New Footage Friday: Harley Race, Briscos, Fujinami, Aoyagi, Flair

Harley Race/Bill Watts vs. Brisco Brothers CWF 10/8/74

MD: Watts was a little too "Thumb-throat-y" but he was the most interesting part of this match. I haven't seen much early 70s heel Watts. I always picture him as the standing tall older babyface, or maybe the athlete one before his heel turn. Here he and Race paired off well, a couple of thick goons, though the end with Watts wanting the pin was a little weird. I liked how the momentum shifts worked here, with the Briscos getting relatively hot tags but not being able to turn the tide. The threat of the thumb was pretty great, especially towards the end when Watts kept going for it and getting countered. One thing that really shines through in this stuff is how over and revolutionary the diving headbutt off he ropes was. I think, despite what Race has said in interviews, I'd always taken it for granted until this footage dump. Anyway, it's better to get a match full of cuts where you can still get so much of the narrative and the ebb and flow than not to have the match at all.

PAS: Clipped matches like this always hurt the completist part of my brain, but it was good to see youngish Harley and Bill Watts. The Briscos are really expressive sellers, and they make every thump by the heels look devastating, the heel control section of this felt pretty violent. The diving headbut was nasty, Jerry was basically convulsing after Race hit it. Fun bit of footage, but it made me wish we had more stuff from this era more complete.

 
Harley Race vs. Jack Brisco CWF 8/12/78

MD: We get the first five minutes and the last five minutes of this and the first five. The first five were nothing at all, Harley controlling with a front facelock and barely any moving in and out of it. They were going long and it showed. If we had more if it, it probably would have built to something meaningful, but the cut hurts this badly. The last five building to the time-limit draw were stellar though, everyone drained, parched and exhausted, with Harley selling exactly the way a vulnerable champion at the end of his rope should. The fans were hanging on every moment with Brisco fiery and determined. We've seen this a thousand times, but at this point in the 70s, maybe they'd only seen it a hundred. It's a shame that we don't have more of this but at least the network has given us some glimpses of Brisco the challenger. 

 

Ric Flair vs. Harley Race Mid-Atlantic 11/14/80

MD: Every time we get to see 80 babyface Flair, it kills me we don't have more real footage. This is sputtering moments of film, but it tells a story. You can see a match chained together. Like a lot of Flair matches from this period, you see him do some things (here, namely, the double axehandle to the leg hanging over the top rope and his standing knee) that you wish he hadn't dropped later in his career. Part of me thinks that at the end of the day, Flair was a better face than he was a heel, especially the heel he ultimately became. This is just the stuff I wish we had, a super over babyface Flair working in front of the same molten crowd week in and week out.

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami NJPW 12/3/93

MD: Most of this was enjoyable but it really misses the oomph at the end. It was a lot of what you'd expect, Fujinami biting off more than he must have expected, with Aoyagi an endless whirl of kicks. I liked Fujinami's desperation as this went on, first with the barely latched dragon screw, then just chucking him out. When comes back, it's a temporary respite because Aoyagi isn't about to back down. The end was the world's most effective chinlock. Fujinami just decides to choke the hell out of him with it, which lets him put on the dragon sleeper. It fit the tone of desperation but I think I wanted something at least a little more elaborate.

PAS: This was a really fun scrap. Fujinami is such a bigger star then Aoyagi (outside of Segunda Caida of course) that is surprising to see Aoyagi take so much of the match. Aoyagi really blitzes him throwing a variety of wheel kicks, front kicks, knees and nasty body shots, really overwhelming attack which Fujinami seemed unprepared for. I liked how Fujinami fired back and showed he could stand and trade too, and the dragon sleeper was a great finish. Sort of minor Aoyagi, but had the freneticism which he was so good at bringing.

ER: This felt like a better version of the lame 90s Randy Savage match structure, where his opponent would take the entire match and when it was time to go home he would just hit a bodyslam and flying elbow. This was Aoyagi absolutely wrecking Fujinami with kicks - and some of these kicks were hard even for Aoyagi - while Fujinami absorbed and waited for Aoyagi to kick himself out, and then the dragon pounced. There were some kicks that Aoyagi threw to Fujinami's thighs and hamstrings that - had I been given the choice between those kicks or a baseball bat - would make me consider the baseball bat. I'm pretty surprised Aoyagi was as dominant as he was here. Fujinami was one of the biggest names in the fed, Aoyagi was certainly not, and Japan wasn't really the place where an undercarder could suddenly waste a main eventer. Aoyagi gives so many nasty shots, and I love how valiantly Fujinami stood with them, and loved how he slowly crumbled from them. There were moments where he sold as if he was slowly losing function of every limb that was being attacked, and it ruled. When Aoyagi starts to slow, and Fujinami's body starts screaming at him to stop rope-a-doping it into dust, Fujinami attacks quick and aims to put this thing behind him. I don't love the match structure where one guy takes 85% of a match and the other decides to just finally finish things, but it helps when the 85% is filled with Aoyagi being awesome.

