Superstar Sleeze

Pretty lame angle. Tommy Cairo looked fucking pregnant.

Terry Funk vs Sabu - ECW 4/19/94 Terry Funk piledrove Sabu from the top rope on an open chair. NOW THATS HARDCORE! For those keeping track at home, Douglas beat Funk for the title in March and Douglas is still with Sherri. He won by basically suffocating Funk with a plastic bag. There are things that ECW does in 94 that seem too extreme even for Attitude Era or Russo WCW. They really love the plastic bag as Funk does it with Heyman here after Heyman cracks him with the phone. This is an impromptu match as it was supposed to be Funk vs Mr. Hughes (Douglas' bodyguards), but he got waylaid by the Blu Brothers. I watched a Public Enemy promo before this and play total morons so well. I know they aren't too well-loved but I thought their gimmick was pretty funny. I wouldn't say this was as good as their non-ECW stuff from 83 & 94, but this was still pretty entertaining. Sabu kicks Funk's ass at the beginning, great punches and good use of chair for the clothesline over the top. Nice transition with Sabu missing the legdrop. Funk heabutts him busts himself open and a wicked DDT on the floor. Sabu is actually pretty damn good at selling. It does get a little spotty after this but the spots are good like Funk hitting a standing piledriver on a chair or Sabu somersault plancha or the aforementioned spot where Funk piledrives Sabu from the top to the open chair. Was pretty eye-popping insane. Finish was well set up, Sabu crashes through table sells it really well. Funk has to fight off the masked goons to apply Spinning Toehold, but the last goon gets to him and hits a top rope elbow drop to garner Sabu the victory and it is BOBBY EATON! Styles sells the Dangerous Alliance connection. ARN FREAKING ANDERSON makes the save to a huge pop and oddly felt like Arn was a giant star. Arn is one of the ultimate mid-carder guys like the best possible second banana. This moment might be the one time when he felt like the man and it happens on a random ECW Arena show from April 94. Pretty surreal seeing The Enforcer give Sabu a DDT in the ECW Arena. Loved the post-match and the match itself was full of energy and crazy spots. ***1/2

Yeah this is definitely the type of the match that would be awesome love. Terry Funk vs Sabu - WWN 2/28/94 Terry Funk atomic drops Sabu onto a chair! ***** Total mindless fun, which is what I needed. Both are so good at the fundamentals so the headbutts, punches and chops all look great. The piledrivers are great as is taking out Paul E with one. What makes this special is all the insane highspots with Sabu destroying a table, Funk piledriving him on a broken table, Funk with a legitimately good moonsault and Sabu nearly killing himself with a springboard 450. The fact this is a fancam only adds to the chaos because sometimes outta nowhere Sabu will just fly into the screen and die. Sabu attacks the ref during his camel clutch. Whole thing gets thrown out. So Sabu brings a table into the ring and breaks it himself with a moonsault. It is one of those so stupid it is great things. Very enjoyable. Just turn your brain off and let it ride. ***3/4

ECW Heavyweight Champion Sabu vs Terry Funk - ECW Holiday Hell WE WANT BLOOD! WE WANT BLOOD! WE WANT BLOOD! This was a fun mess. Sabu with his original Hannibal Lecter gimmick on the stretcher and the mask was great. Sabu was a violent maniac and I loved his mannerisms at the beginning. Always moving forward. He was a monster. Some great punches and loved the chairs. Funk's piledrivers looked great. I watched the Hardcore TV version so it was pretty clipped, but I feel like the fans got their money's worth even if this was not a classic. The Rotten brothers are Terry Funk's back up, hilarious. I loved Sabu throwing Funk and then the ref into the table and getting a huge pop for throwing the ref into the table. Yep it is the 90s and it is ECW BABY! Sabu all of sudden does a moonsault to the outside on the Rotten brothers and takes me off guard. I loved the finish run because it was energetic. Sabu crashes and burns on the table and then Funk puts the Spinning Toe Hold on him like he is facing Harley Race in 1975, great. Paul E. cracks the phone, but now Shane Douglas attacks and it is a clusterfuck. Douglas puts Funk on Sabu to win the title. I think because Douglas has a match with Funk on January 7th because Paul E pimps that about seven times in his post-match promo. Funk's dog story always kills and it is funny that the Rotten brothers are involved. I have no idea who the hell the heel or babyface is in this three way cluster fuck is, but I think that's the point. It is about chaos. Entertaining enough and recommended for historic purposes. I imagine Sabu fucks Funk/Douglas and that leads to the Night the Line Was Crossed.

