Posted April 7, 200818 yr comment_5430482 Ric Flair vs. Genichiro Tenryu (2/3 Falls) (9/12/84) - In the first fall, both guys are working holds but also working moves inbetween holds at a faster pace which really helps early on when your mind tends to wander during the long Flair match. They play the game of one upmanship where each guy responds to a move or spot by doing the same spot in attempt to capitalize where the opponent could not. You see both guys get thrown out for the ring and attacked when they come in. Both guys attempt elbow drops that miss. After Tenryu's miss, Flair attempts a suplex but Tneryu escapes and hits two enziguiris followed by a piledriver for the pin. To be honest, I would rate the first fall of this match better than the 1981 match. In the 2nd fall, Tenryu tries to take Flair out and controls the match but Flair keeps escaping but isn't able to take control himself. In the middle of the fall, Flair escapes a Tenryu headlock with a legbreaker. Tenryu hits an enziguiri after but takes too much time in covering Flair. Flair smells blood after a back suplex and ends up getting the Figure Four to take the fall. In the 3rd fall, Flair attacks the leg. Every time Tenryu blocks a move or counters a Flair attack, he winces in pain and sells the leg. You can see this after he hits a suplex and counters Flair with a backdrop. Flair continues to attack the leg mercilessly and pushes the ref for getting in his way and gets disqualified. Shitty ending aside, this was a great match. Despite going 25 minutes or so, it never dragged and it was so much better than the 1981 match. Easy nomination. (NTV Classics 8/6/99)
September 26, 201015 yr comment_5456285 They did a great job of slowly building the pace and violence through the first fall. After winning the first fall with two enzuigiris and a piledriver, Tenryu continued to have an answer for everything Flair did until deep in the second fall. I could feel the hope rising in the crowd every time he cut off a seeming rally by the champion. Great stuff. I also dug his fight to keep Flair from fully cinching in the figure four and the fact that once Flair got it tight, that was it. Tenryu's selling was great in the last fall as Flair went for the kill on his battered legs. He hobbled around but showed how badly he wanted to win by literally throwing his whole body at the champ for a couple of nearfalls. The ending, with Flair just savaging Tenryu's leg until he got DQed, wasn't the best but fit the match well enough. Strong effort from both guys and an east choice for the set. G+ Classics 74
November 21, 201015 yr comment_5458471 2 out of 3 falls for the NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. Gencihiro Tenryu (9/12/84) Flair wasn't as annoyed in his ring entrance here as the fans weren't trying to pull his hair. There was a lot of goodness here with Tenryu being great here hanging with Flair who was great as usual and they made you think that Tenryu could actually pull it off but he would come up a little short. This was a blast and a definite nomination.
