Superstar Sleeze

I am pretty sure I watched Demos vs Patera/Haynes and I know I watched Ax vs Patera (Matt D vs Dylan, BABY!) and was underwhelmed. Yep, we will rewatch. The best early Demolition match is with surprise, surprise the Islanders. Cutting Edge not in that it was better, but it was what wrestling was moving towards except the Bulldogs were a decade ahead of themselves. It felt really avant-garde for the time, No, the Bulldogs style did not hurt the tag team division because there was no follow up until Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko in mid-90s WCW. Once Dynamite gets injured, the tag scene resets to Demolition clubbering, Strike Force/Islanders working Southern-Style blood feud and the Rockers being friggin awesome. Bulldogs were not immediately influential and thus had little bearing on the state of the tag division. The tag division felt apart because Vince stopped caring. I pointed it out because just how incredible the WWF was in the late 80s in terms of all the styles they had. Bulldogs were basically a Japanese tag team wrestling against a hard-hitting, no-nonsense Mid-Atlantic stalwart and his useless WWF heel partner. It was just really cool the all-star nature of the promotion. I have actually only seen that Hart Foundation/Killer Bees match. I did want to watch some Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell singles at some point.

For those interested in the Japanese Companion Piece to go with this. Here are my choices for best 100 matches from Japan in the 2000s based on what I watched for Ditch's project organized by year: Check out ridingspacemountain.blogpsot.com for reviews or in the 2000s folder. 2000 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 2. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 3. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00 4. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title 5. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00 6. Hashimoto & Iizuka vs Ogawa & Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00 7. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00 8. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 9. Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 07/23/00 10. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00 11. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00 12. Yuki Ishikawa vs Kazunari Murakami - BattlArts 11/26/00 13. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival '00 14. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - NOAH #2 08/06/00 Match of the Year: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 New Japan Match of the Year: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 Pre-Split All Japan Match of the Year: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 Post-Split All Japan Match of the Year: Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 07/23/00 Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of The Year: Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 Juniors Match of The Year: IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00 Tag Team Match of The Year: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 2001 1. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 2. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 4/15/01 GHC Title Finals 3. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01 4. GHC Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 07/27/01 5. IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01 6. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue - Budokan 5/01 7. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - Zero-One 3/2/01 8. Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - AJPW 6/30/01 9. Minoru Tanaka vs AKIRA - NJPW BOSJ 05/28/01 10. Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - IWGP Championship Tokyo Dome 01/04/01 11. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & Vader - NOAH 1/13/01 Match of the Year: All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 New Japan Match of The Year: IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01 All Japan Match of the Year: All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of The Year: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 4/15/01 GHC Title Finals Juniors Match of The Year: IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01 Tag Team Match of the Year: Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - Zero-One 3/2/01 2002 1. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 12/12/02 2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshinari Ogawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 9/7/02 3. New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 4. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 07/07/02 5. New Japan (Liger & Inoue) vs NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 2/17/02 6. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs Taiyo Kea & Kazushi Miyamoto - AJPW 4/27/02 7. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Tokyo Dome 5/2/02 8. IWGP Jr Tag Champions Liger & Tanaka vs Kikuchi & Kanemaru - NJPW 8/29/02 9. GHC Tag Champions Akiyama & Saito vs Kobashi & Shiga - NOAH 10/19/02 Match of the Year: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 12/12/02 New Japan Match of the Year: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 12/12/02 Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshinari Ogawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 9/7/02 Miscellaneous Promotion Match of The Year: Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs Taiyo Kea & Kazushi Miyamoto - AJPW 4/27/02 Juniors Match of the Year: New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 Tag Team Match of The Year: New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 2003 1. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03 2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03 3. Toshiaki Kawada vs Naoya Ogawa - Zero-One 12/14/03 4. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 04/13/03 5. Akira Taue vs Yuji Nagata - NOAH 6/6/03 6. KENTAFuji vs Jushin Liger & Murahama - GHC Jr Heavyweight Tag Title Final 07/16/03 7. AJPW Triple Crown Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 6/13/03 8. Toryumon Trios Four-Way - Toryumon 08/30/03 9. IWGP Jr. Tag Champions Kikuchi & Kanemaru vs Liger & Kanemoto - NOAH 1/26/03 10. GHC Tag Champions (Akiyama & Saito) vs (Kobashi & Honda) - Budokan 6/6/03 11. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takuma Sano - NOAH 6/6/03 12. Low Ki vs AJ Styles - Z1 01/05/03 Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: Toshiaki Kawada vs Naoya Ogawa - Zero-One 12/14/03 Best Juniors Match of the Year: Toryumon Trios Four-Way - Toryumon 08/30/03 Best Tag Team Match of The Year: Toryumon Trios Four-Way - Toryumon 08/30/03 2004 1. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 2. GHC Tag Team Champions Misawa & Ogawa vs KENTAFuji Budokan 04/25/04 3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue - NOAH 09/10/04 4. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Tokyo Dome 07/10/04 5. AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto - AJPW 02/22/04 6. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiroyuki Ito - U-Style 08/18/04 7. KENTA vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 06/27/04 8. Kazuyuki Fujita vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 6/5/04 Vacant IWGP Championship 9. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax '04 10. Toshiaki Kawada vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 11/03/04 Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto - AJPW 02/22/04 Best Juniors Match of the Year: N/A Best Tag Team Match of The Year: GHC Tag Team Champions Misawa & Ogawa vs KENTAFuji Budokan 04/25/04 2005 1. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05 2. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs. SUWA - Budokan 9/18/05 3. Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - FUTEN 4/24/05 4. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama & Genichiro Tenryu - Budokan 4/24/2005 5. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 11/5/05 6. Open The Triangle Champions Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation Dragon Gate 2005 7. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Tokyo Dome 7/18/05 8. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Minoru Suzuki - Budokan 01/08/05 9. GHC Champion Takeshi Rikio vs Akira Taue - Budokan 11/5/05 10. Jun Akiyama vs Katsuyori Shibata - Wrestle-1 08/05 Match of the Year: Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - FUTEN 4/24/05 Best Juniors Match of the Year: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs. SUWA - Budokan 9/18/05 Best Tag Team Match of The Year:Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05 2006 1. GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 01/22/06 2. KENTA vs Bryan Danielson - NOAH 12/2/06 3. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/10/06 4. Osamu Nishimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami - MUGA 9/25/06 Two Out of three Falls 5. Osamu Nishimura vs Hiro Saito - MUGA 08/02/06 Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 01/22/06 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 01/22/06 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/10/06 Best Juniors Match of the Year: KENTA vs Bryan Danielson - NOAH 12/2/06 Best Tag Team Match of The Year: N/A 2007 1. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata- NJPW 4/13/07 2. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - 12/02/07 3. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Togi Makabe - NJPW 07/06/07 4. AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 5. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW 11/11/07 6. AJPW TRIPLE Crown Champion Minoru Suzuki vs Keiji Mutoh - AJPW 07/01/07 7. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi - Budokan 7/15/07 8. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takuma Sano - Budokan 4/28/07 Match of the Year: WGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata- NJPW 4/13/07 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - 12/02/07 Best New Japan Pro Wrestling Match of the Year: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata- NJPW 4/13/07 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 Best Juniors Match of the Year: AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 Best Tag Team Match of The Year: Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - 12/02/07 2008 1. Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 2. Ishikawa, Otsuka, Sawa vs Ikeda, Super Tiger II, Usuda - BattlArts 7/26/08 3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima vs Kensuke Sasaki - Budokan 9/6/08 4. Kobashi/Honda/Taniguchi vs. Morishima/Marufuji/Sugiura - NOAH 2/21/08 5. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson vs KENTA - NOAH 10/13/08 6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Suwama - AJPW Champions Carnival '08 7. Ikuto Hidaka & Muneori Sawa vs Yuki Ishikawa & Yuta Yoshikawa - BattlArts 8/31/08 8. Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoshitune vs Fujita Jr Hayato - M-Pro 12/12/08 9. Yuki Ishikawa vs Carl Greco - BattlArts 06/01/08 Match of the Year: Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year:GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima vs Kensuke Sasaki - Budokan 9/6/08 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 Best Juniors Match of the Year: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson vs KENTA - NOAH 10/13/08 Best Tag Team Match of The Year: Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 2009 1. Fujita Jr. Hayato vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW Super J Cup 12/02/09 2. Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Fujita Jr Hayato vs Great Sasuke - M-Pro 6/19/09 3. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs Kotaro Suzuki - NOAH 1/25/09 4. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW 10/12/09 5. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & KENTA - NOAH 10/03/09 6. Go Shiozaki & Sugiura vs Nakamura & Milano Collection AT - NOAH 3/01/09 7. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Manabu Nakanishi vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 6/20/09 8. GHC Champion Jun Akiyama vs KENTA - NOAH 5/17/09 9. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 2/15/09 10. AJPW TRIPLE Crown Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Suwama - 8/30/09 11. Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Fujita Jr Hayato vs Ou Kobushi - M-Pro 9/5/09 12. GHC Jr. Champion KENTA vs Katushiko Nakajima - K-OFFICE 02/11/09 Match of the Year: Fujita Jr. Hayato vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW Super J Cup 12/02/09 Best Pro Wrestling NOAH Match of the Year: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs Kotaro Suzuki - NOAH 1/25/09 Best New Japan Pro Wrestling Match of the Year: Fujita Jr. Hayato vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW Super J Cup 12/02/09 Best Miscellaneous Promotion Match of the Year: Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Fujita Jr Hayato vs Great Sasuke - M-Pro 6/19/09 Best Juniors Match of the Year: Fujita Jr. Hayato vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW Super J Cup 12/02/09 Best Tag Team Match of The Year: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & KENTA - NOAH 10/03/09

