Superstar Sleeze

The Two-SWEEEEEEEEET after every two count is the greatest thing a wrestling crowd has ever done! Smackdown even has better crowds than RAW!

Mr. Webb, aren't you the guy who put Big Poppa Pump at number one? Not casting judgment, Scotty Steiner made my list and I am a big fan (Go Blue! I went to Michigan for school). I just want to make sure I am not confusing you with someone else. I think Bock made 12/13 on my list. I would find some way to get him in my top ten next time. I think Kawada (#10) should have been a little lower. Nick Bockwinkel vs Billy Robinson - AJPW 12/11/80 Verne Gagne is AWA World Champion at this time so no titles on the line that I know of. There is a clip. The beginning is some of the best 70s/80s American style matwork (I usually call this NWA Champion-style, but with both working for AWA that seemed wrong) you will ever see. To me American style matwork is your headlocks, wristlocks, armbars, short arm scissors, hammerlocks, chickenwings, toeholds, figure-4s, and crabs and these two just work it beautifully. We clip to Bock with a standing reverse top wristlock. He just has this evil, sadistic grin on his face that no one else can replicate. He is taking immense joy in wrenching Robinson's arm. The struggle is real for Robinson to buck Bock. First gets a headscissors (this is when the ankles are crossed), but when he tries to put Bock in motion, Bock converts an armdrag into a kneeling reverse top wristlock with him kneeling on Robinson's face, so now he is in a worse predicament. Robinson is able to get his leg over Bock's head and gets a double underhook, but Bock does a beautiful job blocking by grapevining the leg. Lock-up and Robinson grabs a tight and I mean DOUBLE TIGHT headlock. They work in out of that headlock, but Bock has lost control. Until one criss cross where he gets a marvelous drop toehold and rolls up right into a figure-4 of the left calf (this when one leg is straight and other is tucked behind the knee of the straight leg making a "4" with your leg). The commitment of the drop toehold was great because Robinson did not just go with it Bock got it tight and you really felt Robinson trip because of it. The match winds up once they get standing. Bock slaps Robinson hard. Robinson is incensed and goes to clobber Bockwinkel, but Bock ducks sending poor Billy crashing over the top rope out onto the floor. Bock gives chase, which was unexpected, I thought we would get King of Mountain. Robinson ends up bodyslamming him on the floor. Should have sticked to the script, Nick. Robinson comes charging in again for a punch and Bock back drops him out. Robinson really wants to wipe that smirk off Bock's face. Bock waits for Robinson to come to him this time and bodyslams him into the ring. Bock's heat segment is pretty damn good. Piledrivers, whip into the buckles and just generally kicking ass. Bock throws some serious bows and this wakes Billy up who starts blocking and then roaring back. Neckbreaker, back suplex ROBINSON BACKBREAKER!!! Only getting two. Hits a second Robinson Backbreaker, but hurts his plant leg. Bock POUNCES on this! Robinson shakes him off. Bock scrambles from outside back into the ring. Applies Figure-4 tons of drama. Robinson makes the ropes. The time calls get closer together. Fire fight to end it and they call it off as a draw. Pretty incredible match from the tight matwork to the hot finish run. Besides Lawler, I don't think there are two people that can get more out of so little in regards to highspots. You really see Bock in full display here. The opening matwork, then trying to incense his opponent and then pouncing on a weakness. Just great selling and pacing. Robinson is so great at offense, but I thought he sold really well for Bock with those two big bumps to the floor and then his knee. ****1/2

Thanks brutha

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Giant Baba vs Harley Race - AJPW 9/10/80 The initial title change was pretty much panned and that fact that Race is already one of my least favorite wrestlers means I am skipping it. This is the rematch to switch the title back to Race. They actually had a classic in 1979 that I really enjoyed. I thought this was very good. Didn't overstay its welcome. Just a totally bomb throwing sprint. They packed a lot into a short amount of time. Harley starts the match off with the bang of Piledriver! So you know he is invested in regaining this title. He misses the second middle rope headbutt. Baba takes over and sends him flying over the top rope in typical Harley Race fashion (its the bump that HHH stole if you cant picture it). Chair gets involved and Baba slams him in the head with it during the struggle. Baba press slams him off the top. There are no real transitions or selling. It is just offense and bumping, which is Harley's style. Baba hits his Russian Legsweep and goes for a multiple covers. Back to the floor and Baba busts Race wide open on the post. Good baldejob by Race adds to the drama. Really hot finish run with Baba style lariat and piledriver. The heat was awesome for these nearfalls the one where Race just got the foot on the ropes was something else. The Giant wants to fly but Harley crotches him. The Giant falls to the ground in a heap. Harley collects him into a pinfall win. I love his wife giving him a little kiss and then being all grossed out by the blood and wiping it off her face. Harely putting over Baba at the end for the live crowd was really classy. Just a collection of offense and bumps, but thought they put together a really hot finish with the blood, big Baba nearfalls and a cool finish. Not as good as their 79 match, but recommended. ***1/2

I couldn't find Flair vs Tenryu from '81 brutha. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - AJPW 10/7/81 Eight years before their classics in NWA, they met in All Japan with this being Flair's first tour as champion. First fall: Even though I have seen this before, I had forgotten it was three falls. So I was surprised when Flair won the fall with a figure-4. I thought he just gave the hold up in the middle of the ring. I was going to be pissed. Then I saw he won I knew it must be 2 out of 3 falls. Pretty basic NWA style fall. Funk worked the surfboard and Flair the headlock. It wasn't until the ten minute mark they ramped it up. Funk went up and over the turnbuckles. Flair kicked some ass on the outside. Vertical suplex inside and figure-4 to polish him off in about 12 minutes of action. It would change your life, but solid opening fall. Flair 1-0. Second Fall: Excellent fall. Really makes up for the tepid first fall. Flair is a shark that smells blood. He beats the piss outta Funk. He is really hammering him. Some great punches. Funk escapes to the outside and back in Flair is right on him with those big time punches to the head. Funk catches him good with one and then headbutt. Great Funk selling. Great stand up fight with these Funk scores the knockdown and SPINNING TOEHOLD! Flair submits! Funk keeps punching him in the head. How does your own medicine taste, Slick Ric? Tight, urgent and violent! Great fall to knot it up. Tied 1-1. Third Fall: Great limp by Flair. Tries to protect his leg. Funk is wild throwing great punches. Funk throws Flair out. Flair gets press slammed off the top. SPINNING TOEHOLD FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP! Kick off by Flair into the buckles, schoolboy, nada. Flair goes for the Butterfly Suplex, reversed into a pinning combination, 1-2-3!!! NEW...NO FOOT ON THE ROPES! GREAT NEARFALL! They go right home after that with the wild double countout finish. First fall is pretty pedestrian. The last two falls are pretty awesome. Great selling and urgency. So glad we have the '89 classics because these two foreshadow the greatness that is come. ****

