1981

[Grimmas]

Who is the greatest wrestler of the year?

[Microstatistics]

Jon Cortez

vs. Jim Breaks (JP, 2/2)

vs. Steve Grey (JP, 7/27)

[elliott]

Sgt Slaughter - has the epic Patterson feud, the epic Backlund feud,  awesome matches against Andre, Pedo Morales, Rick McGraw. 

Runner Up - Hansen. Has the earth shattering Andre match. A great run in WWF vs Backlund, Inoki matches, a brief team with Hogan that rules. 

[SAMS]

Cribbed from my 1981 thread. I would listen to an argument for any of these five. My personal vote would go to Andre.

Andre the Giant
Andre was nothing short of a force of nature. I liked his US work, mostly in the comedic tags where he could leverage his size to wreak havoc on the dimensions of the ring, but it was in Japan where he was really let off the leash, unburdened from the shackles of being a face, Andre was able to let loose and become an unbridled monster among men. Nobody elicited as much of a response merely from hinting that they were weakening. A little stumble to one knee akin to someone else having their head kicked off with a superkick. His huge mass worked against him at times, especially Stateside, where I felt like the complete improbability of Andre losing could suck the intrigue out of any given match, but a few missteps aside nobody was more consistently impactful in such a wide variety of settings as Andre this year.

Recommended matches:
1981-03-16 - WWF - Sgt. Slaughter vs. Andre The Giant
1981-04-18 - WWF - Moondog Rex & Sgt. Slaughter vs. Andre The Giant & Tony Garea
1981-09-04 - NJPW - Andre The Giant, Bad News Allen & Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Tiger Toguchi
1981-09-17 - NJPW - Andre The Giant vs. Antonio Inoki
1981-09-23 - NJPW - Stan Hansen vs. Andre The Giant

Mark Rocco
In the somewhat limited confines of World of Sport, it takes a special man to generate such impassioned heat, and that man was Mark Rocco. I’ll admit I’m a sucker for his particular brand of gamesmanship, a subset of the British workers who used the system of public warnings in their favour, pushing the limits and their knowledge that the referees were hesitant to blow the whistle too quickly, thus racking up a huge advantage against their opponents and keeping their foot to their throats the whole way. Rocco was plainly - a dick. He could wrestle, he could compete, but he wanted, no he NEEDED, to needle everyone around him just because that was the way he was. I love the unrelenting pace at which he worked, constantly pushing his opponents to keep up, but he gave enough when required to not let it go too far into farce. He had the greatest hit rate of any wrestler in the year, granted that may also be because of the footage disparity, but literally every single time he showed up on tape, he delivered a killer performance, without fail.

Recommended matches:
1981-02-11 - JP - Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones
1981-06-18 - JP - Mark Rocco vs. Mal Sanders
1981-07-15 - JP - Mark Rocco. vs. King Benn
1981-09-29 - JP - Mark Rocco vs. Chris Adams
1981-11-18 - JP - Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco

Sgt. Slaughter
Had the inside track to be the best wrestler in the world for the first half of the year before dropping off the map when he moved to Mid-Atlantic. His WWF work was stratospheric to say the least. Two top of the line feuds against Backlund and the Patterson, spanning both the New York and Philadelphia markets and delivering satisfying narrative arcs in both. The best bumper, especially for a big man. Great woozy selling. But when it came time to tighten the screws and dish it out he could do that too, just ask Rick McGraw. There was nobody remotely close when it came to bleeding, obviously the Alley Fight was an all-timer but he had others too. His best trait though was his ability to bump and bump big for his opponents and not lose his credibility. All the way until the conclusion of all his feuds you still got the sense that he was a threat that needed to be put down.

Recommended matches:
1981-01-10 - WWF - Bob Backlund vs. Sgt. Slaughter
1981-02-14 - WWF - Bob Backlund vs. Sgt. Slaughter
1981-05-04 - WWF - Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter
1981-06-20 - WWF - Sgt. Slaughter vs. Rick McGraw
1981-08-01 - WWF - Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter

Stan Hansen
I’ll admit I was a little cold on Hansen coming off ‘80. He had some good matches against Inoki, but also some others that were somewhat off. The elements were there but his brand of chaos wasn’t truly clicking yet. That was well and truly resolved by the time we came to a close on this calendar year. He proved he could have a successful run in the States, carving out a great run against Backlund that holds up against what other great heels did in that territory throughout the year. However his bread and butter was always going to be in Japan, and in Japan is where he levelled up to night in and night out bringing a presence that only Hansen can bring. Even in run of the mill tag matches in a small town Hansen had figured out how to put his imprint on a match regardless of circumstance. The highs are oh so high - the Andre match in particular - but he’d thoroughly earned the reaction he got when he emerged with Brody & Snuka for the Tag League Final. Hansen had jumped ship and it was a big fucking deal. 12 months earlier and I’m not so sure I would have thought so.

