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Tony Garea vs Tiger Chung Lee (8/13/83) "I don't know how the crowd's got energy left," Gorilla said, despite the fans' complete apathy toward this match. This was slow and dull, a heatless bout made somewhat better by Garea's decent selling. Lee used a long hold on Garea's triceps, causing him plenty of trouble, but later ignored that weakness and shifted his focus to the babyface's neck, then his shoulders. Nothing was worked consistently enough to matter or generate major interest. Garea attempted a very abrupt comeback before losing by count-out following a double-knockout spot, which was a clever but goofy finish. 1/2*

This was a blast. 10 minutes of hard-hitting action and Choshu was extra aggressive here, ripping Vader's mask and making him bleed profusely. By then, Vader knew how to pace a match and how to sell without looking weak, but Choshu looked like a killer here and probably Vader owed him money or something. Vader was impressive for the way he managed to bump Choshu around like he was a flee, as he did for the finishing spot. ***1/2

This was a very enjoyable match, they both tried hard and the crowd gradually got more and more into the bout. My common issues with some UWF matches are the lack of selling or the random pacing of strikes, but this didn't have any of that, despite not reaching the epic levels of more prestigious bouts. Funaki sold his leg very well, including during his comeback, I also liked Anjo's winning hold that looked like a desperation move, as Funaki had the upper hand. ***3/4

Not a great match, but a good way to put Funk over as new contender for Ric Flair, going toe to toe with the former champion here. Funk's style in clear contrast with the Flair/Steamboat trilogy and he brought extra aggression here, which showed us a meaner side of Steamboat too. This was compelling enough, but I didn't really appreciate doing a piledriver in the middle of the match and not involving it in the finish, as it was the move that started Funk and Flair's feud. ***

Amazing match, not only thanks to the bell-to-bell stuff, but because of the characters development. Hot, hot crowd that witnessed Jumbo using the Stan Hansen strategy and pummelling Tenryu from the start, focusing on his neck. Tenryu was an outstanding sellers, one that could put over the opponent, but using their attacks as a motivation to build his own momentum. Jumbo fought in a very snug way to establish him even more as the heel, so Tenryu's comebacks felt organic and the crowd ate it all up. Insane King's Road finishing stretch, the crowd bought the first powerbomb and made it one of the best nearfalls ever, before Tenryu finally did it. ****3/4

This was JIP due to TV formatting, so the first 5/6 minutes were missing. Good and fun title match, quickly establishing a particular dislike between Kawada and Kroffat from the beginning. Footloose worked as heels here, which only enhanced their aggression and fuelled the gaijin's comebacks. It all felt very organic and went along the crowd's feelings, including the good nearfalls towards the end of the match, leading to an appreciated title change. ***1/2

This was very similar to the MSG match from April 1989, but it still showcased a few differences to keep it fresh enough. It mostly looked like an exhibition between two guys that were clearly going places, but the wrestling at times took a backseat to establish their characters, especially for the Hitman. Bret sold his sternum again and it was quite compelling as his comeback felt more organic than the usual '5 moves of doom routine', while the time limit interrupted this again at 20 minutes mark. ***1/4

Swede Hanson vs Jeff Craney (7/16/83) Not a good one. Craney stalled a bit, but it made sense, as he had no chance against Hanson and was trying to get the crowd interested, even though he failed. Hanson dominated his opponent with strikes, then started working on Craney's arm before forgetting about it. This wasn't too terrible, but Hanson didn't look very good, and Craney generated little to no heat. The heel managed to get in a few shots on Hanson for a couple of minutes before Hanson came back, and they proceeded to mess up an irish whip sequence. Even Monsoon seemed to bury Craney a bit on commentary, while Hanson won easily with a backbreaker. This was too long given the obvious result and the overall quality. 1/2*

Johnny Rodz vs Mr. Fuji (4/30/83) This was a bad match, mostly hurt by the fact that the crowd didn't care about Rodz and he ended up dominating 95% of the bout. Fuji spent a while hiding something in his trunks, leading to Rodz repeatedly arguing with the referee, but Fuji never actually used (or even tried to use) the foreign object, making the whole segment feel pointless. Apart from a few good punches, Rodz's offense consisted of uncoordinated, weak-looking strikes, much to the crowd's apathy. He attacked Fuji at a painfully slow pace, constantly pausing while the heel laid on the mat or leaned against the ropes. Fuji's control segment lasted less than a minute and then he won with a very flat finish, simply raising his knee to block a splash from Rodz, which made the ending look rather weak. -1/4*

