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SAMS

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Everything posted by SAMS

  1. SAMS
    1980-09-30 NJPW - Fan Appreciation Super Fight Bob Backlund (c) vs. Stan Hansen WWF Heavyweight Title Match Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan Card ★★ Immovable object vs unstoppable force, but in the worst way. The early arm work by both men didn’t go anywhere, meaning the first half was essentially just filler, and I just had the impression that they constantly reached points where they had no idea where to go next. Both men were used to overwhelming their opponents and willing them into submission. For Hansen this would be an eye rake or something, Backlund usually just retaliated enough times until his opponent stops attacking and allows him to take back control. Here it kind of felt like a child with two toys, smashing them into each other again and again without rhyme or reason. However, Hansen blinked first, taking a high knee, and we had our first point of real vulnerability. I’ll admit the finishing stretch redeemed this somewhat. Bob followed up with one of his beautiful piledrivers (all the more impressive hitting it on a guy Hansen’s size) and we finished up with a mad flurry on the outside, including a couple wild Lariat whiffs from Hansen, one of which clocked the ringpost. I believe the official decision was DQ on Hansen for throwing Backlund over the railings. I’m not sure I’ve seen that finish before and wasn’t aware that this was a rule in New Japan. Is this their equivalent of the NWA over-the-top-rope rule? Anyway, I hope that these two work out the kinks for Hansen’s upcoming run in WWF.
  2. SAMS
    1980-09-30 NJPW - Fan Appreciation Super Fight Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs. Ron Starr WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan Card ★★★★ For the first ten minutes or so this seemed like a nice little showcase for Fujinami to do his stuff and that Starr was a capable enough canvas to not have to be carried along for the ride. However at the midpoint Starr took over and he really got his hands dirty here. It almost followed an extended shine -> heat structure which I thought worked really nicely. Fujinami’s shine had him handling the bigger Starr with a number of headlock takedowns. If Starr showed any sign of gaining an advantage Fujinami would merely turn on the afterburners and blitz him into submission and we went back to the control. Eventually Starr had enough and resorted to bending the rules, in this case with a sneaky hair pull or two, then he grabbed an arm and went to work. His arm work here was fantastic. I think he had at least three variations that he used over a several minute stretch, the best being a simple arm bar that he really yanked up on, giving the impression he was seriously wearing Fujinami down. Once they were both standing, Starr continued the beat down with vicious strikes and clubbing blows before they transitioned to the slug it out finale. Fujinami’s win, with a surprise Dragon Screw and a flash transition into a deep Full Boston Crab, wasn’t a surprise, but the dual exhaustion selling by the end felt really earned and the little peaks that they built to down the stretch, like Fujinami’s tope or Starr hitting a Brainbuster from the apron gave, this a somewhat epic feel. Two absolute bangers back to back for Fujinami to close the month.
  3. SAMS
    1980-09-30 NJPW - Fan Appreciation Super Fight Kengo Kimura (c) vs. Chavo Guerrero NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title Match Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan Card ★★ Well it didn’t take long for Kimura to make tape again as he defended his title on this super show of sorts. I like both of these guys but I was mildly disappointed with this. I think it’s clear that they could have produced something much better than what this ended up being. Nothing was bad, but I feel like it was less than the sum of its parts. Kimura mostly controlled Chavo early on using a variety of chicken wing and arm holds but applying pressure onto the back with his head or feet. It wasn’t until Chavo bust out a few aggressive uppercuts that things really started kicking into gear though. My issue, I think, was Kimura’s approach. Despite being the champion, when he was matched up against Fujinami, the narrative was quite clear, as Fujinami was the company’s clearly defined No.2 (I feel comfortable putting him above Sakaguchi at this point). He was still fighting to overcome Fujinami, even in a match where he was actually defending his own title. Against Chavo that narrative didn’t exist and he couldn’t rely on Fujinami to lead the way. As champion here I feel like the onus was on him to set the tone and he came across as far too passive, letting the match pass him by and hoping that it would come together as something compelling in the end, instead of actively doing something about it. Also, considering how good Kimura looked coming out of that match against Fujinami, it would have been a fantastic opportunity to further solidify him with a clear win here. But I’m not sure about the politics of Chavo coming in and doing the job so maybe that was never on the cards, but the double countout finish with Kimura literally clinging onto Chavo to prevent him getting back into the ring made him look incredibly weak.
