July 1985

Nobuhiko Takada vs Super Tiger - UWF 7/21/85 Sayama without his Tiger Mask?!!? Not as cool. Two of the all-time best kickers here. First like three minutes of fifteen minute match are cut. They are throwing some really beautiful kicks, but both are so good at blocking and movement nothing really lands until the end. The matwork is pretty good. Both are better on the mat with a pro like Fujiwara rather than left to their own devices where nothing seems to connect. It is just kicks and then takedown attempts nothing connects the matwork. I liked Sayama's legsweep/legscissors combo that Takada countered with a double wristlock. Sayama had good selling during Triangle Cho…

Southern Tag Team Champions Sheepherders vs Fabulous Ones - Memphis 8/6/85 Steel Cage The world's flimiest and shortest steel cage surrounds the ring for this violent tag team match. Nowhere near the best of the best AWA tag team steel cage matches that have become my favorite genre in wrestling, but still pretty fun. I thought Rip Morgan was better in this, but still kinda load. They start outside the ring. Nice story with Morgan being the bigger being able to get the upper hand on Lane and throw him into the cage. Keirn, the asskicker of the Fabs, kicked Boyd's ass. Keirn/Morgan was kinda stalemate with Keirn faring well. It looks like someone forgot to put a door o…

Ted DiBiase vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts - Mid-South, Nawlins 7/22/85 It is my understanding now after the Duggan blowoff, DiBiase was primarily in a tag team with Dr. Death when in Mid-South. So maybe I should watch a couple of their matches. This is a part of a larger tag feud between the champs DiBiase & Doc against Jake the Snake & Nord The Barbarian (Berzerker). Nord is wearing a shirt that says "Weasel Slapper", which sounds oddly homoerotic. This is ostensibly heel vs heel, but as in most matches involving Jake, the "DDT" is very over. Jake did such a great job with that move. They get the Nawlins crowd to chant "Weasel" at DiBiase. I like DiBiase alrig…

I wouldn't say it's the best but the UWF 1 style is probably the most fascinating to watch. There is a distinct flair to the matwork and you always wonder what can they do. This is a match I could see many consider boring but I loved every second of it. Extremely minimalistic with struggle over every hold and transition. I loved Maeda's Capture Suplexes and his waistlock slam and the way the much was structured, Maeda controlled the entire bout and won without it feeling like a squash. I found it extremely impressive that they managed to make an over 15 minute match with that narrative work without any twists and turns. ****

Kido spends his time pre-match lifting heavy ass weight, Fujiwara spends it trying to break the hand of I think was a very young Tatsuo Nakano (?) though I could be easily wrong given his face was obscured: perfect (if purely accidental) distinction between two made right there between the physically refined professional in Osamu Kido and the torturous demon in Yoshiaki Fujiwara. This is definitely one of those matchups that people are going to be hit or miss on because it's mostly two middle aged uncles rolling around for pretty much the entire match. Sure, it's two of arguably the most refined and knowledgeable mat-workers in living history, sure Fujiwara is one of…

This is short and sweet. The heels all bump and run from Watts. Felt more like a postmatch than match.

This is the rematch and it's another hard hitting affair. We see Flair work the arm. Everything Wahoo does has a pop. His chops are blistering. So this turns into a match similar to the Ron Garvin matches. Just a chop fest and it's awesome. Flair is bleeding from the head. Both guys work their asses off that awes the crowd. Great stuff. 4*

Houston loves them some Fantastics. Grey is a guy I haven't seen that much of. I've seen him as a jobber in JCP and seemed pretty good. We get a pretty fun Fantastics shine. Gilbert's sell job of a Fulton punch was over the top greatness. The Fantastics are great at targeting Gilbert's arm. Gilbert is great at putting little wrinkles in things. Grey trips up Fulton to set up the heat. The crowd immediately gets behind the Fatastics. The heat segment was pretty solid. Hot tag goes right into a flash pin. This was good stuff, and a real fun Gilbert performance. 2 3/4*

Taped on 7/17. Aired on Mid South TV episode 307, 7/27/85

NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu & Killer Khan - AJPW 8/2/85 I can see why people prefer Tenryu to Jumbo during the work in this match as Tenryu is fired up from the start blitzing Choshu and Khan with chops. Whereas Jumbo takes the more scientific approach in the early going. It is only after Tenryu is being blatantly choked by Khan that Jumbo gets worked up into a lather. I think Jumbo did work hot from then with lots of slaps and emotion down the stretch. He bled for his promotion! Jumbo had an elbow pad on his arm and apparently it was injured as he is really selling after two lariats. Choshu hits a monst…