, but the ⅔ falls stipulation certainly hurt this, as the extended beatdown by Boyd would have had more impact had it come in a single sequence rather than spread out over several falls. Considering they had to stretch it out though, I would have liked to see Rose be a bit more direct and urgent when he did have his moments on offense. We saw a brief glimpse of it when pounced on Boyd to grab the second fall, but it wasn’t enough for me.
  20. SAMS
    1980-10-11 IWE Mighty Inoue & Animal Hamaguchi vs Big John Quinn & Randy Rose Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan ★ Card Wow, Randy Rose was bad. Everything he was involved in, plus the terrible finish, is what totally ruined what could have been a good match. Inoue and Hamaguchi were solid/good as usual. Quinn, matched up against smaller opponents rather than the larger Rusher Kimura, did a much better job of projecting his size and he felt like a bigger deal and a more difficult obstacle to overcome. I’m not going to run through all the things Rose did terribly, just know that I’m not sure there was one thing he did well at any point in this match. By the end Inoue and Hamaguchi were switching without tags, which the commentators were clearly confused about and felt they had to mention. Then while Inoue had a figure four locked on Rose, Quinn repeatedly came in to try and break the hold. Eventually he hit 3 consecutive elbow drops, and after the third had dislodged Inoue, Quinn for some reason just dropped down and pinned him for the win. Again the commentators were forced to mention how no tag had been made and Quinn wasn’t the legal man. A shit show all round really.
  21. SAMS
    1980-10-08 Joint Promotions The Royal Brothers (Bert Royal & Vic Faulkner) vs. The Rockers (Peter LaPaque & Tommy Lorne) Southend, Essex, UK ★★★★ What started as a comedy match devolved into a down and dirty scrap, and then towards the finish, veered its way back into the realms of comedy. There wasn’t a second wasted and the action was brisk. Faulkner was certainly the star, leading his team’s mischievous tactics and then taking the brunt of the beating when it was time for the Rockers to take over. The Royals had a sort of Funk Brother vibe, it could have just been Bert’s receding hairline, but he definitely felt like Dory’s straight man to Faulkner’s wild insanity. The nominal heels, Lapaque and Lorne, played their part of the fools to start with, but when the real action got under way they acquitted themselves really well. As a team they were cohesive and they laid a real beatdown on Faulkner in particular. It would be hard to go through each point of action piece by piece here, and I presume it would be a terrible read, but believe me this match had character bursting from the seams and the already lively crowd were brought to a fever pitch at various different points. Comedy matches often have a ceiling for me, but this certainly was brushing up against it - an absolute blast to watch.
  22. SAMS
    1980-10-05 Catch Wrestling Association - CWA World Catch Cup 1980 Alex Dieter vs. Moose Morowski Loser Leaves World Catch Cup 1980 Match Festzelt auf dem Schützenplatz, Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany ★★★★ ¼ Card Having seen no continental wrestling thus far, I was hoping my World of Sport viewing would carry over somewhat. But I’ll admit, this is as close to zero context as I’ve gotten so far on this journey. The venue was very dark, it felt like an old beer hall filled with swirling cigar smoke, but it was more likely a big tent due to being hosted in a festival complex. Definitely had a unique aesthetic and a rapturous audience - they were absolutely behind Dieter the whole way, living and dying with every swing of momentum. However, dare I say that the first two rounds were a bit…boring? They were establishing the match, but they spent a lot of time on the mat, and throughout, the periods where they were grounded were the least engaging. I’m not sure whether that was due to the camera angle or the poor video quality, but it was hard to gauge what exactly the holds were and it definitely would have benefited from us being able to see the wrestler’s faces. If the third round had Moose beating the shit out of Dieter with a barrage of punches, then the fourth round was Dieter returning in kind with kicks. These had a savagery to them and the intensity definitely had risen and we wouldn’t see it abate from here until the finish. As Moose leant more and more into using underhand tactics Dieter was forced to follow suit. A borderline low blow punch to the stomach from Moose caused Dieter to retaliate with a brutal kick straight into the jewels. Moose went to the top, only to get caught and he did nothing but plummet to the floor for the best bump of the night. In fact a couple times Moose’s bumping was almost Slaughter-esque. Essentially the remainder of the match was both men wailing on each other, and while they remained on their feet things were excellent. On the mat, sometimes the energy would dissipate somewhat and the crowd would catch their breath and calm down a bit, but interestingly the finish, which I thoroughly enjoyed, did come from a ground based submission hold. Dieter hit a flying crossbody, as both men had reverted to attempting desperate high risk offense from the top. He then caught Moose in a submission hold that I really have no idea what to call. It was sort of a Full Nelson applied with the legs. The pressure of the hold sent Moose under and I presume the official decision was a KO victory rather than a submission. Definitely one of the best matches of the year with excellent woozy and exhaustive selling from both men. The offense was brutal and primal and for the majority of the 35 minute runtime they delivered in spades. There’s large chunks of context I’m missing for sure and this is one match that I would be keen to revisit in the future to give it a second look.
