Laney

I've never been a fan of Abdullah the Butcher, but I admittedly haven't seen any of his major matches. I took the time to watch some Abby matches that I have seen receive some praise and others that just looked interesting. My goal was to select matches from a variety of opponents. Here are my thoughts (keep in mind these matches were not watched in a logical order): Abdullah the Butcher vs Terry Funk - AJPW 12/1/78 Not much of a match here as this runs 6:35. Abdullah doesn’t display any offense besides stabbing with a fork. Does show that he was very over with the Japanese crowd. This match is a great testament to Funk’s selling and makes more of a case of why Funk was so great. Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. - AJPW 9/19/78 I really enjoyed this match, but Abby seemed to be the weak link in this one. This match is basically Abby & Sheik cheating and stabbing the Funks until they stop putting up with their shit and an all-out brawl ensues. Great heel psychology here, but it seemed like Sheik did a better job here at coming off as a sneaky bastard. Terry was the star of this one and really shined in his comeback here. Dory showed some great fire as well as it looks like he was attempting to kill the Sheik at the end. Abby did a great job of selling for Funk in the brawl, but overall I feel like he was outperformed by everyone else in the match. Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. - AJPW 12/15/77 Loved this one and probably the best showcase of Abby that I’ve watched so far. All 4 men looked good in this one, but once again, Terry seemed to be the standout. This match had more back and forth wrestling than the previous, but once again ended in a brawl. Not as crazy of a brawl as the previous match, but Abby was able to get in more offense than just stabbing here. Abby came across as a monster, while Sheik seemed to be the more dastardly one of the team; great heel work by both. Highlight of this one for me was Terry getting his arm carved up and then coming back in the ring all fired up after getting it bandaged. Dory arm dragging people during the pull-apart deserves a mention as well. Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. - AJPW 7/15/79 This is an enjoyable 2/3 falls match with a hot crowd. This really shows how loved the Funks were in Japan. Sheik and Abby are up to their usual antics and do a great job of drawing the ire of the crowd. Some brawling near the end of the first fall. Second fall showcases Abby just crushing both of the Funks with elbow drops. Awesome visual here of a bloodied Terry getting fired up and going after Abby. Third fall is another good showcase of Abby as he takes a lot of punishment here from Dory. Chaos soon breaks out and the referee loses all control. Once again, Terry Funk comes across looking the best in this, but this seems to better showcase Abby than the previous matches I watched. Abdullah the Butcher vs Hulk Hogan - NJPW 4/1/82 This was an entertaining match. Abby does a good job of selling Hogan’s offense in the beginning of the match and then resorts to his usual stabbing routine to gain the advantage. Some good selling from Hogan as well until this devolves into a brawl that is typical for Abby’s matches. Abdullah the Butcher vs Billy Robinson - 12/9/76 Okay match here. Abby does his typical brawling and then Billy Robinson makes a great comeback and brings it to him. Billy Robinson seemed to outshine Abby in this one. Abdullah the Butcher vs Billy Robinson - 2/3 Falls - 10/18/78 This is not your typical Abdullah the Butcher match. This first fall was kept more to a Billy Robinson style match and it had some decent work here. Abby seemed to blow up a bit near the end. Robinson dominated Abby quite a bit and you get to see some of Abby’s ability to sell when needed. 2nd fall Billy Robinson totally dominates in the beginning stages until he ends up tied up in the ropes with Abby head butting his knee. Creative spot there and Robinson sells his knee to perfection throughout the 2nd fall. Robinson can no longer stand on his leg and still tries to challenge Abby after the referee deems that Robinson cannot continue. Abby maniacally laughs and poses with the championship. Awesome work here from both guys. Abdullah the Butcher vs Bruiser Brody - 4/10/81 Nothing special about this match. Just a forgettable brawl. Abdullah the Butcher vs Andre the Giant - WWC 1983 Decent match here, but nothing groundbreaking. Abby gets his ass kicked in the beginning of this match and then turns things around with a throat thrust. Typical brawl for a double count out. Short match, but enjoyable. Abdullah the Butcher vs Dusty Rhodes ~ 1983 Abdullah jumps Dusty before the match starts and bloodies him up. Abby dominates Dusty in the beginning of the match before Dusty makes a comeback, ref bumps, and a brawl ensues. Nothing bad here, but nothing to make a GOAT case for Abdullah the Butcher to be in the top 100 Abdullah the Butcher vs Mark Lewin - WCW Australia 70’s Fun stuff here. This is grainy black and white footage and I can’t help but feel that it adds to the grittiness of this match. This is the most agile that I’ve seen Abby perform. He goes back and forth with Lewin here until Lewin gets his head caught in the ropes. The animal in Abby comes out here as it goes to town just raining down headbutts and biting Lewin while he is stuck. Abdullah the Butcher vs Carlos Colon - 6/15/86 This match is Carlos Colon getting vengeance for Abby attempting to blind him with ammonia. This is basically a long squash match that goes about 25 minutes. Abby takes an absolute ass kicking in this one as Carlos just rains down punches and gouges at Abby’s eyes. The doctor at ringside tries to stop this several times but Abdullah keeps continuing until the ref finally calls for the bell. Good storytelling of Carlos getting revenge in front of his hometown crowd, but this gets a little repetitive and goes too long. Abdullah the Butcher vs Pedro Santos Just because I wanted to see Abby squash a jobber. Pedro Santos is wrestling Abby after his wife gave birth earlier in the day. For his bravery he gets chocked out with a coat hanger. Short match here as Abby is quickly DQed and puts a beating on Santos. This does a great job of putting Abby over as a monster. Abdullah the Butcher vs Ricky Fuyuki Another squash match. Abdullah actually gets a pinball victory on this one as he hits a bottom rope splash “just like a triple whopper” according to the commentator. Fun squash here. Overall thoughts Abdullah the Butcher is a lot better than I would have given him credit for before I watched these line of matches. He was excellent at creating a character and had an aura about him of a monster that just wanted to maim people. However, this character would not allow Abby to exhibit a lot of depth as a performer. Going into an Abby match you knew exactly what you were going to get out of Abby. That being said, Abdullah would do the same schtick in every match and whether it was a good or unforgettable match was largely left up to how his opponents would react to his offense and fire back. With that being said, Abdullah the Butcher was great at creating a character and knew how to draw a crowd reaction. However, he was very one-dimensional and I feel like his best performances were due to other people working with his style. I have a newfound respect for Abby as a performer, but I feel like he most likely won't make my top 100.

