1969

This is available on the Network. It's an 8 minute segment narrated by Gordon Solie. About 4 minutes of the match is shown. Go to Vault, Hidden Gems, drop down to 1969, NWA Title Funk Jr vs Kiniski

Weird psychology as both teams cheat (and sometimes right in front of the referee). I understand the expression fight fire with fire but I didn't like how Inoki & Oki cheat that quick in the match - I even think they start switching without tagging before the heels. It's fun to see Royal & Jones (a babyface tag team in Crockett) being the dirty Texans before the Funks & Hansen & Brody. Royal has a great punch !! Love the antics after the match.

Far and away the best display of old style matwork I have ever seen. Innovative, intense and fluid, just amazing stuff. Destroyer is simply brilliant as the vicious, cheating heel using every dirty trick in the book to gain the advantage while Baba is great as the top guy relying on skill and toughness. Along with the French Catch stuff, the highlight of the 60s. **** 1/2

The announcer says the match went 10:46, and we get a little more than three minutes of action, but the match *feels* complete, so props to whomever cut it or mother nature for preserving the parts of the tape they could make something off. We see some opening armwork after which they move onto the legwork and thing get heated-Oki just obliterates Andrews, relentlessly going for Figure Fours. Andrews does a good job of using ring positioning to escape, but eventually Oki gets back on the onslaught, and thing continue to look grim. Andrews literally takes a full on Flair/Michaels corner bump to the outside as a stark reminder there is nothing new under the sun, and Oki fin…

Saulnier, a mini European version of Dean Malenko, with his game face from the start. Really unique camera work, feels like multiple Black Terry Jr.’s went to France in order to bring this to us. The presentation enhances the grittiness of Saulniers holds. This time, Le Prince takes a little longer to counter Saulnier’s arm work, but when he does it shows some real fire. Saulnier cuts him off by dominating the same right arm and the enclosed camera shots show the Prince wrenching in pain. 15 minutes in and this is all Saulnier, who now has decided to work a snug headlock to wear down our hero, Kevin Von Erichcito. I have no idea what’s going on with the paintings inserted…

Antonio Inoki vs Chris Markoff - JWA 5/16/69 Is Chris Markoff the great lost heel of the 60s? He reminded me a lot of Pat Patterson and it was just the bleached hair and Bombs Away Knee. It was big bumping and the energy. He was even more vocal than Patterson and I liked that. Reading about him, he was born in Yugoslavia raised in Minnesota and seems like he was kinda big deal in AWA. Him vs Da Crusher sounds good to me! Had no idea what to expect out of this but energetic bloody brawl is not what I was expecting but I loved it! Markoff jumpstarted the match and just hurled Inoki around. This was a great vicious heel performance. Chairshots, foreign objects, blo…

Johnny Valentine vs Wild Bull Curry (Houston Wrestling) This was something I was looking forward to when Bruce posted the list. Johnny Valentine matches are very rare. I loved both wrestlers here. Johnny has a special aura about him, and Curry has a face only a mother and also a wrestling fan. Valentine would try to slow the pace. Curry was great with his facals while in holds. He really put over the pain. The 1st time Curry gets a flurry of punches in and the crowd goes wild. The punch exchanges here are the best I've ever seen. These looked like something out of a prize fight. You get how Johnny is a master of crowd psychology. He takes them down, then takes them u…

NWA International Tag Team Champions Da Crusher & Dick The Bruiser vs Giant Baba & Antonio Inoki - JWA 8/13/69 Two Out Of Three Falls My boys are the fucking champs! They had won it two days prior to this. First Fall: We are JIP but it is like 30-60 seconds into the match based on the match times we have. The majority of the match is face in peril. The Bruiser is working over Inoki. It is really hard to tell Bruiser and Crusher apart especially from the back. Bruiser doesnt have as good of a body even though Crusher is three years older. Crusher would have been 43 at time, looks like a million bucks. Crusher was in his late 50s in the 80s, what the fuck!…

12/2/69 Antonio Inoki vs. Dory Funk Jr. Inoki makes his 1st challenge for the NWA World Title. Harley Race riles the crowd up to the point where they're throwing stuff at the ring,

Five minutes of film footage from IWE. Talk about it here

Between a post-vaccination vacation to Miami and a slew of night shifts, I have not gotten a chance to watch much wrestling, but looking to change that and picking up where I left off. NWA International Champion Giant Baba vs Fritz Von Erich - Olympic Auditorium 12/19/69 Two out of Three Falls This is too chopped up to rate, but it also too cool to pass up. Seeing LA footage from its heyday and seeing Baba work America is worth it. There is a one old lady who is a big Baba fan and she is always shouting "Get him back in the ring, Baba!" when Baba wins by DQ at the end, the crowd pops. Nice to see Baba over as a babyface! First Fall: Dont get much, Fritz is…

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr vs Giant Baba - JWA 12/3/69 Two Out of Three Falls Junior had been World Champion for almost a year at this point having defeated "Big Thunder" Gene Kiniski in Tampa, Fl. First Fall: Big Match Atmosphere. Dory Funk is 28 years old and Baba is 31 years old and they are in their prime. I think thats the weird thing about analyzing Dory & Baba is that if youre looking at the 80s footage only they are already in their 40s! They are really late 60s/70s wrestlers and need to be evaluated on that basis. It is cool we have this match. For Baba, it really makes a light year's difference watching this. You see Baba has the …