Pro Wrestling Love vol. 61: Best of Extreme Championship Wrestling (Terry Funk, Sabu, Raven)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 61:

The Best of Extreme Championship Wrestling

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 sixty-first volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in Extreme Championship Wrestling throughout the promotion's history from 1993-2001. The WWE reboot and the One Night Stands are not included. This is true, blue, rude, crude and lewd E-C-Fuckin-W. Watching ECW for great matches is probably the stupidest thing you can do. ECW is great for the colorful characters, outrageous angles and promos delivered with conviction and cadence. I have really enjoyed binging on ECW Hardcore TV is a breezy, addictive 45 minute program that makes you watch more. Trying to write about 1995-1997 ECW would take forever so I am going to stick with the format that I know and you love counting down the greatest matches, but I implore to take the time and watch all the promos & angles that lead up to these matches. 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.

BONUS MATCH:

Since the United States Indy scene was basically dead in the 90s, (I still need to rewatch Smoky Mountain Wrestling and what we have of USWA), I didnt know what to do with the next match. I would say the match below would make my Top 12 WWF matches of 1993-1997 and would make the Top 12 WCW Matches of 1995-2001 so it is worthy of praise and it is quite the hidden gem so without any further aideu I present to you...Terry Funk vs Bret Hart in fucking 1997!

Bret Hart vs Terry Funk - WrestleFest 9/11/97

One of the many Terry Funk Retirement Matches to happen throughout history and as with most Funk retirement matches it is absolutely awesome. I had never heard of this match until I joined PWO about 5 years ago. It has always been something that I really wanted to watch, but I always had something else to watch. Here at 1am in a hotel room after 14.5 hour manufacturing run, I decided this was the perfect time and damn any time would be a perfect time to watch this. In 1997, this was about as good as you could hope for with these two. Bret is one of the all-time great offensive wrestlers. I dont think there is any North American wrestler I would rather watch grind out a control segment than Bret Hart. Everything looks crisp and is interesting. Funk is naturally sympathetic as old hometown hero retiring, but add in his crazy charisma and this selling is top notch and then throw in a couple crazy Funk bumps to the floor and this was just great. 

Bret gets touted as a technical wizard by WWF machine but we all know that he is a better brawler/grinder. Here he actually shows he is pretty good at chain wrestling when it comes down to it. Funk was great working headlock control. I would have waited a bit longer for Bret to get frustrated before he showed his heel colors, but he went full heel early. Bret is great as an old school bruising heel. He does not give Funk a clean break. He targets the leg. Thumbs to the throat, jawing with the ref, choking, eye rakes. Great work on the leg. I mean just superb Bret work on the leg. Funk takes a couple great bumps to the outside. Bruce shamelessly tries to interject himself to get himself over. Bret seemed annoyed by his antics. There was a great part where Funk tries to use the jab to keep Bret at bay but never connects as Bret dodges and finds an opening to kick the bad wheel. Loved it! I loved Funk's first comeback. He starts throwing wild Funk punches from his knees and Bret starts punching him in the head. Funk absorbs gets up to his feet and absolutely LEVELS Bret with a left. They do a great standup where Funk levels Bret again with a left. Why did Bret have to go to WCW? He was in his prime right here. I loved how Funk earned this comeback and it was head shots that won him control. Funk has to play from behind so everything is big and to the head: neckbreaker and piledriver. Then he takes Bret to the outside to throw him into hard stuff. He gets distracted and Bret trips him up and it is the Figure-4 around the post. Someone needs to crib that spot. Bret goes back to work on the knee. Chair shots to the knee. Bret as a heel rules. Funk desperately punches Bret's knee from his ass. That is the story of this match. Funk's dogged determination against the Best North American Wrestler at this time. Funk wins control attacking the knee and wins a brawl on the outside. Again he goes for a Hail Mary but just ends up Vaderbombing himself through a table on the outside. Bret goes in for the kill. Enough fucking around, it is time to put Old Yeller down in front of his hometown fans. He goes for the Sharpshooter, inside cradle for two. Funk grabs the Spinning Toehold! Big pop! Bret escapes. Bret sells this so well! His use of the ropes to do clotheslines because he can barely stand is great. They go with ultimate old school, championship match finish. Funk Back Suplexes Bret and Bret lifts his shoulder up at two for the win. 

Funk is so old school and he wanted to go out on his back. He tried so hard in this match. Bret in his prime had to stretch the rules to gain the advantage over the old man. The old man was put in a hole, but he kept coming back with punches from his ass and his knees. But it looked like Bret was too good and then when Funk put himself through that table it looked like it was all over, but Funk had that one Hail Mary left and it was his old Spinning Toehold with that one move. Old Yeller took the Best North American Wrestler to the limit. It was only on a last second shoulder raise and Funk just being too old to properly bridge that cost him the match. The Old Man pushed The Champ to the limit, but just came up short even with the Champ taking shortcut after shortcut. Amazing. ****1/2

Top Six Matches of Extreme Championship Wrestling

#6. ECW World TV Champion Bam Bam Bigelow vs Rob Van Dam - ECW 4/4/98

Awesome monster heel performance by Bam Bam I don't know if he ever looked this monstrous. He was this Creature of Black Lagoon that would keep rising and rising and all of RVD's crazy bombs couldn't not keep him down. Loved RVD's offense here too it was all about creating space to create a chance for an aerial assault. Great shit! Like really impressive how good escalation was and how committed each was to his role. RVD's dives into crowd were insane and Still Bigelow keeps coming loved that leg drop on railing. RVD full court press! Bugelows clothesline was great. Feels like a horror movie. RVD reopening BAM BAMs cut was great. If the finish was the missed moonsault into Five Star frogsplash. I'd probably go scary high on this match but the finish is overwrought and fucking stupid.

RVD is here to soften up Bam Bam for Sabu for upcoming PPV. However RVD is a cocky prick and has kinda been an asshole to Sabu. So Sabu comes out helps RVD win the title and then is all pissed when it happens. Wouldn't it make sense for RVD to win on his own look selfish and get Sabu pissed? But a match without run-ins is passé ugh! Up until the run-in incredible match just total commitment to a monster vs aerial assault of RVD. Shocked how good this was, highly recommended!

#5. Tajiri vs Steve Corino - ECW Hardcore Heaven 2000

Cyrus may be the worst character ever. So friggin annoying.

Apparently, I saved the best for last. This friggin' ruled. Corino, Victory & Cyrus turned on Tajiri. Big mistake. Corino goes a racist tirade and Tajiri kicks his fucking head off. The kicks and chops were awesome. Great intensity from Tajiri. Corino is such a great cowardly heel. Great set up for Tarantula. Victory well-used to give Corino a heel hope spot. BRAINBUSTER ON THE RAMP! Corino does a five alarm blade job. Bleach hair soaked in blood. Corino has some dark, gross blood. Tajiri dropkicks a table into Corino's face. Tajiri is awesome! Corino backdrops Tajiri into a table. OH MY GOD! A GREAT TRANSITION! Corino is awesome at this old school gimmick with all the suplex variations that never get done in ECW. Hell he busted out a powerslam. I am trying to think if I have ever even seen a powerslam in ECW. Corino gets all caught up with the table. Should have stuck to the old school Finish sequence is awesome. Tajiri gets the Octopus here comes Jack Victory. GREEN MIST~! Tajiri unloads on Corino. I mean just rapid fire kicks and punches. He never lets up and the crowd just builds to a huge pop. Tajiri final kick to the face is just brutal. DOUBLE STOMP THROUGH THE TABLE!!!! Awesome match and a feel good ending! Got to be a top 5 ECW match of all time! 

#4. Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis - ECW 10/17/95 2 Out of 3 Falls  

This match won best ECW Match Ever in the Smarkschoice poll. I remember thinking this was the best of the ECW series, but the Bash at the Beach 96 is still my favorite match of theirs (I feel like I have seen the highly acclaimed AAA match, but I cant remember it).