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New Footage Friday: Mando, Chic, Flair, Race, Youngblood, Briscos, Steamboat

Mando Guerrero vs. Golden Boy Olympic Wrestling 5/80

PAS: Roy Lucier is uploading some dying days Olympic Wrestling from LA, and this was corker of a match. Its a Mexican death match which basically is a street fight, Golden Boy is Chick Donovan working a Nature Boy gimmick. Mando jumps him at the bell and wrecks him. Throwing him around the ringside, including using the empty front row seats to run and dive off of (cool use of the seats, not good that the whole side of the front row is empty.) He grabs two straps and laces Chick with them and just rips apart his arm including chair shots and nasty crossarmbreakers. Mando is a force of nature in this match, coming at him with such intensity. Donovan rakes the eyes to take over and opens Mando up by smashing his head into the turnbuckle bolts. He works the cut and gets the pin after a thrust to the throat. Golden Boy comes off like a total badass for surviving that onslaught. Kind of an odd structure with Mando taking 85% of the match before losing, but the work in it was great.

MD: Mando is my least favorite Guerrero. I totally get why someone would like him, and I respect certain things he does. He's the most over-the-top, theatrical Guerrero. He understood how they were viewed by most audiences and most promotions and leaned into that the most. I think he ought to get credit for that with all of his tumbling and flash. It makes for something that really stands out. It just doesn't usually make for good matches.

Here, I had some hope, because some of that mentality, distilled to a straight up brawl, could create something fairly bombastic and memorable. In the first couple of moments, we start to get signs of that too. Unfortunately, it doesn't last. Mando was losing this one and fairly definitively as well. His response? He takes most of the match with holds and containment. Chic barely gets anything. I'd say that this was a context issue in as we don't know what led to a match with such severe stips, but Chic was presented as the next Gorgeous George and the fans didn't seem to care at all that he was getting early and frequent comeuppance. They sat on their hands. By the time the heat and the blood came into play, it was too late. I think these two probably had a really great brawl in them, but that's not what we got here.

TKG: Holy fuck that was great. Have we seen a lot of brawling Chic Donovan before? I’ve seen Donovan live on the indy scene as technical heel doing more Austin Idol mannerisms. But this is full on brawling Donovan and I’m not even sure if you can compare what he was doing to Austin Idol. The announcer compares him to Gorgeous George and he brings a man purse to the ring but not mincing. Donovan’s punch bitchslap/chop combo was like Tenryu if Tenryu looked like a Long Island Jewish Helen Reddy. Mando who were also kind of used to working AWA midcard technical doing carnyish spots also great in brawling showcase. Cool seeing him really attack a bodypart like an illegitimate Anderson brother in match where you expect to be going for KO. Left this wanting to see every match in their feud.

ER: This was great, loved it all. The structure was maybe a little weird, with Mando taking the first 70% entirely and Chic taking up most of the last 30% before winning, kind of a weird almost babyface comeback for Donovan, who really had taken an absolute shit kicking up to that point. Mando punches Chic around ringside, absolute dynamite right hands. Chic takes bumps into the ringpost, into empty front row seats (the crowd didn't feel small, but for whatever reason an entire front row was empty), Mando doing this great downward punch to the forehead while standing on the seats, then running across the row to do a kind of by the hair bulldog onto the seats. He even whips him hard back in the ring with TWO straps, and yanks on his arm a bunch with a big armbar spot. Donovan's comeback was suitably violent too, I agree with Phil that he looked like a total badass taking that beating and then really firing back. It's so weird because he's clearly a smug prick, but here he is getting all this fabulous babyface build and comeback. Mando gets busted open and Chic bites at the cut, and really has cool theatrical punch combos, looks like Sid Caesar doing a Buddy Landel character. This was two guys who I rarely take a look at, and this made me want to see anything they've done that's like this.

Jack/Jerry Brisco vs. Jay Youngblood/Ricky Steamboat NWA 7/9/83

MD: I got a little worried at first since out of twenty minutes of footage, the first few were taken up by the fans pelting Jack and Jerry with trash. I'm always up for that sort of heat, but I still wanted a match too. (I didn't know that the last few were full of the faces stealing the belts and the Briscos complaining about it too). I should have known better. The fifteen minutes or so we got were downright sublime.

It starts with posturing, with Ricky pointing and pointing, a Brisco swiping, a duck, and an atomic drop and it never stops all the way to the finish. I haven't gone back and revisited these matches so I'm not sure entirely how much of this was done down around the horn but it felt both fresh and organic and completely seamless with absolutely no wasted space. Everything didn't just mean something. Everything meant everything.