I liked the match from January 82 quite a bit. This match was godawful. I can't get that diving headbutt, pickup side headlock, back drop driver transition out of my mind. Terrible!

It is. The weird thing was it didn't feel heated at all to me even thought it felt like it should. The match was just so disjointed

Don't let this one scare you off. They have a classic in July that is just awesome. Huge fight feel. Really feels like Kojima is a superstar. Probably the only time I have ever felt that way about him. So check out the July 2002 match.

Some crazy stiff shots from Maeda early on. Then some boring matwork. Then the groin shot from Maeda. You can tell Sayama felt it, but at the same time he is masking the pain. Man he wont even fucking sell being shoot kneed in the balls. My Lord! Maeda looks like a giant next to Sayama. So whats the deal here? UWF closes on 9/11 just nine days after. Was business already in the shitter? Did this cause UWF to close? Did the boys side with Maeda? Did Maeda see the writing on the wall and go into business for himself? Was Maeda just sick of jobbing to a dude a foot shorter than him? Did he think Inoki would push him harder because of this? Everybody besides Sayama returns to New Japan January of 86. are we sure this was not a work? What the hell is going?

I am pretty sure it is one from Winnipeg. I recall it being relatively long. The fact my review says Da Crusher was involved means it was in the AWA.

WWF & NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid - NJPW 4/21/83 HOLY CLUSTERFUCK, BATMAN! I thought the Kobayashi match was bad. This had no psychology, awful transitions and weird WCW-like booking in the middle of the match. Also it is not surprising at all that Dynamite cant walk today because he looked like he broke his back about three different times in this mayhem, I actually like their 82 match for the record. The beginning of this is not bad at all. Basic story is Tiger Mask is deadly out in the open so Dynamite has to keep him wrapped up. So Tiger Mask is supplying all the energy and highspots. Dynamite is just wrapping him up any chance he gets besides a nice missile dropkick. Tiger Mask show what he can do with this insane dive that wipes out Dynamite who hits his neck/back on the railing. Dynamite catches him coming off the top, hits the missile dropkick and then wraps him up. Basically that's the beginning, Tiger Mask goes for a high spot and usually missed and Dynamite wraps him up. I dig it. Dynamite goes for the diving headbutt, but Tiger Mask wriggles free. Good escalation. Then the match goes to Hell. Tiger Mask hits this dive onto Dynamite and Dynamite hits the railing straight on his back HARD! He topples over it. The ref calls for the bell. No countout. I was thinking wow that was sudden. I thought Dynamite legit broke his fucking back. They climb back into the ring but as if a match is not going on. Then Dynamite just attacks him. TOMBSTONE! Um ok. Ref pulls him off calls for a DQ. Now Dynamite wants to wrestle and is on the mic. Finally the ref relents. Dynamite kills him with a tombstone and then diving headbutt. In what I think may be the WORST transition in history, Dynamite picks him up puts on a side headlock and eats a Back Drop Driver. WHAT THE FUCK! I get you don't want to kill your finish. Heres a hint don't fucking hit your finish. But you don't think Tiger Mask immediately hitting the next move does not kill your finish. Tiger Mask tombstone piledriver. Dynamite too close to the ropes. HELLO! That's how you protect your finish. Tiger Mask crashes and burns on a dive to outside. Tiger Mask whips Dynamiet Kid WICKED HARD into the railing. Dynamite says fuck this noise and is going to leave I have no clue how he is standing. He grabs the bell. He headbutts the ref twice and there is NO DQ?!?!? When did I wake up in WCW? They end this match in the most fitting way possible. Like it is the most Tiger Mask & Dynamite Kid thing ever. Tiger Mask hits a tombstone piledriver on the floor. Dynamite Kid hits a tombstone piledriver on the floor. Double countout. Fuck this match. I blame Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask for everything.