First Fall: All Rey All The Time! Sometimes Rey can be a little shy with his shine like in the first match of this series, but here it is two dives into the crowd and snapping off a rana. Psicosis is an all-time great bumper. Rey what you actin shy for?

Second Fall: The party dont stop as Psicosis goes ass first into the top turnbuckles when he charges in like a maniac. Psicosis is the long lost member of the Midnight Express. Rey keeps the party going with another rana out on the floor. Psicosis wants to shake hands. It was a bit clunky but he got an enziguiri out of the deal. Good Psicosis offense. I was not keen on him just relinquishing the Scorpion Deathlock, a pet peeve of mine. I liked Rey getting a hope spot before Psicosis caught and planted him with a Tomsbtone Piledriver. To tie this up.  

Third Fall: AWESOME! Totally have no complaints with anybody who says this is the best ECW match ever because wow! Psicosis was so damn good in the mid-90s. Rey is trying to catch his breath as the bell sounds. Psicosis drills him into a table and then does that awesome Psicosis leap over the top rope into the crowd. Torpedos Rey. Then Psicosis takes a nutty bump ala Sgt Slaughter over the top turnbuckle into the post and then to the floor. Then Rey POPS the crowd huge with a springboard somersault plancha to the floor! Wow! Loved all the chairs throws by Rey and driving Psicosis into the post with the chair. Extreme Rey! Psicosis whips Rey into the railing and then hits a MONSTER Senton through a table! He does a backwards Skytwister Press onto a chair for the win!

The typically awesome Rey/Psicosis match adapted to the ECW setting. I really dug the 3rd fall. I totally forgot Psicosis wins the match to set up the Mexican Death Match, which I also love. I have Sabu/Sandman and Sabu/Funk over this, but this definitely one of the best ECW matches ever. 

#3. Sabu vs Sandman - ECW House Party '98

Of all the ECW matches I've seen, I would say this and Sabu/Funk Born to be Wired are the two best. But I'm a Sabu Mark. Great straight right, love his way of selling, he always seems like he is in pain, I love the sense of danger and urgency and his of course his mystique.

I believe this an offshoot of the WWF (RVD & Sabu) vs ECW (Dreamer & Sandman) where Sabu used a fireball. At November 2 Remember they apparently they had the worst match ever and then turnaround and have a legitimately great match ever. 

Insanely violent. I think the big positives are how organic this feels and the urgency and how legitimately violent this is. I am not too into overt violence and part of me wonders why I even liked this because it is disturbing two humans put themselves through it. 

I thought it was well-segmented and flew right by. I loved Sandman's drunk staggering selling. No reasons for snap back bumps. He has been knocked loopy. Sabu was violent and urgent. He set up his spot and went no waiting to make sure Sandman was in a safe position. Even the crowd brawling wasn't bad with good Sabu punches. Would've liked more Sandman struggle and a better Sandman transition. I think a long Sandman transition was great like the table Suplex and leg drop across ladder but thought Sabu started selling too early. Still an incredible war of attrition. Perfect timing for Sandman to go for barbed wire but he takes a MASSIVE BUMP from top of ladder to floor through table. Holy shot indeed! Not to be outdone Sabu tries to leap on him and breaks his jaw on the railing! OWWWWWW! Two massive bumps!

Sandman has time to set up the barbed wire in corner so he goes through it. There are some stupid things like Sandman holding the barbed wire on his face and other contrived barbed wire spots. Still drop kick chair into barbed wire into the face is another OW! Sabu goes face first into barbed wire and then CANED in the face! Broken jaw! Shit! Fonzie tapes his jaw. Sabu actually gets in some more offense before a wicked cane shot to the broken jaw polishes him off.

I usually don't like brawls over ten minutes but this was an excellent war of attrition. This was like the Mutoh/Tenryu '01 of ECW. Sandman gets knocked loopy at the beginning and sells loopy throughout and in this case needs weapons and a major mistake by Sabu to win. Fittingly violent for these two ECW stars. Contender for best ECW match ever and great brawl. 

#2. ECW World Champion Terry Funk vs Sabu - ECW Born to be Wired Barbed Wire Match

Barbaric. Makes you question what the point of all this is, but at the end of the day it is gore at its finest. I will say I am not very familiar with this era of ECW, but I have watched this match many times in the past and I would say it was my favorite ECW match. On this rewatch, I think slightly prefer the Sabu vs Sandman Stairway to Hell, but this is still a violent spectacle. I thought there were too many down periods in this match that ground it to a halt, but it was very smartly worked. 

I loved the beginning. Sabu was aggressive but more cautious than normal. Funk was at his counterwrestling best. Both men doing all they can to avoid the barbed wire. I like that it was a simple forceful kickout from Funk that sent Sabu into the barbed wire to draw first blood. In a way, Sabu had been lulled into a false sense of security by doing straight wrestling and then that kickout sends right into painville. Funk rips open Sabu's forehead on the barbed wire and then crotches him. The crotch was a great idea because it was both painful and it demonstrated the effectiveness of the barbed wire shredding clothes. This was clearly not a worked gimmick, but shoot barbed wire. The other thing they do really well is make missed moves mean something. It was a Sabu sidestep that caused Funk first to be stuck with Barbed Wire and it was a missed Air Sabu that caused Sabu's bicep to ripped open. Classic Sabu fashion, he bandages his wound mid-match. Love it. I love the missed moves as major momentum swings and the consequence of being stuck with barbed wire. Also I wanted to make sure I mentioned how good the punches were for both men. I thought match lost something once Fonzie got involved. Funk was tearing his body with barbed wire, but there was not the great visual of blood. It just felt heatless. The RVD thing felt forced and just really unfair. Dreamer saving later was better than nothing, but would have liked to see that earlier. The finish was as fucking insane as I remember. RVD had wrapped Funk in the barbed wire and Sabu crashed through him and a table with a legdrop. When that didnt finish Funk, Sabu wrapped his own ass in barbed wire and Legdropped a barbed wire wrapped Funk. They were just one bloody ball of humanity and barbed wire. Eventually Fonzie and a ref lift them into the ring and Sabu pins Funk. 

The finish sure was something and something you will never forget. Definitely a Top Five ECW match and something that you can never take your eyes off of.

#1. ECW Tag Team Champions Raven & Stevie Richards vs The Pitbulls - Gangsta's Paradise Double Dog Collar 2 Out of 3 Falls

Raven's Masterpiece. When I first discovered Youtube in about 2006, one of the first channels I discovered was devoted to '95 ECW. So while I am not nostalgic for this in the same way most of you are. I was still in High School when I first saw the whole Raven/Dreamer story and watching this teleported me back to my the back room of my parents' house gobbling up this feud up. If there was ever a match that needed context for a person to fully understand it, it is this match. Pro wrestling should be able to do this more often weave so many stories together. The Pitbulls, the former minions of Raven, now off their leash seeking vengeance against their former master. Stevie Richards as the chump extraordinaire who somehow managed to pull Francine, but of course he fucked that up and we get a catfight. Raven's new freaks, the Dudley Boys, get involve. There is a piledriver through a table to end the first fall, a Superbomb to end the second fall. Raven nearly gets decapitated on a Superbomb into the edge of the table. The Original Dudleys and Pitbulls (the Superbomb is an awesome move, but they suck otherwise) are fucking terrible wrestlers, but who cares Raven is just mindfucking every fan into lapping this up as he busts out a FUCKING ETHER RAG! Bow to the Master! Pitbull #2 is sent to the back and of course here is Tommy Dreamer. DDT! 1-2-3! WHAT THE FUCK...I THOUGHT THAT NEVER...Fonzie is out and he is striking it from the record book because Dreamer was not offically a part of the match. Fonzie is so damn good at crazy promos. I was watching him cut an absolutely insane rant against Heyman where he first banned the Chokeslam and just loved it. He legalizes the Chokeslam after Big Dick chokeslams Dreamer. 9-1-1! 911 is such a great name for a pro wrestler. 911 chokeslams FONZIE STRAIGHT TO HELL! ELEVEN STARS!  DOUBLE SUPERBOMB ON BOTH RAVEN & RICHARDS! Gordon and Dreamer count the pinfall and new Tag Champs! Pro wrestling is fucking great. ***********  

