Pro Wrestling Love vol. 38: Best of NWA 1983-1987 (Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 38:

The Best of National Wrestling Alliance 1983-1987

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This thirty-eighth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in National Wrestling Alliance, which includes Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Central States Wrestling, St. Louis Wrestling Club and Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling between 1978-1983. The bulk of the matches I watched from this era comes of course from Jim Crockett Promotions which is born out of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. The year 1983 makes sense for a starting point both from a historical perspective as that was the year of the big Final Conflict show and the first Starrcade show. It was the year that Jim Crockett and Carolinas clearly became the dominant force in the NWA. Prior to that year, Georgia and Florida were bigger territories and St. Louis & Kansas City due to Sam Muchnick and Harley Race remained major players. In 1983, Ric Flair cemented this place as The Man when he beat Harley Race at Starrcade and then by the end of 1984, the biggest star of the NWA, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes came to Crockett full time shifting the balance of power from Florida to the Carolinas permanently. There is an interesting history as Vince McMahon bought out Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1984 but after a year of trying abandoned Southern expansion plans. That’s when Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling took up shop in Atlanta and on TBS. That’s a winning hand: Atlanta, TBS, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. The years 1985-86 in Crockett is considered a golden era of TV wrestling with the Four Horsemen pitted against Dusty Rhodes and his buddies. Many consider it the best span in US pro wrestling history. From 1984-1987, Jim Crockett would expand by acquisition purchasing Central States, Florida and Mid-South. Thus that’s why 1987 is a great end point by 1987 Crockett had basically purchased the entire NWA and the once travelling NWA Champion became a homesteader in their promotion. By the end of 1988 due to excessive spending, Crockett was forced to sell to Turner and Dusty was ousted as the booker. That makes 1988 a great year to start the follow up to this piece. 1983 is also a great place to start as that the year when footage from Crockett and Company is most prevalent. I did not watch enough of the other territories to warrant their own blog post, but since most the matches involve NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair I thought they fit in nicely. You will see Georgia, Florida and Hawaii all represented on this list.  You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

Thanks Dad for buying me the PWI Almanac in 1997 when I was a kid!

Honorable Mentions

NWA World Tag Champions Ivan Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev vs Rock N Roll Express - 

JCP 7/9/85

NWA World Tag Team Champion Midnight Express vs Rock N Roll Express  

JCP Philly 8/16/86 2 Out of 3 Falls

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs The Andersons 

Starrcade 1986 Steel Cage Match

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Ragin & Ravishin

 (Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude) - WCW TV 12/6/86

Let me tell you about the Rock n Roll! They had an immediate impact on their debut winning the World Tag Team Championships from the Russians in the Summer of ’85. They were instantaneously over and you gotta hear David Crockett call that match. Surprisingly, people sleep on the Rock N Rolls/Midnights series from 1986. There’s another match I like even more that makes the Top 12. The cage match against the Andersons is just the perfect combination of tag teams. There is nobody you want to see work on top more than Ole & Arn Anderson and there‘s nobody you want selling and working underneath more than Ricky Morton. The Battle of the RNRs at the end of the 1986 is another great long TV match from the Rock n Rolls!

NWA US Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine vs Roddy Piper - MACW 7/9/83

NWA US Champion Magnum TA vs Ole Anderson - World Championship Wrestling 12/28/85

One of the great hidden gems discoveries of the Network has been this awesome, violent brawl between Valentine and Piper who were embroiled in a deeply personal war. It makes their Starrcade match all the better once you have seen this. Magnum vs Ole is the ultimae lo-fi, slugfest, war of attrition match. You can count all the wrestling moves on one hand but everything means so much. Ole is the consummate heel. It is a minimalist dream and highly recommended.

NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - Night of Champions 5/29/84

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - St. Louis 1/25/85

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Wahoo McDaniel - CWF Battle of the Belts 

Nature Boy is in the house! The year 1984 is an interesting year for Crockett, it is not discussed much. It is overshadowed by 1983 with Flair/Harley & Valentine/Piper build to the first Starrcade and the red-hot 1985 and 1986. It did feature two amazing Flair vs Steamboat matches that are in turn overshadowed by the 1989 series, but don’t sleep on these. Flair vs Kerry is the best match I saw out of St. Louis and it another great installment in my favorite US feud of all time. Flair vs. Wahoo is an incredible Flair carryjob as Wahoo is very limited and Flair takes him into deep waters, one of the best matches from dying days, Florida.

Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon) vs. The Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, Paul Ellering) - WARGAMES 

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ronnie Garvin vs Ric Flair - Starrcade 1987 Steel Cage

The year 1987 gets lost in the shuffle of great Crockett years, but it definitely had its bright spots. Wargames is something a lot of people love and I have to stay I always thought it was a cool concept when I was a kid but I never saw one. Then when I got older and finally got a chance to see them I wanted to like them, but they never really hit me hard (save for 1994 that one has some great emotion with Dusty coming out of retirement for his son). To me it is a lot of hurry and wait. It is like one minute burst of a hot tag followed by waiting for the next entrant. Anyways, Wargames I is one of the better Wargames and it is highly regarded by many so I would be remiss not to include it.

NWA World TV Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Tully Blanchard - NWA Starrcade 1986 First Blood

It killed me to leave this off the list. This match is just pure joy. Dusty playing red light, green light with the bionic elbow is the epitome of wrestling. I just love this match.

Top Twelve Best National Wrestling Alliance Matches 1983-1987

#12. Tommy “Wildfire” Rich vs “Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer – Last Battle of Atlanta

"It's gotta be. It's going to be." - "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer waxing philosophic in the face of The Last Battle.

Wildfire vs Mad Dog. Precious Paul above it all. A Flood Of Blood To End It All. In a match so concerned about finality, the beginning is neglected. It felt like we joined the match in progress in my opinion. They just jumped right into the heat segment and everyone selling a war of attrition. It was an incredible heat segment and one helluva finish, but it was missing that spark. I think it was because they cut out a red hot babyface shine or even if was just a red hot slugfest to start it out. I liked the cautious beginning with each man afraid of punching the cage or going into the cage. Instead of it breaking loose, Rich's arm gets smashed into the cage and Buzz goes to work.

I like to tuck my complaints in the back end of a review, but because my sole complaint was about the beginning I thought I stick it there. What follows is incredible, violent, bloody war of attrition. Mad Dog was nominally in control of the majority of the match attacking the arm at first, but then switching to smashing Rich's head into the cage followed by biting and working the cut. Rich was great with the desperate hope spots like going for the balls and then just all out slugging Sawyer. I loved the one where he just grabbed Sawyer and piledrove him. At every turn Buzz because he established a lead early on that he was able to cutoff Rich in some fashion with an eye poke, going to the arm or the cut. Rich eventually busts Sawyer wide open on a cage shot. These just are totally bleeding buckets. The rules were a bit unclear at first. There is no ref in the ring. Over the PA, an official is counting at first I thought it was Last Man Standing, but pinfalls were permissible. There was an all-time great slugfest from their knees. The ultimate Oh Shit Highspot was Buzz hurling his own body into the cage as Wildfired ducked out of the way. Rich repeatedly slammed Sawyer's head into the cage. I liked how Rich collapsed and the official was counting both men down and then Rich kinda just flopped his body on Buzz Sawyer for the win.

Impressive heat segment and finish. Absolute war of attrition with great selling, lots of struggle (loved Rich's desperate hope spots and Buzz's dickish cutoffs) and a very final finish. Still felt like it lacked energy. Absolutely great match and worth the 33 year wait. 

Ole Anderson vs Paul Ellering - Last Battle of Atlanta

In a bonus match that is almost as great as the Last Battle of Atlanta, Ole and Precious Paul tear the house down! Love how Ellering cupped the back of Buzz's head when he got into the cage. Crimson Mask is an understatement here. You can barely make out Mad Dog's face. Ole comes in street clothes and just hands Ellering's ass to him. He even tears his jeans hardway!!! Incredible babyface shine this is what the above match needed. Just so much energy with Ellering playing pinball and Ole killing him at every turn. So that when Ellering finally manages an inverted atomic drop crowd, the crowd is molten for Ole. Ellering works a great heat segment on Ole busting him open and choking him. Ole's comeback is so awesome. He is such a great Walking Tall babayface. He just keeps moving forward with some great body punches and then firing them off into the face. I loved the headbutt finish completely with Ole walking through it and covering. Jake The Snake and Ellering whip Ole like a dog to set up the next show. Awesome bloodbath match with more energy, but didn't have the same hatred as the previous. Still a total classic in my opinion. 

#11. NWA World Tag Team Champions Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle vs Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood – Final Conflict Steel Cage

I was underwhelmed when I first watched this five-six years ago. I have an open mind.