Contenders for Greatest Match of All Time (*****): WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - MSG 6/16/84 Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik - WWF, MSG 6/16/84 Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove on a Poll, Tuxedo, Cage match) - Mid-South 3/22/85 Hacksaw Duggan vs. Buzz Sawyer - Mid-South 11/11/85 Blood in the Sand: AWA World Tag Team Champions Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs Midnight Rockers - AWA 8/30/86 Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - AJPW Budokan 02/27/00 All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - AJPW 05/26/00 Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJPW PPV 12/14/00 All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03 GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03 GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 WWE Champion John Cena vs Umaga - WWE Royal Rumble 2007 Last Man Standing The Shield vs. Ryback & Team Hell No - WWE TLC 2012 TLC Match Daniel Bryan vs Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania XXX NJPW Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 4/6/14 Perpetual Bridesmaids (****3/4): NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk vs Jumbo Tsuruta 6/11/76 Two out of Three Falls Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs Ronnie Garvin - ICW 1982/1983 Steel Cage Match NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - World Class Star Wars 8/15/82 World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Fabulous Freebirds vs Von Erich Brothers - WCCW 7/4/83 Kerry Von Erich vs Michael Hayes - WCCW 11/24/83 Steel Cage, Loser Leaves Town Match The Sheiks (Sheik Ayatollah Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie) vs Greg Gagne & Da Crusher - AWA 3/25/84 Steel Cage Match AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Nick Bockwinkel - AWA Winnipeg 9/20/84 Mid-South North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Butch Reed - Mid-South 9/22/85 Mid-South North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Butch Reed - Mid-South 10/14/85 Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Bam Bam Bigelow - Memphis 9/7/86 Texas Death Match Brawl in St. Paul: AWA World Tag Team Champions Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs Midnight Rockers - St. Paul 12/25/86 Steel Cage Match WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat - WWF, Toronto 2/15/87 WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat - Wrestlemania III Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Austin Idol - Memphis 4/27/87 Steel Cage Hair vs Hair Match WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Vader - Great American Bash 1992 Sting vs Vader - Starrcade 1992 WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Sting - SuperBrawl III WCW World Crusierweight Champion Eddy Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio Jr. Halloween Havoc 1997 IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01 GHC Tag Team Champions Misawa & Ogawa vs KENTAFuji Budokan 04/25/04 World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit vs Shawn Micahaels - RAW 5/3/04 Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Genichiro Tenryu & Jun Akiyama - Budokan 9/18/05 IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata- NJPW 4/13/07 Ishikawa, Otsuka, Sawa vs Ikeda, Super Tiger II, Usuda - BattlArts 7/26/08 Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 The Shield vs Wyatt Family - WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki - G-1 Climax Day 7