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 47: Best of World Championship Wrestling 1988-1990 (Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 46:

The Best of World Championship Wrestling 1988-1990

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 forty-sixth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling from 1988-1990. In 1988, for all intents and purposes, pro wrestling became a duopoly of World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. World Championship Wrestling was born out of a series of mergers and acquisitions between the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Kansas City and Mid-South Territory (Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana). In 1988, it was still under Jim Crockett Promotions with Dusty Rhodes in charge of operations, but by the end of the year Dusty was ousted as booker and Jim Crockett sold to Ted Turner which formally changed the name to World Championship Wrestling. The year 1989 is generally considered the apogee of American Pro Wrestling as Ric Flair had probably the greatest single calendar year in the history of the business of pro wrestling between his two feuds with Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk. The year 1990 was marred by multiple poor booking decisions and pissed away the great booking capital afforded by 1989 and the great young talent (Lex Luger and Sting) waiting in the wings. The year 1990 is a good stopping point because 1991 sees Ric Flair leave WCW.   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.

The Peanut Butter & Jelly of Pro Wrestling: The Package vs Naitch, Luger ,Flair!

Top Six Matches of World Championship Wrestling 1988-1990

#6. NWA US Tag Team Champions Midnight Express vs Fantastics - Clash of the Champions I

FUCKING AWESOME! Have loved this match for years nothing has changed, it is fucking incredible! If it was not for the Dusty Finish, this would be my choice for the greatest US tag team match of all time. I don't understand why it never gets *****, probably due to the finish who care they fucking deserve it! I almost feel like I don't need to write a review because everyone and their mother knows about this match and its sheer awesomeness. The energy and urgency is unreal. This is pro wrestling! This is what it gets me going! I will tell you what really added to this viewing watching the Pro match from the night before (3/26/88) which is a standard Southern tag with a big upset by the Fantastics in their debut. It really adds to that opening brawl. What a brawl! I was remarking on twitter the art of brawling is lost. I implore young talents to watch this, It is RAUCOUS MAYHEM! Then once it settles into a tag the party don't stop! Eaton is great taking that stooge bump. THE HOLY SHIT TRANSITION! Blind tag -> Total Elimination! Midnight Express are Gods and we are just mortals. I remember during the drop toehold and elbow sequence saying out loud "Bobby Eaton is fucking great!". Stan Lane's kicks looked awesome. Lane got mean in this too. Raking the eyes during the heat segment. Love that spot where Cornette holds up the table and they bash Roger's head into it. Fulton is great in trying to help Rogers, but hindering him at the same time. I forgot to mention there is a point in the opening brawl where Fulton hits such an awesome right to Eaton. Eaton punishing Rogers on the outside with bodyslam and bulldog on table was awesome. Rogers makes the tag but ref does not see it. I cant believe I forgot to mention Greensboro was MOLTEN for this throughout the match. Fulton is being impeded by the ref. Cornette is bashing Rogers with the racquet. Fulton basically says FUCK YOU AND TOSSES THE REF!!! CROWD LOSES THEIR SHIT! Cornette blitzes Eaton by accident with racket and Fulton clobbers Corny. ROCKET LAUNCHER~! TOMMY YOUNG 1-2-3!!!!!! Dusty Finish! BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Awesome post-match brawl with MX kicking some Fantastics ass DOUBLE FLAPJACK and then they WHIP HIM LIKE THE DOG HE IS! Corny likes it! He really likes it! Rogers saves with chair.

INSANE!!! The heat from the crowd and from the wrestlers just WOW! Everyone was turned to fucking 11! Love that brawl and what a heat segment. JUST WOW! Loved Fulton's reaction to the ref, the Rocket Launcher! It was important for MX to get some heat after losing the upset and then the visual Rocket Launcher loss so kicking ass at the end really adds heat to the rematch!!! Everybody stop being so damn stingy with your snowflakes! Writing this review, I actually think this is the greatest US tag match in history. 

#5. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - Great American Bash 1989

I have been blessed to have seen the best. Man alive, what the hell do you say about this match that has not already been said through the decades. I mean Goddamn. I love Flair's entrance reminds me a lot of Starrcade 1993. The way he clenches his fists and his face dripping with emotion. You know you were in for a treat. No wrestling, baby, this here is a fight to the death. Love the ringside brawling and love that Flair gets the lion share of this match. He has to earn it. Funk is ripping him with chops and punches, but to steal a phrase from the American Dream, "This is the lickin' you get for the lickin' you gave" and Flair opens a can of whoop ass on Funk. Funk gets a slight reprieve by pulling Flair into the post, but on this night Flair would not be denied.  The vertical suplex from the apron to the floor was a spot you teased but these two deliver. Then there is the famous neck for neck psychology as Flair becomes an evil chiropractor trying to unscrew Terry Funk's head from his body. Everything Flair does directed at Funk's neck. Kneedrops and of course not one, but two piledrivers. Thats the lickin you get for the lickin you gave. Funk has been selling great from jump coming up with new ways to sell all this. We get the faces, the hands cramped and contorted, the spasms, the falling ass first out of the ring just every way Funk can put over that Flair has kicked ass and wrecked his neck. Here we go...after all this punishment doled out it is time for the Figure-4. Thats when Funk blasts Flair with the branding iron drawing blood. Now we kick it into the heat segment and that means going after Flair's injured neck (the famous piledriver on the table angle that set up this match). We get that very piledriver, but Flair is thankfully near the ropes. Funk gets the bright idea to really end Flair's career by piledriving him on exposed concrete. Talk about high drama. Flair backdrops out, phew. There is a great moment where Funk kinda just dives on Flair from the apron and nixes the head and neck. Flair just starts hollering and grabbing his ear. It is just classic awesome Flair selling. Here's a part I had forgotten. Funk refuses to win the match by pinfall. Instead, he repeatedly hits swinging neckbreakers on Flair, but is calling for him to submit. Gary Hart wants him to take the pinfall but he wont. It looks like they already knew they wanted to do the I Quit match. Flair finally breaks Funk's control by busting him open with the branding iron. Thats the lickin you get for the lickin you gave. Flair is rip roaring now. He comes in hot with a big high knee but misses. Up until Flair's branding iron shot, I remembered everything but I totally blanked on the finish. I thought Muta triggered a DQ. It is actually a clean finish. Funk goes for the spinning toehold, but Flair breaks free for the figure-4 and then Funk inside cradle and reversed for Flair to win. You couldnt go with a decisive blood feud finish, but it seems like an odd choice for the finish to be so technical. Still it was nice to Flair as a babyface get a win in his comeback match to a huge pop. So I am not going to decry the finish. Now Muta comes in and sprays Flair with the green mist. I am not going to go blow by blow but this may be the greatest post-match brawl in pro wrestling history Sting makes the save and it is just on like Donkey Kong. Flair looks like Father Christmas with the red blood and green mist as he cuts a killer promo to send us home. Easily a Top 100 match of all time. High energy, amazing selling, hard hitting, big time drama, huge babyface appeal of Flair making his comeback, this match has it all.