This match is actually from January 2nd. I was disappointed by this match. It seemed like a paint-by-numbers match with both guys exchanging stiff shots and looking even for the most part. I've seen better by both men.

I haven't really watched much lucha, but I found this match very enjoyable. The rudos played their roles very well here with their dickish moves. I'm glad I read the comments in this thread first though so that I would realize this was a captain's falls match. I don't think this will be a match that will make my MOTYC list, but it is worth a watch.

This was a very interesting feature. Both Graham and Sammartino claim that probably 90% of the wrestlers are using steroids at this point. Sammartino also claims to have never been a user.

This was an interesting watch. This is the first match between two guys that would go on to have a legendary rivalry. Nothing too special here, but I thought it was solid. The obvious weakpoint of this match is the very badly botched neckbreaker.

I didn't think this match was that bad. Mainly a Hogan squash with Warrior coming out to save Hogan from a post-match beatdown. This makes Hogan/Warrior even on their saves for each other.

This was a really good match. I think that at this point the Midnight Express has been looking like the best tag team of the year. Midnights work on Pillman's throat after getting DQed and steal the US Tag Titles.

After watching this promo I have to think that Kerry has to have the lowest IQ of anyone that has ever been involved with wrestling. This is just a train wreck to watch.

I believe this is the first appearance of Piper going half blackface. This is definitely something that you wouldn't see in today's world. I still don't really think I get the point he was trying to make with it.

Southern Rockers didn't look very impressive in their music video, but understandably there wasn't a whole lot of material for the video crew to work with. Another goofy spot from Valiant as well.

Royal Furniture gets some good advertising here as they bring in the desk and a recliner for Lawler. Poor Dave Brown is stuck with the stool. Great stuff here.

Valiant holds the championship and spouts off nonsense. Wacky, but an understandably and effective way of Valiant to rub it in Lawler's face that he is the champion and get under Lawler's skin.

The set still hasn't been rebuilt after being destroyed by Lawler last week, so Lawler uses his connections to call in some furniture. Valiant cuts a wacky promo and tells Lawler that next week is his only chance at getting his title back. Fun segment.

Fun finish to the match here as we see Valiant outsmart Lawler and Lawler gets what is coming to him. Fun Memphis shenanigans finish.

I don't think I understood any of this. More nonsense from these two that doesn't add anything more to their match at Mania.

I enjoyed this as it was the fun match that you would expect between these two. You could probably count the amount of bumps in this match on one hand, but it is still better than a lot of the matches where the guys damn near kill themselves today.

Sullivan forms an interesting stable here that I think really could have taken off if given the opportunity. Cactus is still uncomfortable on the mic here and just sort of hangs out in the background.

This match seemed to be a bit of mess and I had some trouble following what was going on with the 3rd fall. There were moments where the wrestling was good, but for the most part this was a mess. I think this would have been a much better match if the rope didn't break.

Nice ending stretch here where Doc and Gordy win the tag titles. Not the most inspiring finish, but good nonetheless. Jumbo looks lightyears ahead of Yatsu in this. Still, this was good enough that I wouldn't mind watching the whole match.

I couldn't really get into this one. Perro taking a fall from the ref bump DQ didn't really bother me too much, but I thought it was unnecessary and making this a one fall match would have been better. This match was very one-sided and had some unexciting brawling. The last minute or so was interesting and was the only part of this match that I really got into.

This was a nice showcase of both guys but it wasn't anything great. This match seemed to be lacking a cohesive story and instead was more of a showcase of their offensive moves. A little too much back-and-forth but it was decent enough.

I can understand how this may not be for everybody, but I thought this was an excellent match. Great story of the veteran using his skill to overcome the odds against a more powerful and quicker opponent. Fujiwara took his time in this match and would wait on Takada to make a mistake so that he could capitalize. In the end this proved effective and the crowd loved it.

Excellent match here and #2 for my MOTY so far (behind Liger/Sano). This match tells an excellent story of Luger overpowering Flair in the beginning until Flair is able to use his cheap tactics to gain control. Luger then surprises Flair by switching up his gameplan and using wrestling holds such as the sleeper and attempted figure four. Great match and while some fans might be disappointed by the finish, I thought it served its purpose well as far as making Luger a full-fledged face.