AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Wahoo McDaniel - AWA 8/28/83

 

I am so glad we have this on tape. There is no commentary and I dont know why we do, but it is so awesome. It was really cool to see Bockwinkel in this stiff, violent brawl. I have gotten to see very little, but what little I have seen, I liked a lot and am so grateful that we have a classic like this on tape. Bock ain't playing around, he has his fists taped up, but Wahoo is here to kick some ass. He targets the leg and and throws some tomahawk chops. The crowd seems pretty pro-Wahoo. Bock retreats to the outside where he grabs a chair and clobbers Wahoo. HOLY SHIT! He sends Wahoo into the post and then drives his head into a steel pole that holds up the ropes near the fans. Wahoo is bleeding, but comes firing back with chops. You can hear the crowd fine, but there are no sound effects so we are robbed of the dulcet cacophony of flesh on flesh. Wahoo is delivering a deliberate and measured ass kicking. Bock is the best at this kind of split-legged dazed selling or falling to his knees and rocking back and forth after every chop to the head. Bock rakes the eyes and throws Wahoo to the outside, but Wahoo meets him at the apron to chop him in the head and Bock falls on his ass in some great selling. Bock relentlessly tries to grab his famed Oriental Sleeper, not once, not twice, but three times and his head driven into the turnbuckles. Wahoo gets some payback on the outside cracking Bock's head off hard objects. Bock and Wahoo crack heads and Bock ricochets outside the ring. The finish sees Wahoo trying to go through the ropes to get Bock and is nailed with the chair. My one complaint that keeps this from being an all-time classic is that I did not feel like they were earning every inch. I thought Bock was complacent in selling and bumping, but Wahoo and not fighting back enough. It is a small complaint, but one that kept me from marking out to the fullest extent. Still Wahoo vs Bock lives up to the hype as one of the best violent brawls of the 80s. ****1/2

For people as high on this, does anyone think that there is a better Wahoo match on tape?

 

It's interesting how many wrestlers Bockwinkel has the best match with.

I think there are two Flair matches one made the Mid-South and one from Houston that Flair fans might point to. I have not seen them. Also there is a Flair/Wahoo match from one of the Battle of the Belts cards in Florida, which I have also never seen. Nothing else springs to mind as a candidate, but I could be missing something obvious.

This was a fun brawl. They definitely didn't hold back and, after just a bit of stalling at the beginning (Heenan was great), they started hitting each other in a very stiff way. Bock was always a master on the mat, so it was fun to see him having to compete against Wahoo on a physical standpoint, as he was trying to hit as hard as the challenger. The mayhem outside the ring was fun and realistic too, without going too far, but the lack of consistent selling and the clumsy finish didn't do this justice
***1/4