Childs Posted September 28, 2014 Report Share Posted September 28, 2014 Finally watched Can-Ams-Funks and though it was an enjoyable match, I didn't come away with any regrets about it not making the All-Japan set. It would've been a fine selection but likely a bottom 25 match for me. I liked the Martel-Terry interactions, and the action hummed along at a nice pace. I just didn't find anything terribly memorable about it, so it would've gotten lost in the shuffle. As for the matches against Sheik-Abby, the '79 match was the clear standout. It included all the mayhem of the '78 brawl while coming off as a more complete match. Both were great though, and I'd absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for a different side of Dory. He excelled both as a face in peril and as the avenging angel when Terry was badly gored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 28, 2014 Report Share Posted September 28, 2014 What makes the Can-Ams match work so well for me is the character work of the old champs fucking with the rookie and then being almost surprised when his partner, nominally their peer, takes such umbrage to it. They try to backstab him and kick him out of the champions' club in response but Martel is just too damn fiery for them. It's a great intersection of work and story. But I can see how it might not rise so high considering how stacked that set must have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted September 28, 2014 Report Share Posted September 28, 2014 Finally watched Can-Ams-Funks and though it was an enjoyable match, I didn't come away with any regrets about it not making the All-Japan set. It would've been a fine selection but likely a bottom 25 match for me. I liked the Martel-Terry interactions, and the action hummed along at a nice pace. I just didn't find anything terribly memorable about it, so it would've gotten lost in the shuffle. As for the matches against Sheik-Abby, the '79 match was the clear standout. It included all the mayhem of the '78 brawl while coming off as a more complete match. Both were great though, and I'd absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for a different side of Dory. He excelled both as a face in peril and as the avenging angel when Terry was badly gored. I told Parv the other day that 79 was my favorite to. 78 has the raw emotion but feels more like a Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl type segment than a complete epic match. The 79 match put everything together. Still, that three match series makes for a great night of wrestling and Dory is a pleasure to watch in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2014 Dory's rep has always been as a technical worker who is world class on the mat. While he's been in some great matches so far, the best performances have been in heated brawls. We've only glimpsed Dory's technical prowess against Horst Hoffman. Because I find Inoki so deathly dull, I can't face the prospect of that hour-long today, but I do want to see some more "technical Dory". I thought, well, who better to see him with than Billy Robinson? The following three matches were among the most difficult to find of all the matches I've tracked down for this. And thanks to those who helped me out in finding them. Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Billy Robinson and Horst Hoffman (12/06/77) This one has no sound for the first minute or so. You can find it here. This is from the 1977 RWTL in All Japan. Hoffman and Robinson are a bit of a European dreamteam. Terry has a very short buzz cut here and doesn't quite look like himself. First ten minutes feature some neat chain wrestling between Dory and Hoffman based around various headlock reversals. Robinson then takes over with a head scissors, which Dory tries to headstand his way out of. Bit dry so far. Terry tags in and gets an atomic drop on Robinson. Robinson takes things back to the mat with a headlock and eventually hits what is basically a Stone Cold Stunner before tagging Hoffman in. Hoffman works on Terry's arm now. The phrase "he's twisting him like a pretzel" comes to mind. Funny moment now when Terry deadlifts Hoffman while still in the arm hold and deposits him in the Funks' corner to tag out. Dory comes in and Hoffman gives Terry this slow double take, quite funny and surreal. Armdrag by Dory. Cool suplex thing by Hoffman. Robinson back in. He works Dory's arm a bit but then takes a randomly massive bump all the way to the outside after Dory elbows him. He sold that like Curt Hennig! Bearhug by Dory now. Terry takes over. Eventually Robinson gets in a belly-to-belly suplex to break it, but Terry goes right back to it. Tags in Dory who takes over and dumps him in the turnbuckle. Here come some uppercuts. But it's back to that bearhug. We get a shot of the young Jumbo Tsururta in the crowd studying the competition. Quite cool. Double forearm smash by the funks now and Terry tries to turn Robinson over for a Boston crab. Obvious point but it's good psychology to follow up an extended bearhug with a Boston crab. They've been focusing on Robinson's back for about 10 minutes now. Terry rocks back and forth on this Boston crab. A lot of men would have submitted by now. Terry turns it back over for a pin attempt then tags in Dory. Hoffman is getting a bit pissed off on the apron now. Dory turns Robinson over for another Boston crab but Robinson powers out. But Dory goes right back to it and gets the full crab again. He bounces on the small of Robinson's back, then pulls it back and twists him before Robinson powers out again. Dory runs over to prevent the tag and brings Terry back in. Robinson eventually gets to tag out and Hoffman is hot. Terry ends up bailing. Back in and he's ready to fight. Hoffman tags out. Now I don't understand that at all, Robinson had taken almost twenty minutes of punishment and he's tagging back in? Robinson absolutely levels Terry with a loud smacking elbow and Terry seems to shout "you fucking bitch" at him, or words to that effect. Test of strength spot now. Crowd seem distracted by something, which sometimes seems to happen on these All Japan shows. Terry goes for the spinning toehold and Robinson quickly scarpers. Dory back in. Hoffman back in. Headlock takeover by Hoffman. Dory counters the headlock with a shinbreaker. Standing leglock. Terry takes over on it. Dory back in. Double falling leglock! They are clearly setting Hoffman up for the spinning toe hold. But Hoffman is back to come back with a surfboard thingy. Full nelson! Don't seem to see that very often. Hoffman gets Dory in a pinning predicament. Again something during this gets the crowd laughing. Snapmare by Hoffman and a very nasty kneesnap to Dory's head. Robinson in. Backbreaker! Tombstone piledriver!! Couple of uppercuts before Dory flips him out of the ring. Terry decides he wants to give Robinson a little helping hand to get back in the ring and they brawl outside. Back in and Robinson gets an abdominal stretch on Terry. Things threaten to boil over now but don't quite and both guys tag out. Dory gives Hoffman a couple of reverse knife edges and goes for the big butterfly suplex. Hoffman struggles. It would be lovely for something to happen. Robinson comes back in and does a series of headscissor takeovers. Hoffman come back in with uppercuts and a side salto. Terry in and it's a slugfest. Hoffman does some nasty shots on Terry while holding back his arm now and Robinson comes in to hit a butterfly suplex. Hoffman is busting out some stiff chops now. Terry is spagghetti legged. Gets the tag though and Dory hits a back suplex on Robinson. Uppercuts now. Forearm smash. Spinning toehold! Spinning toehold! The bell goes for a 45-minute time-limit draw. Dory shakes hands with Robinson and Hoffman, but there's a standoff between Terry and Robinson. Will they shake hands? They do. I have to say that this was pretty boring for the most part. Almost an hour and the matwork surprisingly lacked intensity or brutality. I was disappointed by the Europeans here who were not as stiff as I would have hoped. While the psychology was good in parts, the matwork was flatout boring at times just eating up clock. When the high spots do come, for whatever reason, the don't feel very special either. Crowd was mostly sitting on their hands too. Match felt like it drifted at times, expected more from these two teams. **1/2 Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Billy Robinson and Les Thornton (12/01/1980) This has now been kindly uploaded to youtube by someone. It's from the 1980 RWTL in AJPW. Funks start out with Thornton and neither of them seem to be in the mood for matwork. Forearm smash by Dory. Piledriver by Terry. Robinson tags in and immediately nails Terry with a Rick Rude neckbreaker and a big uppercut. Thornton back in with an uppercut. Scoop-slam suplex (???) by Thornton. He gets Terry in a chinlock now and pounds on his head while doing it. Robinson in: butterfly suplex! Uppercut and Terry is noodle-legged. Dory tags in and calms his brother down. Running forearm smash by Dory. He goes for the spinning toehold and Robinson bails! Terry goes out after him and they brawl outside. All four men brawl and they pull apart. Back in the ring and it's Terry vs. Robinson to start, but Dory seems to want to go and Terry tags out. This really pisses Robinson off who swings at Terry at the apron, who in turn gets really pissed off himself. Another big stand off. Finally it's Dory vs. Robinson, but Robinson is distracted by Terry on the apron. Big backbreaker by Robinson! Two uppercuts. Dory comesback with a backdrop to reverse a piledriver attempt. Full bridge up to come back to a vertical base, and again. Oh! It seems like Dory pinned Robinson on the second bridge up. He's not happy! Terry jumps up and down in victory rather childishly to rub it in. Well, well, forget