[1982-01-01-NWA-St. Louis, MO] Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes (2/3 falls)

[Loss]

This isn’t complete, but we still get 22 minutes of footage with a healthy amount of action from each fall. I don’t think it’s clipped much. Fun seeing Dusty work the mat! The early part of this is Dusty working over Ric’s arm and going for quick pins while Flair tries to bridge out. Dusty is a competent mat wrestler. It’s wild seeing this because I’m used to the more character-driven flip-flop-fly-type action from these two where they stay vertical and Flair plays pinball for Dusty’s elbows. So seeing them do a chess match where they fight over a gutwrench suplex is something else. The crowd stays with them for this though, probably because they are in St. Louis and both guys are stars, so they can get away with it.

 

I’m also impressed with how they pace this in such a classic way – lots of slow build with bursts of really fast action before they slow things down again. Athletically, Flair was at his peak in the early 80s, so every quick burst of action looks really good.

 

I love the finish of each of the falls. The first fall finish puts Flair over both as a great wrestler and a cheating asshole, and it’s kind of a surprise to see Dusty take a pin from the champ in the first fall of a match, especially when it’s relatively clean. The second fall was Dusty’s retaliation and a decisive victory, coming back after Flair dominated the early part. They really do a great job putting over Flair’s resourcefulness in this one. He’s managed to be dominant before the third fall without even going for the leg, which makes it a bigger deal when he finally does. There’s a great sequence where Flair throws kicks at Dusty, which pisses him off enough to try to stand right up and fight him, but he collapses under the weight of his bad knee. Then Flair locks in the figure four and we get a time call of 30 minutes elapsed about 19 minutes into the clip, so not too much shaved at all. Pretty typical finishing stretch that was still fresh at the time, with Dusty putting Flair’s own figure four on him. Then Dusty goes for a press slam and his bad knee gives out, with Flair collapsing on top for the win. Great booking and surprisingly great action makes a great match.

 

****

[shoe]

I think this is my favorite Flair/Dusty match. It's also Sam Munchnik retirement card.

[WingedEagle]

It really something the see the main event of Sam Muchnick's retirement show. Loss hit the big points here as this was not your typical Flair vs. Dusty. The matwork and struggle over a gutwrench suplex really stood out, as did Dusty's punching and the clean simplicity of the booking in each fall. I don't recall if Dusty is remembered as an all time puncher but he looked like one here. The work in each set up the finish that followed very nicely as well as the match's overall progression with the knee work finally paying off as the deciding factor.

 

This doesn't rival Starrcade '85 which remains my favorite Flair-Dusty encounter and a legit classic, but its not far off and for all we know may have reached that level without clipping.

 

****1/4

[peachchaos]

[Superstar Sleeze]

Fuckkkkk I cant believe they didnt tape that Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter title defense. Biggest discoveries of the St. Louis Wrestling footage was how good those two were. Also Early Dawn is a fucking badass name for a wrestler. 

 

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes - St. Louis 1/1/82, Sam Muchnick Retirement Show 2/3 Falls

 I want to say we get like 3/4ths of this so we can judge this pretty fairly. I dont see this as a lost classic, but it is still entertaining wrestling. We JIP to Dusty working Flair's arm and Flair takes the turnbuckle bump arm first. I really like when he does the Flair Flop through the ropes outside the ring. I love 80s Flair use of short strikes to the breadbasket to break his opponent's rhythm and create offense for himself. We see that when he doesnt give Dusty a clean break and uses the short knee and then lunges with the headbutt to the gut out of the corner. That is the one that lets him take over. Flair gets too chinlock-y for me. I like Flair working in and out of headlocks, but this was too stationary. Dusty does not sell this like 5 minute chinlock at all and just has all this energy. He misses the big elbow drop that he was using as a finish at least in St. Louis. Flair pounces with a Sunset Flip, cradle for the first fall. Second fall, Dusty has a terrible sleeper on Flair but I have seen worse. I like the symmetry of this fall where Dusty hits the Big Elbow and wins the fall. It bear mentioning that Gene Kiniski's performance in this compared to Starrcade 1983 is night and day. Here he is a presence and tastefully interacts with Flair. Two years later he looks like a confused old man that is just interrupting the flow of the match. As you will read about at Sam's Retirement Banquet, Gene Kiniski absolves himself of his Starrcade 1983 sins with a great promo at that. I liked the third fall the most by a country mile. Terrific wrestling. Lots of Dusty charisma early in the fall with the Bionic Elbow and the Flip Flop & Fly! Flair comes back with a toe kick right above the knee! What a dick! Great leg work by Flair, he was on fire, loved the use of the Strut. What a jackass! Great selling by Dusty. Dusty reverses the Figure-4 and then applies his own! This is just classic. In the KC title change, Dusty gave out on a suplex attempt and then Flair scrambled for the pin. Dusty is able to execute the suplex, but it is on a bodyslam his knee gives out and Flair falls on top for the pin. Really enjoyed the third fall would give that **** on its own, first two falls were more like *** so lets split the difference. ***1/2

[tcg91]

Special referee Gene Kiniski, Sam Muchnick's retirement and a big crowd: this felt like a big deal. 10 minutes are missing, but it's still over 20 minutes of a good fight. Dusty cared and bumped a lot, indulged in mat sequences and never dragged at any point of the match. The pace was quite good, considering that the match lasted that long. All the falls were good and convincing, I am not a big fan of Flair starting working on the leg literally a few minutes before the end, but Dusty's knee giving out was a great finish to the whole thing
***1/2