WWF & NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Tiger Mask vs Kuniaki Kobayashi - NJPW 1/6/83 Pretty cool that Tiger Mask was both NWA & WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion at the same time. Absolutely night & day between this and his awesome UWF stuff, Tiger Mask is just throwing shit out there and seeing what sticks. I now understand why he gets a lot of hate from fans because there are just a lot of awkward portions in this match. People standing around waiting to be kicked. Building to a finish run and plopping into a short arm scissors. At least Tiger Mask had awesome spots to draw on, Kobayashi could not decide what he wanted to do. It was a mess that did coalesce into a hot finish run. I have no problem with spotfests at all. Tiger Mask can hit some really jaw-dropping spots. I thought his back drop driver looked crisp. His dive to the outside was totally out of control and awesome as he nailed the railing. The tombstone was great and love that as the setup for the moonsault, which missed. His kicks looked great not as good as UWF. His submissions were fine. Everything from an offensive perspective was there just not put together. Selling from each guy was non-existent and there was no consequence to moves. Kobasyahi gets a "nearfall" in the form of almost countout finish. Tiger Mask catches him and they go over the top. Tiger Mask does hit an awesome German suplex on the floor. He beats the count to win the match. The finish stretch almost makes this worth it, but the first 2/3rds is a clusterfuck. I will say everybody must see the spot of the match, which did make me pop big time on my couch. Tiger Mask hits a backflip mule dropkick perfectly. It was insanely incredible. It really is amazing this is the same guy having those matches with Fujiwara just a couple years later in UWF.

Interesting I'll watch more closely but I thought Mania match was better once she was eliminated and worked around exposed turnbuckle. I'll be on the lookout in this match from RAW. I watch RAW on Saturday

Care to expound on the Murdoch/Fujinami pick? I was just reading my review sounds like it climaxed early with the dive and blood, but then quickly rushed to an anti-climatic. Interested on yoru thoughts why that would be a MOTYC?

Novartis sponsored last year in a truly WTF moment. Nia Jax best performer in a match?!?! Really??? Doesn't do anything for me. Has the size. Doesn't do much with it. Wrestles too small.

