[1985-10-03-Pro Wrestling USA] Rick Martel vs Terry Gordy

[Superstar Sleeze]

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Terry Gordy - AWA 1985

 

OUI OUI, RICKY MARTEL!!! Gary Michael Capetta is the announcer and Dick Whirly is the ref so I am guessing this is in Philly, which you definitely dont think of as an AWA town. This went to a draw just when it was getting good. I thought this was a great championship bout. They did some fun nearfalls at the start to establish that both men were looking for the win, get the fans invested and put over both men's athleticism. Martel worked a strong headlock base. He was really wrenching at times ala Bob Backlund, getting himself over in a WWF stronghold. In fact, this reminds me very much of a Backlund WWF championship defense with Martel taking a lot of this and being generally superior in wrestling, strength and agility with Gordy bumping and selling well. I loved the headscissors work. Gordy would get bits of offense in, but nothing sustained with Martel finding different ways to get back to the headlock. They went for tit for tat on crossbodies. Gordy mistimed his reverse one, which Bock covered for expertly on commentary stating if Gordy hit it that way it would have been lights out for Ricky Martel. Bock was very good on commentary as expected. Every exchange leads Martel back into headlock. Gordy finally counters definitively with a big backdrop driver! Gordy starts throwing Martel around at will and using the chinlock to recover and sap Martel's energy. I thought this was a very effective heat segment. Trongard informs us there is one minute left and Martel flips out of a suplex and begins his comeback. OUI OUI, IT'S RICKY MARTEL TIME~! He was highstepping his way to victory with his usual awesome comeback. Unfortunately the bell rings. Martel clears the ring of the Freebirds. The best Gordy singles match I have seen in a long time. Ultimately feels incomplete, but a really cool watch. I wish we got a rematch that went longer and felt more climatic. ****1/4

[WingedEagle]

What was the trouble in pinning down a date on this one? Seems unusual for that period.

[Superstar Sleeze]

What was the trouble in pinning down a date on this one? Seems unusual for that period.

I agree with that sentiment. It is listed as August. It is also most likely a Pro Wrestling USA show in Philly or maybe Maryland. So you would think AWA title being defended in Philly or Maryland would not be hard to pin down.

[BruiserBrody]

Found a DVD listing with a lil info:

 

Terry Gordy vs. Rick Martel (August 1985)
The plan was for Gordy to become a serious challenger for Martel’s title, but he was very unreliable as he missed a lot of dates throughout his AWA tenure. They ended up only having a handful of bouts instead of an extended program. This is the only one that made video, a match from Pro Wrestling USA.

[paul sosnowski]

Its PWUSA from Atlantic City

 

[G. Badger]

Rick Martel is certainly a fighting champion and this fast paced challenge from Gordy is proof. This just checked all of the right boxes in the move and storytelling department for me. The other Freebirds are sent to the back and Terry is OK with that. He's going to beat the champion fair and square. Gordy is matching Martel all throughout but, then brings the power based offense to the table. It looks to be too much with the champ taking some hard slams. Don't count Martel out of the match yet!

I just loved this 15 minute match. It truly felt like a title fight. Great stuff

[BruiserBrody]

This was from the first ESPN taping in late August. 

AWA World champion Rick Martel vs. Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy

The Freebirds entrance is not shown, and Martel is already in the ring as well. Eliminating the "Freebird" music and Hayes' schtick sort of removes the aura of the squad for anyone seeing them for the first time. The pageantry would have seriously overshadowed Rick Martel though. 

Gordy bumps around well for the significantly smaller champion. Gordy is trapped in a head scissors and bridges himself up and over onto Martel in an impressive moment. Gordy is working pretty cleanly in the early going, perhaps trying to tell the story of resisting his dark side to avoid a DQ in this major title opportunity. 

Over five minutes in and Gordy is still mostly having a reactive fight, with Martel controlling the pace with moves designed to ground the beast. Gordy finally drops Martel with a nice looking back suplex to take advantage. Gordy follows that out with a snap suplex, which also looked beautiful.  A side slam drives Martel into the mat. Gordy then switches up to wear down holds intermingled with multiple more side slams. 

The ring announcer declares we have one minute left. Instead of Gordy using this as a sign to push for the win, Martel flips out of a side slam attempt and delivers a number of dropkicks and other moves as he fires up. A suplex to the big man comes too late as time expires. The Freebirds apparently run in for a beat down, but this tape of the match cuts this off. 

Martel challenges the Freebirds to a tag team match in the future, then Verne Gagne has to close the show talking about how he wishes he could still get in the ring but is admittedly too damn old.