Salvatore Bellomo vs Baron Mikel Scicluna (4/25/83) Pat Patterson calling Monsoon "Vince" a few times was funny. This could have been a complete disaster and somehow managed to be better than expected, as it didn't go too long and the crowd stayed fairly engaged. Scicluna was clearly very limited here. His strikes looked awful and he didn't bump unless it was absolutely necessary. At times, it actually looked like he was trying to get Bellomo to slow down, as it took 3 dropkick attempts for him to sell one. On the other hand, Bellomo oversold a few things, like doing a flip after having his foot stomped on or acting as if a weak kick to the stomach had hit him like a bullet. The crowd liked the flashy finish. It was perhaps a bit too abrupt, but I can't complain about this not going over 10 minutes. 1/4*

Tony Garea vs Charlie Fulton (2/19/83) Not a very smooth one. Garea sat on a side headlock for several minutes, which felt like total filler and also managed to generate complete apathy from the crowd. Monsoon said Garea "always thinks two or three moves ahead," which was very amusing considering the state of the match. Fulton did some average work on Garea's ribs, then switched to his back with a weird-looking bearhug, only to go back to the ribs again, which made his offense feel unfocused. The referee also botched the finish by counting Fulton down for 3 on a sunset flip and ignoring his kickout,, forcing them to redo the ending. DUD

Chief Jay Strongbow vs Superstar Billy Graham (11/25/82) The crowd was good, but this was so bad that it couldn't be saved. Once again, Graham looked very clumsy, with uncoordinated knee strikes and some awkward selling. He repeated some of the spots from his match against Backlund 3 days earlier, but his bearhug went nowhere, just like Strongbow's long armbar. This mostly felt like the two of them doing random stuff without any real purpose, with a few badly coordinated spots mixed in, including a clumsy-looking double knockdown collision. Graham threw a karate chop to stop the babyface's momentum and Strongbow launched himself out of the ring, falling victim to one of the quickest count-outs I have ever seen. -1/2*

Bob Backlund vs Superstar Billy Graham (11/22/82) This could have been so much worse, but it was saved by a decent MSG crowd. I don't think Backlund did particularly well here, but Graham was just terrible. All of his offense looked weak and his uncoordinated knee strikes made me cringe, as he had to pat Backlund on the back to coordinate them before delivering the blows. To his credit, Graham worked on Backlund's back fairly consistently for a while, but then he simply forgot about it and moved on. Graham's selling wasn't very good either. It reminded me of a line from Chris Jericho's book, where he said WWF officials told him not to stay down after taking a single move, but to keep feeding the babyface. I guess nobody gave Graham that memo here. The referee also comically ignored Graham hitting a low-blow and then aggressively showing him, only to throw the match later for a sillier reason. DUD

Penny Mitchell vs Joyce Grable (10/16/82) I had both this and Pedro Morales vs Billy Graham in contention for a spot here, and this made the cut because the crowd was heavily invested in the other match and somehow made it watchable despite the mediocre action. Here, the two women only got a pop during the referee comedy spots, even though it didn't make much sense for the official to pull the ropes away from Grable or raise Mitchell's hand in the middle of the match. Other than that, this was quite dull, as they exchanged holds without any real focus or quality. It just felt like a random collection of spots that never came together. Mitchell at least had some decent facial expressions while selling and came across as a dislikeable heel. 3/4*

I like both guys, but this was weird. The first two caidas had decent 'traditional' stuff, a bit clumsy at times, but mostly well fought and highlighting the fact they both tried to out-heel each other. The third fall started with an epic brawl that featured some of the best non-shoot punches you'll ever see in your life, but then it settled down and dragged until a phoned in double count-out. The crowd was silent for the whole match, apart from protesting and throwing trash at them at the end. I don't know how to rate this. ***1/2

Fun 10 minutes sprint. This was very different from the Hase/Yamada matches, as Liger established his quickfire approach again. While not the best match for either of them, this was good development because Liger was forced to get on the mat with Hase and, despite being on the fence most of the times, he would often surprise the champion with a few rapid comebacks. Liger's stuff mostly looked good here, apart from a couple of awkward moments. Energetic finish for an important title change. ***

This was mostly weird, but somewhat entertaining for the way their styles clashed. Backlund's goofy expressions got over and were matched by Funaki's aggressive behaviour, as his kicks were something Backlund was not used to. The limb work was actually tight and crisp at some point, but this never fully delivered as they then started going through the motions. Horrible finish, a huge letdown, especially for such a 'pure' company. **3/4

