Loss

It was nothing, really. REALLY.

Verne Gagne vs Nick Bockwinkel (AWA 07/18/80) I don't know that this match is really wrestled in a big, grand enough way for a baseball stadium main event -- why do the detail work of grinding knuckles on your opponent's knee when working in such a big venue? -- but there is some really cool matwork and Bockwinkel sure can cut a pace. I'm impressed at how well they keep this match moving, but I didn't really get into this. Verne going for Bock's hair in an attempt to break holds is a little ass backwards for a babyface too.

Strong Kobayashi & Haruka Eigen vs Mighty Inoue & Isamu Teranishi (IWE 06/29/80) IWE! This was an amazing match. It almost felt like it had everything about Michinoku Pro without the flying, if that makes any sense at all. Some really beautiful mat exchanges, stiff chops, crowd heat and brawling with great body language and expressive selling to accompany it all. All four guys bring something cool to the table, and the drum beating in the background just adds to the quirkiness of this. I'd love to talk about this match more, but I don't know who is who, so that makes it difficult. Still, bring on more IWE! So much more lively than All Japan or New Japan.

Bill Dundee & Tony Boyles vs Wayne Farris & Larry Latham (Memphis 06/07/80) Really good tag match full of the type of heel miscommunication stuff that Dundee excels at setting up -- like the double bump from the criss-cross sequence and Latham continuing to stomp and finally elbow drop his own tag team partner after being set up by Dundee. This match is full of similar spots and really shows Dundee at his best. I think the heels are pretty solid in this, and Boyles is fine as a warm body, but Dundee is the star. Classic Southern tag layout and the match acts as a tribute to the milage of the style as much as it does a match that succeeds on its own merits. After the heels get a relatively clean pin, Jimmy Hart hits the ring and they do a number on Dundee and Boyles in a beatdown that sees Dundee juice, then they go to Lance Russell and brag about it. We cut to commercial and after coming back, Dundee tells Lance he wants more of these guys and goes back to the ring. Manager Danny Davis dares show his face and Dundee attacks him. He takes some great rapid fire bumps bumps! Eddie Marlin ends up running in and pulling the returning heels off of Dundee and gets powder in the face for his troubles. Eventually, Jerry Jarrett comes in and tries making the save and he gets beaten up too. But he gets wise and takes his belt off and starts whipping them, so they eventually bail. This match is good, but the whole scene elevates this to something great! We close out with another interview from the heel team. It's amusing to hear Honky Tonk Man talk about how long he has wanted to get his hands on Jerry Jarrett because he didn't like his bookings.

Bill Dundee vs Paul Ellering (Memphis 05/24/80) Wow, a good Paul Ellering match! Bill Dundee is a marvel. Ellering isn't particularly good but Dundee and Jimmy Hart make this worth watching. Dundee has all sorts of tricks, my favorite of which happens right at the beginning when he just drops Ellering out of a collar and elbow tie-up and lets him fall flat on his face. Fun finish in what has been a stoic year to this point too.

Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (NJPW 05/09/80) While I didn't dislike the previous Hansen/Inoki match, I was dreading another one, but this was really good. Of the three matches they've had so far, this one was really the one where I thought they had the most chemistry and I think that's because this is Inoki's best performance so far. I prefer Hansen as a crazy madman swinging his cowbell and stiffing anything that moves (and this is the closest he's come to that guy so far) but he's a pretty strong mat wrestler too.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Chavo Guerrero (NJPW 05/09/80) My expectations were sky high for this and it was a good match with great athleticism and intensity from both guys. Really good stuff between two guys who were perfectly matched for each other. The last few minutes were especially great, and from what I can gather, Fujinami's tope was the hottest move in wrestling in 1980. Just the tease of it gets a huge pop.