Steamboat was the king at this. He's already got the biggest armdrag in the world, but here everything was big: every bit of clapping on the apron, every tag, every swipe from the outside. The beatdown on Jay is great, with them targeted the theoretically damaged back with everything in short order: gnarly holds, a Billy Robinson backbreaker, this amazing suplex right onto middle the top rope, back first. The hot tag doesn't feel entirely earned, but the fans buy it and it leads to a little loop that allows Jay back into make an even better hot tag. The finishing segment is great with the faces demolishing a leg (with both these great Dibiase fistdrops onto it and the most beautiful Indian Deathlock you'll ever see) before shenanigans allow the the Briscos to take the win. Just a great match from a great series.

PAS: This was excellent, one of the best new matches we have seen from the Network. Classic tag wrestling set up, with all four guys working at a high level. The Briscos beat down on Jay was an all timer, they are both such asskickers, I have found title match Jack Brisco a bit dry, but heel tag wrestler Jack Briscoe is great. That suplex on the tope rope, looked like it might have put Youngblood in traction. Steamboat is a dynamic hot tag too, just so good at portraying hyped up energy, and the Briscoes fly around for him like champs, I love all of his goofy karate chops, totally what you thought martial arts looked like before anyone actually saw it. You don't see a ton of face tag team limbwork, but man do Steamboat and Youngblood go after the knee, the Indian deathlock by Jay is maybe the best I have ever seen, he is floating off the mat with a perfect bridge. We get a solid BS finish and an irate crowd ready to murder the Briscos. Thought this was way better then the Starcade match, and was up there with the top 80s tags.

TKG: Early 80s Race and Flair are guys you think of as having pretty big movesets but really they get eclipsed by Briscoes and Youngblood/Steamboat. These guys are just whipping out moves. All the cool stuff working over Youngblood’s back: the first back backbreaker etc. People talk about Steamboat’s moveset shrinking in WWF mostly in terms of him dropping the superplex but there is so much stuff he shelved. Also you think of Flair and Race as big bumping guys and while they have their more elaborate bumps, the heel Briscoes flying around are really slapstick amusing. I wish Roughhouse reffed this match too

ER: This was incredible. What a all time great tag match. This honestly made me rethink the standing of the Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Can Ams match. This was the first time I think I've ever thought the Briscos looked more kickass than the Briscoes. Jack Brisco in this match would be one of my all time favorite wrestlers. Brisco is a hyped guy I usually don't get excited for, but here my god. What a colossal dickhead, and a dominant one; he beats Youngblood around the ring, great punches, big knees, drops two vicious kneedrops to Youngblood's chest, hits this almost press slam bodyslam, just major strength. Gerry was an absolute savage here as well, in ways I've never seen. He looks like he's going to snap Youngblood in two places when he stands way too far away on a slingshot suplex, just bending Youngblood over that top rope and muscling him over. He even saves the match and wins it in one fell swoop by diving in with a huge outstretched splash as Steamboat is pinning Jack. And that babyface team my god! Youngblood took a furious asskicking and by the 15:30 mark of this match you start noticing that Youngblood has garnered so much damn sympathy through his beating that this building is rabid. Men and women, old and young alike are just screaming there heads off for Jay and Ricky. It's beautiful pro wrestling. Steamboat has a magnificent hot tag, heavy as hell chops, big haymakers, big mannerisms, everything explosive. He's making up fistdrop variations on the fly, drops two great ones onto the screaming Gerry's inner thigh. What?? This was smoking hot, screaming loud, hard hitting, worth the ticket price professional wrestling. What a find.

Ric Flair vs. Harley Race NWA 7/9/83
PAS: New Flair matches aren't really that interesting to me at this point, but this was a new babyface Flair match, and he works pretty different as a face. These are a pair of really dynamic offensive wrestlers, and I really enjoyed watching them tee off on each other. Race has some shtick I don't love, but man does his stuff look great, he just crushes Flair with knee drops and punches. Flair breaks out some offense we don't normally see from him too, a flying forearm, some cool looking uppercuts and he actually hits his top rope elbow instead of getting punched in the stomach. Flair actually press slamming Race off the top rope is a nice bit of role reversal. We get a version of my least favorite Race spot, where he does a brainbuster on the floor, instead of a piledriver, but it is as dumb that Flair has to go back on offense so soon. This wasn't a match with a ton of substance to it, but it was a real go go offensive match which totally got the crowd into it, and any chance to see different shades of these great wrestlers in appreciated.

MD: This was a pretty standard 20 minute title match. Unfortunately, they worked the first part like it was more of a 60 minute one. Watching Flair-as-champ matches, almost always the most enjoyable part is how he works both on top and from underneath during the initial holds, the struggle, the abandon, how they work in and out with spots. Here, Flair was the face and there was very little of that. It was pretty boring and it was almost a relief when they cut to the crowd doing something interesting instead.