  4. SAMS
    1980-09-25 NJPW Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Stan Hansen NWF Heavyweight Title Match Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan Card ★★★ Not his best match of the year but perhaps Inoki’s best performance. Hansen came in with more of a standup attitude than you normally see, breaking clean from the ropes early on which drew a wry response from the crowd, but when he did get his offense in, Inoki showed glimpses of vulnerability that broadcast the notion that Hansen might be in with a real chance of overthrowing the champion tonight. Inoki himself had a couple big highlight spots on offense, first a nifty rebound off the middle rope to extricate himself from an arm hold and then rolled Hansen into an arm hold of his own that I popped out of my chair for. The second had Inoki meet Hansen’s Lariat attempt with a Lariat of his own. It didn’t take Hansen out for long, and in fact Hansen was the first on offense, but it negated Hansen’s biggest weapon and certainly surprised him. Oh, and finally Inoki laid in a nasty stiff chop right into Hansen’s throat that to his credit he ate like a champ and moved on, but it legitimately looked like he was discombobulated for a moment. In the end Inoki was able to use Hansen’s late aggression against him and grab a backslide for the win and then toppled Hansen out of the ring post match for the decisive victory. My feeling that this might be the (temporary) end to this pairing seems to be true as I think Inoki pivots to facing Hogan more as the year winds down.
  5. SAMS
    1980-09-25 NJPW Kengo Kimura (c) vs. Tatsumi Fujinami NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title Match Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan Card ★★★★ Going in I didn’t realise that it was in fact Kimura who was the champion and the title at stake was the NWA junior heavyweight title, not the WWF one. Kimura has been so absent from the NJPW footage (at least in terms of what I’ve watched) that I had to double check he wasn’t an incoming IWE guy like Ashura Hara, as he appears most prominently in my memory from tags in that promotion, but no he was a New Japan regular. Either way, he apparently defeated Bret Hart recently for the vacant title. There were large portions of the first half that I wasn’t in love with, but the action was so frenetic that it never dragged. Fujinami came in with an injured hand and it took Kimura until the 20th minute to even attempt to attack it, after which Fujinami immediately threw a stiff right hander to Kimura’s mid-section and then blew off the work for the rest of the match. However, this was such an interesting match to watch and believe that it is truly significant. It came across decidedly different to what NJPW had presented up to this point. It wasn’t a stark departure, but stylistically it felt off compared to other New Japan matches, specifically the Fujinami matches. There was far more struggle and far less token working of holds beyond a few headscissor spots. There was slight chippiness to start before the competitive juices overflowed at the finish. After a light simmer for ten minutes or so we had a frantic burst as one stiff kick brought about a retaliatory receipt and then both guys were flailing at each other in a vicious kick exchange. Both men displayed some character too, and clearly they were showing off how they had their opponent well scouted. The best example being when an early Dragon Suplex attempt from Fujinami elicited a naughty finger wag from his Kimura. The finishing stretch really tied this up nicely, as they brought the energy up to 10, and at one point they had to give up using the hard camera as too many in the audience were standing up and blocking the action. Fujinami crashed and burned hard on a dive through the ropes and Kimura was busted open from the ring post. Back in the ring both were bleeding and thoroughly exhausted. Kimura made a final desperate attempt, climbing the ropes, however Fujinami caught him with a dropkick and he was down. The problem was Fujinami had nothing left either. Both men lay prone on the mat as the referee counted them both out for the double KO finish. I don’t really know where they go from here, but it feels like they elevated Kimura with this match. Fujinami felt like the better man, but Kimura hung with him every step of the way and the double KO finish put over him really strongly. I will have to wait and see how this progresses.
  6. SAMS
    1980-09-22 WWF Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan Special Referee: Gorilla Monsoon Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA Card ★★ Unlike his involvement in the Backlund/Patera title match, Monsoon’s presence here felt like a distinct negative. He was a big enough guy to handle these two behemoths, but I would have much rather seen these two slug away than being called on every minor rule infringement. One thing’s for sure, Monsoon was not shy in sticking his nose in the action. When the match was Andre and Hogan wailing on each other, it was fantastic. The problem was that you either had Monsoon diving in and breaking the flow or a long slew of Bear Hugs from both men. I appreciate that the holds were integral to the psychology of the match, and especially the finish, but long stretches of Bear Hugs are never going to be interesting to me. After targeting Andre’s back for the majority of the back nine, Hogan got him up for a slam and then, going for the another, his back gave out (due to Andre’s own focus on Hogan’s back) and Monsoon was down there in a flash to quick count Hogan, who similarly to the Shea Stadium finish, looked like he kicked out before three. Hogan is no Stan Hansen, but I think these two had an Andre/Hansen 09/81-lite match in them. It might just have happened here, but it had too many things going against it.