about technical wrestling! This was a really fun 10-minute sprint and bomb-throwing contest worked at a good pace. It was really Terry who made this match though, his constant goading of Robinson made for a very entertaining encounter. Very fun. ***1/2 Dory Funk Jr vs. Billy Robinson (03/07/82) This match took place in Charlotte for Mid-Atlantic but on Baba's TV and seems to have been a whole card co-promoted by JCP and AJPW. Many listings have it down as being on MACW TV but as far as I know it only aired in Japan and it is on one of the old G+ classics (#41), but you can also find it here. Mr Charisma Jim Crockett Jr himself is here to introduce the match to the crowd. As far as I know this is the only Dory vs. Robinson match that exists on tape. It's for Dory's NWA International title. As things start Robinson does the massive oversell on Dory's elbow again and goes tumbling out of the ring to the floor. He almost lands on a guy in the crowd and threatens to punch him, which gets some good heel heat. Robinson looks like a great heel with that moustache! Full nelson by Robinson. He has this applied for some time. Dory struggles and gets a snapmare for his troubles, then a swinging neckbreaker. Robinson is doing a good job playing to the crowd and heeling in this match, he's jawing with them and playing up. Cheeky slap on Dory, who slaps him back and gets in an armdrag into an arm bar. There's a shot of the crowd and a guy looks like a fat, bloated William Shatner. Wristlock by Dory. This is more like the matwork I'd want to see from him. Robinson kips up but Dory shoves him back down controlling that wrist. Random aside: every time I see Robinson with the tash, he reminds me of The Bloodbottler from the film version of Roald Dahl's BFG. Fairplay, Robinson seems intent to work this at a fast pace. He's been very agile and sudden with his movements in the counters. He targets Dory's back with a few stiff shots now. Dory comes back with uppercuts and a Boston Crab. Fifteen minutes gone and this has been a good match so far. Backbreaker by Robinson. Goes for a Boston Crab himself but Dory twists and powers out. Abdominal stretch by Robinson. Somehow Dory reverses it. Both men tumble out of the ring. Back in and Dory hits his big uppercuts a few times. Robinson comes back with a forearm. Dory goes to an arm lock now which somewhat takes the life out of the match when it seemed to be picking up. Robinson comes back and targets the leg. Some stiff shots while he's doing so. Dory reverses this leglock and Robinson screams out in pain. Forearms and elbows everywhere now. Butterfly suplex by Robinson! That gets two. Gutwrench suplex by Robinson! Barely a one count. Spinning toe hold! Spinning toe hold! Has Dory got this? No, Robinson gets an inside cradle. Backbreaker! But Robinson hurts his own knee. Another spinning toehold attempt. ... Holy shit!! There's a cut to the crowd and ... WHAT IS THAT? Ha ha ha ha. It's Tweedle Dum from Alice in Wonderland. Series of nearfalls now and the bell goes for a 30-minute time-limit draw. This was one of the better Dory singles matches I've seen, but in truth it was the Billy Robinson show. I don't think Dory is particularly compelling on the mat working a hold, he's better working counter sequences. Robinson was terrific in this match from start to finish, and those considering him for their GOAT lists should definitely give it a watch. Not the greatest advert for Dory, but he did hang in there. He might have been a bit more emotive when selling -- he was really shown up by Robinson's screams of pain here. Despite this being 30 minutes, Robinson insisted on keeping it moving. He was definitely on for this one. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 I think you like the Funk/Graham match more than I do. I thought the gimmick really helped it and added to the drama. Heath in explaining things and the psychology of what was happening . He was amazing. The last fall was tremendous and really had a ton of drama to it. Terry coming out at ringside made the drama and stakes that much higher. I thought at times the match was dull. With that said with the presentation, drama, and announcing made this special. All of those things helped hide the dull parts of the match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2014 Time to watch some more matches of one of the all-time greats, Dory Funk Jr! Dory Funk Jr. and Dick Murdoch vs Seiji Sakaguchi and Michiaki Yoshimura (12/12/71) I thought it would be very "topical" to look at this match from 1971 where Dory tags with none-other than WON HoF wannabe Dick Murdoch. We have quite a bit from this 1971 tour. This also gives us a chance to see Dory against guys other than Baba and Jumbo from this timeframe. Even though it's 1971, Dory already looks 40 years old. Of course, he' announced ahead of Murdoch, being the NWA World Champion and all. Yoshimura is announced last. The introductions to this one seem to go on forever, even longer than usual by Japanese standards. Murdoch and Yoshimura to start. Tentative. Murdoch even has a gut on him at this age. Amazing how little some of these guys changed physically in 15+ years. Murdoch applies a head scissors. Into an arm bar now. Yoshimura with an armdrag. And he takes over on the arm. Both guys tag out. It's Dory vs. Sakaguchi now. Immediately Sakaguchi works Dory's arm. Dory goes to a drop toehold into a leglock. "Falling" leglock now multiple times by Dory. I'm not just saying this now, but in these opening exchanges, Dory vs. Sakaguchi has been a hell of a lot more interesting than Murdoch vs Yoshimura. The counters are smoother, the work is more snug, and the level of struggle is better. Murdoch comes in to work on Sakaguchi's arm. Goes into a hammerlock. Clean break by the ropes. Headlock by Sakaguchi. Shoulderblock. Back into the headlock. Snapmare. Tags in Yoshimura. Front facelock. That all went nowhere. Dory back in. Yoshimura goes to a headlock. Spins round with it as Dory tries to escape. Dory tries to bridge out of it but he's block off. Headlock still locked in until Dory breaks it with a shinbreaker. Looks like he's going to do his "falling" leglock now but instead bridges over to stretch that leg. I'm sure this manouvre has a fancy name, but I don't know it, looks painful though. Interesting pinning bridge now by Dory. He's pulling out the fly matwork here! Murdoch back in. Sakaguchi back in. Down to an armbar. Sakaguchi turns it around. Wristlock. Murdoch manages to get an abdominal stretch in. Reversed into a hiptoss. Murodch tags out. Goes for his big butterfly suplex but Sakaguchi blocks it and Dory tags out. Elbow and collar tieup. Sakaguchi into a headlock. Wrenches it. Shoulder block. Flying headscissors by Murdoch -- good agility for a bigger guy. He's goes for a piledriver but Sakaguchi blocks it and reverses, for Dory to come in to intervene. Murdoch goes for the piledriver again, but it's not happening! Dory comes back in with a slap and multiple knee drops. Things are heating up here. Snapmare. Tags in Murdoch for the double-team Ole Anderson kneedrop. Dory's turn to do the kneedrop now. This is some neat tag work by these two. Elbow smash by Murdoch. Dory back in. NOW he hits the butterfly! And that'll do for the first fall. That was a really hot finish to the first fall. Great action and great tag-work by Dory and Murdoch working in tandem. I won't call it a FIP becasuse it ended with a pinfall, but that's essentially what it was, and a really good one. Second fall now and Sakaguchi has lost his temper. Big chop on Dory. Grabs him and shunts him down to the canvas. Bodyslam. Hiptoss. Armdrag. Sleeper! Dory looks like he's fading but Murdoch breaks it. Yoshimura in with a chinlock on Dory now. Irish whip and a backdrop. Dory's bumping quite a bit in this match. He goes for a slam but Yoshimura lands on top of him. Boston crab! Murdoch breaks it with a dropkick and that allows Dory time to tag out. This is turning into a good one. Full nelson by Yoshimura. He's throwing Murdoch around for fun now. Irish whip. Big pump-handle slam. Sakaguchi comes off the top with a stomp. Backbreaker! That gets two. Stomp now and big chops from Sakaguchi. He seems to grab Murdoch by the throat and lift him up! Sakaguchi is a pretty big guy. Mrudoch comes back though and gets a tag. They double team him and Dory hits an uppercut. Big chop exchanges now, and Sakaguchi comes out on top. Dory eats the turnbuckle and a slam. Yoshimua in with a couple of hiptosses. Dory tries to come back with uppercuts and a slam. Goes for his big butterfly suplex ... a hits it! Second one this mathc. Sakaguchi comes in and Dory tries to butterfly him too, but he can't get it. Sakaguchi reverses for the three count and the crowd erupts! That's one fall a piece. Dory and Murdoch strategise in the corner as this third fall starts. Nice touch. Sakaguchi and Dory start out, the former immediately gets an abdominal stretch on and Murdoch has to interfere to break it. Things get a bit scrappy now and neither guy is giving the other anything. Sakaguchi tags out. Dory positions Yoshimura for Murdoch to come off the top with an elbow. Murdoch in and BRAINBUSTER! Piledriver! Sakaguchi comes in to save the pin which really pisses Murdoch off. Nasty stomps from Murdoch on Yoshmimura's head now. Dory comes in and goes for an abdominal stretch which is reversed into a hiptoss. Goes for a backslide, which doesn't come off either and he tags out. Murdoch with a big atomic drop now and Sakaguchi breaks the count again. Dory meanwhile comes in and dumps Yoshimura to the outside and gives him an kneedrop before rolling him back in. German suplex by Dory gets 2. Backbreaker by Dory. Goes for a backdrop but gets a boot in the face and Yoshimura gets the hot tag to Sakaguchi and the crowd is going wild. Murdoch in and he starts kicking