Babyface shine: A 12 minute heel in peril segment that features Kernodle complete and you know what I loved it. Yeah there were a lot of headlocks, but the spots in and out of the headlocks were great. It really established Steamboat & Youngblood as a great babyface team. I loved Steamboat using his foot to avoid being thrown in the cage and then applying a headlock. Or how Steamboat gets in the way of Youngblood to stop him from going into the cage. Steamboat & Youngblood had good babyface offense plenty of dropkicks and flying chops. Kernodle sold more and more as time went on. The best part for me were all the false tags. Usually see it for the babyfaces, but here Kernodle almost makes the tag, fingertips away and another time Slaughter is out of position when Kernodle finally made it back to the corner. This was really great textbook tag wrestling from the babyfaces and the heels were great stooges for it. The tag to Slaughter was a little anti-climatic as Kernodle just gets his fingers jabbed into Youngblood's side. They faked me out the shine continues. Youngblood throws Slaughter into the cage back first and then head first. He is the first into the cage and typical Sarge fashion he really throws himself into the cage. He tries to throw Youngblood into the cage, but Youngblood uses his foot and it is a battle of wills. Youngblood wins and tags out to Steamboat who is immediately on Slaughter. Big time clothesline gets two for the Steamer. Tag out. Youngblood flying chop and then a great standing dropkick gets two. It has been all Steamboat & Youngblood, Daddy! Criss cross, Youngblood is flying and Sarge uses his own momentum against throwing him hard face-first into the cage, this has got to be the break Sarge & the Pride of the Carolinas has been looking for. 

Heat/Finish: What the fuck was I smoking way back when? This is a BARNBURNER! Quadruple juice! Slaughter flying off the cage like he is Jimmy Snuka! Steamboat & Youngblood going wild! I thought the heat segment on Youngblood. A couple times I thought he died but he came back to life. Heel offense was perfect, punches working the cut, choking and Sarge looking for the Cobra Clutch. Youngblood sends Slaughter and Sarge does the most blatant bladejob on camera in history. Steamboat was a great hot tag and I LOVE Slaughter pushing Kernodle out of the way as Steamer gets color too. Steamboat is the one who sends the Pride of the Carolinas into the cage to complete the Quadruple Juice! Slaughter coming flying off the cage brings Youngblood into it who is a total house of fire! The ending is absolute mayhem. Double catapult of the heels into the cage! Cobra Clutch and Sleeper simultaneously on the heels! Slaughter bowls over Youngblood into the ref. He loads the Slaughter Canon with a foreign object and takes out Youngblood. Steamboat sends Sarge into the cage and puts Youngblood on top. The footage then cuts to the babyfaces winning, which is a shame. 

Way, way, way better than I remember. The last half is an action-packed Crockett match where there's just a ton going on. Steamboat/Youngblood were a great high-energy tag team, tons of offense and some great selling. I thought more than the blood and the big Cage spots, that what really held this all together were the commitment to babyface/heel dynamics.

#10. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat – Boogie Jam 3/17/84

NWA Match of the Year, 1984

What is most impressive about this match is how Flair and Steamboat take every advantage allotted to them by virtue of going long by taking the time to make every single sequence count and drip with struggle. It is this attention to detail that makes the seemingly ordinary extraordinary. The test of strength spot which saw Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair flex every muscle, perspire profusely and clench their jaws as Steamboat worked to get Flair on the mat and Flair finally countered with a bodyscissors and see the battle waged there until we get a monkey flip. I am a total mark for amateur wrestling sequences in the middle of the match and these two were awesome here. Once Steamboat gets a takedown on Flair, he still has to work the extra mile to control his feet and apply the Boston Crab. The first 15 minutes of the match feel like the template for Flair vs Butch Reed with a great extended headlock sequence. Steamboat keeps going back to the headlock and they do every headlock spot you would expect. Another favorite of the early part of the match is Flair wants a suplex to break these headlocks and there is a great struggle over it only for Steamboat clamp on a front facelock. The next five minutes is spent working in and out of front facelock until Flair finally gets that suplex he wanted and Steamboat holds on to the facelock! Awesome!

