Learning to Love Dory

[JerryvonKramer]

The Viewing List

NWA Champ (misc)

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Gene Kiniski (2/11/69) [wins title]
Dory Funk Jr vs. Jack Brisco (01/01/71) [st. Louis]

JWA

Dory Funk Jr. vs Antonio Inoki (02/12/69)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Antonio Inoki (08/02/70)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Seiji Sakaguchi (12/09/71)
Dory Funk Jr. and Dick Murdoch vs Seiji Sakaguchi and Michiaki Yoshimura (12/12/71)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs Giant Baba and Seiji Sakaguchi (05/19/72)

All Japan

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Tomomi Tsuruta (10/09/73)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Jack Brisco (01/27/74)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (08/29/74)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (03/13/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Baron von Raschke (09/12/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Abdullah The Butcher (12/06/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Horst Hoffman (12/15/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (12/18/75)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Genichiro Tenryu and Rocky Hata (2/12/77)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Billy Robinson and Horst Hoffman (12/06/77)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/14/77)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (12/15/77)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Shiek (12/01/78)
Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (9/19/78)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Blackjack Lanza (09/21/78)

Dory Funk Jr vs. Blackjack Lanza (12/13/78)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/15/78)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mil Mascaras (1/30/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras (12/7/79)

Dory Funk Jr and Masanori Toguchi vs. Abdullah The Butcher and Roger Kirby (7/26/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Shiek and Abdullah the Butcher (2/3 falls match, 07/15/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (11/30/79)

Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Sheik (12/1/79)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mr. Wrestling (12/03/79)

Dory Funk Jr vs. Abdullah the Butcher (6/29/80)
Dory and Terry Funk vs Great Mephisto & The Sheik (11/28/80)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Abdullah the Butcher and Tor Kamata (12/5/80)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Jim Brunzell (12/9/80)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Billy Robinson and Les Thornton (12/03/80)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/11/80)

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Wahoo McDaniel and Ivan Putski (1/23/81)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Jack Brisco and Killer Tim Brooks (4/23/81)
Dory Funk Jr vs. Abdullah the Butcher (4/27/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Terry Funk (4/30/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Umanoseke Ueda & Buck Robley (10/6/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (10/9/81)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody and Alexis Smirnoff (10/24/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Tiger Jeet Singh and Umanosuke Ueda (11/27/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/8/81)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Harley Race and Larry Hennig (12/9/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka (12/13/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Butch Reed (2/3/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Billy Robinson (03/07/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (4/21/82)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen and Jimmy Snuka (4/16/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka (4/22/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood (12/2/82)

Dory Funk Jr vs. Bruiser Brody (10/26/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Harley Race and Dick Slater (12/9/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (12/13/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Super Destroyer (12/07/1982)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (4/20/83)

Dory Funk Jr. And Terry Funk vs. Harley Race and Genichiro Tenryu (4/28/83)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (8/31/83)
Dory Funk Jr. and Giant Baba vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (04/25/84)
Dory Funk Jr. and Giant Baba vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (08/26/84)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Tiger Jeet Singh and Mike Shaw (11/25/84)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu (11/28/84)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura (12/4/84)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (12/08/84) [given 5-star Meltzer rating, left off 80s AJPW set)]

Dory Funk Jr. And Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Harley Race (12/12/84)
Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba and Genichiro Tenryu vs. Marty Jannetty, Killer Tim Brooks and Tim Horner (08/24/85)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase (08/31/85)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk and Tiger Mask vs. Terry Gordy, Chavo Guerrero and Billy Robinson (10/21/85)
Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba and Motoshi Okuma vs. Rusher Kimura, Ashura Hara and Masa Fuchi (12/07/85)
Dory Funk Jr and Giant Baba vs. Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu (12/14/85)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu (08/31/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Road Warriors (10/20/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Rick Martel and Tom Zenk (11/29/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase (12/06/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Horishi Wajimia vs. Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase (08/31/85)

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka (2/12/87)

Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba and Andre the Giant vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (2/29/92)


Florida

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (??/??/69 )[non-title]
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (12/01/71) [non-title]
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (08/02/72)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jerry Brisco - (01/07/75)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco (??/??/77)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. David Sierra (09/17/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Steve Keirn (05/08/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mike Graham (08/13/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco (01/07/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Eric Embry (01/14/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and David Von Erich vs. Eric Embry and Ron Rithie (01/21/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. B. Brain Blair (06/06/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and David Von Erich vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco (03/07/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and David Von Erich vs. Cyclone Negro and El Gran Apollo (??/??/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Kendo Nagasaki vs. Butch Reed and Sweet Brown Suger (06/09/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. David Von Erich (06/15/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Jesse Barr vs Harley Race and Mike Graham (9/26/84)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Kevin Sullivan (08/09/87)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mike Rotunda (05/21/87)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Barry Windham (??/??/87)

Mid-Atlantic

Dory Funk Jr. Johnny Weaver (01/26/73) [Cornette Garbage Tape]
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jay Youngblood (10/13/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (01/30/83)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Ricky Morton (02/16/83) - MISSING [can't find any MACW from 1983 at all]

South West


Dory Funk Jr vs. Tully Blanchard (sometime in 1980?)
Dory Funk Jr vs. Dick Slater (1981?)
Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Scott Casey and Relampico Leon (1981?)
Dory Funk Jr vs. Carlos Rodriguez (1980?)
Dory Funk Jr and Manny Fernandez vs. Tank Patton and Moon Mulligan (late 1981? / early 82?)

GCW

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Tommy Rogers and El Gran Apollo (01/02/82)

Memphis

Jerry Lawler vs. Dory Funk Jr. (3/30/81)

WWC

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Super Medico (10/01/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Armando Salgado and Carlos Ocasio (??/??/86)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Angelo Gomez (??/??/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk and Ron Starr vs. The Invaders and Mil Mascaras (12/17/86)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Invader #1 (02/28/87)
Dory Funk Jr. and Marti Funk vs. Carlos Colon and Fabulous Moolah (??/??/87)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Super Medico II (??/??/87)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Road Warriors (20/09/1987)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (02/27/88)

Detroit

Dory Funk Jr. and The Sheik vs. Stan Stasiak and Don Kent (07/09/78)
Dory Funk Jr. and Pierre Lefevre vs. Don Kent and Kurt Von Hess (07/09/78)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Denny Albert (??/??/78)

WWF

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Hulk Hogan and JYD (3/8/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Andre the Giant and JYD (3/23/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. JYD and Tito Santana (4/7/86)
Dory Funk Jr., Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Jack Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat, JYD and The Haiti Kid (4/26/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Hulk Hogan and JYD (5/3/86)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. George Welles (6/14/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Jimmy Jack Funk vs. The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff (7/26/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Jimmy Jack Funk vs. The British Bulldogs (8/26/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Jimmy Jack Funk vs. The Killer Bees (8/28/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Jimmy Jack Funk vs. JYD and George Steele (9/14/86)


----------

On PWO and elsewhre in recent years, few wrestlers have suffered such a decline in reputation as workers as Dory Funk Jr. The phrase "boring Dory" has become a by-wood for uninteresting and overlong headlocks. Dory is thought of as lacking the charisma, energy and emotion required to create compelling matches.

However, among wrestlers, Dory's reputation remains undiminished. His brother, Terry, still cites him as the greatest NWA champion ever. Ted DiBiase says that Dory is the best wrestler he worked with. Many others have said that Dory Funk Jr is among the finest wrestlers ever to walk into the ring. In terms of respect behind the scenes, very few workers in history can hold a candle to Dory. The disparity between reputation and how we think of him in our corner of the internet could not be greater.

So in this thread, I'm putting Dory under the microscope. I want to give him as fair a shake as possible, and try to overturn my own prejudices against him. He's a worker I've always felt I should like more. He's a guy who had a magnificent career, who worked in many different places against a very wide variety of different opponents. While the bulk of what I'm going to watch if from Japan, he also had notable matches in, among many other places, Florida, St. Louis, Detroit, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and New York. I want to take as many of them in as possible. This is a sister-project to my ongoing Harley Race watching.

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Horst Hoffman (12/15/75)

I'll start with this because someone here told me it's Dory's least boring ever performance in a match and I'm intrigued.

This is from All Japan. Horst Hoffman is someone I know nothing about. He has a good moustache and looks vaguely German. Can someone look German? I think so. Dory is sporting the mutton lamb-chop 70s sideburns, it's a good look for him.

Arm-bar to start from Dory. Hoffman reverses it. Dory counters. Hoffman tries to bridge out of it. Break. Elbow and collar tie-up. Fireman carry takeover by Dory and back into the arm-bar. Hoffman is struggling like a maniac the whole time. Snapmare from Hoffman. Side-headlock applied. Snapmare. Kneedrop. Side-headlock. Dory grabs Hoffman's leg as a counter to the headlock. SHINBREAKER. That's one way out of a headlock.

Dory goes for a snapmare but Hoffman is having none of it. He goes up for a suplex but Dory counters and comes down for a rolling snapmare anyway. That's cool, you seldom see something as simple as a snapmare worked with that much struggle. Very cool sequence now as Hoffman tries to slam Dory but he keeps hold of the headlock during the slam and then almost tries to Stone Cold stunner Hoffman several times. Snapmare into a headlock. This has been one of those matches where every little thing counts for something.

Armdrag by Hoffman, Dory bridges up out of the pin attempt into a snapmare. The smoothness of this counter-wrestling is quite striking. Backbreaker by Hoffman. Big European uppercut. Hoffman with a little period on top here. I want to pause at this juncture to say that Dory's level of struggle in this match reminds me quite a lot of ... Bob Backlund. Even though Hoffman is hitting fairly high impact offense, Dory is not really giving him much and keeps coming back with an answer to everything. I don't intend that as a criticism so much as a comparison point. Something I'm going to be keeping my eye on as I watch more.

Dory starts busting out his own European uppercuts now. And they trade uppercuts. Clean break gets a round of applause from this almost-stereotypically respectful 70s AJPW crowd. Dory reverses a leglock to go back to the armbar. Side Russian legsweep. Gutwrench suplex by Hoffman! Body scissors by Dory now. Dory's reaction to that was like "you are daring to fucking gutwrench me?!" Hoffman gives Dory a punch straight to the face while still in the body scissors. Oooh, Dory's not happy. Headlock by him now. Hoffman struggles out but eats an elbow. Uppercuts and strikes by Dory now, goes for the patented delayed double underhook suplex. No. Hoffman is not letting that happen! Inside cradle sequence now with Hoffman rolling over the cradle and Dory then bridging out, Hoffman tries to use his weight on Dory, but Dory counters with a bodyscissors, epic struggle here. Clean break gets another round of applause.

Hoffman hits a back suplex. Dory goes for a Boston crab. Hoffman twists himself out of it. Dory goes for it again. Syncs it in. Hoffman powers out into a pin attempt. Big butterfly suplex by Hoffman now. Full nelson and for some minutes. Dory manages to power out of it and steals the win after an interesting pinning sequence. Hoffman and Dory shake hands after the battle.

****

This was an interesting battle of attrition. I'm not sure if it's the "least boring" Dory's ever been because he was working in his 70s technical style and this wouldn't be a match to show to someone resistant to that style. His matches with Bruiser Brody and Jerry Lawler are brawls, and they show Dory more fired up and working with more brutality than he does here. However, this might be a match that might get someone more into this style of work because the struggle was pretty great at times and I got the impression that Hoffman was pushing and teasing Dory throughout. But this was more "simmering tension" than the outright hatred we see against Brody. One of the things that came out of this match for me was the smoothness of Dory's transitions and counters. It's almost exhibition stuff, but it worked here because everything counted. Neither man wanted to give an inch so the elaborate counters were necessary to gain the upper hand. My main criticism would be that Dory seemed like he wanted to hit more of his high spots but Hoffman didn't let that happen on several occasions, whereas Hoffman was allowed to hit several of his big bombs. I got the impression that Dory's failure to hit his bombs was a result of non-cooperation. This hurts the match overall because when Hoffman does hit his bombs, Dory very quickly goes into something else each time rather than selling them -- which somewhat diminishes their impact. At times it seemed more like a battle of who was prepared to give who what. Hoffman didn't seem to want to give Dory the bombs, but came out second best in the mat war; Dory was prepared to give Hoffman the bombs but not to sell them. All of which, for me, prevents this going much above the 4 stars.

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Kevin Sullivan (08/09/87) [?]

This was in Florida. From what I can tell, the only singled match between this to was on the date I've provided in Orlando. Sullivan certainly looks like 87 Sullivan to me. Dory never changes, although his sideburns are gone. No commentary, arena footage.

Action goes outside early and Sullivan plants Dory on the railings. Rolls him back in. There are two rings here, presumably for some big battle royal. Sullivan slams Dory into the bell. Back in and Dory bails. Oliver Humperdink is ringside wearing an oriental robe. Sullivan chases him, so he's managing Dory? Dory uses the distraction to get back on top. Action is still outside the ring. Sullivan has colour now and is bleeding quite a lot. He comes back with a blatant nut shot and Dory sells it by falling backwards grabbing his crotch.

Back in the ring after a break in the tape, and Sullivan goes after Dory who now has colour himself. Sullivan steals the win with his legs on the ropes but Dory piledrives him for his efforts and goes for his diving kneedrop, but Humperdink like an idiot throws in a foreign object which Sullivan then uses to nail Dory. Humperdink attacks Sullivan with ineffectual shots and Sullivan takes him out to the delight of the fans. Dory attacks him again and they continue to brawl into the stadium. Humperdink is still hanging around and gets a fist in the face for his troubles. He also has colour now.

**1/2

Fairly effective juice brawl, but it lacked real energy and the heat seemed to be on Humperdink rather than on Dory, who was "just there". Both men seemed to start bleeding out of nowhere and the spots leading to that didn't really seem violent enough to warrant the blood. The most over I've ever seen Humperdink though, but yeah he still sucks ass.

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Abdullah The Butcher (12/06/75)

Let's go back to All Japan in 1975. This seems as good a match-up as any to test my theory that, contrary to his rep as the supreme technician, Dory was arguably more engaging working brawls.