Sakaguchi in the stomach and face! Tag out. Dory comes in for the double butterfly suplex but they can't get Sakaguchi up and it doesn't come off. Dory grabs Sakaguchi for more doubleteaming. Murdoch misses an elbow smash and this allows Sakaguchi to hit a massive atomic drop for the 1, 2, 3. Wow, I wasn't expecting this to be anything at all, and this was a really good match. Both Murdoch and Dory were great here, and I also thought the performance of Sakaguchi as a firey younger babyface stood out on the Japanese side. The first and second falls were really good, and sadly I think they blew their loads a bit early here because the third fall almost couldn't live up to it, despite Murdoch hitting some pretty high artillery offense. In terms of our focus on Dory here, I think this is a good match to show how he'd changed from 1971 to the worker we see in the mid-80s. Dory is very agile here, full of neat bridges, quick counters, and he bumps about more. I guess it's not surprising that someone was better when they were 30 than when they were in their mid-40s. Add this one to the 4+ pile. **** Dory Funk Jr. vs Seiji Sakaguchi (12/09/71) Well after that, I want to see what Dory and Sakaguchi got out of a singles match. Footage is shaky here and seems to be from original TV rushes because there's a timer in the top left corner. Oh AWESOME Terry comes out with him wearing a long green coat and a hat. Amazingly cool. He looks like something out of a hard-bitten Noir novel. (This might actually be Dory Sr, it's hard to say because his face is obscured, but pretty sure it's Terry) Murdoch is also there. Headlock by Sakaguchi to start. Hiptoss. Into an armbar. Dory tries to jump himself out of it. Arm drag. Sakaguchi doing a good job of controlling this arm. Dory manages to get up for a clean break. Uppercuts but Dory. Immediately goes for the butterfly suplex but can't hit it. Shoves Sakaguchi down instead. Elbow and collar tieup. Headlock take over by Sakaguchi. Dory flips round into a wristlock. Break. Fireman carry take over -- he must have learned that from Jack Brisco! Sakaguchi gives him one back. Hammerlock by Dory. Sakaguchi bridges on his back while in this hammerlock. The Texans in Dory's corner are continuously shouting over. Surfboard by Dory now. Greco Roman knuckle lock now, Sakaguchi turns it around. Eventually he hits a shoulderblock and goes back into the headlock. Up to a vertical base, Dory hits a droptoe hold and goes into a leglock. "Falling" leglock now. But Sakaguchi struggles out of it before the second one and turns it around. Test of strength position now but it's quickly flipped over and they end up with Sakaguchi getting a body scissors on Dory. Some of these mat sequences are really very good. Dory reverses this body scissors into a modified Boston crab. Ends up throwing him away. Pin attempt by Dory ends up with Sakaguchi splitting his legs. If anyone wants to talk about Dory looking like he doesn't care, look at the way he sells the pain and struggle of this move! He punches his way out of this, and they get a clean break. Dory's leg is hurt and he's selling it huge. Sakaguchi goes after it and the crowd are excited. Dory bails. Terry comes over to massage his leg. Back in and Sakaguchi goes back to working this inner thigh muscle -- talk about psychology, this isn't just a leg, it's a specific part of the leg. Dory anages to get a headscissors on. Sakaguchi manages to break it. Headlock by Dorryand he lays in some knees and punches before a snapmare. Knee drop to the back of the neck. Elbow drop. Running knee smash. Uppercut. Sakaguchi comes back with chops. Slugfest now but Sakaguchi gets the better of it. Bodyslam. Crowd has been popped by all this. Another bodyslam. Shoulderblock. Backbreaker! That's a two count. Another bodyslam. Atomic drop. And that's it for the three count!! Dory's been pinned! Wow. I can only guess this is two out of three falls? Tape stops for a bit. Come on, is there a second fall ... Yes! Of course, wouldn't be like Dory to job especially not in 1971. Second fall now then. Action goes ouside. Dory slams Sakaguchi on the table. Snapmares him over the ropes in. Butterfly suplex?? Nope, can't hit it. Sakaguchi has a smile on his face as if to say "no, you're not suplexing me today!" Dory looks non-plussed. Strikes by Sakaguchi now and he goes for a Boston crab. Gets him over! Surely not for the second straight fall?!! No! Dory reverses into a pin, which is reversed. More blows from Sakaguchi now and a slam. Sleeper! Dory reverses into an abdominal stretch, reverses into a hiptoss! Sakaguchi foes for a headlock and Dory hits a back suplex for the second fall. Terry is so ridiculous in his coat and hat. Both guys are getting a lengthy massage. The gaps between these falls are quite long. Dory's had enough and goes to stomp on Sakaguchi. Hits a knee lift and a snapmare. Kneedrop to the back. Uppercut. Goes for a slam but Sakaguchi lands on top of him. He does his choke powerlift again. Dory comes back though and hits a knee drop. Adominal stretch attempt into the hiptoss. Gutwrench suplex by Sakaguchi. Another hiptoss. Bodyslam. Dory knees him straight in the head. Butterfly suplex! And that's do for the three! Well this wasn't as good as the tag match. The long gaps between the falls hurt the momentum of the match and I didn't think it built as excitingly over the three falls. Sakaguchi's offense is very repetetive and seemingly limited: apart from his strikes, he's mostly all hiptosses and bodyslams, which is pretty lame offense. He worked better as both the FIP and the hot tag in the last match -- not as good when having to carry stretches of offense. Dory was fairly spirited here, but by the third fall, it really seemed like they were out of ideas as they went to that abdominal stretch into the hiptoss sequence for maybe the third time. Not a bad outing, but this won't be a match to turn around Dory doubters -- unlike the tag match. I will say though, if you do watch it, look out for his facial expressions selling the chinlock in that first fall. *** Dory Funk Jr. vs. Butch Reed (2/3/82) Let's fast-forward a decade and see what Dory did against Butch Reed. Reed has a big afro here. This match looks like it was taped for Japanese TV but actually took place in the US somewhere, I'd guess Florida. Dory is defending his NWA International title, which is why it's on the All Japan TV -- seems like they used that title as a bit of a touring belt for a while there, but I know the UN title also travelled a bit too. PWF belt seems to have stayed more in Japan, although Baba did pin Race for it in St. Louis in 1983 and before that Abdullah in Chicago in 1979. Looks like Reed bulked up ALOT from 82 to 83 because he's relatively spry here. Still well toned, but not like STACKED as he would be in Mid South. Headlock takeover by Dory to start into a headlock. One of the things Dory does well is work a headlock with his weight so that it also doubles as a pin attempt -- don't always see guys do that. Eventually they break and Dory hits a shoulder block but Reed gets Dory up for a miliary press and dumps him like a sack of bones! Into the Irish whip again and Reed gets a bearhug on. Dory sells this pretty well. Again, watch him during this bearhug and tell me that he doesn't care, I increasingly don't get that criticism. Dory backs up and gestures for Reed to back off. I guess that's what you call the "thinking man's" beg off. Dory is holding his back, seems like that big military press hurt him. Headlock by Reed now. He wrenches this well. Dory tries to struggle out of it and charges for the ropes -- the entire ring seems like it moves about an inch! Dory wildly struggles with his headlock but Reed keeps it on. This is another thing Dory does really well: struggle to try to get out of a headlock. It's very logical to try to get out through movement, and yet you don't always see wrestlers do that. Break in the corner. Dory is still holding his back. I'm now wondering why Reed doesn't target it. Dory gets a headlock of his own now. Again, he positons himself right over Reed's chest, so it's a pin attempt. Rope running now and Dory eats a hip toss. He backs up into the corner again. Reed is getting frustrated. He goes for another headlock but Dory reverses into a back suplex. European uppercuts in the corner now, quickfire. Arm drag over into a headlock. Couple more nearfalls from this. Front facelock now. Three more uppercuts. Vertical suplex which the commentator calls a "brainbuster". Bodyslam. Elbow drop. Goes for another suplex, but it's reversed by Reed. But Reed is still groggy from all the punishment. Dory gets over for another uppercut. Reed comes back with forearms. Flying crossbody by Reed. Dory backs up into the corner again and lures Reed in for the knee lift. And then he dumps him out of the ring. He grabs Reed back up onto the apron now and gives him a forearm smash back outside. Uppercuts in the corner. Abdominal stretch. Reed struggles. Gets into a slide for 2. Dory hits a quick forearm to send Reed down like a chopped tree. Uppercut. Dropkick. Kneelift by Reed to come back. Big punch. Headlock. Rope running with leapfrogs and drops. Collision spot. Both men down. Piledriver attempt by Dory ends up getting him backdropped out of the ring ... but in the NWA that's an automatic DQ! Holy cheap cheap CHEAP finish Batman! David von Erich, who was Dory's tag partner at this time, comes out wearing a really ridiculous bandana with a feather in it. That brings out Reed's "brother" Sweet Brown Sugar. Dory bails. Von Erich grabs Dory's belt to pose. David von Erich as a heel looks pretty fun. I look forward to seeing more of that 82 run and feud -- I do have it somewhere, though how much is clipped I don't know. This was a decent 13-minute match. I thought Dory's psychology throughout was superb and they told