[1983-02-11-St. Louis Wrestling] Ric Flair vs Bruiser Brody

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Bruiser Brody - St. Louis 2/11/83 Two Out of Three Falls

First Fall: I was very curious to see how this was worked. I was wondering if Brody would sandbag Flair. If Flair would wrestle him more like Hawk or Kerry Von Erich. In a way, I am a bit disappointed because this has been a routine very good Flair match. Brody has no problem selling or going down for Flair. He even took a hiptoss from Flair. Really there was not much out of the ordinary for the first fifteen minutes. They worked a really good headscissors. Flair eventually went to the eyes and chucked him outside. Brody started marching around and came back in with purpose and Flair powdered. I thought that was pretty much the most unique thing was how intimidating Brody could be. They worked a bearhug. Flair is great at taking the bearhug because he gets so high up. He gouges the eye. He tries to suplex but Brody suplexes him. He tries to bodyslam but Brody bodyslams him. Larry Matysik is overdubbing the Japanese commentary and says nobody can slam Brody. It is funny he takes a hiptoss later. Also because Matysik is overdubbing we lose the sound effects! Which sucks I love hearing the sound effects of the ring. The crowd is definitely rabid for Brody. Brody works front facelock. Flair just does a snapmare out of the corner and works a front facelock. They work a fast paced sequence eventually and it sees Brody eat the hiptoss, but Flair misses the elbow drop and Brody gets two kicks to the head. It has been fine thus far nothing special.  Brody comes off the middle turnbuckle with a chop. Brody is relentless to head. He signals for his big King Kong Kneedrop and it hits! 1-2-3! Crowd goes wild. Brody 1-0. 

Second Fall: Brody looks to press his advantage but runs into a knee on a corner charge. Flair begins work on the arm. Solie said something I didnt realize but theres no muscle underneath the armpit and Matysik also points out this is a spot all men are vulnerable, which is interesting because I have never thought of that. It makes those Flair punches to the armpit mean so much more. Flair is actually really good at textbook arm work and busts out a couple good double wristlocks. Brody goes to the eyes to escape after five minutes or so of this. He really claws at the eyes so much so he can actually hear Flair howl. Brody misses a kneedrop I thought for sure we were getting the figure-4, but instead Flair goes piledriver but is reversed. Brody hits a dropkick, but Flair is too close to the rope. Brody looks to punch Flair repeatedly but now Flair goes for the eyes. Definitely a tenacious match. Flair hits a suplex! Flair only gets two and then the abdominal stretch. Brody reverses into his own shitty one, which is a cool idea instead of the hiptoss reverse. They end up in the ropes. Flair just loses his mind and starts choking the life out of Brody. The ref breaks it up and Flair goes back to choking. Brody chokes him back and lifts him high up...good visual. Brody is back on top, bodyslam and sets him up for the King Kong Kneedrop, but he misses. Brody actually does a really good selling this. Flair punches the head repeatedly. Brody sells really well outside on the powder. For some reason, Flair does not want to go for the knee instead he wants to trade hands with Brody and he ends up taking a bump over the top rope. They brawl around ringside and Brody back drops into the ring but Brody falls from the apron. So Flair wins a countout talk about a cheap way to win a fall. Well at least that about Brody holds true he refused to look weak. Overall, this has been pretty good, not as good as the Wahoo match, but Flair is still putting on an entertaining performance. 

Third Fall: Brody is pissed at himself at such a dumb mistake and takes out his anger on Ric Flair. Flair does a great job selling that he knows he is in deep shit. Flair wraps himself around Brody in a sleeper. Flair has a great sleeper. Brody escapes and applies his own sleeper, not as good as Flair's Matysik says Brody aint technical. Brody hits a bodyslam after Flair had gotten to the ropes to break the sleeper. Kneedrop??? Nope he goes for the Atomic Legdrop, but Flair moves. Now we get the Figure-4! Brody turns it over. Now it is the race against the clock. Big boots abound...Flair is press slammed off the top...suplex...bell rings...time expires. 

I would say we are missing around ten minutes of sixty minutes of action all from the first fall. Second & third falls are complete. I thought this was a very good Flair title defense. I didnt think Brody added too much nor do I think he took anything away except maybe how lame that second fall finish is. ***1/2  

[tcg91]

This went for 60 minutes and 10 were clipped from the file. Man, props to Flair for doing this with Brody. You could tell Brody actually cared here and tried his best; he was lacking major selling/pacing skills as usual, but Flair sticked to his formula and got a good match out of him. Brody was massively over, which surely helped, as Flair made him look good with his selling and dosing Brody's cardio correctly thanks to the rest holds. The finish of the second fall was quite silly, in full 80s spirit, thus stopping the good momentum before the last few minutes. Not a very strong Flair broadway match, but not a bad one
***