I have seen this before and could have sworn I wrote a review for this. Amazing match. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 6/8/82 I love All Japan in the early 80s. It feels like an all-star promotion with the all the stars of Japan, NWA and AWA come together and compete. Jumbo vs Flair has the biggest fight feel of them all. It really feels like the best of America against the best of Japan. Flair is decked out in his coolest robe and the way Jumbo rips off his jacket, you know he is jacked for this one. GAME TIME! Jumbo brings the offense to Flair. Working NWA-style holds, headlocks, wristlocks and surfboard. The early sleeper gets a pop. Flair is working his usual style. Trying to go on the mat, create movement, but nothing works. He starts to try go toe to toe with Jumbo. There were some really big meaty exchanges in this. I love the sound of flesh on flesh. Flair tries after the sleeper to bring it to Jumbo with hard shots, but Jumbo is game for a fight. Jumbo fires up and climaxes with a HIGH KNEE! First big nearfall of the match. Flair tries to use the short headbutt to stall Jumbo's momentum. He is able to hit a couple kneedrops and a chinlock to stall out Jumbo. But in the fire fight, Flair loses control, Jumbo in showing he can chop with the best of them. BUTTERFLY SUPLEX! Only two! Boston Crab! Abdominal Stretch! HIGH CROSSBODY! 1-2-NO! Huge pop! Flair heads to the hills. That felt like a basketball game where someone goes on a 12-4 run. Jumbo was just firing and Flair was overwhelmed. Flair uses the outside to break momentum. You see when Flair gets back in he goes for a test of strength. That's psychology! You are 15 minutes into a match and going back to a tie up. That shows poise. He knows he needs to slow it down. It is just laughable that people don't think Flair has psychology when he is a top 5 Ring General ever. Period. Flair gets his own ab stretch, but Jumbo hiptosses out. MISSILE DROPKICK! 1-2-NO! Flair is desperate goes for a suplex, but get reversed by Jumbo into his own. Flair avoids the elbow and immediately goes for the Figure-4. People are always like why doesn't Flair work the leg. Well the Figure-4 is a home run shot. If he applies it, he will win. He sets it up when he is in control. In a match he is being totally overwhelmed and nothing is going his way, you bet his ass he is going for the figure-4. So that's ends up in an inside cradle, but once he gets the kneecrusher, now he is working the leg because now he has the time and is control. Flair had gotten offense but it was always short-lived because he never was able to really connect with a game-changer. Jumbo was ready for a fight. The kneecrusher represented the first time he made a significant in-road. Big Tsuruta chant for when he is in the figure-4. Big pop for him turning it over. Jumbo is really good in the figure-4. Sells it well and really adds to drama. Flair gets a back suplex, but kick out. Flair goes up top, this is not going to end well...WATCH OUT BELOW! 1-2-NO! TOP ROPE CROSSBODY! Jumbo applies the figure-4 to a MASSIVE POP! It does not matter if it is Greensboro, North Carolina or Tokyo, Japan that spot is OVER LIKE ROVER! I thought that was a really good climax to the match. I thought either Jumbo needed to one up it with a Back Drop Driver or something big or they needed to go home. It took them a little while to go home. Flair got some really good punches in when they were both on the mat. Flair throws Jumbo out so I was thinking here comes the countout finish. Flair suplexes him back in, which did not feel like an earned highspot for Flair. It kinda feels like the match is going backwards into a Flair heat segment with the elbow and then sleeper. So big chops and strikes late that I dig. Feels like a war of attrition. Whip into buckles and Flair Flop...Crowd pops! Love it. PILEDRIVER! 1-2-Foot on the ropes! Jumbo high knees sends Flair crashing out to the floor. Jumbo is feeling the strain. WICKED ENZIGUIRI! Jumbo falls out too. Piledriver on the floor. Jumbo into the post. Tease Double countout! It being All Japan, I totally bite. Jumbo tries for a deadweight German, but Flair falls on top. Both shoudlers are down. DRAW! Jumbo tries to sell he won, but crowd is too smart. They know both men's shoudlers were down and there is no pop. I thought first 3/4s was really good classic NWA style championship match. Flair trying a bunch of stuff but getting thwarted. Lots of good fire fights that Jumbo would win and led to big high spots like the Knee and then Butterfly suplex. That big Jumbo's offense run in the middle of the match was double hot. Flair was a master of bringing it up and down. Cooled it off a bit then went back to a Jumbo highspot of a missile dropkick and that's when Flair got so desperate that he finally got the figure-4. The dueling figure-4s was so over. You could feel Jumbo was getting his energy sapped from trying to win this match. Flair will tax you that way. Liked the chops late and the Piledriver. The high knee and that enziguiri was great. I think a double countout would have been better than the double pin. I thought they should have went to the finish quicker they lost some momentum because the crowd was molten for a good 15 minute stretch from the first high knee to the Jumbo figure-4. Flair really knows how to make a classic happen and let his opponent shine. ****1/2