Thankfully, it picked up from there, mimicking some of the other Flair-Race matches we have from that summer. I liked seeing the wrinkles. There are a few matches where Race suplexes Flair on the floor, but here, instead of reversing a pile driver to recover, Flair dodges a diving headbutt. The suplex itself was super nasty because Flair's foot got caught on the rope barricade. (There was also the fake out elbow drop as Race rolls, which is a great spot in any match) The back half is heated and exciting, building to amusing sequence where they almost couldn't decide on which bs finish would actually end the match. The real star of the show was the little girl they kept cutting to who was increasingly annoyed by everything Race did. I'm glad we got this one, as it's always notable to see another pure babyface Flair performance, but the worst parts of it didn't live up to the best parts.

TKG: Camera person spends a lot of time on a girl who you expect to be picking a daisy in an anti-Goldwater commercial and she really is into this match and you get why it would work for her. I love some babyface Flair. Love the babyface Flair bumps, the offense etc. This is more Flair from above babyface Flair then you get in say 89 or so and early parts of this are Race begging off till he headbutts Flair in the dick. I’ve complained in the past about Race’s suplex on the floor spot where it demands that opponent get back in ring before 10 count and often is next guy on offense. But it’s perfect here as the missed diving headbutt to floor set up Flair’s transition to offense and Flair knows how to continue selling while transitioning. The match is reffed by Sonny Fargo who is fantastic, does a great job eating his first bump and just all his timing and interactions to set up finish really make sense and are believable. He knows Flair doesn’t want to win by DQ and is willing to let things slide for a while but…

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New Footage Friday: DiBiase, Brisco, Thesz, Longson, Gotch, Masked Russians

Wild Bill Longson vs. Lou Thesz NWA 6/7/52

PAS: Cool chance to look at Longson who was a four time NWA champ in the 40s. He has a bruiser style with some nice headlock punches and big clubbing forearms. We get to see both guys uncork their signature moves to win falls, Thesz hits a Thesz press to win fall one, and Longson hits a couple of short piledrivers to take fall two. We didn't really get to see much of master grappler Thesz, although there was a cool leg stretch, and I really like how Thesz works into lock ups. Kind of an odd match structure with Thesz responding to losing the second fall, by bum rushing Longson with dropkicks and getting a third fall in two minutes.

Masked Russian vs. Karl Gotch/Rene Goulet WWWF 1/22/71

MD: Take lovable Frank (Wupperman) Morgan from The Shop Around the Corner, add in Hecule Poirot, and overlay it with 300% of Dan Severn into the mix and you get WWWF Karl Gotch. This is a long 2/3 fall tag title match with a heels-shove-the-ref DQ finish but it's all about the two major Gotch segments. In the first, he's an absolute mat wizard, grabbing limbs from out of nowhere. He knows it. His opponents know it. The fans know it. Everyone pops for everything. It's awesome. The second, however, is amazingly surreal. He does all that but with this wild comedy streak, like a Les Kellett or a Catweazle. You can almost hear Bavarian accordion music behind him. It's the most credible, over the top Oktoberfest imaginable and I've never seen its like. He banks on both that credibility and the obvious skill and deftness to add outrageous punctuation to every movement and the masked Russians play along to the crowd's delight. I've seen very little Gotch in general, but it's absolutely perfect for the WWWF setting, not rock'n'wrestling but polka'n'wrestling in the best possible way.

Oh yeah, Goulet was in this match too. He gets one and a half sentences: He gets credit for utilizing every wrestling trope at his disposal but brought absolutely nothing unique or interesting of his own to the table; he was just there.

PAS: I haven't seen much Gotch (don't think there is much to see) but the stuff we have is from Japan and he works as a master grappler, that is not what we get in this match at all. Here Gotch is a high end dancing babyface, more like Mr. Wrestling 2 or Bullet Bob and he is incredible at it. The Russians run around and stooge as he throws spin kicks or does ole's or throws them down with lighting fast takedowns. Outside of Gotch this is a bog standard 70s WWWF tag, but man he lights the screen on fire every time he shows up.

ER: This was certainly a WWF tag match from the 70s. I think this was actually the first time I've seen Gotch, and I certainly wasn't expecting flamboyant dancing babyface Karl Gotch. I'm less of a fan of the dancing babyface, though I am sure there are exceptions. Gotch had some fine moments and since he and Goulet spent 95% of the match on offense, it was really impressive the energy he brought to things. He was moving practically the entire time whenever he was in, helluva gas tank. I was expecting suplexes and holds, but his work was a lot of strikes, some of them stiff (like his European uppercuts) and others were worked but thrown well (his punches). Gotch was fun, and kind of weird, but I did really enjoy one of the Masked Russians. Was it Igor? Was it Ivan? Nobody will ever have any way of knowing. There's a chance those two guys didn't even remember which one they were on a given night. But one of them was quite a bumper, tumbling expertly on Gotch's beal throws, stooging better than the other Russian, and taking an awesome bump over the top to the floor off a Gotch uppercut late in the match. That bump was easily my favorite thing in this match. Rene Goulet expertly filled in the "hold an arm lock for minutes at a time in a WWF 70s/80s tag match" role, annoyingly.

