1969 Match of the Year

Johnny Valentine v. Wild Bull Curry NWA Houston 6/20/69

ER: My god what an unearthed classic. I'd never seen Curry before, and here he's almost 60, looks like Eugene Levy doing a bit as Mr. Peepers, and he's over like crazy. Valentine looks huge, but even he gets intimidated with Curry lurching towards him. We get some great exchanges with both men stalking the other around the ring, Valentine knowing just how to work the crowd and build to Curry spots, and a mean headlock (and I love a mean headlock). Valentine ends the first fall with a slick amateur takedown into a pin, surprising Curry. It surprised me too and made Valentine look like an all time dangerous shooter (which doesn't seem like a stretch). Things get wild in the second when Valentine gets busted wide open by Curry, and goes foggy eyed while Curry punches him in the head and face over and over and over. I'm practically begging Curry to stop when Valentine finally collapses and can't answer the bell. Third doesn't last long as Curry starts punching Valentine again and when great ref Dick Raines tries to pull him off, Curry pops him in the nose. They brawl around the floor and Curry lobs a chair at him, old dude Danny McShain comes out and starts going after Curry, Raines gets popped again, and the fans are going crazy the whole time. Classic stuff.

PAS: Man what an epic performance by both guys. I loved the story of the match early with Valentine trying to infight and grab and grapple, while Curry is trying to get some distance to throw hands. Valentine timed the match to make every Curry blow have a huge effect, and sold the impact and his fear really well. I loved him early trying to readjust his jaw and shake off the cobwebs. There was this great moment after Valentine has grounded and stretched Bull that he tries to throw hands with him, it is a big mistake as Johnny is drilled with big shots and sent flying. I loved the nasty takedown and pin by Valentine to end the first fall, it felt like a guy just trying to get out of this situation any way he could. Second fall was a hellacious fistfight, with Valentine drawn into a toe to toe war and Curry beating him to the punch and busting him open, glassy eyed Valentine squirting blood is an all time great wrestling visual. Had no problem with the third fall ending like it did, as the Wildman could not be contained. Great great stuff and another NWA Classics jewel.


ONGOING ALL TIME MOTY LIST

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1977 Match of the Year

Harley Race v. Terry Funk NWA Houston 7/1/77

PAS: Dear god what a match!! Maybe the best example of a classic NWA title defense we have on tape. 2/3 falls, traditional build with a absolutely off the charts finish. We have an expected long feeling out process, and it is really great matwork. Funk goes after Race's arm with some great arm wringers where he would bootscrape Race in his mush, and yank back violently. Unlike many other great wrestlers (Flair, Bret Hart, Santo) Funk is more of an improv guy then a stick to the script, Bosch mentions on commentary that Funk is doing thing he has never seen before, and I get the sense he is just making moves up in the match. I also loved the sequence built around Race's headscissors where Funk tries to scramble to his feet, such a unique escape. There was also really great variations of tempo in this match, lots of the early work was very deliberate, but there would be moments of speed and explosion, the finishes to both falls were set up by one of the two guys shifting into high gear and catching his opponent a step behind.

3rd fall is what elevates this from a classic to a legend. After Funk planted Race with a piledriver to get the second fall, you could tell he felt the match was his and he goes after the spinning toe hold with reckless abandon. Race counters the toe hold with straight shots right to Funk's eye and Terry starts leaking badly. However Funk will not be deterred, he keeps going back to the hold, tearing away at Race's knee and keeps eating right hands. Funk is betting he can destroy the knee before Race can destroy his face, he decides to walk through fire betting he can drag Race to hell and come out ahead,  he loses the bet as he gets Race down but is too dazed to apply the hold and the ref calls the match. Awesome blood loss selling by Funk and a classic finish.

