February 1985

I had no idea that Terry Funk worked a PWUSA taping

This was fought at catchweight and Haward, the bigger of the two, has the early advantage until Grey slowly starts to get back into things. One thing that I've noticed is what a great seller Haward is, everything it so understated, but at the same time looks so legit and as though he is hurting or trying to shake off a bit of pain. He demonstrates this again as Grey focuses his attention on Haward's leg and then when Grey tries to get him up for the surfboard, but with it being early in the bout Haward has the strength to fight the move off so Grey just jumps up and slams Haward's tied legs into the canvas. The first fall was actually a carbon copy of what happened in …

Antonio Inoki vs King Kong Bundy - NJPW 2/5/85 It was unclear to me if Inoki won $15,000 if he won the match or if he bodyslammed Bundy because I dont speak Japanese. I wanted to see what New Japan World had for 1980s matches and this one stuck out to me as an interesting match. Bundy had his cape that makes him look like the World's Largest Dracula. I think have seen him wear this in Memphis, but I dont think he wore it in the WWF. I thought this was a pretty fun old school, Clash of Titans match. Bundy slams Inoki right at the bell. Great back arch, but even better Inoki comes up with his fist ball. THATS AN ACE BABYFACE REACTION! Neither man gives an inch. There …

Road Warriors defend the AWA World Tag Team Titles

American Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich vs Chris Adams - WCCW 2/8/85 They tease that they are going to work that Kerry is woozy right off the bat from an enziguiri by Adams complete with selling in and out of the ring, which would have been fucking awesome (like Mutoh/Tenryu 2001 just in Texas), but what we got was pretty sweet. Kerry works the best singles front facelock sequence you will ever see. So good, really versatile and works a three spots from that base, really nice. Really makes sense for him to use that hold given the enziguiri. World Class has such strange psychology, the closest thing is WWF psychology in the Backlund era. I do like it, but there i…

This is on the network with the new uploads. Tully is the tv champ with Baby Doll. Manny is a tag team champion at the time. Tully has no answers for their 1 st 2 exchanges. Tully takes a powder and the crowd is hot. Cheapshot by Tully, but Manny slugs it off. Tully tries to flee, but Manny won't have it, and now Manny is working the leg. Tully underneath is great constantly fighting or reacting to it. Manny destroying the leg in the ropes. Eye rake by Tully gets some space. Tully limping away. All of Manny's Manny stuff looks great. Baby Doll trips up Manny. This sets up Tully's heat. Tully working the neck. Tully laying his weight on Manny. Tully tosses him to the floo…

Aired on NWA World Wide Wrestling 2/9/85

This aired on Power Pro Volume 18 (2/16/85). We get 14 minutes of action, with 2 commercial breaks. This was pretty good

This was great. Collins wasn't even 18 and played an amazing babyface here, while Bennett worked on his arm and managed to dominate the champion. They told a nice story when, as soon as Collins rolled Bennet up for the 1-0, the challenger got mad and changed his behaviour; he started pummelling on Danny Boy so violently, making Collins bleed and collecting verbal warnings, as the referee didn't want to disqualify him to preserve the bout. Not a fan of restarting matches, but it worked quite well here and it fuelled Bennett's frustration, leading to the definitive DQ. I am shocked Collins never became a star in Japan or America, if this is how we worked at 17 years old *…

Mid-South Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs The Guerreros - Mid-South 2/13/85 Really fun TV tag team match between these two teams. Who was the commentator with Jim Ross? He was fucking awful. He started to imitate Jim Ross's emotional calls towards the end so Jim tried to yell louder over him. It was a clusterfuck on commentary, but these two teams are pros. The Guerreros who fit right in today's wrestling culture and not only keep up, but add some psychology. Heel, we know from Chavo Classic's brief run on Smackdown! in mid-2000s he could still outwork half the roster. That catch of Ricky Morton into an overhead suplex was insane! They are former babyfaces s…

While this is a pretty good match, I will be happy if I never watched it again. This kind of match/style puts me to sleep more often than not. The usual great Flair character work helps keep it entertaining along the way. ***

Tully is defending his TV belt here. Everything Tully does gets a shit load of heat. The crowd is hot for this one. Tully is a master of extending the time. Adidas crosses up Tully early. Big hair pull by Tully, and Brian fires up and chases Tully out of the ring. Back in and Tully eats a dropkick. The crowd is treating Adidas like a hometown hero. Tully tries to convince the ref that Brian threw Tully over the top. Adidas on the arm. Tully always working the angles for escapes. Adidas working the arm. Finally a rope break. Tully with a knee to the balls sets up Tully's heat. But Adidas battles back. Tully has the audience believing in Adidas winning the title. Tully shif…

