1985 Match of The Year

Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee CWA 12/21/85

MD: This is a match the likes of which we'll never see again. It's something that could only exist in the territories, and really only in a territory like Memphis. I love this for the intellectual challenge it presented to two absolute masters.

As best as we can tell, this was a special Saturday night match, one that put Paula Lawler's hair on the line against Dundee's Southern belt. All of that is well and good but because this was Memphis, they were mid-feud and would have go to back to pay it all off, which they would a few days later with the year end show and Dundee losing his hair and his wife's hair in a loser leaves town match. All well and good except for one thing, he had to lose this match along the way, yet still keep enough heat that people would buy him the following week, even if things escalated to the point where he'd be staking everything he had on the outcome of the next match.

So how do they do that? By having Lawler be completely vulnerable here, by having Dundee take 90% of the match, by having him cut off the trademark Lawler strap-down comeback with a big back body drop, and by having Lawler win only due to a very overactive ref in what's supposed to be a no DQ match.

Along the way, we get an absolute Dundee showcase. He leans into the size difference, bringing punches and an absolute mauling around ringside, but also this sort of persistent gnawing offense that you just can't stop. In between he rolls back in to play to the crowd and celebrate, making everyone want to see his comeuppance all the more. Bill Dundee, as much as anyone ever, knew how to be over.

Some people are going to love the top rope double stomps, but I'm a lot more about the running punches, the two outside the ring in between his celebrations, but especially the one in the ring, after he had been celebrating on the top rope. He walked a couple of steps on the ropes themselves, but it wasn't for some sort of high spot. It was just to reach Lawler more quickly so he could smash a fist into his skull. By doing that it felt more believable and meant even more than if he had leaped across the ring. For all that Dundee has a reputation of having a Napoleon complex, he'd lean into it to get heat. Lawler, to his credit, was completely giving even letting Dundee back-body drop him over the top to cut off the first comeback. He fought back at times (though never successfully) and endured like an ace babyface should.

And the fans came back a few days later for the big blowoff, ready to see Dundee get his, belief and anticipation in their hearts.

ER: Outside of one choice that I didn't care for, this match is flat out perfection. The execution of everything is at an impossible standard, two men fake fighting better than most people who have ever attempted to do so. Dundee runs this game, jumping Lawler and controlling probably 85% of the match, but this match is a showcase for Memphis wrestling as much as anything. Lance Russell is in top form throughout, dropping Phil's favorite line about Lawler being a slow starter, putting over how much Dundee is controlling but saying that Lawler is known for his quick recovery, even putting over the speed of Jerry Calhoun (while being chased around ringside by Dundee) by saying "I know Jerry Calhoun is fast, I've seen him play softball." Calhoun is great throughout, with Dundee taking cheap shots at him and Calhoun selling them appropriately. I hate when referees are fragile little Faberge eggs, lightly getting bumped and selling a head injury on the mat for minutes on end. It's a lousy position for a ref to be put into. But even worse is a referee strongman who ends up being not just the authority but also the toughest guy in the match. But Calhoun hits the perfect notes. Dundee pops him once, and later hits an incredibly dickish kick from the apron (sliding forward and toeing Calhoun sharply in the jaw) and Calhoun comes back shortly, rubbing his head for the next couple minutes without letting it interfere with his duties. You don't expect fine selling from your ref, but little things like that really added to the presentation.

But obviously you don't watch a match like this for the ref or commentary guy, you want to see the greatest dance partners in wrestling history. And they deliver an absolute gem. That Dundee takes so much of the offense just gives Lawler a chance to show how great he is on the other side of the coin. Lawler, up through this era and beyond, is maybe the greatest wrestler around at selling a beating and putting over a punch. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to put over a Bill Dundee masterpiece of a punch, but watch Lawler's body throughout this match: He's flopping all over, flinging his body perfectly into position for Dundee's next punch attack, and not once does it look like he's doing a rehearsed dance sequence. He was so incredible with his body language, his reaching, his movement. He falls, he turns, he takes a couple big bumps to the floor (once wonderfully slamming himself on the announce table to so the ring bell made a couple of feeble dings), he makes the entire beating look as good as humanly possible. Obviously when Lawler made his comebacks he knew exactly what to expertly do. For practically the first 15 minutes of the match Dundee beats Lawler, and every punch Dundee threw was great. And then when Lawler gets his shots in you know he's gonna make them look best ever status. Watching Lawler throw a 3 punch combo and Lawler knows how important that third punch is, and Dundee bumps it how you want that third punch to feel, Dundee makes you feel it, bouncing back hard on his shoulders and compactly snapping over to his stomach. Dundee is arguably the greatest of all time at that flip bump. There's the looping on a trampoline style of the Rock doing that bump, there's modern indy workers just doing a moonsault or opting to brain themselves, there's the Mark Spitz flipping of Curt Hennig or Marty Jannetty, plenty of ways to do it. But none of them look as naturally impactful and violent as Dundee's. Any wrestler would be lucky to throw a strike that was worthy of Dundee taking that bump.