ER: This was simply amazing. I can't decide what I love most about it, but I know that I love all of it. Funk is one of my three favorite all time wrestlers, and he breaks out some things I've never seen from him. Phil is right that he's more of an improv guy, and I tend to like a lot of his failures while his hits are my favorite wrestling ever. This is all hits. Do you remember Terry doing press slam spots? I don't. Here he does two, and they look amazing. Terry should have done press slams more often. Race looked bigger than him and Funk just hoisted him up and dumped him. I'm a big fan of modern catch point grappling, but there's something far more impressive about these two 240+ lb bosses locking on snug headlocks and ripping arms out of sockets. I don't understand how wrestlers do it. Sometimes I sleep the wrong way and end up with a stiff neck for a month. But here Funk violently yanks Race's arm around, bends it behind his back, yanks it behind him while forcing his other arm back. I tried picture my own arms in that position, without a large human bending them into that spot, and just holding my arms there hurt like hell. I can't imagine these guys going through this nightly.

Race locks on a headlock with his good wing and everything revolving around that headlock is some of the best mat based work I've ever seen. Ever. Every flinch and movement had so much to it that I oddly found myself on the edge of my seat, watching matwork. It's not a reaction I often experience while watching any kind of pro wrestling. Excitement, sure, but rarely edge of my seat tension. Race would crank it, bringing his arm down on Funk's ear, Funk would twist to get out, trying to constrict Race's breathing by hooking Race's leg and forcing his own knee into his chest, looking for openings; it was dramatic as hell, and after seeing countless perfunctory headlock exchanges in NWA title matches, this was a revelation. There's so much to talk about that I just can't talk about all of it. To watch this match is to love damn near every single section of this match. If someone asked, I could easily write 2,000 words on this match. Phil is right that this may be the best example of a classic NWA title defense that we have seen.

I'm amusingly opposite of Phil on what I think made the match legendary instead of "merely" classic. I loved the 3rd fall, but it was this opening fall that made this legendary. This was one of the few times I felt actual intentions amongst the feeling out. There was no "we're going long so we gotta start on the mat" feel to this. The truth of this match was in the details, and these two were not killing time just to build to the go go go. Watch the lock-ups, a simple part of a match that often gets ignored today; these two use a lock-up artfully, and apply them so sturdily that you'd think it was the most important part of the match. These kind of details to a portion (a long portion) of this structure that often gets ignored, made this legendary, made every single second of this match feel important. Few matches in wrestling history are better than this.


ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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Punch Jose Lothario Harder, Make Him Feel It

Jose Lothario v. Great Mephisto NWA Houston 1/18/74- FUN

This is a Brass Knuxs title match, which means that Lothario can throw hands. Mephisto has got quite a bag of tricks, he has a muslim prayer run gimmick, burkaed valet, loaded boot, the whole cheap heat casserole. Not much of a wrestler, but a lot of entertaining shtick. Lothario blows him out in the first fall, unloading awesome looking punches, busting open Memphisto, 10-8 round for sure. Mephisto gets a bit of an advantage in the second fall with Lothario taking a monster bump to the floor and Mephisto loading his orthopedic book. Third fall is more back and forth with Lothario selling a broken rib or punctured lung from the loaded kicks. I would have gone higher on this if Mephisto's stuff looked better, this was a great Lothario performance, but relatively one sided.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JOSE LOTHARIO

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NWA Classics Price Tag Review

Dick Slater v. Mongolian Stomper 7/9/82 $3.00

I was excited to check this out when it showed up. Mongolian Stomper is a legendary figure who I really hadn't seen work in anything but TV matches and clips, here we get to see him in a long 2/3 falls title match, and it was pretty awesome stuff. 1st fall was a bit slow, with Stomper doing some stalling and covering his ears to make the crowd boo him, Slater controls with armbars and takedowns, until the Stomper escapes and starts stomping,and man did he have great looking stomps,  he busts Slater open and puts on a nasty looking claw for the submission, second and third falls were pretty awesome with Slater bloody and brawling finally turning the tables and busting open the Stomper. Wild violent stuff which totally took the crowd along for a ride, really makes me want to see more of the Stomper.

