KB8

Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka v Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. (12/13/81), Real World Tag League Final, All Japan Pro Wrestling One of my favourite tag matches of all time! I love the intertwining hate between Terry and Brody, and Terry just throwing Snuka into his corner so Brody gets in for a fight is just awesome. Of course the monumental debut of a certain burly sumbitch is great too, so when said burly sumbitch knocks Terry the fuck out with a Lariat, Dory is left all alone to fend off the crazed gaijin. Eventually it's too much, and Dory succumbs to the King Kong Knee Drop! The aftermath is just as great with Brody, Snuka and Hansen all continuing to beat on the Funks before Jumbo and Baba make the save, resulting in an all out brawl. Hansen even blades for a Baba Chop on his first night. The cursing from Hansen all the way to the locker room, and threatening to beat the bejesus out of a camera man for daring to follow them in, is the cherry on the cake. ****1/2 Bruiser Brody v Jumbo Tsuruta (10/7/82), Int'l Title Match, All Japan Pro Wrestling This was my first taste of Brody v Jumbo in a singles environment, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. It's another one of those slower paced matches, with Jumbo focusing on taking the big ol' Bruiser's leg away from him, while Brody tries to get some sort of foothold in the match, and while Jumbo's leg work is nothing fancy, it serves its purpose just fine. Brody's never been much for the long term selling though, so it does tend to get blown off - although Jumbo is really good at going back to it quickly enough that it doesn't seem as noticeable - but his short term selling (ie. after just escaping/being released from the hold) is fine. No surprises with the finish... or lack thereof... but I'm used to it enough that it doesn't hurt the match too much, at least for me. ***3/4 Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen v Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood (11/26/82), All Japan Pro Wrestling Straight up, this is freakin' awesome. The pace is crazy, the heat is there in spades, the heels are great at what they do, likewise the babyfaces are great at what they do, and Jay Youngblood gets annihilated for being a pretty boy. Hansen and Brody are just a couple of tough bastards, and apparently Jay tried to put the moves on their wives, because they make him PAY... for something. Steamer's a great hot tag, although there isn't an especially long FIP segment, and as the match progresses it becomes clear that they're going to have to use every bit of speed and teamwork they've got to win. One thing I really liked was the spot where all 4 guys go to the floor and proceed to brawl and beat the shit out of each other with chairs and stuff. Now at this point I'm thinking "Damn it, they're gonna throw the match out. Just when it looked to be getting great.", but instead, they get back in the ring, form some sort of semblance and continue wrestling for another 10 minutes. In the end, young Jay (no pun intended) put up a good fight, but it was inevitable that Hansen wasn't going home without decapitating a bitch... too bad for Jay that it had to be him. Great fun. ****

Bruiser Brody v Giant Baba (4/16/82), All Japan Pro Wrestling Nothing that's going to set the world alight, but I dug this. I especially liked how they would use a slow build - perhaps too slow at points - and incorporate the standard shoulder block to get the point across that they were on the same level in this particular match. This leading to Brody pretty much saying "Fuck it" and drilling Baba in the head with a boot as opposed to continuing a shoulder block war was pretty awesome. Like I said, nothing amazing, but it's definitely passable. *** Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen v Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (4/20/82), All Japan Pro Wrestling Building upon the match from 4 days ago, this time each guy brings a friend. This is 2/3 falls, and I thought it was pretty awesome, actually. Brody and Hansen just exude an aura of complete bad-assery that's unseen nowadays, and I wouldn't be surprised if the crowd thought the natives might actually die at some point. My favourite part of this, similar to the 4/16 match, is another big boot, this time Baba dishing out a receipt for Brody cheating in their shoulder block war by kicking Brody square in the face. Weak finish, but it's almost to be expected considering it's a non-RWTL Brody match. Really good stuff leading up to it, though. ***1/2 Bruiser Brody v Dory Funk Jr. (4/21/82), Int'l Title Match, All Japan Pro Wrestling I honestly don't remember much about this, despite having watched it a couple nights ago. I do recall a "technical wiz trying to combat the crazy brawling bastard" story, which came off pretty good, if somewhat uninspired, in execution, but the weak finish is what sticks out most to me. For a change, it's not a DQ or count-out, but rather a botched reversal... thing, and it leaves the crowd somewhat confused. Still though, the rest of the match is most definitely watch-able, even just for Brody's double blade-job, taking a swipe above both eyes leaving him looking like a crazy bastard Native-American. Except this one doesn't use a tomahawk, he just chains you to shit. ***1/2 More later, I guess. Edited to include some ninja stars

I'm having a blast reading all of these, Loss. Thanks for sharing.