New Footage Friday: GORDY! HICKERSON! BLACKWELL! HANSEN! SASUKE! ATLANTIS! AMERICAN DRAGON! METAL MASTER!

Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Crusher Blackwell/Phil Hickerson AJPW 12/14/88

MD: Bizarrely giving Hansen performance. This is one of the most giving performances I've ever seen out of him, especially against someone who's not paying him. Was Blackwell bringing him in for shots in his Georgia Indy or something? Did he feel like he owed him for some favor done in 1978 Mid-Atlantic (if so you don't really see that bear out in their AWA stuff)? No idea, but this is a Hansen who's getting crushed by mass, beaten around the ring, and legitimately playing face-in-peril in a bear hug. When Hickerson is in there, he fights back a bit more, but then they just tag Blackwell back in. Remember, this is 89 Blackwell. He's huge, has great presence, and can still do an amazing elbow drop (and miss one for a transition too), but this isn't seven years earlier when he was missing top rope splashes and what not. And, of course, Gordy's on the apron playing clapping cheerleader. Eventually, he has enough, intervenes, survives charges into the corner long enough to get a foot up, and it's academic from there. I'm still filing this under "baffling."

PAS: Hansen was always very good at using his size to overwhelm, and it's cool to see him in the ring with two big motherfuckers who gives as good as they get. This was worn tread on the tires Blackwell, but he was still a quarter horse of a dude with great punches and good use of that girth. Hickerson is a mean asskicker in this to, and I love to watch two guys stand in the pocket with Hansen and not get blown out of the building. Gordy is fun in his exchanges as well, although he isn't in the match a ton. Finish was great, I love a Hansen lariat, and this was one of his nastier ones. He hooks it right under Hickerson's jaw and it looks like it's going to pop his head clean off.

ER: At minimum you knew this was going to be great just because how often do you get to see a tag match where Terry Gordy is the smallest man in the match? But how much does it rule that Blackwell and Hickerson took 90% of that match?? Stan Hansen is perhaps the most famous eater of men in pro wrestling history. Hansen can chew someone up more dominantly than anyone, and here he gets completely dominated by Crusher and Hickerson. Sure Hickerson takes some knocks to the head, gets smacked into a ringpost, but it's like Crusher and Hickerson were working the way Hansen and Gordy work every other team. Usually when Hansen takes a shot from someone, he's the one who shakes his head and then angrily walks through it. Blackwell is absolutely impenetrable here, just flattening and outfighting Hansen and Gordy. Blackwell isn't getting the same height on his jumping elbow drops, and he's not doing high dropkicks (or any dropkicks), but he's a tough fat guy with a low center of gravity who punches and headbutts Hansen in the face. 

Blackwell acts like and is treated like the toughest guy in the match, and I love it. His elbow drops look awesome, his missed elbow drops look awesome, his avalanches are delivered with glee, and he's a 5'9 man who convincingly bearhugs Stan Hansen. Two different times in the match he's working over Hansen in the corner, then stops Gordy's interference with one strike! Gordy charges in to save Hansen and Blackwell just turns around and punches him! Later, Gordy charged in and Blackwell just mule kicked Gordy away and ignored Gordy's forearm! Blackwell worked like the total star of the match, which is the most fun way the match could have been worked. Hickerson also appears to be having a blast on his only trip to Japan, a trip where he and Blackwell will be the team in the RWTL who wins no matches. Hickerson seems to really bathe in the new audience, and Blackwell holding Hansen and Gordy in the corner like he was Andre, so that Hickerson can fly across the ring with an avalanche, was a real moment of wrestling bliss. Hansen decides to shut things down the way he does. Hickerson goes back to the well on that avalanche and eats a boot, then the hardest possible Hansen running shoulderblock. Elbow pad adjusted, Hickerson whipped, lariat takes us out. Who could have guessed this would be a 10 minute Blackwell/Hickerson showcase? A great on paper match worked within an unexpected structure is a great treat. 

