December 1985

I think Choshu is a pretty great matworker, this might not be *the* match to showcase, more of a mat-heavy match that showcases why Choshu was so great in general. I loved how Bockwinkel stepped on Choshu's left leg while holding his right, that's the kind of neat detail work you want to see from him. Choshu's repetead counters to Bockwinkel's takedown attempts were awesome, completely shutting down an opponent's attempts at offence is something I love but you rarely see in wrestling. Bockwinkel countered Choshu's Scorpion Deathlocks by pulling his hair and using everything he could, Choshu countered Bockwinkel's Figure Four by chopping away at him and pushing him off, it…

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura - NJPW 12/6/85 I believe this is an IWGP Tag League match as they had a rematch six days later which I think was the final. I remember liking that match a lot. First Twenty Minutes: Sakaguchi is a big mutha trucker and what I love about him is he wrestles like one. When Fujinami tries to take him over with a headlock he just throws him halfway across the ring. When Kimura is up top, he press slams him off. The initial Fujinami/Inoki stuff is not super hot. More just feeling stuff out. Fujinami seems to be on the losing end of both Inoki and Sakaguchi. There is a great fist fight that brea…

Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 12/7/85 I gotta say WrestleMania III overshadows a great series of matches (I know hardcores know about Toronto 2/15/87), but I think overall this is an underexplored series even though the main match is so famous. They had amazing chemistry together. I am not going to say this was on par with Savage's selling in the Bret Hart SNME match, but this was damn close. Macho Man takes us to school on how to sell as he does a great job with his arm throughout the match. Just amazing. I loved Macho Man shoving Steamboat at the bell, putting Liz in front of him, Steamboat backs off and he jumps him. It is such a great dick move. Steambo…

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk - WWF, Philly 12/7/85 It is pretty crazy that Vince ended up with every NWA World Heavyweight Champion (save for Tommy Rich) from Dory Jr. through Flair running around in his territory. It is always interesting seeing what a Jack Brisco or a Harley Race ended up doing in the incredibly different WWF. Terry Funk was no different and it sometimes borders on surreal to see him in the WWF ring, but especially so against the Hulkster. Funk is also one of the few Hogan opponents that got Hogan to incorporate his spots and work more his style of match. No doubt because Funk was a more respected wrestler and someone th…

Antonio Inoki vs Dick Murdoch - NJPW 12/10/85 This was the same month Murdoch was working excellent bloody brawls against Ted DiBiase in Mid-South. This match was not an excellent bloody brawl. It was a very good technical match. It wont change your world, but it will remind you that Dick Murdoch is such a damn entertaining wrestler to watch. New Japan was in an interesting position in 1985. They lost their shoot style crop (Maeda, Fujiwara and Takada) to Sayama's UWF and they lost Choshu & Co. to All Japan. Choshu vs Inoki seemed to be poised to be the big feud of late 84 into 85. It was not all losses. New Japan did acquire Bruiser Brody. The main program of 198…

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Bruiser Brody - NJPW 12/10/85 Well the bloom is off the rose quickly for Brody as this was Brody absolutely at his dirt worst. He threatens crazy, awesome violence swinging his chain, barking HUSS and throwing the ref out of the ring. He lightly wraps the chain around Fujinami's neck and then drops it. He throws a couple big boots. He just doesnt sell. He kinda registers. He sort of does an Undertaker sell on the run but then he just stops and does nothing. Fujinami has no clue what to do. It is jarring and ruins the rhythm of the match. Hansen shows how big man can do wounded bear selling and Austin brings up Taker's selling on the run, but Brody…

Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 12/12/85 I have a sneaking suspicion they are going to do a 30 minute draw so I am going to break this up into halves. First 15 minutes: Ted DiBiase is just weird in All Japan. He looked lost. There was that weird backdrop/sunset flip from Yatsu at the outset that crowd openly laughed at. The constant chinlocking. He just did not fit. From a kayfabe point of view, he constantly lost the advantage that Hansen would garner. Hansen was fucking awesome. Everytime he tagged in DiBiase, DiBiase would end up on his back before you knew it I think Ted's best offense was sending Yatsu to the outsid…

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura - NJPW 12/12/85 IWGP Tag Team Championship Fantastic intergenerational match! Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig vs Mantle & Maris or Bruno & Pedro vs Hogan & Savage. Sakaguchi was the number two babyface in 70s New Japan behind Inoki. He is the biggest guy in the match, a bruiser and definitely the spark plug of the match. Kimura is Fujinami's running buddy. Fujinami is the biggest babyface star of 80s New Japan and Inoki is of course the biggest star of the 70s and the biggest star of all time in New Japan. To add to the stakes this is to crown the inaugural International Wrestlin…

This is a no DQ match. This is a pretty famous feud in Mid-South. Butch just punishing Slater with big soup bones. Big guard rail toss by Butch. You've got to remember, Butch just got out of the neck brace caused by Slater. Slater focusing on Reed's neck on the heat. Then posts the arm. Slater is disecting that arm of Reed's. Slater is just wrecking the arm. Stomping the arm. Reed reverses Slater and posts him. It's comeback time and fists are flying. In a great revenge spot he posts Slater's arm. He rams it into the corner. Reed runs into a knee, and is stopped cold. Slater runs into a Reed punch, and Reed maintains his attack. The crowd is 100% with Reed. At this point …

