All Japan Classics 64

 

Dory and Terry Funk vs. Umanoseke Ueda & Buck Robley (10/06/81)

- Whenever Ueda whips Terry, he flies out of the ring instead of running the ropes. Weird. Later on, Ueda actually throws Dory out of the ring so when Dory has the chance, he throws Robley out in retaliation. When the action spills out of the ring, Ueda attacks Terry with a chair and he has a bloody ear so of course Buck goes to the town on the ear, biting, punching and kicking Terry straight to the head. He even throws Terry out of the ring so Ueda can attack him again with the chair. Now it becomes a fight for Terry to make the tag. Of course, Robley gets put in the spinning toe hold and gets rolled up for the pin. I don’t know how good this is but it was fun as hell and worth a nomination.

 

Ric Flair vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (2/3 falls) (NWA Title, 10/9/81)

- Jumbo-Flair is one of my favorite matchups. I dig this much more than Flair-Taylor or Flair-Kerry yet I can’t see leaving those matches off their respective sets so I don’t see how we can leave any of the great Flair-Jumbo matches off. Hell, the first fall alone in this match was pretty damn great to be a nomination in its own right. Jumbo eventually nails a missile dropkick from the top rope to get the clean pin. However, Flair had been working over the leg which sets up the 2nd fall. In the 2nd fall, Jumbo tries to get the 2nd pin when Flair nails the leg breaker which sets up the Figure 4 in a short fall. Jumbo is still selling the leg in the 3rd fall even though his corner was massaging it, attempting to revive it for the final fall. I love little shit like that thrown in a match, especially in a 2/3 falls match where each fall is like a round in boxing that requires a different strategy after each round. This is probably why I so enthusiastic about the Portland category. The third fall has a little bit of everything. It has some brawling outside that results in Jumbo busted open. It ahs Flair trapped in a tree of woe and Jumbo attacking him while the referee tries to free him. It has Flair working on Jumbo’s cut. It has the hot finish with Jumbo trying desperately to put Flair away but as he goes for the big knee, Flair moves and Jumbo racks himself on the top turnbuckle. Flair gets the clean pin which is so rare for an All Japan match. This is easily my favorite Flair-Jumbo match. I could see this in my Top 5 and most definitely Top 10. Slam dunk nomination.

Dory & Terry Funk vs. Colonel Buckley Christopher George Robley III & Umanoseke Ueda (10/6/81)

 

The Ueda throwing guys to the floor psychology was interesting as it seemed like he wanted to trap them on the floor so he could pound them but they got back in the ring before he could do any damage. The fans were really into the Funks here and they were great as a team as usual with Terry bringing out the best in Dory making him fire it up more than usual. I loved Terry breaking out the legdrop off the middle rope in the mid-ring because that was a spot I don't think I've ever seen him use. Terry then juices from the ear with Robley & Ueda going after it which was really good stuff. Terry then makes a fun comeback getting the hot tag to Dory who comes in a house of fire pounding on Robley before getting the O'Connor Roll to get the win. Brody then comes out after the match and jumps Dory setting up their match 3 days later and it's a wild brawl before they leave. This was really fun and I think it moves forward.

 

2 out of 3 falls for the NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (10/9/81)

 

Lord James Blears is the referee here and this is Flair's first big match in Japan as the champion. The first fall is really fun with both men keeping it at a rapid pace and Flair being a breath of fresh air to the NWA title scene in Japan. Jumbo being a fired up babyface with Flair begging off was fun because you didn't see a lot of chickenshit heel moves in Japan from the NWA champion. Jumbo breaks out a modified Indian Death Lock and it's at this time that Harley Race shows up at ringside which reminds me of the story that Flair asked that Harley come down for this match to make sure that they wouldn't try to take his title from him in a shoot and with Harley at ringside no one was going to try that shit. Jumbo would hit a big high knee then a missile dropkick off the top rope to take the 1st fall. Jumbo tries to put Flair away early in the 2nd fall but Flair would soon catch Jumbo in his kneebreaker which gave Flair the opening he needed and he worked over Jumbo with his setup moves for the figure-four but Jumbo would catch him in an inside cradle for a nearfall. Flair came back with a backdrop suplex though and locked on the figure-four to even the falls. Jumbo gets his knee worked on between falls so Flair decides to go a different route and takes the match to the floor where he posts Jumbo who juices and Flair works the cut. Jumbo fires it up though throwing Flair into the corner where he goes into the tree of woe before locking on the cobra twist that would end up with Flair throwing Jumbo on Lord Blears. Jumbo would hit a deadlift German Suplex but Blears was down so he follows with a piledriver but Flair gets his foot on the ropes. Jumbo then went for a high knee into the corner but he hit all corner and Flair would fall on top to get the win in an awesome match. This is one of the best matches I've seen from this era of All-Japan and a slam dunk nomination.