Ric Flair vs. Brett Sawyer (2/3 falls) (4/10/82)

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Ric Flair vs. Brett Sawyer (2/3 falls) (4/10/82)

Disc 4

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​First fall: ​This is a pretty even scientific contest most of the way, with Hack slightly outwrestling Flair. Eventually (and inevitably), the fists start flying, and Hack widens his advantage. Finally, he puts Flair in the sleeper, and Flair tries to run Hack into the corner to escape. Hack shoves off, and Flair hits chest first. Hack's ready for him with a small package, but Flair reverses (without the aid if tights, from what I can see) and scores the three count to go up one fall to none with about fifteen minutes of disc time remaining.

 

When Don said during his introduction that the World champion seldom appeared on TV, I was ready to laugh out loud until I realized that this was 1982. Even so, I'm pretty sure Flair was doing interviews on WTBS fairly often; he just wasn't actually wrestling.

 

Frank discusses Buddy's challenge thoroughly in the first few minutes of the match and does an excellent job detailing the similarities between Buddy and Flair. He doesn't mention Verne Gagne at any point, though, or that they actually trained together for a while. I'm pretty sure that Buddy (under his real name) was a frequent opponent of Flair's during his early days as well. For what it's worth, the Playboy doesn't bother Flair in the least here, and why should he? Each of them are the other for the most part except for where they choose to ply their trade. Flair was even as fat as Buddy at one point early in his career.

 

Hack doesn't get a whole lot of mention, but he's doing quite well for himself so far. Frank brings up an interesting point: Both Hack and Flair use the figure four as a finisher, so each of them also knows how to counter it, which should make the inevitable race to lock it in first a big part of the match's strategy..

 

If I'm not mistaken, Buddy chose Curt as his special referee for the match against Flair, which is what started their epic feud.

 

Second fall: ​This fall starts out as even as the first fall was, but Flair eventually manages to take control and punish Hack both inside and outside the ring. After he scores several close two counts, he decides it's time to wrap things up, so he goes for the figure four, only for Hack to catch him in a small package. He can't reverse it this time, and Hack scores the three count. We're even at a fall apiece with a little less than four minutes of disc time remaining.

 

Unlike the Billy Jack-Harley Race match which I reviewed earlier, this one has a strong control section by Flair which shows just how talented he is. Seeing Flair executing shoulderbreakers and gut wrench suplexes is a bit surprising, not because he can't do it but because he did it so seldom under Crockett and Dusty. Maybe if he had he would have provided the television audience with a more palatable alternative to Hogan.

 

Flair's already being talked about in the same breath as guys like Harley and Jack Brisco, although Frank takes care to say that he'll have to amass a track record before we know for sure how good he is. In many ways, Flair was something the territories had never seen before as champion unless one of them was lucky enough to get an appearance by Superstar Billy Graham as WWWF champ, and to quote Flair's good friend Bobby Heenan, comparing Flair to Superstar is like comparing horse manure to ice cream, at least in the ring.

 

The crowd really wants Hack to be the one to defeat Flair, but as much as they love him, most of them also probably don't want Buddy anywhere near the belt for fear that even as he travels the world, he'll make sure that the Northwest never forgets who the champion is.

 

​Third fall: ​It's desperation time for Hack, so he pulls out all the stops, including beating Flair to a pulp in the corner. He then catches Flair's leg as he attempts a kick and locks on the figure four, but Flair makes it to the ropes. Undaunted, Hack tries to whip Flair out of the corner but is reversed. He goes up to the second rope and tries to catch Flair with a flying bodypress, but the momentum puts the champion on top, and he holds on for the winning three count.

 

Frank does a great job putting over Flair's desperation to hang on to the title in both the second and third falls, despite the fact that he led 1-0 and that Hack has to beat him twice to win. Most champions don't wrestle desperately unless they have to come from ​down ​a fall, which makes Flair's performance unique.

 

If he'd won the match, Hack would have been the youngest NWA World champion in history, as Frank points out. This match was in April of '82, and he wouldn't turn twenty-one until August.

 

I thought for sure that we'd hear from Buddy again before this match was over, or that he'd even interfere on Flair's behalf to make sure he kept the belt so he (Buddy) could win it himself. This shows that I've probably watched too much mid-eighties JCP for my own good.