a great story: Dory is the wily veteran, Reed is the young stud. Dory's clearly outpowered here, so he works this cagey as fuck. Constantly backing up into the corner where he's safe and can go for automatic breaks. He was frustrating the youngster and the crowd -- and this is great heel psychology. From that corner position, often, he was able to gain the advantage. Dory actually bumped around quite a lot for Reed considering his was 41 here. And he hit some big high spots too. Hurt by a cheap finish, and could have done with another five minutes or so, but won't hurt either guy's resume at all. ***1/2 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk and Tiger Mask vs. Terry Gordy, Chavo Guerrero and Billy Robinson (10/21/85) Last match for tonight then. Man, look at these two sides. Funks with the young Misawa vs. the oddball combination of Gordy, Chavo and Billy Robinson. This will either be sweet or a clusterfuck. Chavo looks look at this age. Like an aging lothario who might just steal your girlfriend. Robinson is looking old. Gordy looks like classic Gordy. Terry has the goatee and looks as he does more or less in WWF. Dory is clearly getting on here and somehow, despite the fact that he does sorta look middle aged in 1971, he definitely looks 14 years older here. He actually ages quite a between between 82 and 85, it seems to me. Dory and Robinson shake hands. Well that's nice. Gordy and Chavo conspire. Dory starts out with Gordy. Dropkick by Gordy. They lock up. Headlock by Dory. Into a take over. Leans on it for the pin attempts, but Gordy also rolls him over for pin attempts. Crossbody by Gordon from the turnbuckle and Dory backs up. Lock up again, Robinson tags in. He's pretty saggy-looking in 85. Dory goes to tag out and it's clear that Robinson wants to face Terry. Dory goes to leave but then thinks better of it. Robinson goes over to encourage him to tag, but Dory's like "naw, actually, let's go me and you" Interesting psychology, I guess. So we get Robinson vs. Dory now. Christ, if Dory aged from 82 to 85, I don't know what the hell happened to Robinson, he looks horrible! Headlock by Robinson. He takes some time out to take a potshot at Terry. Thats' got Terry fired up. Dory want to calm him down. Robinson is begging him to tag, Terry wants to tag, but Dory is telling him to calm down and doesn't want to tag. These are some mind games here -- not entirely sure if they are effective ones, but mind games is what they are. Hammerlock by Dory, Robinson with a back leg sweep and over into a bridge pin attempt. That's him saying "don't you worry about me, Junior, I've still got it!" Backbreaker by Robinson! Over seven minutes into this match now and Dory hasn't tagged out. Chavo comes in. And goes to the headlock. Dory catches him with an abdominal stretch. Rolling cradle spot now and Terry's had enough. He tags in now and they go to the rolling cradle spot themselves. Terry tags in Tiger Mask and it's him vs. Chavo now. Dropkicks and backdrops. Arm drag by Tiger Mask. Flying crossbody. Fireman carry takeover by Chavo. Belly-to-belly suplex. Backdrop by Gordy. Dropkicks on Gordy by Tiger Mask. Funks in for a double forearm smash on Gordy. Dory in with uppercuts and a forearm block which levels Gordy. Terry comes in and finally now, Robinson has his chance. Jabbing from both guys now, but Robinson is able to twist Terry round for the Rick Rude neckbreaker. Gordy in and he punches Terry who comes back with punches of his own. Big slam by Terry. Funks dump Tiger Mask ontop of Gordy. Robinson in with uppercuts on Tiger Mask. Plancha by him out on top of Robinson. Bell goes for some reason ... has Robinson been counted out maybe? Must be. Well, this was quite fun, but things picked up after the 7-minutes or so of Dory slowing things down at the start. This is exactly the sort of match that would give someone the impression that Dory is "old and boring", because you've got Terry arguably at his peak looking great, all of the action with a guy like Tiger Mask, Robinson fired up and in the middle of it all, Dory is working very slowly -- and the CONTEXT just wasnt right for that style, which I do think you can blame on Dory not changing things up in a match like this -- even though you could argue that his psychology in keeping Terry and Robinson apart made for a better climax when they did finally face off later in the match. But I guess in a 6-man like this, you don't want someone slowing the action down as much as he did here. I also think it's clear that Dory has lost a step even from 82. Fun match, but not one of Dory's better outings. *** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 For people who've been reading these reviews the "falling" leglock I've been mentioning is apparently an Indian deathlock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 David And Kerry showed the were heels in Florida by wearing bandanas with feather roach clips. I fucking love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (08/29/74)Early going sees Dory out-wrestling the young Jumbo with a superior ground game which culminates in his Indian deathlock. Jumbo tries to counter with armwork but eats a hip toss. Dory applies a "scissors" on the arm and Jumbo deadlifts him, Dory clings on. Rolling cradles gets two for Dory. Jumbo goes back to the arm. Some good work here as he drops knees and other such things on it. Because of Dory's rare facial condition (inability to show emotion), he sells all this by slamming his other arm on the canvas and writhing around. Deliberate and effective control sequence. Decent opening 10 minutes but on the boring side. Dory comes back and hits a big back suplex. And then the butterfly which gets three. That's the first fall. Dory shows no emotion in raising his arm to celebrate, he's focused on Jumbo.Second fall, both guys are dripping with sweat. Doesn't seem to be a lot of heat here. Dory starts out the aggressor with some uppercuts and a snapmare. Cover gets two. Into the armbar -- but this is a smart armbar because he sweeps the leg away and leans in on the shoulder. Wristlock. Jumbo gets a slap across the face in. Dory does not release the wristlock. And again. And again. Dory does not bat an eyelid -- if Jumbo was trying to rile Dory, he's going to have to do better than that. Headlock takeover. Back into the armbar. Adbominal stretch. Jumbo reverses it with a hiptoss. Big elbow drop by Dory. Piledriver??! No, backdrop by Jumbo. Uppercut and an elbow smash by Jumbo. Gets two. Butterfly suplex attempt by Jumbo, but Dory blocks it. No, it's not happening. Rope running spot ends with a knee from Dory. Drop kick by Dory, but Jumbo fends it off and that's enough for three. 1-1 Dory should stop trying to do that dropkick, I've seen him drop a fall because of it a few times now!Third fall. Starts with a cradle pin attempt by Dory but Jumbo goes back to the arm he was working back in the first fall. Dory pulls it back into a pin again. Some struggle over this. Jumbo manages to get himself into the Indian deathlock position and then bridges back to leverage the pain. Dory registers the pain with smacks to the mat but then sees a chance for a pin attempt as Jumbo is still prone and bridged back. He bridges up with Dory on top of him now and gets on a body scissors -- similar to the spot in the Brisco vs. Lawler match. Still in this position and Dory starts walloping Jumbo in the face with his fist -- these look like real nasty potato shots. Man. Highlight of the match so far. Neat little set piece now with a double rise move in which both guys almost handstand into each other, but Jumbo gets a body scissors in. STF by Dory now. Single chickenwing on the mat. Jumbo sells this really well, pain on his face is intense. Dory comes back up with a double wristlock from behind, which Jumbo reverses into a rack. Another of these big chops to the face. And then two more. Shit, if I was Dory I'd be getting pissed off, but he doesn't. Instead we get a vertical suplex from the apron back inside by Dory. Jumbo with the smacks and uppercuts. Knee to the gut. Backbreaker. Only gets one! Snapmare by Dory. Boston crab! But he can't quite get him over and Jumbo twists out of it. Double leg takedown and goes for the crab again but Jumbo kicks him off and Dory goes flying to the outside. Jumbo with the strikes again and a delayed ... gutwrench suplex. Huh?! Never seen that before. And now ... delayed belly-to-belly suplex. Never seen that before either! The young Jumbo pulling out all the moves here. Cover only gets one!! Big leg drop by Jumbo gets two. Dory is still kicking out with authority though. Flapjack. Bridgeup but then we get another one but Dory happens to be one top and this gets three. They shake hands and Dory pats Jumbo on the back as if to say "you did your best kid". But, honestly, Dory looks like he doesn't give a fuck and is looking to go and get some Japanese beer or something.This match had some really great moments and some superb counter wrestling. Dory's potato shots during that little stretch looked genuinely nasty. Jumbo was very spirited here and came across like a plucky young face going in against a real pro and doing his very very best. And it makes you believe that he might actually beat Dory, even if -- and this is a criticism -- Dory wasn't exactly going out of his way to make him look good. I thought it was a dick move to kick out at one after two big suplexes. Jumbo was very good at selling here, and delivered some pretty unique high-end offense in the third fall. This was not one of Dory's better outings, he didn't seem that interested and was mostly on auto-pilot here. This won't be a match to turn around Dory haters, because he shows basically no emotion at all during this -- although I do think that that was part of the narrative. Jumbo was pushing his luck with the slaps across the face -- big show of defiance and even disrespect -- but Dory didn't react and just stuck to his gameplan. Still, he might have given his opponent more. I also thought that while there was some neat counter wrestling going on, the match lacked heat, even by 70s Japan standards. Crowd was sitting on their hands here. Very good outing for young Jumbo, not the best showing for Dory.