March 1983

Easily one of the best builds for a blow off match ever leading up to this one. While it took a while to get going, once it did, it became one of the great tag matches of its time. Slaughter bumped like a freak and even decided to come off the top of the cage, which is always legitimately insane at a time where those cages looked so rickety anyone could fall off of it. Kernodle tapped an absolute gusher and was great doing the dirty work in the match. Some fantastic spots in the match, including a favorite of mine in a cage match where Slaughter knocked Kernodle out of the way on a Steamboat cross body and Ricky ate nothing but cage. The callbacks to everything leadin…

Hulk Hogan & High Flyers vs Jesse Ventura, Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan - AWA 3/13/83 Hulk Hogan vs. the top two WWF heel commentators is a dream match and it happened in the AWA! The electricity for Hogan is off the charts. The ring announcing by Mean Gene gets so much face and heel heat is it is incredible. The heels try to jumpstart the match and my God Hogan no-selling on Jesse is so badass. I loved the strut on the apron and then high-fives with the High Flyers. He was feeling it. He removes Jesse's bandana to reveal a very shiny bald head without his usual trademark long bleached blond hair. Very fun stuff. After all the blood feud brawls of the 80s, th…

Sheik Ayatollah Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Al-Kaisse vs Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke - AWA 3/13/83 I want to take a second to run down the other matches on this card: Hulk Hogan & High Flyers vs Heenan Family (Patera, Ventura, Heenan) and a main event of World Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Rick Martel. Thats stacked. World Class may have the hottest single feud in 1983, but AWA was actually pretty damn deep in 1983. I actually am excited for The Sheiks vs Old Timers feud. You thought the crowd was hot for Hogan earlier. Holy shit! This crowd was losing its mind for two of the weirdest looking human beings ever to walk this planet, Baron & Mad Dog. Thi…

WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Don Muraco - MSG 3/20/83 Texas Death Match I think this is going to be the last Don Muraco Texas Death Match I watch in my life. I always say that, but this dude is such a bore. This match is a result of Backlund losing his temper and getting DQ'd the previous month so this is Texas Death Match, which is New York's version of No DQ. It is wrestled very tame. Their Texas Death Match in 1981 is much better. Backlund tries to jumpstart the match with some head cranks and hard elbows but Muraco retreats to the corner as if to say "Brudda, chill". Backlund just works a head crank sequence that lets the crowd count along. At one he …

This was another really good Joint Promotion bout. The 20 minutes limit, with no rounds system, made the match more digestible and allowed them to keep working on the momentum that they were gradually building. Finlay was really good when focusing on Kilby's back, throwing really hard irish whips and keeping it simple. Kilby looked good and was quite quick for his size. Not a fan of the ridiculous bump Finlay took towards the end, which caused his knee injury and protected his loss; I get why they did it, but that jump was silly, especially for a no non-sense wrestler like him ***1/2

A first round contest from a knockout tournament with the winner meeting Mick McMichael later on in the evening. Grasshopper is a bit of an odd looking chap, wearing green cycling shorts with a yellow strip down the side, barefoot with a shaven head and little in the way of a physique. He's a Judo black belt who was supposedly brought into the pro wrestling game by Chris Adams. Johnson opens up with a few headmares, then when Breaks tries one of his own it's blocked. The crowd start laughing, cheering and clapping at his inability to execute the move and the guy really is a master of having them eating out of his hand. An early sunset flip by Johnson and Breaks lifts…

This is Butch Reed's debut in Houston. His opponent Marty Lunde is the future Arn Anderson. Butch Reed drew a lot of money over the years, especially in Houston. Marty Lunde never really drew a dime in wrestling. He was essentially an underneath guy in Mid-South. Now Arn Anderson drew more money than both Reed and Lunde combined. This match was a total blast. Reed has loads of charisma. In his debut he has a connection to the audience that you can't fake it. Marty is already Arn here and has the skill set that made him one of the most consistent wrestlers in the history of wrestling. Reed is great on offense . He has a lot of energy. The dropkick he did was great. Th…

Art Crews is a really good journeyman wrestler who wrestled everyone. The reason for that is because he's a good hand. He really worked hard here. His offense was good enough to rally the crowd behind his shine , and attempted comebacks here and there.He sold well and took a couple of nice bumps. He put over Nagasaki's ninja based offense. Especially that nasty 2nd rope kick. Nagasaki played his gimmick well enough. To be candid I've never been a fan of his. I do realize he was a star in many territories. It is always fun to look at all these great gimmicks throughout the years. 2*

LeDuc was stripped of the the belt and wants it back. Slater is the current champ. Both guys laying it in. This is a back and forth fight, very methodical. The match was rather unispiring. Finish set up rematches.

NWA US Champion Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - MACW TV 3/12/83 Of course the one time you want Ric Flair to have a competitive match, he goes ahead and obliterates his opponent. Flair vs Masa Fuchi on this episode of Mid-Atlantic TV had me salivating. Why you gotta do me dirty like that? This was good in-ring episode of Mid-Atlantic. Greg Valentine and Dory Funk Jr had really good squashes on this show. After Valentine got finished with his squash, he came out to confront Piper who says "It is easy to be the greatest US Champion when you never defend it". Valentine gets hot and challenges him to a match on this episode of TV in the main event. …