#4. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - Chi-Town Rumble

What a crowd! There have been hotter crowds, but this crowd really lent a real sports feel to this match by how they were reacting. They cheered a Steamboat headlock takeover. The Steamboat double chop early was an electric moment and the following nearfall was treated like a big deal by the crowd. Every nearfall was getting big reactions and they were all on their feet for the finish. Of course, the reason why the crowd was so damn invested was because it was two of the greatest wrestlers of all time going toe-to-toe for the World's Heavyweight Championship. Ric Flair gave an absolutely masterful performance. It is incredible how well he sells in the early part of the match to shine that babyface up, but it also sets up his desperation heat segment. This was a great example of the three-pronged Flair strategy: breaking momentum on the outside, crowding in the corner and creating movement to cause mistakes. As Jim Ross said, "The Dragon was breathing fire tonight!". Steamboat was always one step ahead of the Nature Boy. Flair would BLAST him with a chop and he would fire two right back. In a battle of quickness, he was always getting the upper hand. What really sent Flair to the hills were all those pinfall attempts he was racking up early. In the shine segment, Steamboat was great, but I thought Flair took it to the next level. The transition was Flair dragging Steamboat outside into his domain and ramming him head first into the railing, clawing the eyes and hitting such a tremendous chop it had the Chicago Bears sitting ringside marking the fuck out. Flair is so good at turning the violent streak on in his heat segment. Loved the Steamboat hope spot on the roll through that got a great pop again a crowd totally 100% invested in the match. Flair, who has been freaking out about these nearfalls, pouncing on Steamboat and immediately putting him in the figure-4. EXCELLENT PSYCHOLOGY! I don't like to complain in these reviews, but anyone who says Flair does not have psychology can suck it. Steamboat is money during the heat segment as he rallies the crowd behind him. If Flair is the better seller during a babyface shine, it is Steamboat's selling that takes the heat segment to the next level. Amazing, how the wrestler underneath is dictating the energy of the match! In the post-modern world where offense rules the roost, that never happens anymore and that's why crowds are not 100% invested like this amazing Chicago crowd. Steamboat tries to make his last stand firing back with chops but Flair looks to have an insurmountable lead as they take a big tumble over the top rope onto the floor. Flair is throwing suplexes and is in command. He just cant put the Dragon away and Flair gets frustrated pushing the ref around and jawing with the crowd. Then we see the rays of hope as Steamboat starts building momentum with a string of nearfalls. Steamboat comes roaring out with a flying karate chop. All of sudden, Flair is on the defensive and it looks like Steamboat will hit the flying bodypress that got him the pinfall victory on Flair in January and the visual pin at the Clash. Except, he wipes out the ref! OH NO! Flair with the trunks, but no ref! STEAMBOAT CRASHES AND BURNS ON THE FLYING BODYPRESS Flair goes for the Figure-4, inside cradle and Steamboat wins the World Championship!

Given Crockett's past, the finish has you believe something screwy is going to happen, but Steamboat does win the championship to a huge pop. It was almost like swerving on the swerve, so that finish is put this decisively behind Clash VI for me, but I have this above Wrestlerwar. Spectacular match! Both wrestlers hit it out of the park! Those chops exchanges, HOT DAMN! Flair knocked this one out of the park, he did all the right things every single time. Steamboat's selling carried the day set himself up for a hot comeback. My knock against Steamer will always be offense on the comeback, but they did such a great job building up the flying cross body and his cradles that it felt super hot and you were totally invested through his selling. Incredible pace! Easy, easy top 50 match of all time if not higher. 

I just rewatched this and I think that this match does so well is be so competitive without being "my turn, your turn" everything is earned. It is two combatants just throwing everything they have at each other. There is no waiting for the other to make a comeback you gotta go take it. It also never feels like a blowout. Steamboat takes an early lead but Flair is a master of breaking momentum. I like gradualism of the heat segment with Steamboat slowly losing that fire as the match wears on only to finally break through. If there is one flaw in the match it is the transition to Steamboat's comeback. To me this is the pinnacle of 80s workrate. I think there are better examples of Flairism as a style as this tones down a lot of the Flairism tropes in favor of being a workrate spectacle. We talk 5, 10 minute sprints, these two had a 20+ minute sprint. Insane!

#3. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - Clash of the Champions IX

I am so glad I watched this at 14. The Ric Flair DVD collection came out in 2003 and never had I wanted something for Christmas so bad. Honest to God, I had a great childhood, but I dont remember one Christmas gift I got before 2003. Thats not an indictment on my childhood that's an indictment on the fact I just dont really care for material things. To me this represented everything I wanted: a chance to finally see everything I had read about. For me, this was my absolute favorite match on the set. I have probably not watched this match in 8 years, but you wouldnt have known because I was calling every spot before it happened and lapping it up with a spoon. Flair jumping on Funk's back by the guardrail gets me everytime. Pumping my fist in the air. Slamming Funk's head into the table and then of course the iconic spot when Funk slides across the table headfirst into the chair. It was a great brawl. Was it missing blood? Sure, but I thought they more than made for it with the intensity and stiffness of their shots. After the first heat segment when Flair goozled Funk, Goddamn! It was on like Donkey Kong! The way he rifled him with chops. Then Funk fell out of the ring before Flair was done with him. Flair gave chase. The look in Flair's eyes, boy, he looked like a Man possessed. Funk was selling like a million bucks for him. Funk was great on offense. Using the thumb in the eye early during one of their scraps on the mat gave him the advantage early. My all-time favorite pro wrestling insult has been and always will be "egg-sucking dog". I have no fucking clue what it means but I pop everytime I hear Funk say it. I love that is a thumb to an eye or a Gary Hart distraction that always get Funk the advantage. The microphone berating from Funk is awesome. Remember the wreck, remember your neck. A chance to say I Quit before the Piledriver and then bang! Piledriver. Flair is such an amazing verbal selling, the greatest of all time. I will say you know what didnt feel as big this go-around was the piledriver on the floor. I think there should have been more pause to add weight to it. Maybe even some Funk mic time. Flair comeback is glorious and just a showcase of what makes him great with all the vim and vigor you expect out of the Nature Boy. I love how when Flair grabs the foot of Funk and begins to drag it to the ropes the entire arena COMES ALIVE! You know you are fucking over when you can just drag a man by his foot and the crowd goes nuts. Funk delays the inevitable but Flair applies the Figure-4 and wins the match! 

Fun fact because I have only seen this on my DVD set, I had never seen the post-match! Great post-match. I knew Gary Hart berates Funk, but I never saw him kick Funk in the knee and then Flair jumps Hart. Here comes Muta & Nagaski only for Sting to save. Then Luger comes out tussles with a fan for the chair and waylays the faces. Excellent set up for the ill-fated Ironman tournament at Starrcade 1989. They really screwed the pooch with the double turn. They should have built to Luger as the number one heel for at least all of 1990 if not 1991 too and then built to Luger vs Sting in either 1991 and 1992 as Sting's ascent. Luger should have been a money heel champion.

In 2003, this was the greatest match I have ever seen. I dont I hold it in as high regard anymore, but still a mortal lock for the Top 100. I prefer this to the GAB match, which is excellent, but this has the more decisive finish. The brawling in the GAB is more physical and bloody, this is more chaotic and with the bigger spots. Five Letters, Two Words, I Quit. 

#2. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Lex Luger - Starrcade 1988

NWA/ WCW Match of the Year, 1988

As great as the Total Package was in this match, Ric Flair was the undeniable man in this match. Understanding who the Nature Boy was in between those ropes as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. A lot of this was covered verbally during Part 1 of Fair to Flair, but lets go through the minutia using this match as a case study.

