[1985-12-07-WWF-Boston, MA] Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat

[Superstar Sleeze]

Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 12/7/85

 

I gotta say WrestleMania III overshadows a great series of matches (I know hardcores know about Toronto 2/15/87), but I think overall this is an underexplored series even though the main match is so famous. They had amazing chemistry together. I am not going to say this was on par with Savage's selling in the Bret Hart SNME match, but this was damn close. Macho Man takes us to school on how to sell as he does a great job with his arm throughout the match. Just amazing. I loved Macho Man shoving Steamboat at the bell, putting Liz in front of him, Steamboat backs off and he jumps him. It is such a great dick move. Steamboat overwhelms him and throws him shoulder first into the post. It is just textbook arm work here from Steamboat and the selling from Savage is magnificent. They way they work in and out of the armbars is just great. Savage taking those powders to nurse the injury. Steamboat following him out there. All great stuff. I loved Savage using the skin the cat to attack Steamboat and then nail the double axehandle to the floor. The little things Macho Man does like doing the sneak up and then high knee to Steamboat sending him flying over the railing is just great. Savage uses the arm as a way to give Steamboat life, but The Dragon does a great job selling all these sneak attacks. Savage missing the elbow drop really should have been an opening for some that Dragon breathing fire like we would see against the Nature Boy, but don't quite get to those fever pitch levels. They foreshadow the Savage/Tito title switch finish which would be executed two months later in the Boston Garden as Savage pulls something out of his tights and nails Steamboat with it as he brings back into the ring for the win. All in all, just great classic wrestling with the Savage selling arm showing why he is one of the all-time great sellers. ****

[xlynwoodx]

These guys were so smooth and worked perfectly together.  Steamboat worked Savage's arm early.  I liked how they would break up the armlocks with a quick action spot, then return to the mat as Steamboat wore down Savage.  Steamboat got knocked out of the ring and Savage hit the double axehandle to the outside.  It looked a lot better than most dives you see because he doesn't need to wait for Steamboat to be in position to catch him.  A lot of dives have that awkward moment where the person on the outside is standing there watching someone come running towards them and they don't do anything to avoid it.  Savage gets the win via foreign object, Monsoon accuses the virtuous Ms. Elizabeth of giving Savage the object and is forced to apologize after a replay shows it coming out of Savage's tights.