One of my favorite aspects of this match in addition to the struggle is of course the progression of Flair's performance. It is what he does better than anyone else. In '84 in the Carolinas, he is a babyface feuding with Dicky Slater, but here of course he is the de facto heel. They start with a handshake and Flair is soundly routed at the beginning by the headlock. He goes for the aforementioned suplex and ends up still on the losing end. Now he is getting frustrated. He starts shooting for amateur takedowns and they have an engaging sequence with Steamboat coming out on top and getting that Boston Crab I spoke of. Flair shifts gears again, he tries to quicken the pace, but Steamboat is game for that and nails him with multiple dropkicks. Flair goes for a walk and cannot get anything going after trying three different strategies. This is when that test of strength happens. Flair tries to chuck him out and Steamboat comes right off the top with a flying karate chop. Flair now tries crowding in the corner and this lead to Steamboat roaring back with chops. Flair is now desperate and he is throwing knees and chops. Steamboat is too much and hits a press slam. Flair begs off and this feels like the climax of the shine with Flair progressing with more frustration and more desperation until that moment when he is terrified at the prospect of losing. Steamboat goes for the figure-4 yank of the trunks and Flair buries a knee into Steamboat when they are tied up in the ropes. The master of the corner and ropes, Ric Flair has finally gotten one up on Steamboat. Flair kicks ass on top and reminds me a lot of The Hammer with big forearms and nasty elbows to the top of the head. Flair is so smart with his timing because he does not rush anything and makes sure to give Steamboat plenty of time to sell and sell he did. There is a great pinning combination from Flair that exemplifies the struggle of this match where Flair hooks the leg and clasps Steamboat with that hand while also cradling Steamboat's neck and spreading his legs for extra, legal weight advantage. A very compelling spot. 

The first Steamboat hope spot is a sleeper and when he goes for the big splash, he eats knees to the midsection (the same midsection Flair worked on) and he collapses to the outside. There is an amazing, moving moment when all the women rush ringside and try to tend him. It is moments like these just will never happen again and show the beauty of pro wrestling. It was after Flair's ab stretch that I thought the match kinda went off the rails. 

The bridge/backslide is the sequence that seems out of place. Flair jumps on him with a sleeper and is sent into the turnbuckle. Steamboat is rocking it, but gets hotshotted. Flair really pours it on with great offense like the butterfly and delayed vertical suplex. Flair goes for the figure-4, but Steamboat blocks. Big Steamboat comeback: Flair Flip and Flair Flop. Barrage of Steamboat cradles. They have quickened the pace to increase excitement, but they have departed from what they were doing before. Flair's only equalizer is the headbutt to the midsection, but nothing can deny Steamboat except for the bell. Steamboat is able to hit a flying bodypress and the bell rings at two. Saved by the bell.

The first chunk of this is really excellent. There is no one wrestling spot that will take your breathe away or will make you mark out, but the attention to detail will completely ensnare you. The women tending to Steamboat is the one spot that moves you. I just feel like the finishing sequence is the standard, awesome Flair/Steamboat finish sequence, but departs too sharply from the great struggle from before. Yes you still have Steamboat doing all he can to win and Flair desperate, but ti feels different. Still it is Flair vs Steamboat for close to an hour, it is fucking excellent. 

#9. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ronnie Garvin – JCP 9/25/87 Steel Cage

Flair vs Garvin is always a flesh on flesh, man on man firefight. However, unlike most of their other matches together, they go long in this match. It is a steel cage match where the cage plays a factor more in Flair's strategy. Flair loves to powder to both regroup and to break his opponent's rhythm. He also loves to hurl his opponent out the ring where his opponent will take a bad bump and where he can slam his opponent into hard metal objects. David Crockett does a great job pointing this out that Flair is being forced to face Garvin. Flair loses a criss cross eating a hiptoss, but cant powder. He goes for a top wristlock he lets out a couple Woos but ultimately ends up on his back. He makes back on his feet and chops Garvin but Ronnie immediately responds with his own stiff chop. That dominates the next bit where Garvin uses his chop to repel any Flair offense. We see Flair eat hiptoss, back drops or bump off the chops. Flair tries to use the corner to position the ref so that he can sneak in a knee. The only other time to cage comes to play in the first half is Flair wants to use this advantage to  slam Garvin's head into the cage, but instead Garvin blocks and chops his way out of problems. That is what would dominate this portion. Garvin would use a hold such as the front facelock to control Flair and whenever Flair looked poised to comeback Garvin would chop his away out of trouble. One good spot was Flair suplexed while in the front facelock and Garvin tenaciously hung on. Flair finally gained an advantage on a criss cross scoring a reverse elbow. This is one of Flair's favorite strategies use the criss cross to create an opportunity to take over. Garvin deviated away from his hold and chop strategy. Flair started working on the left arm. It was chop, chop, chop and work on the left arm. Some really good hammerlocks and wristlocks using the ropes of course. Garvin used his dominant hand to break the wristlock, but it was badly injured. He tried his best to keep his left away from Flair by going to an Unorthodox stance, but Flair was able to regain control with the chop. Flair hit the first kneedrop. Then on the second Garvin caught it and transitioned into a figure-4 and then a single leg crab before Flair made the ropes. At the halfway point, I really liked the match thus far. Garvin did a great job selling the left arm. They established Garvin's chop like it is Misawa's elbow. They also established that Flair cant use the outside anymore to his advantage: both to powder and to throw his opponent into hard, metal objects. I have seen this match before and I have the same complaint that I did before and that it is a bit low energy for me. They are working hard, but the front facelock can only be so interesting. Lets see how the second half shakes out. 