***1/2Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (12/18/75)Let's see what these two do in a shorter match then. Starts with the Jumbo deadlifting Dory from a headscissors sort of position. Dory twists Jumbo's head and he feels his neck in pain. Boston crab position and Dory doesn't fully sync it in -- noticed he does this spot a lot. Jumbo twists out. Elbow and collar tieup. Armdrag by Jumbo. Into the arm bar. Wristlock. And Jumbo wrenches it. Dory comes back with an elbow smash. European uppercuts. Chickenwing down on the mat, guess you could call it a "double arm lock". Jumbo bridges up and we get a repeat of this spot with Dory on top of the bridge now. Jumbo goes for a headlock but Dory hits an explosive back suplex. Goes for the butterfly, but Jumbo charges for the ropes. Dory has big mutton lambchop 70s sideburns here -- most excellent. Slugfest now and it culminates in another of Jumbo's ace gutwrench suplexes. Over into the corner and we get a clean break. Greco Roman knucklelock. Side russian legsweep by Dory. Big elbow drop. And another right on the back of Jumbo's neck. Dory goes for the butterfly again but Jumbo blocks it. Headlock takeover. Jumbo hits a knee for two and goes for the butterfly again. Dory backs into the ropes. This butterfly suplex isn't happening today! Elbow and collar tieup once more. Uppercuts by Dory. Delayed belly-to-belly suplex by Jumbo!! That gets two. Swinging neckbreaker! Awesome. Just two for Jumbo. DEATH power slam by Jumbo. Two. Flapjack. Dory bridges up but Jumbo cathes him. Delayed gutwrench suplex again! Big strikes back and forth. But now ... now Dory hits the butterfly suplex. TWO! Uppercuts by Dory. Indian deathlock.Jumbo reverses. Spinning toehold by Jumbo!! Dory rolls away. Jumbo catches him and tries to turn for the Boston crab. Big chops back and forth. The bell goes for a time-limit draw. This was obviously part of the 75 Champions Carnival. Both guys raise their arms and they are all buddy buddy.Wow, this was an awesome match -- a sprint between these two in 1975, so basically a lot of the high spots we see in the 74 match minus some of the boring matwork with more pace and more heat. I loved this. Jumbo has looked terrific in these last couple of matches.****Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Tomomi Tsuruta (10/09/73)Let's take a look at Jumbo when he was a real baby, 1973!! The Funks are wearing some pretty swank looking tag belts. Believe they are the International NWA tag titles. At this point Jack Brisco was already NWA champ.Dory starts out with Baba. Goes to ground early. Baba starts on the arm. Tags in "Tonomi" (Jumbo). We get the flapjack bridging spot again but it results in a backslide with Jumbo getting two. Oooohhh, Dory didn't like that and he goes to punch him. Thinks better of losing his temper any more and tags in Terry. Bodyslam by Terry. Leg drop. Lateral press gets two. Another big body slam but Terry misses an elbow. Jumbo with a slam of his own now and Baba tags back in. Stomp by Baba and Terry tries to escape on his knees. Another stomp by Baba and Terry rolls out of the ring. Dory goes over to comfort and protect him -- brotherly love. Dory tags in and we're back to Baba vs. Dory. Elbow and collar tieup. Jumbo tags in. They lock up. Headlock by Jumbo. Match seems to stall here. Both guys back up and consult their partners. Another lock up, Dory slips behind into a full nelson. Terry comes in and tries to clothesline Jumbo but he ducks and Terry nails Dory instead -- seems like a real US-style wrestling spot that, wonder if it's out of place -- this 73 tour is Terry's first time over I believe. Baba dominates Dory for a while now and he tags out. Terry comes in with a piledriver! Baba holds the top of his head -- the piledriver does hurt here you know. Cover by Terry gets two. Dory tags in. Backbreaker! Elbow drop. Cover gets two. Crowd is really into this. I am too, I love a heat sequence like this. Double teaming by the Funks now. Jumbo tags back in. Headbutt by Terry seems to leave him more staggered. Baba in with a chop to the top of the head. Dropkick! Jumbo in with a missile dropkick! GERMAN. Wow and that gets a hot first fall. Great match so far. Jumbo looks emotional to get the fall.Second fall: Jumbo starts out with Terry who wounds up getting stuck in the bottom rope. Dory comes over to untangle him. Terry is very "cartoony" for this environment. Baba is back in with a bearhug. Boston crab by Baba now. Keeping the pressure on the back. Terry tags out, as does Baba so it's Dory vs. Jumbo. Headlock. He wrenches it massively -- reminds me of a Jack Brisco or Rick Martel in the way he's doing it -- seems like Jumbo get "got it" right from 1973. Dory busts out of this with a back suplex. Multiple uppercuts now. Snapmare. Armbar but with both legs over the arm for additional leverage. Terry back in. Goes for the butterfly suplex but doesn't look like it's happening. Staggering back and forth in this position. And eventually Terry gets him over. Baba in now. Terry goes to butterfly suplex him! More struggle so Dory tags in and takes over trying to do the butterfly. Baba blocks it. Dory gives up and hits an uppercut instead. Terry comes in and Baba pastes them both. Russian leg sweep. Uppercuts by Dory and then he dumps Baba. Ties up the ref while Terry attacks Baba. Dropkick outside. Ref goes out to break this up. Jumbo has gone over too. Dory waits in the ring. Baba rolls back in. Uppercuts and strikes back and forth. Dory hits the block forearm smash. Baba with the headlock. Terry hits an elbow from the top to break it. Chop from Baba sends him 360 to the outside. Dory back in. Baba whispers something in Jumbo's ear. Headlock takeover by Dory. Rolling cradle gets two. Bodyslam. Chinlock. Rack. Baba's arms are so weird! He's able to reverse this and tags Jumbo in who takes over on the rack (two arms being pulled back with a leg in the middle of the back). Dory tries to reverse it but after a lot of struggle with Terry shouting "COME ON JUNIOR". he fails. Then they go through it a second time, but Jumbo still comes out on top. Dory springs out of it with a forward roll and thrust. Terry in. Armdrag into an armbar. Wristlock. Shoulder charge. Elbow drop. Terry grinds his elbow into Jumbo's arm. We get the bridge up spot now with Terry on top. Baba back in. This second fall is going long. Wristlock by Terry. He smashes some forearms on Baba's arm. Baba comes back with a slap. Big boot. Cover gets two. Bodyslam but Baba and it's a big one. Another big slam. Stomp. Cover gets two. Abdominal stretch by Baba! And Dory comes in to break it. Jumbo in and he takes over the abdominal stretch. Terry comes back with a sort of armlock in the "pump handle slam" position, only down on the mat. Series of shoulder blocks culminate in a rolling cradle by Terry for three and 1-1. Second fall went pretty long and while the crowd is into it, it wasn't as heated or well structured as the first. There are actually some Japanese commercials on this footage, it's been taped from G+. Some good stuff in this second fall, but I think there were a few repeated spots that were designed almost entirely to eat up time. Man, these Japanese adverts are weird.Third fall now. And Terry is on the mat taking big stomps from Jumbo. Boston crab! After a near fall, Dory comes back in and ties up with Jumbo. Armlock by him. Chinlock now. Backslide! That gets two for Dory. Abdominal stretch! Jumbo sells this great. Terry sneaks in with a punch to the gut while the ref is distracted with Baba. But Jumbo manages to reverse the abdominal stretch into one of his own. Butterfly suplex! Jumbo hit it! Cover gets two. Dory gets in a shoulder block which sends him down too. Grabs Jumbo in a waistlock and hits a belly-to-back suplex. Tags Terry in who is starting with the Texas jabs. Airplane spin!! He spins and spins! Drops Jumbo does but is clearly giddy himself -- more cartooniness from Terry. Jumbo tags out. Dory comes in with a slam on Baba. Goes to the top but gets slammed off the top -- Dory with a Race spot there! Dropkick by Baba. Cover gets two. Another dropkick but this time Chessmaster Dory grabs the ropes so Baba misses. He tags out. Terry in with elbows across the back of the neck. He goes for the atomic splash but misses into the ropes. Baba applies some sort of hold now but Dory hits him in the back to break. Jumbo in. Irish whip and a dropkick. Dory grabs his head and drags him off Terry to break a count. Bodyslam by Terry. Baba in with one of his own. Dory tags back in. Back suplex on Baba from him gets two only. Baba wit the chops. Swinging neckbreaker! And the bell goes for the time limit draw.This match has some very good action, the first fall is excellent and heated. The second fall slows down and has too many sequences that feel like they are eating up time. I also think that Terry was much too cartoonish in this match -- it was ill-fitting of the environment and I found it quite distracting and out of place. He brought things down a bit in truth. Third fall was okay, but lacked the heat and intensity of the first, despite some cool offense being thrown around. I also thought the match lacked a little structure and focus at times. Still, some very good stuff. And the baby Jumbo didn't look out of place at all in there with the other three.