[1980-12-05-AJPW-Real World Tag League] Billy Robinson & Les Thornton vs Jim Brunzell & Nick Bockwinkel

[SAMS]

1980-12-05
AJPW
Billy Robinson & Les Thornton vs Jim Brunzell & Nick Bockwinkel
Real World Tag League 1980 Match
Prefectural Civic Hall, Kochi, Japan
★★★
Card

Well this was a long one. It went the total 45 minutes for a time limit draw. Had that real 1970s vibe to it. Bockwinkel and Robinson put on a clinic to start, really cycling through the mat routines and it was fantastic. Brunzell and Thornton however had shaky starts, whether in there together or matched up against the team captains. Brunzell specifically looked really hesitant, like a scared child at times, but I’ll concede he still had a killer dropkick.
The majority of the first half was Bockwinkel and Robinson though and the match was the better for it. The underlings however grew into the match and had their own little neat squareoff, punctuated by Thornton getting Brunzell in a headlock and clubbing him full-on in the face, even giving him a bloody nose, which was probably the most brutal sequence of the match.
It was lovely to see Robinson in full swing. I’m not sure whether a Robinson squash or sprint would actually be any good, and by his showing in Memphis it probably wouldn’t be, but when he’s allowed to slow burn and show off his skills he really is something. Like the Terrence Malick of wrestling. 
By the 30 minute mark the draw was looming, and while things never dragged, it did lose some steam in parts and we never got that final gear to push things over the edge. This is something that I’d describe as very good, but never great, despite some excellent performances from Bockwinkel and Robinson in particular.