May 1981

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Roddy Piper & Jimmy Snuka vs Ric Flair & Dewey Robertson - Maple Leaf Wrestling 5/4/81 Ric Flair is a ball of muthafuckin energy in this match. I wish we made more Flair from the late 70s/early 80s so we got more of a chance to see him as a fun bayface. Piper had just recently won the United States Championship from Flair at the beginning of 81. Was Piper one of Flair's recruits? Seems likely since Flair was a total mark for Piper and his comedy. Piper proves how thin line is between babyface and heel. He is able with his smile to convey if he is a babyface or heel. Same smile as always, but this one he looked like a smug, obnoxious prick and you just wanted F…

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Verne Gagne's retirement match

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What a beautiful match, one of the best from Joint Promotions. Breaks stole the show once again, trying to behave and even shaking Grey's hand, before changing his attitude towards the end when the match wasn't going his way. 5 minutes rounds are so much better, especially for their style, they got all the time they needed. Great armwork from Breaks, as usual that sets up his finisher, while Grey was sympathethic in his selling, but not on his opponent's level when controlling the match. I liked the drama of the last fall, Breaks was one warning away from getting the DQ, but Grey was pretty much fighting with one arm only at the moment and that led to Break's victory **…

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The Mansfield/Lang dynamic is great. Casey and Tom are pretty great too. Lang playing up Mansfield sexuality. Some fun schtick with tricking Tom that his partner hit him. Lang's punches looked stiff as hell. This was so fun. 3*

It starts out with Gino kicking the shit out of a fan. I'm still tingling from the fight. Plus we have Lou Thesz as ref. The crowd is 100% behind Chavo. It also wants to lynch Gino. Gino on the neck, and negating Chavo's speed. Incredible belly to belly hope spot by Chavo. I'm loving the slow build, the wrestlers are getting huge reactions on arm drags. Everything the wrestlers do is getting over. Gino is smart by taking the heat down with the headlock. I'm loving Gino smothering Chavo. Chavo with a big comeback. The way Chavo works the Rito Romero special is really interesting It looks like it should break Gino's back. . The way Chavo is after the arm is cool The Fig 4 O…

The chain wrestling early on is done really well. Cowboy Lang working WOS spots. Some fun comedy spots. A totally entertaing match.Lang uses a lot of leverage spots. Lang with a vertical suplex. Boesch laughing his ass off his subperb. 3*

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Well, for better or worse, this was a Sheik match. That means you get some stabbing, some blood, and if you're lucky some brawling that's more chaotic than meandering. We obviously got lucky because this had a hint of pandemonium about it. Tenryu was the focal point and much of the match was built around him getting stabbed with a broken bottle and poked in the eye with a stick. By this point Sheik really needed someone who was willing to play the game for his shtick to be interesting. Tenryu was willing, as he bled and came back with his own stabbing while Baba (who also took a stabbing) acted as back up. The crowd even started throwing stuff in protest to the pieces of …

I'm totally with Matt D. Right off the bat with Mansfield's bump and taking the arm drag I totally got a Randy Savage vibe mixed in with some Dynamite Kid. Then I thought he could have been a big time player in a tag team with Buddy Rose, Tom Pritchard,Rip Rogers or Ken Timbs. The 1st fall was fun but lacked a narrative. Now the 2nd fall we get a narrative. Mansfield starts to work the back. This was done pretty well. In the 3rd fall Conway has a fiery comeback. Then in revenge spots goes after the back. This begins to feel like these guys had too much time to fill. The match goes off the air while in progress. Clearly, Mansfield looked pretty damn good. I think…

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