El Hijo de Anibal/Atlantis/Great Sasuke vs. Java Genjin/Tutankhamen VIII/Macho Pump MPRO 7/24/03

MD: Lost MPRO match that's a good use of fifteen minutes of your time. I haven't seen much Anibal, Jr., but he died of COVID earlier this year. I thought he looked pretty solid here actually, having a decent amount of size, only slight awkwardness because of it, a fearless dive or two, and a nice running elbow. It followed a pretty standard lucha structure despite being one fall. The tecnicos got to shine early, including everyone feeding for Sasuke and Atlantis getting to do some more tricked out one-vs-two spots than I usually remember him doing. When the rudos took over, it was primarily Jabagengi (Being Gran Apache, of all people, working a monkey man Neanderthal gimmick, of all things) directing traffic. It was solid but maybe lasted a little too long without enough motion. They worked for the comeback and went into bigger exchanges. Tutankhamen shined here more than in the rest of the match, including a double jump twisting senton bomb and a no hands dive over the top, but maybe he was a little too into celebrating after the fact. Macho Pump had some personality and got tossed by the head by Atlantis and I have nothing else to say about him. Finish maybe needed a little more zing, but the dives before it had plenty. Basically, the highs were high and lows were few and tolerable. Fun stuff.

PAS: I thought this was neat stuff, MPRO six mans are such a joyful formula style of match. Gran Apache in a monkey suit and Fantastik in King Tut hat do a great job of filling in the KDX rudo base role, and this is some of the better Macho Pump I have seen. They were especially great at basing and bumping for Atlantis, just flying around for all of his offense, I loved the height and distance Macho Pump got on the monkey flip, it was almost Eddieish. All of the dives looked great, we couldn't always see where they landed, but man does Sasuke fly out sight with recklessness and force, it is almost crazier when we don't see his running tope con hilo land. Fantastik hit a crazy flipping springboard senton in the ring, and a wild no hands tope con hilo on a prone Anibal, he was so good every time he showed up in Japan but never went anywhere in Mexico.

ER: 2000s MPRO is a fed ripe for discovery for me, a real blindspot outside of a few matches here and there. Before this, did I know that Gran Apache wore a Giant Gonzalez full body skin and fur suit with a Neanderthal mask? I had no idea, and the crowd had no real idea what to make of him. He has a large novelty club and looks like Bubba the Cave Duck, only with a big dark zipper up his back. He grunts and slaps chest and thighs and constantly tries to get the crowd to react to him, and they politely do, but not enthusiastically. I'm not sure I would have even known it was Apache, even though the slap punches were there and he was a strong base for the tecnicos. I adored Apache's backwards bumps to the floor, perfect backwards tumbles over the bottom rope while landing on his feet, a bump to the floor I don't really see in lucha. There's a classic luchador way of bumping rolling over the bottom rope to the floor, holding the rope and flinging your legs over, but this was like Apache tipping backwards into the water before scuba diving. I loved it. Sasuke had what appeared to be a huge Asai moonsault to the floor (tripod camera missed the landing but it got the loudest reaction of the match so it was surely typical Sasuke danger) and hit his big swan dive right at the finish. Anibal hits a great dive and a nice plancha to the floor, plus takes a wild monkey flip in ring that bounces him upside down off the ropes. But Fantastik really takes the cake, taking multiple high backdrop bumps to the floor (often at the hands of Apache by accident), hits a cool double jump springboard somersault senton, a gorgeous bullet tope, and then hits the dive of the match with a hands free senton to the floor, Super Calo style. I love this format, really need to dive more into mid 2000s MPRO. 

American Dragon vs. Metal Master Paris Japan Expo 7/6/08

PAS: Chad Collyer uploaded this, it was from a show in Paris and has a masked Bryan Danielson against a masked Collyer. What a treat, first section of this match saw Dragon working 80s heel, choking with a rope, doing a Ric Rude hip swivel, taking stooging bumps. He was as good doing John Tatum as he is doing souped up Chris Benoît stuff, as he was doing Ricky Morton shtick in WWE tags, what a talent. I thought all of the early over the top heel stuff really paid off at the end of the match, when they had more of a hot workrate finishing run. By then the crowd was fully behind Metal Master, and chagrined every time Dragon got a bit of an advantage. The execution on the finish had a bunch of cool little flourishes, including Dragon doing a super fast Saint escape of a waistlock into a back elbow. Video gets choppy at the end, but we still get almost the whole match and a great little snapshot at a small part of an all time greats career. 