Loved those leapfrogs too! Remember when Cena had like best leapfrog in the business from 2012-2014. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - AJPW 6/4/82 Four days before a title defense against Jumbo in Japan, Flair has a tune-up match in Japan against his favorite opponent, Ricky Steamboat. This is the condensed sprint version of their typically classic match. Nowhere near as good as the sprint they have at Chi-Town Rumble, but I liked this a lot and am surprised it did not do well in the final rankings. The way to think about this match is instead of a heat segment with babyface hope spots. Think of it as a babyface control with heel hope spots. I think by changing that lens people will appreciate this more. Steamboat works a great headlock segment early. Once they get into the movement portion of the match, it is just beautiful. Steamboat is so fluid and Flair is so great at creating movement. He is taking ridiculous bumps to put over Steamboat's chops. Flair tries everything, running the ropes, crowding in the corner, elbows, headbutts, chops, but they are no match for THE DRAGON! Steamboat has a great babyface shine just around movement, chop variations and Flair bumping. The weakest part of the match is Flair's transitions. He will sometimes get on offense too easy like the piledriver-gutwrench or how he just trips Steamboat and wraps the leg around the post. It is too easy to get to, bit too easy to get back to Steamboat and not enough heat during his run on top. Flair's second kneedrop is caught and it is the Steamboat figure-4 to good heat. Steamboat is pretty over in All Japan. He probably could have been the new Terry Funk if he wanted to instead of going to WWF. Steamboat eats knees on his splash. But Flair cant get him up on a suplex. Flair was selling his back really well in this match especially an early atomic drop and big time suplex. Steamboat gets the press slam in motion and then a standing one. He has Flair on the ropes. Really big bumping from Flair at the end. Steamboat top rope crossbody, roll through by Flair and a victory for the champ ahead of his big title defense against Jumbo. Bump n run match. A really good one that is totally action packed. Steamboat was on fire in this match and Flair was at his bumping & hollering best. Yeah Flair could have gotten more heat and Steamboat could have done more selling. It was nice to see them doing something opposite. It was a very much a greatest hits match with a lot of their common spots. No Flair Flop & No press slam off the top see Flair does not always have to get everything single spot in!!!! ****

Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody vs Dory & Terry Funk - AJPW 4/20/83 Just a scant six days after the classic Hansen/Funk singles match, this awesome tag gets lost in the shadow of the EPIC Terry Funk Retirement Tag, which may be the match of the decade. Definitely one of Brody's best individual performances and one of his best matches. He still did not sell or bump. But at least his offense looked really good here. The first half of the match is four pros executing the tag formula really well, but once Dory tags out to Terry...IT IS FUCKING ON! Terry goes apeshit on Brody's knee. Nailing Hansen. The knee work on Brody is so damn exciting and urgent. Terry holding the leg while Dory came crashing down is great. Terry taking off Brody's boot and wailing on his knee with it was AWESOME! Funk sends Hansen packing to the outside. As he is struggling with him, Brody comes from behind with a big knee. Hansen and Brody are just wailing on Terry with some wicked stiff shots but Terry takes it like a man and never goes down. Little things like that are lost today. Funk is selling, but he never leaves his feet. It is such a powerful moment. The ending is wild with the Monsters double teaming Terry, Dory trying to save, but this ends with the Spike Piledriver on Terry. So Dory has had enough now. Now the Monsters can isolate Dory. Going to set him up for the Western Lariat, but at the last second, Terry tackles Hansen's knees and they roll to the outside and they get tangled up in streamers. It was wild. Funk and Brody brawl in the ring and the ref counts everyone out for a double countout. The match was totally fine with the monsters dominating early and a pretty good heat segment on Dory. Holy shit, what an ending. Terry losing his mind on Brody. Brody crashing down on him. The way he stood up to the monsters only to be overwhelmed and felled by the Spike Piledriver. Then saving his brother from certain DOOM. Really amazing finishing stretch. ****1/2

THAT VIDEO IS THE GREATEST THING EVER! The passionate kiss to the ringside girl cut to sleeper on a bloody Harley Race is what pro wrestling is about. Didn't bother with the match, but that VIDEO WAS GLORIOUS!

I think the only version available is clipped. AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Terry Funk - AJPW 7/12/83. This is a Non Title match. Oh Bock, how I have missed you! JIP. The first available ten minutes is just great NWA-style holds and struggle within the hold. I could see people complaining Bock just sat in that headlock, but I think there was a lot of struggle and technique in the side headlock. The last ten minutes is fierce. Bock sent Funk out with a back suplex. King of the Mountain in Japan baby! The World Over, Bock is The King! Just don't let Lawler find out. Bock targets the knee of Funk with ferocity. Funk sells the knee for the rest of the match superbly and Bock is just a hawk. The holds, the strikes everything looks great from him. There are some many cool trips and leg pick ups and ankle picks that are just great. Eventually you got Funk working the leg and even gets close to a Spinning Toe Hold. Funk collapsing on the suplex attempt due to the bad knee was great. My favorite spot was Funk grapevining Bock's leg while standing and transitioning into an earned Russian Legsweep. Texas Cloverleaf by Funk but he turns Bock into the ropes. Bock counters with a beautiful figure-4. Great struggle from Funk. They roll into the ropes. Bock is relentless on the knee on the apron. It is a race against the count. Funk throws him out to win the match by countout. Just a great old school encounter. Funk's selling was great and his determination to work his way back into the match was gripping. Bock looked so damn good. They don't make em like they used to that's for sure! ****