This was amazing way to close their trilogy, advancing the storytelling as the presence of the judges at ringside made them change strategy and initially focus on strikes to prevail in a 'points system'. Steamboat worked on the arm and got a good advantage, so Flair fought from underneath, as he had to win the match before the 60 minutes mark to avoid the loss on the judges' scoring. A neat contrast to Flair being the one that has to endure 60 minutes to retain the belt. Great leg selling by Steamboat once the Naitch found an opening. Good finish despite not being my favourite one, but this was a creative way to end their feud with a logical development, as Flair won the title pretty much in the same way he lost it to Steamboat in the first place. ****1/2

Jules Strongbow vs Swede Hanson (10/16/82) This was dull, but it wasn't very long thankfully. Strongbow wasn't over on his own and the crowd didn't show him much support, despite Hanson dominating most of the bout. The heel's offense wasn't very good, as he spent a long time sitting in an uneventful armlock, and his punches weren't very impressive either. The announcers even ignored the match for a while to talk about other stuff. Hanson had Strongbow beaten after driving a knee into his chest, but he stopped his own pin attempts, to no reaction. Strongbow then came back out of nowhere and won within seconds, after a weak-looking chop. DUD

Salvatore Bellomo vs Swede Hanson (9/18/82) This started rather slowly and, just like in the Pete Sanchez match, Bellomo teased throwing a punch but didn't. They insisted on locking up time after time, and it wasn't very good, in terms of smoothness and intensity of the grappling. Hanson applied a full nelson, then released it and turned his back on Bellomo, daring him to put one on himself... which is a questionable strategy and it went nowhere anyway. Bellomo used some flashy offense and Hanson landed a few strikes later on, but every time they got back to their feet, they just went back to locking up like nothing happened. It felt like the match never evolved, much to the crowd's boredom. At the end, Bellomo finally threw a punch and the match was over within a minute with a flashy roll-up that wasn't as bad as the rest of the bout. -1/2*

Salvatore Bellomo vs Pete Sanchez (7/31/82) This went a bit too long and never reached the next level, resulting in an 11-12 minute babyface vs babyface match where nothing they did was particularly good or interesting. The most engaging element was Bellomo getting tired of the stalemate and teasing to punch Sanchez, but it never escalated furhter. In fact, things actually became a bit more choreographed, they started shaking hands often and the crowd wasn't very vocal during all of that. The flashy finish at least made sense, but this felt very flat overall. 1/2*

Vivian St. John & Peggy Lee vs The Fabulous Moolah & Leilani Kai (7/31/82) This was not as bad as some of the women's tag matches I have seen so far, mostly because Vivian and Leilani tried hard at the beginning and the crowd was more involved than usual. However, the timing of several spots was completely off, some of the women were not very experienced, and Moolah wasn't exactly smooth either. They did a spot where Moolah hid behind the referee during an Irish whip, but she did it long before the whip even started, so it ended up looking silly, and the referee didn't even sell being run into. The finish was awkward as well, as there seemed to be some miscommunication during a pin attempt by Moolah on Vivian, forcing them to improvise with a sudden small package. 1/2*

Laurent Soucie vs Swede Hanson (5/22/82) I had never seen Soucie wrestle before and he didn't seem terrible, but this didn't have a good structure and the crowd was dead, so it was kind of doomed from the start. They locked up a couple of times and traded armlocks; Hanson gave Soucie a clean break on a few occasions, before eventually getting tired of it and taking over with some strikes. Not only did the strikes look quite weak, but this never really evolved into Hanson having to switch gears because of Soucie's limb work; it just felt like an abrupt change of pace and made all the lockups feel like fillers. Hanson then no sold a dropkick and won with a cold backbreaker submission. 3/4*

Why would that give me grief? I've cited plenty of other factors that made some of these matches bad in my eyes. That said, stalling does seem to be the most common theme at the moment and that's probably because of the era and territory I'm covering. I should also mention that I'm basing the list on a mix of my own memories and other people's thoughts, and there simply aren't that many reviews available for the early '80s. As a result, the selections are probably skewed a bit toward the "long, dull match" type. A terrible 5 minute All Star Wrestling match that nobody has ever written about simply isn't going to end up on my radar. Nor am I going to watch every single show that ever took place just to make sure I don't miss anything, so some imbalance is inevitable.

Tony Atlas vs Jesse Ventura (4/17/82) I can't comprehend why they were given 16 minutes, because this was obviously going to be filled with endless stalling. Ventura had good heat, at least, but this felt like forever and I'm not even sure they needed a shower afterward. There were a couple of moments where it looked like the match might pick up, but they consistently pumped the brakes to water it down. Ventura spent most of his time posing to the crowd and arguing with the referee. Atlas did some arm work, and Ventura sold it for a bit until he completely forgot about it and used a full nelson. Just as Atlas was finally starting his decisive comeback, they abruptly moved to the floor and stayed there for a few seconds, allowing Ventura to win by count-out. 1/2*