Abby attacks Dory from the get go, in the crowd. They brawl in the crowd, but Dory is keen to get to the ring. Abby bails and Dory pursues him and then posts him. Headbutt by Abdullah and some punches. Dory has his dukes up and is ready for a fight. Elbow and collar tieup, Abby hits a running shoulder tackle, no effect. They lock up again. European uppercuts by Dory, five or six in a row and now some big reverse knife edges. Stiff. Abby comes back with headbutts and punches. He bites Dory on the nose. Dory comes back with several stiff blocking forearms. Kneedrop on Abby's head. Forearm smash. Action goes outside. Dory grabs a chair and nails Abby with it. Shades of Denucci with that. More punches and forearms from Dory. He lays in effective looking punches, he is a Funk after all! Elbows now from Dory on Abby's head. Stiff chops send Abdullah crashing from the apron. He grabs a chair but Dory stays on top. Grabs a leg and drives an elbow into it. Another elbow drop on the leg. Spinning toe hold! Abby is bleeding profusely as you'd expect after 6 minutes.

Abdullah comes back a bit now. Bodyslam. Big elbow drop. Gets two. Dory goes for his delayed double underhook suplex, no cigar. He goes for a vertical suplex instead and it hits. Cover gets two. Irish whip into an elbow smash. Elbow drop. Dory's back is covered in Abdullah's blood. Action goes outside again. Abby with the headbutts. Grabs a chair and throws it into the ring. But Dory hits a big forearm and now smashes Abdullah on the head with the chair. Now he accidentally whacks the ref with the chair, didn't look that accidental! Abby throws Dory outside and they brawl into the crowd. Abby runs into the crowd and the young boys hold Dory back. Abdullah comes back to the ring as the bell goes and gets his arm raised. I'm guessing for a DQ after Dory blatantly A. used a chair and B. knocked the ref out. Abby goes wild and starts punching young boys. Dory comes back and they brawl some more.

***

Fairly standard Abdullah brawl, that seemed to lack real intensity or heat. In fairness to Dory he was laying in his strikes and punches with venom, but this one struggled to get out of 3rd gear and boil over.

Now, as a basis of comparison, I want to see what Terry Funk did against Abby a couple of years later ...

Terry Funk vs. Abdullah the Butcher (12/01/78)

This is from AJPW Classics #11 by the way, which I'm basically going to watch in its entirety because apart from this, it's all Dory matches. Some excellent promo music to start which reminds me of the boxers' theme music from Super Punchout!! for the SNES. I'm assuming the Japanese voice over is telling us "we're gonna be watching a lot of the Funk brothers in action on this tape". Oh yes, can't wait.

As this starts, I'm greatly amused because the commentator keeps saying "spinning toehold-ah" over and over again in that characteristic Japanese manner that makes me happy. The spinning toehold was pretty over as a finisher in 70s AJPW.

Terry has short cropped hair here and gets a good ovation. He keeps his eyes absolutely fixed on Abdullah when he comes out and the two of them are ready. Abby throws Terry out of the ring to start and he comes right back in. He's already shown a lot more emotion that Dory in the last match, just with the urgency he showed in getting back in the ring.

Abby does his blinking thing, which I've never quite got. Series of collar and elbow tie-ups. I have to say that by this point in the last match, they'd got a lot more done, this has had much more tentative stalling. Abby has his foreign object though and nails Terry with it sending him out of the ring. Abby tortures Terry with the object some more ... and there's our PWI shot! For the next 15 years.

Terry bleeding. From the ear??! This looks nasty. Dory is here in a tracksuit. He's unshaven, and looking as cool as Dory has EVER looked. He's also monumentally pissed off. He tries to get into the ring as Abby batters Terry's injured ear. The ref stops Dory getting in the ring. Terry starts to come back. Holy shit, his ear!! Abby gives him another sly shot in the ear with the object. The Sheik of Araby in his full regalia is here now and he starts brawling with Dory. Abby runs out into the crowd as Terry stalks him. The bell goes and it looks like we're straight into the next match ...

**1/2

Despite the incredible visual of Terry bleeding from the ear, I honestly thought the Dory match with Abby from 75 had more going on during it. This match seemed to grind to a halt as soon as the ear injury happened and came off more like an angle than a match, which it effectively is. I did enjoy Dory being all pissed off and protective as Terry's concerned older brother though.

Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Sheik (12/01/78)

No time wasted, Dory takes his tracksuit off and is all business. He is ready for The Sheik whose hair has gone white, he looks like he was getting on -- he was, Sheik was born in 1924, Dory not until 1941. So at this point Dory was about 37, Sheik was about 54. And to think he had another 20 years in him! In fairness to him, apart from having white hair, Sheik's body didn't look too bad here -- better than old man Flair's body at a comparable age, for example.

Terry has come back out holding a bloody hand to his ear. He's not happy about something The Sheik did before. He wants the ref to check his ear and is blaming The Sheik for the injury. No, I think what's happening is that he wants the ref to check The Sheik for any Abby-style foreign objects that may be in his tights or elsewhere. Terry won't let the match start until the ref checks him. Sheik does his pre-match prayers. Terry is telling Dory: "look, in his trunks, or down his boot". His acting here is great, he has genuine concern that his brother is going to suffer the same sort of injury as him. He's pleaded with the ref and now he's making sure Dory knows all the places a foreign object might be. It's simple, but very good storytelling.

Match starts finally and Dory lays in a forearm, crowd cheers. Terry lays one in, crowd cheers. Sheik bails. He grabs a camera cable. Dory goes after him and throws a little table into the ring. It looks like a work bench or something. Smashes Sheiks head into it. Big European uppercut and Dory is fucking pissed here and pumped up. Four, five, six, seven uppercuts. Abby is back out and .. he's slipped Sheik the foreign object! Terry hits the ring and grabs that object from him. Terrific storytelling during this match.

All four men brawl now. Bell goes because the ref has lost all semblance of control. Dory lays in some more shots on The Sheik and Terry does. Not sure where Abby has gone. Terry raises the foreign object high above his head and the fans cheer. As they go to get back in the ring, Sheik and Abby run in for one last sneak attack. More brawling now. Abby goes for the ear but Dory chases him off.

The Funks get back in the ring and Terry starts a big chant going. Is it "butcher"? I think they are calling "Butcher" for Abby to come back out and face the music. Dory joins in the chant too. It's not hard to see why The Funk Brothers were so goddamn over in All Japan around this time.

***1/2

For such a short match, this was great. Again more like an angle than a match, but the storytelling and the way it built on the last match was truly great. Dory was as fired up as I've ever seen him too, a very good performance. Although Terry would have to be the MVP despite not officially being part of the match.

Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Sheik & Abdullah the Butcher (2/3 falls match, 07/15/79)

We are treated to footage from the locker room as The Funk brothers prepare themselves. They are wearing yellow tracksuit tops with red sleeves. Giant Baba is sitting in the background with *I think* a very young Tenryu, or it's Jumbo with his slightly curlier hair at this point. Dory has a patch on his head. They walk to the arena like a pair of bad asses. Come out to a loud pop. The commentator lapses into his "THE FUNKS ... spinning toehold-ah" business, which I can't get enough of. Sheik and Abby walk through the crowd to the ring with a procession following them. This has a really big match feel to it, crowd are clearly psyched too. I am as well, to be honest.

Someone throws a bottle at Sheik's head as they get into the ring, ouch looked painful. He no sells it. There is a guy in the crowd or someone injured on the floor. There did seem to be a lot of trash being thrown. Sheik is wiry and wily and is ready for a fight. Its him and Terry to start. Sheik points to the ceiling to distract the ref as he slips a foreign object into his boot. He's got the classic upturned toe boots on, as has Abdullah tonight. Sheik hides another foreign object in the back of his tights and then lingers by Abdullah for him to pluck it out and conceal in his hand. Baron Mikel Scicluna eat your heart out, this is how you do foreign object business.

Abby now, with the object, takes on Dory who he gets the better of using the weapon. Remember that Dory's head his bandaged up and this is Abby's focus of attack. The plaster is removed and he's bleeding there. Sheik fairly blatantly with the object now lays in shots on Dory. Terry is trying to break it up but is sent back by the ref. Dory starts to fight back and manages to get his hand on the spike, he lays in a shot with it because throwing it up into the air. Terry finds himself in the wrong part of town and exchanges headbutts with Abby. Sheik still the legal man though. Dory back in. European uppercut. Abby in. I think Dory let Sheik tag a bit too cheaply there, considering the fact he's still bleeding from the head. Dory chops Abby down like a tree and goes for the spinning toehold but Sheik breaks it. Terry in and it's a slugfest. Abby sends him out of the ring. Back and forth brawling outside of the ring. Dory is there now and Sheik has a chair. All sorts of chaos. Dory gets back in the ring and hits a dropkick of sorts on Sheik and steals the pin for the first fall. Meanwhile Terry has been busted open by Abby.

That first fall was very good. There was some masterful stuff around the foreign object with Sheik and Abby in this. Yes, we've seen a lot of that stuff before, but that doesn't mean it isn't smart and effective work, and it is. Dory was spirited again and he's more than proven he can be effective in brawls at this point. He's also working quite smart, he knows he can't be trading suplexes and snapmares against limited opponents like these and so has to switch up.

Second fall then, and Dory and Sheik start out. Abby and Terry brawl outside. All pretense of this being a regular match have gone out of the window by this point, chaos reigns. Sheik has a rope and is choking Dory with it who sells it like he's being strangled to death. It's an effective visual with him bleeding from the forehead too. Abby comes in and hits a big elbow drop for two. Crowd are wild and so into this. Dory gets the hot tag to Terry and he's ready with the Texas style punching now, jabbing and weaving. Ends up eating a big backdrop from Abby out to the floor where Sheik is waiting. Big elbow drop by Abby on Terry gets two. Sheik is in the ring too while the ref is distracted with Dory. Terry is thrown out of the ring and Dory goes over to check on him. Both men must have lost quite a lot of blood at this point and all four men are bleeding. The bell goes for the second fall, which is apparently a count out. Terry is out cold outside the ring. I think that's wise booking not to have either Funk pinned incidentally for the second fall. Terry is selling his injury like it's a seizure, he's grabbing his throat and shaking. Dory drags him across the floor back to their corner. Meanwhile Sheik is pointing to the sky looking a bit deranged while Abby blinks. What a pair! Wouldn't want to see those two down a dark alley on the wrong night.

Terry is still groggy so Dory tags himself in and hits some stiff chops. He suplexes Abby and grabs a chair. Nails Sheik and then hits THREE big elbow drops on Abby. Covers and Sheik pulls him off. Knee drop gets two. Sheik pulls Dory off him. Another vertical suplex by Dory gets two, Sheik breaks. Terry is still out cold. I must have missed what Abby did to him before. Dory gets a sleeper on Abby now. Ref checks the arm. Terry is in the crowd grabbing his head and ear. This is effectively Dory vs. Abby and Sheik in a 2 vs 1 handicap right now. Bodyslam by Dory and an elbow drop gets two. Sheik interferes again and he has the rope! What a low-down cheating bastard! He has a 2 on 1 advantage and he's STILL using the rope. Terry now tries to roll back in but he's out on the apron. Abby is biting Dory and the Sheik sticking in rabbit punches all the while still choking Dory out with the rope. Fans are throwing trash. The sheer level of the heels cheating here is off the scale. Terry now musters the strength to come back with some judo chops. But Abby hits him in the face to send him staggering back. Dory has the rope now. The bell is ringing violently and incessantly. Have we got a decision? It's still chaos in the ring, but The Funks are on top stomping these two villainous bastards. Sheik bails but Abby is still there taking stomps. We wait for the decision. Terry is a wild man, he wants to KILL Abby. Sheik is here trying to get Terry from him, he's choking Abby with the rope. Wild shrieking from someone now. Dory and Sheik keep brawling. The bell has been ringing incessantly for the past 2 or 3 minutes. All the young boys and Jumbo and Giant Baba hit the ring to try to get Terry from Abby. They do so and hold him back, but him and Abby are still at each others' throats. Meanwhile Dory and Sheik are STILL slugging it out. Tenryu intervenes and lays in some shots on Sheik. Jumbo and Onita intervene to get Abby from Terry. We still don't have a decision here. I think The Funks must have won because of outrageous cheating, but am not sure because we don't get a call or any arms raised.

****3/4

Well this was fucking wild. Match for the ages, which I'd imagine is legendary in Japan, and rightly so. Real hatred and passion from The Funks who both give as good as it gets in terms of fire. Terry's stuff around the injury shows what a great sympathetic babyface he was in AJPW, but my focus is on Dory here and he showed tremendous fire here and ... stoicism. That's an unheralded quality, but Dory had it in spades here, especially in that third fall which he basically carried during about a 10-minute stretch when it was 2 on 1. I have to pause for a word on Abby and Sheik here too, say what you want about them, they knew how to work their gimmicks, and around their limitations. You'll seldom see VILLAINY on the scale that those two take it in this match. The first fall is a masterpiece in storytelling around the foreign object, but it's the way they build up the layers of evil as the match progresses. By the time they've injured Terry so he's effectively out of the match and have Dory isolated 2 on 1, they STILL go to the lengths of using the rope to choke him out while double-teaming him and using the object. It's a study in evil. This has everything: great performances, storytelling, blood, chaos, the crowd, and a bell that rings forever!

Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (11/30/79)

Dory's stubble has become a beard by this point. Maybe they didn't stock the razor blades he likes in Japan. It's probably the best look for him.

Funks work over Jumbo to start. As the match settles down Dory applies a headlock. A few strikes and uppercuts and he tags out. Test of strength spot between Terry and Jumbo now, and Jumbo powers Terry down into a headlock but Terry counters with a back suplex and tags out. Dory with uppercuts now and back into the headlock. Doesn't stay in it long though before a vertical suplex which he hits and tags out. Terry now with a snapmare and a cover, for two. The Funks have cut the ring in two here. Quick tags in and out. Dory's back in and goes back to the headlock. Now in fairness to him, he hasn't once during this match so far or, indeed, in almost 3 hours of watching Dory matches now, just sat in such a headlock. He really hasn't. In this match he's been quick to trade up to high spots, in the others he's barely done any headlocks. Thus far, much more interesting in this regards than, let's say, Bob Backlund. He goes for his double underhook suplex but Jumbo counters. He tags out but the Japanese have the advantage now and Baba tags in and works over Terry. Flair flip in the corner. Watching this, it's occurred to me that one aspect of Dory that people don't talk about much is his selling ... and in particular his bumping -- he doesn't do a lot of it. Terry is a much more dramatic and dynamic seller and bumper, closer to Race or Flair. Dory is not like that and I'd put him closer to a Backlund. You're not going to see Dory pinballing around the ring for an opponent, it's not his style, but it is one reason, I think, why fans of a later generation don't take to him as well. We're used to seeing great workers be big bumpers, so when a guy like Dory isn't, perhaps subconsciously it registers that there's something he's not doing. He's good at selling a hold or being choked, or a punch, but is much less inclined to give you a lot when he's taking a high spot, and certainly we don't see him doing Flair flips in the turnbuckle as Terry has just done in this match.