***3/4Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (03/13/75)Jumbo and Baba have the belts this time. Should note that The Destroyer is one of the guys outside the ring.Dory and Jumbo start out, but soon Terry tags in and we get a test of strength spot. Some nifty counters result in a hammerlock for Jumbo befor Dory tags in. Fireman carry takeover by Jumbo (shades of Brisco!). Jumbo goes to the arm after taking a hip toss. Rack, but Dory flips out of it before the leg could go up. Headlock by Dory. Flips round to a hammerlock. Sweeps the leg. I wish I could isolate that little moment to demonstrate just how smooth and great Dory was at that sort of shit. Very fluid, and it's the sort of fast chain wrestling that guys like Race, Flair or even Terry just couldn't do. Really fine work by Dory there. Terry back in and he goes to an armbar which he smashes a few times for extra pain. Quick tags in and out by the Funks now working on this arm. This has been a great stretch sequence, Jumbo a fine FIP too. Jumbo comes back though wrenching on the arm and Terry goes flying. Fair play, Terry made Jumbo look like a million bucks there. And Jumbo showed fire and intensity in the comeback -- you can see why this guy was a future ace. Top stuff. Baba comes in now and it's the Japanese team's turn to double team someone's arm. Terry runs around shouting and trying to escape but they reel him in. Jumbo works an armbar. Terry shouts and struggles, but Jumbo keeps this locked in for several minutes. Baba comes off the top with a double axe-handle. He picks up the armbar now. Terry charges the turnbuckle but misses.Baba looks like he wants to rip Terry's arm right out of its socket. Jumbo comes back in and takes over on the arm again. Armdrag right over the shoulder. This has been a systematic and sustained attack on Terry's arm here. Eventually he gets in a knee lift and tags in Dory. Dory with a splash on Jumbo's shoulder! Dumps him to the outside. Piledriver outside the ring by Terry on Jumbo! Wow. He's rolled back in and Dory hits an elbow smash and a bodyslam. Vertical suplex! Brainbuster! That's 1, 2, 3. What a phenomenal first fall this was! Terrific, focused work by both teams on offense. Excellent FIP sequence, even better control sequence and then they ramped up the violence in the closing moments. If this fall had been the whole match it would get ****1/2Second fall and Dory hits a stiff uppercut on Jumbo. Snapmare. Kneedrop. Tags in Terry. Double forearm smash. Legdrop by Terry. The Funks are so awesome when they are working a stretch sequence. Terry with the jabs but Jumbo comes back and gets a tag to Baba. Big boot to the outside. Terry is doubled over by the timekeeper's table and Dory goes over to get him up. Neckbreaker by Baba! Dory back in to drop the knee and break the cover. Terry is on easy street here, he's staggering. Big chops by Baba. Side Russian legsweep. Dory once again breaks the cover. Jumbo in with an uppercut and the jumping knee smash! Baba in. Big boot! Cover gets the three for a quick second fall to make it 1-1. This was really good. Fast paced. Funks with some aweomse offense. Babyfaces recover their heat for an exciting final fall.Third fall. Baba works over Terry a bit before tagging in Jumbo who hits the butterfly suplex! Two count! Some back and forth strikes, but Terry is able to get in a butterfly suplex of his own. Knee drop. Elbow smash on the back of the neck. Dory in and he holds Jumbo to take a big Texan left off Terry. Side Russian legsweep. Baba has to run in to break the cover. Uppercuts by Dory now. But Jumbo comes back with some HUGE punches. Elbow drop. Butterfly suplex attempt by Jumbo, but Dory blocks it. Struggle but it doesn't look like it's happening. So Jumbo gets his swank delayed belly-to-belly suplex in instead! Goes for a dropkcik but Dory blocks it. Atomic drop! And Terry comes in for an assist on it. Abdominal stretch by Dory, but Jumbo blocks. Baba in with the big boot. Cover is broken up by Terry. Bodyslam on Dory by Baba. Abdominal stretch by Baba now. Terry in with a chop to break it. Back suplex by Dory. Diving kneedrop by Terry. Double suplex by the Funks on Baba! Jumbo comes in and fights with Dory, but Dory gives him a suplex. Somehow they land badly and Baba is able to roll Jumbo over for 1, 2, 3!!!!! What a fucking match!Post-match Terry goes nuts and get Joe Higuchi (the ref) up for a suplex! Someone throws a chair in the ring. Jumbo is overcome with emotion from this win and they get some interviews after the match as they are presented with some trophies.This was absolutely great this match. First fall was awesome, heated, focused, intense work with the Funks decimating Jumbo's arm in a great FIP sequence before Baba and Jumbo pay the back in full by destroying Terry's arm. That fall alone is amazing. Second fall doesn't see the pace drop, we get an escalation of violance, and is an instant reply by the faces to make this 1-1. Third fall sees the drama ramp up further. Jumbo is just GREAT in this match as a firey young babyface, in many ways he upstages Baba with his spunk and emotion. Terry seems to have learned from 73 that the cartoony shit doesn't fly in Japan because he's toned it right down here, and he is great throughout. Dory seems to be "on" here as well and he is pretty spirited in the offensive stretches and delivers some great bombs. Baba for the most part is there for a few hot tags but he does nothing to bring this down. Really great match.****3/4Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta (12/15/78)Dory's had his hair cut since 1975. Jumbo is bigger than he was in 75. Terry has his back and sides bandaged up, presumably from the carnage of the Abby / Sheik match a few days before.Dory and Jumbo start out. Jumbo goes for an early hip toss by the wily Dory grabs the middle rope. Tags in Terry. Armbar on Jumbo. Into a rack. Plenty of struggle here. This seems to go on forever. Dory comes in and takes over stretching the arms. Very long and boring spot this. Jumbo turns it around to prolong it. He sticks a knee into Dory's back and pulls back on the arms. Dory rolls over and flips Jumbo off, and sends him down with a single-leg sweep. Chinlock now. Headlock. Up to a vertical base. Jumbo punches Dory in the kidneys to try to escpae. We get a fast backslide by Dory which gets a very close nearfall. That woke the crowd up. Terry in. Elbow and collar tieup -- you'd think Jumbo might want out here, he's been in there a long time. And as I type that he tags out! Terry and Baba lock up. Chop suey. Comedy handshake spot, crowd laugh. Dory in. European uppercut and with authority. Dory looks unusually pissed off tonight. Headlock takeover. Baba tries to prise Dory off him using his arm. Shoulder block by Dory. Big boot by Baba. Jumbo back in with a headlock takeover. Dory tries to turn Jumbo over while he's in the headlock for a pin attempt. Jumbo bridges up to put extra leverage on this headlock. This has been a rather dull match so far. Dory stops the monotony with a MASSIVE shinbreaker. But Jumbo doesn't let go of the headlock and shakes off the damage from the shinbreaker. That was cool. Baba in and he takes over the headlock. He wrenches it. Baba can really work a headlock. Dory tries to Irish whip himself out of it, but Baba's not letting go. He starts trying to punch himself out of it, but to no avail. Jumbo in and he takes over the headlock. Jumps up for a big headlock takeover. This has been a lengthy control segment on Dory now. Eventually Dory breaks free and tags out but Terry ends up eating headlock too. Jumbo switiches tac and gets on a bearhug instead. Keeps this on long enoug for Terry to collapse and Jumbo gets a two count still in the bearhug. There has been far too many boring holds in this match. Terry tries to elbow Jumbo to break the bearhug but he doesn't release it. Clubbing forearms from Terry now and this does get Jumbo to let go. But he just starts stomping his back instead. Baba comes in to follow up this back work with an abdominal stretch. I should mention that Terry has his side taped up and Baba buries his fist into the wound and twists his fist. It sounds like the crowd might be chanting "Terry Terry" during this but I can't be sure. The Japanese guys have been on offense for almost this whole match so far. The way Baba is twisting his knuckles into Terry's wounded and bandaged up side is some nasty work. Terry tries to escape but Baba locks him back in the abdominal stretch. Christ, we a headlock that went on forever, then a bearhug that went on forever, and now with abdominal stretch. Jumbo in now and he applies the camel clutch. This is an example of something that has good psychology but is also boring as fuck. What are they doing in this match? It's interminable.Jumbo stays in this camel clutch for some time as Terry struggles. He eventually escapes only for Jumbo to get in a chinlock. And FINALLY he gets a back suplex, but Jumbo tags out and Baba gets the abdominal stretch. This is weird, it seems like Terry is the FIP here and the Japanese guys are working this match as the heels. The crowd even seem to be on Terry's side. Baba attacks Terry's wounded side again. Jumbo in with an elbow drop from the top. Big uppercut by Jumbo, but Terry gets an abdominal stretch in: hip tossed by Jumbo! And finally Terry tags out. Dory comes in and immediately Jumbo headlocks him. But Dory catches him with a chop to the throat and a great gutwrench suplex. Body slam. Uppercuts. Boston crab! And this time Dory actually "completes" it and turns it all the way over. Armbar now as well as a chinlock. This is a painful looking hold. Terry in and a big clothesline from him, which the crowd pop for. The crowd seem to be opening cheering the Funks against Baba and Jumbo here. Interesting. Reverse chinlock by Dory now. Goes for the butterfly suplex, but Jumbo struggles and blocks it. He strains for it but can't hit it, so Terry comes in to try. Jumbo isn't going over. Instead, he hits a backslide