May 1979

This is the 3rd fall of a match that goes 45 minutes.The 3rd fall goes around 16minutes. I really hope the rest of it shows up. If not that's life. I will say the 3rd fall was great. I thought Lewin/Spoiler complimented each other well. Again we get a great Lothario performance. We get to see him run the gauntlet. We see him play FIP. He gets a chance to get a hot tag and throw some great punches. He shows great psychology. The heels were good at getting heat. Spoiler shined the babyfaces pretty good here.

What I wrote a few weeks ago in OJ's thread on Zrno: Well, I was wrong. This was not a 2 minute clip. It was 22 minutes, unedited, pro-shot, 2/3 falls clean title match with 3 clean finishes. What a time to be alive and get to see wrestling matches like this. The first amazing thing is getting to see Mile in 1979. God damn what a talent, and in what shape he was. I can't think of 5 guys from british TVs in top form like him. The yugoslavic flag with the big red star is hanging over the ring next to the japanese one, making this feel like the most surreal prelude to the russians in RINGS a decade later. Sure, Zrno is western european trained and Charley Verhul…

This was their 2nd match that year as Zrno tries to get back the WWU Jr. title. This was much less heated and intense than the first encounter but may have had even better grappling before the somewhat disappointing finish. Hara continues to look really good grappling with Zrno, being right there with the bridge spots and tricky wrist takedowns and what not. Something funny is how Zrno works the exact same as if it were a european match always waiting for his opponent to get up even though there's no 10 count. Match didn't have much direction and the ending wasn't super exciting as it looked like Hara was gonna defend his title anyways. Still, I get a kick out of watching…

JIP 20 minutes into a 30 minute time limit draw. There was still plenty of action with flying headscissors and snappy armdrags and stiff european uppercuts and dropkicks and what not. Verhulst doesn't do a ton here but I still enjoyed seeing him come in and do stuff as his technique is ridiculously good. Zrno was pretty „stiff“ here e.g. blocking opponents moves by stiffening up. It may not result in picture perfect execution of certain spots but I still thought it was cool and they did the usual time limit draw spiel where both guys were working for pinfalls equally before the end.

Buddy Rose vs Roddy Piper - Portland 5/12/79 Frank Bonnema is shocked that Roddy Piper is being cheered and is still acting the exact same way. Proving Piper truly was Rowdy (i.e. anti-hero) before Rowdy was cool. He does mention that pretty much that going up against Buddy Rose makes you an insta-face. They cant wait to get their hands on each other and this one is off to the races fast. As Piper yanks the Playboy out of the ring and sends him into the chair. I love when Piper has that incensed look on his face and is shaking his hair. Big knee lift from Piper. Rose winds up and starts wailing on Piper's head and Piper just absorbs. Rose claws at a wound on Piper's h…

From the Mid-South Coliseum, Mongolian Stomper defends the Southern Title against.....Hulk Hogan!!!!

OX is most remembered from Escape From New York. Always a character people remembered. The match told a story , but lacked excitement.

This was solid stuff. Gino is out and goes for the cheap heat with a promo on Tiger. Paul Boesch on commentary agrees with Gino's side of things. He also put over Valentine's feud with Bob over in NY. This match is more of a set up for the Conway/Gino dynamic. I really like Conway here. He shows a ton of fire. Throws a decent punch here. I really loved his arm work here. It looked like it hurt. Valentine's work was all solid stuff. He was a great anchor here, and his job was to make Tiger look good. He did his job well. In the 3rd fall I adored the interferance blowing up in Gino's face, and his sell of it was tremendous. 3*

Stan Hansen vs Andre The Giant - NJPW MSG Series 5/18/79 A great portent of their 81 classic. Hansen beats up Andre's second with a bouquet of flowers. Loaded Lariat! Blood! Crazy post-match brawl! It is short & sweet but this is what Godzilla vs King Kong should be. It made so much better that we get the full Godzilla vs King Kong classic in 1981.

Roddy Piper vs Buddy Rose - Portland TV 5/19/79 Lumberjack Match I think I confused this with another Piper/Rose brawl I really liked. This match was still very entertaining, but there is another match that's a real humdinger. Piper is shocked at the positive fan response There are six lumberjacks, two heels including Ed Wiskowski and four babyfaces, but no Killer Brooks, who is Piper's best friend in this feud. Pretty straightforward story that Rose needs Wiskowski's help to maintain an advantage. At first, Piper was going aftre the arm, but a timely trip or two was able to allow Rose the advantage. He mainly used the chinlock. There is a good part where Rose keeps l…

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs David Von Erich - St. Louis Wrestling At The Chase 5/27/79 As my good buddy, Pete/Shoe would say this is a great piece of business. Officially this is a gauntlet match pitting Harley vs David & Fritz Von Erich. David is going first. David had just taken Harley to the limit down in Dallas and now it looks like they are building him up in St. Louis to draw a house at the Kiel. If Harley loses, match is over, if not he faces Fritz. If you were smart to the business at this time, conventional wisdom says Harley wins the first fall and the drama is in the second. When they go with David in the first fall, I was confused. I…