The last half is pretty much every Ric Flair trick thrown at you in relentless fashion so if you love Flair you will love it. Garvin comes out swinging after the half crab and it looks like Flair is overwhelmed. He grabs a kneecrusher and applies a figure-4. Garvin escapes, but Flair gets another kneecrusher. On the third, Garvin blocks and KOs Flair with the Hands of Stone, but his leg is so messed up he cant capitalize. Flair comes up desperate and goes for the sleeper. When Garvin escapes that, Flair tries to throw Garvin into the cage, but he ends up going into the cage and he is bloodied. Flair tries to escape but Garvin bounces his head off the top of the cage. Garvin gets a top rope crossbody for two. We see the two versions of the backslide by Garvin that Flair loved to use in his matches. What makes Flair so good in my opinion is so he reacts to getting his ass kicked. It is so quick and swift. He is always in fight or flight mode. There is no in between. Yes he will holler, but it always quick. He is going to roar back and run away. You see both sides as I said he tried to escape the cage. The other is he will just start ripping into Garvin with chops only to get his ass kicked. One of my favorite Flair spots that is very underrated is the inverted atomic drop coming out from the turnbuckles spot. When he does right, it happens so sudden that it is electric. On the second time, Garvin blocks and knocks Flair back down with a punch. Garvin Stomp! Great sell by Flair! This is Flairism in excelsis! Even the most ardent Flair fan as myself, can find this hard to process all at once. Flair true to form tries to escape from Garvin desperately. He rakes the eyes, but Garvin recovers quick enough to press slam Flair off the top. Garvin hits a suplex and then an elbow drop. Flair is so good at selling. This is such a Flair performance he throws out a short kick to the midsection and starts laying in the chops. Garvin starts flying back with the chops and Flair wants to escape. He flips so quickly between fight and flight that's an incredible. His mind is always thinking. Garvin bounces his head off the cage and Flair falls on the top rope nuts first. Sunset flip from the top 1-2-3! The Most Unlikely World Champion of All Time! 

The second half is just so ridiculously over the top Flair that it is beautiful. I feel like this match defies rating. The first half is basic fundamentals executed really well. The second half is Flairism in all its CHAOTIC glory. Flair is such an instinctual wrestler this really benefits his matches feeling organic. The second half is chaos as Flair vacillating between fight and flight in the matter of microseconds. We think of the world in black and white so often. Certain people are brave. Certain people are cowards. That is not true. People struggle everyday between these survival mechanisms. Flair captures the desperation for survival better than anyone else.  It is all so human. Ric Flair is the most human human who ever humaned. Lets call it ****1/2 I need to digest all this. I feel like I need to re-watch all Ric Flair over again but using this new "fight or flight" lens.  

#8. NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock ‘N’ Roll Express vs Midnight Express –

