May 1985

This is a master class in Jake Roberts psychology 101 in making the crowd care about your opponent. Jake was great here. He gave his opponent enough hope spots that the crowd got behind him. Jake engaging the crowd was top notch. Jake was good here at getting the crowd going. I loved the finish of Jake pissing Casey off enough to outsmart him for the win. 3 1/4*

Kerry Von Erich is one of Kamala's greatest opponents. Kerry going for the claw. Kerry uses his speed to delivers a big drop kick. Kamala takes a a bump off a missed chop. This has been a total sprint. Kerry takes a bump into the ring post. Kamala goes for a bear hug. It looks like Mark Curtis(Brian Hilldebrand) taking photos. Kamala's work on top has been pedestrian. Kerry. Gino in to screw Kerry. 2 1/4*

This match made the Mid-South set. Taylor was one of the few guys like a Steamboat or Windham who could work holds with Flair. WatchingFlair work underneath Taylor working holds is pretty interesting because Flair is one of the best at not sitting in holds. He's looking for outs or counters. Taylor moves from the wristlock to the headlock. Ric looks to go after the leg to counter.In a cool moment, Taylor cranks the headlock and that stops that idea. Taylor goes back to the head lock in a good piece of story telling. Hip toss by Flair looks to give Flair some momentum.Flair does it a couple of times. Taylor blocks a 4th one and gives one to Flair. Flair manipulates Taylor…

Mid-South Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death - Mid-South, Houston 5/3/85 I thought DiBiase & Doc worked like MX better than MX worked in Mid-South (Re-watch 2019: I think this sentence was that the offense was better. DiBiase & Doc were NOT better at stooging and heat-seeking). Great offense coupled with awesome psychology. Doc uses his awesome power to back suplex Morton. Morton hits a cross body, but accidentally lands on the bottom rope (2019 re-watch: great spot). This knocks him a little loopy so DiBiase picks him up and slams him back first to the post. Everything that follows is badass offense to the back. Back…

This was a broadway which was a popular trope in the 80's. Ragin looked green here, but had a decent look, and showed some athleticism. Pritchard is a good worker and did a solid job carrying this. Overall solid stuff. 2 1/4*

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - Mid-South 5/4/85 Another great thing about Flair matches is that they are all different. It is not like the WWF where they ran carbon copies of the same match for a month. Even though Flair/Kerry had wrestled in the same territory a week prior this match has a totally different feel. I don't think it is close to the greatness of the 4/28 match, but like all Flair/Kerry matches it is entertaining and great. Pretty standard Flair/Kerry shine with Kerry getting the best of Flair on the mat. Flair is great at the heel hope spots. Short knee and he immediately jumps onto get a suplex, but Kerry blocks twice …

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kevin Von Erich - Parade of Champions 5/5/85 Kevin Von Erich is my favorite Von Erich! Dude is just fucking relentless. Talk about "thinking shoot, but working" he personifies it. I watched this match on a plane to Italy last summer and I was floored by it then and still am. This is just nonstop fighting between two wrestlers who hated each other and wanted to be champion. The entire match is Flair trying to figure out a way to get through Kevin's perpetual motion, which is his usual strategy. Kevin Von Erich is the epitome of a good offense is a good defense mantra. He is just always coming forward and attacking. Every othe…

I have certainly seen bigger and better US tags than this, but if I was going to show someone what I think great team team wrestling looks like, I might start with this match. Morton was awesome. The 3-4 move sequence he uses at the beginning of the match to take on both Dirty White Boys by himself was classic and perfectly executed. Morton got worked over must of the match and was his usual great self in that role. The Dirty White Boys cheated in just the right ways at just the right times. Big time heat whenever one of them entered the ring illegally. They made quick tags and although their offense while working over Morton was nothing special overall, the body of th…

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Don Kernodle - WWW 5/11/85 Tully Blanchard dealt with the dealer the previous week defeating Dusty Rhodes for the TV title, I kinda miss the days of such large egos that finishes like a ref bump, foreign object and foot on the ropes were used to protect someone like Dusty. There is just something so pro wrestling about that. Tully had spent the majority of 1984 being the number 1 heel (an argument could be made for Slater or Wahoo at times) in Mid-Atlantic as Flair would begin to appear more regularly, he would learn to slide into a solid number two heel position. The American Dream entered Crockett full time in late 84 and set…

