[1981-10-09-AJPW-Giant Series] Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/9/81 - Two Out Of Three Falls

 

What a difference a year makes! Jumbo looks and feels like The Man here. He needs to because he is going up against The Man. Flair's first tour of Japan as the World's Heavyweight Champion and he does not disappoint. I am naturally inclined to like two out of three Falls matches, but I find the second fall or even third fall is sometimes too short, but I thought they did a terrific job in this making every fall count.

 

The first fall does start a bit slow. Yes, there is red hot opening cross body from Jumbo to get a quick nearfall, but the Jumbo headlock and especially the Flair chinlock ground things to halt. We saw the usual Flair tropes of trying to create movement but only to get caught or lure Jumbo into the corner. Flair took a huge bump off a forearm and Jumbo was fired up and the crowd was pumped. The transition to Flair's heat is pretty weak just some punches and an atomic drop. Once, Flair misses a kneedrop and Jumbo pounces with a inverted Indian Deathlock, the match picks up and never looks back. Flair is so great selling this move and both men are sweating profusely. Harley gets out of his chair to sell the moment that Flair may surrender. Jumbo grabs a toehold is playing to the crowd and then moves to the Boston Crab. Jumbo nails a MASSIVE HIGH KNEE! Butterfly Suplex! MISSILE DROPKICK! WHAT A FINISH RUN! Loved it. Jumbo goes up 1-0.

 

Flair looks worried and tries to go on offense to start the second fall, but that backfires when he cant lift Jumbo into the bodyslam. Flair is concerned. Jumbo wants the German (that finished Slater), great struggle and Jumbo settles for the abdominal stretch. Flair finally finds his opening: Kneecrusher! Jumbo sells this huge by rolling to the outside treating this as a tide-turning event. Flair suplexes him back in and STRUTS! He is feeling it! Jumbo catches Flair with a cradle. Flair rattled by this event pounces with the Figure-4 to finish off Jumbo to knot it up. Great second fall. Jumbo looks good until Flair finally lands a turning point blow. Flair gets cocky, almost caught, but then finishes him off. Great psychology. Tied 1-1.

 

They drag Jumbo to his corner and they try to treat his knee. Jumbo is ripshit and hobbling, a bad combination. Flair is so damn cocky, you want to punch right in the fucking face. Flair dives for the legs. Love it! Flair backs him into the corner and is relentless on his legs. Big elbow to the face, WOOOOOOO, elbow to the face! Jumbo has been lacerated as Flair rapidly punches him in the forehead. JUMBO NAILS A HUGE HIGH KNEE OUTTA NOWHERE! Flair Flip! Tree of Woe! Boston Crab! WHATTA COMEBACK! Jumbo gets the ab stretch and Flair dumps him into referee, Lord James Blears. Awesome deadlift German suplex, but no ref. Piledriver! Flair is toast. Flair manages to get a foot on the ropes. Jumbo crashes into the corner knee first and Flair gets the pin to save his title.

 

Once the finish run kicked in the first fall, this was an excellent thrill ride. Jumbo was the bomb-throwing hometown boy that goes up early, suffers an injury and then makes a great comeback only to come up short. Flair was great vacillating between worried and cocky. Excellent outing by both men. ****1/4

[Loss]

Good to see someone else loves this match! I liked it a lot in the Tackling the 80s thread I had going for a while (gave it ****1/4), but no one else really felt it, even JvK!

[Superstar Sleeze]

The beginning is kinda dull, but once they turn up in the last half of the first fall, this is great! Wow, Parv not liking this is pretty shocking. Great character work and championship bout from two of the best of all time. I can see if you really hold the first ten minutes or so against them.

[WingedEagle]

Do people actively dislike this match or is it overlooked given that the '83 draw is an all-timer? Certainly started a bit slow but as Sleeze noted, when this does pick up they put together a really solid title match that holds up incredibly well. Bonus points for Jumbo's curls here as well.

[JKWebb]

Jumbo looked fired up. I thought Flair's facial expressions throughout the match were fantastic. He sold fear, fatigue, and confidence with exceptional timing. I loved the touch of Jumbo being drug to the corner while recovering from the figure four after the second fall. I thought this was great. ****

[tcg91]

This was a good match overall, but the first part was a but dull, almost like it was going to be clipped from the broadcast. It took 15 minutes (out of 30) for the match to actually get good, when Flair started working the leg after minutes of Jumbo being in the hot seat and not doing anything special. Lots of energy from the crowd, from the cheers for the first fall finish to the drama of Jumbo selling and eventually giving up in the second fall. Amazing heat segment from Flair and Jumbo selling from the second fall onwards, their chemistry was obvious. The finish was overbooked maybe, but it only made sense to protect the future Ace like this (and it will only get better between these two)
***1/2