MD: Absolutely tremendous. When I saw the word "expo," I half wondered what we were going to get. It hearkened back to some of those lucha performances at other "expos" that end up being as streamlined and straightforward as possible, in front of game but unfamiliar crowds. In that regard, this didn't disappoint. This is 2008 Collyer and Danielson, under hoods, wrestling their version of a high-energy 1989 American match. Danielson completely gives himself over to the role, complaining about the crowd not cheering for him at the start, bumping, stooging, feeding, clowning, and stalling throughout, taking over on an unclean break, playing hide the object with a rope from the turnbuckle, and yes, twice doing the Rick Rude hip swivel and probably having the time of his life in the process. Yet, they show that they understand what works and why it works. The crowd completely comes along with Collyer as he fights his way out of a chinlock. Danielson hits an axehandle off the second rope mid-way through to set up a bit transition as he leaps off the top into a Collyer dropkick later. They had to switch cameras towards the end and you got the sense that the person had technical difficulties and had to be selective in what was captured, but you get the broad idea of it. Towards the end, they cycle into Steamboat/Savage pin attempts, and some very believable 1989 power move near falls, before Danielson reverses a flying body press and grabbing the tights for the win. Full commitment, total patience and restraint, great understanding of what works and why. I'm sure they had a blast doing it. It's a great performance from both guys and another feather in Danielson's cap.

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St. Louis Dream Match: Harley Race vs Crusher Blackwell

Harley Race vs Crusher Blackwell (St Louis, November 16th, 1984)

Roy Lucier's been doing the Lord's work (Blears, Littlebrook, Hayes, whoever). From what I can tell, he's gotten his hands on a fairly big collection of footage and has been going through it and posting it to youtube. A lot of this stuff has been out there in tape trading circles but not necessarily online before. All sorts of stuff, Poffo ICW I haven't seen before (including a long Gang vs Savage match), a bunch of Hawaii, some Montreal, just all sorts of stuff.

This match, in particular, is St. Louis, aired on Japanese TV. It's something I knew was out there, always wanted to see, but didn't necessarily want to buy a bunch of Bob Brown matches to get to it. I've heard that the majority of St. Louis out there is fairly disappointing. You've got basically three wrestlers worth seeing there, Blackwell, Reed, and Race, and this is a singles match between Blackwell vs Race, a week before Starrcade 84, apparently for the NWA title.

A lot of Race ends up being disappointing too. He always gave too much as a heel champion. From the stories and his sheer presence you wanted Brock Lesnar and ended up with a prototype of Flair's worst tendencies. He was a great, energetic bumper, but you wanted to see him kill guys. This, however, is babyface Race in his home territory against a deceptively athletic monster. For twelve minutes it was everything I wanted.

Race was giving, as he should have been, but also double tough. He had the crowd behind him, an opponent who was an obvious threat, and the pro wrestling savvy to know how to milk every moment. The match was going to build to the bodyslam, as well it should, but it got there in a pretty novel way. Blackwell would dominate, would make a mistake, and Race would hit a big move. Then Blackwell would get a bit of paralleled revenge, hitting that same move. In sequence that was a dropkick (yes, Blackwell hit a dropkick), a suplex (yes, Race hit a suplex on Blackwell), and then finally the slam. In between, Race punched Blackwell in the face a ton of times, they ran a couple of headbutt spots where babyface Race's head was a force of nature, and they have a pretty surprising finish considering Race was NWA champion. Blackwell isn't just the most underrated wrestler ever. He's also apparently the most unexpected NWA champion of all time. 

I've seen three major matches this weekend, the 77 Race vs Funk NWA Championship classic, an 82 Bockwinkel performance vs JYD which was downright amazing, and this. I'm not going to say that this could touch the Race vs Funk match, because very little can, but it's everything I wanted it to be from these two and has become instantly is one of my favorite 100 or so matches. I can't wait to see what pops up next.

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All Japan Motherload RIP (again): Harley Race/Crusher Blackwell vs Tiger Jeet Singh/One Man Gang

Harley Race/Crusher Blackwell vs Tiger Jeet Singh/One Man Gang

This one's on me. I saw this a few weeks ago and took too much time to post about it. So now the link's down. Maybe it's on that mysterious Meltzer-befuddling Google Drive account of AJPW matches that has been floating around?

