November 1985

Talk about it here.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Randy Savage - SNME 11/2/85 I was expecting a hot sprint to set up the house show loop but this was fine. Tito is good at turning anything into a blood feud. The way he cocks his fist and Savage bails through ropes is great. Both guys fly around Savage wins with double axehandle. Chinlock city. Tito starts unloading. They go outside and Savage cant get the piledriver and both are counted out. Not much in the way of post-match. Not necessary.

This one-hour match came to my attention as it was posted to YouTube a day or so ago. Presumably, this is a well-known match but I haven't seen anything about it here. What is the prevailing thought on singles matches between Jumbo and Choshu in this time period, as compared to the all-time classic tags they were in around this time?

This is the first match of the one night 16 man tournament. Only one of the first round matches goes over five minutes, so don't expect any in-depth analysis of the matches. Kirchner looks like a failed Vince project after the success of Hulk Hogan. Turns out you can't just slap a pro-USA gimmick on anyone and expect them to be a star, as the crowd don't care at all for Corporal Krichner. Adonis advances to the quarter finals by countering Krichner's suplex attempt (which he struggles to set up) with some form of a proto-DDT. Cool finish, crap match. At least we will get to see more of Adonis tonight. ½★

The first round matches are done, and we now onto the quarter finals. Upon hearing that Randy Savage is facing Ricky Steamboat next, Jesse Ventura excuses himself from the ringside area and heads to the back to help Savage prepare for his match. The match itself is fine, with Kidd getting in quite of a lot of near-falls for a match of it's time. Adonis locks on the sharpshooter to work down Kid's leg and I think that might be one of the first times that move had been done in a WWF ring. Kid gets a win, but never stops selling his leg. ★★½

We FINALLY get a match that goes longer than five minutes and it's a lot of fun. They work quicker than I expected them to and the freshly turned babyface Mr Wonderful gets a lot of love from the crowd. Orton is a brilliant bumper and great at playing the chickenshit heel. He's still using his cast gimmick, and he ends up accidentally getting himself disqualified when the referee catches him using it a weapon. I'd usually call that a bullshit finish, but it added to the whole one-night tournament storyline. wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. ★★★

You are probably not going to find a more workrate pairing than this in WWF in 1985. They work a fast exchange, before Smith overpowers Steamboat and controls the match with a front facelock. Steamboat counters out of a Smith suplex by using the momentum to hoist Bulldog in the air for an impressive stalling suplex of his own. Just when things are starting to pick up, Smith crotches himself on the ropes after a failed dropkick attempt and the referee decides to award this one to Steamboat. Utterly shit finish, these guys could of made something really special if they were just given five more minutes. ★★½

In a finish that we've seen done countless times, Volkoff loses a match because a face attacks him whilst he singing the U.S.S.R national anthem. Kid comes of the top rope with a cross body and wins this in nine seconds. Not a very babyface move, but that's the WWF in the 80's for ya. The crowd love this and Kid does a front flip to celebrate. Kid looked ripped to the gills here. ¼★

Talk about it here.

Sheiky Baby attacks JYD before the bell rings, but Dog fights him off. Sheik, like many of the wrestlers of his time, knows how to sell well for a punch. Sheik takes control after a failed failing headbutt attempt and locks on the Camel Clutch. After JYD passing out in the hold, Sheik releases it to beat on JYD some more and this turns out to be a fatal mistake as he's knocked out by a flash headbutt, which costs him the match. This was solid yet unremarkable. ★½

Dave Meltzer has this rated at minus five stars, one of two WWF/E matches to receive this 'award'. It's crap, but it's over in under a minute so I can't be too harsh on it. For whatever reason, the referee isn't anywhere to be seen when they start fighting in the ring. JYD lands a headbutt and counts his own pin. Monsoon says that there's no way that this result will be recognised as there was no official present, but JYD is already on his way to the back so Monsoon has to quickly make an excuse and it's on to the next match. DUD

This is the only ever time these two met in a singles match and sadly it's not much to write home about due to a number of factors. This is their 3rd match in the evening and they don't get much time. The finish is quite famous, with Dynamite Kid landing a superplex only to get rolled up as he tries to float over. This is fine for what it was, but don't let Melter's high rating of this disappoint you like it did for me. ★★½

Savage is already a high-level worker by 1985 and he's extremely entertaining even he's just stalling and trying to get away from Putski. To his credit, Putski doesn't look half bad here either. He plays to the crowd well and lands some nice looking strikes on Savage, who sells them well. This is all over in under three minutes, as Savage gets a cheap win by rolling Putski up with the assist of the ropes. For what it was, this was quite fun. ★★¼

I never understood the logic of having babyface JYD get a bye into the finals, while the dastardly heel has to wrestle four times. Jesse Ventura uses this as fuel to go after JYD on commentary and post-match, but it still doesn't make JYD look like a conquering hero. Savage tries to salvage something out of JYD, but he's no miracle worker. Savage stalls around to kill time and beats down JYD on the outside. In an anti-climatic finish, JYD wins the tournament after throwing Savage over the top rope and getting the count out win. ★½

Savage vs Steamboat is still a lot of fun even if they only get three minutes. Savage uses Elizabeth as a distraction to gain an advantage, but Steamboat fights back with some interesting looking moves. Savage pulls some brass knuckles out of his trunks and gets the win. Quick and to the point. ★★¾

