Race started quickly with punches to Jumbo's face at the bell, and they never really slowed down. Jumbo busted Harley open on the outside and warmed my heart by working the cut with some punches of his own. Harley, bless his soul, responded with a bunch of headbutts. Neither guy kept the advantage for long, and they didn't waste time with holds; they kept to strikes and high-impact moves. Late in the match, Jumbo appeared to leave Race for dead on the outside only for Harley to ascend the ropes, streamers still stuck to him, and nail a diving clothesline! I also liked the fight that Harley showed to prevent Jumbo from hitting his backdrop suplex. I didn't even feel cheated when Harley pulled the ref in the way of a Jumbo lariat to get the DQ. He had been doing dirty shit to avoid getting beaten all match, so it fit. This wasn't a classic or anything, but I enjoyed it from beginning to end, so I'll nominate it. The episode ended before the bell, but they showed the full conclusion on the next show.

1986 All Japan TV Disc 11

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Harley Race, 5/24/86 (TV 11)

- Harley attacks Jumbo from behind but Harley gets dropped on the concrete for his troubles. Taking it to the floor isn’t working out for Harley because on the 2nd try, he gets posted on the ring post and on the 3rd. I imagine that is setting us up for a Harley blade job. Lets see. Yep, and Jumbo starts pounding on the cut. At this point, Harley finds some needed mojo and gains an advantage until he tries going to the top rope and Jumbo throws him off. Harley’s fortunes change when they go back to the floor as he dominates Jumbo. Inside, Harley capitalizes from the top the 2nd time around with a clothesline. Nice stretch run with Jumbo unloading the kitchen sink trying to pin Harley. However, a ref bump and the match ends… did the ref issue a DQ? Do we get the ending somehere? Solid nomination if we can get a conclusive ending. OK, they show it on the next show and we get a DQ ending Eh, bad ending to a solid match. The match was good but the ending will hurt it. Let’s put it in the higher than low-level but not a stone cold lock territory.

NWA International Heavyweight Title: Jumbo Tsuruta © vs. "Mr. Puroresu" Harley Race (5/24/86)

 

I think this actually was the last singles match between these two and its actually mentioned on commentary that he is going to the WWF from what I gathered. Harley was motivated here because he knew the deal and Jumbo rolled with him so this match was better than most of their latter matches. Another positive in this match was the fans were hot for everything and we got some good juice from Harley as we got hardly any matwork here as it was just strikes and big moves. Harley was doing whatever he could here to beat Jumbo since this was the last match and that added an extra story here which was great as the fans were all into it. The DQ finish also made sense because Harley finally crossed the line using Joe Higuchi as a buffer for the lariat. I liked this match a lot and I think it moves forward.