Screw it, though. I'm still going to write about it. Almost certainly, it'll pop up again at some point. This was about nine minutes, of which only six or so was in the ring, but it's really great for what it was. Yes, Blackwell is virtually immobile at this point. Yes, Race is probably hurting to some degree. Yes, Tiger Jeet Singh is in the match. It's still tremendous.

Race is someone who is best when he's in a slightly askew situation. That is, I'm not excited to watch him stooge and sell and give a ton of a match as NWA champion. I am excited to watch him try to get something out of Singh while two lumbering behemoths crash into one another in the background. Here, he plays off Singh perfectly, making is garbage into gold. Right from the get go, he's fending off a pre-match ambush with grizzled bravado, standing on the second rope and leaning over, daring Singh closer as the ref tries to hold him back. Later on (after slamming Gang, but we'll get to that), he plays face in peril, actually bring some gravitas to Singh's throat poke BS. When the spike comes into play, he wrestles for the very back row with a broad shot to get it, and a picture perfect suplex that would have ended the match barring interference. They go tumbling out and brawl to close it out in AJPW style. I'm not sure I'd ever want to see the pairing again, but once was exactly what it should have been and it was all Race.

The match, in the ring, started with Blackwell vs Gang, though, and again, it was everything you could have wanted out of two minutes of them clashing. Sizing up. Shoving contests, slam attempts, Gang tarzan-ing his chest, a killer big boot out of nowhere, a clothesline, Blackwell coming back by bullying past a second clothesline, and then the missed shots, an Avalanche, a Splash, a Counter Splash, and Blackwell hitting this amazing falling dropkick thing, which set up the tag and the Race slam.

Sure, this was fairly short and had one of those inconclusive All Japan 80s finishes but it's a blast. Just a real battle of the titans.

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All Japan Motherload - Stan Hansen/Crusher Blackwell vs. Terry Funk/Giant Baba - AJPW 9/8/82

ER: Can you think of a more badass team that you don't think about as an actual team? Hansen and Blackwell, just chomping and stamping everything in sight. Blackwell knows how to take Baba offense really well, and I loved Baba's double chops to his throat. Hansen was an as-expected beast in this. He's the guy who always took it to Baba more than anyone, and I always loved the dynamic between them. So you have one of my all time favorite match-ups in Hansen/Funk, a great dynamic in Hansen/Baba, and the wildcard being a big bumping fatso with great right hands. Yes please. One of the great things Hansen does is charge somebody when they tag in. Baba tags in, Hansen starts bearing the shit out of him as he's still in the ropes. Hansen always does this and seeing it always reminds me that every other tag wrestler is a tentative pussy. Hansen and Finlay are the guys who never let guys rest on their laurels in a match, always keep active and always keeps things moving. God if they had ever crossed paths. I love Hansen constantly bringing it to Funk/Baba, but Hansen - like Finlay - is also always super generous if you play along. You take his shit, he'll make your shit look world beating (even though Funk doesn't really need that help). Hansen leans into Baba's big boot, staggers around all over for Funk's flawless jabs, Blackwell flies over the top to the floor to put over Baba's throw strength, ring boys run in at the end to eat right hands (and with their short slicked down parted hair and tank tops/short shorts they all look like little Jerry Lucases) and this was just the best kind of 10 minutes.

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THE MOTHERFUCKING INTERNET- Terry Funk v. Crusher Jerry Blackwell 1982

Terry Funk v. Jerry Blackwell AJPW 9/82

Fellow SC'er MattD came across this youtube page which is uploading a treasure trove of previously unavailable AJPW stuff from the 70's and 80's (Bruno v. Brody, Murdoch v. Race ect.) This is the one that leaped out at me, a dream match you never really dreamed about. Lots of great moments in this with Funk weeble wabble selling from Blackwell's ham hock punches, Terry trying a bunch of headbutts which Blackwell smiles at, and then blasts him with a headbutt of his own (which left a swath of Terry's blood on Blackwell's head, and a rare clean finish. Blackwell is a great guy with a limited amount of footage, and it so fun for a new gem like this to show up.

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