[2004-01-21-FC !BANG! TV] Dory Funk Jr vs. Jeff Jarrett

[Ma Stump Puller]

This was during a weird period where Dory was facing guys like Sabu, Samoa Joe, Kenso Suzuki: just a wild selection of talent all in all. Many of those aforementioned matches are lost to time sadly but this one during Jarrett's Reign of Terror over the NWA/TNA belt is intact, amazingly. I will say that Jarrett is a GREAT heel here as soon as he walks through the curtain him asking the crowd to stand up for him and he jawjacks with the crowd for the first few minutes. It's obviously stalling but it's pretty good stalling all things considered and Dory plays with it well as he almost at once gets in Jarrett's space and makes him uncomfortable. Dory gets Jarrett in a near fall school-boy and Jarrett starts having a moan at the ref to tell Dory to "slow down" so he can warm up and everyone just goes apeshit at him lol. Basic but very effective heel work from the get-go. Obviously the workrate here isn't going to be Omega/Okada levels of fast-pace but Jarrett works a good insecure champion as he keeps failing to get some control over the match, consistently getting countered or pushed back: Jarrett stooges a ton here with how he acts.

Despite the obvious limitations Dory actually looks good: guy does a full flip bump off a arm wrench, which was wild to see. I wouldn't say it was era-defining but Dory can still get around fairly decently and his holds still have a good agency to them. Jarrett uses the small arena space to his advantage as he's able to audibly talk trash the entire match time and get the crowd even more worked up with his nonsense. Dory works in the arm in the middle half and it's basically what you'd expect from a Dory format at this point; lots of basic working holds, lots of waiting in them. It is mostly basic but he throws in some innovative key-locks alongside his infamously good forearm smashes to pop the crowd here and there. Jarrett and co do some decent sequences as Jarrett's cheating isn't able to even the score despite his best attempts to outclass the vet; he's not afraid to look stupid either given how much leeway he gives here, at times almost comedically bumping around. Was also wild to see Dory do catch-style stuff with the forearm over the face to force Jarrett into back mount when he tries working the legs. 

Dory is slightly gassed by the end but still throws out a Butterfly suplex and backdrop. Finish is somewhat clipped but interference and the ref missing Dory's foot on the ropes gives Jarrett the tainted victory. Outside of the weak ending (expected from Jarrett matches of this time) I thought this was actually fairly good, especially for the 64 year old Dory at this point: he's obviously slowed a fair bit but he can still work on the mat just fine and showcases some impressive technique. Jarrett works the crowd like a champ, sells well, and looks good despite being 70% on the defensive here; he quickly adapts to the smaller crowd in such a way that he changes up his stuff to almost be Destroyer-lite in how he involves the ref as a third party here for heat, stooging for not only Dory but also them at points as he keeps getting rumbled and loses his confidence over time against his opponent; he goes from trying to outwork Dory to show off to overtly cheating to stay in the game. 

This won't convince naysayers of either man that they are actually great or anything, but I thought it was a well-put together match that hones in on the two men's strengths as wrestlers, even if it does focus on the basics mostly.