Thanks, Paul! I know you want me to watch Flair/Tenryu from 1981 and I will. I am working on a specific project right now, but Ill get there brutha.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 6/8/83 2 Out of 3 Falls Exactly six years before I was born. Seen this twice or thrice before, loved it, lets see how it holds up. First 20 minutes: Jumbo is a wrestler who tries to control his own destiny but so many things end up out of his control. He always takes it to his opponent; it is that challenger mentality. But he always gets hosed by a DDQ or Countout finish, but goddamnit he tries to win it, but somehow things awry. It is all Jumbo in the first ten minutes. I thought this was a good demonstration of Flair's commitment to selling especially verbally. Good work on the arm, liked the Irish whip into buckles great bump and then holler by Flair. The best attribute of Flair is he never stops trying to win so he makes his opponent work for it. Flair tries to create something off a criss cross ends up in an ab stretch. From there we transition to back psychology and Jumbo really never relents for the rest of the twenty minutes except when he is on defense. Flair is not throwing as many short knees or chops, but does land a couple after a bearhug. He misses the elbow and sells his back! Nice! Jumbo pounces. The weakest part of the first twenty minutes was definitely the transition to Flair's first heat segment. Flair takes a stroll to break Jumbo's momentum, but comes back and just takes over like it is his turn. So pretty weak. Great arm work though. Punches to the armpit, tight hammerlocks, short arm scissors using the ropes. Jumbo uses a drop toehold to hold Flair why getting his arm rejuvenated. Then it's right back to the Boston Crab. Never lets go of the ankle, but is able to get back on the back of Flair. Good wrestling. Flair breaks the hold and tries to go for the arm. Stump puller and Jumbo right back to the Boston Crab. Flair makes the ropes. He is grabbing his back and Jumbo is feeling it. Now Jumbo is ready to throw some bombs. Atomic drop. Flair HOLLERS and Flair Flop! BUTTERFLY SUPLEX! Only a two! Flair is feeling the heat, big chop and chucks Jumbo outside. Besides the transition, very solid opening twenty minutes. The challenger, Jumbo has picked a body part used holds to finally build towards bombs that will yield a pin. Flair is using momentum breaking tactics and focused on arm. Thought Flair's selling and movement were great. Jumbo has had most of the highspots in the match thus far and is wrestling soundly. Second Twenty Minutes: Flair is selling inside the ring so well. Huffing and puffing, grabbing his back, not going after Jumbo. The turning point for Flair seems to be a back suplex. It rang Jumbo's bell and Flair was able to put him in a surfboard. "Cmon Jumbo!" yells Flair. I love tests of strength especially in this context. With the first fall on the line about 25 minutes gone by, feels like do or die time. Some weird botches in this match. Like the crossbody and Jumbo ducking a punch ending up in the piledriver position just to reverse it. Flair begs for Jumbo to chop him over the top. Great bump by Flair, feels like a great fist-pumping moment for Jumbo fans. Flair is so good. Flair grabs the leg from the outside! Yanks it across the apron! Desperation Flair! Here we go! Flair big time suplex back in, inside cradle off the figure-4 though. Flair has the foot, ENZIGUIRI! HIGH KNEE!!! MUTHA OF ALL BACK DROPDRIVERS! JUMBO TAKES THE FALL! 1-0! Pretty incredible first fall. Really sound opening twenty minutes followed by a red hot last five. The in between five was marred by weird botches and awkwardness. After losing the first fall, Flair clearly needs to come out cooking, but also look Jumbo to press the advantage. Flair has an interesting strategy to start. He comes in firing at Jumbo with heavy hands and at first Jumbo is able to overwhelm him. Flair now down 1-0 just keeps firing. He tries an atomic drop, but it is reversed, he blocks. He gets a suplex and then a piledriver. What's interesting is Flair is trying to win with bombs. Then we see a strategy more up Flair's alley. The front facelock. He locks that in. Saps Jumbo's energy, totally grinds his momentum to a halt, gives time for Flair to recover and the biggest thing of all he basically wastes ten minutes off the clock here. He is still going for pinfalls, but he is killing time. This is boring as hell and the match rating is gonna suffer, but you cant deny it is smart. He throws Jumbo out. Jumbo takes a couple tries and yanks him out. He throws him into the post and busts Flair open. Jumbo up 1-0 & Flair is bleeding. Can he pull out the championship victory with twenty minutes left. Last Twenty Minutes: These two are athletic freaks. They wrestle a grueling 40 minutes and now they decide to have a fireworks show. I loved Jumbo pounding on the cut and Flair throwing those wild punches. Flair was killing it in the selling department. Collapsing and hollering as Jumbo was kicking ass. Jumbo feels like an ass kicker. There was some really great fist fights. HIGH KNEE! I was urging to Jumbo to cover and I already know he wont win that's how good that spot was. Flair Flip. Flair headbutts down low! Great spot! Jumbo reverses a suplex attempt into a back drop driver attempt, but Flair blocks by grapevining the leg. Jumbo grabs a sleeper. There is a HUGE nearfall, 1-2-Foot on ropes! I marked out for it. Flair throws him out and Jumbo comes back covered with streamers with a MISSILE DROPKICK off the top! Awesome visual. I think I figured it out Flair just cant take a Thesz Press. Jumbo GOES FLYING over the ropes in an insane bump when Flair ducks the High knee. NOW We Go To School! Jumbo earns his keep in selling here. Flair is relentless on the leg and Jumbo is great selling in the confines of the figure-4. Flair runs the clock out with really compelling leg work and a figure-4. Jumbo was selling so well and the drama was high. Jumbo does not submit, but the clock runs out on him and winning the NWA Championship. The first fall is an incredible, basic strategic wrestling match. The last twenty minute is this insanely dramatic action-packed match with blood, bombs, bumps and drama down the stretch. Two things keep this from classic status the beginning ten minutes of second fall are pretty damn boring. Even if it makes sense, it was boring. During the finish run, it felt incomplete. It was missing that big Jumbo run. It would be like a tag match without a hot tag. It just did not feel right. Flair was awesome at selling and really timed the match out well. Jumbo killed it offensively and then in the end came through in the selling of the leg. Just an awesome NWA Championship and one of the best Broadways ever. ****1/2

My gimmick is blown! I am no longer the youngster. Sad!