Danny Hodge/Jos LeDuc vs. Pak Song/Toru Tanaka CWF 11/12/74

MD: We get the last seven minutes of this and we have so little of Hodge that even a couple of minutes is a big percentage increase. Really, the only thing worth mentioning of his, though, were his house afire comeback punches, which were plentiful, endless really, and sort of goofy, Backlundish maybe? The crowd completely bought into them though. 30 year old babyface LeDuc on the other hand was just a pure bumping hoss. He's the story here.

ER: This was my first time seeing legendary wrestler and boxer and strong man Danny Hodge, someone we've read nothing but great things about, and my reaction to it is that I would like to see more Jos LeDuc. Big bumper, loved a spill he took towards the ropes, and add this to his legendarily great look. Hodge working as a more spirited old Jimmy Valiant was odd; I was expecting him to grip Tanaka and squeeze his head until it pops.

Ted DiBiase vs. Jack Brisco Georgia 2/5/84

PAS: Another complete match from the Omni, every time we get one of these I just salivate more about the stuff we aren't seeing. I was a low voter on DiBiase when I was putting together the Mid-South DVDVR set, and this kind of match was the reason. It was 10 minute match with one long chinlock from each guy and a loaded glove finish. There were a couple of cool moments, I loved DiBiase dead-weighting on a bodyslam attempt, and then bumping huge on the second try, and Brisco had a great looking backbreaker. Still this match structure is pretty lazy and not particularly interesting to watch, and was emblematic of my problems with DiBiase as a top guy.

MD: By the books heel Dibiase against an over opponent. Honestly, this was paced like it was going to go twice as long with long holds without a lot of movement in and out. I will say this about Dibiase: he was fully committed to everything that happened. They teased a slam. Then they hit a slam. Then Dibiase sold it. Build meaning. Pay it off. Sell that it's important. It's not rocket science, but again, no one takes the time for it anymore. If we're going to watch this much old footage, I'm going to point that out now and again. Unfortunately, there's not a ton else to point out here. I did like the loaded glove finish, and again, how Ted made sure to dramatically sell the figure-four as he was crawling over for the pin. I wish they'd upload these Omni matches as whole shows, but I'm just glad we have them at all.

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New Footage Friday: Brisco, Flair, ROBLEY, Hansen, Bruno, Baba, Idol, Race

Since the Network only dropped one gem this week (although it is a shiny one for sure), we supplemented this post with a couple of cool All Japan Handhelds from the deep well of cool handhelds unearthed by Pete.

Giant Baba/Bruno Sammartino vs. Harley Race/Buck Robley AJPW 10/8/81

MD: The video quality on this handheld is washed out to the point where Robley's trademark yellow shirt barely looks yellow. I'm not going to say it helps, but it is sort of cool to see Baba as this looming, giant presence in poor VQ. This had a ton of novelty. It's not every day you can see Race vs Bruno and even Bruno vs a guy as slimy as Buck seems rare.

If I'm reading the date right here, this was a few days after Bruno's retirement match with George Steele, him finishing up with his last commitment to Japan. I have no idea where this was on that tour, but he must have felt good about it because he was incredibly spry here. He looked like a wrestling machine against Race early on and when he was tagged in later, he was moving so quickly and bringing so much intensity that I had to check to make sure I wasn't on 1.5x speed. Everyone else looked good too, with Robley sneaky and mean, Race bumping and bringing down hammers, and Baba so good at utilizing his size for big, visual comeback moves, but this was the Bruno show. There's not much better in wrestling than watching a washed out, unearthed video of Bruno repeatedly deadlifting Robley from a grounded armbar.

PAS: I thought this was awesome, it isn't technically an all time great match, but for pure enjoyment it is just a blast. Bruno was off the charts in this, he was moving like one of those Shaolin guys CIMA is training, super fast armdrags, great powerful takedowns and reversals, the armbar deadlifts. What a bummer his retirement was, it is too bad he didn't just spend the next decade working UWA and CMLL cards. I really enjoyed the Race and Robley team too, they were nasty cheapshot artists in this, great looking sneaky jabs and elbows, both guys are master dirty boxers, they would always find a way to sneak in a shot. I told Eric we were reviewing this match, and he kept referring to it as "The Robley match" despite having three of the biggest stars in wrestling history, and it is kind of justified. Robley is a guy we don't have much of, but is kind of an American Kurisu, balding sleazebag who will just kick your ass, and he totally feels like he belongs with the all time greats.