There's hardly any action to speak of here as Funk tries to talk Spot into both of them forfeiting the match by leaving the ring. It's all a ploy to get Spot counted out as Funk clobbers him as he's walking back, but this comes back to bite Funk as Spot fights back and manages to get back into the ring before the ten count. Clocking in at 27 seconds, this isn't even the shortest match on the card. Terry cuts two promos, one in the back and one in the ring, and anytime Terry Funk has a live microphone in his hands, you can expect some enjoyment. ½★

The short matches were really starting to burn me out by this point, and I was pleased to see that this one might be getting more time by how they were working. Sadly it's not to be as this one ends suddenly with yet another bad finish. Muraco scores a three count on Santana, but Santana had his foot just under the bottom rope. Muraco celebrates, and Santana rolls him up for a sneaky win. Santana was the IC champ and the finish wasn't exactly fitting for a babyface. Santana is usually a guy who you can depend on, but this was quite disappointing. ★½

I've never seen two guys trade holds so well yet be completely boring with it. Santana's leg is taped up after his first match and it becomes a massive factor when Orndorff atomic drops him to escape a headlock and Santana rolls around the mat in agony. Orndorff lands a drop toehold and starts wrenching on his damaged leg. This was when I noticed that that the crowd were starting to chant 'boring'. After Orndorff refuses to break up a grapple cleanly, the two brawl out outside the ring and get counted out. While I'm glad that their holds looked snug, Santana's selling was good and they crafted an interesting story for a face vs face match, I can't lie and say this was goo…

Non Title Match --- Ric Flair (c) vs Butch Reed - MId-South 11/8/85 Ric Flair is slated to face Al Perez on TV. But Butch Reed is pissed because Flair has put a bounty on his head using DIcky Slater as his hitman. Reed gives Flair his back and Flair charges. Reed punches him in the head. Great TV sprint ensues. Impromptu match means non-title. Flair seems way more energized in this. It feels like a real fight. Flair traps him in a test of strength where he kick in the midsection and then double stomp. Flair throws him to the outside and Reed comes back with O'Connor Roll and then the sleeper. Watts is great on commentary and makes the match feel more urgent. Flair su…

Hacksaw Duggan vs Buzz Sawyer - Mid-South 11/11/85 "Kiss my fucking ass!" - Hacksaw Jim Duggan to Buzz Sawyer in the post-match fracas from Hell. Hacksaw Duggan is for real! His run in Mid-South should go down as one of the best "everyman" brawler types in the history of Mid-South. The DiBiase matches are exceptional, but you can point to them being propped up by the angle the matches with Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer are just unadulterated violence. At this time, Dicky Slater & Buzz Sawyer were the lead heels in the Mid-South territory soon to be Universal Wrestling Federation and Duggan and Butch Reed were among the lead faces. While Slater & Reed were feuding over the…

Regal and Garvin are champs, but this is a non title match

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase -Mid-South 11/6/85 Perhaps my favorite angle of the 1980s and that's saying a lot, but just an awesomely executed angle from every aspect. Bill Watts is just money in putting over the guts of Ted DiBiase, the violence that had just occurred and the importance of a World Heavyweight Championship match. Jim Ross puts in one of his best performance. "I CAN'T BELIVE HE KICKED OUT!" "IF HE HAD HIM IN THE CENTER OF THE RING, I GUARANATEE YOU WE WOULD HAVE A NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION"! Ric Flair was without question the perfect champion for this exact angle. He has all the credibility you need, but he is so selfles…

Super energetic six-man tag. It got lots of time and everyone was working a hundred miles an hour, but it didn't feel messy, we got two strong extended heat segments on a babyface, and the speed they were working at gave lots of it a sense of desperation. When Taylor tried to make that hot tag you knew Flair or Arn were going to have to get over there quickly to cut him off, or Ole would really have to trap his leg so he couldn't crawl away. The Flair opponent putting Flair in the figure-four moment also worked as a great hope spot here. Taylor could've and probably should've made the tag, but the opportunity was too good to pass up even if ultimately it cost him. Flair w…

This whole thing was great, from Flair's pre-match interview to the post-match angle with Dusty. Crockett asks Flair if he hears footsteps, if he might be afraid of the returning Dusty Rhodes, and for a second there I thought Flair might actually smack the little goof. Who does he think he is? Flair's the world champion and he doesn't fear anybody, not Dusty Rhodes and especially not his protege Sam Houston. The match itself was a quality little nine minutes. Flair was at the absolute peak of his powers in '85, really made Houston look like a million bucks here, but he didn't give him seven of the nine minutes, there was no begging off in the corner, no pleading with…

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Koko Ware - Memphis 11/18/85 You forget how big Ric Flair is because he very rarely gets to wrestle people he is larger than. This is a chance for Flair to bully his opponent like he did with Morton. The beginning of the match is all about establishing Koko as a challenger. Lance does a great job narrating this story. Stating Koko is nervous about this opportunity and that he is starting with fundamentals (headlock) to get himself a rhythm and credits Dusty with this advice is fucking excellent. That's what commentary should be! Lance states Flair thinks he has himself a cakewalk, but beware of Koko (pun intended). After the…