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Jose Lothario Levels that House and Ties a Rope to the Back of the Bus

Jose Lothario/Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Chavo Guerrero/Hector Guerrerro NWA Houston 4/6/84 - GREAT

Super fun heated tag match with Duggan and Lothario walking tall and tossing the Guerrero's all over the ring. Lothario and Duggan are both awesome guys at bumping around heels, and the Guerrerros are spectacular bumping and stooging heels, each Guerrero brother must have been back body dropped out of the womb they are so great at taking them. We get some fun knee work on Duggan when he missed a big knee drop, and a screwy finish which sets up the next match. Lothario was mostly there to throw his big left hook and be charismatic, both of which he does in spades. Very fun stuff.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JOSE LOTHARIO

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NWA Classics 24/7 Price Tag Reviews - #8

Dr. Death Steve Williams v. Terry Gordy 2/6/87 $4.00

This was always one of the legendary wrestling magazine match ups when I was a kid. Just two big beasts beating on each other, and it always looked like the best thing. I loved this feud on the Mid-South set, and it is so great to see another chapter show up. This was a Texas Death Match, and man have we gotten some awesome Texas Death Matches in Texas from NWA Classics. Starts out with a pair of big dogs throwing hambones, Gordy's punches look great, although Williams didn't keep his wrists straight so they looked a little weak. My only complaint though, everything else about this was boss. Both guys bleed a ton, Gordy breaks out his all time great piledriver and Williams throws out the stampede. So great, worth a months order on its own

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NWA Classics On Demand -Price Tag Reviews #7

Dusty Rhodes/Junkyard Dog v. Ted DiBiase/Kamala 4/12/83 -$1.00

This was a bullrope and dog collar tag match. Dusty and DiBiase were tied together with the bullrope while JYD and Kamala had a dog collar on. Pretty much a classic example of a babyface walking tall blowoff match. This is your pair of super charismatic super heroes getting their hands on the dastardly villains and making them pay. DiBiase flies around for both guys and bleeds a ton, Kamala does some great weeble wabble selling of big shots. There is a little glory for the heels, and Dusty bleeds because of course he does, but this is mostly just comeuppance.

Harley Race v. Gino Hernandez 12/12/80 - $3.00

Another true hidden gem. 2/3 Falls NWA title match, with Gino as the local heel challenging a heel champion. It was a pretty great performance by Gino as he turns the crowd over to his side by the end, kind of a devil we know better then a devil we don't situation. I am not the world's biggest Harley fan, but he looked pretty boss here, all of his offense was super nasty looking, his big headbutts looked like they smooshed skulls and he had this awesome looking big right hand in the corner. Gino was a total boss, jumping Harley at the bell, piledriving him on the floor, spraying blood as he goes for his giant back elbow. He was so good as the local heel, it really makes me want to see more Southwest Tully to compare them in those rolls. More Gino please!!

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NWA Price Tag Reviews #6

Still totally in love with this service, my favorite thing in wrestling right now, by far. One of the cool things about being a wrestling fan is that you can still discover hidden classics 30 years later. There is no hidden 70s Scorcese movie or unreleased classic Joy Division Album, but here is The Spoiler v. Wahoo McDaniel from 1979 and it is unbelievable.

Spoiler v. Wahoo McDaniel 4/21/79 $4.00

Awesome 2 out 3 falls war. Very cool match structure which actually reminded me of MS1 v. Sangre Chicana (aka the greatest wrestling match ever). Spoiler blitzes Wahoo from the start, just beating on him from pillar to post, with nasty elbows to the head and neck and a big headbutt which splits Wahoo open. Nothing fancy here, but every stomp,elbow and slam was just brutal. Spoiler isn't a fancy highflyer, but he is really agile, and gets to the top with tremendous ease, really the first time I have seen the Spoiler and gotten the hype, he was so good here. Wahoo doesn't hit an offensive move for the first five minutes or so, but turns the tide with a huge chop to the head, you totally buy Wahoo as a guy who has one shot power like that.. After Wahoo gets on track it is back and forth brutality for 3 falls. We get a great BS finish with Wahoo countering the claw hold by turning around the Spoiler's mask, and the blind Spoiler claws Gary Hart and then the ref before getting DQed. Loved the idea of the blind bear just mauling everyone. Such a great match, and a hell of a discovery.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan/Butch Reed v. Ted DiBiase/Steve Williams 11/23/84 $1.00

Really fun big hoss brawl. Crowd is going nuts and the announcer needs to ask the crowd to move back. Pretty much punches and football tackles but these are great guys to watch throw punches and football tackles. Duggan has such great energy in these kind of matches, and DiBiase does a good job flopping around. Finish has everyone in football helmets smashing into each other. 