Greg Gagne vs Super Destroyer Mark II (AWA 05/01/80) What kind of name is Super Destroyer Mark? Solid match with really good babyface fire and selling from Greg, but nothing that I'll remember much tomorrow. He spends too much time selling outside the ring and the match tests my patience. This also has an odd layout because you would think Greg's comeback would lead right into the finish but Mark comes back with more offense. Good stuff in this for sure, but a bit all over the place.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Dick Slater (AJPW 05/01/80) I've never really been a big fan of Dick Slater but he won me over with this one. I love some of the matwork he does, especially the near Indian deathlock and the leg spread thing he did to Jumbo, which was reminiscent of El Dandy vs Negro Casas. Everything he did was basic and looked really stiff. What an awesome performance. There are so many unique spots here. I also loved the pin attempts where they ended up rolling out of the ring. In some ways all the well-timed nearfalls and increasing desperation and crowd heat in the last ten minutes or so of the match looked like a template for some of the better All Japan matches we'd see in the 1990s. My favorite match of 1980 at this point.

I think it was 2000, but if we can confirm, that would be great.

I'm a big listmaker in general. You are all on it.

Ricky Morton vs Sonny King (Memphis 04/26/80) I thought this was a spectacular match. Total grappling, and a different side of Ricky Morton than you've probably ever seen. They work the mat for the duration of a 10-minute draw. This reminds me in many ways of a Regal TV title match. I'm not sure this match would have worked as well in a larger arena. Working in a studio with a mostly quiet crowd and extreme closeups of the action gave this a RINGS-like atmosphere. Just awesome.

I guess my mind slipped completely on Flair vs Kerry, but Gordon Solie specifically said in the commentary that this was the first time the title had been defended in a cage, which is where I got that information.

I hated that the Nitro Girls didn't seem to realize a show was taking place with things happening other than them dancing.

Bill Dundee vs Larry Latham (Memphis 04/19/80) Weird to see one of the Moondogs having such a mat-based match, but I really enjoyed this. Dundee slowly getting Latham in position to drop his knees on Latham's fingers was really cool. Dundee is terrific in this. I also love the way he sells the head crack when they run into each other off of the criss-cross sequence. Latham targets Dundee's knee later in the match but falls victim to a high cross body in the end. I wish Memphis would have had studio matches like this in the 90s.

Satoru Sayama & Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo & Babyface (UWA 04/13/80) This was another excellent showcase for these guys. I think my favorite guy in this one is Perro because he's not even trying to fly like everyone else but is making himself stand out through his aggression. I know the criticisms of Sayama, but I didn't see anything here that was worthy of it and thought he showed some excellent highspots and did a really good job. Hamada was once again the star though. I'm really looking forward to the singles matches with Perro later in the decade, because that pairing was my favorite part of this. That Hamada headbutt that made the big "thud" sound got a huge pop from me, as did their subsequent brawl and Perro's low blow that cost the rudos the match. He is trying to choke Hamada in the post-match and has to be pulled off of him. Excellent first lucha match.

Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (NJPW 04/03/80) To this point in 1980, the sequels have been consistently better. They set the tone for the match right away when Hansen cheapshots Inoki's arm twice during lockup attempts and then Inoki is ready for it and blocks with an arm wringer on the third attempt. They do end up working holds for a while and Hansen shows some nice stuff that he has in his arsenal, but this escalates in a big way toward the end, culminating when Hansen tries to lunge for Inoki outside the ring only to get sidestepped. Crowd erupts for the Inoki pinfall. Very good match.

