[1971-12-09-JWA] Dory Funk Jr vs Seiji Sakaguchi

[paul sosnowski]

This is for the NWA World Heavyweight Title and is 2 out of 3 falls

[aaeo_]

The twentyseventh generation copy VHS rip on Youtube has terrible video quality but this is wonderful. All the matwork in the first ten minutes was very good. Funk isn't a cheating heel but he still riles up the crowd. When Sakaguchi takes the first fall, they go nuts. Funk comes back by being a vicious asshole, throwing a series of strikes and tossing Sakaguchi out of the ring. The last two falls are very quick, much heavier on nearfalls than other stuff from the era I've watched. Funk ties it with a backdrop. Sakaguchi's seconds are mad at the ref from counting the second fall too quickly. They refuse to leave the ring so Funk just goes over to the corner and starts savagely kneeing Sakaguchi. It looks like they kind of shoot on each other a bit, there's kickouts at 1 and no-selling and Funk's knees are barely worked. It makes for an entertaining watch but it probably would've been a better match if the third fall went smoothly. Funk takes the win with his underhook suplex. Especially in its last ten minutes, this match feels oddly ahead of its time.

I also watched Inoki vs. Dory Funk this morning and I really get a kick out of Inoki and Sakaguchi running JWA's very loose ropes.

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr. vs Seiji Sakaguchi - JWA 12/9/71 Two out of Three Falls

Very interested by this match as most JWA matches feature either Baba or Inoki, so this is a seemingly rare glimpse to see what Sakaguchi future New Japan lieutenant could do when left to his own devices. This NWA Championship belt is the generation before the Ten Pounds of Gold and Junior has Terry & Dicky Murdoch with him. 

First Half: Very enjoyable NWA Championship wrestling. I do not understand people that say Junior is dry or slow. His European Uppercuts look phenomena (the fired off a couple off at the beginning and even went for the Butterfly Suplex early, but surrendered)  and he is always shooting for takedowns or working in and out of holds. No one would confuse Dory with Harley or Flair, but he does let Sakaguchi win most of the mini-battles in the beginning. Lots of great Fireman Carries and I loved Junior's drop toehold and seamless roll into short leg scissors (calf-slicer). Sakaguchi has a nice power out. They do the Benoit/Scorpio monkey flip/knucklelock sequence in 1971 and Dory ends up in a body scissors. I am sure other people aped it even before Benoit/Scorpio, but they were the first I ever saw do it and I remember my mind was blown. Junior expertly transitions this Body Scissors into a Boston Crab. Sakaguchi powers out again. Dory is maybe looking for an abdominal stretch but he executes a banana split roll-up. Sakaguchi proficiently transitions this into an Inverted Deathlock ala Jushin Liger and his leaves Dory hobbled. Sakaguchi is like a shark smelling blood and zeroes in on the leg. Dory escapes to the outside and Terry & Dicky massage the leg. This match has been sneaky. I was just vibing with the matwork and all of sudden we got serious drama on our hands. Sakaguchi tries for an abdominal stretch too close and Dory biels out. Sakaguchi executes a nice single leg pick up from his knee. I love the tenacity. In the spot of the match thus far, Junior applies a headscissors with his ankles instead of his knees and it looked painful as hell. He then snapped Sakaguchi off. Awesome spot. Enjoying this one and excited to see where it goes in the backhalf.  

Got hungry and was listening to Jericho's pod and found Headbanger's Ball was back so I needed to check that out. I am back now with the second half. 

Second Half: Dory comes out from firing from the headscissors as Sakaguchi attempted another single leg pick up. European Uppercuts then the Funk family tradition of crashing down on an opponent's neck & spine when they are sitting. It looks brutal. I love how Sakaguchi fights through Junior's offense and earn his comeback with stiff overhand chops. Crowd comes alive for the backbreaker but really loses it for the Atomic drop! 1-2-3! First fall to Sakaguchi. Terry & Murdoch look worried. Second fall goes longer than I expected. When it spilled to the outside, I thought Sakaguchi was going to drop the fall by countout. Dory gets pissed when he cant negotiate the Buttefly Suplex. Terry and Murdoch jump on the apron. Sakaguchi grabs a sleeper...Dory slips out tries ab stretch...Sakaguchi bucks him off...headlock...Dory back suplex 1-2-3! All knotted up. Dory reminds me of Flair when he was in a grueling contests, really selling overwhelmed. The Sakaguchi camp is claiming it was only two, but Sakaguchi looks rough. They came out all Slam Bang in the third fall. Both men looked beat up and exhausted, they were just going to throw it all out there. Dory hits that gnarly splash on the sitting opponent. I love that the finish is a Butterfly Suplex. I have seen enough Junior matches to know I like him a good bit, but this cements it for me that Junior is a fun, Slam Bang wrestler. Sakaguchi was fine, but he just does not have the presence of a Baba or Inoki. ****

[Mr JMML]

I love how the crowd reacted to Sakaguchi's victory in the first fall, they went nuts everytime he hit a move on Dory Funk Jr but the heel champion came back, he took the next two falls in rather dominant fashion, Dory is still the NWA champion as we all expected. A great match, the people in the stands added a lot to the match and made it a classic.