[1979-08-31-Houston Wrestling] Harley Race vs El Halcon

[shoe]

What can I say this was a great match . It also ties into other segments like how the Tully/Mil segment from earlier. It starts with a Killer Tim Brooks essentially saying wrestlers are afraid to face him in a Dog Collar match. This leads to Brody coming out and saying he isn't afraid of Brooks. Finally Harley comes out and Brody and him have a skirmish and we get a great promo.

 

Match opens in the ring and Brody refuses to leave. We get a Harley brawl and Brody fucks him up. Halcon is out and must unmask before the match starts. He does and it's on. Halcon focuses on Harley's cut, and finishes him off quickly. The 2 nd fall is short as well but Harley wins with an Atomic Drop. The 3rd fall is the real juice of the match. We totally see mixing of the styles here. Race is great mixing his style with Halcons. Halcon using some wacky Lucha submissions. Race eventually gets it going and imposes his will on the match and eventually gets the win with a suplex. Again this felt like an incredible segment topped off by a super fun NWA title match. 4*

[Jetlag]

You'll look at these names and wonder how the hell can this match be anything more than good? Here's how. Bruiser Brody does a sit in protest before the match, having just lost a match against Bockwinkel under fishy circumstances. I wouldn't have expected Brody to act like a leftist college student protester, but Harley comes in and kicks him like a dirty hippie, so Brodie kicks the shit out of Harley. Harley is rocked before the match and Halcon gives his all to win the title. A bleeding Harley hanging on by a thread while a voluntarily unmasked Halcon was really pushing himself and wrestling like it was the match of his life was highly entertaining. Halcon busts out all this cool stuff like a beautiful arm trap suplex or punching Race's cut, while Race does his stooging and over the top selling that somehow fits him very well. I also really liked how they kept the hierarchy in tact. Without Race being banged up Halcon probably wouldn't stand a chance against the champ, and they remind you of that by how easily Race fends off Halcon at times. Race would be rocked, but then devastate Halcon with a basic knee drop and remind you who he is. Then you have that 3rd fall which was worked like a lucha title match. This is a little clunky at times and obviously not as good as the previous Race title match, but at minimum a really good, smart match that makes the most of it's resources, considering these are two limited workers.