Martel immediately takes over with a nice hip toss and I am impressed at how well Harley is bumping for Rick's take downs as he still had his speed and would get big height on everything. Martel ends up getting creamed coming off the ropes with a high knee and Harley goes a chinlock. They did a good job working out of this and came up for a nice cross body nearfall before Martel takes back over on the arm. Harley backs up Martel into the ropes and hits an awesome no hand headbutt sequence that Martel sells really well. Race hits a powerslam for a nearfall and goes for a suplex but Martel floats over on it and locks on a sleeper. Race ends up dropping Martel's face into the top turnbuckle to break the hold. Harley hits a neckbreaker but gets caught up top and slammed off. Martel with a knee drop for a nearfall. Race breaks his momentum with a headbutt to the guts but Martel comes back with some big punches. He tries to lock on a headlock but Harley suplexes. Harley misses his falling headbutt. Martel hits his backbreaker and slingshot splash combo for a really nice nearfall. Harley comes back with another headbutt and hits a piledriver and a falling headbutt for a nearfall. Martel tries to get some momentum going but airballs on a reverse crossbody and Harley hits a knee drop for two. Harley ends up getting reversed on an Irish Whip and takes an insane over the top rope bump. Martel with an inside out suplex and goes for a follow up elbow but misses. Race with a shoulder breaker for a nearfall and a neckbreaker for another. They do a double knockdown spot with Harley taking another wild over the top bump in the process. Race ends up going for a piledriver but Martel back drops out and hits a nice gutwrench suplex for a nearfall. Awesome nearfall as Martel had Race off the ground for a slam but Harley busts out a small package. Martel hits a dropkick off the ropes but Race gets his leg on the ropes. Martel goes to work on Race's leg. Awesome reversal as Race leverages down Martel with his free leg and then just bashes his face with his thigh. Race locks on a bearhug and turns it into a belly-to-belly for a nearfall. Harley hits some nice punches and goes for a suplex but Martel kills him with a sick looking suplex on a reversal. Martel goes for a splash but Harley gets his legs up. Crazy spot as Martel wildly slams himself and Harley over the top to the floor. They end up brawling on the floor with Martel getting posted right at the ten count. Post-match brawl is great and ends with Karbo pulling Martel away after he had escaped a Race piledriver attempt on the floor with a back body drop. This was your turn my turn in spots but it was so well done that it didn't bother me at all. Really fucking good match.

Rick Martel vs. Harley Race

- Man, this crowd is merciless, hearing the boring chants out in several matches on this show. Martel takes control with an armbar but Race says fuck that and headbutts Martel to hell. Martel recovers and locks in a sleeper and Harley counters by running Martel’s face itno the turnbuckle. Damn, really great back and forth section in the middle. Both guys pulling out the big guns but not being able to capitalize. Harley kicks out of a springboard splash and Martel kicks out of a piledriver. Martel reminds me of Kevin Von Erich not in his non-selling but in his ability to keep fighting back even after taking tons of punishment. Race takes a hellacious bump to the outside. Damn, that deserves a rewind. I don’t remember seeing this match before but I really enjoyed the faster pace and big bumps from Race. The No DQ stip really only came into play when Race went over the top. I didn’t dig the count-out ending but nothing you wouldn’t expect from two guys who fought in All Japan. Easy nomination.

 

EDIT: I Think people criticize your turn, my turn way too much. Sometimes, guys are evenly matched and battle back and forth. Also, most of the momentum shifts were based on a guy missing a move or getting countered. Nothing wrong with that.

Rick Martel vs. Harley Race (4/20/86)

 

Good back and forth action to start with Martel keeping Race grounded but there is a small boring chant that circulates in the crowd. Race uses his headbutts to weaken Martel but Rick keeps going as both men still can't get total control getting nearfalls with some big offensive moves. Race would hit his piledriver then a headbutt for a nearfall before Martel again fought back until he missed a reverse cross body block off the middle rope hitting all mat. Martel would throw Harley into the corner where he took his wacky over the top bump to the floor but Martel couldn't capitalize as he missed a diving elbow with Race following up with a shoulderbreaker for a nearfall. Martel would catch Race though with a running cross body that sent Race to the floor but he would come back in before both men traded more big moves with Martel eventually working over Race's left leg. Then we got more back and forth action with both men going all out before they went over the top rope to the floor. Then we got the All-Japan finish as they battled to a double countout right as Race posted Martel but Martel would fight back before Race tried to give him a piledriver but countered with a backdrop. This was a classic Harley Race style match here and Martel was a tremendous opponent so everything worked out greatly to make this a strong match. This moves forward fairly easily.