Federer and Nadal are also a lot more fun to watch. Federer's forehand is so fucking gorgeous and he is so graceful. Nadal is so damn gritty and powerful out there. Nadal plays the most violent brand of tennis, well as violent as tennis gets. Djoker is more fun to watch Murray, but besides a really nice backhand, what is really eye-popping about him. He is just really excellent at everything. Throw in that Nadal is the earnest one and Federer is presented as class all the way, then you have Djoker who is labeled as a chump (retiring problems for a while) and a whiner. Hard not to have a letdown. Hey, as long as it is not Murray has always been my stance.

North American Heavyweight Champion Magnum TA vs Ted DiBiase - Mid-South OKC 5/27/84 Nice, fist throwing bloody sprint as I get my first look at Ted in Mid-South. Watching prime Ted DiBiase for the first time in Mid South is something that really intrigues me. Bockwinkel, Lawler and Von Erichs are known commodities to me, I know what to expect because I have watched a decent amount of footage going in for those wrestlers. DiBiase is someone who is well-known for excellent character work as the Million Dollar Man, but leaves me cold in the ring. In Mid-South, he has a blank slate to really impress me. This match was an excellent start. I thought he was vicious, focused and relentless. There was no jawing and no wasted time. He was in there to win and press his advantage to win that title. From the opening bell, when the wrestlers looked to return to their corners, he jumped Magnum from behind. It established his tone for the match and that was to attack, attack, attack. His strikes looked great as he took to the outside.The ref's admonishing distracted enough that Mags was able to bounce his head off the table. Holy shit, look at Magnum go with those awesome right punches that has DiBiase reeling. I love DiBiase begging off and taking some big bumps. Mags looks way better on offense here by sticking to strikes and brawling with Ted. DiBiase feeling like the match was slipping away and being overwhelmed loads up his glove and blasts Magnum busting him wide open. Around this, Jim Ross magically joins us on commentary and they mute the crowd. JR just calls the moves and does not add much in terms of story so I wish they kept the crowd noise. I loved the crowd visibly expressing to the ref that DiBiase loaded the glove. DiBiase was awesome in his heat segment. Every move was designed to hurt Magnum and take advantage of the cut, fist drops, ring post shots, and strikes. DiBiase hits a nice powerslam to set up the spinning toehold, but Magnums kicks him off. DiBiase goes up top and I have seen enough WWF DiBiase to know how this story ends. He eats the punch to the midsection and somersault flip to a nice visible reaction. Magnum roars and I wish I could hear the crowd. He hits his Belly to Belly to retain the title. It clocks in under 10 minutes, but this is a sprint. It is a just an action-packed brawl between two pros. Magnum is greta at selling and really has gotten firing up down now in a very short time since I last saw him. DiBiase really checks a lot of the boxes as a heel. Definitely looking forward to more! ****1/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Nick Bockwinkel - AWA 8/16/84 Martel versus Bockwinkel has all the makings of a classic championship series that has been overlooked due to AWA not being a sexy territory until a resurgence of interest from the AWA DVDVR project. I have watched a couple of their matches in the past, but I can't remember which ones so I am basically starting fresh. Six matches made the AWA set, but I will be starting with the three highest ranked ones and when I have more time, I will go back and watch the other three. The first match we see is the first match to make the set since Martel has won the title from Jumbo Tsuruta and is being contested in AWA hotbed, Winnipeg, which seems to be a popular place for where we get a lot of AWA footage from. At first watch, I was a bit underwhelmed by this match, but upon watching the rematch the next month also from Winnipeg, I realized this was intended to be a first match in a series match and in that context this is excellent. It whets your appetite, but leaves you very hungry for more. That's why I was underwhlemed, because I was left hungry and did not realize they would feeding me a heaping helping of double bitchiness with a side of fantastic selling in the rematch. The most important thing about this match is that it established Bockwinkel's most effective counterpunching strategy: the quick jab to the midsection. He uses this to great effectiveness in the rematch and it serves him well here. They start the match off with a bang with a wicked double cross body collision that Martel wins. Martel decides to focus on Bock's arm and Bock tries to cheat as best he can to turn the tide, but Martel is relentless. During one of his tries, Bock rams the bad shoulder into the turnbuckles, OW! When Martel goes for a kneedrop to the arm, Bock gets a quick fist to the ribs and throws him out. They are just teasing king of the mountain as Martel fires up. I love how he gets back in the ring by rolling around to avoid Bock and then nailing him. I love how they treat getting back into the ring as a disadvantage and Martel has to use his speed and intelligence to avoid being attacked upon re-entering. Again, Bock gets that short jab, but can't consolidate with the piledriver instead Martel gets his own. Bockwinkel goes back to the short jab to the ribs and this time it sets up his sleeper. He takes a header into the top turnbuckle. Martel looks to set up for his dive by working the back, Heenan gets up on the apron, but Bockwinkel ends up running into him. Martel tries to take advantage to hit slingshot bodypress, but eats knees. Bock immediately tries a pin, but only gets two. I love the idea! Bock hooks on his patented sleeper, but the Survivor Series 1996 finish does him in. As a standalone match this is very good, but as a place setter for the awesome rematch, this match is a great one. Martel looks awesome here using a combination of technique, speed and intelligence to get the best of Bockwinkel at every turn. Bockwinkel has to rely on cheating, experience and his short jab to set up his big bomb, the sleeper. It really made for a cool story that they really escalated to the next level in the September 1984 Winnipeg match. ****

