[1978-02-10-Houston Wrestling] Harley Race vs Wahoo McDaniel

[shoe]

This is for the NWA Title. Right off the bat both guys throw their big weapon. In Wahoo's world it's the chop. With Race it's the headbutt.

Everything it seemed here had an extra oomph to it. Wahoo is using the head lock to work the match around. I marked big for Wahoo's cross body. Harley using a headbutt into the ribs is so nasty. Wahoo's Butterfly Suplex was great. Loving Wahoo firing up with the big chops.Then pretty much Wahoo does the total banana peel finish.

 

The 2nd fall Race goes back to the ribs. He delivers a nasty knee drop into the ribs. Harley with the front facelock using his weight to work over Wahoo. Now Wahoo's comeback with the chops are so awesome. Race bumps so great for them.

 

Now the 3rd fall is a big old fight. Both guys throwing bombs. Race is a bloody mess. Both guys throwing hands. Just an epic battle. Overall some great shit. 4 1/2*

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Wahoo McDaniel - Houston 2/10/78 2 Out of 3 falls

First Fall: Harley by the numbers. Working in and out of holds. Lots of spots and movement. Not as soulless as that Backlund match performance as there is some stooging here, but still there is just not a lot of character work. Wahoo is great in this. Asskicking babyface. The crossbody block was a good nearfall. I really liked his chops and the butterfly suplex was a great throw. They were working in and out of headlocks. Harley would butt his head or throw a southpaw punch and Wahoo would roar back. I really, really liked Harley nasty headbutts up against the ropes towards the end of the first fall. Wahoo comes firing back. Harley is able to hit an Atomic Drop that sends Wahoo into the buckles. Harley finishes him off with a series of kneedrops to the head (looked great) and a vertical suplex?!? Man I have seen an abdominal stretch and a vertical suplex decide a fall today. The Late 70s were a strange time indeed! The finish felt anti-climatic even if it was logical. Harley 1-0. 

Second Fall: Harley looks to press the advantage, Wahoo tries to comeback, but Harley butts him in the stomach. Harley gets a couple kneedrops into the abdomen. I really wished this went somewhere as Wahoo was doing some great selling. Harley gets two on a piledriver. Then he settles into a front facelock. Sensible he got two nearfalls but wanted to sap more of Wahoo's energy. Wahoo's comeback began with a knee to the head to break the hold and then some vicious chops! He was lighting Harley up! Harley goes over the top and Wahoo sends him into the post. Wahoo is killing. Harley takes a couple big bumps off the chops and Wahoo takes the second fall. I know this is 1978 but these falls are not exciting. It is not the moves. There is a good way to a simple, logical finish and make it exciting. These feel very logical, but not exciting. Tied 1-1 

Third Fall: The best fall! A fire fight breaks out. Excellent chops, punches and lots of shots to the midsection. There are a lot of momentum shifts but they are all earned. It is two men that are battling for the richest prize in the sport and they are scrapping. The action spills to the outside. Harley slams Wahoo's head into the post. Again, NO, block...Wahoo slams the Champion's head into the post drawing blood. There is an incident in the stands and the police swarm a fan. In the ring, Harley is wearing the proverbial crimson mask. Wahoo is pouring it on. Chops galore and another beautiful Butterfly Suplex. I love Harley puts both feet over the bottom rope he wants to make sure the ref sees it. Leave nothing up to chance! Wahoo his thunderous chop similar to the one that won him the second fall, BUT as he leaps for the cover he eats the knees of Race. Harlye tries to mount a comeback...O'Connor Roll by Wahoo...Harley grabs the trunks and 1-2-3! That finish is always a great heel finish.

Definitely one of the better Harley outings, some good offense. Wahoo roared in this match. I wish we had so much more prime Wahoo. The finishes in the first two falls were a bit anti-climatic. Solid NWA Championship title defense. ****

 

[G. Badger]

This was great 2/3 falls match. I can't do a better write up than the folks above. I waited a while to watch this since I'm lukewarm on Harley but, this was a doozy. Wahoo just tees off on the champion and Race's bumps are fantastic. Of course his headbutts and knee drops look vicious as ever.

Do watch for the fan wildin' out in the front row on the camera side of the ring. He's the guy the fuzz have to grab in fall #3. It's pretty awesome. If you like to people watch the crowd during matches then, you gotta watch this one

It is a bit of a distraction since it takes like 5 officers get escort the dude but, Wahoo and Race don't let it phase them. Loved the finish! The Chief almost had it!! So close!

Great stuff

[War is Raw]

As far as kayfabe storytelling goes, this was a perfect traveling heel NWA title defense, and because Harley won 2 falls he lost no heat even though Wahoo was shown to be the "better man".

1st fall: A stiff wrestling match where Wahoo was in control. Lots of shine. He may have been out for revenge, but seemed to wrestle scientifically, significantly that he wanted the title more than revenge. Since Wahoo works off multiple headlock sequences, the action comes to a halt at times (at least Harley is moving his legs), but the buildup and payoff will eventually be there. Harley is great a selling, bumping, and making Wahoo look strong, not that Wahoo needs any help in that department. It's not the vertical suplex which truly did in Wahoo, it's the atomic drop which bounces Wahoo's head into the middle turnbuckle, then the knee drop to the head, and THEN suplex for the three. A long 13 minutes, but it's 1978 when wrestling was real. Wahoo needs a two fall comeback so the tension is there.

2nd fall: Please note that Wahoo kicked out on ONE for Race's piledriver. Things pick up here, with both men showing more offense, although Harley works off the front facelock a bit long. Wahoo had more varied offense in 1978 than 1985, so I could only imagine what he was like n his true younger days. Action spills outside a little bit. Wahoo's finisher is a weird falling elbow to the face. The weirder thing is that he winds up spamming it in the third fall to no avail. I agree- old school 2/3 falls were always odd to me in terms of how they end falls. At least we didn't get the infamously lame DQs or double countouts here.

3rd fall: This is now the match everyone expected to see. Double juice. Wild brawl. Action. Near counts. Finish kinda botched as it was hard to see Race pull the tights to hold three (1+2 were legal). If he did it well, it could hardly be seen on camera.

Conclusion: entertaining match outside of the restholds (so felt a little longer than 30 minutes- which is a great time allotment). Perfect psychology in terms of storytelling for the NWA champ vs local hero. Both roles played to a tee. Character work A+.  Both men gave it their all and paced it to end in a chaotic crescendo. Lots of varied offense and violence. Both men looked super tough and realistic. Fans enjoyed it, as did I decades later in the future. God bless Harley Race and Wahoo McDaniel.