Baba applies an abdominal stretch on Terry. Jumbo in with uppercuts now. And now he gets the abdominal stretch on. Terry's arm is like a limp noodle. Jumbo goes into a front chinlock now and turns it into a camel clutch. They haven't sat in any hold longer than about 20 seconds in this match. It's zipping along at a lively pace. As I say that, Jumbo does sit in this camel clutch for a while! Sod's law. Terry tries to get to his corner by crawling and walking Jumbo's feet like a doll. Quite comical. Eventually he gets a headbutt in but Jumbo stays on top and lays in some stiff chops. Baba back in with the abdominal stretch. Terry hits a punch but Baba has cut the ring off here. Back to the abdominal stretch. Baba hits a big boot and tags in Jumbo. Single leg takedown by Terry and SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH! Dory tags in. Was that the first fall? I'm not sure, but Terry and Jumbo shake hands nonetheless.

Hiptoss by Jumbo, backslide by Dory gets two. Some neat counter-hold stuff going on now involving the arm. Clean break. Headlock takeover by Dory. Headscissors by Jumbo. Dory bridges out up and over. Jumbo gets a backslide. This is exhibition-type stuff but supremely smooth -- you don't see many guys in the 80s, especially from the US who can do that stuff in their sleep like Dory can. Baba tags in. Twiglet-arm headlock on Dory, who powers out of it with a back suplex. He covers, Jumbo sneaks in to break the cover which pisses Terry off. Snapmare by Dory. Elbow drop and he tags out. Terry with the swivel-boot on the face. Legdrop. Dory back in. Bodyslam. Elbowdrop. Two count. Headlock takeover. Up to a vertical base. Baba hits a dropkick! Rick Rude neckbreaker. Two count. Jumbo in. The big jumping knee. Gets two. Abdominal stretch by Jumbo now. Dory hip-tosses out of it and tags in Terry. Action goes outside, but they get back in soon enough.

Vertical suplex from the apron by Terry, some delay on that too. "Brainbaster! Brainbaster!" Big atomic drop on the outside by Terry on Jumbo. He seems hurt and Baba goes over to check on him. Terry bobs and weaves in the ring. Rights and lefts now on Jumbo. Tags in Dory. And NOW the delayed double-underarm suplex. What a beautiful move that is! Crowd pops. Piledriver by Dory now. Cover gets two. European uppercut, but Jumbo comes back with chops and whips Dory into Baba's knee. Tags out. Double big boot on Dory. This is some hot action right here.

Terry in and a collision with Baba sends him wobbly legged over the top rope. Big boot by Baba. Side Russian legsweep. Piledriver. Terry is swinging wildly now, but Baba holds him at bay and sends him down. Jumbo in. Piledriver. That's two Terry has taken now. He's got his leg on the rope so it's two. Piledriver?!! No. Terry prevents it and starts with the Texas punches. Misses a big left and Jumbo goes for a Boston crab. Synches it in but Terry gets out, flipped over into a pin attempt for two. Big chop by Terry, and again. Slugfest now. Jumbo goes for the butterfly, but Terry tags in Junior. Dory goes to the headlock and hits a shoulderblock. Rope running now and Dory suckers Jumbo into attempting a big dropkick. He misses it because Dory holds onto the rope and ... SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH! Baba is forced to come in and boot Dory to the face, but the damage has been done. Dory snaps on the tendon and tags Terry in. SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH! Jumbo must be in agony. Baba comes in to break the hold again. Dory comes in now. SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH! Baba with the boot. Jumbo's leg is done here. Baba is in though and tries to cover Dory, only two. Slugfest now. But single leg takeover by Dory. SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH! Jumbo gets on the top rope to hit an elbow but the bell goes. Did Baba submit? The ref calls for a time out. And they shake hands again. What happened?

Either The Funks won in two straight falls both times with the spinning toehold, or it was just one fall and Babba tapped to Dory. Either way ...

****1/2

This was a great match with some terrific action worked at a fine pace. Perhaps a little bit too "your turn, my turn" in places, it was at its best when Dory and Terry were on top working a classic US-style heat/FIP sequence. They were superb tagging in and out and Dory was particularly excellent when controlling and hitting his bombs. I think it's fair to say that as a tagteam, they are at their best either when Terry is selling, or when Dory is on top. Great match by anyone's standards though.


Terry Funk vs. Killer Tor Kamata (12/03/79)

With Kamata being such a Titans of Wrestling legend, I couldn't NOT watch this now could I. NO CHANCE MR WHALEN. I can justify watching Terry matches in this thread because he's a perennial basis of comparison. Kamata comes back with some chops. Terry hits a few armdrags and Kamata goes over for a monkey flip. Quite good agility for such a big and old man. Tentative now. Terry gives Kamata a cheeky slap to the face. Fans chuckle. Kamata misses a big chop and Terry slaps him again. He's bobbing and weaving now and tags Kamata with a few jabs. He's getting really frustrated now but SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH. Kamata bails. He's getting out-wrestled here. Kamata comes back and sends Terry over the top rope. Goes after him. Slam on the table outside the ring. The table is dented. Rolls Terry in. Knees to the back from Kamata now. He's a surprisingly effective worker. Cover for two.

Headlock by Kamata now. Goes for a bodyslam but Terry reverses into a small package for two. Abdominal stretch by Terry now. Kamata powers out of it with a fireman carry take over. Kamata hits a big kick which Terry sells like he's been fired out of a cannonball. Kamata produces a chain from his trunk, but Terry comes back with lefts and rights and rabbit punches. Kamata still has that chain and is now slyly choking out Terry with it. Ref spots it and rings for a DQ. Terry gets hold of the chain and nails Kamata with it for a lot of blood. He's covered by the end.

**1/2

Not bad at all and Kamata is a decent worker doing what he does, I'm sure if we had more of him on tape he'd have a bigger rep. This at least as good as the earlier Terry-Abby match without the bloody ear to carry it.

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mr. Wrestling (12/03/79)

I didn't know Tim Woods worked in Japan. It is him though, all in white. Dory has the beard still, it's a bit fuller now. Mr Wrestling looks like he's getting on in years.

Headlock by Wrestling to start. Your standard counter wrestling spots around pinning predicaments while keeping the headlock on. Dory gets on top and works on Mr. Wrestling's back. Back slide struggle now in the classic Greek Olympic wrestling pose. I don't like Mr. Wrestling's mask, it looks cheap.

Side headlock by Wrestling. This has been boring as hell so far, in exhibition territory. Kneelift by Wrestling and a headlock takeover. Still with this headlock struggle crap. I can never get into that stuff because it's ALWAYS the same. Anyway, Dory powers out with a back suplex. European uppercut. Hammerlock. Drives the knee into Wrestling's arm. I have to say, the match just picked up a hell of a lot when Dory got on top. But Mr. Wrestling manages to get the headlock back on, drops it down to be a chinlock. "It's legal" says Wrestling. Irish whip and a backdrop. Kneelift, goes for the cover. Two only. Dory with the double underarm suplex?? No, Wrestling powers down. Back to the headlock by Mr. Wrestling. Hiptoss by Wrestling. Backslide wins it for Dory. Oh dear oh dear.

*1/2

This was not an interesting match and Mr. Wrestling was really tedious and dull during this. Dory, in his defense, kept things interesting when he was on top, but whenever Mr. Wrestling controlled, which was for the majority of the match, nothing much was happening and it was watching paint dry. Still, I think four and a half hours of Dory is enough for one night.

[PeteF3]

I've never been blind to his flaws, but I've always liked Dory more than the average IWC guy. That match with Hoffman came as part of a big tournament where Dory was the MVP--and this was a group that included Jumbo, Horst, Baba, the Destroyer, and Harley Race. Plus Dusty Rhodes for the hell of it. Glad to see him getting a fair shake here.

 

At one time I may have had the Funks as my #1 favorite all-time tag team. I think there are 3 straight Tag League finals that pit the Funks against Abby & the Sheik, and they're all pretty much gold. They also have a match against Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras that I really liked, plus a long match against Horst & Billy Robinson that I thought was great. I wouldn't have pegged it as something you'd like, Parv, but if you liked the Horst singles match... .

[Timbo Slice]

God, I really want to call Dory "Dr. Strangelove" now because of the title to this thread.

[shoe]

Parv are you going to look at Dory vs. Brisco from Florida ?

[fxnj]

I say review the entire Jack Brisco series since that's Dory's most famous opponent.

 

Also this

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16jgjy_masanobu-fuchi-osamu-nishimura-vs-the-funks-dory-funk-jr-terry-funk_sport

[JerryvonKramer]

Time for some more Funkin' goodness. I am saving the longer Jumbo matches and the Jack Brisco matches for a time when I am feeling geared up to sit through 60-minute matches. At present, I can't find the US-based Jack matches but am getting in Solie's "Film Room" on Dory from a certain German trader I deal with, as well as some more All Japan Classics ... I am actually tempted to get ALL the AJPW classics, but there's an awful lot of them.

 

For now though ...

 

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (15/12/77)

 

Thanks to my man Kelly for recommending this one. I think he said that this was the match that made The Funks big babyfaces in Japan.

 

The Funks ambush Sheik and Abby early, before they can get into the ring or take their robes off. Sheik is bleeding before the match has even started. Crowd is hot for Dory as he snapmares Abby, stomps on his head and elbow drops him. Sheik interferes, so Terry comes in. Dory gets Sheik's rope and chokes him with it. Ref has lost control of this one early.

 

Terry tags in and does some showboating. The Funks compliment each others' characters very well, Terry is fire, Dory is ice. Terry's the life of the party, Dory's no-nonsense. Terry's the madness, Dory's the method. And they'll both kick your arse.

 

Dory's back in and he locks up with Abby who gives him the double throad thrust. Elbow gets two. Uppercuts by Dory now. Goes for the suplex and it hits but it is a bit botch-y: Abby goes off to the side rather than up and over. Forearm smash from Dory and a tag. Double atomic drop. Terry covers for two. Abby cheaply gains advantage and tags out. Sheik comes in with seemingly lethal punches. I suspect he has a foreign object but it is well concealed. Now Abby comes in and, yes, he has the object of doom. Outrageous cheating now as the ref is tied up with Dory and the heels beat the shit out of Terry. Abby lays in a brutal shot on Terry's wrist. He's going to break his arm ref! Dory is beside himself but this only ties the ref up further. Sheik and Abby are just the absolute masters of dastardly heel tactics. Eventually Dory can take it no more and gives Abby a whack on the back. This allows Terry to start coming back. Abby is dazed and Terry tags out. Dory a house of fire lays in some strikes. Throws Sheik out of the ring, but ends up catching something and falls out of the ring. Abby is on top now. Elbow gets two. Sheik comes in with the weapon but Dory counters and gets it himself. Dory nails both guys now with the object. Meanwhile, Terry is out in the crowd nursing the arm that Abby almost broke earlier.

 

Abby and Sheik have Dory in the ring and they grab both sides of his ... mouth. What are they doing? This looks like a torture ritual! Are they trying to rip Dory's face open? Before we can find out Terry comes in fired up and lays in shots on Abby who is by this point bleedly profusely. But Abby catches him with a stiff shot to the face which sends him packing. Goes out after him to bit him. In the ring, meanwhile, Sheik nails Dory with the foreign object but the ref spots it and calls for the bell. Well, it's about time the ref saw something! After the bell goes all four men brawl and the young boys hit the ring.

 

This was fun, but not the absolute classic that the 79 match is. It's a bit short and is missing the extended heat segment for Abby and Sheik. I do like them though as kind of like the Dick Dastardly and Mutley of All Japan.

 

***1/2

 

 

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (9/19/78)

 

Dory looking cooler than usual here with his beard. Terry is bobbing and weaving in antipaction for the match. Funks get a loud ovation from the crowd. It's Terry and Sheik to start but Sheik is going through his pre-match ritual. He wants to pray. Is there anything emptier or less sincere than The Sheik's prayer? Ha ha.

 

Sheik has blatantly already got a foreign object in his hand. Something seems to bother him and he walks almost all the way back to the locker room, through the crowd. That is A+ stalling. Sheik comes back to the ring and still has the object. The ref really needs to try a bit harder opening his eyes. Both guys tag out and it's Dory vs. Abby now. Big forearm by Dory gets a cheer. He tosses Sheik for good measure. Funks double-team Abby. Dory gives Sheik about six uppercuts in the corner. Terry vs. Abby now. Still early doors, it's been a bit stop-start so far.

 

Abby uses the object to floor Terry. A nasty shot to his gut. Terry sells it like he's been killed. Sheik in, and Terry is busted out. Sheik attacks the cut by biting it. Nasty. Abby's back in and he produces the object from his tights again. Tags in and out now with both Abby and Sheik using the object. Sheik uses it almost like a knife at one point and goes for the eye. Terry pretty bloody but manages to tag out. Dory come in ready for a fight, but Sheik has the object and floors him quickly while the ref is attending to Terry. Dory is busted open too now. The ref tires to get Sheik from attacking Dory, but the damage has been done, he's bleeding very heavily. Abby ties up the ref as Sheik now HAMMERS on Dory's head. Level of brutality here: A+, level of sneakiness: off the charts. Dory is so bloodied now he's staggering. Manages to tag out and Terry is fucking pissed and screaming his head off, covered in blood. Fantastic visual. He shouts something at Abby. Wow, real hatred and intensity. Brilliant. Funk lays in some excellent punches on Abby now. He's bobbing and weaving, face a crimson mask. Abby gets Terry in a bearhug which breaks the momentum. Meanwhile, Dory and Sheik are somehow all the way out in the crowd brawling. Sheik makes it back to the ring, he's now bloody too. Dory looks angry and grabs .. the BELL. And it's a real-old school heavy looking bell. And he slams Abby accross the back with it. And now he nails Sheik. He has the object and lays in shots to Sheiks face. Meanwhile Terry and Abby brawl outside. The ref has completely gone. The bell can't go because it's lying in the carnage in the middle of the ring. Dory is still pounding on Sheik and a young-looking offical tries to come to get him off. Dory slams him to the canvas as he attacks Sheik more. Young boys hits the ring, but Dory doesn't care by this point, he's possessed and is punching anything that moves in his pursuit of Sheik. Dory is hitting Sheik so much it's starting to seem like a murder attempt. More young boys hit the ring, but Dory, covered in blood, batters them away. He's fighting everyone. Throws incidental young boys out of the ring as if they were generic henchmen from an action movie. And STILL he hammers on Sheik. NINE young boys now drag Dory from the Sheik but he's still fighting them! He punches them off left and right and ... attacks Sheik again. Terry and Abby are back in the ring now. This is total carnage. Dory has completely lost it, he's got the derange look in his eye of someone who has seen red and wants to kill, the visual is great with his face completely covered in blood. And STILL he goes after Sheik. He can't leave it. The young boys try again. The bell has been retrieved by this point and is ringing like mad. Dory punches out a few more young boys and then goes right back to his brutal assault on Sheik. I'm expecting the police to show up at this point, this is grevious bodily harm in public. Abby and Terry are still brawling outside the ring. Dory is literally trying to kill Sheik now. The young boys try yet again to get him off. All nine of them hold him back, but he's punching them again and goes back to Sheik again. They manage to drag Sheik it one side of the ring out of harm's way, and Dory is staggering around, still with that demented look in his eye. Abby has the misfortune to get in the ring now and Dory smashes his head with the object. Dory now spots Sheik and beelines it with a flurry of further attacks. He's still lashing out wildly at anyone who dares to try to come near him. This is fucking PRIMAL.