WWF Tag Champs Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami - NJPW 12/5/84 Finals of MSG Tag League Quite the month for Murdoch & Adonis as they also have that great match with the Briscos at MSG later. The winner of this wins the MSG Tag League for 1984, the precursor to the current G-1 Tag League. The match goes right into heat on Fujinami's arm. Just perfect for two pros like Murdoch & Adonis. Very Southern style with lots of hope spots for Fujinami but cutoffs by the heels right to the arm. Lots of playing keep away from Inoki. Really liked Adonis tackling Fujinami right before he got to Inoki. Dropkick creates separation and Inoki comes in. Wow! The crowd is red hot for him. I thought they did the wrong thing by cutting him off and cooling him down. With no babyface shine, they should have let Inokimania run wild. He hits his own dropkick and then drop toehold to get his Indian Deathlock which is super over. Is there anybody better than Murdoch at selling a hold? Fujinami comes off the top with a kneedrop. Tries to put Murdoch in the Scorpion Deathlock. Murdoch with a nice leg tieup tags out. Fujinami kicks Adonis' ass tries same thing to no avail. Murdoch hits him with a chair and then in the head. Now the heels just start throwing bombs. Adonis bulldog. Murdoch piledriver. Murdoch rides him down, which is usually the prelude to the Brainbuster. Very weak transition to the tag to Inoki. No real struggle. Fujinami just ducked and rolled over. Inokie talks a big game but just puts Adonis in a headscissors then Murdoch attacks him with a chair. Very lenient ref. The heat segment on Inoki is great. Tons of heat because the crowd loves Inoki and North-South know how to kick ass. Murdoch hits a big reverse elbow and BRAINBUSSSSSTAAHHHHHH! 1-2-Fujinami saves. Love how Murdoch keeps wrist control as he tags out. SPIKE PILEDRIVER! LOVE IT! 1-2-NO! This really feels like North-South match to lose. They have been dominating. Huge closed fists from Murdoch. Because it is Japan we don't get as many so it is a treat to see those two. Inoki ducks and overhand karate chop by Inoki! Big pop! Tags out to Fujinami. Again would have liked more struggle to get that tag. Here comes The Dragon! He is hitting through punches and elbows. Murdoch quells him by biting him and they hit this awesome Back Suplex/Lariat combo. They are besides themselves that they have not won. Butterfly suplex still Fujinami kicks out. Drops across the top rope this time to close to the ropes. God Bless Murdoch so good at facial expressions. Huge bomb throwing match can see why this is well-loved. Jumping high knee by Capn Redneck for two. Fujinami just wont quit. They knock heads no one is better at selling that than Murdoch. Murdoch cant bodyslam Fujinami who falls on top of him great exhaustion spot. They start biting each other big pop when Fujinami does it. Tag out to Inoki. Inoki sends Murdoch packing and then whips Adonis hard so he can do his bump over the turnbuckles into the post. Murdoch vs Inoki! Huge Inoki chants! North-South try their sick double team move again, but Inoki kicks Adonis in the mush with both boots and Adonis is singing like Vienna Choir Boy now. Inoki with a snap superplex.Fujinami takes care of Murdoch. inoki Enziguiri! OCTOPUS STRETCH!!! INOKI & FUJINAMI WIN! Tons of bombs in this so I can see why people lap this up. Didn't think had that much substance to it. Just a lot of Murdoch & Adonis kicking ass and the transitions for the tags for the Japanese team was lacking. Total balls-to-wall affair that never lets up and is never boring. ****1/4

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger - UWF 7/17/85 Less than a month ago, Fujiwara got the monkey (or should I say Tiger) off his back by forcing Tiger to submit in the middle of the ring to a legbar. We are JIP (missing the opening 5 minutes of the 15 minute match) to a Fujiwara legbar. This is probably the most exciting Tiger/Fujiwara match, but it is a lot of flash and missing the substance that really makes the other matches classic. Tiger is just firing off wicked kicks and they are rapid fire. Fujiwara is backed into the corner just trying to cover up and catch one of these kicks when he has a chance. There is a lot of submission work too. Tiger gets a leg bar and crab of his own. Fujiwara gets another legbar. The really exciting parts are the standup. Tiger is fast & furious with these kicks. They look beautiful. At one point, Tiger just slaps the shit out of him. Tiger wanted to win so bad after the loss. You can feel how hard he was trying. Fujiwara was just out gunned in this match. The turning point was when Fujiwara gets a nice double underhook takedown and in the scrap Tiger blasts with a swift kick to the solarplexus and knocks the wind right out of him. I loved Fujiwara's headstand out of the Boston Crab. Fujiwara has been excellent. I will say if there is one thing lacking in this match is that Sayama does not sell shit and really is not good at any of the selling, bumping (there is not much bumping in shoot style) or facial expressions. He is just ridiculously good at offense and pacing. Tiger goes INSANE with kicks. There is this crazy flying karate kick that just blasts Fujiwara in the face. Fujiwara kinda catches the foot, but just goes down in a heap. Cant respond to the ten count. Super Tiger gets his win back. I was hoping for it to be 2-2 going into Match #5, but I also like that Super Tiger came into this match so hot. Very exciting, but lacking the selling and drama of the other classics. Definitely watch this for the insane onslaught of Sayama kicks! ****1/4

Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - UWF 6/24/85 Holy Shit. Holy SHIT! This is supposedly the worst match of their five match series in the Original UWF and I freaking LOVED IT! These two can do no wrong together. Six months after their ground breaking five star classic in December of 84 they come back with a totally different match that rules. Sayama no longer has the mask, which bums me out, but these two deliver the goods. Totally different dynamic in this match. In September, Fujiwara felt like the favorite being bigger and stronger but Super Tiger pulled out the win. December was all about Tiger proving it was no fluke with a spectacular knockout of Fujiwara. Two victories, now Tiger is the favorite and it shows. Fujiwara flinches at the mere flick of Tiger's foot love it. Fujiwara is way more cautious. He is letting Tiger come at him and catch the kick then trying to convert that into offense. I love how the matches are building and telling a greater story. Fujiwara has shifted from offense to defense. Tiger is taking Fujiwara down now and that never happened in the first match. Some really nice double underhook bridging takedowns. Nothing has really changed on the mat, Fujiwara is still the man. There are two big NEAR MISSES where Tiger almost connects with the kick. Loved Fujiwara's sell, like he knows how close he was to doom. Then he catches Tiger's foot and BOOM! eats a big one in the mush and he falls out of the ring. Fujiwara's selling makes the match. Fujiwara follows up by punching Sayama right in the face. Sayama is not very good at selling, which is why shoot style fits him better. They go on the mat, bundle of leg locks lame. Sayama gets a single leg crab. Then as they coming up from a tangle on the mat he connects with a WICKED KICK to the face. Shades of December! It feels like the match is over from how Fujiwara is selling. Sayama misses with a kick to head, but connects with kick to the leg. He is cornering Fujiwara, but has not gotten him off his feet. Fujiwara with a desperation takedown and leg lock...middle of the ring...nowhere to go...SUPER TIGER TAPS OUT! WOW! Fujiwara needed win and he pulled that one out from the jaws of defeat. Also that is Sayama's first loss in UWF. Great booking. Another Sayama knockout would have killed the series, but teasing the knockout then having Fujiwara get the submission victory. Really looking forward to the July match now. ****1/2