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/26/83 I have a lot of problems with Harley Race, but boredom is not usually one of them. This was a boring 30 minute draw. When he put on a front facelock in the middle of what I thought was the finish run I was thinking "Fuck they are going 60 and I just wanna go to bed." Harley just had no fire. Very few bumps, not much selling, just no character work. It was the opposite of his fun Iceman Parsons match which was just 20 days earlier. Jumbo brought enough that I would say the match was good. Even though Jumbo is a big star, he often a challenger for a major title against a foreigner. So he has a challenger's mentality so you get some nice offense. I liked the struggle over the Butterfly suplex early. We get the most Harley transition ever where he just grabs a side headlock out of Jumbo's and just starts hitting headbutts. Now Jumbo is forced to sell. Where is the momentum shift? He hits his diving headbutt, but Jumbo kicks out. Jumbo hits this amazing overhead belly to belly! Now that's a momentum changer! THESZ PRESS! Harley just hits a swinging neckbreaker. Jesus, Harley! Act like you care, bro. Back to headbutts and a front facelock. There is a cool Harley tombstone, so we finally get a big Harley spot Harley gets busted open on the outside. The actual Jumbo finish run is the best part of the match. Tons of cool offense and a fired up Jumbo and a crowd that believes. Jumbo accidentally knocks out the ref twice. Triggers DQ. They have the absolutely coldest brawl to end a match ever. Jumbo had some really good offense and did wrestle well. So I will say it was good. Harley just did not give a fuck in this match. No bumping, barely any trademark big Harley offense, barely selling, no character work. Really long 30 minute match. ***

You must hate fun, hard hitting action with great selling and bumping. Good escalation. Moves that actually have consequence. Two really good nearfalls instead of sixty. Then a really well-built finish. Wow that's a lot of things you must hate.

Pope Francis needs to canonize AJ Styles right now because he is a MIRACLE WORKER! FUCKING PHENOMENAL‬ ****1/2. They killed it! That's pro wrestling!

Lol. I saw that movie in theatres on a date, was not that great. 13 matches! WOW! That's most 80s thing they have done in forever.

NWA United National Champion Ted DiBiase vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 10/23/83 DiBiase comes in wearing a robe saying "Italian Stallion". I never once thought of DiBiase as an Italian American even though DiBiase is clearly an Italian last name. Just strikes me too much as a country boy. Jumbo vacated this championship in June 1983 as he graduated to the International Heavyweight Championship. DiBiase was awarded the title via forfeit because Jerry Lawler failed to appear for the match. The announcers namedrop Lawler at least twice during the match. This was DiBiase first title defense as champion. At the time, Tenryu had never won a major singles championship in All Japan. Match totally snuck up on me. Tenryu had disappointed in his previous pre-Choshu outings. I like DiBiase a lot in brawls in Mid-South; I have never seen much out of Technical ted. I loved this! Tenryu was a beast on the arm and I thought DiBiase sold the hell out of his arm. I really thought the arm work was tight. DiBiase let Tenryu know he was there, but Tenryu was definitely in charge. There was a great exchange where DiBiase went for a spinning toehold and Tenryu monkey flipped him into a pinning predicament. DiBiase would definitely try roughhousing to get out of this jam, but Tenryu was not afraid to throws hands with Ted. Ted was able to get some offense started with a lariat and then his big powerslam. Tenryu sent him out of the ring and SUICIDE DIVE! WOW! MARK OUT CITY! Tenryu totally wiped him out. Been loving this match, strong arm work, everything is snug. Tenryu is in control in the biggest match of his life. Reverse Tenryu elbow gets two! Back to the arm. You feel like Tenryu is wrestling the match of his career to this point. DiBiase is selling really well. Up against the ropes, DiBiase chops Tenryu and throws him out. Great typical heel tactics by DiBiase using the outside to his advantage. Big suplex by DiBiase. Could be swinging his way. Tenryu holds ropes and DiBiase crashes & burns on dropkick attempt. I love how Tenryu is grabbing him by the head and really taking control. Piledriver NO SHOULDERBREAKER ON BAD ARM! AWESOME! Octopus stretch by Tenryu! Awkward position so they both collapse on each other. Feels like this will be a short lived title reign for DiBiase. I think this match set the record for most small packages. Crossbody by Tenryu, floatover by DiBiase, I bit hard on that nearfall. DiBiase throws him out and PILEDRIVER on the floor! Bit on that near countout finish! ENZIGUIRI! CROWD GOES WILD! DiBiase rolls out the ring at the last second. Tenryu is left reaching for him inside the ring. So frustratingly close. They end up on the outside hit a suplex, but it is a double countout. It felt like they left nothing in the ring in this match and the double countout finish feels totally credible. I am so surprised this did not do well in All Japan voting. It has two really well liked and respected stars having a balls out match. Tons of action and no dull moments. There was limb psychology for those that like that. Great selling from DiBiase. Hard hitting. BIG Finish run. You had the story of Tenryu going for his first major title pouring it on at the end and hits his signature enziguiri only for DiBiase to roll out of the ring at the last second. There were some things that I would have liked. A really big transition for DiBiase, some real big momentum shifts and a nearfall or two more for him. That's stuff that I like, usually that stuff doesn't bother others. Would really like to know why people are low on this match because I thought this was great. ****1/2

I agree this match is mostly just great because of the fact that exists. Genichiro Tenryu vs Ricky Steamboat - AJPW 2/23/84 Vacant NWA United National Championship Nice Memorial to David Von Erich at the beginning. David was the previous United National Championship. His death left the title vacant. This is the match to determine the new champion. On the same show as Jumbo finally winning the big one against Bock, Tenryu/Steamboat, a dream match, deliver a solid undercard match. Up until the figure-4, it was pretty ho-hum. Very face vs face. Steamboat controlling with quickness and Tenryu with the grind. Tenryu definitely used light roughhousing to get his way. Steamboat's figure-4 came out of nowhere, but they rolled to the outside still in the figure-4. From there, definitely got a better and more heated. They were lighting each other with chops. Loved the roll-up-Boston Crab-roll up sequence pretty novel. Tenryu's enziguiri was great! Steamboat's selling in this was very good. I thought he made all of Tenryu's offense look really good. Tenryu hits his reverse elbow, BUT he was not supposed to so Steamboat does not sell. LOL! Tenryu is 2 for 2 with hilarious fuck ups. I guess that was more Steamboat's fault for not getting out of the way in time. Steamboat gets high crossbody for his nearfall. Tenryu gets Steamboat in the banana split rollup to win the match and retain his title. Biggest victory of Tenryu's career at this point as he wins his major singles championship. Pretty pedestrian opening, picked up towards the end. Mostly cool just because it is Tenryu vs Steamboat, but it never becomes TENRYU VS STEAMBOAT~! ***1/4