 

Abby tries to escape through the crowd, but Terry goes after him and they start brawling there. The crowd clear a space for them and the young boys are there in force in their red tracksuits. Dory is back in the ring, and Terry makes his way back there too. Both are absolutely covered in blood. Dory raises his hand, still carrying the object, and Terry does too. Confetti showers down. Abby staggers through the crowd and Sheik is being carried to the back half beaten to death. Sheik makes a last few desparate lunges towards the ring, but he's been smashed into a pulp. He falls to the floor almost as if having a seizure, it looks like Dory has broken his wrist, he's completely covered in blood. He can barely move, but with any ounce of energy he has he still gestures towards going back to the ring. Abby comes to stop him. He looks like his spirit has been broken and they hobble to the back.

 

Ah fuck it

 

*****

 

This is about as wild, bloody, brutal and downright sadistic as any brawl I've seen and it reaches Magnum-Tully levels of primal rage and hatred. The sequence where Dory is beating on Sheik is breathtaking, and has to rank as one of Dory's all-time career performances. He came across as a man who'd been pushed beyond the point of reason and had just snapped and broken here, it's an incredible performance. INCREDIBLE. The beating that Sheik takes at the end goes beyond the point of justice and retribution, he's beaten so badly by Dory that you almost feel sympathy for him. But since his cheating and villainy before it is so outrageous, and since he's been doing that shit for so many years, it's like all his chickens came home to roost at once. He had it coming to him, but this was the ultimate "he had it coming to him". One of the best things I've ever seen in wrestling. I have to take a break, maybe have an ice cream and settle down, because I wasn't prepared for something as good as this tonight. Blown away, I put this in the same bracket as Magnum-Tully "I Quit", transcendant.

[Matt D]

Ignoring the star rating you just gave, watch the match vs Martel/Zenk. I love that thing.

[JerryvonKramer]

Dory Funk Jr vs. Steve Keirn (05/08/81)

 

Dory was Floria Heavyweight Champ around this point. Incidentally in 81 he was also the first NWA International Champions in All Japan after they brought that belt back. This would have been between the AJPW tours. Dory spent most of 81 either in All Japan or Florida. Of course, Solie on commentary and he says Keirn is in the condition of his life. Shame the same can't be said of his hair! This is quite cool, don't get to see studio wrestling from Florida very often.

 

Dory starts off with a headlock. Hiptoss by Keirn, float over, arm bar. Dory reverses it. Keirn tries to counter the armbar with a Russian legsweep, blocked, he hits an arm drag instead. Criss-cross and Kerin gets Dory in a sleeper. Suplex by Keirn. This is the first match I've seen for Dory to be really dominated like this, he's giving Keirn a lot here. Piledriver! Only two. Dory dumps Keirn out of the ring to break the momentum. Now he seems to knock him out on the turnbuckle post. Spinning toehold! Keirn is KO'd here. But Dory keeps going another spinning toehold. Another one! He's not giving up. He pushes the ref aside too! Mike Graham is here now to ward Dory off and he leaves.

 

But no!! Dory sneaks back around and attacks Graham! Punches him. Dumps him. OOHHHHH he stiffs the ref in the face!! Punched him right out! And now he's trying to attack Keirn again. Graham comes back but Dory nails him. Kneedrop from the top rope! Uppercut on Graham. Stomps on Keirn. He grabs the ref again and slaps him. And again. PILEDRIVER ON THE REF! Holy shit! He's gone nuts. Another person hits the ring and he dumps them. Spinning toehold on Graham! Dory is wild. Bodyslam on Graham and we go to a break.

 

**1/2

 

Too short really to get more, but Keirn looked good for the brief-running length and we get to see more Psycho Dory as he completely destroys three men. The attacks on the ref are so random that I found them really funny. This was interesting because it was Dory working as an out and out heel and presumably a top heel anchor for the promotion around this time; he worked differently. He bumped around a bit more, he gave more to Keirn, and was willing to show ass as he was booked to do. Very interesting to see the contrast between his work here, and how he was working in All Japan as a top babyface.

 

Dory Funk Jr vs. Mike Graham (08/13/81)

 

Again, I don't have the date, but this looks like it was part of the same run and presumably the incident in the last match helped to set this up. Gordon Solie says that both men have agreed that this will be under "Australian British Empire rules": six, seven-minute rounds. Solie says that Dory as a former NWA champion he'll have vastly more experience in this sort of match-up than Graham. "Coach" John Heath agrees and says that he thinks Dory is probably the smartest man in wrestling.

 

This is for the Florida title, of course. Winner of the most rounds wins. Dory gets some heel heat when he's introduced.

 

Round 1:

 

Dory gets Graham in a headlock. Coach Heath now with some fanastic colour analysis: he says that anyone going up against Dory is going to be worried about his spinning toehold, which you don't usually see till the end of the match. But that means that most wrestlers are going to go into the match with all sorts of defensive strategies in mind to counter attacks on their legs as Dory works to go for his signature move. BUT says Heath, Dory knows this, so you'll notice that 99% of his attacks on the head and shoulder region, "the side and front chancery". Wow, Coach Heath is really good at this. Dory works a series of cradles. Heath talks about how this cuts off the air and affects "respatory intake". Heath is making this so far with his interesting insights. Dory brings Graham back down to the mat and works the headlock. Heath says, however, that he thinks Mike Graham is one of the top 4 wrestlers in the world today, but also that Dory is also in the top 4. I wonder who the other two are in Heath's book. Graham goes to an arm bar. Solie mentions that Graham has been doing a lot of travelling of late, especially to "the Orient". Bodyslam by Graham and an armdrag. He's working the leftarm now. Only 3 minutes remain of this first round. Graham stays on top after some rope running, and goes back to the arm. After another slam, Dory bails to break the momentum, 25 seconds remain. Heath praises Dory's ring savvy. The first round is over, neither man could gain a pinfall or submission. So does it go to points? Seemingly not. It's a draw for this round.

 

Verdict so far ... Coach Heath needs to be talked about more as being one of the all-time great colour commentators!

 

Round 2:

 

Pace picks up now with Graham hitting another armdrag and a bodyslam. Goes for the figure-four, but Dory quickly breaks the attempts and backs off. Heath talks about Dory's experience again and how Graham's youth and exuberance may be getting the better of him. And now, Terry Funk has come to ringside, he has a full beard. Solie isn't happy that Terry is here. Graham has Dory in a head-scissors and is wrenching it back and forth. Bodyslam. Dory backs up. Armdrag once again by Graham. Solie and Heath give Graham the edge at this point, seems like he's found a chink in the champ's armour here. But Dory dumps Graham out of the ring and ties himself up with the ref, which allows Terry to get in some punches. Solie is unhappy, but the dastardly Funks have regained the advantage. Dory with a series of uppercuts now. Delayed double under-hook suplex -- beautiful move and well executed. Inside cradle gets 1, 2, 3.

 

Dory goes 1-0 up with an assist from his brother.

 

Round 3:

 

Dory jumps Graham to start and hits six or seven uppercuts. And he dumps Graham to the outside again right next to Terry who shouts abuse at him. Vertical suplay back in by Dory, and several more uppercuts to floor him. Elbow drop. Piledriver. Well-executed. Only gets two. This youngster has guts. More uppercuts now, but Graham starts to come back. He fires up, but Dory hits a snapmare, misses an elbow. Dropkick by Graham! But misses a second as Dory sidesteps it and a kneelift. Dory wins the second fall with what Heath calls a "deep inside jackknife cradle".

 

Terry gets in the ring to consult with Dory, who is now 2-0 up.

 

Round 4:

 

Graham starts with a headlock. Heath says that being 2-0 down has completely affected Graham's strategy going into this match. Solie says that this is critical for Graham now. Belly-to-back suplex by Dory. Forearms in the corner. But Graham comes back again with right in the corner, Dory breaks it with a knee to the gut. Dory dumps Graham out of the ring again. Terry goes over but gets caught jawing with some fans who are angry. Back in the ring, and Dory gets an abdominal stretch on which Heath calls a "standing open guillotine", he talks about anatomy in a manner that would give both Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Ross hard ons. Hiptoss by Graham. Dory counters with a "top nelson joined to an inside cradle", which is a devastating hold according to Heath. Dory goes for a suplex but Graham reverses it. Dory hits a block forearm, but Graham comes back. Slugfest now but Graham comes out on top. Bodyslam. Kneedrop. Another slam. But Graham misses an elbow. But a deep inside cradle by Graham gets a flash pin.

 

It's 2-1 to Dory. This has been a smartly booked and worked match so far.

 

Round 5:

 

Side nelson by Dory to start this, but Graham escapes. Tempers starting to flare here. Indian deathlock by Graham. Dory's in trouble. Graham sits back on the deathlock and also goes for a pin while still in the hold. Break because they are in the ropes. Hammerlock takeover by Graham, but Dory comes back with the forearms, uppercuts and chops. Goes for a slam and Graham goes for that inside cradle. Heath says that Dory needs to switch his game here and now needs to control, which he does with a hold of some descriptions. Solie mentions that there's been a study recently that shows that wrestlers have the highest cardie-vascular development of any athletes. Ha ha. Heath talks about how wrestling is a game of human chess and that Dory is THE chess master. Gutwrench suplex by Dory now. "Quarter nelson lock on the shoulder blade". Crowd gets behind Graham and he gets a "go Mike go!" chant. Forearms in the corner again but Dory. Snapmare. Spinning toehold! But Graham blocks and reverses and gets on the figure-four!! And that's it Dory submits to it to give up the second fall for Graham.

 

So it's tied 2-2 ahead of round 6. As we go into the break, they play a excerpt from Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

 

Round 6:

 

Dory's leg is injured after the figure-four and he's in trouble heading into this. Graham goes right back to work on the leg, but Dory counters into a wrist-lock and the quarter-nelson on the shoulder again. Heath goes on about how you don't get to be NWA champion for four years without considerable ring smarts. Dory dumps Graham again for his brother to attack. Dory distracts the ref and Terry chokes Graham with his necktie and rolls him back in. Uppercut by Dory gets two. Struggle over the pin now, up to a vertical base, and Dory rams Graham into the turnbuckle, and Dory starts punching Graham, who comes back with rights. Dory has the crimson mask and Graham pounds on the cut. He goes for the figure four and Terry gets on the apron. Dory is dazed and swings wildly, his in "desperate straights" and bails. Back in and Graham pounds on Dory's injured head. Two minutes remain. Knee to the rib-cage. Dory tackles him and tries a cheap pin with his legs on the ropes, but the ref spots it. Both men tumble over the top to the outside. Terry is on the apron again. Back in and both men are down. Dory's face is covered in blood by this point. Inside cradle gets two. Dory covers for two. Slugfest. Double-leg takeover by Graham and back into the figure-four. We could be seeing a new champion! Time limit expires!!

 

What happened? Back to Solie and Heath, and it was a draw! Dory is still the champ.

 

****

 

With at least 1/2 a star added for the quality of the commentary helpling to make this an intriguing encounter, debating whether to go higher. I don't give out ****1/4 as a rating, but this is round around there. Listening to Heath and Solie during this match, added a completely different dimension to some of the matwork, and it really helped me appreciate the psychology of the counter wrestling some more, while teaching me the names of some holds in the meantime. HOWEVER, this was not worked in the dry technical manner that you'd expect. Dory was in heel mode, and seemed at times to be trying to turn it from a technical affair into a brawl. When Terry turned up, Dory was happy to break every rule in the book to regain the advantage, and in the contest of such a theoretically technical match as this, with people talking up his rep as a former NWA champ etc. etc., I thought that was some great dickery on his part. I thought this match showed a glimpse of what your typical Dory broadway might have been like back in the day if he was working in a dirtier heel mode, maybe against a local hero. Dory's highspots: the delayed double-under-hook suplex, the vertical suplex, the gutwrench suplex, the belly-to-back suplex and the piledriver are all very well executed. The psychology in this match was also great, with Dory trying first to outwrestle Graham but quickly getting frustrated and desperate and resorting to dirty tactics and cheap shortcuts. I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this, because on paper it looks like it would be an absolute snooze-fest.

 

Dory Funk Jr vs. Tully Blanchard (sometime in 1980?)

 

This is from Southwest Championship Wrestling where Tully had several feuds with The Funks. I read over at Kayfabe Memories that in one angle around 81/82, Tully viciously attacked Terry with a clawhammer and Dory had a match with him to avenge it. However, I believe this match is from 1980 when Tully was still a face and the SWCW champion, Dory is the challenger. We join it in progress where the commentator criticises Dory for pulling the hair. and using dirty tactics. I'm not sure who the commentator is, but he has a David Crockett-ish quality. They seem like they've been wrestling a good while when we join them. The commentator says that Dory has been showing a lot of unsportsmanlike conduct tonight. Throws Tully into the turnbuckle and he flips over to the outside. Back in the ring, and he has Tully in a hammerlock. Applies the pressure and wrenches in the knees. Uppercuts and elbows in the corner, but Tully comes back. It's a slugfest. Tully gets the better of it with elbows to Dory's head. Dory crashes down. Tully closes in but Dory puts one leg outside the ring to get the ref to intervene. Big headlock wrenches by Tully now, the crowd counts the wrenches. He stays in the headlock. Tully rolls the headlock around. He is working it as interestingly as possible. But Dory now counters with a shinbreaker. Dory grabs Tully by the hair and hits him with two hard rights before snapmare, but Tully hits a backslide for two. Elbow to the jaw stuns Tully and Dory applies an abdominal stretch which the commentator calls a "semi-half nelson", ha ha. Dory grabs the tights while he's applying the hold, "I don't think I've ever seen Dory Funk Jr wrestle the way he is tonight", says the commentator in disgust. Dory goes for a dropkick but Tully ducks it, and now gets on the figure-four. Tully wrenches on the figure-four, but Dory gets to the ropes. Tully wrenches on the leg again but Dory goes to the hair again and flings Tully to the outside. Back in and Tully is on the attack again. We're told there's thirty minutes gone, so we're missing the first fifteen. Slugfest in the corner but Tully is coming out on top while Dory is missing. Dory tries to bail, but Tully brings him back in. Belly-to-back suplex by Dory. He covers and yes he gets the three! Dory pins Tully! But his feet were in the ropes.