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Rick Martel - AWA 5/13/84 Thank God for the Japanese without them we would have such little footage. This is an AWA World Title defense taped for Japanese TV because Jumbo is the World Champion even though Jumbo will be dropping the belt in this bout. Basically, Jumbo was utilized like a gaijin would be in All Japan as a transitional champion to bridge between two major stars. Conventional American booking wisdom would have Martel take the title from the longstanding heel champion, Nick Bockwinkel,. but I liked the wrinkle of using Jumbo. I think it adds a little spice to the Bock/Martel series that Martel never beat Bock for the title and thus has to prove himself over the course of a series of matches. Of course, it helps Jumbo & All Japan shed the choker label in their home country where Flair and Bock kept coming in and escaping with the title. As expected this wrestled mostly as a straight face vs face championship match with subtle heel actions from Jumbo Tsuruta to make sure the pro-Martel crowd is really hot for his coronation. The story in the match seemed to be dueling limb work, but I will admit this match was a bit all over the place. It was very entertaining from action standpoint because there was always something going on, but it did feel like a hodgepodge of spots rather than a clear narrative. We started with Martel working the arm out of the initial chain wrestling and Jumbo in turn working the leg with Jumbo getting the best of it early with spinning toe holds and his trademark Boston Crab. Martel is clearly the better seller so the match tends to be better when Jumbo is on offense and Jumbo is a great offensive wrestler so that helps too. There is some nice storytelling early like Martel using movement (leapfrog, dropkick) to create opportunities, but with his bum wheel he can't follow up and Jumbo is afforded the time to regroup on the outside. Martel is able to get a drop toehold and transitions back to the arm. We get out first high spot with Martel hitting a reverse crossbody for two. At this point, they depart from the original limb work behind. I don't think you necessarily have to stay on the same body part, but it felt pretty random and it did not play into finish so it just rendered it all moot. Martel misses an elbow and then Jumbo starts working on Martel's arm. I like the spot when a wrestler rolls up on an armstretcher and we see that from Martel. Jumbo hits a kneecrusher out of a side headlock and wicked high knee. Now they go all New Japan Juniors on us and go into bomb throwing. European uppercuts by Jumbo sets up his piledriver, which only gets two and now we get his abdominal stretch (I know it is a standard Jumbo spot, but it reeked of getting your shit in). Martel switches the ab stretch and works the back to set up for his dive, but he eats knees. They collide in the middle of the ring to reset the match. Jumbo dropkicks Martel into the ref and hits a Back Drop Driver, but no ref to get his highway robbery finish to protect him for the Japanese TV audience. Jumbo is ripshit. He is emotionally compromised when he goes for the Thesz Press, which ends with a hotshot and cross body for Martel to win the championship. I feel like I was harsher than I should have been on that match, which I did enjoy. I thought the finish stretch was really excellent in a vacuum. The Jumbo falling prey to the hotshot is classic and Martel gets a really pure babyface win. I liked the dueling psychology early and don't understand why they deviated it in the middle only to go the bomb throwing route later. Both have better matches on their resume, but this is a fine Martel championship victory. ***3/4

Mid-South Tag Team Champions Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA vs Midnight Express - Mid-South 2/10/84 After exacting some revenge from Butch Reed by taking his tag team titles, fans and Magnum TA thought it would be a sweet honeymoon for the beloved teacher/student partnership. However, as Magnum star grew, the fans clamored for him to get a North American Championship shot and jealousy reared its ugly head. Let me say, green is not a good color on Mr. Wrestling II. In the meantime, a new heel tag team from Memphis burst on the scene and would go down as perhaps the greatest tag team in the history of wrestling, Jim Cornette's Midnight Express and this version is "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. Midnight Express matches should be played for those with clinical depression because if you don't smile after one of these then I don't know what could make you happy. The MX is just so awesome at stooging, bumping and generally making the babyfaces look like a million bucks. I think my favorite part of the early match was how every sequence ended with Mr. Wrestling II giving a knee lift to a Midnight Express membrane and then selling it dramatically and fantastically. This is where Mr. Wrestling II has a little Dusty in him with his booty shaking as the heels keep scurrying. After ten minutes of getting their asses kicked, Condrey is rightfully terrified of II's kneelift and backs up in the corner. Condrey is able to lure him into the corner and force II to make a tag, but he prematurely tags out to Eaton. Mags goes after Eaton's injured shoulder (rammed into the post earlier). Mags gets caught running as Eaton ducks and Condrey chops him in the neck. At this early point in his short career, TA is clearly better at selling and the MX go to town with a great revolving door attack on his arm even Corny gets his licks in with his racquet. Mags powers out and desperately gets to Mr. Wrestling II, who fights out of his corner to earn his way into the ring. II's Eaton-seeking knee lift is on target, but the ref is distracted and Condrey throws powder in his face. The ref throws out the match, but MX kicks the ever loving shit of Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum TA especially with a belt. There is some mega heat on MX and Watts is out to lay down the law as MX finally exits. This is a really fun match where MX were just on point working their match with ton of popcorn, fun spots early to feed to the babyfaces. Mr. Wrestling II looked huge in there. Magnum really does not have much in the way of offense and again he was out of place on multiple spots. He is really good at selling, but not much else. It will be interesting to see how he fares in singles matches with Ted DiBiase shortly. The match was mostly a backdrop for the hot angle to set up a tag team title match with the stip of belt lashes for the losers. Mr. Wrestling II completed his heel turn by walking out on Magnum costing them the tag titles and forcing Magnum to take all the belt lashes. Mr. Wrestling II would go to win the North American Championship to set up Magnum TA to get his revenge by beating him for the title. Setting up the major title match between the rising star Magnum TA and lead heel, Ted DiBiase. The match was a really fun Midnight Express match that got to show off their stuff and get in an excellent beatdown. ****

