1976 Match of the Year

Killer Karl Kox v. Dick Murdoch AJPW 12/9/76

PAS: There are some classic long AJPW title matches this year, but fuck that noise, give me Dick Murdoch and Killer Karl Kox beating each other bloody. Kox opens up Murdoch with brass knuckles and a ring bell hammer, and Murdoch sprays blood all over the ring. Nothing particularly fancy as this is basically the bar fight between the two meanest old Vietnam vets at the VFW hall, they had been needling each other for years until finally they kicked the barstools over and let it loose. Kox may have almost as great punches as Murdoch, and may have had an even prettier brainbuster. The match didn't have a real finish as both guys just started beating up the locker room just so they could keep pounding on each other.

ER: I imagine a lot of people would be turned off by a match like this, that featured two men literally punching each other for 20+ minutes. There is a dropkick, and Murdoch uses the Cattle Branding. Everything else is punches. Some people won't like that. Those people are not people that I watch professional wrestling with. This match is magnificent. It looks like that early scene in The Apostle where Robert Duvall's Apostle E.F. takes a baseball bat beating to his wife's new youth minister lover (jeez it's weird thinking Murdoch was 5 years younger than me when this match took place). This is the Director's Cut of that scene. This match is just beautiful in its simplicity. Two men fighting. Both bump great, love KKK getting hung up in the ropes, bouncing all over. Loved all the knux shots, loved Kox blading for the Cattle Branding, Murdoch hits a gusher, and literally every single punch thrown over 20 minutes looks great. This is a classic.