Eddie and the Nightmare are the tag champs here. with Humperdink as their manager. I thought both teams did a good job. The in ring work had a real good ring psychology, and the story was easy to follow. Gilbert and the Nightmare both bumped and stooged early for the Guerreros. The Guerreros get a nice shine. First they work over the Nightmare's arm with some good arm work. Eventually Gilbert gets in and they really work over his arm. I loved Chavo's key lock in this. It takes some interferance from the Nightmare to turn the tied. They do a good job working over Hector for a bit. Chavo hot tag and he's running wild. He hits a big move and has a visual pinfall. The heels d…

Rick Steiner has a face only a mother could love. I thought they got a lot out of the early arm bar work. Essentially though this match had one thing in mind. That was for Jake to go over with the DDT. When it happens the crowd goes wild. Jake gave Rick most of the match since Jake was going over strong.

This is a coal minors glove match. Like Matt D was saying it felt more like a big WWE stip match. Where it had it moments and postage stamps moments. I still enjoyed a lot of this. This is one of my favorite feuds of all time. I loved how they used a stip to set up another stip match. We got some brawling early. Buzz after Duggan's back. He worked over Duggan's back with a chair. A couple of the chair shots looked weak though. Buzz would stomp. kick the back. He posted Duggan's back into the guardrail. He hooks on the bear hug. The crowd went nuts everytime Duggan tried to climb the pole. It had a Royal Rumble count feeling. Once Duggan gets the glove the crowd is nuts. W…

This is a squash with a good piece of business postmatch. When Perez got a little comeback the crowd went wild. Post match Humongous beats on Perez. Jake the Snake runs out for a confrontation. Lord Humongous has had a lot of influence over the years to ManKind,Kane to currently Mantanza.

This is pretty much a squash but it was a lot of fun. Doc showing off a lot of schtick here. I'm guessing Gibson's calling it because it's worked very Memphis like. 1st we get some hair pulling schtick that works like a charm. Then a test of strength that was a ton of fun. Doc has a rep of being pretty one dimensional. Here though we see another layer from him, and he did it well.Super fun underneath match.

This is Lawlers wifes hair vs. Dundees Southern Title. It's 80s territory wrestling baby! I love coming home late at night and discovering a previously unseen match in what is arguably the greatest matchup in US wrestling ever has been uploaded. And this is another fucking classic in the pantheon. And it's a great showcase for Bill Dundee as he is basically an unstoppable killing machine here as he beats the shit out of Lawler and Calhoun for +20 minutes. Dundee has about a dozen great punch variations and he makes Lawler his punching bag. Nearly the entire match is Dundee kicking ass and while it can be hard to make a 10 minute control section compelling it is no problem…

Fabulous Ones vs Midnight Express - Memphis 12/21/85 I watched the clipped version from the 12/21/85 TV show, but this was during the Crockett/Memphis show from 11/18/85 which is famous for the Flair title defense against Koko Ware. The Fabs vs the Midnights is of course a DREAM MATCH! It does not live up to the lofty expectations that this match will have. There are two really great comedy spots, but thats pretty much the only things that stand out. I will let those who want to watch the match check out those comedy spots. Then Condrey trips Keirn from the outside. Eaton hits a kneedrop and then it is choke city on Keirn. Lots of choking, jab with the tennis racquet…

Talk about it here

Holy shit, I can't believe this exists!!!

Rick Martel defends the AWA World Title. Talk about it here

American Tag Team Champions Dynamic Duo vs Kerry & Kevin Von Erich - WCCW 12/25/85 The Von Erichs come out in masks and are called the Cosmic Cowboys. They take off their masks and the TV graphic has their real names. Adams & Hernandez feign disgust but the Von Erichs did not even really try to get he angle over. Kerry does wrestle barefoot. I like the trading of the Superkick and Discus Punch early as a hot start tit for tat early. People going for their finishers early shake these up and makes it feel like the match can end anytime and that the wrestlers want to win. Kevin is his usual frenetic self, great dropkick and then just blasts Gino. I totally bu…

This was just a great southern tag. The Guerreroes were the faces here. Their shine was really focused. They just dismantled Keirn and Lanes arm. This was done with vigor and purpose. The Fabs though eventually are able to bully their way into the corner for the tag and get the heat on the Guerreroes. The heat section is really well done. They used misdirection to the ref to get double teams on the faces. The Fabs used cheap shots. The crowd was going nuts here. This was all really well done. Then they build to an absolutely great finish for a 1st match. 4*

This was a lot of fun. Boesch says this is Masked Superstar's debut in the area. It's more of a re debut. since he was in the area in 82. We get some early mat work with both guys trying to gain the advantage. They really get a lot out of Lawler trying to get a hammerlock. Lawler tries to go after the mask. This results in the Superstar fighting back. Then Lawler fires back with some really nice punches. Some more undoing of the mask. Lawler pulls the strap but gets cut off by the loaded mask. The ref overturns the decision once he sees the foreign object. This was fun, but feels they could have a great match if given 20 minutes or so. 2 3/4*