October 1979

Conclusion of their series of awesome 70s junior title matches. There is some animosity at this point – Go doesn't want to shake Fujinami's hand. The ref makes him do it, but Fujinami slaps him in the face! The body of the match is fantastic as they go back and forth between tight matwork with nifty throws and takedowns and escalating into knocking the crap out eachother. Go slaps Fujinami back, and Fujinam shows he can go there, even kicking Go in the eye! Fujinami really is quite the skillful prick here. Go goes into a greco roman knuckle lock only to headbutt Fujinami in the eye, so Tatsumi does this smooth takedown, into a front headlock... they end up in the ropes, c…

Nick Bockwinkel defends the AWA World Title against IWE Champion Rusher Kimura. Special referee is Lou Thesz

This is Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, not the AWA, but the title is on the line here in Charlotte NC. Only about 5 1/2 minutes of handheld footage. Jim Brunzell has Nick Bockwinkel in the abdominal stretch, Bock grabs the middle rope and tosses Brunzell outside. Brunzell jumps back in, gets nailed with a big elbow and a huge kneelift. Bock runs across the ring with him and rams his head into the opposite turnbuckle, then repeats it to the other side. Bockwinkel whips him to the ropes, backdrops him for a one count, then whips him again and meets him with another big knee to the midsection for a two count. He bodyslams Brunzell twice for another two…

Another good match. Loved the opening interaction of Gino and Jose. Extra points for Gino's old school shirt. Gino's and Jose's blood feud has been incredible. Marcus and Lothario had a lot of highs. A total roller coaster ride. Some serious ups and downs. I loved some of the traditional Lucha spots in the match. The punch spots were incredible and made the crowd insane. The one time when they fought each other to the ground was amazing. A lot of great stuff to invest in. 3*

I was looking forward to this and it I was right to look forward to it. We some mat work to start. Mil focusing on the arm and back was fun. Gino is so great at putting all of this over. His facials here are just off the charts. We get a lot more of this and it's all great. When Gino goes on offense he's after the mask. Marcus and Lothario are out and they play into the finish. Post match brawl to boot. 2 3/4*

This was more up my alley. I loved Bastein's puncehes and headbutts and Rose did a great job of bumping for them. Most of the match was a headlock, but it was a well worked one. My deduction from watching exactly two Rose matches is that he seems to build the body of this matches by teasing countering his opponent's hold only to end right back in it. They worked the headlock well enough, but what I really liked is that this had some escape attempts I don't remember ever seeing before like Rose trying to get out of the ring first under the bottom rope and then over the top one. Rose's comeback was a Back Suplex and it was followed by more backwork-not exactly the most ambi…

Terry Funk defends the NWA Florida title Includes follow up on next week's TV!!!

This was another classic from the Sam Houston Coliseum. The Jose and Gino feud is really becoming one of my all time favorite feuds, and I haven't even seen that many angles and promos. What they convey though with their interactions is hate. Spoiler their is this headlock spot that I have never seen before. We go old school right off the bat. Gino is wearing a I shaved Jose bald. This incites Jose to attack and they're brawling all over the floor. The match is on. The 1st fall was all action. We incorporated brawling, with some americanized lucha spots. The heels did a tremendous job shining up the faces.At one point all 3 heels fed Jose . Jose and Gino were the sta…

These guys are known for their bloodbaths. Here we get some good brawling. Kamata is bleeding a minute in. Seeing Kamata as a face was interesting. His comebacks were well timed. He sold underneath pretty well. I liked Lewin's chops to the cut. The nerve holds hurt the flow and momentum of the match. Both guys were guilty of this. On top of this the finish felt abrupt. 2 1/2* We got 3 interviews after this building a show in Beaumont Texas with Gary Hart,JJ Dillon, and Ox Baker. All 3 were good, but Baker's was the best.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Giant Baba - AJPW 10/31/79 Having seen a handful of Harley's matches from the 70s and another dozen or so from the 80s, I think his entire wrestling psychology can be captured by one particular bump as he takes a huge flat back bump off a Giant Baba chop but still maintaining his forward momentum. It looks ridiculous and awesome at the same time. Race believed in bumping big, always keep the action moving and the babyface is always right. This has led to some less that stellar matches that ought to have been classics, but on this one night the stars aligned Harley Race pulled off his personal masterpiece. The beginning of…