Abdullah the Butcher

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Timbo Slice]

I nominated Dump and I could see Abby make it thanks to his non-US stuff. Just a force of nature. Might make the bottom of my list.

[BigBadMick]

Can you recommend so stuff? He hasn't made a big impression on me over the years but I'm open minded.

[JerryvonKramer]

Mick, start with those matches vs The Funks from 77-79. I love the 78 one in particular but that is just a phenomenal series. I think the performances from him and Sheik are a masterclass in heel psychology and how to generate heat. Those matches pretty much made the Funks in Japan from what I gather.

[PeteF3]

Hogan vs. Abdullah from NJPW in '83 (or maybe '82) isn't exactly a ****1/2 classic but it's tons of fun. It's exactly what you would want out of Workrate Hulkster vs. Abby.

 

I like both Abdullah-Billy Robinson matches. One is Robinson in a crazy brawl, one's Abby in a wrestling match. Those two have much better chemistry than you would expect.

 

Abby also had two fun matches in Ft. Worth that encompass what made him so scary: his demolition of Jerry Oski and his brawl with Brody (that actually ends with Brody laying in a bloody unconscious mess and Abdullah attacking everything that moves, including Gary Hart).

 

I don't know if I'll vote for Abby but I'm definitely considering it. He's pretty much the ultimate "character work" candidate--moreso than Piper, moreso than Hogan, moreso than Dusty. But he played that character to the hilt.

[NintendoLogic]

I have Abdullah below Brody.

[Timbo Slice]

I really only know the Japan stuff but I know there's some Puerto Rico stuff that is probably his best. Haven't seen much of that yet.

[Lee Casebolt]

A short summary of my afternoon so far...

 

"Here's Abdullah vs Billy. Let's watch that!"

 

*watches*

 

That was fucking terrible. Maybe Billy's a bad matchup for him.

 

*watches Abby/Carlos Colon *6-15-86*

 

That was terrible. Do I just not like Colon?

 

*watches Colon/Hercules Ayala 1-6-89*

 

That was badass. Maybe it was just a bad match?

 

*watches Hansen/Brody vs Abby/Colon, '84 lumberjack match*

 

Sort of a mess. Abby's clearly the weak link here.

 

*Abby/Yoji Anjoh 10-27-01*

 

No expectations going in, but how can you find this and not watch it? It's kind of a fun way to kill five minutes, but it's all Anjoh.

 

Against everyone from Billy Robinson to Bam Bam Bigelow, Carlos Colon to Yoji Anjoh, Abdullah manages to be the worst guy in the ring. He's sometimes effective at getting himself over, but he does virtually nothing to make anyone else look good. I'm with NintendoLogic - well below Brody, and nowhere near my 100.

[WingedEagle]

My afternoon has included Abby & Sheik vs. The Funks. Christ is Abby good here. He brings the maniacal, lip smacking, blubbering, stabbing, chopping, juicing madness, but in the same breath he delivers cowardly heel by bailing out on a babyface and some incredible sneaky goodness by carefully working in his foreign object attacks to avoid being caught by the ref. Where do I find more of this Abby?

[Laney]

I've never been a fan of Abdullah the Butcher, but I admittedly haven't seen any of his major matches. I took the time to watch some Abby matches that I have seen receive some praise and others that just looked interesting. My goal was to select matches from a variety of opponents. Here are my thoughts (keep in mind these matches were not watched in a logical order):

 

Abdullah the Butcher vs Terry Funk - AJPW 12/1/78

Not much of a match here as this runs 6:35. Abdullah doesn’t display any offense besides stabbing with a fork. Does show that he was very over with the Japanese crowd. This match is a great testament to Funk’s selling and makes more of a case of why Funk was so great.

Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. - AJPW 9/19/78

I really enjoyed this match, but Abby seemed to be the weak link in this one. This match is basically Abby & Sheik cheating and stabbing the Funks until they stop putting up with their shit and an all-out brawl ensues. Great heel psychology here, but it seemed like Sheik did a better job here at coming off as a sneaky bastard. Terry was the star of this one and really shined in his comeback here. Dory showed some great fire as well as it looks like he was attempting to kill the Sheik at the end. Abby did a great job of selling for Funk in the brawl, but overall I feel like he was outperformed by everyone else in the match.

Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. - AJPW 12/15/77

Loved this one and probably the best showcase of Abby that I’ve watched so far. All 4 men looked good in this one, but once again, Terry seemed to be the standout. This match had more back and forth wrestling than the previous, but once again ended in a brawl. Not as crazy of a brawl as the previous match, but Abby was able to get in more offense than just stabbing here. Abby came across as a monster, while Sheik seemed to be the more dastardly one of the team; great heel work by both. Highlight of this one for me was Terry getting his arm carved up and then coming back in the ring all fired up after getting it bandaged. Dory arm dragging people during the pull-apart deserves a mention as well.

Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. - AJPW 7/15/79

This is an enjoyable 2/3 falls match with a hot crowd. This really shows how loved the Funks were in Japan. Sheik and Abby are up to their usual antics and do a great job of drawing the ire of the crowd. Some brawling near the end of the first fall. Second fall showcases Abby just crushing both of the Funks with elbow drops. Awesome visual here of a bloodied Terry getting fired up and going after Abby. Third fall is another good showcase of Abby as he takes a lot of punishment here from Dory. Chaos soon breaks out and the referee loses all control. Once again, Terry Funk comes across looking the best in this, but this seems to better showcase Abby than the previous matches I watched.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Hulk Hogan - NJPW 4/1/82

This was an entertaining match. Abby does a good job of selling Hogan’s offense in the beginning of the match and then resorts to his usual stabbing routine to gain the advantage. Some good selling from Hogan as well until this devolves into a brawl that is typical for Abby’s matches.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Billy Robinson - 12/9/76

Okay match here. Abby does his typical brawling and then Billy Robinson makes a great comeback and brings it to him. Billy Robinson seemed to outshine Abby in this one.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Billy Robinson - 2/3 Falls - 10/18/78

This is not your typical Abdullah the Butcher match. This first fall was kept more to a Billy Robinson style match and it had some decent work here. Abby seemed to blow up a bit near the end. Robinson dominated Abby quite a bit and you get to see some of Abby’s ability to sell when needed.

2nd fall Billy Robinson totally dominates in the beginning stages until he ends up tied up in the ropes with Abby head butting his knee. Creative spot there and Robinson sells his knee to perfection throughout the 2nd fall. Robinson can no longer stand on his leg and still tries to challenge Abby after the referee deems that Robinson cannot continue. Abby maniacally laughs and poses with the championship.

Awesome work here from both guys.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Bruiser Brody - 4/10/81

Nothing special about this match. Just a forgettable brawl.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Andre the Giant - WWC 1983

Decent match here, but nothing groundbreaking. Abby gets his ass kicked in the beginning of this match and then turns things around with a throat thrust. Typical brawl for a double count out. Short match, but enjoyable.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Dusty Rhodes ~ 1983

Abdullah jumps Dusty before the match starts and bloodies him up. Abby dominates Dusty in the beginning of the match before Dusty makes a comeback, ref bumps, and a brawl ensues.

