December 1983

Makes you wonder how much footage the WWE has and maybe why they didn't need to make a deal with Tharpe.This match has also out gemed the hidden gems recently. Early shine by TA that the heels use rough house tactics to take control. Love Reeds bumb off the elbow. 2 is in and the crowd loves him.2 is looking great and keeping the heels off balance. We get Peter Birkholtz on commentary 7 minutes in. This must have been shown on Houston TV 7 minutes in. The faces are working Reed's arm here. Big blow by Reed and the tide has turned. Heels using their size. The heat is pretty ho hum. Do like Neidhardt sneaky cheating on the out side. Hot tag to TA. They cut him off and are …

Fujinami and Choshu went at it again and this was nicely paced, also thanks to their respective partners. Maeda showed potential and lack of fear towards the opponents, but of course he ended up suffering during the heat segment, as the mean Choshu and the veteran Hamaguchi did not go easy on him. This also went to a time limit draw, but it didn't drag too much, thanks for frequent tags and Fujinami having to work extra hard to fix things. Very hot finishing run, much better than the 29/11 All Japan time limit draw from a few days earlier, even though that match surely had a better feeling due to its participants. The Choshu/Fujinami stuff was top notch and the non-finish…

This is the opener. We have the vaudet Bob Roop vs one of the best prelim workers. Jackson keeps thing interesting early on. Roop controls with a key lock. A lot of counterwrestling here. Roop starts to take control and focus on the neck, and using his size.Jackson makes a mistake, and it costs him. Solid opener

Brett & Buzz Sawyer defend the National Tag Team Titles against Hawk & Animal. Talk about it here

This is your typical underneath match. It's pretty basic. Both guys eating up time to have a real meat and potato opener.

Jake Roberts defends the National TV Title. Pez cuts a fun promo on Ellering pre match. Jake hits a nice arm drag early and has this cocky as hell look on his face. Pez then nails Jake with 3 slams and Jake takes a powder. Another slam by Pez, and another powder by Jake. Jake trying to eat up that time. He goes for a slam, but Jake's back is shot. Pez with another slam, and hooks on a Boston Crab. Jake gets the rope. A big stomp to Jake's back. Ellering gets a shot in on Pez. The 10 minute for the belt expired, and now its becomes just a match. Jake is all over Pez in the ropes. Jake's back selling has been great. Jake…

Ric Flair defends the NWA World title. Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems. "Wildfire and the Nature Boy", December 4, 1983. Starts at 1:31:30. Talk about it here WORST belt shot I have ever seen...

This was 2 guys trying to establish position until Garvin hits him with a punch and drops the elbow for a 3 count.

Ted DiBiase defends the National Heavyweight Title. Ted is stalling right of the bat. Loved Teddy missing the punch to eat an arm drag. Buzz biting on Ted. Buzz howling at the moon was great. Babyface Buzz is a blast. You can see how Rick Steiner lifted his stuff in 88/89 Crockett for his babyface run. Buzz was a mentor to him in Mid-South. Ted in control working him over, Buzz fights back and works a chin lock. Ted fights out, but misses a drop kick, and we're back to the chin lock. Sleeper by Buzz and Ted's flailing arm sell rules. Ted gets some separation and begins to bloody up Buzz and work the cut. They start brawling on the floor. 2 1/2 *

Really good showdown between the best All Japan talents and the most menacing group of gaijins. Tenryu and Jumbo were also fine with a time limit, but Brody and Hansen immediately went all out and it was quickly clear that this wouldn't last 30 minutes, win or lose. This was all about Tenryu finally getting to hang with the big boys in a big match, he showed plenty of courage and helped Tsuruta working on Hansen's arm, which affected the gaijins' chances at the beginning. Even Brody was very good here, bumping for the opponents and showing great chemistry with Hansen. Good and credible final, poor Tenryu got isolated and did all he could before Hansen's lariat ***1/2

This was okay for parts and then a bit ropey for others. Standard criticism of Flair and/or Flair Formula is that he/it can sort of stifle guys because they need to change some aspects how they work when they're opposite Ric. They're forced to do press slams or always apply the figure four or whatever. If I'm watching a guy opposite Flair for the first time I'm usually interested in seeing how he'll plug his own stuff into Flair's formula, how much he'll delegate to Flair, etc. The first fifteen minutes of this was really just Kabuki being Kabuki and it didn't feel much like your typical Flair match at all. Kabuki threw a bunch of superkicks and I liked how Flair sold the…

AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs Randy Savage - Memphis, Mid-South Coliesum 12/12/83 "EVERYONE DIES!" Randy Savage's verbal ravings during the match. I have seen this before, but never in full and honestly I have been underwhelmed by this match. Mostly because I was expecting OMG LAWLER VS SAVAGE~! and instead it was just a great match. I will say this match definitely features the two of the best working punches in history. I love Savage's windup right hand almost like how a pitcher in baseball wind ups before delivering a fastball. Savage is in full Memphis heel mode running away and stooging for Lawler's punches. Lawler starts the match off un…

The Reed/Neidhardt team has always been a good one. Just not a lot of footage around. Their is the great cage match against TA and 2 which is better than any Hart Foundation match that I've seen. We open with a brawl. Reed eats a beautiful #2 knee. I loved the 2 football stance spots with Doc against both guys. Mr. Wrestling 2 as FIP was fantastic. The crowd just rallied behind him. Wrestling 2 is so much better as a face. Mr. Wrestling 2 just fought and fought as the FIP. 3 3/4*

This is a fun showcase for Bracero.He gets to showcase all his unique offense. Sword was a good base. A great way to get Bracero over.

Both men are in the WWE HOF. Some fun charisma off early. Duggan taking it to Jake 1st. Duggan working the arm for a bit. Nice stomp to Jake's shoulder.Jake transition into control. Some nice punches by Jake.A kneelift cuts off Duggan's comeback. Jake uses a kneelift to put Jake down. Eventually Duggan makes the comeback, and the pin. 2*

We get pomos to start.`This is Jose's return to the promotion. He has a great suit on and comes across as a star. Gordman cuts a strong worded promo in Spanish. Boesch hard selling 12/30/83 show. Love Lothario's parka. Gordman with a pearl harbor attack . Gordman throwing hands. Lothario returns the favor. A super fun lucha spot. Lothario again throwing hands. Gordman is focusing on the midsection. We see a boot, then a knee, and a slam on the stomach. Some punches into the bread basket. Gordman's heat is built around him roughhousing Jose. The crowd is starting to rally behind Jose. A real fun punch exchange. I loved the uppercut finish. 3*

Man is Volkoff carrying some heat here. They're pelting him with trash. Booing him out of the building as he sings the Russian National Anthem. You see Boesch talking to the ring announcer. Then we get the everyone to their seats. Right off the bat we get this really spirited brawl between the 2. JYD starts to work the arm. His work on it is really fun. He uses hammer locks, works it into the ropes. He's punching the arm, using headbutts on it. Volkoff is putting all this over huge. The crowd of course is all behind JYD. Volkoff with an eye rake and start's getting heat. His work on top isn't that interesting, but the crowd heat totally makes up for it. We get this big bu…

Darsow is a guy they keep fluid up and down the card. Usually with the right partner and angle he's a main eventer. So at times they move him down the card, but keep him strong by feeding him wins. It's kind of a lost booking trick. It's knid of how NJPW books Fale. We start off and they establish Darsow's strength early. He uses kicks, and stomps, and uses his size to control George. Weingroff gets some hope spots with drop kicks and the like. We go to the finish which is the Bruno Sammartino back breaker . Doc comes out for the save and sets up a future match.

Man this was FUN. Poffo is a guy in the WWF who had a lot of good underneath matches with a variety of opponents. He's doing it in Houston as well. Lintz has a unique look. He had to work as a Russian somewhere. He worked a strong manish gimmick here. Poffo was had a lot of unique offense. It made his shine really standout. He also did a good job of keeping Lintz off balance with his headlock. Lintz was real solid in his heat segment using his strength to keep Poffo down. In Poffo's comeback he gets the win. A really fun undercard bout. 2 1/2*

Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems 1983. "AWA Christmas Night 1983". Talk about it here

Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems 1983. "AWA Christmas Night 1983". Talk about it here

Nick Bockwinkel defends the AWA World Heavyweight Title on Christmas night

Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems 1983. "AWA Christmas Night 1983". Talk about it here

Mid-South Tag Team Champions Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart vs Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA - Mid-South 12/25/83 Steel Cage Mid-South is probably the territory I know the least about in terms of the American Power 6 of the 1980s (WWF, Crockett, AWA, WCCW, Mempho, and Mid-South). I have understood that is generally considered one of the best booked territories and has among the best episodic TV ever produced in pro wrestling all under the helm of Bill Watts. Of course, this presents a problem watching a "Best Of" comp without much context, but hey that's what Kayfabe Memories is for. In 1983, it seems Mid-South had transitioned to having Butch Reed be the co-lead heel …

Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems, 1983. "Mid-South Christmas Night 1983". Talk about it here