Recommended matches:
1981-02-16 - WWF - Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen
1981-06-04 - NJPW - Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki
1981-06-24 - NJPW - Abdullah The Butcher & Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Yatsu
1981-09-23 - NJPW - Stan Hansen vs. Andre The Giant
1981-12-10 - NJPW - Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch & Stan Hansen

Terry Funk
Funk makes this grade on the strength of his outlandishly good performances in Memphis earlier in the year and a strong finish back in Japan. In each tier the wrestlers are listed in alphabetical order, but Terry was the last one to slot in here and would be my fifth ranked of these five. The biggest knock on him is a gaping vacuum in the middle of the year where for 6 months is completely awol. But ultimately I just couldn’t overlook the fact that what he was able to deliver, especially at the top end, was just undeniably great. 1980 was all about Terry Funk the babyface in Japan, however 1981 showed that he was equally adept as a heel, which feels like an understatement to even type out, as he clearly had the goods to step up and be the best, most terrifying heel on the planet when needed. I don’t think there were two performances that surpassed the two he put in against Lawler, all time classics that have been documented ad nauseum, but Terry really shines in the little matches, sprinkling in fun shit that just nobody else even thinks about.  

Recommended matches:
1981-03-23 - CWA - Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler
1981-04-06 - CWA - Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler
1981-11-30 - AJPW - Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody
1981-12-03 - AJPW - Terry Funk vs. Ashura Hara
1981-12-13 - AJPW - Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. The Funks (Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk)

[tcg91]

10. Jumbo Tsuruta
Not an excellent year for Jumbo, but 1981 was a bit weak in general and so he managed to get in my top 10 again. He carried his tag matches with Giant Baba but did his best in singles competition against Ric Flair. Him vs Flair from October is probably the very first Flair highlight of the 80s, so that is somewhat important.

9. Gino Hernandez
Gino had a great run in Houston, which made him one of the best heels in the territory and in the country. Him and Tully Blanchard put on an impressive series of tag bouts. While I can’t say Gino had a classic single performance, he did great against veterans like Wahoo McDaniel and Chavo senior because he made them look great and managed to get more over at the same time.

8. Mark Rocco
Like Gino, he was an excellent heel and always a pleasure to watch. I am not a massive fan of the Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask series, but in 1981 Rocco managed to have a great match with both these guys. His best bout was against Chris Adams in September, which featured one of the best turnbuckle bumps I can remember.

7. Dory Funk Jr.
I know Dory is heavily criticized at times, but I think he had a great year. The Funks vs Brody & Snuka in the RWTL was legendary, but I believe Dory’s best singles from 1981 are underrated. Him vs Terry was a unique match in April, while his Jerry Lawler match from Memphis is not famous only because Terry had a better one. He even carried Bruiser Brody to a good match!

6. Sgt. Slaughter
It’s a shame he didn’t do anything noteworthy in the second part of 1981, because he killed it the first 6 month. Very strong series of matches with Bob Backlund and Pat Patterson, culminating in epic gimmick matches, especially his cage bout with Backlund where Slaughter’s demise was so satisfying. He also had a fun match against Andre in March, which he carried for the most part.

5. Nick Bockwinkel
Another good year for Bockwinkel, who was involved in my favourite match of the year against Tito Santana in Houston. Of course, most of his good stuff was from the AWA, he also a couple of great ones against Jim Brunzell, making him look like a million bucks. Other than that, he was also able to carry Verne Gagne to some decent stuff again.

4. Stan Hansen
What a progression from the previous year. Hansen vs Andre the Giant is a famous match and a great spectacle, but Hansen had a remarkable year in general. Him and Inoki had more good matches, both in singles and in tag matches. Seeing him against Bob Backlund in the WWF was also a treat. One can see why Baba paid him a lot of money to jump ship.

3. Steve Grey
Easily the best British wrestler of his generation and an amazing babyface. He had two masterpieces against Jim Breaks and Jon Cortez, selling his arm masterfully on both occasions and coming back from underneath. He also had a good series with Johnny Saint, even though their January 1980 match couldn’t be topped in 1981.

2. Bob Backlund
Another outstanding year for Backlund, who was a solid champion for the WWF and did his best stuff against Sgt. Slaughter but also had good series of matches against Stan Hansen and Greg Valentine. He was extremely versatile in the ring and adapted to very different opponents or stipulations, which is something that I consider to be a key detail for a great wrestler.

1. Terry Funk
His Jerry Lawler stuff in Memphis is legendary and their No DQ Match is a true gem. Apart from that, Terry did great stuff in All Japan too, against Bruiser Brody but also in his only match ever against Dory Jr. The Funks also shined as an item, especially in the RWTL match against Brody and Jimmy Snuka. I also wish we had more footage of his Florida run from 1981, as his stuff with Dusty Rhodes looked like a blast.