Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk (Tag Final, 12/11/80)

- This is going to be rough as I go from a 6 minute match to a 45 minute match. However, I always like watching Jumbo vs. the Funks since you automatically have the student vs. teacher potential automatically built into the match. After a long feeling out process between both teams, the match gains some focus as the Funks start working over Jumbo’s leg after he got caught in a Dory Spinning Toe Hold. I think the AWA team work on the leg was more fun but it is kind of cool to see the Funks use the same tactic to keep advantage of the match that was used on them just two days prior. Jumbo escapes after back dropping Terry out of the ring and now Funk’s injured back becomes the focus of the match. Some of Funk’s selling in the match is too comical (back flip over the top rope after a Baba chop) but he sells the hell out of the back injury. Keep an eye out for him piggy-backing Terry in order to get the tag to Dory. The 2nd half of the match is a little less focused as both teams try to put away each other with big moves with the occasional nod to the earlier work. The 2nd half also has some pretty cool strike battles… Terry’s punches vs. Baba’s jumping chops and the Jumbo-Dory dueling European uppercut battle. Great finishing run as Terry covers Dory to protect him from a top-rope knee drop and gets put out of commission. This leaves Dory in a handicap match for a duration until Terry gets back to his corner after Dory has absorbed a ton of punishment. When Terry makes the tag, the crowd goes nuts for Terry. He ends up brawling with Jumbo out of the ring but as they make their way back, Baba runs into Terry, knocking him off the apron, giving the natives the win. Sorry for the half-ass play-by-play but it really is the only way I can keep matches separated in my mind. This match is strong enough to easily move forward but there were some parts that bothered me. The crowd’s reaction and the failure of the wrestlers to keep it building is a problem. There were also a couple of points where the wrestlers decided to re-start the match and go a different path in the middle of the match. Still, this one moves forward.

 

(AJC 58)

They certainly made it plain as day that they were going long. That translated to some annoying stuff like letting damaged opponents tag out easily, going to headlocks when bigger moves would've been appropriate and resetting the match 30 minutes in. But there was plenty of good stuff. The early control sections on Jumbo and Terry passed the time quite nicely. Baba popped the crowd with some big spurts of offense. And the finishing stretch was excellent. Terry sacrificed himself by taking a Jumbo knee drop intended for Dory, but that left big brother to fight off both natives for several minutes. Then, Terry recovered for a last-ditch effort at punching his way to victory. The actual finish was anticlimactic but hey, they went 45 minutes without being boring for more than a few at a time. And it's one of the most famous tag match-ups in company history. So it's a yes, even if it felt more like a mid-ballot pick than a contender for the top.

Real World Tag League - Finals: Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dory & Terry Funk (12/11/80)

 

It's always fun watching these four work against each other since they were always on the same side especially Jumbo against the Funks who were his mentors. They show him throughout the match why they were the teachers and he was the student but he held his own and showed them that he was close to their level as well. Then you have Terry who as usual is the designated guy on his team to take the beating from the other team and he is awesome as usual in this role also. I agree with Will as their were times when it seemed like they switched gears a little too much because they were going long but the pace was still fairly fast as they kept everything moving. Everyone had their working shoes on and the finish while anti-climatic was fine with me. This definitely moves forward.