Arn was really good at transitioning from little bits of comedy to kicking ass.

These may end up spinning off into a separate thread, but some other guys who did comedy well -- Fujiwara, The Destroyer, Fuerza Guerrera, Emilio Charles Jr., Negro Casas, Jim Breaks, Mick McManus.

I don't see why comedy would be a general criticism. It was a different thing then as you can see from the workers OJ mentioed. It wasn't like Dick was doing business exposing crap, choreographed slow motion spots while winking at the audience, Colt Cabana style. That match vs. Fujiwara may be one of my favourite "small show" performances ever and a perfect example of what makes Dick so fucking great. It's funny and has cool wrestling and tells a story. It may be better than they match they'd had if they tried to go UWF or NJPW style. Even the infamous 10 minute headscissor dicking around in the Pat OConnor match has it's charms.Then again Dick is also in what may be my favourite US match ever (vs. Butch Reed), so I'm auto-biased towards him. I've seen him pop up in so many awesome matches in different settings ranging from NJPW to seedy Puerto Rico brawls to a random Otto Wanz bout I am baffled how doing comedic bumps would be a great detriment to his career.

Definition of a guy who could do it all. Stooge, brawl, technical . He could work singles , tags. He was fluid on the card. His work was believable facing the champ.

I ranked Dick Murdoch 42nd in 2016 and I feel good about that. I could probably go a little higher even but I feel like 25-40 is a good range, but he would probably challenge the top 10 if we had a complete run of footage. He's one of those people who could do anything. He could be serious or do comedy, be vicious or stooge, brawl or do classic world title matches. He could bump and move well too for a big man. 

I had Murdoch at number 28 in 2016 and I wouldn't be shocked if I have him top 30 again in 2026. He's probably one of my 10 favourite wrestlers ever. The comedy stuff has been mentioned a few timed already, but I pretty much always love it and find him to be genuinely funny on the regular. The match with Afa from Madison Square Garden is literally 15 minutes of Murdoch comedy stooge horse shit and it's absolutely incredible and the greatest ever example of someone making a match worth watching entirely on their own. Literally the only thing Afa brings to the table is the rock hard head trope and Murdoch uses that in about half a dozen awesome ways. I wish they gave him a run with the NWA title because he was amazing at working lengthy title matches and the 9/85 Reed match is like twelve stars. A ridiculously great 'little things' wrestler and I honestly don't think I've ever seen a Murdoch match where he doesn't do at least something cool or amusing or interesting. I also find the Meltzer criticism of him funny, not because I hate Meltzer or because I think he's talking nonsense or whatever, but more for the fact I've never seen Murdoch do the "it's Miller time!" bit and I really wish there was footage of him doing just that because I guarantee it would rule. 

 

DICK MURDOCH YOU SHOULD WATCH:

v Karl Kox (All Japan, 12/9/76)

w/Killer Brooks v Jose Lothario & Al Madril (Houston, 2/10/78)

v Afa (WWF, 10/22/84)

w/Adrian Adonis v Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami (New Japan, 12/7/84)

v The Nightmare (Mid-South, 7/14/85)

v Butch Reed (Mid-South, 9/22/85)

v Butch Reed (Mid-South, 10/14/85)

v Ted DiBiase (Houston, 12/29/85)

w/Masked Superstar v Ted DiBiase & Steve Williams (Houston, 3/14/86)

v Antonio Inoki (New Japan, 6/19/86)

v Dr. Death (Mid-South, 6/13/87)

v Barry Windham (Mid-South, 7/11/87)

w/Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi v Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine (New Japan, 9/17/87)

w/Scott Hall & Bob Orton v Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino (New Japan, 11/17/88)

v Yoshiaki Fujiwara (PWFG, 5/23/96)

You can be the biggest shack of shit in the world and Dick Murdoch is getting something fun out of you. And if you're not it might be something special. I'm takin that match with Afa with me to the moon; everything on that list is amazing.

 

Surprising lack of recent discussion for Murdoch here given that he was talked up as a potential top 30 candidate in this thread in the early stages, and got all the way up to 53 in 2016, between Greg Valentine and Akira Hokuto. Where do people stand on Dick Murdoch going into 2026?

He’ll almost certainly be in my top twenty. I hadn’t seen his 80s NJPW run before. Now I have. 

I reckon he's top 20 for me as well. I've re-watched the New Japan stuff Matt is talking about since I last posted about Murdoch in 2021 and he was like top 3 in the world in '86-'87. He's in that very top tier of wrestlers I'd be interested in watching against practically anybody.

One of those guys I definitely need to watch more of. I really love his performances in the few matches I've seen (Windham, the long one with Reed, DiBiase, Kox) and I find him pretty unique in those.

Flirting with my top 25, and certainly a lock for the top half of my list. Has the singles + tag runs that I really value in this project, along with just how many different places he popped up in over his career.