Mid-South Tag Team Champions Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart vs Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA - Mid-South 12/25/83 Steel Cage Mid-South is probably the territory I know the least about in terms of the American Power 6 of the 1980s (WWF, Crockett, AWA, WCCW, Mempho, and Mid-South). I have understood that is generally considered one of the best booked territories and has among the best episodic TV ever produced in pro wrestling all under the helm of Bill Watts. Of course, this presents a problem watching a "Best Of" comp without much context, but hey that's what Kayfabe Memories is for. In 1983, it seems Mid-South had transitioned to having Butch Reed be the co-lead heel of the territory. While DiBiase and Duggan were having a blood feud that carried the territory in terms of sheer hatred. Reed and the ever-popular Junkyard Dog feuded over the North American Championship. Magnum TA was plucked from relative obscurity (Florida mid-card scene, I believe) and was immediately pushed as Duggan's tag partner and tag champion, but with the need to focus Duggan (co-lead face) elsewhere veteran Mr. Wrestling II and all his booty-shaking glory was introduced as TA's mentor. The angle that led to this tag match was two-fold. Mags & Duggan lost the tag titles to Reed & Neidhart (Neidhart was a heel du jour) and they ran a hot TV angle as an off shoot of the JYD and Reed feud. Reed was supposed to defend the title against the Dog, but balked and instead gave the title shot to the young up and comer, Magnum TA, which he thinks would easy pickins. However, when JYD was made special guest ref, it became anything but that and Magnum TA became the North American Champion! A meteoric rise for the newcomer! Due to some technicalities, the title change was reversed and now Magnum TA who had tasted the gold only to have it ripped away from him wanted to prove he could do it again against the arrogant asshole, Butch Reed. Instead of coming after his North American Title, he was going to share his glory with mentor, Mr. Wrestling II. Butch Reed is really fucking good. I have heard it bandied around that he is the greatest black wrestler of all time and having watched a Flair match, I knew he was good, but seeing him here makes me excited to see more Butch Reed. He was a fantastic big bumper for the faces in the beginning. He did a nice Flair Flip and bumped huge for Mr. Wrestling II's famous kneelift. A couple things about presentation in this match, in my smattering of Mid-South watching, it seems most of the footage we have is shot from one hard camera in the corner and sans commentary. I ain't complaining as long as we get to see the action, I'm cool. The steel cage does not rest on the apron, but actually goes to the floor thus there is an area to powder and it makes taking cage bumps a little more difficult. Neidhart tries to slow TA down with an eyerake, but does not consolidate the advantage and TA overwhelms the heels. Reed finally stymies Mags by throwing him into the cage, which I said before is complicated as he goes over the top rope into the cage and then falls the floor in a nasty bump. Mags blades and the heels are content to send him into the cage, The camera zooms in and I think this is going to be the opposite of WCW where they zoom in on the blood, but instead we get a long close up of Mr. Wrestling II. TA uses shoulderblocks and rolls around to avoid Neidhart and tags out to II. II is a great hot tag and as a knee lift mark I think we are going to get along well. Neidhart trips him up. Pretty good heat segment ensues with some impressive power spots from the heels like a Neidhart Samoan Drop and Reed flying shoulderblock. II shows some good underneath fire. The heels get cocky and keep pulling up II. The Anvil goes after the mask and he yanks it off! He is very proud of himself, but II was wearing another mask. Reed is frantic trying to get Neidhart to turn around. II, unphased, tags in Mags, who unloads on the heels. Belly to Belly on the Anvil, cover, II leaps over the cover to hit Reed with a kneelift. WOW! Great finish. There were some parts where they were kind of out of sync and it seems Magnum's strong suit at this time is selling. It is ok because II makes up for it in spades with great offensive fire. Neidhart was a perfectly servicable heel and Reed was badass. I love the cage spots and thought the finish was fantastic. Still needed some more heat or a more interesting hook to take it to an all-time classic level, still a great match! ****

You can be on my team, any day, brutha!

This better have made tape. I hope with Rocky Raymond commentary.

Kevin Von Erich is fucking awesome. I don't know if he is better than Kerry per se (they are very different), but he is my favorite Von Erich. He is totally all fight, all the time. My favorite spot recently was Flair was about to do a backbreaker so he just punched him in the side of the head. He just has a "fuck it, let's brawl" attitude to him. I once heard him described as if no one smartened him up to the fact that business is a work the way he wrestles. It really fits to a tee (clearly he knew it was a work), but he did a great job wrestling like it was a shoot. I really wish he got a money babyface run in a different territory. He would have been a great WWF Champion for Vince Sr.

I'd be surprised if he doesn't go down this route. The names announced so far are encouraging, Moose in particular is a guy oozing with potential. Still, he could do with a centerpiece talent to build around. I was expecting AJ Styles to be that guy. Not sure who's out there that could realistically draw eyeballs to the product. What's Rey's contractual status in terms of AAA/Lucha Underground? With NJPW using the NWA titles, the idea of AJ as the NWA Champion touring in GFW, NJPW and AAA would just be so cool. Even if it doesn't come to that, AJ as the centerpiece is logical and would be awesome.