Nothing bad here, but nothing to make a GOAT case for Abdullah the Butcher to be in the top 100

Abdullah the Butcher vs Mark Lewin - WCW Australia 70’s

Fun stuff here. This is grainy black and white footage and I can’t help but feel that it adds to the grittiness of this match. This is the most agile that I’ve seen Abby perform. He goes back and forth with Lewin here until Lewin gets his head caught in the ropes. The animal in Abby comes out here as it goes to town just raining down headbutts and biting Lewin while he is stuck.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Carlos Colon - 6/15/86

This match is Carlos Colon getting vengeance for Abby attempting to blind him with ammonia. This is basically a long squash match that goes about 25 minutes. Abby takes an absolute ass kicking in this one as Carlos just rains down punches and gouges at Abby’s eyes. The doctor at ringside tries to stop this several times but Abdullah keeps continuing until the ref finally calls for the bell. Good storytelling of Carlos getting revenge in front of his hometown crowd, but this gets a little repetitive and goes too long.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Pedro Santos

Just because I wanted to see Abby squash a jobber. Pedro Santos is wrestling Abby after his wife gave birth earlier in the day. For his bravery he gets chocked out with a coat hanger. Short match here as Abby is quickly DQed and puts a beating on Santos. This does a great job of putting Abby over as a monster.

Abdullah the Butcher vs Ricky Fuyuki

Another squash match. Abdullah actually gets a pinball victory on this one as he hits a bottom rope splash “just like a triple whopper” according to the commentator. Fun squash here.

Overall thoughts

Abdullah the Butcher is a lot better than I would have given him credit for before I watched these line of matches. He was excellent at creating a character and had an aura about him of a monster that just wanted to maim people. However, this character would not allow Abby to exhibit a lot of depth as a performer. Going into an Abby match you knew exactly what you were going to get out of Abby. That being said, Abdullah would do the same schtick in every match and whether it was a good or unforgettable match was largely left up to how his opponents would react to his offense and fire back.

With that being said, Abdullah the Butcher was great at creating a character and knew how to draw a crowd reaction. However, he was very one-dimensional and I feel like his best performances were due to other people working with his style. I have a newfound respect for Abby as a performer, but I feel like he most likely won't make my top 100.

[SevenKeys]

I really enjoyed that 12/1/78 AJPW match , abdullah looks like a real bastard of a monster and funk a sympathetic hero. Thought it was a fun little 5 minute match that did everything it hoped to accomplish

[goodhelmet]

Abby was the scariest wrestler for me to watch as a kid. He felt really unpredictable. I won't have him on my list but I enjoy watching him carve people up.

[Goodear]

He may have felt unpredictable at the time, but looking back it seems like Abby was locked into a serious rut of stab, stab, stab followed with a meaty elbow and then getting into a disqualification. Don't get me wrong, Abdullah for all of the repetition never seemed boring to me as his character transcended blow-by-blow description as the matches were presented as more of a descent into madness rather than an athletic competition. I don't think he will work his way into my top 100 based on a couple of different factors (my general distaste for blood for the sake of blood) but it wasn't a watch completely devoid of enjoyment.

[JerryvonKramer]

One thing people don't often talk about with Abdullah is that by 1980, he'd already been wrestling for 22 years. In terms of "miles on the clock" he had already had 100s of matches before the 80s even begin. We don't have his first decade on tape.

 

It's not really an excuse for him, but the vast majority of Abby matches see him past his prime.

 

I think he also learned how to generate heat from The Sheik, and -- just like him -- that meant being wedded to certain formulas that got over. There are some people who argue "well if it got over, he was doing something right". But I wonder if Abby got lazy with it?

 

I still want to see some of those brawls from Puerto Rico.

[Dylan Waco]

The 91 stadium brawl with Colon is great, but Abby is not even close to Colon's best opponent. I love Abby, but Colon got as much or more out of guys like Steve Strong and Hercules Ayala

[Lee Casebolt]

From an admittedly small sample size, Colon vs Ayala is worlds better (23? could be) than Colon vs Abby.

[El McKell]

Watched the trilogy against the Funks, the Hogan match, and the two Billy Robinson matches mentioned in this thread.

The Funk matches got better from first one to last, with the 78 one being very enjoyable but Abby was the worst performer to me in those.

The Billy Robinson wild brawl sucked and the more technical match was fun in the first fall but lost steam as it went and by the finish I basically didn't give a shit about it, which is the opposite of what should happen.