  7. SAMS
    1980-09-22 WWF Bob Backlund (c) vs Harley Race (c) NWA World Heavyweight Title / WWF Heavyweight Title Match Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA Card ★★ Definitely one of the more traditional style matches that have popped up this year. Probably shouldn’t be too surprising considering it was a big NWA Heavyweight Title match (even if it was in the wrong promotion). I remember listening to an episode of the Titans of Wrestling podcast where they referred to this match and some frustrations with how Backlund ate up the majority of the match, leaving nothing but morsels for Race during the 35 minute runtime. Is this a wrong analysis? Not really. Backlund really does take almost the whole match. For the first portion he controlled almost entirely through the use of a series of headlocks and headlock counters. Any time Race looked like he was going to mount a comeback of any kind, Bob just cut him off. However, is this really a problem in the match? A bit of a wishy-washy answer, but honestly I’m not sure. It certainly isn’t the match I would have wanted to see between these two, but again, as was pointed out during that podcast episode, it certainly seemed like the kind of match the crowd in attendance wanted to see. Every nearfall for Backlund got a huge response, as they were clearly desperate for him to defeat Race. Looking through this prism, while the match wasn’t fantastic by any means, it definitely was a success. Despite the length, I was engaged throughout, it didn’t seem to drag at any point and I did really think that the final sequence, with both guys bleeding and slugging it out, worked excellently as a spectacle.
  8. SAMS
    1980-09-19 NJPW Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Johnny Londos Civic Gymnasium, Takaoka, Japan Card ★★★ Despite the middle aged physics teacher vibes, Londos, from the opening exchange, came across as infinitely more legitimate than Tony Rocco ever did. He grabbed the upper hand with a nice headscissor takedown and then proceeded to control Fujinami for the majority of the match. Things seemed pretty much on the up and up until Londos started sprinkling in a few choke holds, but he never overstepped the mark into full heeldom. His strikes, especially the ones sharply thrust into Fujinami’s throat, looked devastating and overall I’d say Fujinami was a bumping machine here, making everything Londos connected with look like gold. The match as a whole didn’t quite reach the 10 minute mark, and I think Londos took 80% of it, which in the end hurt the match. He wasn’t as skilled bumping for Fujinami as Fujinami had been for him, which lessened those moments where Fujinami did try and make a run. Ultimately, when Fujinami snatched the victory with a nifty backslide, it didn’t feel as earned as it potentially could have. I wish this had been given 5-8 more minutes and been a bit more even, then this could have been a real classic.
  9. SAMS
    1980-09-13 PNW Roddy Piper (c) vs. Buddy Rose NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA Card ★★ It’s a real shame that we don’t have footage of the Tuesday shows, as we missed Piper winning the title and likely don’t see the upcoming Loser Leaves Town match between these two either. The action here was good, but it really felt like it was designed purely to build to the aforementioned LLTM. Rose was masterful at stalling and playing to the crowd, as they rained down chants of “Bye Bye Rose”, then Piper put him under with the Sleeper to take the lead. Rose really came out of the break hot and heavy, posting Piper almost immediately and then working over the cut, resulting in half of Piper’s face becoming just covered in blood. Piper showed the necessary resilience though, his comebacks here really had some electricity, and when he nailed the O’Connor Roll for the straight falls victory the place erupted. As I said though, this didn’t really feel like it was about the match at hand. Despite winning, Piper was on a rampage, after the bell, and it took 3-4 other wrestlers to subdue him, all the while back in the interview area, Rose was trying his darndest to back out of the upcoming LLTM to no avail. Great heat, maybe Portland’s most raucous crowd of the year and a great build to the final blowoff.
  10. SAMS
    1980-09-12 Houston Wrestling Gino Hernandez (c) vs. Mark Lewin NWA American Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA Card ★ This was everything I feared going in. Gino was with Gary Hart, and while I’ll give him props for being active, I found it mildly infuriating how easy it was for him to interfere, as at times it seemed like the referee was wilfully ignoring him. Mark Lewin was undeniably over like gangbusters and the crowd were primed and ready to explode when he won the first fall early, however my issue is that it was literally only a few chops to the head and Gino was out for the count, not even a token leg twitch when he ate the pin. The second fall had Gino on top, but utilising a nerve hold instead of anything actually interesting. This went on for about five minutes and after another Gary Hart distraction Gino came off the top with a very blah looking forearm and Lewin was similarly out cold. Lewin had his hands full dealing with both Gino in the ring and Hart outside of it, and I appreciated that they were consistent with this narrative thread throughout. Lewin ended up chasing Hart, tearing his jacket and choking him with it against the turnbuckle pillar. Unsurprisingly, Lewin was so distracted that he forgot that the referee was counting and ended up losing due to the countout, while a basically unconscious Gino (having been taken out by the Shanghai Sleeper earlier) won on a mere technicality. I get that this is the point, Gino picking up the cheap win, but it was more due to Lewin’s absent mindedness than anything Gino did. An argument could be made that Hart’s constant annoyance was the catalyst for Lewin’s actions, but it certainly wasn't enough of a reason to justify it for me.