Dick Murdoch vs Barry Windham -WWF Philly 2/16/85 Watched this about three years ago and did not see the big whoopty-doo, but now I am a Dick Murdoch believer and loved it. This was way more heated than your garden variety World Wrestling Federation action of the 1980s. The Rock N Wrestling Era is characterized by me to very much about segmented work, the your stock spots and incredibly angle-driven. I love how the matches are used as tools to move the stories along and set up the hook for the next house show run. Now, what they tend to lack is struggle and a sense of urgency, which is Greg Valentine (struggle) and Rick Martel (urgency) stand out. Dick Murdoch and Bar…

Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki - UWF 2/18/85 Akira Maeda: The Human Cure for Insomnia. He is a total snoozefest on the mat. So many "bundle of legs" lock or just lying on Yamazaki. Yamazaki is not he guy to draw anything out of Maeda. So far nobody is. The first 12 minutes was a Maeda mauling. Well there was a clip because even the cameraman got bored. Yamazaki got a quick German and that was it. I will say Maeda did have his first explosion of fury. Some really nasty kicks and he did seem more forceful, but then it went back to lying in a side mount or a "bundle of legs" lock. He did have a nice deadlift German. Yamazaki was able to wriggle out and get a single leg cr…

This is a damn fun match, from two of the best. There's a lot of long matwork, but neither is ever lazy about it, you always get the feeling that they're both struggling to either escape the hold or to keep the pressure on. Fujiwara even has some fun with a monkey flip (in a UWF match!) to escape a crab hold. They even throw down and exchange some nasty shots to each other, with the crowd eating it up. Kido's win looks like a fluke, but it shows that even a single mistake is all he needs to finish you off. I won't go as far as calling it the best match from the original UWF, but, it definitley ought to at least be in the discussion!

Hulk Hogan defends the WWF World Heavyweight Title This is just pure spectacle, and pro wrestling when it is at its best - when it can capture the 'big fight feel' or real sports but fuses it perfectly with entertainment and theatrics. Its got the setting, the venue, the crowd that enhances the two guys perfectly, and both Hogan and Piper come across as megastars. Both have the big special entrance - Piper with the marching band, Hogan with Cyndi Lauper. You get the extra celebrity tie in with Mr T at ringside (and Bob Costas as ring announcer). Is the match a 'technical classic'? No, but it doesn't need to be - its pure emotion and intensity and has a terrific pace …

Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu - JWP 2/21/85 The first singles match of the feud that would change the course of All Japan Pro Wrestling happens in Riki Choshu's renegade Japan Pro-Wrestling. Choshu after feuding extensively with Tatsumi Fujinami in 1983 was set to begin a major feud with Antonio Inoki in 1984. The feud began, but in late 1984 Choshu and allies departed from New Japan and formed Japan Pro Wrestling, which basically became a satellite promotion of All Japan and did not have many important matches besides this one. Choshu & Co. invaded All Japan at the beginning of 1985 leading to first ever native vs native feuding in All Japan Pro Wrestling histo…

Kerry & Kevin Von Erich vs Chris Adams & Gino Hernandez - WCCW 2/22/85 Call me crazy, but I think the Dynamic Duo had better matches with the Von Erichs than the Freebirds. They were more willing to meet the Von Erichs with fire rather just feed and bump. This match felt downright Japanese. Everyone was just running into each other and breaking stuff up. It was total chaos and I loved it. The beginning was great with Adams hitting a superkick out of nowhere on Kerry. So Kerry had to scramble for the tag. I love how Kerry had the presence of mind to hold Adams for Kevin. Kevin was a total madman in this match. This match is a perfect example…

JJ has put a bounty on Dick Slater. Bart is here to collect. Bart starting on the arm. Bart moves to the leg. The leg work is relly well done. I liked Slater's selling of the leg. A comeback by Slater gets ended by a Bart headbutt. Love the work of Bart here focusing on the leg.Bart using a front face lock to control Slater. A beautiful neck breaker by Slater. A back drop is a trigger for a Slater comeback. Slater gets a Fig 4 on Bart. Dory Jr. attacks Slater. 2 on 1 and hits a flying knee to Slater, and Dory locks in the spinning toe hold. Manny in for the save. This was a fun match with a great angle.

During the introductions, Galactica gets the nunchucks and goes right after Jaguar. Jaguar is able to quickly get the nunchucks out the way and goes to rip Galactica's mask. Jaguar dumps Galactica to the floor, and they both exchange in brawling with Galactica getting extra help and a chair shot. Galactica goes on offense again in the ring, with head scissors to ground Jaguar and also biting. Jaguar transitions to working Galactica's right leg. Jaguar gets the stretch reversed from outside interference, and Galactica pounds away on Jaguar's face on a table. When Jaguar tries to enter back into the ring, Galactica stomps on one of her hands and bites the other. She,…