 

I don't see Dory's name in the record books. Piecing together what happened, it looks like either this was a Dusty finish OR the title was vacated and Terry Funk won the resultant tournament. Which would actually put this match in early 81. Not sure, I can't find any decent results for this promotion. I know in 81-2 that The Funks turned face after the angle I described before.

 

As for the match, I can't really give it a rating because we only got the last 12 minutes or so of a 30-minute match. I thought some of it looked a bit sloppy, but Tully looked good working that headlock and taking the bumps. Dory seemed to be working especially dirty, as a proper cheap heel.

 

Dory Funk Jr vs. Dick Slater (1981?)

 

I can date this to 81 or 82 because Slater is the SWCW champion and he had two different runs with the belt in those two years. The commentator is very Texan, I think it is Gene Kelly, and this whole place has a great and unique vibe. I wonder how much Southwest from this era is out there. Slam by Slater. Kelly references the "now infamous hammer incident" that occurred last week, when Terry Funk was injured at the hands of Tully, so that puts this in late 1981. Bodyslam by Dory. The commentator calls Slater "Dickie Slater" throughout. Dory with a headlock now. The commentator talks about how last week, Tully took the claws of a hammer to Terry Funk's ear and now he's having problems with his equilibrium. That sounds like such a tremendous angle, I've looked for it but it's not out there and is considered lost. Strange that we have the week after but not that week. As Dory works this headlock he leverages his weight right on top of the neck, that's simple but more effective working of the hold than 90% of applications you'll see. Dory keeps this on now. I can't help but notice that now he's a face he's working very clean and more technical. Atomic drop by Slater. Rack by Dory gets two. Back to the headlock. Gene Kelly is so Texan that I'm fancying BBQ. He tells us that Nick Bockwinkel is in town tonight, and he's "set Manny Fernandez for the babyblues". "Oooohh skin the rabbit, Dickie". Atomic drop by Dory sends Slater over the top. "Forearm lift shivers Slater's timbers". Gene Kelly is AWESOME. Suplex by Slater. Crowd starts chanting "Dory Dory". Snapmare by Slater. Kneedrop. Backbreaker by Slater. Kelly mentions that Ken Patera was doing tests of strength earlier. Hmmm, seems like Southwest had some big-name workers passing through in 1981. Slater goes for a piledriver but Dory reverses into a backdrop. Slater takes a tumble to the outside, as Dory is lying prone in the ring. Tully hits the ring now wearing ALL WHITE and starting stomping on Dory! Dory grabs leg and starts uppercutting him. Headlock takeover and Dory now beats on Tully, but Slater recovers and grabs Dory. Double-teaming now. Stomps. Scott Casey hits the ring to make the save and squares off with Slater. Dory knocks Tully down. They all brawl to the back. Dory gets back into the ring to get his hand raised.

 

**

 

This was a match where I thought Slater and Dory were working two different styles and not meshing well. Slater was bumping around and running around and working his ass off, Dory was in early 70s mode and not really prepared to work the sort of match Slater seemed to want, so you'd get awkward spots where Dory, for example, hit a mild atomic drop and then Slater basically bounced, on his own, to take a big bump to the outside -- almost Mr. Perfect style. I don't know if it's a knock on Slater or a knock on Dory, but something wasn't clicking here. Dory was also not really fired up enough in the angle with Tully at the end. Really feels like he was saving his A-game for All Japan and Florida and had turned up for a paycheck here.

 

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Scott Casey and Relampico Leon (1981?)

 

I'm guessing this was a few weeks before the last match and before the claw/hammer angle. Terry starts out but soon tags in Dory. Hip toss by Casey and a bodyslam. They mention on commentary that Terry Funk is the current SWCW champion so that actually makes it a few months before the last match in about mid-81. Leon has one hell of a first name! He works a headlock here. He has a sleazy-looking moustache. The colour commentator on with Gene Kelly is not the brightest tool in the shed: "the Southwest title is the most prestigic title". Yes, "prestigic". Maybe people sent footage of this up to Vince so he could confirm all his anti-Southern biases. Funks double-team Leon. Uppercut by Dory. Funks have fantastic chemistry as partners. Delayed double-under-hook suplex. Thing. Of. Beauty. Tags out to Terry, who hits an elbow drop. Legdrop by Terry, covers for two. Dory in. Three uppercuts, belly-to-back suplex. Still only two. Fair play, Leon is one tough JTTS. Dory dumps him. Terry atomic drops him outside of the ring. Casey goes after Terry as Dory rolls Leon in. Spinning toehold! Casey breaks it. Leon comes back and tags in Casey to is a house of fire. Slams Dory. Really poor stuff from the faces now as Leon seems absolutely lost and takes an age to Irish whip Dory into Casey's legs which saps all momentum from the comeback. Casey hits punches on both Funks now and a double noggin knocker. Terry hits a headbutt though and staggers about. Dory grabs Casey's hair, Leon tags in and hits a dropkick on Terry. Dory breaks the pin. Leon hits a bodyslam. Dory hits the flying knee press from the top rope as Terry holds him for three.

 

**

 

The Funks are just superb as a tag-team: a well oiled machine, totally aware of each others' strengths and they know exactly what to do: when to work a heat segment, when to feed a comeback etc. But they were working with some pretty shitty opposition here who really drag this match down from being an enjoyable competitive squash to an embarrassment of sorts for the promotion that made it look like The Funks shouldn't really be there. At one point the commentator tried on the "main event in any arena in the world" line, and I don't think a single person in the world then or now would buy that. Leon, in particular, looked poor and Casey not much better.

 

Dory Funk Jr vs. Carlos Rodriguez (1980?)

 

This seems like it was earlier. Gene Kelly is not on commentary, it's a more sprightly chap who is joined by Jose Lothario who is here to provide expert analysis. Dory puts Rodriguez on his shoulders in the air-plane spin position and just sits him on the turnbuckle. Rodgriguez has a waistlock on Rogriguez, Dory comes around to reverse it. Legdrag takeover, split and elbow drop. Forearm smash by Dory. Reverse chinlock by Dory. Uppercut. Snapmare. Chinlock. Lothario for whatever reason makes me feel like there's a drug deal going down soon Breaking Bad style, it's just that Texmex accent. Carlos starts to comeback and hits a dropkick. Headlock. Elbow smash by Dory. Suplex by Dory. Nicely executed. The commentator mentions that Dory is the SWCW champion which means that the Wikipedia records are incorrect! That puts this match after the Tully one but before the others. Spinning toehold! and that's all she wrote. They mention that Dory won the belt two weeks ago in Corpus Christi.

 

We have an interview with Tully now and said that he hates to cry into his milk, but he's not the Southwest champion anymore. The Funks are there too. Terry interrupts. "Wait a minute Blanchard, just hold it one second, you have NEVER reached our level! You'll always be a neophyte compared to the Funk name. Sure your FATHER was a tremendous athlete, your father was great. Our father was great too. We'll both admit that, but we are proven people in the world of professional wrestling, but look what Junior did to you when you faced him, right Junior?" Dory gets on the mic now. He says that the proof is in the pudding and that he beat Tully, but Tull argues that he beat Terry in the middle of the ring and that in his heart of hearts, Dory knows that he beat him too two weks ago. Dory says he never stole anyone in his life and that he won the title fair and square, right in the middle. Tully says that in Corpus Christi he was pumped up, and that te very next night he beat Dory, and that he has a tape to prove that he really won the match. But we don't get to see that on this clip ... hmmm, so I'm thinking that the belt was vacated as a result of all this. I might go and read some Southwest history to see if I'm right.

 

*

 

Nothing match really. I don't think Dory is best-placed working squashes against young no-namers like this. Doesn't really play to his strengths.

 

Dory Funk Jr and Manny Fernandez vs. Tank Patton and Moon Mulligan (late 1981? / early 82?)

 

Gene Kelly mentions early on that the clawhammer incident was a couple of months ago which puts this late on in 81 or very early in 82. Moon Mulligan is a bit like an early 80s Max Payne spliced with pure jobber. Dory has a wristlock on Tank Patton, but Moon intervenes. Kelly is a real character on commentary, a real good ol' boy. Patton with a hiptoss and an elbow drop for two. They've been tagging in and out, Dory is basically working FIP here. Dory hits a back suplex on Mulligan to escape a headlock. But Patton takes over. They've cut the ring off here. Quick tags in and out, fairplay effective work from the heels here. Patton with a side headlock. Double-teaming from him and Mulligan. Tag to Manny is hardly "hot", crowd doesn't seem to care about this. Fernandez hits a back slide on Mulligan for three to win $5,000. Apparently, Mulligan had said he'd give five grand to anyone who could pin him. Manny is annoyed that he hasn't been given his money. Mulligan has high-tailed it, he owes the man some money!

 

*1/2

 

Pretty nothing TV match but was interesting to see Dory work as FIP. The heels were surprisingly good here, but I'm not sure that Dory is the most sympathetic FIP in the world and Manny didn't seem that over with the crowd when they hit the hot tag. Felt like Dory was just hanging around a bit long after being involved in the hotter angles earlier in the year and was just working some dates before moving on. One thing I'll say is that there seems to be a real difference between motivated Dory and Dory just half-assing it, we mostly get the latter in Southwest. In Florida, however, he seemed to bring it.

 

And that completes this little round-up of Dory in Florida and Southwest. Next time, I'll be looking at The Funks against a variety of different opponents, including Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, Nick Bockwinkel and Blackjack Lanza, Rick Martel and Tom Zenk, and The Road Warriors (in three different matches). Tune in next time Dory fans!

[Johnny Sorrow]

"Learning To Love Dory" sounds like the name of a crappy CBS sitcom that somehow sticks around for years. Like a Raymond rip off but in this when the wife acts like an annoying shrew Terry runs over from next door and puts her in the spinning toehold while Dory looks on and makes jokes with Peter Boyle's ghost.

[JerryvonKramer]

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (2/27/88)

 

This is from Puerto Rico. I like the match from All Japan from around 83, so this should be interesting. Brody has grey in his beard at this point. We're outside in some sort of stadium, there's a great "big sports" atmosphere and feel to this. Brody is hussing and the fan favourite. Dory is in a cowboy hat waiting in the ring. Weirdly, the commentator has said only one line in about four minutes.

 

Dory immediately bails and throws a chair into the ring, which Brody breaks over the turnbuckle. Dory sneaks around the ring on the outside and grabs a wooden shard from the chair and slips it into the back of his trunks. He learned that from The Sheik. Dory gets back in the ring and pushes the ref just to be a dick. Action goes outside and he uses the wooden spike to beat on Brody. They are in the crowd and Dory uses a chair on Brody. He pushes the ref some more for fun. Back in the ring and Brody comes back, nails Dory with the chair. Crowd goes wild. Suplex by Brody. Well excecuted. Cover gets two. Into a headlock. Up to a vertical base, still in the headlock. Dory comes back wih a shoulder charge before eating Brody's boot, does the 360 "DiBiase bump" over his neck on that.

 

Match feels like it has lost a bit of energy here. Ref bump. Lazy-looking backdrop sends Brody outside. Dory continues to bully the ref jawing him and pushing him. Brody slips back in the ring for a dropkick. The pace of this is too lethargic, needs to pick up. A strike exchange outside the ring now. Brody gets the better of it and posts Dory. Goes for a piledriver, reversed into a backdrop. Dory slips back in the ring and gets a countout win.

 

Well that was disappointing. Brody seemed exceptionally limited here. After a spirited start, the energy drained out of the match and the finish just sucked.

 

**1/2

 

Mil Mascaras vs. Dory Funk Jr (1/30/79)

 

This is from All Japan. Not positive on the date, but this is from 1979 and the numbers "30" and "1" can be glimpsed in the Japanese text, so I'm guessing that means 30th January. I love the Funks' All Japan music (Spinning Toehold. Mascaras comes out to Sky High. AJPW is just so cool during this period. Dory is sporting a beard. Mascaras takes off his mask to reveal another mask.

 

Back suplex by Dory to start. Abdominal stretch. Headlock takeover. Mascars answers with some flash. Masaras starts focusing on the arm now. Dory answers by working on the leg. A bit stop-start so far. A few counter sequences follow.

 

Eventually Dory hits his butterfly suplex for two. Mascaras answers with a flying crossbody and a suplex of his own. Two. Uppercut by Dory. Hip toss and a drop kick by Mascaras. Single-leg takeover and a grapevine by Dory. Goes for the spinning toehold but is kicked off. And again. Flying cross body from the top by Mascaras gets two. Dory keeps going for the toehold. Bell goes and we hit a time-limit draw.

 

This wasn't a very good match. It was worked super clean babyface vs babyface with clean breaks and handshakes. That isn't a problem in and of itself but the feeling out process never came to an end. It was parity all the way, with neither guy really giving the other guy much. Too much protection all around.

 

**

 

Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs. Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk (12/7/79)

 

This is from the Real World Tag League of 1979, All Japan. Sky High hits but the crowd doesn't seem to care too much. They seem to pop bigger for the Funks. I wonder if that makes the Caras brothers de facto heels here? Doubt it.

