Posted August 4, 201015 yr comment_5453924 67 1- Barry Windham vs. Genichiro Tenryu (12/5/83) - Tenryu started out going after Windham's leg, and Barry sold the work nicely at first. But they both forgot about it as the match rolled on and degenerated into random exchanges of moves. They're two of my favorites, so I wanted to like it. But they really didn't slide into natural roles with one another despite producing some fine moments. 2- Dory Funk Jr. vs. Tiger Jeet Singh (12/5/83) - Reviewed on Samurai Classics. 3- Dos Caras vs. Masanobu Fuchi (12/8/83) - They did some neat stuff on the mat, though it felt more like an exhibition than a hardfought contest for position and leverage. Eventually, they traded big moves off the top before Caras used a nifty roll-up to get the pin. Fine match, but it never took off. Fuchi didn't show that vicious streak that would set him apart later. 4- Ric Flair vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (12/10/83) - They started with solid grappling. I liked Flair's defensive wrestling, the way he hooked his leg around Jumbo's knee when Jumbo seemed about to hit a big suplex. I also liked Flair's tendency to brawl his way out of trouble. Jumbo actually went for the figure four first, though Ric returned the favor late in the match. Both did a nice job of fighting to block the hold and then selling the pain. The crowd wasn't super into the match overall. Again, if this was the only example of them matching up, I'd probably nominate it. But with three excellent to great matches already on the block, it struck me as inessential. 5- Ric Flair vs. The Great Kabuki (NWA World Title, 12/12/83) - Reviewed on Samurai Classics.
