1971

2/8/71 Ivan Koloff Vs. Pedro Morales. Pedro shows his quickness. Ivan slows him down with a bear hug. Pedro shows that he has a heart of a champion.

Pedro Morales makes his first WWWF Title Defense in MSG. Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems, 1971. "The Pride of Puerto Rico"

It's a 4 minute JIP of a 30 minute draw that includes mostly slow motion action but it's also Karl Gotch vs Billy Robinson so you take what you can get. Some nice stuff displayed here including a nasty Gotch Style Piledriver and Robinson's signature Backbreaker (which was also set up wonderfully). Not much is shown but you're better off watching it than not watching it.

This was a damn good lightweight contest. If you like luchariffic freaked out grappling, awesome scarecrow spots and struggling in weird positions give this a shot. Boscik, like you expect a hungarian grappler named Zoltan to be is a tricky fox. Really loved his weird twisting of his body to shift the momentum when on the mat. Also, Cortez can do strength spots like a mini Cesaro, giving this a dimension beyond "grappler vs. grappler". Gets more aggressive from the 3rd round onwards, including some nasty strangleholds + great selling, awesome struggle over an octopus hold etc. Finish felt a little rushed, but that's a minor complaint.

Giant Baba vs Abdullah The Butcher - JWA 5/19/71 World League Final Abby looks positively svelte compared to the tub of goo that I saw in 1984. I always expect him to be taller. He is very mobile here too. This the penultimate World League as next year would be the final year of the World League as 1972 is when the split between All Japan and New Japan. I am always impressed how they could make Baba who is quite literally a Giant so sympathetic. They do it here with all the dastardly cheating from Abdullah. He starts with a throat thrusts and some headbutts. He forces Baba out of the ring and bounces him off the announce table. I thought it was Baba, who unleas…

Antonio Inoki vs The Destroyer - JWA 5/19/71 This is on the same show as the JWA World League Final pitting Giant Baba vs Abdullah The Butcher so a pretty stacked card. This is my first ever Destroyer match so I am pretty psyched! Is The Destroyer the Father of LOLWrestling (TM Johnny P)? He had the crowd snickering throughout. I can appreciate a good strut after escaping the headscissors, but landing on the ref and making a joke out of it and the small package spot made people laugh was a bit much, counting loudly 1-2-3 quickly when he had reversed a headscissors into pinning predicament sounds like something an annoying wrestling heel in 2021 would do. Maybe…

Inoki was ok here but Brisco pretty much drags him to a great match when his selling, intensity and attention to detail. One of the finest individual performances I've seen in a match. The matwork in the initial few minutes was mindblowing and felt like the precursor to shoot-style in some ways. ****

This is 5 billion stars. This was such a great comedy match. Made even better by Boesch commentary. George Harris the 3rd is the overweight manager of Bronco Lubich. Watching this match I need to find out more about him. His facials and timing was on point. He was really theatrical. Paul had his moments too. The icing on the cake was post match Boesch makes fun of him in slow mo.

NWA International Heavyweight Champion Giant Baba vs Fritz Von Erich - JWA 9/4/71 I loved their 1966 classic! This is only my third Fritz Von Erich match and he is already my third favorite Von Erich, the dude totally rules! He calls Baba crazy mid-match, he sells Baba holding his hands high, looming above his head, he hits really fucking hard. Fritz rules! First Fall: The Drama of the IRON CLAW~! I dont understand people who dont love a well-worked Claw. This was fantastic! Everything was about the Claw. Fritz tried his damndest to get the Claw applied. He tried crowding in the corner and on the mat. I love his punt kicks! His body shots and clubbing forearms j…

This is only four and a half minutes of footage from Bob Luce's "The Classics" VHS Series, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. The tape says fall of 1972, but I am certain that it is from their November 9, 1971 match. It's film clips, narrated by Luce. We see Verne suplex Bockwinkel on his head. He ties up Bock's arms and gets a one count. Next we see Bockwinkel in charge, he gets a half crab on Verne's right leg. Footage jumps to Verne trying to escape. Then he has Bock's arm again. It jumps again and Bockwinkel is pounding Verne's leg outside on the apron. Bockwinkel gets the half crab again. Then we get Bock on the outside again, from a di…

The Saints vs. The Royals. A technical sprint! Compare this to the tags from japan or the US from the 70s and it'll look like it's from another planet. They go all out with the tricked out technical stuff. There wasn't much usual tag psychology, but they worked a highly competitive match. Walton kept bringing up the size difference, giving the bout a nice feel of an uphill battle with the Royals having to be as slick as possible. They work their butts off taking all these awesome bumps and sprinting across the ring lightning fast. Some of the best criss cross running spots I've ever seen, and it felt bordering on dangerous especially Faulkner who seemed always close to ca…

Inoki defends the NWA United National Title, 2/3 falls. Talk about it here

This is for the NWA World Heavyweight Title and is 2 out of 3 falls

Inoki and Yoshimura were champions, but Inoki was about to be expelled from the JWA, so this match is for the vacant All-Asia Tag Team Titles, 2 out of 3 falls. On December 1st, Inoki and Yoshimura defended against Funk & Murdoch and went to a 60:00 Draw.