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura - NJPW 12/12/85 IWGP Tag Team Championship Fantastic intergenerational match! Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig vs Mantle & Maris or Bruno & Pedro vs Hogan & Savage. Sakaguchi was the number two babyface in 70s New Japan behind Inoki. He is the biggest guy in the match, a bruiser and definitely the spark plug of the match. Kimura is Fujinami's running buddy. Fujinami is the biggest babyface star of 80s New Japan and Inoki is of course the biggest star of the 70s and the biggest star of all time in New Japan. To add to the stakes this is to crown the inaugural International Wrestling Grand Prix Tag Team Champions. As is customary, it was decided in a round robing format with actually Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka actually in the lead at the end of the round robing format, but they NO SHOWED the finals and JUMPED to All Japan. Insane! Instead we get this badass native vs native match. So there are three threads to follow in this match. The 70s superstars vs Kimura. Kimura is the junior partner on his team and definitely number 4 on the totem pole. When he is in the ring, can he survive the two best wrestlers in history. He faces two heat segments and manages to get out of both. Sakaguchi as a bruiser and Inoki as a wrestler are able to get their way with him, but Kimura does hold his own and we see down the stretch that he is pivotal to victory. The second thread is Fujinami vs Sakaguchi. This is the fiercest and chippiest of the matchups. Sakaguchi is larger than Fujinami and disrespects Fujinami early by picking him up over the top rope and placing him on the apron like a good little boy. Fujinami reacts by slapping the taste out of his mouth. IT IS ON! Classic David vs Goliath with lots of heat. The last match up and the biggest is Superstar vs Superstar, Main Event vs Main Event, 70s vs 80s, Inoki vs Fujinami. HUGE FIGHT FEEL when they are in the ring! This much more respectful. Inoki vs Fujinami begins with a stalemate then we get Sakaguchi vs Fujinami, which is the apron spot I speak of above. Then we get Kimura getting his ass kicked by the 70s superstars. Sakaguchi bruises. Inoki hit Demolition Decapitation and a butterfly suplex. The middle of the match is a lot of jockeying for position and teasing different control segments. Kimura saves Fujinami from an Argentine Backbreaker from Sakaguchi by chopping down the big oak tree. Inoki and Fujinami have a great stand up battle with Inoki baiting with the right and tagging Fujinami good with a left. Inoki hits his enziguiri on Kimura who does a somersault bump, but Fujinami saves. The finish stretch is really good. Fujinami has Inoki in a figure-4 and the crowd is chanting for Inoki. They focused so much on Inoki & Sakaguchi beating up Kimura, but the crowd still loved the old guys. Inoki finally reverses and tags in Sakaguchi who comes in roaring against Fujinami. Hits a running high knee but hurts his knee in process! Gets a cover for two and then Fujinami & Kimura go to town on Sakaguchi's leg in the best control segment of the match. They are flying all around and kicking ass. Some really good double teams. Fujinami applies the Scorpion Deathlock on Sakaguchi while Kimura drops the kne eon his back. Fujinami is jawing with ref. Inoki gets tag and just starts kicking ass and throws Fujinami out of the ring. Sakaguchi is fucked. Inoki brngs him in with a suplex. Fujinami tags out. Inoki hits a picture perfect dropkick on Kimura right to head. He is hitting monster closed fists on Kimura's head. ENZIGUIRI~! 1-2-NO! BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-NO! Kimura hits his own! Tag out1 Fujinami OCTOPUS STRETCH! Will the Martial Arts master tap? He breaks free. They do a ring around rosie, Fujinami hooks in Full Nelson, hoists, DRAGON SUPLEX, BRIDGE 1-2-3! Fujinami & Kimura win! Fujinami is in total shock that he pinned Inoki. So am I!!! Huge victory for Fujinami & Kimura. I was just as surprised as Fujinami that they won the match and that he got a clean as a sheet pinfall on Inoki! Huge momentum boost going into the UWF invasion angle, which will start in January 1986. Kimura was great as feisty junior surviving heat segments and being pesky by saving Fujinami. Sakaguchi was a great bruiser and generating heat in the match. Inoki brought that starpower and some great offense. Fujinami was the star. Standing up to Sakaguchi and then going toe to toe with the Great One and winning. Loved the layout at the end with Sakaguchi hurting himself and the 80s guys destroying the knee. The pivotal moment in the match is Kimura kicking out of two Inoki death blows and holding his own against Inoki. That was huge. Then Fujinami took care of the rest. The stars aligned with isolation of Inoki, Kimura stepping up to the plate and Fujinami bringing it home. Great story and an even bigger moment for Fujinami with a clean pinfall over Antonio Inoki. ****1/2

Charlotte/Becky!!! YAY! Im going to Smackdown tonight in the Real Garden (Boston Garden) with my mom. She likes the "Good Day" so she will be excited to see them. Kevin Owens is so lame. Sami Zayn sucks. But they are replacing people I don't care about. I just cant stand Nerd Video Game wrestling anymore. At least we are getting AJ vs Orton. It is gonna be GLORIOUS!

YES! YES! YES! Im pretty excited for AJ/Orton

SO NO AJ?!?

Bray Wyatt better not fuck with Braun Strowman. I agree it does feel like they are just swapping the main eventers with each other. Very weird. I figured 1 main eventer, 2 mid-carders, 1 woman and 1 tag team. AJ Styles vs Orton seems like the program for the Spring. But they also need a big pick for the Finish of the show. I am going with AJ staying and Orton going. SD! ends up with Brock.