 

Mascaras and Dory start out. Criss-cross, Dory goes to ground, Mascaras meets him. Staredown. Dory goes for an atomic drop that is reversed into a hiptoss. Some sort of Lucha hold by Mascaras now. Fireman carry takeover by Dory. Tags out. Armdrag on Terry by Mascaras. Tags in Caras who stays on the arm. Some faintly ridiculous selling from Terry now as he struggles with this wristlock. Caras has his legs against his head stretching the arm, and Terry is struggling and flopping around like a fish out of water. Eventually he counters with a massive backbreaker. Snapmare. Elbow drop. Two. Misses another elbow drop and we get some doubleteaming from the Mexicans. Dory back in with Mascaras. Goes for a quick spinning toehold, but it is countered. Flapjack. Some weird exchanges now that I can't describe. Terry back in with Caras who goes for the whip into the corner, Dory covers the turnbuckle with his body to protect his brother. Love that spot. Dory back in and he goes for the butterfly suplex, Caras isn't having it, so Terry comes in for the double butterfly suplex! Caras in and they do the roly-poly inside cradle all around the ring. Both men down on all fours squaring off like rutting dogs. Terry and Caras shake hands and tag out, very gentlemanly. Dory back in with Mascaras now. Mascaras gets the better of it and works the arm. I can't help but notice an AWESOME guy in the front row wearing shades in a suit, bad-ass Yakuza-looking mother fucker!

 

Mascaras continues to work the arm. Dory counters with a head scissors but Mascaras backflips out of it. Reverse chinlock now in the Rick Rude manner. Dory stands up with Mascaras on his back deposits him on the turnbuckle. Elbow drop by Dory and Terry comes in for another gnarly-looking roly-poly spot. Mascaras with the surfboard now. Back suplex bridged into a pin attempt by Terry. Suplex by Mascaras. Big suplex by Terry now. Mascaras has been in the ring a long time. Dory's back in. Flying buritto by Mascaras and a suplex. Flying crossbody from the top, Terry breaks the cover. Caras tags in now and hits his own flying buritto. Airplan spin by Terry outside on Mascaras, Caras comes from the top to the outside onto both of them. Dory is lying prone in the middle of the ring. Caras comes in to try to cover, but Dory was playing possum and gets the three.

 

This was quite a long match, about 25 minutes. I don't know if Mascaras and Caras make the best foils for the Funks, it's a strange mixture of styles. Again this is worked very clean but much less stop-start than the singles match. The action really picks up in the last ten minutes when they start exchanging bombs, but I don't like all this even-stevens parity stuff. I prefer tag matches especially to have some control segments, and neither side was prepared to stay down for long in this one. Never the less, some great counter wrestling and big high spots. Good without being great.

 

***3/4

 

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Jim Brunzell (12/9/80)

 

This is from the Real World Tag League of 1980, All Japan. Bock has magnificent hair. The Funks come through the crowd. Terry has a wreath of flowers around his neck. Brunzell has a beard here and doesn't look like his regular self. This should be interesting.

 

Terry and Bock start out. Elbow and collar tieup. I think I might have a mancrush on Bock. Big powerslam by Bock. Armdrag by Terry. Drags Bock over to their corner and tags in Dory who takes over on the arm. Brunzell in now, but Dory takes him down. Headlock. Couple of dropkicks by Brunzell. Terry back in and Brunzell headlocks him. Bock back in and takes over the headlock. Some escape attempts by Terry, but Bock keeps it synced in. Now, Bock isn't doing a lot on these headlocks, but his smug gorgeous face under that beautiful hair is enough to keep me engaged. Terry eventually hits a back suplex to escpae and Bock rushes quickly to tag in Brunzell, who immediately goes back to the headlock. At least they have a gameplan here and it's working. The Funks are getting frustrated. Side Russian legsweep by Terry for another escape attempt. And both guys tag out. We've got Dory vs. Bock now. Headlock takeover by Dory. Slam by Bock. Goes for the butterfly suplex, blocked by Dory. Bock turns it into a chickenwing. Elbow by Dory sends Bock flopping face first to the mat. Funks hit a double suplex now. Terry goes for an elbow but Bock comes back with some great forearms. Brunzell in with some uppercuts. The pace is really picking up here. Bock with a cheap shot from outside sends Terry to the floor. Brunzell switches attention to the leg and Bock comes off the top with a stomp on it. Terry in extreme pain. Figure-four by Bock! Terry struggles wildly. Terry gets a punch in to break it. Brunzell comes in and cheekily does a little spinning toehold before taking over on the figure four, punch by Terry brings in Bock who goes back to the figurefour. Dory intervenes. Terry is still stuck in the figure-four and uses a headbutt to get out. Bock drops his knees on Terry's leg and Brunzell comes in with two dropkicks. Terry gets the tag to Dory who takes another dropkick, but Dory catches Brunzell in mid-air and turns it into a boston crab. Bock comes in but Terry flies over to block him and Dory pins Brunzell for three.

 

This has some really good moments without anything really standing out too much. It is smartly worked by Bock and Brunzell, who I guess were in the spot of "making up the numbers" during the tournament as AWA's representatives. They work de facto heel, and work a very solid gameplan cutting the ring in half, first with a headlock and later with the figure-four. Structurally, you can't fault it. This was left off the AJPW set, which suggests that the committee didn't like it. I can sort of see in the overall context of All Japan in the 1980s that a match like this wouldn't stand out, but it was better than quite a few matches that did make the set. More of a tactical war than an all-action match, but I thought it was quite compelling. I'd like to see Bock vs. Dory one on one (not Slamboree 93).

 

***3/4

 

Dory Funk Jr and Ken Patera vs. Ric Flair and Crusher Blackwell (7/4/82)

 

This is from St. Louis, Larry Matysik and some other dude on commentary. Dory starts out in a leglock. Flair counters with a back suplex. Flair goes for the figurefour, reversed into an inside cradle. Tag to Blackwell, Dory tags in Patera. Stand off here and both men tag out again. Dory gets an arm wrench on Flair who flips over. Massive European uppercut by Dory. Awesome. And another one. Flair begs off. Flair replies with a chop, but Dory levels him with another uppercut. Knee to the stomach by Flair, goes for a suplex, but Dory slips back down to come back. Flair begs off again. Knee to the gut again, whips Dory into Blackwell who tags in. Massive running splash by Blackwell. Cover brings Patera running in. Crowd pop for this. There's clearly an angle going on between Patera and Blackwell around this time with Ken as the face (Dylan surely must know more).

 

Flair back in and Dory hits a flying crossbody. Headlock takeover. Up to a vertical base, but Flair reverses into an armbar. Twists on the arm now. St. Louis crowd start chanting "Fatwell. Fatwell's chicken!" .

 

Stiff chop to Dory's chest by Flair. Works the arm. Another big chop. Surf board by Flair, reversed by Dory. Dory goes into a armbar and tags in Patera. Patera sends Flair into the corner for a flip. Misses a charge into the corner. Blackwell wants to tag in. Big slam. Kneedrop. And again. Patera worked over for several minutes now. Flair hits the delayed vertical suplex. Gets two but Patera uses a bench press to throw Flair from him. Blackwell back in with a front facelock. Gets the tag to Dory. Doubleteaming on Blackwell now which brings Flair in. Patera is sent from the ring and we have Dory in a two on one situation. Slam by Blackwell. Flair starts targeting Dory's knee now. 15 minutes gone. Figurefour brings Patera in. But Flair doesn't break. Dory tries to reverse it. Can't turn it over. Goes for it again and manages to get there. Blackwell breaks it up. Flair goes for his big knee ... blocked! I've never seen anyone block the knee like that before. Dory gets up now and goes for it, yes! Spinning toehold! Spinning toehold! And again. And again. Blackwell drops Dory. Flair and him go outside. Uppercut. Blackwell runs away. Patera gets on the mic and says the war has just begun. Flair and Dory continue to fight outside the ring. Dory continues to apply the spinning toehold outside the ring. Double countout.

 

Flair gets in Matysik's face: "I've had enough of Pat O'Connor, I've had enough of St. Louis! ... I'm tired of being ganged up on, I'm tired of tag matches. Ric Flair is THE MAN. He's the world champion. He doesn't take anything off anybody and Dory Funk Jr is gonna find that out, when I get my shot!"

 

Hmmm, wonder if there was a singles match.

 

This match was worked very logically. They were building a Patera vs. Blackwell feud and Dory vs. Flair sort of served as a the side dish to that. So naturally this meant keeping Blackwell and Patera apart for most of the match. That means what we get for the longest portion is a Flair vs. Dory one on one, which features some neat counter wrestling. It's an interesting contrast of styles and you can see how Flair is intent on keeping this all-action. All in all, a very good 20-minute studio match.

 

***3/4

 

Terry and Dory Funk Jr. vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Blackjack Lanza (09/21/78)

 

Back to All Japan in 78 for this one. Lanza has a terrific moustache, Bock as sexy as ever and shows off what I assume is the AWA belt when he's introduced.

 

Bock and Dory start out, but Dory quickly tags out. Bock follows suit before long so it's Lanza vs. Terry. Lanza has the black glove on one hand. Dory in for a headlock. Terry takes over. Funks work over Lanza for an extended period now. Tagging in and out, cutting off the ring. Some nasty "nose swivel" stomps by Terry during all this. Lanza has been in there for a long time now. Not sure if I understand the psychology of Lanza working heel in peril for all this time. Eventually Bock comes in and squares up with Terry. Test of strength. Ends up with an armdrag by Terry who works the arm now. Wristlock and clubbing blows. Dory in. Bock is replying to these wristlocks with chops, but Dory levels him with a big uppercut. Lanza comes back in. Dory works a hammerlock. Terry takes over. Before long they double team him. Bock vs. Dory now. Running forearm smash by Dory sends Bock flying. Rope running ends with the wily Bock grabbing the rope to avoid another forearm. Dory hits the big butterfly suplex after several attempts and the crowd goes nuts. HUGE atomic drop by Terry and a cover, but Bock has hit feet on the ropes. Those were some exciting high spots. Bock tags out so it's Terry vs. Lanza. Another HUGE Backlund-sized atomic drop by Terry now. Lanza sends Terry packing outside. He's hurt his back. Back in and Lanza applies the deadly claw! Sends Terry flying over the top rope on the other side of the ring. Now into the turnbuckle with some force. Again with the claw and into the other turnbuckle which Dory covers. Bock comes in with a bearhug. Terry is fading. Double slap helps to break it, but Bock clings on. Dory gets the tag and hits a side salto. Piledriver! Covers Bock for 2. Big uppercut. Slugfest now. Terry in with the Texan punches, bobbing and weaving. Bock goes flying. Kneelift by Bock and two dropkicks to come back. Tags out and Lanza with clubbing blows. Claw again! And right in the middle of the ring. Crowd is chanting "Terry! Terry!" Eventually he breaks it with a big kneebreaker. Dory tags in with .... SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, Christ he does it about 10 times! Bock comes in to try to make the save but it's too late.

 

This is a fantastic match, which centred on Terry being a great FIP. But it built wonderfully to the highspots which were generally delivered by Dory. This is one of those matches where those who aren't watching closely would just think is "The Terry Funk" show, but that's selling Dory way short of what he brought here. The block forearm on Bock was thunderous. The butterfly suplex and piledriver really popped the crowd. My only slight criticism is that Bock and Lanza probably stooged too much here and the Funks were booked a little too strong for my tastes. That criticism is somewhat offset by the extended FIP sequence though, and this match is just another exhibit in the sizable catalogue of evidence for the Funks laying claim to the mantle of GOAT tag-team. They must be as strong candidates as anyone I can think of.

 

****1/2

 

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood (12/2/82)

 

I'd again have to wonder why the 80s AJPW committee would leave a match like this off the set when they found room for all that Jimmy Snuka crap. Not having a go, just a bit baffling to me that's all. On paper, this is something of a dreammatch, as the legendary Funks take on one of the hottest territorial tag acts in Steamboat and Youngblood.

 

Steamboat has a beard here. I don't think the cleancut Ricky should have facial hair. Shiny red tracksuit tops for the Funks tonight. Steamboat and Dory start out with a test-of-strength spot that ends up with Steamboat using the surfboard. Single-leg takedown by Dory and an attempt at the spinning toe-hold. Both guys tag out. Terry vs. Youngblood now. Terry misses a charge in the turnbuckle and Youngblood applies an armbar. Steamboat takes over. This is fairly typical strategy from Steamboat and Youngblood, they'd often start matches with extended armwork in this way. Terry tags out and Dory executes a headlock takeover on Steamboat. Hiptoss by Steamer and a bodyslam. Back on the arm. When some people complain about Steamboat being boring, it's probably armwork like this that they have in mind. I don't mind it too much because he keeps things moving in between. Wrenches on Dory's arm now and Youngblood takes over. Elbow smash from Dory breaks things up and he tags out. Terry with some clubbing elbows now and Dory in for the doubleteam. BIGGGGG butterfly suplex from Dory now pops the crowd. Terry in with a headlock but gets backdropped by Youngblood. Terry replies with a back suplex of his own. And then he hits a second one, even bigger than the first. Youngblood looks taken aback. Steamboat back in to take on Dory. Dory applies an abdominal stretch. Terry in and both him and Steamer end up outside.

 

Match restarts with Dory vs. Steamer. Big uppercut by Dory, big chop by Steamboat. Yes, this is on! Headlock takeover by Dory, rolled up into a pin attempt by Steamboat. Body stretch hold by Dory now and he tags Terry in. Elbow and an abdominal stretch, Both men out again. Jerky cam now on the outside! Terry tries a suplex back in but Steamer lands on top of him. Dory with a crossbody now. Goes for a suplex, reversed!! Uppercut by Dory. And again. And again. Goes for a piledriver. Can't hit it and Steamer gets the backdrop. Terry in with a snapmare. Steamer with a backslide. Double clothelsine by Steamboat and Youngblood. Double arm chop by Youngblood. Steamboat back in with a sleeper come chinlock. Dory in now, and Steamboat gets the sleeper on him. Big bodyslam by Steamer, chops by Youngblood. Slam. Elbow drop. Great doubleteam spot where Steamboat holds Youngblood for the dropkick. Terry in and Steamboat levels him with chops. Doubleteam chops. Big bodyslam by Steamboat. Flying press by Youngblood. Doubleteam chops. Quick tagging in and out now, Steamboat and Youngblood are dominating. Steamboat drops Youngblood on Terry for a pin attempt. Dory hits the ring. Youngblood comes off the top and Terry is able to use the momentum to roll over for the three count.

 

This was a good match, but not a great one. The Funks worked this from underneath, but I felt for long stretches Steamboat and Youngblood couldn't think of much interesting to do when they were on top. By the end they were hitting innovative-looking double team spots left, right and centre, but it might have been too little, too late. I also think that -- weirdly for Steamboat -- he didn't give the Funks enough when he was selling. He was reversing and countering everything, so you never get that sequence you'd hope for with the Funks hitting big offense on Steamboat. All-in-all, good, but slightly disappointing.

 

***1/2

 

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Rick Martel and Tom Zenk (11/29/86)

 

Again, this is in All Japan, where the Can-Am Connection worked a tour. Matt D recommended this one.