The Hogan match was the worst of the bunch, just chops, fork stabbings and a hulk up and also Hogan doing a big splash right onto Abby's knees and then selling? Was Abby just incapable of getting his knees up for the spot? If so why do the spot at all?

 

Abdullah the Butcher is not making my list

[Badlittlekitten]

Abdullah -along with Dump - will be in the top half of my list, no doubt about it. A scary, mesmerising storm of violence. Wrestling's sorely missing these kind of acts today.

[Dylan Waco]

Wanted to bump this to put this Abby v. Jovica match on the radar:

 

 

This is by far the best Jovica match I've ever seen and probably one of the top three or four Abby matches I've ever seen. For those who are considering him it's worth giving this one a look.

[Goodear]

I'm curious as to why you think that Dylan. To me, it appears to be another Abdullah the Butcher standard brawl to me with the highlight being Abdullah's selling of the body punches maybe 5 minutes into the match. The ending strolls around the ring to touch the ring posts struck me as being too casual and easy to really getover any sort of struggle. Jovica did not add much to the proceedings as this was a clear 'Abdullah match' with the usual stuff he does.

[Wade Garrett]

Thanks Dylan Waco for that clip.

 

I think Abby will make my list. Badlittlekitten said it best.

[Dylan Waco]

I'm curious as to why you think that Dylan. To me, it appears to be another Abdullah the Butcher standard brawl to me with the highlight being Abdullah's selling of the body punches maybe 5 minutes into the match. The ending strolls around the ring to touch the ring posts struck me as being too casual and easy to really getover any sort of struggle. Jovica did not add much to the proceedings as this was a clear 'Abdullah match' with the usual stuff he does.

My review written some time ago:

 

I thought this was pretty great. I had absolutely no expectations coming in which may have helped this, but they had me from the jump as Abby is wearing an executioner hood and ambushes Jovica at the bell busting him open. Jovica works the whole match covered in blood, but the most amazing thing about this is how much Abby gives him. Abby takes a couple of really awesome slow mo bumps in this, and even spills out to the floor at one point. I loved the transitions here as Abby was on the defensive a ton, but would come back with a well placed boot, or a shot with the fork, or cut off Jovica trying to get to the corners by falling to the floor. Jovica for his part made great use of the chain, whipping the shit out of Abby with it, chocking him, smashing him in the face with it, et. You could argue that the attempts at the end of the match were a little "your turn, my turn" but I really bought them and Abby sprinting with forearms to keep Jovica down ruled. I also loved the finish with Abby almost getting to the fourth corner, when Jovica pulls the chain up and wallops him in the nuts and then runs around to smack all four corners. This was some good shit right here.

[elliott]

When I first made my way to internet wrestling discussion, Abdullah was the representation of everything I hated in wrestling. Almost 25 years later and Abdullah has become someone that haven't just learned to appreciate, I would say I now am a genuine fan of Abdullah and I can't imagine a list without him. I love his matches against Carlos Colon, Terry Funk, Giant Baba, he even has one of the handful of great Brody singles matches. I would strongly encourage folks to watch his matches from the early 70s because he's a much better athlete than you'd expect if your frame of reference is 80s and 90s Abby. 

[elliott]

I call him Abby.

He may look like a cabby,

With his arms so flabby,

His boobs very saggy,

Long pants extra baggy,

And probably a little gassy,

He was nobodies lackey.

 

I call him Abby.

I used to think he was crappy.

But now know he was scrappy

His forehead is so scabby

His offense is so stabby,

Or he could get real scratchy

And that shit makes me happy.

 

I call him Abby.

As a person I'm glad he

Is actually quite classy. 

His style I'd call snappy.

He never looks shabby 

What more could this man be?

 

I call him Abby.

And when it comes to fattys,

This one is so savvy, 

And he shall always be

A top 50 GWE.

I call him Abby