New Footage Friday: RIP Harley, Dory, Villano III, Random French Guys

Harley Race vs. Dory Funk Jr. AJPW 12/12/81

PAS: This was a AJPW HH, and a nifty chance to see what a 70s title match between these two might have looked like. The opening of this match had Dory side headlocking, like a side headlocking machine. His dogged determination to hanging on to a dull headlock almost became a comedy spot. He was working like a Chikara or Beyond guy who's gimmick was "Dory Funk Jr." After they finally move on from that it got pretty great, I loved all of the work around the Indian Death Lock, it was applied in a way I hadn't seen before, and they did a bunch of nifty adjustments and reversals. Race is also a great heater, and when they stood out and started throwing it was pretty great, for all of Dory's starch when he gets fired up he can look good. The match got very good in the end run, with some big suplexes and some drama, although the draw finish was a bit deflating. This wasn't a hidden classic or anything, but it was a good chance to see what these guys could do in a long match.

MD: We come to celebrate Harley Race. I wish, maybe, that we had a different match to do it with, but that is a testament to the man in and of itself. Every time, over the last few years, that a new Harley match that looked interesting popped up, we reviewed it. This is one that was buried, that I didn't actually realize was on this disc. It's not a bad match to choose though. Harley won his first NWA Title from Dory. They had history. I don't think there are many (if any?) full singles match between the two that we have.

Look, this is Dory at his most Dory. He's working towards a draw. The first half of the match is a series of headlocks, building to spots, and brought back down to headlocks. The back half is basically the same thing but with Harley having the advantage. They escalate to a finish that calls back to parts of the match previous. Some of it is serene. Every time Harley starts to get out and has to get cut off is really solid. He was hugely entertaining in that role, feeding, giving, stooging. Likewise, every time he has to cut off Dory, he does so with either a bomb (suplex, pile driver, etc) or an organically placed shot that seems like the most natural thing in the world. It's not that they didn't work the headlocks, with Harley kicking his foot from underneath or lifting and dropping his body while on top. The few times Dory bridged up while in control made it seem tangibly painful. It amazed me a bit how many times they went in and out of it, but it went past the point of tiring me to feeling like real commitment.

I like where they eventually made it to, especially Harley's Indian Deathlock and the eventual reversal. The strikes were just great, Dory's forearm off the ropes, Harley's straight punches in the corner. Something like the first blocked suplex, deep into the match, felt like it really, really meant something. Hell, even Harley's first hit falling headbutt felt like it meant something because he'd missed it once along the ways. These guys were just so credible and the crowd believed them entirely. There's a reason that streamers went flying with the draw. They could get away with this match and even have it feel satisfying when others couldn't. And frankly, there was a great match possible here. If they had chosen some hold other than the headlock, something that would allow for some selling, a revenge hold other than the front facelock, if they had told the same match but had given themselves more of an (almost literal) crutch, then this thing would have singed. As it was, that they got as far as they did with what they chose to go with, and that they were rewarded by the crowd for such, does feel fairly legendary.

Bud Jenkins/Jean Sobek vs Gino Rossini/Eddy Warrant 6/11/88

MD: Look, if have to have Midnight Oil stuck in your head for a few hours because they played it before a 1988 match from Germany, this is the match to watch. I'm not even sure what to say about this. Wrestling can be a lot of different things, from shootstyle to Titanes en el Ring, but the opening exchange of this feels like it taps into an acrobatic genre/tradition that we've barely seen anything of. They intersperse it with some choice shots and heatseeking behind the ref's back because wrestling is wrestling, thankfully. There's the world's most casual ref bump drop kick, an endless stream of machine gun European uppercuts, guys camping on the top rope, and no finish, but you don't really care because you're just glad to have seen this stuff at all.

PAS: Belgian wrestling is apparently it's own wild thing. The opening of this match is totally bonkers, flips and spins that make the most agile luchador look flat footed. I especially loved the way one of these guys (no idea who was who in this match) jumped over a drop down, he floated in the air like he was levitating, this was after some crazy flip ups out of armdrag attempts. It gets a bit more standard in the second half of the match, but that first section was breathtaking and bizarre.


Ciber Black/Emilio Charles Jr./Shocker vs. Mascara Sagrada/Super Mueneco/Villano III 10/5/08

MD: I'd like to say that there's some secret method here at Segunda Caida Labs at how we find these matches, but there's really not. With lucha especially, there are so many regional or lost matches that some random new channel might have something and go under the radar. I do some searches every week or so, for Negro Casas because I want to check out his indy stuff, for Bockwinkel since sometimes you do get lucky there, but also for Emilio Charles. Because of when he passed and because there's no hijo de, you don't get the search
cluttered with a lot of newer matches.

I have no idea what's going on here, save for that the listing says it's a benefit show for Scorpio, Jr. and that the tecnicos come out to the Back to the Future theme (which Villano III's shoulder spikes and cape being awesome). I think that this was one of the first times Charles and Shocker had teamed since their feud in 2001.

This was just fun indy lucha with a bunch of solid, charismatic guys. I loved how meat and potato the initial beatdown was. They used the rope and the ramp, really grinding down. Everything Charles did looked mean. Shocker brought the star power and the fans (at least the young ones) were constantly chanting. They ducked the rule of three on the rudo communication/tecnico comeback and that could have breathed just a little better to prime the crowd. The tercera was full of the fun exchanges that you couldn't get with an initial rudo ambush. It was especially great to see Villano III against everyone. Fun little celebratory match (and only in lucha can a match end with a foul DQ and still feel like a celebration).

PAS: Emilio was rocking an amazing mustache in this match. He looks like a guy Rick Dalton would hunt down on an episode of Bounty Law. It is always worth watching guys like Charles and V3 and Shocker throw hands. This was a very formula lucha main event trios, it was designed to leave the fans satisfied, and not really as something to be rewatched and analyzed. When Super Muneco runs through his routine, it isn't anything new or surprising, and hell he basically made the rudos armdrag themselves, but we need to see him roll his head around and do a crazy dance, and he delivered. Very much a match that delivered.