 

Terry has a moustache here which makes him look a bit like Jake Roberts. He starts out with Martel. Fast pace. Armdrag by Martel. Dory in who is looking paler and older than he did a few years previous, maybe it's just the lighting. Zenk in. TERRIBLE hair, that's the mullet to end all mullets. Locks up with Terry who gives him several chops but misses an elbow drop. Martel tags himself in and hits a backbreaker on Terry. Elbow drop. Abdominal stretch. Dory in. Some stiff uppercuts and the big block forearm criss-cross spot. Dory cheaply sends Martel out of the ring twice only for Terry to roll him back in. Third time and Terry hits the big atomic drop outside. Zenk runs over and him and Terry disappear into the crowd to brawl. Dory has Martel in the ring meanwhile and hits a piledriver for two. Terry walks back from the crowd as Dory hits the big butterfly suplex. Zenk breaks the pin. Terry in with a neckbreaker. Zenk is the legal man now and he gets Dory in a sunset flip. SPINNING TOEHOLD-AH, but Zenk reverses for a pin attempt. Both guys tag out but Martel is a house of fire. Martel is such a great hot tag. He plants Terry on the railings outside. He's winded and begs off. Seems like the Funks are working this as heels.Terry tries to worm away and gives Martel the slip several times. He bails again to break the momentum even more. Martel is ready. Terry ducks between the ropes. Martel pursues him, but Terry is in full-on psych-out cowardly heel mode here. Crowd is chanting for Martel.

 

Dory back in and Martel applies a headlock. Headlock takeover. Back suplex by Dory. Terry back in. And Martel gets the better of their exchanges with fast rope running and two flying crossbodies from the top. Dory in and the Can-Ams double dropkick him out of the ring. Double dropkick on Terry now. Backdrop by Terry on Zenk is reversed into a sunset flip, but Terry pulls it over for the three count.

 

Wow, what a match this was, and one that should have definitely been on the All Japan set. Rick Martel was absolutely sensational here, and everything that Steamboat wasn't in the 82 match. So full of spunk and energy and fire here, and he made the PERFECT foil for The Funks who were having fun as heels. Dory was a dick just dumping Martel outside and refusing to fight a clean match. Terry was psyching him out with chicken-shit tactics and it was quite funny to see Martel chase him all over. Zenk did what was best for him and mainly played 4th wheel and took the pin. I really enjoyed this. The FIP sequence on Martel was great. Thanks Matt.

 

****

 

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. The Road Warriors (10/20/86)

 

From that same run in All Japan in 86. Another dream match.

 

Heel Terry with his moustache. He starts out with Hawk but quickly winds up Animal with some cheap shots. Gorilla Press from Hawk. Tags in Animal. Big clubbing blows. Irish whip into the turnbuckle produces a Flair flip from Terry. Big bodyslam by Animal. Bearhug on Terry who has hurt his back. They stay in this for some time. Terry breaks it with a single leg takedown and tries the spinning toehold. Dory in with Hawk now. Dory has a goatee here and is looking extremely non-plussed at the clownish figure in front of him. Double clothesline by The Funks. Piledriver by Terry on Hawk who nosells it and pops straight up. Japanese crowds "wows" at that. Piledriver by Hawk now. AMAZING scenes now as Terry pops back up and makes Hawk-like faces, mocking him. But this is hilarious because the piledriver has clearly taken its toll so Terry is jelly-legged. Dory in and Hawk reverses a wristlock to hit a clothesline and a fistdrop. Animal in. Dory manages to get a belly-to-back suplex in. Animal floors him with a clothesline. Terry in and eats a big scoop powerslam by Animal. Cover gets two. Hawk comes from the top with a chop. Flying shoulder press. Both men down. Gutwrench suplex by Hawk. Neckbreaker by Terry. Piledriver attempt reversed into a backdrop which sends Terry outside. Suplex by Animal back in. Dory in with uppercuts. Running forearm smash. Suplex. Cover gets two and kickout with authority. Flying shoulder press by Animal now. Hawk in. Double elbow smash. Cover by Hawk gets two. Slam. Terry in with a slam. Comes off the top into knees. Hawk catches Terry for a spinebuster thing. Dropkick by Dory sends Hawk outside. Dory is caught by Animal for the Doomsday Device, but the ref won't count it for some reason -- because Terry was the legal man? All four men outside now, and this is obviously heading for a double countout. Bell goes but brawling continues and they are using chairs in the crowd. They start throwing tables and chair at each other with reckless abandon. It's just occured to me that we haven't seen The Funks eat a SINGLE pin yet, unless there's one I'm not remembering. They never lose.

 

Another match that I think would have been nice to see on the All Japan set. The Funks seem like they were really under-represented there. I wonder if anyone on the committee who is reading this could comment? Seems very strange with Will being such a big Terry fan and all. There was surely space to include a match like this in place of the 32nd iteration of some of those endless Tenryu and Hara tags from 1988. Just my feeling.

 

Anyway, this is surely one of the best ever Road Warriors matches isn't it. They worked more like The Steiner Brothers than the typical Road Warriors style and the bombs were flying everywhere here. I don't recall Hawk doing so many suplex variations before. I thought this was a really good "big team vs. big team" match. Some snobbier fans might not like this sort of thing, but this was perfectly worked for what it was aiming for, and I loved the big bombs. I can't think of another Road Warriors match that I've liked as much as this one.

 

****

 

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. The Road Warriors (9/30/87)

 

This is from Puerto Rico. Terry is in crazed mode jawing at fans and picking fights with people in the front row. Road Warriors have their Iron Madain theme. Chairs and rubbish are flying already. Road Warriors clear house to start. Announcer introduces them as "Terry and Hoss Funk".

 

This ring seems both small and really high up. Gorilla Press slam by Hawk on Dory. Five big chops by Hawk on Terry who sends him into the turnbuckle for a Flair flip. Headbutt sends Terry out for the 10-foot drop to the floor. Dory and Animal now. Three uppercuts met by a flying shoulder press. Back to Hawk and Terry. Hawk misses a move from the top and Terry goes to a front facelock. Funks work over Hawk now. Dory hits a spike piledriver. Double forearm smash. Terry has the tag rope now and is choking out Hawk. We get a five minute call. Hawk hammers Funk into the turnbuckle and we get some cartoon wobbly legs now and a flop. Dory in and eats a flying shoulder block. Double clothesline on Dory. Doomsday device, but Terry breaks the cover with a chairshot, for an instant DQ. Animal sends the Funks packing with the chair.

 

Nowhere near as good as the All Japan bout. Too short and seemed to lack heat.

 

**

[Matt D]

I'm glad you liked that Can Am match. I think it's great. I'm not sure I've ever seen the Lanza tag. I need to track that down.

 

I'm starting to see something of a pattern here, which is that you rank pretty highly Dory and Terry, as a tag, in Japan, but not everything else.

[Childs]

You liked those '86 All-Japan tags waaay more than Will or Kris did in nominating for the DVDVR set. I might take a look at the Martel/Zenk one, just out of curiosity. Not sure I ever saw it.

[PeteF3]

I wasn't nearly as high on that Roadies match, but it does feature the absolute BEST performance of a spot I despise--the pop-up dueling piledrivers. Terry hits Hawk with one and Hawk no-sells--no surprise, that's a standard Hawk spot. Then Hawk drops Terry with one, and Terry attempts to do the same thing. He pops up, but is CLEARLY quivering in agony and only vainly attempting to put on the air of having shrugged it off. It's a fabulous bit from Terry, and Dory calmly tagging himself in to save Terry from himself pretty much encapsulated the Funks dynamic at its best. Yes, I'm gushing about Terry in a Dory thread, what's it to you?

[WingedEagle]

Do I need to watch anything as a lead in to the Sheik/Abby tag league matches from '78 and '79 or can I jump right in?

[JerryvonKramer]

I'm glad you liked that Can Am match. I think it's great. I'm not sure I've ever seen the Lanza tag. I need to track that down.

 

I'm starting to see something of a pattern here, which is that you rank pretty highly Dory and Terry, as a tag, in Japan, but not everything else.

Yes, that has been a pattern. Funks in some of the other territories sometimes feel like they are turning up for a paycheck. I will say though that I've been saving 70s NWA stuff for last and we might see that pattern change. On that note, I've been trying to track down the "Gordon Solie Film Room: Dory Funk Jr" show that aired on WWE 24/7. I have all the other film rooms, just not that one. It seems a bit weird to go to a tra ... uh, PM me, just PM me.

 

You liked those '86 All-Japan tags waaay more than Will or Kris did in nominating for the DVDVR set. I might take a look at the Martel/Zenk one, just out of curiosity. Not sure I ever saw it.

I can see people not being that high on the Road Warriors match, but had that Martel / Zenk match been on the set I'd have had it at #37 or higher.

 

I wasn't nearly as high on that Roadies match, but it does feature the absolute BEST performance of a spot I despise--the pop-up dueling piledrivers. Terry hits Hawk with one and Hawk no-sells--no surprise, that's a standard Hawk spot. Then Hawk drops Terry with one, and Terry attempts to do the same thing. He pops up, but is CLEARLY quivering in agony and only vainly attempting to put on the air of having shrugged it off. It's a fabulous bit from Terry, and Dory calmly tagging himself in to save Terry from himself pretty much encapsulated the Funks dynamic at its best. Yes, I'm gushing about Terry in a Dory thread, what's it to you?

I too thought that was an amazing spot. I'm not sure if I got that across in my review enough, but it was just tremendous stuff from Terry.

 

Do I need to watch anything as a lead in to the Sheik/Abby tag league matches from '78 and '79 or can I jump right in?

Dive straight in. They speak for themselves. I think The Sheik's sell-job in the 78 match is out-of-this-world amazing, as is Dory's performance in the beatdown. All four guys on fire there.

 

In reading around I noticed OJ and his puro buddies did a "best Japanese matches from before 1980" poll in which all the other matches in the feud are represented but not the 78 one, which is very curious to me.

 

Hopefully OJ might read this and be able to comment.

[ohtani's jacket]

Wasn't me. That was the Daniel from Australia who used to write his name in katakana. I'm the Daniel from New Zealand named after a jacket.

[JerryvonKramer]

You can see where the confusion might lie. Guy called Daniel who knows his Puro from "down there".

[WingedEagle]

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (15/12/77)

 

This was good but not what I expected going into it. I figured Sheik & Abby would bludgeon the Funks and we'd get a hot tag and babyface comeback down the stretch. At no point did I imagine seeing Sheik & Abby bumping and selling so well. I'd sooner expect my father in law to come watch Night of Champions tomorrow than see Abdullah take a double atomic drop, but goddamn did we get that here. Terry let his arm get carved up and provide the babyface juice and selling before Dory bailed him out, and that was all well and good, but it didn't outshine the heels here for me. It wasn't as wild and outrageous as it could've been, or as much as the subsequent years will apparently get, but it was solid, fun and not a dull or wasted moment to be found. My only real issue was with the finish -- Joe Higuchi watched Sheik & Abby use proper carving techniques on Terry for the entire heat segment of this match, and then at the end we randomly get a DQ for the same antics? Just don't get that, but it doesn't ruin the whole show.

 

***1/4 or so. Back after 78 & 79.

[WingedEagle]

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (9/19/78)

After this, Dory can go home and tell Marti he is the one who knocks. Heisenberg is in the building! I don't do BJPW style death matches because knives and swords and light tubes and the like are appropriate for snuff flims and not my rasslin. But sick juice jobs, brawling, non-lethal weapons and punching? Sign me up. I liked some of Dory on the AJPW 80s set and thought other performances there were just okay. Then there was the Lawler match from Memphis which was damn good, but otherwise I'd always been in camp with those who found him to be a safe and sound, don't wake the kids "old style" NWA champion.

 

This is definitely how you flip the script and force people to rethink things. Terry had his moments with the *awesome* screaming at Abby, some punch drunk goodness and his signature hot stepping punches. But Dory was a man possessed here and gave the heels every bit of the violence and weaponry that they dished out. Dory literally used the ring bell so effectively that the bell rang. Loudly. He also did so with a face and chest drenched in blood. He punches and stabs at every ring boy that tries to slow him down, just absolutely possessed. The original Sheiky Baby provides the amazing selling this time, looking like he might need his arm amputated by the time this is done.

 

When Dory Funk Jr wanted to bring the hate he absolute could. It just so happens he could also put me to sleep on other occasions when he chose to do so. This occasion was the former. This flew by and once the violence escalated it felt like it was over in a flash. On the other hand, they didn't stretch it out too much and fill it with any clutter or excess. Looking forward to '79.

 

****1/4

[WingedEagle]

Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Sheik & Abdullah the Butcher (2/3 falls match, 07/15/79)

After the Funks steal Roman Reigns' ring entrance through the crowd, the first fall actually sees some wrestling, as opposed to brawling, including I believe the first spinning toehold in the 3 matches I've watched between these teams, but Sheik & Abby go to the weapons and we get double juice after not too long. This is the 3rd match between the teams I'm watching today, but I'm still so impressed at just how much Sheik & Abby bring to the table here. You wouldn't expect two maniac heels in this fashion to use tactics like Austin & Pillman to hide their cheating and foreign objects, but they're just so damn good at those little things as well as the blood. Dory abandons his proper world title match form and is throwing punches, getting the life choked out of him with some kind of small rope or plastic, working with a chair and out for blood quickly enough to keep this great.

 

Terry is apparently murdered at some point late in the 2nd fall which forces Dory to go it alone for a bit. Abdullah makes this segment as well by bumping all over for Dory, before a crazed Terry is back seeking Butcher blood. I couldn't tell you how this ends as it becomes a crazy brawl with half the world trying to break it up and the Funks fighting everyone off to continue going after Sheik & Butcher. It was yet more insanity, blood and brawling, albeit without much of a finish. Now need to seek out the tag league matches from this era as I thought those were just as responsible for making everyone's reps here.