for a nearfall. Dory in with more uppercuts. Jumbo comes back with some of his own. Tiger knee! Baba in. Double big boot! Swinging neckbreaker. Chops. Hip tosses. But eventually Dory back suplexes him! And the crowd pops. Cover is broken up because Baba gets a foot in the ropes. Terry in. Texas jabs. And a big left sends Baba down. Crowd pops. Jumbo in and the strike exchanges become increasingly heated here. Headlock by Jumbo. But he gets dumped outside. He tries to get back in but Dory plays king of the mountain. Now he suplexes him back in. Jumbo really sells this suplex. He's hurt the back of his neck. Match has really heated up now. MASSIVE butterfly suplex by Dory gets two because Jumbo gets a foot to the rope. Terry in with a big elbow. Spinning toehold!! Jumbo reveres into an inside cradle for two. Dory in. Uppercuts. Forearm block. Terry in. Sleeper!! Jumbo struggles wildly but he goes down. Terry wrenches it like a madman. Jumbo is going out here. They end up in the same corner as Baba who is able to tag himself in and hit a dropkick. Cover gets two. Big chops to the top of the head. Big boot. Cover gets two with a foot in the ropes. Jumbo in. Dropkick! Cover gets two only! Texas jabs by Terry now and he's fucking boxing here. Jumbo's had enough and hits a massive back suplex. Rope running and a collision. Terry is wobbly legged but makes it over to Dory. Jumbo goes for a dropkick but Dory grabs the ropes. PILEDRIVER! Ah fuck, time limit draw!!The opening twenty minutes of this match features very focused but ultimately boring work by Baba and Jumbo. The crowd dynamics are interesting, because they seem to want the Funks to win throughout. But the match really picks up after the abdominal stretch and keeps building pace and intensity towards a very hot finishing stretch, which reminded me of post-Choshu 80s All Japan in terms of how it was worked with stiff stikes and bombs flying everywhere. The Funks were both great here, Terry doing a terrific sell job, Dory showing -- unusually for him -- some good fire, urgency and intensity. I thought Baba and Jumbo had too much on offense and they stayed in the holds far too long in the early going. Of the two, Baba was the more compelling working holds, but Jumbo was better at emoting and selling, especially in the hot second half of the match. All in all, this is a very good match -- and an exceptional one once you get past the "boring" early portion when the Japanese guys are working holds.****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted November 23, 2014 Report Share Posted November 23, 2014 Jump forward to the match with Marti Funk vs. Colon & Moolah! I had no idea that match even took place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Are those tags available online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Yes, but you need to register for vk.com -- you'll find them on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRMD Posted December 1, 2014 Report Share Posted December 1, 2014 The Bill Apter interview on the Steve Austin Show was the Parv show. About 5 minutes of Dory Funk talk followed by Jack Brisco talk. Austin originally thought Dory was incredibly boring, but as he became a great hand himself, he started to really love Dory's work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Finally watched the Funks vs Abby/Sheik match that Parv praises so much thanks to the 5 matches you should watch for GWE's nominees thread. I loved the wild bloody brawling quality that this match had. This is the best I have ever seen Dory look, he showed so much emotion and it was great. The beard helped, I think. It was violent, but there is a Dudleys vs Balls & Spike match from 1999 that I liked better and felt more like the match Parv was describing. 4 1/4 stars from me, it was awesome but didn't reach any upper levels from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 The inevitable question now is: what do you make of the 79 match? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexoblivion Posted April 19, 2015 Report Share Posted April 19, 2015 Watched that Dory and Murdoch vs Sakaguchi and Yoshimura tag a few days ago. While each guy had their moments, thought Dory was the best guy in that match. Murdoch and Funk made a good team with their quick tags and cheap shots. That vk account with all that JWA has some good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen (12/08/84) Meltzer gave this five stars back in the day, the DVDR committee left it off the 80s AJPW set. So this should be interesting at least. I've thought for some years now that Brody brings out a different side of Dory, so let's see if he does here. Hansen and Dory start out, but Hansen is more interested in trying to deck Terry on the apron. Dory is spirited though and hits his elbow smash. Headlock by Hansen into a quick tag to Brody. Bodyslam by him. Headlock takeover. Brody with a headlock, up to a vertical base. Dory is FIP here. Hansen in with a huge drop kick. Knee drop. Good pace so far. Bodyslam by Hansen. Brody in with another big slam. Headlock. Up to a vertical base again. Dory manages to tag out. Terry in with some fire now. Snap mare. Dropkick. Another snapmare. Misses an elbow drop. Hansen in. This has been quite frantic so far. Hansen goes after Terry outside. Kicks him in the gut inside now. Turnbuckle smash. Terry is noodle legged. Brody in. Dory in. European uppercuts. Hansen in. Double backdrop. Dory goes to work on Hansen now. Goes for a slam. Blocked, but Dory gets it anyway. Cover gets 1. Uppercuts. Slugfest back and forth now. Snap mare by Hansen and a big chinlock, Terry breaks. 8 minutes in and barely a pause for breath. Brody in. Some doubleteaming on Dory. Backbreaker by Brody and he holds him over his knee for Hansen to nail. Terry in to break. Hansen misses a kick, Dory snaps off a vertical suplex. Cover get two. Terry in. Double forearm smash by the Funks. High back drop by Hansen on Terry sends him over to the outside. Dory goes over to check on him. Nothing like a bit of brotherly love. 10 minutes in. A lot of action so far. Hansen right on top of Terry. Smashes him into the announce table. Rolls him back in. Kneedrops to the back of the neck. Nasty. Double suplex by Hansen and Brody. Piledriver by Brody?? Terry tries to kick his way out, but no, he hits it. Big reverse knifeedge by Hansen, sends Terry over like a chopped tree. Dory in with elbows. Brody in eats a snap mare. Dory goes for a suplex, no, Brody tries to reverse, no, Dory hits it! Hansen in. Bodyslam. Elbow drop. Stomp from second rope. Brody up to the top. Double axehandle from him. Standing powerslam! 15 minutes gone, no let up in action. Forearm smashes from Hansen. Abdominal stretch. Terry tries to come in the ring. Ref stops him. Gutwrench suplex out of the abdominal stretch by Hansen -- fucking COOL spot! Splash by Brody. Dory looks exasperated. Suplex by Brody. Hansen in for more doubleteaming. Elbow smash. Dory eats the turnbuckle. Brody in for a reverse knife edge. Headlock, but Dory hits a back suplex! Tag to Terry! All four men brawling now. Brody tumbles to outside. Uppercuts by Dory on Hansen who irsh whips him to the outside. Terry dumped by Hansen too. The ref (Joe) takes a tuble here too so he doesn't witness the next few mins. Brody goes after Dory and puts him over the announce table. Hansen grabs a table. Holy shit! They nail Dory who is on the announce table with this table three or four times. Pretty hardcore for All Japan in 1984! Terry makes his way over. Dory is completely fucked, and even registers the pain on his poker face. They roll him back in. Terry slams Brody on the table. Hansen and Brody have Dory isolated now. Elbow drop by Hansen. Brody cuts Terry off and sends him back outside. Ref is barely stirring. Dory is still seemingly out in the middle of the ring as Brody tries to drag the ref in. Hansen is choking Dory (or something). Hansen covers as Brody tries to make the ref count. Terry's back in though and he has a chain. He HEADBUTTS the ref!! And he lays him out. Terry with the chain now whips and chokes Hansen and Brody. He's a wildman. One of the red shirted dudes comes in to try to break this up, but Terry nails him. Snapmare with the chain on Hansen. Terry after Brody. Dory still out of it holding his head and back. Hansen and Brody leave through the crowd but Terry goes after them. Dory still struggling in the ring. Terry is on the floor near the entrance to the locker room. Dory's back looks seriously injured as he's struggling to get up. Terry waves the chain at young boys and fans as Dory gets treatment in the ring. Terry has the chain still. Giant Baba comes out to check on Dory who seems like he's broken his back. This was fucking wild. Really enjoyed it. It's not five stars, but completely don't understand this being left off the All Japan set. I'm sure the committee have their reasons, but I completely disagree with them and would recommend anyone to dig up this classic encounter. It goes 20 minutes but is worked like a ten minute sprint. All four guys full of energy. A lot of high spots, with some epic struggles over suplexes. The Hansen and Terry exchanges are great. Dory plays FIP for the most part and the attack on him for the injury angle by Hansen and Brody is brutal. And Dory was fired up, reminiscent of how he was vs. Sheik and Abby or Brody in the singles matches. I also didn't think Brody did much to bring things down, he sold for The Funks, he hit his spots, he didn't lie around in holds AT ALL. This was really good, and would have been top 20 on my AJ Ballot if I'd have had a chance to vote on it. Would be interested to know how others -- whether you submitted a ballott or not -- would go on this one. ****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Parv put over the pace in his description and this match does have