And my god Dundee in this match. What a pitbull. What a shark. He looked like he couldn't stand Lawler and wanted nothing more than to see Paula Lawler bald. Dundee punched his way around the ring and ringside, broke out incredibly timed strikes (watch Lawler crawl back into the ring as Dundee uses his amazing balance to run on the ropes from the corner and fling his body horizontally, back to the mat, one boot expertly landed on the side of Lawler's head. Dundee dropped elbows, dropped the only piledriver as beautiful as Lawler's. Dundee was like Finlay in the way he uses every part of the area as his personal weapon, running Lawler into the announce table, choking him with the ropes separating the crowd from the action. The choking goes on for a long time and these two men make it a terrific part of the match, Dundee finding all sorts of great positions to gain leverage and hold his choke, wrapping the ropes around his hands and shifting the position of the ropes around Lawler's neck, pushing his boots into Lawler's back as he chokes, rolling to the apron for leverage; I'm now at least partially expecting a deathbed confession from Dundee that he once choked several men to death with ropes, because this looked like a man who knew how to murder someone with a rope. And you know Lawler was just as good at getting choked. If I now believe there's a chance that Dundee has choked a man to death, I already believe that Lawler engages in chokeplay, so Lawler selling a rope choking is the least shocking thing we've seen here. I also love Dundee bashing Lawler with the ring standard, the item holding those choking ropes. It's like an early version of how perfectly John Cena used the ring steps as a weapon, really putting over the (non-existent) weight of the object, lifting it slowly, swinging it cumbersomely, landing it heavily. Also, how great of a grandpa is Lance Russell calling those "ring standards". "Dundee is picking up the ring standard..." The match brings such class and legitimacy to everything.

I did not love the finish. Who could? I would happily listen to people who did like the finish, eager to be convinced. Dundee pulls a chain, rushes out of the corner, Calhoun catches Dundee's arm and it leads to Lawler beating him. Lance Russell had earlier done a fine job explaining that while the match was No DQ, Calhoun was still in there to make sure it at least resembled a wrestling match. Lance said this while Dundee was yanking on Lawler's hair, and Russell convincingly explained it as "Look guys, we know anything goes, but we're not animals here". I bought it. But I cannot by him stopping a chain shot that assuredly would have resulted in a bald Paula Lawler.

However, here's the one way I can think of that makes sense, and if this was truly what they were going for then I think it's pure wrestling storytelling brilliance. Calhoun was standing very close to Lawler when Dundee threw this chain-wrapped punch. Earlier in the match I mentioned that Dundee had thrown a couple of cheap shots at Calhoun, a punch and a kick, neither of which were expected by us or Calhoun. What if - having already been struck twice by Dundee - Calhoun saw this chain-wrapped punch flying straight towards him (again, he was right next to Lawler) and instinctively put an arm out to block, tangling Dnndee and giving Lawler his opening. This would be the first strike that Calhoun would have actually seen headed towards his face, could it then be said that Dundee's attacks earlier in the match resulted in a jumpy referee? Both of Dundee's earlier attacks were completely unnecessary, just bully moves out of frustration, Dennis Rodman kicking an unsuspecting cameraman in the balls. And if those abuses of power lead to him losing his title, making Calhoun twitchy and expecting a future attack? Well then I'm pretty sure I just talked myself into it.

PAS: On paper very few things are more exiting then a previously unseen Dundee vs. Lawler stips match. I love this match up enough to fly to Nashville to watch them wrestle each other when they were both in their sixties, so an uncut in their prime battle is pretty much wrestling Christmas. This was a straight classic too, both guys at the height of their genius.

Dundee was such a killer in this match, he attacks early and often and never lets up. I cannot think of a wrestler in history with more swag then Dundee and he was at his apex in this match. Dundee on this night was Jimi at Woodstock, Steve McQueen in Bullet, Pimp C in the International Players Anthem video, he was at his peak. Pounding Lawler all around the ring with huge shots, sending Lawler flying into violent bumps, grabbing the ring stantion and kidney shotting Lawler with it, double stomping Lawler right in his gut, strutting around the ring basking in his glory. I loved him using the no DQ stip to potshot Lawler little high school buddy Jerry Calhoun, "I am going to kick your ass, and your tag along pal's ass too".

The highlight of the match for me, is after all of Dundee's onslaught, about 15 minutes in, we see Dundee landing lefts and rights and Lawler starts to stiffen, he drops the strap, like he did hundreds of times before, and hundreds of times after. Today though was not the day for that, and Dundee just flattens him with a left hook and starts stomping Lawler. Just a perfect inversion of a tremendous wrestling trope. I didn't mind the finish, as it felt like a comeuppance for all of the abuse Calhoun had taken all match, and left Dundee perfectly justified to send Lawler packing the next week.

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