ER: Hahaha it didn't even cross my mind to call this match anything other than "The Robley match". Buck Robley turning up on tape is going to be something I'm going to want to see. He's a great guy to turn up in All Japan, as Robley looks like someone who would be in Clint Eastwood's stock of character actors that he would bring along on movies, like Bill McKinney or Paul Koslo, like you'd see Robley turn up as a bartender in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot or as the camp cook in Joe Kidd. He had those narrow mean eyes and shabby muzzle, and looked like someone who would try to rip the nose off your face if he misheard you. If this match was a western and he was the star, then the fans would clearly be watching Buck Robley in: The Man Who Would Be Pinned. And he's awesome in this as Race's scrappy lackey (and would most certainly try to rip my nose off if he heard me call him scrappy), always flying in and dropping elbows on necks, dropping a knee right after Race drops a knee, running interference so Race could sneak in a punch to the eye, kicking Baba in the head to break up a pin, getting ragdolled by Bruno on a great bearhug, essentially wrestling as if he were a man starting a bar fight on Deadwood. He's a proto Necro Butcher who doesn't have the physical gifts or athleticism, so works messy and mean instead. Bruno had a fantastic hot tag here, one of my favorites in recent memory, running in quicker than a cruiserweight and just overwhelming Robley, Robley looking like a guy barely able to keep his head above water, Bruno just effortlessly muscling him around the ring. Bruno was working like if Danielson had packed on 40 lb. of muscle but still wrestled the same. His hot tag reminded me of WCW Finlay matches where he would work really fast for a minute to almost try and trip up his opponent. Bruno looked iconic here. I love a good bearhug and this was a masterpiece, looking like he could snap Buck in two, and Buck selling it like a panicked animal in a trap. Awesome find.

Ric Flair vs. Jack Brisco GCW 4/7/84

MD: I think we were all hoping for another dump of multiple matches, and maybe even expecting at least a few, but if you're going to get one match, a 20 minute unearthed GCW Brisco vs Flair NWA Title Match is a good way to go.

It was Flair as heel champ against a legendary technical babyface, so you know exactly what to expect coming in. Let's face it. By 2018, with the amount of footage we have at our disposal, the old Flair adage is spot on: "Learn to Love It." You know what you're getting from Flair, so come in looking for the positives and be prepared to forgive the negatives. In short, enjoy and take in what unique elements are you going to get from the specific opponent and setting and lean into what we know Flair does as well as anyone: work from underneath during the first act matwork (ignoring the fact that none of it will ever matter for the rest of the match), hit his stuff (and he had more stuff at this point of the 80s than he would later) well, and have a hot finishing stretch that the crowd would be 110% into.

As such, I was pretty happy with this. Brisco had won a TV tournament (over Sweet Brown Sugar and Brad Armstrong) to get the shot. He was working TV as a tweener-heel, refusing, for instance, to give Brad extra time to prepare for the finals after he took an errant shot from an angry Hawk during his semi-final match vs Horner. Unfortunately, he wrestled this as a total babyface. That first act consisted of a nasty headlock and a short-arm scissors, which is one of my favorite holds in general. Brisco kept rolling with it as Flair tried to get out. Good stuff. Like I said, Flair had more offense for his mid-match control here than he'd have a few years later, including a killer neckdrape over the top rope. Brisco did his part, selling well both here and especially in the stretch. The finish was this great cradle/roll up (really, almost a crucifix) reversing a fired-up hiptoss attempt, which was something so good it's crazy Flair didn't use it more in later years. So, as far as basic Flair match grading goes, this hit all the marks really well.

Where it excelled was in the little things. That early headlock allowed a tease for the shin-buster, which was paid off late match when a far-more-tired Brisco would go back to a headlock. Flair then hit the shin-buster and got the figure-four for a finishing tease. The transition to Flair taking over was beautiful. Hebner stopped a Brisco punch in the corner (one that was well deserved as Flair had gone to the dirty breaks first) and Flair got a knee in. Normally, it'd be iffy, because a lot of the heat ends up on the ref, but Flair was savvy enough to follow it immediately with a shoving match with Hebner. In later years, the ref stuff, while always getting a pop, tended to be detrimental. Here, it ensured the heat would stay on him and not Hebner, even as he took over on Brisco. It's small things that would get homogenized later, like Flair making sure to raise his hand as he reached the top rope, as if he actually intended to hit a piece of offense instead of just getting tossed off because it's what the fans expected.

Again, I was hoping for multiple matches/surprises, but if they can manage to post something at this level every week, I'll be happy.