a frantic feeling but while that added to the wild nature of his enjoyment for the first ten minutes, it slogged it down for me where the first 12-13 minutes of this match were essentially meaningless and full of your turn, my turn pockets of offense. I was especially excited with the opening stanza and Terry and Hansen going after one another but it resulted in a lot of rope running and shots. This was interesting the first couple of times but with ten minutes of rehash, I was ready to get to the meat of the match. Beyond that, Brody did some things well here with the piledriver and the standing powerslam. However, he still had by far the weakest strikes of the bunch and his bumping was completely obnoxious. This may seem hypocrytical as I am a Taue guy, but the way he went over on every snapmare really made me take notice and him and Terry have a sequence 6 minutes in that I still don't understand where it looks like Terry hits an elbow drop but Brody no sells it and they just move on. The back work on Dory was well done and focused. Hansen overall in this match was very effective to me. Terry did some of his usual All Japan emoting tactics but they serve their purpose and work within the framework of the match overall. The finish was straight shit. Parv seems to like these wild out of control finishes involving the Funks as evidenced by the Abby/Shiek series. Certainly the first half of the decade with All Japan was riddled with shitty countout finishes that may not have been as violent as what we saw here. All of that being said, Terry is a fucking idiot that needs to keep his emotions in check when an entire tournament is on the line. From a META perspective, it was time to give a decisive finish in this series. They had been wrestling each other for years and this made it seem like an ending wasn't in sight. It really didn't sit well with me. Overall, I did enjoy the match but think the opening stanza especially is open to critique. If you appreciate action then I can see the gratitude from it but there wasn't any substance or revolving narrative and it prevented the match from reaching great status. ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu (08/31/86) No play by play on this. I watched it eating my dinner. Really fun and enjoyable to see two of my favourite teams go at it. Terry seemed to be heeling it up here, am I right in thinking Funks were heel in 86? There were some amusing Choshu - Terry interactions here, especially with Terry chanting "CHOSHU" at him. Dory mostly paired off with Yatsu and hit some of his signature offense including the butterfly suplex and a back suplex. Cool little transition into working his leg at one point when he hit a Shinbreaker and they went to work on the leg setting up the spinning toe hold. But then the match peters out with a disappointing count out finish. I guess no one was going to be eating a pin here, it was fun for what it was. *** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 but the way he went over on every snapmare really made me take notice and him and Terry have a sequence 6 minutes in that I still don't understand where it looks like Terry hits an elbow drop but Brody no sells it and they just move on. Was this after the Brody dropkick when Bruiser was on offense? It looked like Terry was taking his drunk punches to a different level, he got up and essentially flopped into a back bump for no reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 Parv and Chad both put over the pace and I, somewhat surprising to myself, lean more towards Chad on this one. Keeping in mind I have no context for anything surrounding this match: Things I liked - - Brody and Hansen's frequent tags and tag-team offense. Hansen is just a monster in this match. These guys pretty much guzzled the Funks though. - Dory's hope spots and token offense. Best worked with Hansen. I loved that he got both guys up for suplexs on the third try. He took a beating in this match too. - The table spots and working the injury on Dory. - After having to watch his brother get his ass kicked and seeing neither really get any offense in on the heels, I don't blame Terry for grabbing the chain and wreaking havoc. Enough was enough. Things I didn't like: - Terry punch drunk selling 2 minutes into the match. - Aforementioned heel guzzling. A lot of repetition there too. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted April 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu (08/31/86) No play by play on this. I watched it eating my dinner. Really fun and enjoyable to see two of my favourite teams go at it. Terry seemed to be heeling it up here, am I right in thinking Funks were heel in 86? There were some amusing Choshu - Terry interactions here, especially with Terry chanting "CHOSHU" at him. Dory mostly paired off with Yatsu and hit some of his signature offense including the butterfly suplex and a back suplex. Cool little transition into working his leg at one point when he hit a Shinbreaker and they went to work on the leg setting up the spinning toe hold. But then the match peters out with a disappointing count out finish. I guess no one was going to be eating a pin here, it was fun for what it was. *** Weirdly Funk mentions this match in his book too, in passing, claims that Choshu went into business for himself in this match and wouldn't give him anything and started shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted June 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2015 Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase (08/31/85) Dory sporting a beard here. Terry is too. This must have been right before Terry went to WWF. DiBiase doesn't have a beard. Nonetheless, this is is some West Texas reunion shit right here. Ted does a lot of trash talking at his old trainers. Hansen's moustache seems a bit thin. Dory and Hansen to start. Criss cross. Dory grabs the ropes. Wily. Elbow and collar tie up. Shoulder berg, no one giving. Headlock by Hansen. Ted in. Double elbow smash. Snapmare. Knee drop. From face lock. Terry in. Lock up with Ted. Backdrop by Ted. Terry bails. Terry vs. Hansen now. Dumps Terry outside for Ted to get in some shots. Choking on bottom rope. Piledriver. Ted in. Elbow smash. Fist drop. Two count. Some nice stiff reverse knife edges from Ted now and a stomp. Sleeper by Ted. Terry fading but has one arm up. Forces his way out but is so dazed he goes to Hansen for a tag who kicks him in the face, ha ha. Tags in and out now working over Terry. Double backdrop. Terry eventually hits a back suplex on Ted and makes it over for the hot tag. Forearm smash by Dory on Ted. But Ted gets a running knee in and tags in Hansen who hits a drop kick. Double forearm smash. Dory manages to hit his butterfly suplex on Ted though. Funks hit a double forearm smash now. Piledriver by Terry. Hansen saves the cover. Neck breaker by Terry. Texas jabs now. Spinning toehold! Hansen in with the save again. Headbutt by Terry. Suplex by Hansen on Terry. Some double teaming on Terry now. Dory in. Awesome European uppercut. Even more awesome scoop powerslam by Ted. Really good sequence of action here. Terry sneaks in with s drop kick. Hansen posts Dory. All four men outside now, I think I know where this is going. Oh no, back in. Double shoulder barge on Dory. Ted runs to the ropes but Dory dumps him on the mat. Goes for ... Texas Cloverleaf!! See that Malenko! Terry grabs Hansen. But he struggles free. Ted looks like he's about to tap any minute. Lariatooooo! Bell goes without a cover. What's happened here? Hansen has his rope and cowbell, nails Dory with it. He gives it to Ted who pauses for a moment and Hansen is like "do it!!" Ted nails his old mentor with the cowbell. Hansen is screaming "DO IT! DO IT!" Ted is smashing this cowbell into Dory's head over and over. Dory is busted open. Terry is in the crowd throwing chairs at the ring. Hansen has a chair and is massacring young boys. Terry has grabbed a row of four chairs which are connected together. Ted flattens Dory with one last chair shot before bailing. Dory completely covered in blood. Holy shit, that is not what I saw coming. I am not sure what the ref's decision was, but I thought this was headed for a predictable double count out only for Hansen and Ted to go full blown heel beatdown. I also liked the drama of Ted hesitating to nail Dory and Hansen like a sadisitic bastard commanding him to do it. I don't know if the Japanese knew the history between DiBiase and the Funks. But I do, and it really added to that post-match. As for the match itself, I really enjoyed it. I thought the early FIP section on Terry was a bit bland, but things picked up when Ted was heel in peril, and Funks were on offense. All Japan was just so loaded with quality in the 80s, I'm not even going to complain about this not being on the 80s set. But it's another Funks match that would have made my top 50. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Garrett Posted June 5, 2015 Report Share Posted June 5, 2015 JVK. Your Love of Jr. is incredible. You have made a tremendous effort here. Been fun reading it. You outta be an honorary Funk Brother. Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, and Jerry Von Funk. Jesse Barr can GTFO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 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. I really want to see more of Steve Keirn from this time period. He looked really good working the more traditional technical babyface style of the time period when he's obviously more famous for his ass kicking brawling days with the Fabs. The stuff afterwards with Dory going crazy and being an unstoppable killer, taking out like 4 guys, was also very different from what I've usually seen out of Dory Funk Jr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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