 Superstars on Superstation 2/7/86

Wicked fun! I am a total mark for a big, fun shine and this is just chicken soup for my soul. I loved that MX jumped them and threw them out. You really thought you were going to be robbed of a shine sequence only to have Morton use the ropes to throw them over the top. Then they had a ton of fun spots against the MX running them into each other in a bunch of ways. Once things settle down, the fun does not end. Eaton throws a wicked right and Gibson immediately responds with a punch of his own (Eaton is selling quickly) and a headscissors. Eaton throws Morton out and again you think the heels may take over and Eaton ends up taking a back body drop over the top. I am liking all the heel hope spots. The leg work on Condrey was so much fun. The RNRs were doubling up and Crockett yells "Teamwork, yes!". Currently, my company is all about teamwork. I really want to isolate that soundbite and play it at work. There is a great moment where Condrey finally gets offense, but it is a kneelift! Great selling by him off this. Again it is little spots like this that keep things interesting. RNRs were so energetic in this loved it. They lose control of Condrey and crawls over to tag Eaton. Eaton RIFLES Morton in the corner! WOW! Eaton eats a suplex and the MX just cant get anything going. Eaton traps Gibson going for the dropkick and catapults him into Condrey. Eaton & Condrey immediately pounce on Gibson. It gets a little chinlocky, but there is enough hope spots that keep it interesting. My favorite one is Gibson tries to sunset flip both and Morton comes in and dropkicks one out so Gibson can get the other over. Very cool. I love when the other tag partner gets involved. Eaton crashes and burns on the Rocket Launcher. Hot tag to Morton! Morton tees off on everyone. Morton crossbody! Double dropkicks (DOUBLE DROPKICK per David Crockett) for everyone, but that bumps the ref. The RNRs want to beat the shit outta Corny and David Crockett approves Whip him like a dog!, but Condrey wallops Morton. Corny pulls Eaton on top for the win!

Awesome Southern Tag match! I loved this! So energetic, great selling from both teams. RNRs overcoming the MX at every turn early to only get caught in the catapult. The only thing that keeps it down was that it was a little chinlocky. Loved the finish super hot stuff from the RNRs before heel cheating to win. I think the key to the RNRs is you gotta keep them between 15-25 minutes. Those long matches just were not for me. This is so much breezier. Below Wrestlewar '90, but second best MX/RNRs match I have seen.

#7. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ronnie Garvin – WCW 12/28/85

It pains me to leave this out of the top 6 and most likely out of my Top 100 of all time. I just love this match so much. 

This match is like one big mark out moment for me. This is one of my all-time favorite matches and that's with only having seen like the first 3/4s on Youtube. I only got my hands on the full thing and LORD HAVE MERCY!!! This may be the best TV match I have ever seen.

Flair and Garvin just absolutely wail on each other for 15 minutes. There is no better sound than sound of flesh on flesh. The skirmishes they have are simply awesome. They just beat the living shit out of each other. Flair is so busy trying to go chop for chop with him he forgets to beg off until late in the match! Some highlights I had not noticed before was Flair screaming "watch those tights damnit" so he could sneak in a closed fist. I love that moment when Flair incensed grabs two tuffs of Garvin's hair only to have Garvin grab his giant honker and smack around a bit. Flair likes to say "All Man". This match proves he is All Fucking Man! Flair was on fire on promos on 12/21 & 12/28. "I'm high on just being Ric Flair" and bemoaning the hardships of being a modern day sex symbol was killing me. Pete on Parv's Fair for Flair is so right, this is not Flair being dragged out of his comfort zone. This is Flair in his natural state just pounding the shit out of each other. If you watch Fair's strikes (his elbows and sledges) they are very reminiscent of his former tag partner, Greg Valentine. Carolina boys love this level of brutality and physicality. He just did not always have the opponents to execute those matches. Garvin's chops on the floor are just YIKES! I love them choking each other in this match both just to survive. There is literally never one dull moment. It is all an action, stand up sprint between those two badasses. If you don't believe in the awesomeness of Ron Garvin, watch this match. It is what made me a believer. Garvin reverses a suplex and lunges on top of him, but Flair is in the ropes. Some Flair-isms do stop seep in late in the match, but most of them fit in this all out war. Kneecrusher! Flair exclaims "Now tough guy go to school!" Garvin shoves hard. What follows is just fucking incredible! Garvin loses his mind and basically tries to kill Flair. He grabs any part of Flair's face and throat and open hand slaps huim. Flair two hands around Garvin's throat! I LOVE PRO WRESTLING! David Crockett and I are marking out together 30 year apart. HANDS OF STONE! Foot on ropes! MUTHAFUCKA! Flair crotches him on top rope and Flair looks exhausted from this war. He chucks the ref and here comes the American Dream. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! He applies the Figure-4 and the Andersons hit the ring and they look to re-injure Dusty's leg.

Amazing, brutal, rompin stompin match! So glad to finally see the whole thing in all its glory! One of the stiffest match you will ever see! Hot Damn!