 

****

[KrisZ]

Doing research and I found Parv's dream team in the main event

 

Big Time @ Detroit, MI - Cobo Hall - January 19, 1980
The Assassin fought Tim Tall Tree to a draw
Billy Martinez d. John Ruffin
John Bonello & Randy Scott d. John & Rick Davidson
Mighty Igor d. Bobby Colt
Taped Fist Match: Ed George d. Don Kent
Jerry Oates d. Dick Murdoch by countout
John Bonello, Billy Martinez, Randy Scott, & Tim Tall Tree d. The Assassin, Bobby Colt, John & Rick Davidson
Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik d. Dory Funk Jr. & Chief Jay Strongbow

[shoe]

Doing research and I found Parv's dream team in the main event

 

Big Time @ Detroit, MI - Cobo Hall - January 19, 1980

The Assassin fought Tim Tall Tree to a draw

Billy Martinez d. John Ruffin

John Bonello & Randy Scott d. John & Rick Davidson

Mighty Igor d. Bobby Colt

Taped Fist Match: Ed George d. Don Kent

Jerry Oates d. Dick Murdoch by countout

John Bonello, Billy Martinez, Randy Scott, & Tim Tall Tree d. The Assassin, Bobby Colt, John & Rick Davidson

Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik d. Dory Funk Jr. & Chief Jay Strongbow

 

LMAO. That's awesome.

[JerryvonKramer]

I have spent a ridiculously long time putting together a list of all the Dory matches I have been able to find from before 1988 in one Loss-style list.

I will edit this into the first post and "strike out" the ones I've seen.

NWA Champ (misc)

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Gene Kiniski (2/11/69) [wins title]
Dory Funk Jr vs. Jack Brisco (01/01/71) [st. Louis]

JWA

Dory Funk Jr. vs Antonio Inoki (02/12/69)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Antonio Inoki (08/02/70)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Seiji Sakaguchi (12/09/71)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs Giant Baba and Seiji Sakaguchi (05/19/72)

All Japan

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Tomomi Tsuruta (10/09/73)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Jack Brisco (01/27/74)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (08/29/74)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (03/13/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Baron von Raschke (09/12/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Abdullah The Butcher (12/06/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Horst Hoffman (12/15/75)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (12/18/75)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Billy Robinson and Horst Hoffman (12/06/77)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (12/15/77)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Shiek (12/01/78)

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (9/19/78)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Blackjack Lanza (09/21/78)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/15/78)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mil Mascaras (1/30/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras (12/7/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Shiek and Abdullah the Butcher (2/3 falls match, 07/15/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (11/30/79)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mr. Wrestling (12/03/79)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Jim Brunzell (12/9/80)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Billy Robinson and Les Thornton (12/03/80) - MISSING, can't find this one
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/11/80)
Dory Funk Jr. vs Terry Funk (4/30/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Umanoseke Ueda & Buck Robley (10/6/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (10/9/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka (12/13/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Butch Reed (2/3/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Billy Robinson (03/07/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (4/21/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka (4/22/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood (12/2/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Harley Race and Dick Slater (12/9/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (12/13/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Super Destroyer (12/07/1982)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (4/20/83)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (8/31/83)
Dory Funk Jr. and Giant Baba vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (04/25/84)
Dory Funk Jr. and Giant Baba vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (08/26/84)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (12/08/84) [given 5-star Meltzer rating, left off 80s AJPW set)]
Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba and Genichiro Tenryu vs. Marty Jannetty, Killer Tim Brooks and Tim Horner (08/24/85)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase (08/31/85)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk and Tiger Mask vs. Terry Gordy, Chavo Guerrero and Billy Robinson (10/21/85)
Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba and Motoshi Okuma vs. Rusher Kimura, Ashura Hara and Masa Fuchi (12/07/85)
Dory Funk Jr and Giant Baba vs. Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu (12/14/85)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu (08/31/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Road Warriors (10/20/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Rick Martel and Tom Zenk (11/29/86)

Florida

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (??/??/69 )[non-title]
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (12/01/71) [non-title]
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (08/02/72)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jerry Brisco - (01/07/75)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco (??/??/77)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. David Sierra (09/17/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Steve Keirn (05/08/81)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mike Graham (08/13/81)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco (01/07/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Eric Embry (01/14/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and David Von Erich vs. Eric Embry and Ron Rithie (01/21/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. B. Brain Blair (06/06/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and David Von Erich vs. Jack and Jerry Brisco (03/07/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and David Von Erich vs. Cyclone Negro and El Gran Apollo (??/??/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Kendo Nagasaki vs. Butch Reed and Sweet Brown Suger (06/09/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. David Von Erich (06/15/82)
Dory Funk Jr. and Jesse Barr vs Harley Race and Mike Graham (9/26/84)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Kevin Sullivan (08/09/87)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Mike Rotunda (05/21/87)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Barry Windham (??/??/87)

Mid-Atlantic

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jay Youngblood (10/13/82)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco (01/30/83)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Ricky Morton (02/16/83) - MISSING [can't find any MACW from 1983 at all]

GCW

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Tommy Rogers and El Gran Apollo (01/02/82)

Memphis

Jerry Lawler vs. Dory Funk Jr. (3/30/81)

WWC

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Super Medico (10/01/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Armando Salgado and Carlos Ocasio (??/??/86)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Angelo Gomez (??/??/86)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk and Ron Starr vs. The Invaders and Mil Mascaras (12/17/86)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Invader #1 (02/28/87)
Dory Funk Jr. and Marti Funk vs. Carlos Colon and Fabulous Moolah (??/??/87)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Super Medico II (??/??/87)
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. The Road Warriors (20/09/1987)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody (02/27/88)

Detroit

Dory Funk Jr. and The Sheik vs. Stan Stasiak and Don Kent (07/09/78)
Dory Funk Jr. and Pierre Lefevre vs. Don Kent and Kurt Von Hess (07/09/78)
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Denny Albert (??/??/78)

[JerryvonKramer]

Dory Funk Jr. vs. Gene Kiniski (2/11/69)

No sound on this. Even though it's 1969, Dory still looks middle aged. Historic match-up for the NWA world title, Kiniski is the champ. Elbow and collar tie-up to start into a headlock by Dory. Headscissors by Dory results in Kiniski dumping him on the turnbuckle and pasting the shit out of him. Kiniski is working in a real stiff and bruising manner. He gullotines Dory on the top rope a couple of times dropping down to the outside to do it. There's been a lot of motion in this match so far, Big Gene keeps things moving. Applies a front chinlock and Dory bridges up to a vertical base. Slugfest now and Dory starts busting out the uppercuts. Kiniski begs off in the corner. Narrative of the match so far is that Dory is trying to wrestle and Kiniski wants to brawl. Dory gets on a hammerlock and drives multiple knee drops onto the arm. Dory is controlling this now by staying on the arm. Kiniski eventually comes back with a chop and a snapmare. Dory goes for a backslide for two. Sunset flip for two. Kiniski hits a back suplex to even the odds. Dory hits a backdrop and two bodyslams for two. Blatant lowblow by Kiniski! He goes for a side salto but Dory reverses into a SPINNING TOE HOLD! Kiniski tries to come back again but Dory goes back to it, again and then for a third time. He must do about 20 repeitions of the spinning toehold before celebrating his big world title win.

Decent match. Watching it in deathly silence and the 16mm film make it look like something out of the 1930s than out of the late 60s, but this was fine. I would have probably liked Kiniski to get more of the match, because it did seem like he was soundly beaten here, but I guess if you're going to put over the new champ, you might as well put him over strong. Kiniski seems like a guy who would have been really good a couple of years before this.

**1/2


Dory Funk Jr. vs Antonio Inoki (02/12/69)

Oh no it's Inoki! I've psyched myself up for this because on paper it has the potential to be the most boring match of all time. This is just one day after the Kiniski match.That was a quick flight! Dory Funk Sr is with Jr in his cowboy hat. He looks a bit like a cross between his two sons, but more like Terry (with goatee). Inoki looks like a Japanese Elvis Presley and is cool as hell. An old Japanese dude reads from a scroll with traditional (vertical) Japanese characters on it. The contrast in visual quality to the footage of the Kiniski match is striking. I mean, Dory actually looks like he might have once been 30 years old here. Incidentally he was around 28 here. The young Inoki is two years younger and looks spry. I can't help but notice that in 1969, it seems like fewer Japanese people wore suits in the crowd than they would later in the 1970s and 80s. Interesting. In fact, a few of them seem to be wearing the Mao-style traditional tunics (which I thought were only Chinese). There's also a lot of the long Columbo-style biege rain coats.

Cagey to start as the guys feel each other out. Arm drag by Inoki into an arm bar Inoki to breaks the deadlock. Stays on the arm. Dory tries to break free but just get a couple more arm drags for his trouble. And then another one. Dory eventually turns things around and his gameplan is to work on the leg which he does with those "falling back" leglocks (anyone know the name for that move?). One point I'll make here is that although this has been worked exclusively on the mat, they've kept things moving quite a lot. The moments of action are explosive and both wrestlers seem really agile. Dory goes to a half crab and into something that looks like an STF. Inoki reverses into a hammerlock. There is a lot of struggle during all of this. Another interesting little point is that Dory Sr is very active at ringside, he's playing a traditional US manager role but in Japan. That's interesting to see.

Dory goes into a leglock now. Inoki keeps trying to counter, but Dory has an answer for him every time. Test of strength spot now and I think things are starting to drag a bit here. Dory Sr is audibly trash talking some of the crowd at ringside, I'm guessing the Japanese don't speak Texan.

As things stand Inoki has Dory in a body scissors and things keep threatening to spill over into more overt violence. Dory comes back with a nasty double axehandle to the mid-section and goes back to the half crab. Some of this matwork has lacked intensity to me. Both guys are selling well and showing a lot of struggle, but I'm not sure if they are actually working the holds very interestingly. Things spill over a bit now and Dory takes a tumble to the outside. I've just noticed that a young Harley Race is there as a second! Handsome he is too.

Dory starts to do some subtle heel stuff now. He refuses to lock up. He puts himself between the ropes. The crowd boo and even throw some rubbish into the ring. Inoki sends Dory flying off the apron with a running forearm smash to cheers. But of course, being Inoki he follows this bit of excitement up with ... a headlock. In fairness it's a GREAT headlock which he wrenches and wrenches. Dory reverses with a back suplex and then stamps on Inoki's hand -- nasty! There's no messing about any more, no pleasantries or politeness. The level of violence and intensity is slowing rising on a moderate gradiant.

Now that I've said all that, we get a handshake and a clean lock up. Inoki keeps going for the Boston crab and there are several attempts. He eventually gets it and the crowd goes wild, but Dory comes back and targets that injured hand again before bailing. I do wish that Inoki would do more than follow up every high spot by going back to a hold. He sucks the life out of matches, even at 26 he was happy just to sit there. Dory tries to escape this latest arm hold by doing headstands. Dory regains control and dumps Inoki out of the ring (subtle heel). We get some King of the Mountain now as Dory cuts the ring off and stops Inoki from re-entering. We even get a pose from Dory to rile the crowd. Awesome moment now as Inoki sends Dory in for the Irish whip and Dory Sr covers the turnbuckle!! I never knew that was a spot that the Funks had learned from their dad. Referee admonishes him and the crowd aren't happy. It's great that they went to Japan and heeled it up in 1969.

Back in the ring and Dory has a chinlock on. Well with that chin I wonder if Dory's doing more damage to his own arm!! Would YOU chinlock Inoki? Anyway, he turns things round and goes into an armlock, but Race and Dory Sr distract the referee for Dory to cheaply capitalise and reverse it. Seems to me that there has been rather too much parity in this match so far. Inoki works a hold, then Dory works a hold, Inoki works a hold, then Dory works a hold. It feels like it's been like that for 30 minutes now. I want something to HAPPEN dammit. As I say that Inoki smashes Dory into the turnbuckle and does a few stomps but then ... back to the hammerlock. This is getting ... dry. Some rope running now and Dory hits a big Jumbo-style knee -- don't recall him doing that before. And he goes back to the plan he's been working on for some time now: the hand. I actually like this little detail. He's not working the arm but THE HAND. And there's something really sinister and calcuated about that. The little bones in the hand seem like they might be mangled. It's generally just meaner than working an arm.

Anyway, two dropkicks by Inoki pop the crowd but Dory comes back with a snapmare before a near-fall for Inoki. Dory is resorting to strikes now, but then misses a dropkick. He goes for the big butterfly suplex and hits it! Two count. Kick out by Inoki makes the crowd roar. Inoki is as over as Bruno Sammartino was in New York, crowd are with him 100% in everything he does. Dory hits a kneedrop from the top rope and covers for another two. Big slap by Doy now, and a slam. But Inoki catches him on the turnbuckle and slams him off. Action goes outside and Dory stomps on Inoki on the floor. Distraacts the ref as Dory Sr squares up with some seconds. Airplane spin!! Inoki gets a two count from that. Straight into the headlock. See, why would he want to go right back to the headlock after getting that nearfall? It's just so ... soooo boring. Inoki!! Why are you so stubbornly boring? I just hate the way he consistently follows up excitement with a hold. I don't see how it makes sense from any point of view (psychology, crowd control, etc.) Every time things threaten to get exciting, he takes the wind out of the sails.

Dory works the 400th leghold now and does the "falling back" thing again. This is a problem. I feel like the match hasn't really moved on from where it was 30 minutes ago. I thought the violence was gently escalating but that sadly hasn't transpired and we're left with this seemingly endless series of not-very-interesting holds, The match hasn't had any flow. Dory takes things outside now and smashes Inoki's head on a table. Big block forearm. Where did that come from? Dory dumps Inoki again now near Race and Dory Sr. Bodyslam outside. So now he seems like he wants to fight dirtier. Inoki drags Dory out of the ring and they brawl outside. Back in and Inoki is laying in shots that I honestly don't think are very good. He hits an awkward-looking vertical suplex for two. Dory goes for a backslide. Slam by Inoki. Inside cradle by Dory. Snapmare. Double missed dropkicks and both men are down. Dory covers for barely two. Couple of slams by Dory now, still just two. Octopus!! Dory immediately dumps Inoki out of the ring. That's an effective counter. After some more stuff Inoki comes back to it again and the bell goes. New champion? No, it appears that we have a time-limit draw. Dory was nowhere near submitting.

This was really quite dull and while I blame that mostly on Inoki, Dory didn't exactly do much to make him do much more (which I suppose you wouldn't expect of him, but still). The main problems with this match are: 1. it lacks intensity. 2, it lacks any real structure, doesn't build at all and 3. almost nothing happens for 45+ minutes. Dory did some neat stuff in targetting the hand, and some good subtle heel work, but I won't be watching this one again in a hurry. Especially not when the next match is ANOTHER Inoki one that goes even longer. Inoki is so boring.

***

[Lee Casebolt]

I watched that Dory/Inoki match a few months back for a project I was working on, and had precisely the opposite reaction. I felt like every ounce of excitement that came from it was generated by Inoki's emoting and selling, while Dory just sucked the life out of it with a listless performance largely devoid of any sense of energy or intensity.