Posted July 6, 201114 yr comment_5476007 Larry Zbyszko v Harley Race – AWA title This match happened in Oct. '90 and was totally awesome. I'm not sure how much longer Race was a wrestler, but it couldn't have been too long after this match. And really, that's a shame, because he looked GREAT in this match. I don't remember him looking this good in a WWF match. He threw so many great punches here, in all shapes and sizes: lefts, rights, body shots, and a huge uppercut that started in a kneeling position like he was fucking Ryu or something. He also bumps like young non-crippled Race with two big bumps from the ring to the floor, a backdrop on the concrete, and taking all of Larry's shots nicely. We also get a fantastic kneedrop. Larry is FAR from a slouch in this, as he works extra stiff here. The spin mule kick in the ropes was great, and his punches look real snug. Of course it ends in a double CO but who cares, this was 15 minutes of action and made me want more late period Race! AWA on ESPN Classic 8/22/08
July 6, 201114 yr comment_5476029 If you haven't seen it yet Eric, track down Tommy Rich v. Race from one of the WCW Clashes in 90. It's another example of "holy fuck, Race was this good in 90?"
July 8, 201114 yr Author comment_5476164 If you haven't seen it yet Eric, track down Tommy Rich v. Race from one of the WCW Clashes in 90. It's another example of "holy fuck, Race was this good in 90?" Was it the one from the Great American Bash '90? I found that on Dailymotion and will be watching that later tonight. The AWA Title match was almost 2 years after his Royal Rumble match against Haku, and I don't remember him looking close to this good in that. Race/Haku seems like a match-up I'll need to revisit. The Destruction Crew v The Trooper/DJ Peterson – AWA tag title This was a real awesome Destruction Crew performance, really putting over Trooper and DJ and the fans were jacked for the babyfaces winning the tag team titles. Peterson and Wilkes weren't really good workers, but with the right opponents they clicked. Wilkes gets big height on dropkicks, Peterson works decent FIP. But this was an Enos/Bloom show. The more Crew matches I see the more I'm convinced that Bloom was the better worker on the team. I'm a HUGE Enos fan, but I've also seen 4 times as much Enos as I have Bloom, who pretty much disappeared after WWF (except for a few random WCW matches in the late 90s). The whole first 5 minutes of this match is Bloom bumping around huge for the faces. He has this odd habit of taking somersault bumps almost vertically, instead of a flat bump. It looks like a somersault that barely makes it over, but it's how he takes it every time. It looks real nasty. Crew take over when Trooper misses a HUGE charge into the corner. He didn't just run into the corner, he flew horizontally shoulder first and smashed into the corner. Now THAT I buy as a perfect time for the Crew to take over. Crew works him over good, ref misses a hot tag to Peterson, crowd gets amped. Finish was Crew going for their Doomsday Device, but Bloom getting shoved off the top rope (now doing his nasty somersault bump OFF THE TOP!) and Peterson rolling up Enos for the win. Simple formula match, but Destruction Crew were really good here and this made the match go by great. This tag took place on 8/11/90. AWA on ESPN Classic 8/25/08