  11. SAMS
    1980-09-11 NJPW Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Stan Hansen NWF Heavyweight Title Match Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan Card ★★ I was well on my way to thoroughly enjoying this match. Without the manic outside action of the MSG Series Final in June, I’m quite certain there is a ceiling to what these two could do, but they haven’t laid an egg yet and consistently deliver satisfying matches. The usual dynamic played out here, with Inoki trying to solve the puzzle of Hansen, going for his arm early with some standing armbars, and then taking him down to apply a short arm scissor hold. The problem was that if Hansen got free then there would be trouble. And wouldn’t you know, he broke the hold by getting to the ropes and he was on top of Inoki in a flash with a series of vicious elbow drops and a big body slam. I liked Inoki’s early attempts to target the arm, but Inoki, in all his matches, seems intent on just running through his signature spots, which means he transitioned from the arm to the leg by applying the Indian Deathlock. It’s a move that always gets a pop, but it made no sense to switch tactics when the previous one was working to such an extent and just indicated poor psychology on his part in my opinion. What really threw me off though was a clearly blown pinning spot where either Hansen zoned out or he couldn’t see/hear the referee. I couldn’t see properly because the camera was zoomed in so close, obscuring the referee, but it appeared that the referee had to just stop counting at 2, then after maybe two or three more seconds Hansen finally kicked out. The crowd seemed as confused as me and from that point onwards I was checked out unfortunately. Inoki did hit a Johnny Gargano style Spear through the ropes that I legitimately popped for but the finish, with Inoki sneaking into the ring before Hansen to snatch a count out victory, felt really cheap and a nasty Lariat to the back of the head didn’t make up for it. This could have been very good, but it just had too many warts.
  12. SAMS
    1980-09-11 NJPW Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs. Tony Rocco WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan Card ★ Pulled out of a tag setting, where he could merely act as a garnish to the main action, Rocco really failed here as a singles competitor. The point of cycling through these foreign challengers for Inoki and Fujinami is for the native Japanese audiences to see “their” guys overcome these formidable opponents. It’s not exactly the same as WWF’s monster of the week formula, but there’s a strong similarity. The key however, is that the challenger appears credible or threatening. I know this wasn’t Rocco’s debut but seeing as he was challenging for the title he needed to either have some real credit built up with the audience already or they needed to establish said credibility early on in the match. The first problem is that he has this portly physique, which starkly contrasts with Fujinami’s trim athletic build, and a smushed up face that looks like a candle that’s been left in the sun too long. So from an aesthetic point of view, he was already struggling. Then the match started and you could tell these two had ZERO chemistry with each other. It was awkward and clumsy and they appeared to blow a few of the early matwork spots. Fujinami switched to taking control and grabbed an arm hold for what felt like forever and that was it, any threat that Rocco could have presented was extinguished. He looked like a chump and then he was being dominated like a chump. The final stretch had some nicer moments from both men, but it was a classic case of too little too late for me. Neither man had wrapped themselves in glory up to this point and I feel like they were both happy to finish up when Fujinami hit a victory roll for the win. The work was bland, literally a mashup of spots you would have seen in any other New Japan match at this time and it went on way too long at a tick over 20 minutes. Really not much to recommend here at all.
  13. SAMS
    1980-09-09 EMLL Andre The Giant & Cien Caras vs. Alfonso Dantes, Herodes & Sangre Chicana Three On Two Handicap Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match La Arena Coliseo del Occidente, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico Card ★★★ Easily the best handicap match I think I’ve ever seen. Andre was a tour de force here and it was a delight to see him work this formula against some better workers than WWF jobbers on All Star Wrestling. Poor Cien Caras was merely a warm body here as Andre’s partner but what really pushed this over the top was Sangre Chicana’s performance. Dantes and Herodes were good, but pretty nondescript and I’m not sure I could tell you which was which, but Chicana, from before the match even began, really stood out. He did his best to show a confident front, peacocking to the crowd and sticking his chest out at Andre, but as soon as the big man made any move towards him he would back away or flee without a second's hesitation. Yes, this ultimately was just a comedy match, but it was thoroughly entertaining, and certainly the most logical comedy match I can recall. None of the spots seemed contrived, they worked this like you would expect a real contest against Andre to go, and the three rudos really worked their behinds off to put over the challenge of fighting Andre.
