I figure we should all watch all of these before picking one or two for the set. Their matches were structured pretty similarly. In this one, Bock caught Jumbo with a slick single leg takedown to set up a long section of leg work. As usual, he did a nice job of varying the holds and wrenching on them. They traded forearms on the ground for good measure. They also borrowed one of those cool "Jumbo fights his way back into the ring" sequences from the 2/26 match. Bock eventually went back to the leg with a figure four, which Jumbo sold well in the moment but no sold after he broke free. They traded some big moves and ended up battering each other with the AWA belt, leading to a DQ for Jumbo. This was another good, not great match from these two with logical, hardfought sequences leading to no satisfying conclusion. I liked it a little better than the 2/26 match and not as much as Jumbo's title win.

 

All Japan Classics 104

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Nick Bockwinkel, 3/24/84 (AJC 104)

- Bock’s going with the headlock to start this round. They don’t do as much cool shit with the headlock as they did with the arm but not too boring early on. Jumbo tries his luck with the headlock but gets taken down and Bock works the leg. OK, these guys need to speed it up a little. I am starting to drift. Jumbo finally gets a break and regroups outside favoring the leg. Now it picks up with Bock refusing to let Jumbo get in, attacking him on his way in. Jumbo gets in, takes control and now he is working the arm but Bock grabs the leg and tries to hook the figure four but Jumbo is fighting it. I think the early leg work, while boring, helped this sequence out a lot with Jumbo as damaged goods. Now Bock is going to town on the leg but Jumbo hits an enziguiri to get the advantage. He hits some big moves (double underhook, piledriver) but can’t put Bock away. Bock fights back but both guys are spent. Decent stretch run but with a refbump, Bock smashes Jumbo over the head with the belt on the outside. However, the ref DQs Jumbo for hitting him and Bock gets the victory. Comapring this to the last match, while the arm work early on was never boring, the work here was losing me early on. When this one picked up , there wasn’t anything big enough to make it stand out. The last one had a Terry Funk ref bump that didn’t distract from the match. The ref bump here ruined the stretch run. Last one had a clean finish but this one was screwy. No vote. However, I need to revisit any Bock matches I may have shit on earlier just to give them a second chance. I think the trick is to watch some fast paced big move shit for my initial rush and then come down with the Bock matches.

 

I think with me enjoying 2/26 more and you liking this one more but both agreeing that 2/23 was the best, we may be satisfied with just that one as too many Bock-Jumbo in a row could be a set killer.

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Jumbo Tsuruta © vs. Nick Bockwinkel (3/24/84)

 

Loads of streamers for Jumbo here and the fans are hot for him at Sumo Hall so this should be good. Bock does lots of legwork here trying to setup for the figure-four later and Jumbo does a really good job of selling actually when he goes to the floor trying to regain his strength then returns to the ring fired up going right after Bock hitting a high knee for a nearfall. Jumbo then took it to the mat before Bock cajoled his way into going for a figure-four which Jumbo would try to block twice before getting it in but Jumbo would get to the ropes though. Bock would continue to work on the leg before Jumbo cleaned his clock with an enzuigiri giving him a chance to get back on the offensive. They would trade the advantage hitting some big moves like piledrivers and backdrop suplexes and both men doing a good job of selling their fatigue. We would get a ref bump and both men brawled to the floor with Jumbo bashing Bock & Higuchi with the AWA title belt. Jumbo goes nuts as he would throw Bock into Higuchi prompting a DQ and the brawl would continue after the match before they were pulled apart. I really dug this as you had some really good selling by both men especially Jumbo and good psychology mixed in with great aggression at the end with Jumbo using the belt as a weapon. This is a nomination.