ICW Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage vs Ronnie Garvin - ICW Steel Cage 1982/1983

 

Best babyface Savage performance of his career besides the Savage/Flair GAB '95 match. Savage is an all-time great as a heel by being a totally despicable human and someone who always makes the babyface look like a million bucks. As a babyface, he relies a lot on his selling (he is world-class), but there is not much in the way of offense. The selling keeps it from feeling like an exhibition, but still I wish there would be more struggle in his babyface matches. I think that this cage match with Garvin really shows babyface Savage in a violent war over the ICW Championship. This should go down as one of the all-time great cage matches and reminder how great the stipulation can be. From the outset, they let us know that this is going to be a street fight with the way they were tussling over a front facelock and how they were clawing and choking each other. There was nothing pretty about it, but it was incredibly compelling. Unlike so many cage matches, it never felt claustrophobic, they were still able to brawl and use the cage as a weapon. We get double juice as these two just hate each other. Of course, this match features Savage's amazing trademark selling as he is staggered and collapsing after each hope spot. I love how the piledriver is treated like such a kill shot and each is doing all they can to avoid the other's. So much talk about Savage, but Garvin was awesome on top using the cage at will and choking Savage. He was a true heel. The best part of the match is in the middle of the match, a boxing match breaks out and two of the best working punches going at it. Down goes Garvin! Savage scampers on his knees to pin, but only two. I love the urgency! They are looking to end it in a most violent way, piledriver, but neither can get it. Savage misses his top rope elbow. Ruh roh! Garvin throws him into the ref and gets the belt and blasts Savage. He is hanging Savage and this match just ventured into classic territory. Savage kicks him off as a survival tactic. Savage throws the belt at Garvin to stop the top rope knee drop. HE PILEDRIVES HIM OFF THE TOP ROPE! THAT IS HOW YOU PAY OFF TEASES, BITCHES! Savage vs Lawler, here we come! ****3/4

I kind of feel like this match should be embedded in the confirmation e-mail for the forum.

 

"Welcome to the forum. Here, check out this match."

I actually like that idea a lot. This is perfect type of obscure classic to show people why this forum is Heaven on Earth for wrestling fans.

If this is not clipped, I have the time of the match as 19:49. I can't make out what the timekeeper says, but it doesn't seem to match

You would think with all the resources and research available these days, that someone would have been able to figure out the date and the venue for this match, by now....

A pretty great old school cage match. Simple and effective use of the cage. Excellent bumping and selling which really makes the match. Memorable moments include the way Savage stumbled back and falls over Garvin, Savage's desperate crawl across the ring to cover and the piledriver finish.

This starts out a bit slow. It's always a system shock when I watch cage matches from the 70s or early 80s and they begin with a long matwork section, considering that would be anathema to the psychology of steel cage matches by the end of the decade. Anyway this picks up after five or six minutes and it becomes a really intense match with good creativity throughout. Savage's punches have to be the quickest I've ever seen. I mean he throws those things like he's got springs in his arms and it's mind blowing to me that they're not actually connecting with his opponent's face. Great finish on this in the form of a pile driver off the second turnbuckle. 

A footage gem. Surely Randy Savage's first great match on tape and it's interesting to see just how much of a complete package he was years before WWF and even before Memphis. ****1/4