  14. SAMS
    1980-09-09 AJPW Giant Baba (c) vs. Harley Race NWA World Heavyweight Title Match Otsu Park Gymnasium, Otsu, Shiga, Japan Card ★★ Definitely a step up from their match earlier in the month and certainly worked at a faster pace. Race jumped Baba to start and nailed a piledriver to set the tone but a missed headbutt turned the tide and Baba was able to take control. His offense consisted mostly of chops, and while people vary on their opinion of these, they don’t do much for me. On the outside a chair got involved and eventually Race was posted for some blood spillage. Back in the ring Baba began the final stretch run and he really went all out for this defence. A big boot got an excellent near fall, with Race barley getting his foot to the ropes. A follow up running neckbreaker didn’t quite work as well, due to Race visibly shifting his body closer to the ropes after the bump, telegraphing the rope break. Baba then hit a pretty gnarly jumping piledriver which Race was forced to kick out of and then Baba got desperate - he climbed the ropes, a jarring image and certainly got a strong reaction from the crowd, and then tragedy struck. Race was on his feet and the champion was in no man’s land. He got knocked off the top and was crotched on the top rope, allowing Race to roll him up for the pin and to regain his lost championship. The faster pace was very welcome and I did find the idea of the finish interesting. You could tell Baba was very keen to put Race away and the concept of him going for something risky and out of character to do so gave the finish a nice twist. However I do wonder, if you take a step back and see how this frames Baba from a big picture perspective, whether it made him come across like a choker. This was his first defence of the title and ultimately he didn’t have a cool enough head to get the job done. I’m not sure whether this paints him in the best light as the top guy in the promotion, even with all of his history behind him.
  15. SAMS
    1980-09-06 MLW Great Hussein Arab & Greg Valentine vs. Angelo Mosca & Ric Flair Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Card ★★★ Angelo Mosca apparently was a Canadian Football League star and here, when matched up against Valentine, he looks like a big deal. The crowd were rabid for this, as they always were in Toronto, and they were popping for Angelo. So working on top against Valentine I was pretty impressed considering I’d never heard of him before, but then when Great Hussein (aka Iron Sheik) came in, the warts were exposed. But I’d say that this presented Hussein in an equally bad light. In fact, I’d say Hussein was the worst man involved. He didn’t do much in the way of selling and I hated his approach to bumping. He’d get a clubbing blow to the back of the head and then would stand up right, spin around, and take a back bump instead of collapsing to the floor face forwards as you would expect. It was Flair and Valentine who carried this match though, and while I enjoyed this quite a bit, more than anything it just made me want to watch their singles matches together. Valentine was great as I said, making Angelo look fantastic, and he was great matched up with Flair also, but Flair was an absolute workhorse here. For almost the entire second half of the match he took over, working a phenomenal FIP sequence with several excellent hope spots, and after he finally managed to get the tag out, he was only on the apron for a minute or so before he came in for a hot tag of his own and that was excellent as well! Most of what we see from Flair is him working to stay over, and I’ve hardly seen much of him working to try and get over (not that he wasn’t already a big star here), but I think there are subtle differences and he definitely came across as more aggressive here and proactive compared to the well known travelling champ style match he’s famous for further into the 80s. By the time this wrapped up Flair was a bloody mess, but he had enough in the tank to take Valentine down with a backslide and the crowd went crazy.
  16. SAMS
    1980-09-03 AJPW Harley Race (c) vs. Giant Baba NWA World Heavyweight Title Match Saga Sports Center, Saga, Japan Card ★★ Baba really came to play here, but that should be to be expected when you’re challenging for the World’s Title. His offense hasn’t looked better at any point throughout 1980. His chops had some zip and all of his strikes felt like they carried weight and had some impact. The issue comes from the pacing, which is glacial, and Race working underneath for what feels like 90% of the match. They go and go and Baba is getting pin attempt after pin attempt that you don’t buy as match winners, until finally he hits a running neckbreaker drop (which did look amazing) for the win. The crowd went crazy and you can see just before Joe counts the 3 he hesitates slightly and the crowd can sense it but they don’t believe it, Baba was actually going to win - a beautiful moment. Looking at the big picture, I think this was more a failing in execution than in structure. They kind of went for all the right things but it didn’t come together in a truly satisfying way. But Baba got his big win and delivered his best performance of the year to achieve it.
  17. SAMS
    1980-08-29 Houston Wrestling Bruiser Brody vs. Gino Hernandez Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA Card ★★★ I really feared the worst when I booted this up. I’ve been pretty down on Houston in ‘80 and the last time I saw Brody he was stinking up the joint in Japan. I will say though that this really worked for me. Gino and Gary Hart as a duo did a good job in the first fall to work the numbers to their advantage and allow Gino to steal the fall, and Bruiser generally pancaking Gino the rest of the time was good stuff. Bruiser’s offense looked very good here. He had a nice punch, good clubbing blows and he looked motivated - non-stop movement and no downtime. When Gino managed to find an opening, Brody was also willing to bump for him as well. My favourite sequence was the finish of the first fall, where Bruiser slammed Hart’s arm into the turnbuckle, which distracted Brody long enough to allow Gino to jump him from behind and grab the pin. Then during the break Hart, injured from the attack, was being helped to the back and Bruiser came over and perfectly timed a chair shot to his back as he was doubling over in pain from his arm. Markus, Gino’s partner at this point, came down and his interference was integral to the final two pins, both times using a foreign object in his mask to try and take Brody down. The first took him out but gave away a fall via DQ. The second backfired and we got a double head bump between the pair which gave Brody the win to a massive pop from the crowd. This peaked in the first fall but it never fell away too much afterwards and while I wasn’t a massive fan of Markus’ involvement, at least it was kept to a minimum and the work the two guys put in throughout the body of the match really was good stuff.