It was a bit flat, but I thought there were some nice chop exchanges. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 9/22/84 Flair always looks pissed coming to the ring in Japan. I think it is because they always try to grab his bleached hair. I hate that too as someone with long hair that people are always grabbing to see if it is real. It is real, damnit! Typical NWA style opening with Tenryu grinding it out. Flair seems to want to turn this into a standup game and that's where this match is at its best. Tenryu sumo slapping Flair back. Flair punching Tenryu right in the nose with short rights. Flair actually busted quite a bit of offense in a short time usually takes him a while to get going. I don't know if the stand up game was his best route as Tenryu really started to light him up. Tenryu sleeper. Yeah it is is kinda lame that Tenryu is not getting much as a unique opponent. Also, does not feel as hot as Flair/Garvin or Flair/Wahoo where the match is centered around stand up. Lacks transitions. Finish was hot with Tenryu hitting two enziguiris in succession and then a piledriver (Flair did not want to go up for the powerbomb?) to win the first fall. Very good classic NWA championship first fall not the best. Tenryu 1-0. Flair just cant get anything going. I loved the struggle over the gutwrench suplex. Tenryu has to do an ab stretch (Gorilla would have loved this one) to unlock it. Flair is getting moves but is constantly countered. Tenryu is pouring it on the down stretch with bombs. Flair gets a kneecrucher, but then eats an enziguiri. He gets a back suplex and GREAT struggle over Figure-4 and struggle within figure-4 as Flair takes second fall. Transition really lacking but struggle over moves is really good here. One of the best figure-4 sequences ever. Tied 1-1. Third fall is a clusterfuck. Leads to one of the funniest moments in wrestling. I have not laughed this hard in a while. Flair calls for the backslide twice and Tenryu fucks up both times. Flair is pissed. Im laughing. Flair loves bumping for the enziguiri. Flair says fuck it and just goes to town drawing the DQ. Needed a chair or something more violent. Ref just calling for the DQ for excessive stomping in the ropes is lame. Fans of Tenryu should want to string that ref up. Flair loses match but retains title. I heard the '92 match is awesome. Something I really need to see. This was flat at times, lacked transitions and was just a clusterfuck towards the end. Enough stuff to call it good, not much more than that. ***