The match begins with Flair cocky as ever going so far as to taunt the Total Package. At one point, he gets down on one knee and flexes! Flair’s goal early on is psych out the inexperienced challenger and assert himself. You see crowd Luger in the corner, but Luger’s immense power overwhelms him and sends him flying out of the ring. Now, Luger poses to a massive pop, which is a great payback spot as Flair is left doubting himself rather than the other way around. The key to Flair is that he is always going to try to win the match legitimately at first. He is only apprehensive right now, not out and out desperate. The key difference to me between Flair and Harley Race is that Flair makes you earn your shine because Flair is going to apply a hammerlock, throw a chop and try a back elbow, but the challenger fights through this offense and when they gain the upper hand it is more meaningful. Now Flair is going back to the core of his strategy: breaking the rhythm of his opponent. The challenger is going on a fast break and the crowd is hot. Flair uses the ropes like a basketball team would use a timeout. Luger can taunt all he wants, but Flair is in command. Of course, Flair can’t win the match either this way he can only slow Luger down. Now, he moves the second phase of his two-pronged strategy leverage his superior cardiovascular stamina to defeat powerful, muscular Lex Luger. He tries to turn into a track meet by coming off the ropes and we see Luger do a really IMPRESSIVE leapfrog. Luger is ready to use power via a shoulder tackle to thwart the Nature Boy. Big Press Slam! Flair is in the ropes and it is not looking good.

Luger begins to try break down Flair via the arm and Flair’s verbal selling is great. He whips Flair hard into the turnbuckles who takes it shoulder first. Here comes Flair with his perpetual motion offense of chops and shoulderblocks to stop the bleeding, but nothing is working on the challenger. Finally, about ten minutes in, Flair finally thumbs Luger in the eye. For ten minutes, Flair try to best Luger and could not. Out of desperation, he finally resorted to nefarious tactics. That’s beautiful storytelling. Flair goes to his number one weapon, the chops. JR gets in a good point about chops as wearing down the opponent. Incredibly, he does NOT take it to the logical football analogy of running up the middle in the first quarter for 2-3 yards, but keep pounding the ball up the gut so that it turns into 5-7 yards in the fourth quarter. The chop is a similar strategy and in addition it is evacuating the air out of Luger’s lungs, which plays into Flair’s overall strategy. Remember, we are only ten minutes into this contest, so when Flair chops Luger they have an effect, but they have taken their true toll on the Total Package yet. The result is one of the MOST ELECTRIC NO-SELLS of all time with Luger coming out of the corner looking like a million bucks and the crowd and me losing their shit. Flair retreats to the outside and admittedly due to small ringside area things do get a little awkward with Luger trying to navigate his way to get Flair and then he wrenches Flair’s arm around the railing.

Another Flair strategy is use of shortening the distance like a boxer would or what could be called crowding when he takes Luger from the armbar into the corner. Flair is an underrated puncher and I have always thought his punches look nasty. Flair tries to combat Luger’s power by using the ropes to get a running start to increase his momentum and add some wallop to his blows. Luger at this stage of the game is a Flair-seeking missile and will not be denied. I love the suplex back in the ring as it is just the perfect babyface move. Oh, you want to try to run from me, let me bring you in the hard way. Luger misses his big elbow and lets out quite the yelp. Flair pounces with a short kicks to abs and now using that running start to really topple Luger. He throws Luger to the outside for a hard, hard fall. He attacks Luger using the railing. This is when Flair is at his sadistic best. He slows down the pace and really grinds his opponent down. Kneedrop and double footstomp! This is offense that allows him to recover without expending too much energy, but at the same time non-kayfabe allows the heat to sink in and for Luger to sell. Luger gets his second wind so Flair immediately goes back to trying to create movement, but ends up in a sleeper! Again Luger earns the comeback fighting through his chops and then winning the criss-cross exchange! Flair hits a back suplex counter. He realizes he can not waste anymore time and goes for his one surefire home run, the figure-4. INSIDE CRADLE! Only two. Flair crashes down with a elbow to stymie Luger. You feel his hold on the match is tenuous at best. He wants to go up top to get some free velocity and really crash down on Luger, but he gets caught with the superplex, awesome nearfall. Luger now applies the figure-4 as a slap in the face and as a strong match-ender spot.

Flair gets the ropes and now here comes the Luger home stretch. Luger accidentally hit the ref on the backswing of his punch. He gets a top rope crossbody for two only because the ref was out of position. Backslide that’s how Kerry beat Flair. Flair takes the flip in the corner. Luger suplexes him back in and PRESS SLAM! The challenger is pouring it on. Now it is up to JJ to do what Flair can’t break his momentum. Luger is on a fast break so putting himself into harm’s way distracts Luger. Flair trips Luger up and goes full psycho smashing a steel chair into the knee of the Total Package. Flair goes to town on the knee. This is an absolute clinic of how to work the knee and how to sell a knee both psychically and verbally. Flair Figure-4! Time to test the mettle of Lex Luger, who like a real man reverses the pressure. Flair is right back to the knee. He goes up top to try win the match with a cross body, but gets caught in a press slam. Luger was able to fight through pain for that one moment, but the pain is too much has to crawl to Flair and can’t capitalize. Flair desperate just throws him out of the ring. Sunset Flip by Luger! That’s how Garvin won the title. Flair tries one of those running, jumping forearms, but just bounces off Luger! It is hot baby! Luger fighting through the pain hits the clotheslines and powerslams to set up for the torture rack. In my probably my favorite finish of all time, Luger hoists up the champion only to have his knee give out and Flair lands on top, puts his feet on the ropes and wins the match.

WOW! Incredible match and one that I hope I did justice. I really don’t think I can in all honesty it is something that needs to be watched. Everybody seems to like the Wrestlewar match, which I think is an all-time classic, but I have this a notch above. Clearly, the Starrcade finish is better than the Wrestlewar finish. This told an absolutely incredible story and just stayed so true to both characters. The selling was just pitch perfect. I have always seen this match ranked ****1/2. I can’t go below ****3/4 and right now I can’t think of a reason not to go the full monty. For my money, this is the perfect Flair vs power wrestler match. It is Flair’s best power wrestler opponent, Luger, putting a great selling and offensive clinic. His timing on those no-sells was great. Flair gave a heel performance in this match that I don’t know has ever been topped. I am going *****, but would love to hear arguments to the contrary.

#1. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair - Wrestlewar 1989

NWA/WCW Match of the Year, 1989

I think the thing that has stuck with me most about this match since first seeing it in 2003 was Jim Ross' call. This is the NWA where we wrestle. He really made this feel like a contest. Even though, try to contend pro wrestling is more of a shoot than amateur wrestling was a little much. 

It has been so long since I watched the Trilogy together and I expected this to be a distant third, but it is not and it feels really unique. This is the most physical of the three matches. This feels more like a Ronnie Garvin match with lots of chops and firefights. Flair is going for big heavy blows early and often. The Dragon returns with slashes of his own. They play off the Double Chickenwing submission with Steamboat going after the arm. Great arm work by Steamboat it is varied and tight. Flair does a great job selling it in and out of the holds. Flair looks to use the Chop to get out of the hold and back in control, but each time Steamboat fires back and overwhelms the Nature Boy. I loved the bit where Flair hiptossed Steamboat and just his body language made the spot feel huge. The crowd reacted as such. It is amazing that with the right characters, a simple hiptoss can feel like a high spot. Flair misses the elbow drop and Steamboat goes back to the arm. Towards the end of the first half of the match, Flair goes to what I believe is his best strategy and that is throw the man out of the ring. The first time Steamboat lands on his feet and furiously comes back in and fires back. The second time, Flair uses a running Steamboat's own momentum against and hurls him over the top rope and he takes a nasty spill. Flair takes advantage of this bu chopping him over the railing and punishing him on the outside. It should be noted Flair has not begged off yet probably because he is turning babyface at the end of the match and wants to look strong. He is wrestling a very physical style and this has been a great hard-hitting match through the first half. 

