July 1982

Man oh Man was I stoked to see this come up. These guys didn't dissapoint me in the least. Your AWA World Heavyweight Champion along with being my #4 wrestler on my #PWOGWE ballot. This match never aired . So thank you Bruce and nwaclassics.com . It means so much to be able to see this instead of Ricky Morton talk about the time he went a broadway with Bock in Houston in some RF Video shoot interview. This is 2 out of 3 falls. The 1st fall is solid stuff. Early on Bock targets the neck, and I'll be damned if it doesn't payoff in the finish of the 1st fall with a Bock piledriver. Here Bock is the maestro while Morton is the up and comer. Bock was just a step ahead in t…

This is the 2 ring 6 man tag match gimmick. At 1st this was hard to follow. Then we got the hard camera straight ahead. I really focused on the ring with Duggan/Sweetan vs Tito/Apollo. I got to say Sweetan and Duggan made a real effective team and worked over Tito really good. I felt those 3 really carried this to a fun match. They sort of ignored the one ring and let 2 guys go at it with a little cross over. The key ring was the blue one and they told a real effective story. 3*

Talk about it here.

Andre comes storming down the aisle, screaming and shoving and terrorizing the fans. He is accompanied by Arnold Skaaland. Andre attacks and chokes out the ring announcer. Behind the referee's back, Hogan and Andre start with a collar and elbow tie-up before the bell even rings. Andre clubbers Hogan and headbutts him, we are underway. Andre whips Hogan to the opposite corner, but is met with a boot to the face. Hogan hammers Andre, but is caught in a bearhug. Hogan breaks it with some elbows to the chest. Andre chops Hogan and sends him flying down to the mat. Hogan starts beating Andre down with a double fist. Andre stops him with a kneelift and un…

A weird case where two great performances don't add up to a great match. It's still worth seeing, but the layout was odd because instead of building to something, it started off hot, then cooled down and kept going back and forth without any clear story or anything. It's a good way to set up a rematch, though, and I'm glad I saw it. But I'm sure these two can do much better.

This was a weird match. I thought the 1st fall was rather dull. It had it's moments, but the finish set up the excitement for the rest of the match. Stomper goes over the 1st fall with the claw and it bloodys up Slater. The 2nd fall Stomper is attacking the cut. Now this is more like it. Slater though steals the fall. The 3 rd fall is tremendous and a wild double juice brawl. This was hate filled, and both guys were going after the cuts. Overall I'm not sure how I feel about this match.

This was Roddy Pipers Mid Atlantic Title vs. Jack Briscos 10,000 Dollars. Love these old studio matches. Great mix of character work and wrestling. Piper reminded me a bit of Fuerza here. We get a really fun opening section with blocked wrestling throws and both guys working go behinds on the mat and Piper grabbing the hair only to be thrown outside. Brisco absolutely KILLS him with the side headlock. Is there anyone who made a side headlock look as brutal as Jack Brisco? When they did the "Piper tries to throw him off the ropes but Brisco holds on" spot it looked like Brisco would tear his head off. Even the floating takeovers looked gritty. Nifty transition into Piper c…

Man I'm excited. Another Stomper match and it goes another 30+. He's a guy that nwaondemand.com has put footage out there and he has delivered. I absolutely loved the 1st fall. I'm a big fan of guys working a good headlock and these guys worked a great one. On top of it the headlock was step one in the story of the match. Then Casey is working over the neck. He starts throwing elbows at Stomper's neck. Then Casey throws double knees to Stomper's face. That was straight MMA stuff. I loved the finish of the 1st fall where Stomper in a nice revenge spot works over Casey's neck and puts him down with a Cobra Hold. I also loved the mat work here, and totally dug the Stomper's …

I liked this match. Thought it was solid and well-executed, but probably nothing I'll remember too much. Bret looked very good in this, but everyone did to varying degrees. ***