Rick Rude & Atomic Drop is the ultimate stooging spot. It is funny I had never heard of stooging before coming here, but I knew instantaneously what it meant. It is that old school heel selling for the babyface that eggs on the crowd and the wrestler. It is the type of selling that makes you want to see the heel get his ass kicked even more. It is played up for cheers and laughs but I don't think it undercuts the gravity of the match per se. Just a bit of lightheartedness that pops the crowd in a different way than a high spot or big bump. It definitely one thing you really don't see anymore, which sucks because it is an easy way to bring a smile to my face. Closest I saw recently was in Xavier Woods' great performance. Another form of stooging is being overly excited about small victories like Owen Hart 1994 and New Day. Again it is something so hammy that it makes you smile but also you want to see their smug smirks get wiped off the face.

Dylan, how do you reconcile the fact that Roddy Piper may be the worst wrestler on a national scale that can't blame being abnormally large in the history of pro wrestling from 1997-1999 in WCW? Nobody could torpedo an angle faster in WCW during that time period than fucking Piper and his shitty wrestling and even shittier catchphrases.

I will be shocked if she is not back in the front row for Summerslam. Not that I really care one or the other, but I agree with goc this definitely smacks of hyperbole, but it is not like it is some great loss WWE is not very good anyway. Mayweather is a despicable human being, but HHH praising Mayweather's performance should not be conflated with him glorifying Mayweather as a human being. You all have not disowned me or others for praising Benoit as a wrestler. Rewatching Benoit in the late 90s, I think he is the second best wrestler of 98-99 in America and I hope people are bright enough to realize I am not glorifying an evil, evil man. Her reaction to that tweet seemed to me, very extreme. As WWE & HHH, i would just ignore and move on, this would be a no-win situation.

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Nick Bockwinkel - AJPW Osaka 2/26/84 This is the oft-forgotten about rematch from the same tour that Jumbo initially won the title. There is a reason it is forgotten, it turns out. I had every intention of rewatching Jumbo's title victory, which I really liked, but I just selected the Jumbo vs Bock match from February 1984 without paying much heed. In retrospect, the fact the match was in Osaka and it did not begin with a Jumbo cross-body should have told me I was watching the wrong match. In my defense, Terry Funk was also the special guest ref in this match, which added to the confusion. If you ever wanted to see how Bockwinkel did in a spotfest well now we know because this was just all over place. Now understanding this was the rematch does at least explain Bockwinkel's aggression from the outset. He had a challenger's mentality. I love that about 80s matches. It is not married to the babyface/heel dynamic, but instead lets the circumstances dictate people's strategies. The majority of Bockwinkel's matches you will see are him as champion. He is calm looking to execute his strategy, but he is not the aggressor. He is waiting for the opponent to make the mistake. As the challenger, he can't afford the same luxury and he needs to take it to Jumbo. Bock is content in the early part to control the head and whenever Jumbo looks to break he grabs some hair. He rams Jumbo's head into the turnbuckle twice, but Jumbo gets wise on the third attempt and shoves him off. To preserve his advantage, Bock hits a quick piledriver, but too close to the ropes and Jumbo powders. At this point, they seemingly just trade moves willy-nilly. It is all action so it is entertaining don't get me wrong, but does not leave a lasting impression. Jumbo hits his high knee, his Thesz Press and gets revenge with a piledriver of his own. Bock hits a sick drop toehold (Im such a mark for that move) and even puts Jumbo in his Boston Crab. We get a short King of the Mountain and Jumbo fires up (take that Jumbo haters!) and the crowd is rocking now. Jumbo puts him in the Boston Crab! Bock gets a quick uppercut to the balls. At this point, the match actually gets really good and is of the caliber that I have come to expect of their matches together. Bock chucks him out and then hits a brainbuster. Bock is finally showing some emotion and he is incensed. Throws him out again, now into the post, he beats him down on the apron, but Jumbo's leg gets caught in the ropes and he relentlessly stomps it and Funk has to pull him off multiple times. Bockwinkel applies the figure-4; Jumbo is fighting and they tumble to the outside. Bock won't let go and gets an Indian Deathlock. Bock tries to make it back in the ring and Jumbo pulls him down for the double countout. Really weird finish. It makes total sense when they pull that shit with Flair or Bock as the champ forcing the double countout. Jumbo as the babyface pulling that shit is just weird. Did they really need to protect Bock? Bock had been champion for years in Japan, I don't think a couple clean jobs would hurt him. Plus, Bock did not even get the belt back so there was no rematch to protect. The stretch run was really, really good, but the rest of the match was all over the place with each one not really taking time to sell (Jumbo was selling better than Bock). I have seen plenty Jumbo vs Bock and this is the least of their matches to me. ***