Flair yields his position as King of the Mountain to come back out against Steamboat on the floor, but the Dragon roars back. Blistering the Nature Boy with chops. Flair Flip and Steamboat catches him running down the apron. Flair's saving grace is Steamboat takes another high risk as the Dragon leaps and Flair moves and Steamboat hits the top rope and falls to the floor. Now Flair in his element. He measures Steamboat and really kicks his ass. Great chops and punches. The kneedrop. Butterfly Suplex. Great pins. Steamboat tries to lunge but gets hotshotted that was an awesome hope spot turned into a cutoff. Steamboat is too close to the ropes to cover as as Flair argues with the ref he puts his shin on Steamboat's throat. Great stuff! Steamboat chops hard and as Flair falls he picks the ankle of the weary Steamboat and pulls him outside and does more damage namely a suplex to the floor. This is an amazing heel Flair performance. They pick up the pace in the ring. Whipping everyone into frenzy and they pay it off with the bump I always remember the out of control crossbody where they both tumble to the floor. PRESS SLAM! Steamboat is feeling it! The Dragon is Breathing Fire! SUPERPLEX! DOUBLE CHICKENWING! GREAT SEQUENCE! High Drama! Flair scrambles for the ropes and forces the break. I love the spot where Steamboat is poised for either a top rope chop or top rope crossbody and Flair falls into the ropes jostling them and causing Steamboat to take a nasty spill hurt his leg. This entire match so much of Flair's offense is set up by Steamboat's mistakes or happenstance. Now Steamboat's leg is hurt for the master of the Figure-4 it is almost too easy. Flair zeroes in on the leg and suplexes him back in. FIGURE-4! Rope break. There is a great sequence where Flair has the foot. He is pounding on the knee as Steamboat is chopping him. It feels like this gargantuan struggle. ENZIGUIRI! The Dragon looks poised for a comeback. Lifts Flair up but his knee gives out and Flair cradles him 1-2-3! Amazing match!

For some reason, I came in thinking this would be #3 but I think this is my #1. The Chi-Town Rumble is the great pure workrate sprint with crazy ending and Steamboat winning the big one, but it does lack the physical edge. The Clash match is the great, lengthy, classic championship match but there are lulls in it and it is a bit messy down the stretch. This has all the tightness of the Rumble match, the psychology of the Clash, but the added physicality of a Flair/Garvin. Gun to my head: WrestleWar, Chi-Town Rumble, Clash. All are ***** and really no matter how you rank it, it doesnt matter they all rock. 

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 41: Best of US Pro Wrestling 1977-1982 (Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Terry Funk)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 41:

The Best of US Wrestling 1977-1982

(Note: Excludes WWF & Portland)

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 forty-first volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the conclusion of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in the United States between 1977-1982 (excluding World Wrestling Federation and Portland). The WWF during the Bob Backlund Era has already been covered and I will do a separate series on “Playboy” Buddy Rose and Portland at a later time. Footage from this era is very hit or miss. There is almost nothing from Mid-Atlantic, World Class or Mid-South, things do get better in 1982. The AWA is heavily clipped in this era. From Memphis there is a good amount of stuff from 1981 and 1982 and much of the list is comprised of Jerry Lawler and his work during these years. The bulk of the findings are thanks to Bruce Tharpe and the NWA Classics On Demand streaming service that uncovered a treasure trove of wrestling matches from Houston. By 1983, there is plenty of footage to treat each major territory separately and before 1977 there is a real dearth of footage so that is how the time period was selected.  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.

MY EYE! MY EYE! MY EYE! (I couldnt find a picture of Funk selling so this will have to do)

Top Six Match of US Pro Wrestling 1977-1982

#6. Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Terry Funk- Memphis 4/6/81 Empty Arena

Probably the most famous wrestling match in Memphis wrestling history is the unusual Empty Arena match pitting Lawler and Terry Funk together to blow off their feud. Funk having complained of homerism in the Funks' recent matches against Lawler wanted to an old fashioned mano y mano shootout. It is hard to say who is more valuable in this segment Terry Funk or Lance Russell. This may be Russell's brightest moment as he just knocks it out of the park presenting this as a unique, unnerving happening in pro wrestling. Terry Funk is raving mad in this match swearing up a storm. He is the perfect psychopath. First he is happy to prove Lawler is a coward counting him out after demanding Lance do it. Then he switches gears is totally pissed Lawler did not come and made him out to be a fool. A total lunatic. Just as he is about take his frustration out on Lance Russell out walks the King in all his regal splendor as if the Mid-South Coliseum was packed to the rafters. This leads Funk to get in the awesome dig "Don't you know that there is not anybody here...you JACKASS!" The actual match is short and sweet as a shoot bar fight would be and thats what they were going for. Throwing each other into chairs, flailing punches, and hey it is pro wrestling so we get a PILEDRIVER on the floor by Funk. Terry deperately wants Lawler to say I Quit on TV. He goes to stab Lawler in the eye, but The King fights back and kicks the stakes into TERRY FUNK'S EYE! MY EYE! MY EYE! DOCTOR! I CAN'T SEE! MY EYE! Amazing, amazing selling. It is visceral, scary and disturbing. More of an angle than a match, but fuck it, this is an all-timer through and through.

#5. Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Terry Funk - Memphis 3/23/81, No DQ

The entrance of Lawler with the trumpets heralding the arrival of The King was majestic and the crowd heat was awesome. I loved the all-white Lawler attire because you knew the blood would flow in this one and plus all white is a bitchin look.

The battle of the two best punchers in the history of pro wrestling does not disappoint as this is a rough 'n' tumble affair. Funk's bumps in the beginning are very entertaining especially getting caught up in the rope that acts as the boundary between crowd and wrestlers and letting himself be tripped into the ring. They go blow for blow. The King really takes command when he drives Funk headfirst into the bell splitting him wide open. Lawler looked to have this one in hand, but that pipsqueek, Jimmy Hart, came in and hit Lawler with a cane. This annoyed Lawler more than anything else, but Funk was able to go low and then hit a pair of headbutts to turn it in his favor. Funk started gnawing at the forehead and cut him open. Funk fires away with punches to the top of Lawler's head. Lawler is staggered, but still on his feet. Slowly, but surely he seems to be absorbing the blows of Funk. STRAP DOWN! BOMBS AWAY! Huge rights to Funk's jaw and one says him spinning out of control. Fist drop! The Mouth of South introduces a chair and Lawler blasts Jimmy Hart. Funk is able to recover the chair and drive the chair repeatedly into the knee of Lawler. Jerry really sells this all very well. Funk is able to tear the tights and I think he was trying to move the kneepad off the knee to set up his world famous Spinning Toehold, which is he is able to apply. However, as he is leaning over, Lawler blasts him in the head and Funk's staggered selling is money. Hart throws the chair back in to Funk. Funk throws bellbottom-donning Jerry Calhoun. Lawler is able to get a hold of the chair and give Funk a taste of his own medicine destroying his leg. He really did a number on Funk's leg. Funk's selling and the heat for all this is awesome. Funk is crawling away on the outside on his belly and Lawler is relentless. It is a countout!

The beginning was what you expect from a Lawler/Funk brawl with great punches, fun spots and blood, but once the chair got involved the drama went through the roof. Definitely one of all-time great 1980s classics from Memphis.

#4. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Terry Funk - Houston 7/1/77

Holy Grail is an understatement as anything from Terry Funk in the 1970s especially a long traditional NWA Championship bout is a huge prize. Race defeated Terry Funk in Toronto for the World's Championship in Februrary of '77 and now five months later Funk is challenging for the belt. 