Antonio Inoki vs Dick Murdoch - NJPW 12/10/85 This was the same month Murdoch was working excellent bloody brawls against Ted DiBiase in Mid-South. This match was not an excellent bloody brawl. It was a very good technical match. It wont change your world, but it will remind you that Dick Murdoch is such a damn entertaining wrestler to watch. New Japan was in an interesting position in 1985. They lost their shoot style crop (Maeda, Fujiwara and Takada) to Sayama's UWF and they lost Choshu & Co. to All Japan. Choshu vs Inoki seemed to be poised to be the big feud of late 84 into 85. It was not all losses. New Japan did acquire Bruiser Brody. The main program of 1985 seemed to be centered around Inoki vs Brody. So while the house may not have dipped, the quality of pro wrestling sure did. As only two matches from 1985 cracked the Top 100 in the New Japan 80s project. I checked this one to refamiliarize myself with Inoki, but ended up remembering that Murdoch is the man. Murdoch is so great on top. He just tortured Inoki's arm. It was brutal and interesting. Just so many combinations and contortions. Always great with the facial expressions of determination. He knew when to create movement and hope spots for Inoki. Then cutoff him off with a bruising elbow. Really great stuff. Then selling was just so good. That one punch by Inoki where did the perfect tooth loss sell and the way he kept selling afterwards was great. Inoki did sell the arm by wringing it out, but his facial expression was so mute. He runs the ropes funny. He genuflects when he hits the ropes. He is very mechanical in how he wrestles. I don't doubt his shooting prowess but he is not smooth. Some good hope spots before he gets a drop toehold. That first fall back on he drop toehold got a huge pop. I think that is what he added most to this match. Just being Antonio Inoki because the crowd was totally behind him chanting his name. He definitely gave it heat. I loved the economy of the finish stretch. Murdoch hits a great enziguiri. He was a great athlete. Rides him down the knee calls for the brainbuster hits it, but Inoki is outside the ropes. Inoki press slams him off the top, gutwrench suplex and Enziguiri by Inoki with THE GREATEST SELL EVER BY MURDOCH! It was such a basic layout, but everything was tight flowed. Murdoch's great heat segment then Inoki working the deathlock, Murdoch's finish run and Inoki's finish run. No wasted time. The matwork was pretty much forgotten about so it felt like you could have JIP'd to Murdoch enziguiri and not missed anything. Inoki really only brought crowd support to the table. Murdoch really carried this both in terms of offense and really amazing selling. Just a very good, economical old school match with some fun touches from Cap'n Redneck. ***1/2

Martel is definitely a Top 25 greatest wrestler of all time for me. AWA stuff is fantastic. Strike Force stuff is incredible! Check out Tag Teams Back Again on the Place To Be Nation to hear Kelly and me rave about it. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel - AJPW 10/21/85 Really the last of its kind, the big gaijin vs gaijin champion match. Flair would do tours up until 87. Of course, they ran Hansen/Doc/Gordy, but those were AJPW regulars that happened to be foreigners. This is the last gasp of All Japan as the 80s all star promotion as the changing tides in the US and the Choshu invasion caused Baba to go in a more insular direction. Probably the best disappointing match you will ever match. It is undoubtedly a great match and very entertaining. So why is it disappointing is that it feels very plug n play. I love the Flair Formula, but with someone as dynamic and versatile as Martel it just feels stifling. Martel is so good at selling and that infectious energy that match is still a joy, but you know can be so much more. '85 Flair so lots of respectful mat work to start. Flair gets bested, but respects his opponent so he gives him handshakes and will go back in. That all changes when Kerry erm I mean Martel press slams him. Flair feels the match slipping away he lures him into the corner and hits a big atomic drop. Martel is such money selling. Flair takes him outside and posts the arm and begins working on the arm. People bitch about Flair working the arm, but it is so silly. The Figure-4 is a home run, you don't need to build to it. Flair is taking what he is given. Martel and Flair stand up exchanges are great. Martel can be so fiery, he works well. Martel misses the elbow so Flair hits a butterfly suplex. The figure-4 by Flair's opponent on Flair is just as over in Tokyo as it is in Greensboro. Lots of typical Flair spots down the stretch, Flip, Flop (the flop was great with the blood), and the press slam. The dueling leg psychology was good. Flair selling his own leg when attacking Martel's was a nice touch. The Flair figure-4 was a good nearfall for him going into the big finish run. Martel busts Flair open. Flair screaming at Martel during their fire fight was great. Martel was kicking ass on that open wound. Finally, Martel gets to hit his own spots, the Splash into the ring, which was his finish in the AWA, great nearfall near the ropes and then Splash off the middle rope to eat knees. Martel crossbodies Flair, but they both tumble over the ring ropes and double countout. Tons of action, Martel selling his ass off, lots of energy, two hot runs during the end with Flair working the leg and then Martel battering the bloody Flair. Cons were a little bit longer than necessary, transitions were not always memorable and things got forgotten and Martel felt like Kerry Von Erich or Flair's opponent du jour when he could have been so much more. Enough stuff to call it great, but not much more. ****

