[1977-12-11-CWA-Mid-South Coliseum] Harley Race vs Jerry Lawler

[paul sosnowski]

Nobody has ever reviewed this here???   NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Jerry Lawler

 

[Jetlag]

This was two high end pro wrestlers doing what makes them great in a match that was suffering from poor structural choices. Lawler almost dominates the whole match and Race basically absorbs everything he throws at him while bumping absurdly. This was entertaining for the first 20 minutes or so which was mostly basic headlock work and Lawler reversing Races moves. One neat thing was Lawler bridging up while Races was trying to reverse and just dropping down on him slamming Race into the mat with full bodyweight. Needless to say Lawlers punches were ridiculously great and enough reason to watch this the whole way through. Race also looked damn great working over Lawlers face with brutal headbutts and knees. With a Race beatdown leading to an awesome Lawler comeback I could imagine this being a stone cold classic. Instead it looked like Lawler had Race close to defeated about 25 minutes in the match. The strap drop „Now I am really going to finish him off!“ also didn't come across as as epic as it could've been. So by the end Lawler had hit Race with everything he had and still could not get the job done which left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Also I disliked all the ref bullshit.