NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - Mid-South 5/4/85

 

Another great thing about Flair matches is that they are all different. It is not like the WWF where they ran carbon copies of the same match for a month. Even though Flair/Kerry had wrestled in the same territory a week prior this match has a totally different feel. I don't think it is close to the greatness of the 4/28 match, but like all Flair/Kerry matches it is entertaining and great.

 

Pretty standard Flair/Kerry shine with Kerry getting the best of Flair on the mat. Flair is great at the heel hope spots. Short knee and he immediately jumps onto get a suplex, but Kerry blocks twice and then does the Flair strut. It is little things like that that make Flair the best of all time. Flair goes for the short knee off a ref block, which was the transition in the 4/28 match and he throws him just like that match, but this time Kerry pops right back in for a big pop. It is actually Kerry ramming his shoulder into the post that it is the transition. Flair does work the arm well, wrenching it in, Kerry sells well, if you pay close attention you see Kerry forming the Claw, but is in too much pain to execute. We get some good Kerry hope spots fighting out of the corner, slamming Flair's head into turnbuckle to break free of the sleeper, sunset flip from the apron. Flair hits the kneecrusher. Figure-4 by Flair! WOOOOOOOOO! Kerry slides down the back from a vertical suplex attempt and gets the sleeper. Though he eats knees on the splash, that feels like a spot Flair created with Steamboat. Flair misses the kneedrop, Kerry does a great job being patient and waiting for the last second. Of course, this leads to a Kerry Figure-4.

 

The finish run is the press slam, Flair Flip, catch him in the Iron Claw as he comes off the top, which is just fantastic. The actual finish is a lot weaker as Flair shoulder tackles Kerry, but I think it was supposed to be a head crack finish like St. Louis, but just looked like a routine shoulder tackle and he won the match, Kerry does get his foot on the ropes for protection.

 

Weak finish, but other than that the usual very entertaining Flair/Kerry match. ****

Yet another good match between these two. However, while this still had some new details and spots here and there, I felt like it didn't add much to their evolving dynamic. But still, it was these two going at it for 20+ minutes with the usual fun mix of limbwork, strikes and Flair working extra hard to stop Kerry's raw strength. Also, Flair went from Kerry's arm to his leg and they soon forgot about the challenger's weak arm, while I liked the way he struggled to reverse the figure four later on. They did the shoulder tackle bump pinfall again and it felt a bit poor once again
***