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    1980-08-23 PNW Roddy Piper vs Ed Wiskoski Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA Card ★★ A twenty minute match where it felt like they only had enough stuff to do to fill half that time. They kind of went to Wiskoski attacking Piper’s injured throat, but then went away from it. They kind of went to Piper injuring his leg, but they went away from that. Piper usually is pretty excellent at selling vulnerability in these moments too, but I wasn’t buying it here. The best moment was Wiskoski getting into it with a crowd member at ringside then hitting his excellent diving headbutt on Piper to tie things 1-1 then grinning cockily at the fan’s direction afterwards. The finish had Rose involved as expected, tripping Piper to allow Ed to grab the fall, then we had a post match beat down on Piper that left him completely bloody which was pretty good. Okay match but way to belaboured and bloated for what they had in their locker this evening.
  19. SAMS
    1980-08-23 CWA Bill Dundee vs Tommy Rich WMC Studios, Memphis, Tennessee, USA ★★★ This is a prime example of how you can overcome a lack of narrative through sheer effort and determination. Dundee and Rich were both really good workers at this point, so they obviously knew what they were doing in the ring, but this didn’t have a strong narrative thread running through it that I could discern. This was part of some tournament to determine the Number 1 contender for the Southern Heavyweight Title. Rich and Dundee were both faces and recently had been partners of sorts, but my context is pretty hazy here. Face vs face matches are hard to pull off at the best of times, and usually the best ones lean heavily into workrate, which is exactly what they did here. I don’t want it to seem that workrate is a dirty term here, but they really conveyed the effort each guy was putting in to win. This match lasted just over 10 minutes but felt like 20, in a good way. I was pretty exhausted just watching it due to the frenetic action. A wayward knee or shoulder caught Dundee in the groin and Tommy capitalised on the situation with a sneaky cradle for the win. Russell was appalled and Tommy Rich let him have it. In Georgia Rich had proven that he was not only wildfire in the ring, but also on the mic, but just as a babyface. Here he proved he could deliver as a heel as well. Some guys can deliver a quick cutting promo in 30 seconds or a minute. Not many guys can go on for 4-5 minutes without it feeling like they’re filibustering. Here Rich was pure fire, laying into everyone including a still injured Lawler on commentary and got some genuine heat when he pushed Lawler to the floor. Amazing post match sequence that just added to a pretty great TV match.
  20. SAMS
    1980-08-23 WWF Ivan Putski vs. Larry Zbyszko Texas Death Match Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Card ★★★★ Larry tried to jump Putski at the bell but Putski was having none of it. From this point on it was a desperate struggle for survival for Larry and he barely made it out alive. Putski has the perfect Mafia movie face and he carries himself like he could have doubled for Joe Pesci. The way Larry urgently attempted to create space between him and Ivan made it feel like this could have been a mob hit. Putski had the necessary intensity on offense, that was never a weakness of his, but it takes somebody with Larry’s selling prowess to really convey that in a way that elevates him. Here Larry did such a perfect job, you got the sense that he was in real fear that he’d suffer some grievous bodily harm. Then the transition to Larry getting some heat was perfect. Backing away into the corner, a desperate lunge connected with the most beautiful low blow you ever saw, and Putski went down like a ton of bricks. I liked what Larry was throwing at Putski after this, but Putski had some deficiencies himself on the selling front and it wasn’t long at all before a retaliatory kick below the border swung things back in his favour. A bear hug and some more brawling on the apron occurred before the finish - Larry sneaking the pin whilst using the ropes for leverage. I have to say that Dick Woehrle fast counting the three gave me HUGE heel vibes from him, but Putski didn’t bat an eye. I really loved this for the most part. Ivan knew how to throw down and the crowd was absolutely electric throughout. In fact some of the shots of the fans, maniacally calling for Putski to beat down on Larry, were some of the most engaged fan reactions I’ve seen to date. If Putski had had the ability to show some more vulnerability during the heat stretch, this might well have been a stone cold classic.
