February 1982

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 2/4/82 Huge fight feel to this one! Hansen had just debuted for the company about two months ago in one of the all-time great angles and instantly was the biggest gaijin star in the company. This is just the natural progression. I still have to mention Baba's body. It is so weird. The giant head and boxy torso with those weirdly skinny arms. He looks so fragile and I was scared with him going up against Hansen. This was a more reserved Hansen. But Hansen at 75% is still going to hit you fucking hard he is just not flying all over the place. He was also more willing to bump for Baba. The story of the match…

Nick comes to the ring in a fabulous white tracksuit, with the words "Bockwinkel World Heavyweight Champion" emblazoned on the back. This is a one fall match. These two know each other well. We start the match with a very aggressive lockup, they struggle a bit, and Nick throws Jumbo off. They lock up again,and Nick gets the advantage once more. A third time and Nick scoops Jumbo and slams him to the mat, but wait...Jumbo fires up and comes back and slams Nick twice. Nick does a go-behind and Jumbo reverses it twice. Jumbo grabs a hammerlock and forces Nick to the mat. Back to their feet, Nick grabs Jumbo's hair and whips him to the ropes, but Jumbo g…

This was a lot of fun while it lasted. It went about 7 minutes, but we got to see what both guys did well. With Morton it was his fire and selling. The Grappler was his psychology. 1st we saw well he worked over a neck, next we got to see him work over Morton's legs. Mesh what these guys bring to the table and you get a good match. We get a Brody run in because he's feuding with Grappler. 2 3/4*

This was interesting. Bret really was mechanically very good even this early, when he had yet to see his 25th birthday. But my biggest takeaway from this is, "Oh, so that's why so many wrestlers have long hair." The right hair and ring attire gives everything a bit more umph, and that's a lot of what's lacking here -- just that everything seems so small. Besides that, the match is technically well worked but on the bland side, although by the standards of 1982, it's pretty action-packed. I like Bret working as a power junior, with the biggest aspect of his game being hard strikes and a great suplex. The timing on the dropkick as Bret was running the ropes was fantastic, a…

Abby attacks Dusty in the aisle during his entrance, while he is taking his shirt off. He rams Dusty into the railing four times and Dusty comes up bleeding within seconds. They brawl into the crowd, Abby hits Dusty with a water bottle. The wrestlers try to pull them apart, then start carrying Dusty out to seek medical attention. But, of course, Dusty immediately returns to ringside, ready to continue the fight. He tries to get in the ring, but Abby sends him into the post. The referee is checking Dusty's wounds, but Dusty insists he is ok and the bell rings to officially start the match. Dusty bladed near his eye, he is the definition of a crimson mask…

Centurion Negro’s UWA World Middleweight Title is on the line and he is defending against New Japan Pro Wrestling’s own Gran Hamada who is on tour with the promotion. Gran Hamada spent his excursion in UWA and he was established as a top player in the promotion, previously winning titles such as the UWA World Middleweight, World Junior Light Heavyweight and World Light Heavyweight Championships. The first fall is a mauling by Negro. A constant barrage of tight submissions, the double underhook hold in particular, wearing Gran Hamada down. Centurion Negro is ultra vicious and waste no time in putting Hamada away for the first fall with hardly any fight or rebuffal fr…

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Mike Graham - Championship Wrestling from Florida 2/20/82 Ric Flair looks like a giant compared to Mike Graham. This open up a great opportunity for Flair to bully his opponent. It is glorious. Wicked fun! Something different. Flair and Graham have some really good slugfests early and Flair takes a big bump off a Graham right. He comes back in and just picks up the little man and drops him throat first. You don't see Flair manhandle someone, but he manhandled Graham here. He misses an elbow drop giving Graham an opportunity to grab a sleeper. Flair gets his foot on the ropes so Graham slams down on it. Graham works the leg u…

I'm liking the cat and mouse stuff early on.Loving Sweetan punching Morton's arm.Morton uses his areial tactics to keep Sweetan off balance. I'm really liking Morton here in the shine. He's using the headlock as a base and working spots around it. Morton with a victory roll. That's really state of the art for 82.Finally, Sweetan uses his size to cut Morton off. Sweetan on the arm that he worked on early in the match. Crowd getting hot for Morton. After all the ho hum work from Sweetan, Morton makes a comeback. This was solid, but it was clear they were working toward a draw. Loved all of Morton's near falls down the stretch. 2 1/2*

Duggan with a huge punch, but it's a whiff to start things. Dusty with some shucking and a jiving. Nice arm drags by Dusty and the crowd is rabid here. Duggan looks pissed. Duggan dirty fights him in the corner. I love Duggan's jumping elbow. Duggan takes him outside a beats on Dusty and busts him open. Duggan after the cut. Dusty starts a comeback and is cut off. A little back and forth and Duggan cuts him off. Duggan mounts Dusty and goes after the cut. Dusty powers up and makes a comeback. Robley gets involved and it's a DQ. Brody and Duggan pair off and it's awesome. Slater and Sweetan are out and Sweetan hits a nasty piledriver on Slater. A superfun postmatch that wa…

A little back and forth early.Nice armdrags by Tiger.Ivan roughing up Tiger in the corner. Ivan's size is just too much for Tiger. Ivan goes with a nerve hold and transitions into an arm bar. This isn't a barn burner of a match, but they are telling a pretty basic story. I loved Tiger's hope spot of running the rope. More control by Ivan. Tiger gets the match vertical and uses his boxing for a bit only again to get cut off. Tiger gets one last run and climbs the top rope and hits a missile 2 12* This was a basic match, but I thought Tiger's selling was done real well. You got behind him on his hope spots. The match was worked in a way that the loser didn't get hurt.

Lucas working the arm . This has a lot of chain wrestling. Some back and forth. Lucas is controlling with a head scissors. Not much of a story here. Just execution of moves. I liked Lucas machine gun punches. Lucas puts him away with a Sleeper. I found this pretty boring.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Harley Race - Georgia Championship Wrestling 2/28/82 Over the course of watching all this 80s footage, Harley Race has become my second least favorite wrestler (don't worry pretty little head, Don Muraco, you always be my number one). He is all bumps (they usually look atrocious) and highspots. People levy nonstop no-psychology at the feet of Flair when that is a boldface lie while Harley Race is screaming look at me, I am that wrestler! Shockingly, I actually wish we had this in full. I really dug it. I have seen '83 MACW match, Starrcade '83 and the Central States '84 match, gotta say this looked like the best Flair/Race m…

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