First Fall: If you watch closely, Funk is reviewing the rules with the ref and makes a specific point about how chopping to throat is illegal but below is not. First move of the match, a chop by Terry Funk! The first 15 minutes focused on matwork. Terry Funk looked great working the arm. The best part was definitely how he set up the arm stretcher by stepping on Harley's face. I dont mean he placed his boot on Harley's face. He put both his feet right on the face of the champion. It was some nasty work. Harley made sure to add some movement. Funk hit not one, but two press slams on Harley. I dont think I have ever seen Funk do that. The first one was a beauty and an emphatic way to regain control. There is 4 minutes of clipping and we come back to Harley working a tight headlock. Very similar to a tight Backlund style one with plenty of wringing. Great struggle from Funk. Funk is able to earn an armbar but quickly loses control to a headscissors. Race is working his holds very well, very tight. Great pressure on the headscissors. Funk stands up with Race draped over his back, but Race maintains the hold and Funk falls forward. Funk hits a couple lefts while in the headscissors and stands up with it and this time gets out. I like how this does not start the Funk immediately instead Funk is still selling so it is Race landing the blows. Race goes for an arm wringers, but Funk starts throwing right-handed chops and eventually Funk breaks Race's clasp and starts to mount a comeback. I really enjoyed Race totally whiffing on a straight left closed fist only for Funk to punch him in the face. I love Funk's reaction to the ref to throw his hands up like he is innocent. Stuff like that makes closed fists feel so much more important. Funk wants the spinning toehold, but cant apply it. Then it is Race with a figure-4 attempt but he cant get it. Funk takes a nasty spill to the floor when Race side-steps him on a criss-cross. Race bring back in the hardway with a vertical suplex. Funk does an excellent job selling the back. Abdominal Stretch gives Race the fall. I have watched thousands of pro wrestling matches and never seen the abdominal stretch earn a fall and now I have seen it twice. Great first fall. It really puts Funk on display. He is so innovative and unpredictable. If that is something you value, then he is your man. Even little things, like how he falls through the ropes on his apron and re-enters the ring feels different. This is the best possible Race as he is toned down not throwing out too much. He is sticking to the fundamentals. He is still a blackhole of charisma but everything looks tight. Race 1-0.

Second Fall: Even though Harley won the first fall. It was not definitive. Funk came back strong in the opening of the second fall. Backing Harley into a corner and slapping him around. This drew the ire of Race. Who charged into a bodyslam. Funk came over, but Race butted him in the abdomen. Great transition. Race went back to work on the back as that is how he won the first fall. Funk eventually wrestled a headlock on Race. They break free and Race wants an abdominal stretch, but Funk gets a backslide for two. Funk urgently pounces and hits a piledriver for three. This has been the Terry Funk show. Great individual performance. Characteristically short second fall.  Tied 1-1.

Third Fall: Excellent fall, ***** stuff here. Harley decides that he wants to make this match a battle of fisticuffs. He is hitting harder than in the Wahoo match. Funk blasts him back! Atomic Drop! 1-2-NO! Both feet over the ropes. Dont leave anything to chance. Funk lays a clever trap. He takes a knee over by the ropes. Baiting Race to come over and Funk picks the ankle. SPINNING TOEHOLD! Race starts punching him in the face. He keeps punching until he busts Funk wide open. Great bladejob. This was great drama. It was Funk's Spinning Toehold vs. Race working the cut. I loved the spot where Race hits a kneedrop on the cut, but comes up clutching his bad knee. Funk has one last gasp in the Spinning Toehold, but Harley grabs him by the hair Funk tries to block the left hand, but Harley breaks free and starts taking wicked shots to the cut. Funk gradually loses his strength each punch taking more of him until he finally succumbs to collapse, bloody and convulsing he takes a wild swing at the ref who calls for a blood stoppage because he knows Funk has lost it. Wow! Damn great finish to set up a big time rematch. Race starts headbutting Funk in the cut while announcer calls for a doctor. Wild!

Little bit of overhype calling this the greatest NWA Championship of all time aside, this match is fantastic and a terrific Terry Funk performance. So many little touches that are unique to Funk and so many innovative spots that I dont think have been seen since 1977 and were seen before. The third fall was high drama and you always want to peak at the finish and these two did just that.

#3. ICW Heavyweight Champion Randy  Savage vs Ron Garvin - ICW Steel Cage 1982/83

Best babyface Savage performance of his career besides the Savage/Flair GAB '95 match. Savage is an all-time great as a heel by being a totally despicable human and someone who always makes the babyface look like a million bucks. As a babyface, he relies a lot on his selling (he is world-class), but there is not much in the way of offense. The selling keeps it from feeling like an exhibition, but still I wish there would be more struggle in his babyface matches. I think that this cage match with Garvin really shows babyface Savage in a violent war over the ICW Championship. This should go down as one of the all-time great cage matches and reminder how great the stipulation can be. From the outset, they let us know that this is going to be a street fight with the way they were tussling over a front facelock and how they were clawing and choking each other. There was nothing pretty about it, but it was incredibly compelling. Unlike so many cage matches, it never felt claustrophobic, they were still able to brawl and use the cage as a weapon. We get double juice as these two just hate each other. Of course, this match features Savage's amazing trademark selling as he is staggered and collapsing after each hope spot. I love how the piledriver is treated like such a kill shot and each is doing all they can to avoid the other's. So much talk about Savage, but Garvin was awesome on top using the cage at will and choking Savage. He was a true heel. The best part of the match is in the middle of the match, a boxing match breaks out and two of the best working punches going at it. Down goes Garvin! Savage scampers on his knees to pin, but only two. I love the urgency! They are looking to end it in a most violent way, piledriver, but neither can get it. Savage misses his top rope elbow. Ruh roh! Garvin throws him into the ref and gets the belt and blasts Savage. He is hanging Savage and this match just ventured into classic territory. Savage kicks him off as a survival tactic. Savage throws the belt at Garvin to stop the top rope knee drop. HE PILEDRIVES HIM OFF THE TOP ROPE! THAT IS HOW YOU PAY OFF TEASES, BITCHES!

#2. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - WCCW 8/15/82

The common knock on men like Von Erich and Luger is that they are broomsticks that are plugged into the Flair formula and out pops a classic. It can't be further from the truth. I can understand you can be distracted by the glistening He-Man physique and that horseface, but if you watch as intently as Kerry laid one on that young girl at ringside then you will see Kerry was a phenomenal seller. Early on, Flair does his usual bridge escape out of a headscissors and watch Kerry's face, he flinches in pain. Or when he has a headscissors on Flair, he conveys the internal struggle not to ball up his fist and punch Flair to the audience. During the match, Flair is always struggling looking for an opening with short knees or chops and Kerry is great selling the immediate pain. He gives Flair these brief openings, but always fires back up. In the second fall, Kerry is just excelling at writhing in pain from Flair's leg work and really expressing how close he is to giving up. Now, Flair is no slouch as he is tremendous in his verbal selling especially when Kerry reverses the pressure. This entire match is a master class in selling by both men. Each man really is thinking shoot while they are working. They respond to each other and moments in the match in a real sporting manner.

Each time, I discover new spots and elements that make it a better match. Such as during the abdominal stretch, Von Erich makes a point to exaggerate his gesture that he is looking to put on the Claw, which really whips the crowd into a frenzy. The crowd was nuclear for Kerry from the get-go and totally rabid at the prospect of him dethroning Ric Flair especially after defeating previous Champion Harley Race in a de facto No. 1 Contender’s match just months previous to this. Flair, as usual, is a cardio freak, but my favorite moment is how he slowly ramps up his heelishness. At first testing his strength and clearly being bested, he resorts to hair pulling to win an over the top wristlock. Another thing, I love is that when Kerry has Flair in a head scissors in the beginning, they do not just lie on the mat. Flair is very broadly attempting to escape the hold, but cant. This does two things, it puts over Kerry’s strength and most importantly, keeps the audience engaged. Flair does a lot of things really well, but he is exceptional at keeping the audience engaged even during perfunctory matwork.

The beginning is all about putting over Kerry’s strength. This is accomplished by holding multiple head-scissors, winning over the top wristlocks and a visually impressive arm wrench that Flair bumps wells, which the crowd pops loudly for. Flair gets some offense in the corner, which is Flair’s domain. Besides Vader, I do not think there is a wrestler that is better in the corner than Flair. Flair takes over with a knee-lift and begins taking shortcuts like the aforementioned hair pull. Off a missed elbow, they do a well-executed tussle for the ab stretch I brought up earlier. I love how they made each other work for it with Kerry ultimately winning. An eye-rake (Flair shortcuts) breaks it up, but Kerry hits two pretty impressive dropkicks. Flair’s next shortcut is to hold the rope down as Kerry crashes to the floor, which leads to Flair’s big flurry of offensive: dropping Kerry across the top rope, knee drop and piledriver. Kerry catches Flair with back body drop, but Flair blocks the corner. Flair pushes the ref, but as Kerry winds up for the discus punch he catches the ref in the head. Kerry puts on the sleeper, BUT THERE IS NO REF, here he comes and now the bell is ringing. KERRY WINS THE FIRST FALL!!! Right!?!?! Right!?!?!?