PAS: For a guy who I completely adore it is hard to get excited about unearthed Flair gems. So much of his stuff has been available and picked through over the years, that I would really only be excited if he was against a idiosyncratic opponent. While there isn't much Jack Brisco footage out there, I kind of get his gist. Despite some subdued expectations I did enjoy what both guys brought to the table. I am a total mark for a short arm scissors, and I loved Brisco using that rolling short arm scissors as a control method, rather then just sinking in a headlock or leglock. The match really got rolling when it turned into more of a brawl, both guys have great looking punches, Flair chopping downward shot to the nose is a true classic shot and it looked like he really watered Brisco's eyes with it. That finishing cradle roll up was really awesome looking and such a cool flash pin, really great way for a heel champ to win clean, while still making the babyface look good. Neat match, although the fact that they have this footage is probably the most exciting part of it.

Austin Idol/Stan Hansen vs. Tiger Mask 2/Jumbo Tsuruta AJPW 8/28/87

MD: Good ten minute match. I thought Idol brought elements you don't always see in AJPW to the table. Occasionally, he was there as a random, chaotic element while Hansen was doing his thing, stalking around ringside with a chair getting a cheapshot in. When he was directing traffic, however, it was more of a southern tag. There was a significant section where they were controlling Jumbo by working his arm and that was all Idol. He was practically forcing Jumbo up for moments of hope only to pull his hair to get him back down. I'm not sure the fans were buying it and the eventual hot tag wasn't as hot as you'd hope.

It's striking to see how well Tiger Mask II would, even in 1987, make sure not to get swallowed alive by Hansen in a way that his peers couldn't always manage. He'd reverse a whip or drag him to the corner in a way you wouldn't expect. Best moment of the match was probably Hansen having enough of his kicks against the ropes and taking him down brutally for punches and headbutts. Still, whenever I watch these 80s Hansen matches I wish they were just a few percentage points more collaborative. There's a spot where TMII reverses the whip on the outside into the rail and Hansen chases him back into the ring. TMII sputters out with a few kicks that Hansen ignores. If he had eaten a dropkick instead, popped up and goozled him again, it would have meant more. Likewise, after an assisted slingshot splash on Hansen, there's just a kickout by the ropes. If this happened in, say 1987 JCP, there's a far higher chance the kick out would have sent TMII flying out of the ring, which would have been a much better visual. You never want wrestling to be overly cooperative, but sometimes a little bit of working together goes a long way.

PAS: I am a bigger fan of uncooperative Hansen then Matt. I agree he doesn't work with his opponents very well, but I think there is something viscerally thrilling about how he makes everything feels like an jagged fist fight. My favorite spot in the match is where TMII is whipping out a kick combo, and Hansen just grabs the leg and violently double legs him, and starts wildly pounding on him. The Universal Heartthrob was more of a bit player in this, but he was fun running around and cheap shotting folks, I loved Idol but his real strength is with his connection to the crowd, and this is a crowd who doesn't care about him. Jumbo vs. Hansen is a match up which is a little underrated by fans of All Japan, but I always enjoy how Jumbo stands up to Hansen's stuff, he is an ace and he will not be enveloped.

ER: Uncollaborative Stan Hansen is one of my favorite things ever, I love that when you're getting your shots in on him there's that feeling that your luck could run out at any second and he would just walk through your shots to maul you. I love when he walks through shots to attack, and love when he starts to subtly sell shots like a giant gorilla shot with a tranq dart. He'll run through a punch or a big chop or a lariat and you can tell it hurts and he slows and staggers a bit through clenched teeth, all while continuing to move forward. Earned shots against Hansen are the best, and I loved the spot where Hansen chases TMII. If you pissed off that grizzly enough to get him to chase, it means that you've gotten to him; reversing that whip and then the ensuing chase might have ended with Hansen walking right through kicks to get his mitts on him, but I thought it established a very early vulnerability that doesn't always happen. Hansen always feels the right amount of generous to me, which makes runs of offense against him very special. Once Jumbo tags in and slaps him a few times he seems like a guy who could presumably be tangled with. Idol is the tour's "new white Hansen tag partner", and you could probably make a pretty excellent comp of all the random Americans who were brought in for a tour or two to primarily team with Hansen. Idol doesn't work the crowd at all, which is a shame as the unearthed Rip Rogers footage shows that you can bring your sleazy flash Memphis persona to AJPW and make the fans connect with you. Maybe it wouldn't have felt right in the match, but it would have been interesting to see. Anyway, we got to see him scrape the bottom of his boot over Jumbo's face before grabbing an arm, and that's pretty great in itself. I liked the "not clean" breakdown of this tag, there weren't a lot of pretty moments, whenever offense would be done to Hansen he would kind of thrash like a child trying to avoid a bath, and I like the frustrated "Fuck it I'm just getting the bullrope and choking someone" finish. Also, it should always be noted, these handhelds make Hansen matches even better, as you aren't really sure where he's coming from, and then out of the corner you see a chair fly through the air, and then a bullrope whip through the air, and it's like when Bugs would see the Tazmanian Devil approaching and just stand there watching as trees get toppled and animals get stripped of their fur. Hansen is the greatest.