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich vs Ric Flair - AJPW 5/24/84 2 Out of 3 Falls All good things must come to an end and this is the last Kerry/Flair match that I have never seen. This may be my all time favorite series; these two just match up so well. Classic Flair/Kerry beginning with Flair being thwarted at every pass whether it is on the mat, quickness or power. They do the spot in the corner where they both fire off chops and punches and this gets so much heat in America. It just gets nothing here. I think once they heard that, the decided to take it easy and go through the motions more. Still Flair and Kerry falling out of bed and having a match is better than just about anybody. All the usual spots Flair kneedrop, Kerry sleeper, Flair delayed vertical. Kerrys cut from the Jumbo match two days prior gets re-opened which gives Flair something to work on. Kerry's discus punch gets no reaction. This crowd does not give a fuck. It is so weird because the match is great with plenty of action and in America people would be going mad. Flair misses a kneedrop. CLAW~! Great struggle over that. I love the Flair Flip->Top Rope->CLAW~! Kerry gets the fall! I love that because it is 2 Out of 3 Falls that we actually get a fall! KVE 1-0. Kerry starts off red hot and GETS THE CLAW! FLAIR SMOKES KERRY WITH A CHOP! GOES FLYING OVER THE TOP! Great fighting in the corner. Nice short knee by Flair to disrupt the momentum. Kerry sunset flip. Nice reverse elbow by Flair. Flair kneecrusher. Flair WINS by the figure-4! WOW! I love two out of three falls! Dramatic finishes with clean victories. Tied 1-1. Great selling by Kerry Von Erich during the break. He was in such a zone from 82-85. One of the best babyfaces in the world. I love him trying to get feeling back in the leg and how he tries to protect the leg from the Nature Boy. Flair goes right after the leg in the corner. Flair BLOCKS THE CLAW! Back to the leg, yanks him out of the corner. Standing toehold, cant lean too far over or he will get CLAWED! That's exactly what happens! Flair is in pain. Kerry in total control with the Iron Claw on the head of the Nature Boy. Gets a two count before Flair gets his foot on ropes. Kerry pulls a Kevin and eats knees on the splash (I guess that is also a Steamboat spot). Really great selling by KVE. Blocks snapmare with backslide nice spot. They knock heads! Feels like a reset from all the great work in first two falls. Press slam from top, really nice kneedrop from Kerry which you don't see too often. Too injured from knee to cover right away. Flair keeps trying to create motion, but Kerry gets ab stretch and CLAW to the midsection. Kerry hits a suplex on Flair for two. Nice dropkick by Kerry. Kerry is pouring it on but cant keep Flair down. Kerry misses dropkick when Flair holds onto ropes, don't do same move twice! BIG TIME CHOP BY FLAIR! Crossbody by Kerry for two! Discus punch sends Flair crashing to outside. Kerry tries a crossbody when Flair is on apron but flies outside. Nice tease of countout since they are so common in AJPW, but crowd does not give a fuck. Kerry gets an O'Connor Roll, reversed and the Flair sits on top for victory. I thought they started off really damn well. At first, they seemed a bit disappointed that crowd was not into it, but they still pulled off great first and second falls. I wished they stuck with the Claw vs Figure-4 in the third fall because it was going really well, but then they kinda did a reset with knocked heads. Kerry pours it on late, but cant get the job done. Flair gets a last minute reverse for win. They were building to something really special, but still ended up with a safely great match. Meaning I have never seen a bad Flair/Kerry match. ****1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 5/22/84 Nothing puts a big smile on my face quite like typing 'NWA World Heavyweight Champion Kerry Von Erich". Seen this match twice before and loved it. Lets watch this one again. I love that classic NWA Championship build with the collar-elbow tieups, the circling, the caution, the tests of strength. It allows you to settle into the match and really get into it. Jumbo is not shy about throwing bombs in a championship. He made it to the promised land in February against Bock so he has that monkey off his back. He is free to go for broke. I love little things like the struggle over the Irish whip with Jumbo kicking Kerry in the gut and after lots of struggle hoisting him in the air for the butterfly suplex. Kerry's response to immediately retreat to the ropes. Kerry's reactions to everything in the first fall was pitch perfect. Kerry tries to make in roads on the arm but instead eats a cross body for two. Jumbo shoots in with ease and gets an ab stretch. Kerry is used to Dallas where is an overwhelming favorite. Now he is in Japan where everyone loves Jumbo. Kerry needs to fire up because Jumbo is dictating this match. Banana split rollup. Kerry forms the Claw hand. I get excited. The struggle over the claw was AWESOME! Both sold the drama of it so well and the crowd was right there with a Tsuruta chant. Kerry gets the stomach claw. Kerry is able to pick Jumbo up and seat him on the top rope. Something Jumbo did to him earlier to show him up. Now things get chippy! Pride is on the line. The handshake that started the match has been replaced by shoving. It is Jumbo that comes out the winner with TWO big high knees. Kerry's sell of the second one is so damn good. Kerry is left on the outside, but gets a sunset flip back in for two. ENZIGUIRI BY JUMBO! BACK DROP DRIVERRRRRRRR! 1-2-3! Jumbo up 1-0. Jumbo looked great in the first fall besides the Claw, Kerry looked lost what to do with a firing on all cylinders Jumbo Tsuruta. Things got worse for Kerry before they got better. Jumbo pressed his advantage. He was taking no prisoners. He just starts pounding on Kerry's head with fists until it literally starts bleeding. Kerry's selling in this match is fucking awesome. Some of the best I have ever seen. He looks down and out being held up by the turnbuckles, but has just enough fight left in him. He gets a sleeper, which stops the bleeding figuratively because literally his face is now a crimson mask, but Jumbo gets out. Jumbo risks DQ by pounding on Kerry some more in the corner. This is a brutal Jumbo. Even the crowd that wants Jumbo to win does not seem happy with these tactics. The ref does not want to DQ the Japanese hero, but backs him up. Jumbo needs to get Kerry off his feet because Kerry is doing the smart thing by standing in the corner. Jumbo gets him out hits a suplex and then a piledriver. Miraculously Kerry kicks out twice. I was actually thinking to myself after the piledriver. Kerry needs to be thinking Discus Punch/Claw. He needs a home run. Lo and behold, Kerry starts firing off those big, looping Texan rights. SPINS AROUND CLOCKS JUMBO WITH THE DISCUS PUNCH! Jumbo bounces off the ropes CLAW~! Jumbo goes down, fights it off, back to his feet, Kerry with all his Texan might drives Jumbo's head back into the mat for three count. Incredible second fall. Totally believeable way to get Kerry back into the match. Tied 1-1. I liked how they have taken advantage of the fact that Jumbo will be over no matter what to have him play the roughhousing heel and Kerry do what he does best play sympathetic babyface. 1. Because it is more natural for both 2. It is unexpected. You would expect in Japan to play Kerry to play subtle heel. So it is a nice wrinkle. Kerry refuses to let go of Jumbo with the claw. There is a great visual of Jumbo being attended by all the young boys while Kerry stands alone in the corner bleeding. They comes out. Jumbo is still selling the effects of the claw as Kerry looks spry floating around like Muhammad Ali just tagging Jumbo with rights. He goes for the kill with the CLAW! Jumbo resists. Kerry runs into a knee. Jumbo says enough of this fucking claw and just DESTROYS Kerry's hand. This is the hook of the match. This is what everyone remembers. Jumbo's utter decimation of Kerry's right hand. Just watch it. It is beautiful pro wrestling. Kerry is awesome selling it and even throws a punch then grabs his hand. Kerry is able to get a suplex out of an armbreaker then a piledriver, but misses a reverse elbow from the top which bother his bad hand. Jumbo wastes no time and hits a Big Time Jumping Knee and immediately applies the Boston Crab. Kerry flexes all his muscles and powers out of it. They end up on the outside and Kerry applies the CLAW, but Jumbo hits a backdrop driver. It is a moot point as the ref counts to ten. Double Countout. Jumbo raises Kerry's hand. Incredible offensive performance from Jumbo. He did not care about being a dick. He wanted to be World Champion again. All is fair in love and war. Kerry was in his element selling his ass off. The blood added a lot as Kerry really did look overwhelmed. He survived long enough to win the stand up war with some nice punches and the claw. When it came time for Jumbo to sell, he did a great job too. The hand work is all-time great stuff. I want to give this ***** so badly, but the finish just does not do it for me. I don't mind the double countout, but want something more chaotic. Still up until that, they absolutely killed it. Two of the all-time greats putting on one helluva championship wrestling match. ****3/4

