I was actually surprised at how little Larry Z stalling there was and at how well done the early rope running stuff was mainly because Larry is a guy you expect to start at a literal snail's pace and that was not the case here. The stalling actually comes in the second stanza here and I think the match is probably better for it as it has a slow pace but doesn't come across as a "when the @#!*% is something going to happen?" type deal. This kind of had the feel of one of the early 80's AWA matches which has it's plusses and minuses but the key is that there was no bad work and the good spots were pretty good. For example I loved all the stuff with the headscissors as Greg had some cool counter ideas and it was a good base for Larry heel tactics. I also loved the fact that Greg was the first guy to throw a punch and that Greg was tossing out headbutts as it sort of sold the "frustrated face" thing that Larry's character constantly feeds off of. The cartwheel escape of the monkey flip going straight into the headscissors was pretty cool and Greg working straight to his awesome Indian Deathlock makes me happy every time. Larry ends up taking back over with his back spinkick off of a corner break and actually targets the midsection which I thought was cool. The camera angle on the ab stretch escape was great. I thought the finishing run here was actually really good as they mixed in some good near falls, some pretty good offensive spots, Larry took some big bumps on the floor, et. This is better than a lot of matches that have been nominated and includes plenty of good stuff to go along with good build.

Greg Gagne vs. Larry Zbyszko (July 1987)

 

There was some good back and forth action to start as Larry toned down his stalling and went toe to toe with Greg. Larry still had a good way of frustrating Greg with his stalling tactics and with a nice headscissors on the mat which Greg would go all MUGA and shit countering out of it. This was a sweet section. Greg doing fucking cartwheels and shit was fucking swank and this totally had a Billy Robinson type feel especially when Greg went to kickass Indian Death Lock. Larry would go to his patented back savate kick to start his control section where he vigorously worked over Greg's midsection. Greg would make a comeback leading to a really fun stretch run with both men getting some nearfalls and taking some good bumps especially Larry. The battle would go to the floor where Greg would slam Larry on the floor causing both men to get counted out. Cheap finish but this was a damn good match and a fairly easy nomination.