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All Japan Motherload - Terry Funk vs. Masked White Dinguses

Terry Funk vs. The Asteroid - AJPW 10/29/80

ER: In which Bill Irwin wears his Super Destroyer mask and inexplicably works as THE ASTEROID; proceeds to get quietest crowd reaction during ring intros that you have ever heard. Match is JIP and we cut to a gassed Irwin holding a headlock on Funk. And for a match largely controlled by Asteroid this was fun, and got really good by the end when they're throwing great punches at each other. For his part, Irwin brought size, actual snug headlocks (and Funk is a guy who knows how to put over a nice headlock), and then finally throws down with Funk. Once Funk starts laying in the punches it rules and Irwin doesn't embarrass himself. The final two minutes are great with big punches, Irwin taking a nice backdrop, Funk trying to rip Asteroid's mask off, and then hitting a huge butterfly suplex on a large dude. No idea why Irwin thought being called The Asteroid was a cool idea.



Terry Funk/Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Jack Brisco/The Avenger - AJPW 4/27/81

ER: The Avenger is Moose Morowski, who is a name you read and go ohhhhhh yeahhhhh but really have no idea who he is/was. But that name seems like a name you've seen before, somewhere. It's possible he was a villain in some sort of Archie comics universe. Brisco seems thoroughly apathetic towards his partner. This match was all about Brisco doing Brisco-y things, which can be both interesting, unique, and entirely robotic and boring. Funk is hilarious trying to get Jumbo to crack before the bell, as Jumbo clearly wants to start but Funk keeps offering, and eventually Jumbo starts shoving Funk towards the apron. Funk's comic timing is great here as Jumbo would nudge him to the apron and right when Jumbo would turn around Funk would be back in offering to start the tag. Match is basically a bunch of leg work until Avenger taps to the spinning toe hold, while Brisco stands on the apron within reach, opting not to save him. Funk has some cool indian deathlocks and really hams it up spinning into them. Regarding Brisco being both unique and annoying, I like how he actually takes moves more realisitically (within a pro wrestling universe framework). This means no flat back bumps, more believable reactions, not going down on dropkicks but instead being sent stumbling, getting knocked sideways on shoulder blocks. It wasn't realistic in an MMA sense, but pro wrestling real, in the way prime Akira Taue would take offense. When he would do his amateur stuff it also looked really great, namely when Funk was trying to scramble for a tag and Brisco kept blocking him with a front headlock and wide base. It looked awesome. The negative is a lot of Brisco's stuff looks weak, or unfocused. He'll just grab a leg with no real plan, and then Funk just kicks him, with Brisco somehow not planning on Funk using his other limbs. And while sometimes his bumps off shoulderblocks look more real, other times it just looks like him wussing out of them. He rolls away from Jumbo's a little too early, which makes it hilarious when Funk hits him flush with one directly after. For his part, Avenger puts over Funk's leg locks GREAT, yelling and begging through his mask, screaming and putting over the pain. The guy was the most obvious sitting duck on the card, but at least he worked with what he got.



Terry Funk/Dick Murdoch vs. Big John Studd/The Asteroid - AJPW 11/80

ER: Big John Studd was maybe the weirdest guy booked as a giant. Maybe Big Dick Dudley. But Studd never looked much bigger than his opponents, and had a much more slender build than most of them. Here he looked the same exact size and build as Edge. It seriously just looked like Edge working bearhugs and entering the ring over the top rope. It says a lot about styles guys choose to work, as so often you'd hear Edge described as a smaller guy, but it was entirely because he had an awful flimsy moveset. Studd lumbers, clubs and works bearhugs while being the size of Edge, and people presumably bought him as a giant. It's always confused me. Even as a child I didn't understand what was supposed to be a big deal when Andre slammed him. He looked no larger than a couple dozen of the other guys in the WWF. The whole match was worked around Studd getting Terry and Murdoch in a bearhug. I'm a sucker for bearhug spots and you won't find many guys who sell a bearhug better than Terry and Dick. Dick is great regularly rearing back to punch but then getting squeezed back into submission. Terry is even better because he punches Studd right in the face a couple times in a way that Studd did not seem to expect. Funk really smashes him right in the eye, then throws some of the best body blows you've ever seen. And thanks to the internet, the world now has MULTIPLE Asteroid matches floating through its galaxy. The Asteroid does not look very good.  Neil Degrasse Tyson seems to think Earth is overdue to be hit by an asteroid, but thanks to this footage we already know that it actually happened 35 years ago, and we also know that it got deflected by Terry Funk doing the worst spinning toe hold he's ever done.

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