"Jumbo wins quickly with a roll up" - They all look the same to you don't they. PWF World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Giant Baba - AJPW 7/31/84 The last of their great series where they have odd chemistry with one of another. Somehow these two every different wrestlers figure out a way to make it work. A lot of that is Hansen changing and adapting to Baba. The way he sells every piece of Baba offense makes this match. Whether it is tying his arm up in the ropes, bouncing the entire length of the ring off the turnbuckle due to his bad shoulder, the way he sells Baba's backfists, he does everything to make Giant Baba look just that, a Giant. I thought Baba brought more to the table here than in March and was really launching some offense against Hansen. I loved the beginning with Hansen charging in the midst of streamers and Blears still in the ring. That's the beauty of Hansen, the chaos. It is the standard Hansen/Baba story. Baba targets the arm and Hansen tries to run roughshod by bullying Baba, but the problem is you cant bully Giant Baba. Hansen tries a new tact working the legs. They move in out of toeholds and cross armbreakers. Baba gets his Russian Legsweep. Hansen is up and really starts to throw his weight around. Nice dropkick by him. He goes for the Lariat, but Baba blocks with a big boot to a big pop! LARIAT! 1-2-NO! WOAH! Baba small package 1-2-3! Big Pop! Hansen is of course LIVID! He starts beating the shit out of everyone including the old ref and ancient Lord James Blears. Now that's a heel. The young boys corral Hansen to the back. Baba is able to soak in his World Championship victory with the fans. I thought the wounded bear selling from Hansen was better in the March match (check that one out too), but this was a more even performance from both. Still have the 82 match as their best, but this felt like a Clash of Titans. The Irresistible Force vs Immovable Object! ****1/4

I agree that Sept 85 match is a smidge better, but this is awesome! AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 7/31/84 OUI OUI RICKY MARTEL! How I missed you! This is the championship rematch as Martel defeated Jumbo for the AWA Championship in Minnesota in May of 84. Now Jumbo has home field advantage. We are nearing the end of Jumbo's role as the defender of Japan against the foreign champions, but he has one more classic in this style for us. Jumbo is ridiculously over in this match and throughout the match. I liked the champion vs challenger dynamic early in the match. Jumbo is way more offensively minded. Martel is willing to grind it out with toeholds and barring the arm. Jumbo is playing for keeps hitting big suplexes for nearfalls and dropkicks that send Martel flying. Martel realizes he is in a war and hits a reverse crossbody for two. He pounces on the back. Both are masters of the Boston Crab. They do a nice symmetry of each powering out of the other's Boston Crab. We get Martel's finish run which is comprised of a piledriver and a tenacious sleeper. I loved the roll through and hold by Martel. Real nice. The transition to Jumbos' finish run is great because its gradual. First he heaves Martel up out of the sleeper into a backdrop driver. Martel still has some energy so he goes for a tope rope crossbody but Jumbo rolls through. MARTEL IS PISSED AT HIMSELF! I love that fire. Being pinned off your own offensive move is very frustrating and he just won the World Championship from Jumbo two months ago so to lose that way would be the worst. He lets the anger get the best of him and misses a dropkick. The crowd comes alive! They have been biting on nearfalls, but they think Jumbo can do it again and win the AWA Championship for the second time! You never would hear such a big pop for a missed dropkick. Jumbo signals to the crowd. TWO Jumping knees for two! Tope Rope Crossbody! Gutwrench suplex! Jumbo off the ropes...hotshot?...nope airplane spin and they both fall over the ropes. Martel prevents Jumbo from returning to the ring and it is a double countout. I don't mind the double countout finish but the airplane spin was kinda lame and it felt very pedestrian for otherwise awesome championship match. Jumbo having defeated Bock for the title in Japan in February did wonders for this match because everybody believed it could happen again. Loved Jumbo's aggressive strategy to throw bombs. Martel as the champion was trying to wear down with holds and the sleeper proved to be his best weapon. Thought the gradual finish stretch starting the backdrop driver then Martel getting pissed at himself for almost costing himself the match and then Jumbo's bombs was a great way to end it. I have their Sept 85 AWA match just a smidge higher, but this was an awesome bomb-throwing championship match. ****1/2

I loved this! I thought this was the second best Harley/Flair match ever (8/83 being the best). I thought there were good, strong momentum shifts. It was actually really well built to a hot closing stretch with a clean finish. Selling left a lot to be desired and that is clearly the biggest knock on the match Ric Flair vs Harley Race - AJPW 5/22/84 80s Flair is the gift that keeps on giving. Best Harley/Flair match besides their 8/83, Mid-Atlantic encounter. Only second time Ive seen Harley work face besides the Central States match against Flair in July of 84. It actually works. For two very bomb-heavy, spot-oriented pro wrestlers, I thought they really build well to the finish and there was sustained heat and meaningful momentum shifts. Harley catching Flair with the bodyslam early and those wicked uppercuts was great. I loved Flair Wooooing right before he would get countered every time in this match. Great symmetry with the two biggest momentum shifts being each getting press slammed from the top. It was a nice wink to each other as the premiere NWA World Champions of their day. Harley's bombs served him well in his shine and once Flair slammed him off the top. I thought they did an excellent job mixing it up. Harley was throwing headbutts to let Flair know he was still there, but Flair always had a chop to cut him off at the pass. I thought they worked with energy without being frantic. Were they working outside? I noticed Flair's hair blowing in the wind, there were no rafters and there was weird acoustics. They tumble to outside loved Flair reversing the piledriver because he is still in command, but eats the post and then slammed off top. Really thought Harley's offense was so much better utilized as a babyface making a hot comeback. Those headbutts looked great. Figure-4 was a good break up of Harley's finish run before going back to the classic Flair closing stretch of nearfalls and Flair Flips. CROSSBODY FROM THE TOP LANDS FOR FLAIR! Wow! Loved that spot. Flair goes for his bread and butter, the figure-4 one more time, WOOOOOO but Harley counters by kicking him off. Suplex and top rope headbutt for the 1-2-3! Clean finish! Great match! Flair's overconfident Woooo and then Harley counter was so good. Loved all the callbacks to their American matches. The selling leaves a lot to be desired and is clearly the biggest knock on this match. I thought they built well to the finish. Both's offense looked great and worked with energy. It was competitive throughout and the momentum shifts mattered in the match. Flair getting the figure-4 and crossbody were nice nearfalls before a big time finish the top rope headbutt. ****