August 1982

NWA United National Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Harley Race - AJPW 8/1/82 It is like Harley thought to himself what if an entire match was a finish run. Then you realize when there is no build there is no heat. As this is one of the quietest crowds until the actual finish run. This is a bump & run match through and through. Within the two minutes, there are nine bumps! NINE! Harely seems to think a babyface shine is I will take 2 bumps for every one bump my opponent has to take. My biggest problem was the lack of urgency on Harley's part. The bumps and the moves were great! There was just no urgency or effort to set them up. I am giving Jumbo serious credit for keep…

This seems to be the night they pulled a rabbit out of their hat and delivered the best match of their series. TM was pretty sloppy at times and there were moments where it looked like Dynamite was about to die from a botched move. But overall, if I saw this match, I would almost believe the hype, more for Dynamite's performance than Sayama's. His timing and bumping was top notch. Nothing I'd go to bat for, but I thought it was excellent, warts and all. ***3/4

Another Dynamic Duo tag and another good match. I know Goc in his fantasy league was wanting to make El Gran Apollo his latin star of his promotion. So my thoughts on Apollo. He has a great look, solid charisma, his moveset was limited, needs work in his FIP work, needs to tighten up some of his work, has a good drop kick and forearm, and worked the apron well. Mil in Houston has bemuch better than I've seen in NY, Dallas and other areas besides Japan. I loved the Duo stooging for him and shining him up. I loved Mil's screwdriver to the ears of Tully trying to cauliflower them. Mil's reverse Dragon Sleeper made me pop. Apollo's FIP work in the 1st fall didn't show enough…

This was a really fun undercard/special attraction match. Cheatam is a great heel name to boot. The shine was a lot of fun . They did some fun comedy. With the payoff being Casey stealing smooch from Martin. I thought the heat on Martel was done well. Martin did a good job working the arm. Martel has such an expressive face that you bought into her peril. When she tags out she's still selling the arm. I liked Cheatam attaxcking the woman , thought it would get more heat. Finish was pretty fun too. 2 1/2*

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jerry Lawler - Memphis Wrestling 8/14/82 "You are not trying to put on any country jive on me" - Ric Flair, one of my favorite lines from the classic promos surrounding this match. Flair takes some time out of his busy schedule (Orlando the previous night against Dusty, Ohio for GCW against Dicky Slater that night, and the classic Kerry Von Erich match in Dallas the next night) to show this podunk, redneck town what big time pro wrestling looks like. Jerry Lawler, the master of persuasion, sees the champion's hubris as opportunity to exploit to wrangle a championship match on TV when Flair was scheduled to wrestle a jabr…

The 1st few minutes is a feeling out process. Eventually Kabuki gets the advantage on Lothario. Kabuki is working a nerve hold. Nice kick by Magic Dragon. Jose teases a comeback. Match gets tossed out. A pretty nothing bout.

I loved the match from classics so I checked this one out. This is JIP in a cage. This is such a brawl. Both guys are busted open and are going after the cut.These guys seem to be having incredible brawls. I hope their are more to come of these on classics.

Nick Bockwinkel defends the AWA World Heavyweight Title.

Sleeze goes back to the greatest decade this world has ever experienced, the 1980s, BABY! We start in style with the big profile championship match as Ric Flair defends against his strongest challenger of the first half of the decade, Kerry Von Erich. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich August 15, 1982 Wrestling Star Wars Dallas, TX 2 Out Of Three Falls The below review is from my third viewing of one of my favorite matches of all times. It focuses mainly on the layout and Flair's performance and I agree with everything I wrote. However, on this viewing, I intentionally focused on the Modern Day Warrior. The common knock on men like Von …

Flair complains about his level of studio competition prior to a match with Leroy Dargan, even getting in an eye-rolling racial jab (“Where I’m from, we don’t wrestle guys like that, we employ them"). Flair bitches long enough to bring out Wahoo, who confronts Flair long enough for Jack Brisco to sneak in and take Dargan's place. Flair is of course irate, but eventually climbs in the ring. This was a really good, shortish, studio TV match. Not an all-time classic, but very well-worked with crisp moves and transitions. I really liked Brisco's rolling armlock. Towards the end, Flair applied the figure-4 to Brisco who immediately reversed it, which was really smart…

AWA World Tag Team Champions High Flyers vs Rick Martel & Tito Santana - AWA 8/29/82 The following review is from a couple years ago (WOW! How times flies) and the match was every bit as good. I stand by every world. These four guys go balls to wall for 15 minutes struggling to score a victory. It is two babyface vs babyface teams where neither team plays a subtle heel that you would often see in face vs face matches. It actually feels like puro in that way, it is a pure competition to see who is the best. The beginning of the match is very focused on Strike Force working over the High Flyers with headlock. I would say Martel is the better of the two in workin…

This has a strong opening with Tiger Mask throwing out a spin kick and generally out classes Kid with his speed and the crowd eat it right up. The match is brought to a slower pace when Dynamite takes control with his stoogey offense, which looked stiff and very convincing. This control segment does outwear it's welcome a tad, but it's not too long before Tiger is back in the driver's seat wowing the crowd with his innovative moves. Being a lot shorter than their NJPW encounters, this isn't on the same league as those matches, but it's a fun 7 minute bout that was ahead of it's time and it put both guys on the MSG crowd's radar. If Tiger Mask came through WWF just a …

Superfly is Ray Candy. I'm a mark for Lothario's capes, ponchos etc. Jose working the arm. Candy using some rough house tactics to turn the tide. Jose gets some seperation. Jose throws a wicked upper cut, but misses. Jose moves to a bear hug. A shitty nerve hold by Candy, but at least he cheats for leverage. So so match.