This is a Non Title Match from Montgomery, Alberta, Canada

Gagne & Brunzell defend the AWA World Tag Team titles

For Jaguar's WWWA Championship. This looks and feels like a historically significant match but I couldn't find much written about it. The one review I read criticized it for starting slow but praised it for turning into an out of control brawl by the end. I felt the exact opposite, that this was outstanding until Jaguar's dive (points for effort) but the ending felt forced to me. Was it typical of a big joshi title match in this era to break down into chaos like that? Or was it just about hatred between these two? There was an edge to the way they worked but I thought it was more of a competitive rivalry up until that point. And even though I didn't like the finishing str…

Bobby Eaton & Sweet Brown Sugar vs Dutch Mantell & King Cobra - Memphis 7/19/82 If I have heard it once, I have heard it a million times from Mempho wrestling fans that Sweet Brown Sugar was actually Bobby Eaton's best tag partner. After watching this, I can see their point because it is basically like two Bobby Eaton's in the ring. I think I prefer how Condrey with his gritty heelishness and Lane with his flashier personality add more to Eaton rather than Sugar which just amplifies Eaton's great offense. The story here is that Mantell is feuding with the First Family specifically Eaton who beat him for the Mid-America title. Mantell wants Eaton, but Eaton is …

Almost an FMW match, every other move was a chairshot. Tenryu may not have had the intensity he would later display but you do see signs of his later greatness with THE FIRE~! he portrays which, as Hashimoto told once Samoa Joe, is the most important part of being a pro wrestler. It's a 1982 All Japan finish so you can take an educated guess on how it finished, Tenryu did a pretty insane blade job and the match is worth watching for that alone. **3/4

Fujinami is just awesome, and he's made better by working with such a great foil. I loved the way Murdoch bumped for his dropkicks. This was a really aggressive match and the more cohesive layout missing from their match earlier in the month was on display here. Fujinami works the short-arm scissors and Murdoch works Fujinami's leg, which is a defensive tactic more than it is his offensive game -- he's just trying to get the guy to leave his freakin' arm alone. Murdoch also shows that sometimes, the differences between audiences internationally can be overstated, as he is able to hold the ropes for leverage while working holds to get a reaction. It's not the same big reac…

Bill Dundee vs Bobby Eaton - Memphis 7/24/82 The ideal Southern 80s TV match that is just so much fun. Eaton & Hart are out to talk some smack about the Aussie Midget. The Dutchman was going to have none of that. Dundee asks him to watch his back and neutralize that twerp, the Mouth of the South. Eaton is consummate heel. Just so good at stooging especially little details saying his tights were yanked on a hiptoss, the way he goes for the ropes to break up a fall or how he asks Dutch how he likes it when he is choking Dundee on the ropes. Dundee missed a splash from the top rope and that's your transition. They don't give much a way in this because they are on TV,…

How smart someone must have felt after coming up with the name Quick Kick Lee. I came into this wondering how Maeda would look in World Of Sport but holy shit Skull Murphy ruled here. They did some fun chain wrestling to start the bout off but then they transitioned into Murphy's control segment and the match just became so badass, Murphy rocked Maeda with vicious punches, elbows, uppercuts and knees and showcased he could do these awesome huge bumps but only used them as key transitions. And his stalling ruled. Maeda did some nice kicks and the spot where he countered Murphy's leg split by showing off his flexibility was awesome. ***1/2

I wasn't super-enthused about this - my attention drifted away a bit during the hold exchanges that took up the first 15 minutes or so. But they ramped it up, and started slapping the hell out of each other. They tumble to the outside and continue brawling, and Jumbo ends up busted open! So he responds by trying to rip Mil's mask! Jumbo is no Fuerza Guerrera in the mask-ripping department, but props for the effort. There's a double-countout, but they roll back in the ring and continue brawling as Jumbo bleeds a gusher. The young boys (including teenage, skinny Misawa and Kawada) hold them back. Jumbo is super pissed-off, and punches two of the lads holding him back to go…