April 1983

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kevin Von Erich - WCCW 4/1/83 It is always Kerry, Kerry, Kerry and David, David, David, what about Kevin Von Erich!!! Kevin is an aggressive offensive dynamo. He is not going to take any shit and quite frankly does not give a shit. He is going to punch and claw his way through any situation. He does not wait for Flair to cheat, he just attacks. I love it! Kevin Von Erich does not believe in clean breaks. He believes in winning goddamnit! I love that spunky, high energy babyface of the 80s and Kevin was probably the best because he had the cool moves, he laid his shit in and he had the aggression. Kevin is telling Flair to pu…

Great intense grappling with the crowd popping for everything, pretty much. I thought it built pretty damn well to the finishing stretch. ****

AWA Southern Tag Team Champions Fabulous Ones vs Moondaogs -Memphis 4/4/83 They start hot and heavy as there is no love loss between these two teams. The Moondogs not only bloodied the Fabs, but they also tore their coats bequeathed to them by the Fabulous Jackie Fargo. Russell does a great job putting over the shame the Fabs felt having to tell the legendary Jackie Fargo what happened. I love the Moondogs' gimmick of being hillbilly caevman carrying around a giant dinosaur bone. The Fabs are all business. No monkeying around, just fists and kicking ass. I like the Moondog with the longer hair and the bigger beard the best. Really good stooge. Double teaming by Moondo…

Holy smokes, The KVE video before this thing is glorious! Eye of the Tiger. Shirtless horseback riding. Short shorts running. Pretty hilarious. They even do a slow motion fade from his eye into the actual eye of a tiger! I like how Tenryu goes after the right arm and hand to try and weaken the claw. The rest of the match sort of revolved around the claw. I didn't think this match was very good. Not for me anyway.

Talk about it here.

Bundy with the bear hug early. Lothario counters immediately. Bundy working the crowd. Lothario on the arm. Bundy returns the favor. Jose snaps off a boot to counter. Bundy refusing to give up the headlock even when Jose tries to push him off. Jose with some wicked kicks to the leg gets some seperation. Jose gives Bundy a taste of his left, and then his right. Lothario gets Bundy on his back. Jose twisting the leg. Eye rake by Bundy . Bundy using his weight to lean on Jose. Jose is the master at using his punches as hope spots. Bundy hits an Avalanche in the corner, but misses the 2nd. Jose at a last 2nd run hitting a barrage of punches. We get a time limit draw. Jose wan…

Crusher Von Haig is actually Road Warrior Hawk, about two months before he started teaming with Animal

Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody vs Dory & Terry Funk - AJPW 4/20/83 Just a scant six days after the classic Hansen/Funk singles match, this awesome tag gets lost in the shadow of the EPIC Terry Funk Retirement Tag, which may be the match of the decade. Definitely one of Brody's best individual performances and one of his best matches. He still did not sell or bump. But at least his offense looked really good here. The first half of the match is four pros executing the tag formula really well, but once Dory tags out to Terry...IT IS FUCKING ON! Terry goes apeshit on Brody's knee. Nailing Hansen. The knee work on Brody is so damn exciting and urgent. Terry holding t…

The best of the Fujinami-Choshu singles series, featuring a masterful performance by Fujinami. A story of pride and honor. **** 1/4

WWF & NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid - NJPW 4/21/83 HOLY CLUSTERFUCK, BATMAN! I thought the Kobayashi match was bad. This had no psychology, awful transitions and weird WCW-like booking in the middle of the match. Also it is not surprising at all that Dynamite cant walk today because he looked like he broke his back about three different times in this mayhem, I actually like their 82 match for the record. The beginning of this is not bad at all. Basic story is Tiger Mask is deadly out in the open so Dynamite has to keep him wrapped up. So Tiger Mask is supplying all the energy and highspots. Dynamite is just wrapping him up any chan…

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Hulk Hogan - AWA 4/24/83 Watching the six man match from like a month prior to this, you could see Hulkamania in full force. Oddly enough, I did not think Hogan was as over here, he was over, but not HULKAMANIA over. I think it is because he was not running wild and unbridled. The Hogan of like 1984-1987 has just incredible amount of effusive energy that is irresistible. He is almost subdued against Bockwinkel. Bockwinkel gives a great bumping heel performance, but he is supplying a lot of the energy, but he is not that over as a heel. I just thought of this right now, but I think he is most over of the two combatants …

Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon vs Sheik Ayatollah Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Al-Kaisse - AWA 4/24/83 We get the angle that brings Verne out of retirement to be Mad Dog's partner to wrestle the Sheiks to main event Super Sunday. Super Sunday features the one of the infamous screwjobs of Hulk Hogan out of the AWA World Championship. Verne's early shine shows he is better on offense than most wrestler everything was landing crisply and snugly. Blackwell was the perfect person to sell and bump for him. We get all his specialties: the Bret Bump, weeble wobble and the back body drop. Sheik uses the cast to get Mad Dog down. Mad Dog tries to use the bell, but that get…

WWF World Champion Bob Backlund vs Ivan Koloff - WWF 4/25/83 1983 was a tough year for Backlund as he had a lot of retread opponents and while he first face Koloff in a classic in 1978, Uncle Ivan is a change of pace in 1983 WWF. I thought if this was watched similarly to a 90s New Japan Juniors match this would be highly regarded. The beginning just was not tight. The spots were good, but how they got there was so loose with no struggle. One thing I love about Backlund is that his matches drip with struggle. Look how weak those lock-ups were or the transitions to the bodyslams. It was disappointing. I was surprised how much offense Koloff got at the beginning of th…

Dynamite Kid defends the Stampede World Middleweight Title