ALL TIME MOTY LIST Head to Head 1976: Kox v. Murdoch V. Veidor v. Davies

Steve Veidor v. Gwyn Davies Joint Promotions 5/22/76

ER: It seems like every time I write about British wrestling from the 70s or early 80s, I just keep wanting to use the word "wonderful", because it is all just so wonderful to me. I love this era regional wrestling, visually and audibly from a time and place and culture. The commentary really helps the greatness of the match, one moment talking about how Veidor (a man in his early 40s who looks like same era Paul Koslo) is a pin-up who is loved by all the ladies, and the next moment putting over how Davies' wrist isn't at 100% as the two are going through exchanges. Davies is a big hulking guy and makes Veidor appear smaller than he is. Davies knows how to work big and knows how to bully and how to cheapshot. Veidor is good at convincing roll ups, deadweight crossbodies, is a master of surprising with a sharp and fast elbow, and drops out of the sky like a bird hitting a window when Davies elbows him. Veidor goes up early and Davies starts cheating to protect his belt, cracking Veidor with cheap headlock punches and palm strikes, wisely allowing himself to eat a couple of ref's warnings, knowing the damage he inflicts is more valuable to him and outweighs the half punishment. Veidor fights back and never gets cheap, and things peak when he finally snaps and pays Davies back for all the bullshit, trapping him in the corner and punching and kicking him over and over as Davies keeps getting slumped deeper and deeper in that corner. Veidor tosses the ref aside to continue the beating, a wild animal heat of the moment understanding that nets him a warning. Davies is being chopped down, but a stroke of luck happens when he lobs Veidor into the ropes and Veidor gets hanged between ropes. His head is trapped and Veidor's selling combined with the immediate help of the ring crew makes it seem like a super dangerous moment. The ref rules him unable to continue and Davies retains, even though Veidor is ready to go the moment he's freed. The progression of the match was really good, loved the way Veidor sold the nasty sneak punches, loved the way he fought to the end, and loved the shrugging bully charisma that Davies rocked the whole match.

PAS: I was a little skeptical at the beginning of this match, as it is mostly European grappling in a way that can sometimes seems a little stiff to me. I can get into that sometimes, but I would have a hard time seeing that type of match reach MOTY status. This really started cooking about half way through and got legendarily great by the end. I always like a match that develops it's chippiness, after Veidor gets the first pin, Davies gets dirty, kidney punches, closed fists. He gets some weird submission to tie the falls where he lifts Veidor up in a bodyslam position with a hammer lock. At one point Davies gets a second public warning by landing a cheap shot punch, Veidor appears to be bleeding from the mouth and seems to be puking blood in a bucket during the break. Veidor snaps and just starts firing back with huge forearms, driving Davies into the corner. Just an awesome fired up babyface performance, totally felt epic. Finish was awesome with Veidor getting thrown into the ropes and getting his head caught in the Cactus Jack ear shearing bump. The ref stops the match even though Veidor wants to keep fighting. I could totally seeing this match selling a ton of Royal Albert Hall tickets for a rematch

KKK v. Murdoch Review

VERDICT

PAS: Going to stick with the champ here. I think this match may have reached higher highs, the last couple of rounds were all time level stuff, but Kox v. Murdoch kept up a steady level of ass kicking violence the entire time.

ER: Yeah I an going to stick with Kox/Murdoch as well, but I really loved the build throughout this match. I didn't expect the turns that it ended up taking. I'm not too familiar with either guy so it was a new fresh experience for me, and it really unfolded into a classic. The champ is always gonna be my bread and butter, two rednecks kicking ass, but Veidor/Davies was great.