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Jeff Jarrett - Mid-South Coliseum 5/4/87 One of my favorite genre of matches is the veteran champion up against the overmatched, but zealous young lion. It is a match when done correctly that everyone wins. The young lion will look strong in a competitive loss and the champion reminds us why he is indeed the champion. I can't think two better people to really excel in this match type. Due to footage limitations, Bockwinkel is the veteran champion. That's the lens we see Bockwinkel through. Yes, we have 70s footage with him & Ray Stevens as the tag champions, but the majority comes from his excellent 80s run in the AWA as the elder champion wrestling youngsters like Martel and Hennig. Now for the modern fan, it may seem a little strange why Jeff Jarrett would be perfect in the role of plucky, young babyface. Early on his career, Jarrett actually had a shit load of babyface charisma. Where it all went, I have not a clue. At 1987, we are very early on in his career. If we got 1987 Bockwinkel against 1991 Jarrett, we could have got something really special, but as is it is a really good match in this genre. Jarrett is a late substitute for Lawler and Lance sells this as a huge opportunity for the young Jarrett. They both play their roles excellently. Bockwinkel gets his way early and seems like this will be a blowout, but Jarrett starts getting that movement going. Bockwinkel, ever-calm, breaks Jarrett's momentum by going outside of the ring. Bockwinkel is always ensuring he is dictating the pace. In the turning point of the match, Bockwinkel rams his shoulder into the turnbuckle. I loved how Bockwinkel subtly sells it. He uses the ref to buy some time and stands so that the bad shoulder is away from Jarrett, but Jarrett is here to win and he quickly gets a top wristlock. Bock tries to buck him off three times, but it is no use. Jarrett is tenacious. They work some fun reverse hope spots for Bockwinkel getting out of a hold, but being flustered making an uncharacteristic mistakes that allows Jarrett to go back to holds on the arm. Lance starts selling the idea of a massive upset unfolding before our eyes. Bockwinkel and Jarrett trade blows in the middle of the ring. Watching this footage, you would think that Jarrett would have been one of the best babyfaces of the 90s or at least a great star for the 90s, just a great fired up wrestler. Jarrett goes up top for the missile dropkick, crashing and burning and Bock rolls up him up for the win. Bockwinkel was at a point that he did not need that strong of a win and he really gave a strong performance in terms of elevating Jarrett. Jarrett kept it basic, but he told a strong story from his move selection and body language. He tried to press his advantage, high risk means the rewards may be big, but more often than the house wins. ****

DaWho covered the booking impetus very well. Just simple booking equilibrium, they had a void at the heel number one spot and they had a number two babyface that would be perennially in the shadow of the ace face. They did Misawa/Kawada in October of 1992, there was not much growth to be had in a babyface vs babyface rivalry. It was time to let Kawada grow into the leader of his own army and let Misawa vs Kawada rivalry really take center stage. Move him over to number one heel, you give Misawa's his arch rival, elevate Kawada and fill a void. Just so much win there for Baba. Tim Cooke covered the kayfabe perspective as well as I have heard it and my source is also jdw from one of the 93 threads in the yearbook section.

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Jerry Lawler - Nashville 10/12/85 Ornery Rick Martel is awesome! He seems totally pissed that he is even in this match in a really good way. He is just pissed off from the start. it is a really cool dynamic for the usual white meat babyface to play a heel. It is not like he is bad person. He is just having a shitty day and it shines through in the match. So he is more prickly than usual, it allows the fans to be decidedly pro-Lawler without Martel compromising his character. Lance Russell and his partner really play up his unwonted behavior. In addition, it makes for an excellent match and really Rick Martel best match as a heel I have ever seen. This is a very good Lawler performance, but I think Martel carried the day in this one. After failing at achieving the world championship in past efforts, you see Lawler has really put a lot of pressure on himself to win this match. Right from the outset, you see Lawler going for three different types of pinning combinations to keep the champ off balances and when Martel does give Lawler a clean break, Lawler punches him right in the mouth and goes for the pin. Lawler is here to win the title and nothing else. I love that focus. Martel is on edge and the fans chants for Lawler really gets under his skin. Martel tries to fire up and Lawler just makes him look foolish. So Martel kicks The King's leg out from under him. Martel works a masterful match around attacking Lawler's leg, which the announcers note that he had a severe injury that caused Jerry to miss most of 1980. Lawler does a great job of selling Martel's torture of the leg, which includes a variety of stomps, strikes, toeholds and a figure-4. Lawler is kicking him off, but Martel is using closed fists and the hair to relentlessly attack the leg. When Martel misses a seat drop, Lawler fires up, but he has to fire up on one leg. While the punches are finding their mark, he is hesitating because of the bum wheel, which makes him miss a fist drop and Martel pounces on the leg again. Love it! Martel misses on an elbow drop. Lawler is up and it is now or never! HE PULLS THE STRAP DOWN! Martel is great at rocking back for The King's huge punches in the corner. Lawler goes for a running fist, but runs into the ref. Martel wants the spinning toehold, but comes away with Jerry's boot. He wallops him! Lawler kicks out. Now he has the boot and clocks the champ. The ref sees that and DQs Lawler. THWARTED! BULLSHIT! I did not love the finish for quickly Lawler was able to recover and hit Martel with the boot. They were better off having Lawler duck Martel, get the boot and clock Martel. Lawler sends the crowd home happy by hitting a charging Martel with a boot. Besides the finish, this is a hellacious championship match. One of my favorite championship matches, I have seen in a long time. Lawler wants to win so bad early, but Martel takes advantage of a weakness and Lawler has to mount a classic comeback, but a series of unfortunate circumstances means the World Championship is just outside his grasp again. Martel's performance here is awesome! Just great character work conveying himself as a frustrated wrestler that just wants to get this over with, but has a tough time early on and then is just relentless on Lawler's leg. I have the No DQ match with Bock over this, but just by a hair, great, great stuff! ****1/2

