[1980-01-04-Houston Wrestling] Billy Graham vs Dusty Rhodes

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[AstroBoy]

Boy it was weird seeing Dusty as a babyface just slapping on a rear chinlock for control in the early parts of the match. Dusty has a good feel for the moment here and draws as much as he can out of landing some shots on Graham but honestly I felt like this was pretty lackluster and Graham really didn't add much. There is a pretty ugly criss-cross spot at one point that ends with a Dusty kick that misses by a mile and both guys had loose moments like that. And the interminable bearhug spot just isn't the most compelling thing. Predictably shady finish.

 

**1/2

[Jetlag]

For a slow, houseshowish match that didn't have neither guy doing anythingout the ordinary, this was kind of fun. It told a story and all that. I always enjoy Dusty mixing it up with the punch and elbow combos like he's a bizarro Misawa, and Boesch even points out his fighting spirit (though Dusty does not nosell any suplexes here). I liked the strength holds from Graham too. Graham ends up blatantly attacking Dusty with a foreign object and we get Dusty bleeding and making a comeback which he can do in his sleep. Then they work a bunch of spots around a bearhug where Dusty wants to hit Graham but he ducks under and clutches him again. Another night of work from the American Dream.

[drew wardlaw]

We get talk about fighting spirit and a double-countout finish. Is this Houston or All Japan?! I thought Paul Boesch really did a good job keeping the match moving forward. The action was pretty slow and typical of the wrestlers involved, but hey, I thought Graham did a decent job with his best hugs and leverage spots with the ring ropes.

[soup23]

I thought the first portion with them pounding away was setting up for a pretty fun meat and potatoes brawl but then things grind to a halt with the most lifeless chinlock I have ever seen. Graham just doesn't have compelling offense on top and it takes Rhodes getting cut and selling from underneath for any juice to come out of the match. I already know I am going to have to adjust my expectations on this awful 80's finishes as this was a double count out one that happened right as the match was heating up. **1/4

[grendel]

I liked Graham in this match. For a guy with his abilities, he look very interesting. I would have liked this match was given another finish, though. The WWWF '78 Madison Square Garden Bullrope match is still my favorite from these two.

[SAMS]

⅔ falls match for the Brass Knuckles Championship. I would have assumed that either man would be wielding brass knuckles or it would play into the match in some way but a brief Wikipedia search implies that over time this match ended up being more akin to a No DQ match and that’s closer to what we get here. Dusty is the champion.
First fall has Graham targeting the neck, initially with some straight fingered jabs to the throat and then using the top rope as leverage to drive Dusty’s throat into the lower rope which was a fantastic visual. Dusty however mounts a quick comeback and grabs a flash pin after his patented elbow.
The second fall was all about the bear hug. Graham works this hold better than I’ve seen others do it (Ox Baker earlier in the night for one), but a bear hug is still a bear hug and boring offense is boring offense. Dusty nearly springs free a few times but third time’s a charm and Graham gets the pin while applying the hold.
The third fall and the match ends on a double countout. Graham tried to take advantage with some rope he got from under the ring but with both men out of the ring and brawling on the floor they were called for the countout.
I have to say that Graham was more mobile and moved much better than I expected based on my previous glimpses of him and the most interesting part of the match was his neck attacks in the first fall. Considering it was a No DQ match, the referee did make a somewhat pathetic attempt to prevent the choking on the ropes but I’m getting the sense that all of Houston’s referees are about 105 years old so there was no hope for him there. Dusty brought what you would expect Dusty to bring to a match but it peaked early and never really got out of second gear.

★★