April 1985

This is during Japan Grand Prix 1985. I'm watching this via AJW Classics. Dump right away goes for Nagayo during her entrance, beating her up with a rod. Streamers are still being thrown in during this beatdown through . Dump hits a clothesline and a chin lock, and we get our first schoolgirl chant of CHIGUSA CHIGUSA. Chigusa is able to win a striking exchange, but Dump takes over again and Bull Nakano & Crane Yu (who wrestled each other on this show) beat up on Nagayo. Nagayo recovers and does a promo (I have no idea what she says), but the schoolgirls are screaming. Test of strength, the girls are really into it, and Dump forces the ref to bump to Chigusa's r…

Tully is the challenger here. Baby Doll gets more boos than Tully. Baby Doll must also go into a cage above the ring. I love that stip. I've never seen this match so I'm not sure about its availabilty in trading circles. Bull and Magnum interview. Both guys fighting for position. Dusty working the leg. Dusty has the people eating out of his hands. Figure 4 and Tully makes the ropes. Time runs out as Tully is getting the heat.

Antonio Inoki vs Brusier Brody - NJPW 4/18/85 Call me crazy, but I really liked this match. I am kinda annoyed with myself because I had to drive my airport and do some work (who fucking works? LAME!) immediately after watching this. So I am going off two hour memories so I will try to recall as best I can. The crowd is molten lava in this match. THUNDEROUS INOKI CHANTS! Excellent Clash of the Titans match built around Hope Spots and Cutoffs. It was so, so well done. Brody's propensity not to bump enhances this match. He does one thing that bugs the shit out of me in this match but I will mention that later. Inoki has a bandage around his his left bicep. HUGE F…

Crusher Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter vs Sheik Adnan, Masked Superstar, King Tonga - AWA Starcage 4/21/85 Steel Cage Match I love AWA tag team steel cage matches! I love Crusher Blackwell! I love Blackwell & Sheik in a cage! This is when the other shoe drops. Perhaps, I overhyped myself, but given the level of hype this match got I would say this was disappointing. It was just as great as Mad Dog/Blackwell Death Match and it is a great babyface revenge match. Hell, I even watched the Brody & Abby turn on Blackwell after a battle royale to get myself pumped, but I felt like I watched a great cage match, not an OMG ALL-TIME CLASSIC and that's why I am disappoin…

Road Warriors are a mythical team. One of the great gimmicks of all time. Still always weird seeing them as heels. Larry and Animal have that battle of bad apples going. Larry can go one on one with the Roadies. The time I met Larry he scared the shit out of me. Curt in . This is real cookie cutter stuff. Finally we get a big time power slam by Animal. Curt as FIP. A lot of restholds here. Ax attack is in. Hennigs end up DQ'd. This was pretty rough.

The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/21/85 This match sure lived up to the hype and may be the best Beefcake performance I have ever seen. This match was all about tempo. Santana was in his red-hot feud with Valentine who had broken his leg and taken his title. The crowd was molten for that angle. The babyfaces worked their entire end in an up-tempo, fired -up fashion. The Dream Team knowing they could not match this attempted every trick in the book to break their momentum and work a real grinding style. This led to a really good match. Early on Steamboat and Santana have a hot shine sequence with Beefcake and Valentine ju…

Southern Tag Team Champions PYT Express vs Fabulous Ones - Memphis 4/22/85 Best spot ever! Stan Lane steps on Norvell Austin while he is in an armstretcher to jaw with Koko and then steps on him on the way back. So Koko gives pursuit and steps right on Norvell and then does it on the way back! I laughed out loud! One of the funniest spots I have ever seen. Koko is a dynamo! Holy shit! Could he go! Takes a ridiculous bump off a monkey flip. The armstretcher did go on too long, but once in the heat segment. Koko was flying all over the place kicking Lane's ass. Koko missed his true calling as a hot tag in a big time babyface tag team. Loved the double teams, the can…

