[1982-10-22-Houston Wrestling] Nick Bockwinkel vs Tony Atlas

[shoe]

This has no commentary so I believe it has never been seen before. I was really curious with what Bock could get out of Atlas. Matt D and I were chatting and he said that it felt like Bock was working with Atlas like someone who could beat him, and not just a monster. I really agree with him. Flair I feel would have done the Sting formula with him. Here Bock was great as the World Champ. Their was no begging off. It was the champ versus #1 contender. We start off with some exchanging of holds and Atlas takes control on Bock's arm. He works it over for a bit, and then transitions onto the leg. Bock reverses it and delivers 6 quick nasty punches to Tony's leg. I really liked Bock's work on the leg. It was very rugged. Tony's comeback is good and he incorporates some leg selling here. He does drop it a bit but not overtly bad. Toward the finish it gets pretty hot. Bock is busted open and is great at the long term selling the match. I loved the finish. This was a great Bock performance, and I want to say my favorite Tony Atlas match I've seen. 3 1/2*

[paul sosnowski]

This is an AWA World Title Match, Bockwinkel had just regained the title from Otto Wanz on October 9th