This is a from a handheld, but the quality is decent for it's age. This only goes six or so minutes and it mainly consists of these two chunky lads clobbering each other hard. These two grunt and groan so much that even the handheld camera from way back is picking it up. Hansen lands a dropkick and lariats Khan to the outside, which leads to Khan getting counted out. This was fine for what it was and at least it had a somewhat clean finish. ★★½

Clipped by ten minutes, but there is a full version out there as well if you dig deep enough. It doesn't add a whole lot bar a solid exchange between Malenko and Fujiwara. This stars a very young Joe Malenko in what is probably his first televised match as apart of a quick tour with the company, where he was predictively used to mostly job to the main stars. This starts off solid as Kido runs down Tiger and gets a few German suplexes off alongside well as a Scorpion Death Lock that he at once falls to the floor as a way to modify the move for extra leverage Fujiwara also gets in to land some nice scrappy worked punches before Sayama gets his own namesake armbar appli…

Taped on 5/19/85 Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan, City Gymnasium. Airdate 5/25/85

So I really liked this, and specifically I liked Brody in this. I pretty much like Lawler in everything in this time period, so he doesn't get any extra credit. Brody sells plenty for King, doesn't smother the match with his gimmick, and has a damn good brawl here. It's too short to be an all-time classic, and there's a bullshit cop-out finish, but otherwise pretty entertaining. This finished 81/125 in the poll, which seems a little low on first glance.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco - MSG 5/20/85 Tell me Hulk Hogan cant work after watching this match! Tell me! Dude was on fire! Headbutts! Suplexes! Chairshots! Busting Muraco wide open. He was crushing it in this match. The only thing that dragged this down is Muraco is not a very good at selling and bumping. But Hogan on offense was glorious. Hogan drops the leg, but Fuji puts the Magnificent One's leg on the ropes. Fuji gives salt to Muraco who throws it in Hogan's face triggering the DQ and the steel cage rematch the next month at MSG. HULKAMANIA IS RUNNING WILD!

From Don Owens 60th Anniversary Extravaganza, May 21, 1985, Ric Flair defends the NWA World Heavyweight Title. This is not the complete match.

Talk about it here.

From Don Owens 60th Anniversary Extravaganza, May 21, 1985, the Road Warriors defend the AWA World Tag Team Titles

Talk about it here.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Wendell Cooley - Mid-South TV 5/25/85 This is an excellent Ric Flair heel TV match. I am not sure if this is Flair's TV debut in Mid-South as Mid-South was an independent promotion so I dont think Flair came in much before 1985, but perhaps I am wrong. Flair had been mentioned on TV in March when Kerry Von Erich was wrestling TV and Watts was promoting Kerry vs Flair in his territory. Next up was Terry Taylor who was pushed from TV Champion to North American Champion so that Ted DiBiase could lose the Loser Leaves Town to Duggan and go work Japan without the belt. This also allowed Taylor to be positioned to have a crack at…

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Ken Patera - WWF, Philly 5/85 Anyone who has watched Hogan in his prime and still does not think Hogan can work; just does not like fun. Hogan is just so friggin' entertaining in these matches. Yeah they are no Flair classics, but they are just great popcorn, action blockbusters. All the facial expression and flexing are so much fun. This spot had my single favorite spot that I have seen in months: Patera was pissed that had gotten shoved off in a coller elbow tie up so he comes charging at Hulk who drops down thus Patera runs into the turnbuckles and as he ricochets Hogan tabletops him! I marked out so hard for that. Hog…

I don't know if Hawk had trouble at the border...

This was most evenly matched in terms of modifying offense and defense for combat. For Tiger, he obviously practiced his arm takedowns and holds in between matches, whereas Fujiwara’s plan is a simple one – catch a kick, trip the leg, and submit. Tiger doesn’t make it easy for him to pull off, as he’s able to counter the catch with a kick or a takedown of his own. Tiger comes at him harder, faster, repeatedly hacking at Fujiwara’s leg with strikes to prevent him from being able to stand on his own two feet. The punishment and perseverance on Fujiwara’s part pays off in the long run, as he’s finally able to catch the Tiger by the tail (or, in this case, the foot) and lock…