The original referee disqualifies Kerry for the punch much to the dismay of the crowd and to relief of a visually exhausted and desperate Flair. I liked the finish to the first fall even if it was a clusterfuck because Kerry was clearly put over as more dominant than Flair. Flair’s escape with a DQ finish in the first fall allows for Kerry to once again be perceived as the underdog as he has the unenviable task to win two straight falls against The Man. Another great element is that all of Flair’s control segments were initiated by shortcuts thus always making Kerry look better in comparison.

The second fall rules all and by itself would probably be one of my favorite matches of all time. Flair is still coughing from the sleeper hold and begs off immediately. Kerry and the crowd smell blood. Kerry slaps on the sleeper, but Flair makes use of the Bret leverage move to send Kerry crashing to the floor. Flair capitalizes this by wrenching Kerry’s leg across the apron. NOW WE GO TO SCHOOL!!! Flair is absolutely crazed during this control segment as he clearly a desperate champ doing anything to take down the physically superior Kerry Von Erich. Flair hits the shinbreaker to a physically diminished Von Erich side-headlock. After Flair works over the leg, it is time for the Figure-4 Leglock whipping the crowd into frenzy. Just minutes ago, they thought their hero had the first fall in the bag and now it looks he is about to lose two straight falls. WAIT!!! Kerry had reversed the pressure and now Flair scrambles for the ropes. Flair tries to go back to the knee, but Keryr blocks with the vaunted Von Erich Claw. Flair blades like a champ off the claw and eventually is pinned. Flair’s control segment was fuckin awesome and Kerry sold his knee like champ. Then when it came to the hit finish everyone erupted when the claw was slapped on just when it seemed like Flair had this one in the bag.

Flair is drenched in sweat and blood and looking for a fight with the universal sign of “Put up your dukes”. A spirited two-minute intense brawl breaks out and the ref loses control of the match. At first, I was disappointed by the finish, but in retrospect it is a really good to put over the intense nature of the match and it would ultimately setup the Huge Christmas Day 1982 Cage match. 

The basic idea of the Flair formula was executed, which is to make your opponent look like a million bucks and keep the audience engaged. However, Flair was not always a chickenshit heel as he vacillated among begging off, desperation and crazed. There was an urgency to each fall. Kerry felt like he NEEDED to win the first one and came out hot, but was robbed. Kerry NEEDED to win the second one or he lost, but by the same token Flair felt he NEEDED to win based off Kerry’s stellar performance in the first fall. Kerry played his part well and definitely added more than just his Texas star power. He sold well and worked hard to keep up with Flair and sell the importance of the match. I LOVE this match because there is never a dull moment and the match builds perfectly on itself until the wild brawl at the end.

#1. Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs Dutch Mantell - Memphis 3/22/82

Background: Lawler was entangled in his interminable feud with Jimmy Hart and his First Family. He had recruited the Dirty Dutchman to help him wrestle these men in tag team matches. Then one night, the Mantell walks out on Lawler as he is being battered by the First Family. Next week on TV, Lawler calls Dutch yellow and wants to know why he walked out. Dutch noted that it was Lawler’s mouth that got him in trouble and he was tired of fighting Lawler’s battles. Dutch also feels as though Lawler disrespected him by not acknowledging his prowess in the ring. All in all, it is not most unreasonable thing someone has said. Lawler, is pissed because someone he trusted to have his back left him to the jackals. This is when wrestling is at its best, two men who in their own mind have merit to their grounds, but at the same time it is a very contentious issue. Most of the crowd sides with Lawler as he instigates the first brawl. So after a month or so of matches, Lawler and Mantell were contracted to square off in Memphis, TN for the Southern Heavyweight Title in a No Disqualification Match. This was about as close you would get to face vs face in the early 80s. Lawler was positioned as the babyface, but the Dutchman definitely had his supporters.

Lawler starts off hot with some beautiful punches and has Mantell rocking. Lawler has some of the prettiest, worked punches ever thrown. They even work in a spot where Dutch whiffs on a kick when Lawler telepgraphs the back body drop, which is a neat little spot I have never seen before. Lance Russell, the Voice of Memphis, even notes how peculiar this fast start is for Lawler given that he is normally slow-starter. He reasons out that it must due to the nature of this heated feud that Lawler just wants to beat the ever-lovin piss out of Dutch and there is no time like the present. I paraphrased that, but you get the gist. Lawler even busts out an enziguri much to the delight of the crowd!!! Dutch takes a powder as he attempts to adjust his strategy. Well when in a No DQ, might as well as grab a steel chair. Lawler ends up with the chair and throws outside the ring and hits Dutch in the shoulder. I am a total sucker for chair throws because they always look so damn violent. Then Dutch totally ups him with the Mother of All Chair Throws: hurling the chair across the ring into the King’s knee with pinpoint accuracy and brutality.

Mantell takes over and lays Lawler to waste with punches before applying the Spinning Toehold. Lawler punches Mantell's knee to break free and comes back with his own punches. Mantell dives on the knee and then switches gears to open a cut above the eye of Lawler. He makes up for his lack of creative offense by keeping Lawler on the outside and busting him over the eye. Lawler’s selling is elicits sympathy from the raucous crowd that try to urge him. A great spot is Lawler whiffing on the desperation right and you feel the end is near for our hero. Loved that spot on the second go-around. Dutch gets a two off a vertical suplex and there is all like “Lets quit fuckin around” and pulverizes Lalwer with a chair, BUT Lawler gets his foot on the ropes. Mantell is really hot after Jerry breaks pinfalls off of a knee drop, a PILEDRIVER (Memphis Death Move), and a splash. Great heat segement sequence. Lawler Up and Strap Down and Full Steam Ahead. Rights and lefts leave the Dirty Dutchman reeling and then he sends him into the post for retribution. The crowd is feeling it, but Lawler gets greedy and Dutch catches him with knees on his second splash attempt.

Into the finish, we go as they are trading rights and lefts. Their heads collide off a Irish whip spot sending Mantell out onto the floor. Lawler has Dutch at his mercy as he punches repeatedly with Mantell using the ropes to hold him from crashing off the apron. Lawler gets greedy again, playing to the crowd for one more punch, Dutch capitalizes with a gut shot and then slingshots over for a sunset flip and the victory. Your Winner and New Southern Heavyweight Champion “Dirty” Dutch Mantell. Several fans celebrate Dutch's victory showing that King did not have unanimous support in Memphis.

I liked that they didn’t run the ropes at all sticking to that real-fight feel that these are two guys that just want to fuck each other up. I like that it was Lawler’s desire to inflict more punishment on Dutch that cost him the match, whereas Dutch was more concerned about winning and thus proving he was the better wrestler. Lawler’s selling was really well done, theatrical enough for the live audience to see it, but not so cheesy that it takes you out of the competition (love that header he took on missing that right). The match had memorable spots like the chair throws. The heat segment was one of the best I have seen in Memphis with Dutch really pouring it on. I think what I really gained on this second watch after having watched over two dozen Lawler matches now was how special this finish was. Lawler's comebacks were a death knell for his opponent and only something crazy like interference would save them from imminent doom. So for someone to actually beat Lawler in the midst of THE VAUNTED LAWLER COMEBACK is a HOLY SHIT momment! Like I said it is because Lawler was being cocky playing to the crowd and wanting to get one more lick in when he had the match won. This was a really interesting dynamic.