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    1980-08-22 NJPW Bob Backlund (c) vs Antonio Inoki WWF Heavyweight Title Match Shinagawa Prince Hotel Gold Hall, Tokyo, Japan Card ★★ This was a real mixed bag. They spent the first 10 minutes of the match not doing much at all, just the generic things you would expect from a Backlund/Inoki match without anything unique. Other points had some real awkward spots, with a terribly contrived collision spot that comes to mind, as well as a botched Enziguri from Inoki that completely missed its mark but Backlund sold it anyway. Finally the finish was really weak. I think that it was supposed to be a countout win by Inoki. Cagematch has other ideas but that had to be it. They were brawling to the outside and Inoki, seeing Hansen and Larry Sharpe making their way to the ring, dived back in, then the bell rang. However, there were some minor snippets of excellence that raised this up somewhat. While I wasn’t a fan of Inoki on offense here or Backlund’s selling, the reverse of both was pretty good. Backlund, around the midway point, hit a Butterfly Suplex on Inoki that flung him halfway across the ring. He followed this up with what might be, and I don’t believe this is hyperbole, the greatest Piledriver of all time. This looked like it killed Inoki and the crowd believed it too. What I loved is the lengths Inoki went to sell the damage this caused him. For a solid 2-3 minutes all he was concerned with was his head and neck. He rolled to the outside, he gathered himself, he even headbutted the ringpost to shake the cobwebs away. From that point onwards every subsequent move that Backlund hit, or teased to hit even, the crowd were fearful as Inoki was vulnerable, more vulnerable than I recall ever seeing him before. And for that 5 minute stretch, this was really excellent.
  22. SAMS
    1980-08-22 Houston Wrestling Tony Atlas vs. Ivan Koloff Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA Card ★★ This match would best be described as solid. I think mostly that can be attributed to Ivan, despite his over reliance on a nerve hold to Atlas’ trapezius. I was dubious coming into this, seeing that Atlas was going to be in a ⅔ falls match, and to a certain extent I was proved right. All the fire and energy that Atlas showed at Shea Stadium was completely absent here. While Koloff was diving to the outside to stall, playing up his loaded elbow pad and generally showing a lot of character, Atlas sure did feel like a passenger here until the finish. Every time Koloff was outside the ring or doing something that wasn’t engaging his opponent directly, Atlas would just stand in the middle of the ring and do nothing. He didn’t try and play to the crowd at all, and we’ve just seen that this is something he could do. Considering Paul Boesch was playing this up as the main event, I find it surprising that he seemed so unmotivated. The finish itself was both good and bad. We got a “wild” brawl, which resulted in multiple referees and other wrestlers coming down to the ring to break things up. Koloff was bleeding a ton by this point which was a cool visual. But I found the double DQ a bit farcical. The whole match Koloff had been angling to use his loaded elbow pad. Finally Atlas tore it from him and used his own weapon against him. The referee tried to intervene but Atlas clubbed him in the head for his trouble (considering the age of the referee Atlas should have been reported to Age Concern for this). The referee, after coming round, tried to award the fall and the match to Koloff but then he decided to shove the referee down as well. The referee decided to change his mind again and award it to Atlas and AGAIN Atlas clubbed him in the head. If Atlas was the face here, he was coming across like a bit of a dick. I guess they were trying to convey that he was so heated and in the moment that he was throwing haymakers at anything in his path but a) it didn’t feel like he wasn’t that fired up anyway and b) the action wasn’t that intense. So it felt more absurd and comedic than what they were going for. Overall, Koloff definitely felt like a solid in-ring hand who led Atlas through what seemed like a tricky match type for him but there were a few wayward steps from both a booking and execution standpoint.
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    1980-08-09 PNW Rick Martel (c) vs Buddy Rose NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title No Disqualification Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Sports Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA Card ★★★ Two really good falls bookending a subpar one. Rose’s mask by now was really looking worse for wear, with more than half the original wig gone and it was completely frayed at the edges. Early on Rose did his usual stalling, but added in a few nice touches like turning his back to Martel in the corner and started to pray (at least that’s what it looked like to me). Martel got his own back in the end with a late flurry and his signature Hurricanrana into a pin got him the first fall. The second fall was pretty pedestrian. I liked Martel’s focus on the back but it didn’t really go anywhere and lacked any intensity or grit. Ultimately, after having gotten barely anything in for two falls, Rose dumped Martel balls first onto the turnbuckle for the equaliser. I really loved Rose doing the Ali shuffle to start off the third fall, full of confidence and bravado after winning the previous fall. A few wild punches that missed their mark was enough though for Martel to gain control and in the end he did unto Rose what he himself had delivered earlier, and unceremoniously dumped Rose balls first onto the same turnbuckle for the decider. Rose’s antics are always entertaining, but often his heat sequences can feel a bit sparse. Here, when he did get on top, he didn’t do anything that made me feel like Martel was in any real jeopardy, which was disappointing considering that this was a no DQ match. The callback and mirroring of the two fall enders in the second and third was a nice touch and the highlight for me was the tease of Martel pulling Rose’s mask off. They eked that one out as Rose was applying a claw type hold to Martel’s stomach and they got over halfway, revealing the natural dark brown hair Rose had underneath. However, ultimately that reveal would have to wait for another day.
