[1981-06-11-AWA] Nick Bockwinkel vs Jim Brunzell

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[tcg91]

This is slightly clipped, 11 minutes out of 15 are shown. It's a really nice bout, solid and very tight on the mat. All the focus was around arms in the early part of the match, they both worked on each other's arms and Brunzell actually managed to go toe to toe against a master like Bock. However, Bock soon took over and of course most of the match was him taming poor Brunzell with hammerlocks and wristlocks; Brunzell's selling skills are seriously underrated, his name never really comes up. The fans loved his reaction too, he capitalized on a Bock's mistake and started beating him down furiously over his legs. A great dropkick ends the match and Brunzell gets a rare victory on the current champion
***1/2

[Stephen-]

Fun! We are missing around 5 minutes of it, and we join in progress with Brunzell in control. Brunzell spends a large portion of the match posing obstacles for Bockwinkel on the mat, a sight you do not see often. Bockwinkel’s struggle and frustration becomes apparent over time, and he starts to become desperate. Eventually, Bock is able to find his way to the ropes and, being the slimy bastard he is, uses this to his advantage and after breaking, drives his knee directly into Brunzell’s leg multiple times. This starts a long stretch of Bockwinkel making Brunzell pay for his actions. Brunzell’s selling of Bockwinkel’s offense is remarkable here, and contrary to expectations, it was Bockwinkel to really up the pace in the encounter from Brunzell’s more methodical work. Bockwinkel, though, gets overzealous and allows Brunzell to find a way into the match. Here, we get four beautiful dropkicks from Brunzell and a figure four nearly applied before Bockwinkel’s second, Ray Stevens, climbs onto the apron. Brunzell engages with Stevens, Bockwinkel looks to attack Brunzell from behind but misses and hits Stevens, Brunzell capitalizes with two more dropkicks and a three count to beat the world champion in a non title bout. It’s a solid match. I think it’s worth watching. *** 1/4