Harley Race v Ricky Steamboat

[Loss]

Harley Race v Ricky Steamboat - AJPW 12/07/82

 

Lou Thesz referees what up until now has been my personal favorite match of 1982. Race's career was in its twilight at this point, but it would be 1987 before he'd stop completely, and five years in wrestling is actually a mighty long time, if you take pretty much any wrestler into consideration and look at the progression (or regression, as the case may be) over any half-decade period. He's still got it in spades here, surprising the Hell out of me by pulling off a flying headscissors! He also puts Steamboat over strong -- the use of the headlock in the opening minutes is fantastic. They do all sorts of things to keep the match fun when typical move description may label it ordinary; we see a really cool sequence with Race trying to turn Steamboat's headlock into a pinfall with Steamboat countering that by bridging up so he can't be moved and keeping the headlock cinched in. We see Race try a backbreaker, which doesn't work, as Steamboat headscissors out and returns to a headlock. I love the determination Steamboat has to stick to his game plan, as well as the determination Harley has to reverse the momentum and come up with something that works. Steamboat switches to a front facelock, and Race is finally able to outwrestle him in that position, working over Steamboat's neck and shoulder with headbutts, a neckbreaker, a piledriver and a gorgeous butterfly suplex. He does so in a way where Steamboat is kept down, but not out -- they transition from Race in control to Steamboat's big comeback when both attempt a dropkick off the ropes at the same time. Any match where Harley Race is a high-flying bastard is all right with me.

 

He incorporates the high-flying moves, however, without ever forgetting who he is -- you'll see him bust out a flying headscissors, but then he goes for another piledriver, which Steamboat reverses to start the final stretch, which is filled with some fantastic false finishes. Steamboat learns a valuable lesson that if you're in the ring with a veteran who has any sort of ring savvy, you don't try the same thing twice -- Steamboat nearly defeats Race with a flying bodypress the first time around, but he tries again and Race now knows to just calmly step out of the way. For veterans working against younger guys, there are probably better matches, but this should have a place as well. Ricky and Harley wrestled many times in the Mid Atlantic area in this time frame, and it's a shame we don't have an abundance of those matches in full, because they may have topped themselves; although, this was really good.

 

***3/4, 15:02

[Guest Some Guy]

I saw this match the other day on the Steamboat shoot. I thought it could have gone longer but otherwise I agree with your review.

 

I find it amazing that Steamboat can make a headlock interesting, he cinches up on it to keep some movement going and works off the headlock. As opposed to most guys who just do the cliche lockup into a headlock spot for no reason other than to be Irish Whipped.

 

While I'm at it: A headlock is actually a more sensible rest hold than couple variations of the chin lock most guys use and there are more ways to escape it than the three elbows to the gut or a jaw breaker that are used for the chin lock.

[goodhelmet]

The one time I don't mind a chinlock is if the guy is actually putting the knee to the victim's back. If he pulls back on it and digs the knee in, I think that is an effective resthold as well. Too bad more guys don;t actually do it though.

[Guest Some Guy]

I hate the sleeper style chinlock. It makes no sense. Why not just choke the fucking guy out, rather than only squeezing his chin.

 

The knee-posted finger locked chin lock is better but I still don't really care for it. Sid did that a lot. It is inexcusable for a guy to do the finger lock one without the knee posted. Without the knee it looks like he is trying to hold his opponents head up gently.

 

Another rest hold I didn't mind was Sid's Camel Clutch. It made some sense in that Sid's finisher was the Powerbomb, which hits the back and neck and the Camel Clutch works those two body parts. I doubt Sid realizes that but such is life.

 

I often wonder if we put more thought into why certain guys do certain things than they do. With the exception of a handful (Bret, Foley, Steamboat, Benoit, etc...) I generally think we do.

[Loss]

I used to hate matches always starting in headlocks, but the more footage I watch, the more sense it makes. And yeah, there are all sorts of things one can do with a side headlock to make it fun and interesting. Check out Jumbo/Kawada from 10/24/91 in AJPW for an even better example of this. Also, I'll be talking about Benoit/Guerrero from NJ 06/11/96 soon, which sees Benoit use the sleeper in the most fun way I've ever seen a sleeper used. It's awesome. It's easy to tell the difference between a chinlock being used as a resthold and a chinlock being used to further the match, or at least it is for me. In Benoit/Scorpio from SuperBrawl III, for example, the entire match is built around it, because it's the only way Benoit can control Scorp at all. When a heel uses it to build up sympathy for a face who may not be getting the best crowd reaction, it's appropriate. When it slows what was otherwise strong momentum and pacing out of whack, it's obvious it's a resthold.