October 1975

While this is a great, great match on its own, it is a brilliant lead-in to their MOTD the next month and enhances the story of that match. I thought the story here was that Grey has completely outmatched and pretty much gave a performance of defiance. Even when he had control, Myers never really looked in any sort of trouble. They build off all of that in the November match with Grey's growth and improvement and how Myers initially approaches the match based on the result here and how he is forced to change gears. This feud rules. ****

Damn, I didn't expect to enjoy this so much. In his prime Lou Thesz would cheapshot Rikidozan and stall, but here, he's going after Inoki like a killer, including dropping him with one of the most vicious backdrops ever seen. His holds look so vicious, and the match was both pretty slick and high resistance, which made the super basic holds here very rewarding. Thesz isn't exactly Negro Navarro, but his reversal into the STF attempt was one of the most graceful moves I've ever seen. Also, his bumping was still damn good - take note how he would whip himself into the mat each time Inoki sweeped him. Then you also get Thesz punching Inoki in the mid section a bunch and both…

This was my first exposure to both guys and they both impressed me. This match never really leaves first gear, but they have enough stuff to do on the mat that it’s still a rewarding way to pass the time. The round breaks do seem to come at inopportune moments, meaning they pause at times when the drama is starting to build and the momentum is broken as a result. Still, that’s par the course for even a lot of the very best European wrestling unfortunately. These guys have a lot of tricked out mat reversals at their disposal, and that stuff is cool as hell, but these two do basics so well that I’d be perfectly content watching them work in and out of wristlocks and headlo…

The Destroyer defends the PWF United States Title. Talk about it here

Advertised as 3 out of 5 falls. The footage is dated incorrectly as 7/30/75

WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino vs Ivan Koloff - WWF MSG 10/13/75 Clipped to hell but you get about ten minutes. Sounds like this was used on a Coliseum Home Video or Prime Time Wrestling as Gorilla Monsoon is doing commentary and he is peddling lies saying Bruno is trying to regain the championship from the man who beat him. No Bruno is the champion and is trying to get his win back from the man who beat him. This was an easy money match for the WWWF. It drew huge at MSG as expected but would Bruno get his revenge in his first match back or does Uncle Ivan have his number. It is too clipped to get any sort of rhythm. I didn’t really anything stood ou…

The Destroyer vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 10/30/75 Young, blond mop top Nature Boy Stan Hansen playing a loud, big bumping stooge heel is a hoot. He is flying all around looking discombobulated. Bumping from the Apron to the first row. This is not the monster that scared so many Japanese crowds. He's a 70s heel clowning and it is just fun. Destroyer uses all of Hansen youthful piss & vinegar against him as each charge Hansen takes an armdrag. Destroyer doesn't let Hansen have all the fun, he shows the ref how he does an armdrag at one point and how to properly count to three. This match was not short on charisma. They work the Murdoch/O'Connor formula of headlock->h…