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco - MSG 4/22/85 The Hulkster who had a red hot 1984, which goes under the radar (in part due to him not having any major angles wen compared to Slaughter/Sheik, Andre/Studd, Piper/Snuka). At the start of the new year, Hogan is at the peak of his powers and is the centerpiece for the build to the inaugural WrestleMania. So what happens after Mania. Well, one big thing is Paul Orndorff's babyface turn which happens at the first SNME. Also, Hogan has his first three match series at the Garden. Vince had an interesting booking strategy for Hogan not using him at the Garden every month sometimes not even for months at a…

Caswell Martin seems to be one of those workrate darlings of WoS that, unlike others, never really got that next step into being a big deal. He was a good hand....and that seems to be the best of him. With that said, does he look good here on a iffy fancam....with Takada? Well we start off solid as Takada hits him with a low kick and he immediately backs off and changes stance before escaping a Grovit, catching Takada in this funky cravat variation until he has to get a rope escape. Generally the starting sequences mostly go like this, with Martin using his superior Catch knowledge to best Takada's attempts at submissions, using arches, armbars, and some nifty stuff to ge…

Easily not the best Flair/Tsuruta, but still a very good match that had them working very hard. I liked the psychology progression of Jumbo growing since their 1982/3 bouts, so managing to get more offense for himself and to stop Flair's legwork here, even though Naitch did manage to grab the advantage very late in the match. Good struggle around the figure four and the reversals. That nearfall after Jumbo's thesz press was a great one, but it ended up being the only highlight of the last few minutes, as we got the usual flat countout finish. Put a better finish here and this is almost on par with their best bouts ***1/2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHgXqia53ag Commentator says first time Nick & Ray teaming in 3 years. This is just a fun fun match. Nick & Ray are just great to watch, every tag team needs to study these guys. ***3/4 The legend of Ray Stevens wrestling ability really has intrigue me and I think a lot of people. After hearing Flair say he was the best he had ever seen, we are still searching for the Stevens gem just to see what everyone else saw in him. But the reality is we might be disappointed if we do get prime footage of Stevens and realize he was Shawn Michaels just 20 years earlier. But in the 70s I would totally understand why he was so good becaus…

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Mr. Saito - AWA Winnipeg 4/24/85 Oh how I have missed RICKY MARTEL TIME~! BABY! WOOOOOOOOOO! While this is indeed a great match, we do not get to see that classic Martel fired up comeback, but what we do see is top notch. Mr. Saito is somehow I greatly enjoyed when I was watching AWA footage randomly like two years ago especially his tag team with Bock. I remember really liking this match and nothing has changed. This is probably the best execution of a fundamental wrestling match you will ever see. The beauty is in how basic it is and how they are taking their time to really put over the moves. The story of the match is p…

Of course, AWA has the date wrong on the footage

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Taylor - Mid-South 4/28/85 It is interesting they choose Taylor to be the first (I think he was the first) challenger to Flair's title. Duggan and Reed (Reed was a face I think by this point) were much bigger stars, but I imagine Watts thought Taylor was more apt to work the NWA World Championship style and also elevate him in the process. I agree Taylor is a great Flair opponent because he can go on the mat and he can ball up his fist and haul off on the Champ. Flair plays the babyface champion role early. He is reserved and subdued. It makes for not the best shine. He is respectful of Taylor getting the best of h…

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - Mid-South 4/28/85 This match is just lean and mean. Flair is at his best when he goes long so he can flesh out his narrative. There are plenty of times even at 20-25 minutes where he feels rushed. However, that is not the case here. Here his spot calling was pitch perfect. This is stripped down Ric Flair at its finest. How stripped down are talking? At the five minute mark, Flair is already getting heat and there was barely any shine (Flair Flop off a Discus Punch, glorious). It is on! Ref hooks Kerry's arm and Flair hits his short knee. He throws Kerry to the outside. Kerry is such a great Flair oppon…