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    1980-08-09 WWF - Showdown at Shea Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbyszko Steel Cage Match Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York, USA Card ★★★ Finally we reach the blowoff. The climax to a feud that has been ongoing since January. The moment Bruno steps into the cage, kicks Larry through the ropes and then sends him head first into the steel truly is a cathartic moment. The problem is, where do you go from there? There was a chance that this could have just been a Larry beatdown for the entirety, which would have gotten old fast. Luckily, after Bruno kicks Larry’s ass for several minutes a low blow turns the tide. Bruno eats some cage as well and there’s a little more back and forth while a turnbuckle covering inadvertently comes loose. Zbyszko saw his moment and Bruno went arm first into the exposed buckle and Larry had his path to victory. Bruno was down for a looong time while Larry stomped on him intermittently before going back to the well and drilling him into the buckle a few more times. At this point Bruno’s arm looked a mess and he was cradling it intently, however he was able to turn things around and then Larry went face first into the buckle. A few more postings and Larry was busted open. Bruno rubbed salt in the wound with a few more kicks and Larry was a beaten man. Bruno called for the cage door to be opened and he had time to turn around, look Larry in the eye, give him some choice words before veering round to victory. I’ll start with the finish, which I thought was fantastic. It’s hard to fashion a satisfactory ending to a feud, especially one as heated and personal as this one, but the look on Larry’s face as Bruno steps through the door was sumptuous. Just a perfect facial expression to get across his patheticness in that moment, defeated but still retaining the bitterness that started this whole thing. Bruno, to his credit, played his role well also. The consistent selling of the arm, even as Arnold Skalaand tried to raise it in victory, put over the savagery of the match. My problems stem from how the action could feel very static at points. The big spots - Larry flying into the cage, Bruno going into the buckle, Bruno pulling Larry off the top and sending him crashing to the mat - played off very well. It was the intermediate moments that were lacking. After Bruno went into the buckle the first time, he was selling the arm, but he was lying face down on the mat for an age without moving. Perhaps he was trying to blade the arm and was trying to be subtle about it, but it wasn’t compelling. Larry was roaming around the ring and laying in some stomps and there was no movement from Bruno until he was ready to continue the match. The same could be said for most of Larry’s offense actually. I thought how he was delivering it was very good, but other than clasping that injured arm, Bruno wasn’t budging. I wouldn’t say he was no-selling, but rather he wasn’t reacting to them at all, which I felt took the sting out of Larry’s attacks and blunted the match in that facet.
  25. SAMS
    1980-08-09 WWF - Showdown at Shea Ken Patera (c) vs Tony Atlas WWF Intercontinental Title Match Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York, USA Card ★★★ Tony Atlas was hot to start this. Even as Patera was making his way to the ring Atlas looked like he was frothing at the mouth to get things started. Was the entire build to this revolve just around the arm wrestling angle they did on TV? Because if there was more to it then I missed that. But Atlas seemed very aggrieved. We got a nice shine sequence to start as Atlas flew at Patera. Yes his offense doesn’t look amazing, but you could tell he was working extremely hard and he was getting a mega reaction from the crowd. Patera was selling the shit out of everything Atlas threw at him and this whole section was gold. The transition to Patera gaining control was a bit weak but what he did do on top made up for it. When he wants to, Patera can pile it on. His power slams always look fantastic and the one he delivered on Atlas here was no different. They also worked a neat spot where Atlas pulled out a sleeper from his bag of tricks and Patera managed to utilise the ropes, by diving between them, to clothesline Atlas. The finish was essentially them brawling to the outside and Patera not getting back in time. This wasn’t good. Less for the fact it was a count out but for the execution. If both men had continued their wild brawl outside it would have made more sense, but they wanted to give Atlas the win without giving him the title, so it couldn’t be a double countout. Timing this to make it look great is hard to do and here it felt like Patera was kind of loitering on the apron waiting to be counted out. Patera continued his extremely strong year with a very good match against somebody I’ve been extremely down on in Atlas. But I wouldn’t say this was a carry job at all, as Atlas was visibly putting forth the effort and it was mostly off his back the reaction they were getting from the crowd. His energy and animosity against Patera before the match even started set the tone and he knew how and when to play to the crowd.
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