  23. SAMS
    1980-10-03 Houston Wrestling Gino Hernandez (c) vs. Mark Lewin NWA American Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls With Gary Hart In A Straight Jacket Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA ★★ Card Cagematch has the result for this mislabeled. Gino actually won 2-1 and we didn’t have the double countout finish they have written. This actually may have been their best match together. The start, with Gary Hart asking the crowd to let Paul Beosch know that they didn’t actually want him in the straight jacket was great stalling, and his trepidation at being put in the jacket was really good stuff. It was a shame that this stipulation ultimately meant that he was absent from the body of the match for the most part so nothing was built off this. This for sure was one of the rowdier crowds at the Coliseum and Lewin did a great job of milking certain moments to maximise their response. When doing things like the punches in the corner on the turnbuckle; he took his time and didn’t rush it and I loved how after every punch he kind of flicked his hand as if to shake off the pain he was inflicting upon himself with the force of the strikes. The finishes for the first two falls were pretty pedestrian, but often that’s something you have to accept with the ⅔ falls match type, but the break before the final fall had Gino really going for it, beating down on Lewin with a chair and really putting him in a bad spot for the final stanza. This made Lewin’s comeback all the better and Gino was bumping hard on his chops and was almost Shawn Michaels-esque with the height he got on a few back body drops during the finishing stretch. Lewin couldn’t help himself though and he went after Gary Hart at ringside which allowed Gino to get something from his trunks. He took an absolute age with his hands shoved in there, and then I’m not really sure whether he was going for a strike, slice, or rub with the object, but I’m presuming he rubbed something in Lewin’s eyes due to his reaction. It all felt a bit deflating though as the momentum for a Lewin win was building nicely and I don’t think the twist they thought up was that great an alternative.
  24. SAMS
    1980-10-03 AWA Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel vs. Greg Gagne & The Super Destroyer Mark II Winnipeg Arena, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ★★★ Card Seems like the Weasel Suit angle was still going strong as Bock and Heenan refused to wrestle with the stipulation on the match, even if it risked a suspension. The promoter ended up lifting the stipulation to get the match going. The tag matches in the AWA feel far closer to the ones you’d find in Portland than to any other promotion. They always seem to have that extended shine sequence and the faces utilise referee distractions to a far greater degree than, for example, any tag matches in WWF/E that I can remember. Here Greg and SD2 were liberal in attacking Bockinkel when the referee wasn’t looking and repeatedly manipulated Heenan into coming into the ring and drawing the referee’s attention. The key early on was that Heenan himself was desperate not to get in the ring, especially with SD2. This left Bockwinkel on an island by himself and it was only after Greg whiffed on a dropkick attempt that the heels were able to gain some measure of control. Their heel’s advantage was Heenan’s arm in a cast. We’ve seen this ploy before but it is effective. Greg in particular sold any strike like absolute death and Heenan was feeling pretty confident in himself at this point, but of course it wasn’t to last. He found himself face to face with SD2 and this time he couldn’t turn and flee. Momentum swung back and forth for the remainder of the match and I felt like the referee was going to have a heart attack with all the cardio he was getting in, running from one corner to the other, counting the guys on the apron for interfering, then diving across the ring to try and count pinfalls, it was dizzying to be sure. In the end Heenan’s cast was the difference maker and he caught SD2 in the head while he attempted a slam on Bock and it was lights out. The faces managed to get their heat back though by returning the favour (SD2 shoved something into his mask and went on a headbutt spree) and wouldn’t you know it, Heenan ended up in the weasel suit anyway. Greg wasn’t bad here, but he didn’t add anything in particular. Bockwinkel, considering he’s the top heel and a recent champion at this point, I thought came across a bit too weak. I know the formula is to have that strong start from the faces, but he was cooked after just one or two moves. The big standouts to me were Heenan and SD2. Heenan just keeps impressing me every time I see him. His bumping ability is spot on. He’s always working, even when he’s on the apron. He can milk the crowd and he’s always exuding his character. It is really wonderful. For SD2, he’s just so good. He’s a big imposing guy, but he moves so nimbly around the ring. That agility doesn’t impact his presence or power either, plus he’s an excellent seller and bumper. I just don’t think there’s anything he can’t do.
  25. SAMS
    1980-09-30 NJPW - Fan Appreciation Super Fight Antonio Inoki (c) vs Ken Patera NWF Heavyweight Title Match Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan Card ★★★ Both gave a ton in this match. Patera, great at being the dick heel; that jock bully, also knew when it was time to turn tail and beg off. Sometimes his penchant for big bumping worked against him, as it did at points here, but in the broad strokes it got the desired effect across. Patera opened this up with three massive body slams. Usually these were reserved for humiliating jobbers, but Inoki ate the brunt of these here. Patera trash talking the whole way was gold. Eventually he followed up with a Bar Hug, and this is usually where a match would fall off, but not here. Here is where Inoki shone. Instead of just standing there and taking it, you could see he was enduring the pain but trying to remain calm, calculating his method of escape. He tucked his hand in on the one side and slowly worked it in before suddenly going for the break. He wasn’t free for long as Patera locked the Bear Hug on a second time, but again, Inoki kept his cool and managed to free himself enough to get to the ropes. What I really loved is that while he was in the hold he went to great efforts to steel himself and his expressions. His focus was on escaping the hold, however once free he leant hard into selling the back, doubling over to stretch out the lower back and gingerly moving about the ring which I thought was incredibly effective selling. As they transitioned into the finish it was Inoki in the ascendancy and Patera switched to begging off and selling big. He lulled Inoki in and then sent him to the floor outside where he laid him out with another body slam. Inoki didn’t oversell this, but instead took his time to re-enter the ring. He circled around, coming across like a film action star, milking the moment and building towards the big crescendo. A flash tope back into the ring took Patera by surprise and it wasn’t long before he was felled by the Enziguri and tumbled to the outside. He survived one Octopus Hold, but a flurry of offense by Inoki set up a second, and Patera was too far from the ropes and that was lights out for him. I really enjoyed Patera’s performance here, he did exactly what he should have done and at exactly the right times. But this is a great example of Inoki being Inoki and that being perfect. When it was time to just be a star, Inoki certainly had that in his locker in a way few guys ever did. He oozes cool and that sense of entitlement that I can only assume comes from actually being the boss. Sometimes it works against him, but in big moments, it often is an incredible talent to be able to rely on.
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