PWF World Tag Team Champions Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 8/31/85 These are the two tag team championships that would be unified into the Double Cup. Only the PWF Titles are on the line as Hansen & DiBiase are the only ones that come out with titles. I like how Japanese do early tags. Both teams grab a hold and then tag out to give their partner an advantage in the match. That's good tag wrestling. The big plot point early is that Jumbo's arm is still injured. We learned this in the first Choshu tag back in June of 85. I don't know what the Kayfabe reason is for the injured arm. I thought Tenryu/DiBiase had a good reprise of their 83 classic with some good fire and bombs. While Jumbo/Hansen being teased early was good to make it a big fight feel. Hansen/DiBIase's first heat segment comes from double teaming and then they do a great job wit frequent tags and frequent pinfalls. Highspot-nearfall->tag out. That's really smart tag wrestling. I liked the double football tackle. What you learn in this match is that Americans telegraph their back body drop way too often. Tenryu gets some chops and then a bodyslam, immediate tag out. GREAT JUMBO HOT TAG! Fired up, chops, HIGH KNEE and then a piledriver. Jumbo is looking for the Butterfly suplex, but settles for sleeper. I will never understand the Jumbo is not emotional enough arguments. DiBiase crashes down on Jumbo. Hansen GOES FOR THE ARM! Jumbo chops and grabs a hold before tagging out. I loved the Double Butterfly Suplex with great deadweight struggle from Hansen. There is a great spot when Tenryu is going for enziguiri but Hansen hits a cross body and bowls him over instead. Welldone. Double atomic drop with a tag out to DiBiase. I am not digging these Tenryu heat segments. Not that great at selling and not enough hope spots either. Kinda ragdolling. Jumbo is definitely showing more energy than Tenryu. He wants that butterfly suplex again and Hansen cuts off with a big back suplex. DiBiase tags out and Hansen sets too early again. Enziguiri/Face kick combo sweet! One of my favorite spots was Tenryu throwing Hansen into ropes and hitting Hansen with an enziguiri as he runs by into a tag. Enziguiri for DiBiase and now powerbomb! Jumbo cuts Hansen off and sends him into post. Tenryu tags out. Jumbo hits a MASSIVE LARIAT! Grabs his arm! BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-NO! AWESOME HEAT! Jumbo sends him into the corner and misses the Lariat and Hansen attacks the arm immediately. Sending it into every hard object he can find. They are merciless on the arm. Total turning point of the match that been foreshadowed early in the match. Once the gaijin got a hold of this they weren't letting go. Tenryu sensing how much danger Jumbo was in, tries to help LARIAOTOOOOOOOO BY HANSEN TO TENRYU! Hansen tries a diving Lariat to the bad arm which would have been cool if it connected. Alas! It was a pretty epic whiff. I love that He has Jumbo backs against the ropes and punches Tenryu in the head behind him. LARIAOTOOOOOOOO TO JUMBO! Crazy drama with Hansen wrenching Jumbo's bad arm in a top wristlock. You cant believe that Jumbo, the Ace, would submit but that's what happened! I thought from Tenryu dishing out enziguiris to the finish that this was phenomenal! The powerbomb on DiBiase followed by Jumbo taking out Hansen to allow him to hit that Monster Lariat and Back Drop Driver was great nearfall stretch for the home team. Then Jumbo injures his arm and the gaijin just decimate the arm was great. Tenryu tries to save but Hansen decapitates him with a Lariat. The beginning was solid tag wrestling, but that last 5 minutes is what makes this special. ****1/4