Gran Hamada vs Babyface (NJPW 04/03/80) What a great showcase for Hamada's high-flying offense and crisp matwork. This was excellent although it's not something I think will be all that memorable since it was worked like more of a traveling showcase match, similar to Rey vs Psicosis in WAR. Hamada is peerless in his style at this stage of the game, although I admit I'm very early in this process.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Dick Murdoch (AJPW 03/05/80) I liked this far better than the previous match. They started off working basic holds like the armbar and headscissors really, really well (check out how Jumbo cranks the headscissors or how Murdoch drops those elbows while applying the armbar). And from there, the match becomes a lot more desperate and violent, with the pace picking up quite a bit. Jumbo shows great babyface fire throughout this and the match eventually turns into a little bit more of a brawl, which is great as both guys have awesome strikes. My favorite spot was Murdoch doing the piledriver and getting reversed right into the top turnbuckle, which of course led to Jumbo's quick inside cradle and win.The stakes felt higher in this match, and we also got to see far more varied offense from both guys. Loved it.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Dick Murdoch (AJPW 02/23/80) Lots of cool detail work in this. Murdoch's elbows to the side of Jumbo's neck looked really nasty and I liked the way Jumbo paid back the spots in the second and third falls. Murdoch's "pinning toehold" (I am going to trademark that!) was pretty cool too. There wasn't much excitement to this though. It was the type of match you admire for being well worked more than it was the type of match you really love for luring you in and getting you excited as a viewer.

Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (NJPW 02/08/80) Solid match, but I was disappointed. I thought the matwork at the beginning of this was dull at points, but it was still well-worked. I especially enjoyed Inoki working the cravate. The final stretch had Hansen getting in offense and teasing a pin followed by Inoki doing it followed by Hansen doing it followed by Inoki doing it. The match never really grabbed me. I don't have a lot to criticize about what they did, except to say that I never really got all that into what they were doing.

On this week’s Wrestling With the Past, Will and Charles discuss the mighty cage match! First, we’ll talk about famous cage matches from the territory days including the Mid South Stipulations match, the Final Conflict, Lawler vs. Idol and more. We discuss the NWA/WCW cage matches including the greatest War Games matches and the beauty of Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard. We wrap up the show discussing the WWF, the blue cage, escape rules, and the Hell In A Cell. Bloody fun for everyone! http://placetobenation.com/wrestling-with-...4-cage-matches/

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Dynamite Kid (NJPW 02/05/80) More of an action-packed, bomb throwing match than the Keirn match. Really awesome. These guys stiff the shit out of each other and Dynamite reopens Fujinami's cut from the Keirn match a few days before this one. Dynamite goes to the well too many times with the diving headbutt and eventually eats the mat. Fujinami's pinning combo to take this home is so great. The third great match in a row from New Japan. This feels so ahead of its time.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Steve Keirn (NJPW 02/01/80) This was another terrific match and I'll be damned if Steve Keirn isn't a revelation. He looks fantastic in this match, and I love him working the cravate, especially when he does the pinning combo with it. He gets more aggressive after getting DQd in the second fall for not stopping his punches after the referee warns him, which gives us a hot final fall with Fujinami bleeding and kicking out of some big moves like the piledriver and a few ugly knees. Fujinami's is great selling the onslaught, and Keirn is great as the aggressor. I didn't like the out of nowhere finish with the German suplex, but this was the bees knees otherwise. These two could have had a great series. Two fantastic matches in a row and I'm just getting warmed up!

Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn (NJPW 01/18/80) I thought this was a super tag match. It's interesting to see the progression of the style over the years. When I was watching this, I was making comparisons to Liger, Samurai, Otani and Kanemoto in my head. I think if they had wrestled this same match move-for-move in 1997 it would have been just as good and wouldn't have seemed out of place or behind the times at all. So it surprised me that an early 80s juniors tag wouldn't seem dated. Hoshino shows great fire and and the spot where Fujinami catches Dynamite in the bodyscissors is a genuine rewind moment. Dynamite and Keirn make a really good heel duo. Dynamite is the better athlete, but Keirn is the "tougher"-seeming wrestler of the two, which is another dynamic I'm not sure I expected. I don't like how cavalier Dynamite is about jumping off the top rope, and his ground offense is actually much better than his aerial stuff. The rope running in this match is awesome and does a lot to establish this as a fast-paced match. Fujinami's tope suicida is beautiful and I think this is a great finishing stretch. Outstanding all around.