[1980-08-22-Houston Wrestling] Ivan Koloff vs Tony Atlas

[shoe]

This was a real solid bout. Ivan was great at calling this match. He did a great job at highlighting Atlas strengths. He put over his strength. He put over his speed. He highlighted Tony's great dropkick, I loved the finish of the 1st 2 falls. I loved the post match brawl.I dug the best chant ever of You can't beat Texas. I hated Ivan's over reliance on the nerve hold. Overall, good stuff 2 3/4*. Got some commercials. I loved the break check commercial. They also had a Houston 100 commercial which is something I donated to instead of getting a speeding ticket in the 90's.

[SAMS]

1980-08-22
Houston Wrestling
Tony Atlas vs. Ivan Koloff
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA
Card
★★

This match would best be described as solid. I think mostly that can be attributed to Ivan, despite his over reliance on a nerve hold to Atlas’ trapezius. I was dubious coming into this, seeing that Atlas was going to be in a ⅔ falls match, and to a certain extent I was proved right. All the fire and energy that Atlas showed at Shea Stadium was completely absent here. While Koloff was diving to the outside to stall, playing up his loaded elbow pad and generally showing a lot of character, Atlas sure did feel like a passenger here until the finish. Every time Koloff was outside the ring or doing something that wasn’t engaging his opponent directly, Atlas would just stand in the middle of the ring and do nothing. He didn’t try and play to the crowd at all, and we’ve just seen that this is something he could do. Considering Paul Boesch was playing this up as the main event, I find it surprising that he seemed so unmotivated.
The finish itself was both good and bad. We got a “wild” brawl, which resulted in multiple referees and other wrestlers coming down to the ring to break things up. Koloff was bleeding a ton by this point which was a cool visual. But I found the double DQ a bit farcical. The whole match Koloff had been angling to use his loaded elbow pad. Finally Atlas tore it from him and used his own weapon against him. The referee tried to intervene but Atlas clubbed him in the head for his trouble (considering the age of the referee Atlas should have been reported to Age Concern for this). The referee, after coming round, tried to award the fall and the match to Koloff but then he decided to shove the referee down as well. The referee decided to change his mind again and award it to Atlas and AGAIN Atlas clubbed him in the head. If Atlas was the face here, he was coming across like a bit of a dick. I guess they were trying to convey that he was so heated and in the moment that he was throwing haymakers at anything in his path but a) it didn’t feel like he wasn’t that fired up anyway and b) the action wasn’t that intense. So it felt more absurd and comedic than what they were going for.
Overall, Koloff definitely felt like a solid in-ring hand who led Atlas through what seemed like a tricky match type for him but there were a few wayward steps from both a booking and execution standpoint.