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Mr. Saito - AWA Winnipeg 4/24/85 Oh how I have missed RICKY MARTEL TIME~! BABY! WOOOOOOOOOO! While this is indeed a great match, we do not get to see that classic Martel fired up comeback, but what we do see is top notch. Mr. Saito is somehow I greatly enjoyed when I was watching AWA footage randomly like two years ago especially his tag team with Bock. I remember really liking this match and nothing has changed. This is probably the best execution of a fundamental wrestling match you will ever see. The beauty is in how basic it is and how they are taking their time to really put over the moves. The story of the match is power vs speed and they stick to it from beginning to end. Martel establishes the speed game early with armdrags, but Mr. Torture wraps him in a side headlock and uses the hair at will to keep him locked in. Martel is trying to his best to create movement to gain advantage and with a monkey flip and armdrag he finds his opening working the arm. They do two great things to keep us hooked in this match. Martel is constantly struggling and when he does get out of the headlock there is a ton of movement before Saito is able to wrap him back up in a headlock or Martel gets the armbar applied. Saito transitions to the middle of the match with an eyerake and looks for the sleeper. I believe Ron Trongard lets us know that Saito learned this from Bockwinkel, but has not perfected it yet giving Martel a chance. Way to protect the move, Mr. Announcer man! Martel sold the eye-rake great and he is awesome at the glassy eyed selling here in the sleeper. Martel finally forces Saito to take a header and it is partial Ricky Martel Time, but we do get a piledriver and when Saito is a pussy about it and puts his foot on the ropes Martel gives that knee a seat drop, which is my all-time favorite AWA spot. Martel hits a suplex and backbreaker to set up his slingshot splash (won him the World Championship), but he crashes and burns! Has his speed cost him the match? Saito is such a great offensive powerhouse rattling off the backdrop driver, Russian Legsweep and Scorpion Deathlock and just looks so fucking boss. In the moment of the match, Martel literally claws into the mat and pulls himself to the ropes. DAMN! That is commitment! Saito having beaten him down with power plays right into Martel's hand with a whip, which allows Martel to use his movement to quickly turn defense into offense with a springboard reverse cross body with the flash pin. I loved how that played into the power vs. speed dynamic with Martel turning the match at the snap of the fingers. It was a basic story, but everyone was totally 100% committed. Mr. Saito brought the badass offense, Martel crushed it in the selling department, they established a narrative early and followed it through to the end, great match! ****1/4

A "STREET CLOTHES" Match, holy shit that was the funniest fucking thing ever. Parv anytime you need to tap out just send up the Sleeze Signal, I am here for you brutha. Put me in coach, I am ready to play, my man!

I could be wrong but I think Flair as the highest drawing champion from 81-85 is true and it is from 86-90 he is the lowest. In the 90s he had runs in 91 and 93 with the belt, but WCW title upon its inception in early 91 was pushed as THE belt. How much of the Fujinami deal was to remind people these were two separate belts? I really don't see the motivation for Flair/Fujinami at all. Early 1991 WCW is just so directionless.

I know not of the fun you speak of nor do I remember MONSTER heat. Yes, they were definitely better as heels or I should say Jacques was better as a heel. Raymond had checked out by then. The babyface portion of their run was just dreadfully boring. I will say that I LOVE, LOVE The Rockers vs Rougeaus match that is pretty polarizing. I think it is a contender for the best WWF tag match of the 80s. The Rougeaus were not Killer Bees-level mediocre.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jerry Lawler - Memphis Wrestling 8/14/82 "You are not trying to put on any country jive on me" - Ric Flair, one of my favorite lines from the classic promos surrounding this match. Flair takes some time out of his busy schedule (Orlando the previous night against Dusty, Ohio for GCW against Dicky Slater that night, and the classic Kerry Von Erich match in Dallas the next night) to show this podunk, redneck town what big time pro wrestling looks like. Jerry Lawler, the master of persuasion, sees the champion's hubris as opportunity to exploit to wrangle a championship match on TV when Flair was scheduled to wrestle a jabroni. Flair actually does agree to a 10 minute TV match with the NWA World Championship on the line. This is an all-time great TV angle and everybody should watch it. I actually mentioned the schedule on purpose because it explains the match to a degree. When in seven days, you have to wrestle wrestlers as different as big bumping Harley Race, charismatic Dusty Rhodes, power wrestling Kerry Von Erich and technical wrestler Jack Brisco, party all night long with pretty women across the country, do 500 free squats a day, you don't have much time to come up with a totally unique match for every wrestler, brutha, Unfortunately, Lawler did get the short end of the stick in terms of match layout. It is clear when it came for the big time championship defenses against the Von Erichs, Flair made each match unique, but he simply did not have the time to do this for everyone. Instead what he did was bring one helluva template and 110% effort to every match. The big Flair vs Lawler match did not materialize, but if I was watching that on TV I would be hooked. Now having seen a ton of Flair especially recently, I could call the spots ahead of time, but we have to be cognizant that people in Mempho were not getting Dallas TV so this was not a real issue. This is one who is working smart not unnecessarily hard and taking a template that works. Now if I am Lawler, I would be disappointed that I was the proverbial broomstick in this match. He was stuck doing the hammerlock switches, working a headlock, and doing the sleeper reversal out of the suplex. I think his lack of effort showed selling for Flair, I may be reading too much in this, but I would imagine it was either because it was TV thus did not want to give too much away or he was not happy with Flair, which I swear I read. I have noticed this in some other matches, Lawler does deadfish on people. He just lets the moves happen to him rather than struggling. When Flair is on against Von Erichs, Flair is always struggling and forcing the Von Erichs to overcome his shortcuts. It is not too bad with Lawler because he does sell well, but in this match he was just taking moves and doing none. He barely flinched when the figure-4 was slapped on. The cool thing was we got to see a Ric Flair offense showcase, which seems rare, so we get the delayed vertical and the gutwrench. The ten minute time limit expires while Flair has him in the figure-4 and since he could submit him, Flair wants him for 5 more minutes to really show this punk up. Flair has not watch many Lawler matches and here comes that comeback. Flair tucks tail and takes the championship with him and is counted out to set up the Mid-South Coliseum match that was never to be. The match layout is basic Flair: babyface shine with babyface besting Flair on the mat, Flair kicking some ass and then guitar solo portion of the match where Flair lets you hit your 2-3 big spots before the finish. Your mileage will vary based on how much you like the layout. I love it and Flair's offense so I enjoyed the match even if it was not OMFG FLAIR VS LAWLER!!!! The post-match angle is straight cash money with Flair putting out a bounty on Lawler's head and delegating it to Jimmy Hart. Between this and Kerry Von Erich, Flair, you deserved what was coming to you pal in 1983 with Harley Race. Watch it for the angle and promos, the match is still pretty good. ***