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MLJ Palette Cleanser: Jose Lothario vs Black Gordman

1984-1-13 @ Houston, TX
Black Gordman vs Jose Lothario (nwaclassics.com)

I'm calling this fair game. As best as I can tell (and I could be wrong), Lothario worked Arena Mexico in the 50s, as Gran Lothario, including being the guy who Medico Asesino beat for the National Heavyweight Championship. Gordman had been around years before but was hanging around in Mexico shortly before this as a version of Bestia Roja, losing his mask to Solitario. Of course, Lothario was a Texas mainstay, one of the real stars of the state for decades. Gordman was huge in California, especially teamed with Great Goliath. We don't have a ton of footage of either guy, I don't think, which is one reason why this was so cool.

With Lothario, the sheer amount of footage is one of the best things that have come out of the NWA Classics service. We're seeing him both in the 70s (like the Mascaras tag vs the Funks) and in the 80s (including his feuds with Landell and the Guerrero) and he's stood out far more than I expected. To most fans he's either that vaguely unknown guy who was carted out by Michaels in the 90s and demolished by Sid, or someone with a terrible reputation due to Gary Hart's book. From what I've seen so far, he was pretty great. It helps that he was super over in Houston, but he backed it up with a sort of Memphis minimalism, taking damage and firing back at key moments, charging up the hope spots for the eventual pay off the comeback and then, generally, a pretty severe beating of the heel he's facing to the crowd's delight.

That was certainly the case here, and this was even more Memphis than most. Gordman rushed in right at the beginning, attacking Lothario while he was still on the apron and slamming him into the post both with Lothario on the apron and on the floor. He played king of the mount for a minute until Jose could punch his way back in, infuriated, but took back control with a hidden chain-assisted punch to the gut. Lothario sold it big and the crowd was incensed. From there, they worked it forward, with Jose coming back but the punch equalizing over about two-three exchanges in total, with Gordman less and less able to make it work, until Lothario was able to get the chain; the place absolutely exploded but after one shot, Gordman went flying out delaying and prolonging the satisfaction of it all.

By this point, really just five or six minutes into the match, both wrestlers had bladed but it didn't feel like overkill at all. Due to the sheer focus of the match, everything felt warranted and it took the crowd on a short rocket ride. They finished up by brawling on the floor and back inside, both wrestlers shoving the referee away to lead to the DQ. Gordman retreated again, coming back with a chair but Lothario is just too much. Finally, the ref, acknowledging that he'd thrown the match out, stepped out of the way. Gordman, though, decided to head for the hills thus deferring any sort of real resolution to the next match which I'm pretty sure was a Mexican Death match.

Great functional, heated wrestling. Phil put it as worth about $2.50 of the $8.99 monthly price and that sounds about right to me.

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NWA Classics Price Tag Reviews #5

Andre the Giant v. Stan "The Man" Stasiak 10/31/80 $1.00

Really fun short 2/3 falls match. First fall is all Staisiak bumping around for Andre and trying to work towards the heart punch. The first couple of times hit tried it Andre fired back with this huge thrust punch which looked like he almost beheaded him. Stasiak hits the heart punch and gets DQed for the first fall which felled the giant. Stasiak goes after him in the second fall but Andre counters and takes him out with a big splat. Really smartly worked fun stuff, all of this early Andre has been a gold mine.

Tully Blanchard v. El Bracero 12/11/81 $.25

Fun short match with Tully bumping around for Bracero's old school lucha goof spots, lots of mule kicks and arm drags. Would have liked to see Tully throw out a bit more offense, but this was a nifty little five minutes.

Jose Lothario v. Black Gordman 1/13/84 $2.50

I loved this, I described this to Eric as the worlds greatest Eddie Marlin v. Tommy Gilbert match. Two badass old guys with awesome punches making each other bleed. Gordman jumps Lothario at the bell and busts him open with a chain, and from their it is all old dudes throwing hambones, Lothario is awesome, he is pretty much all punches, but he has a bunch of different punches including a fun hook and a big bolo uppercut, and he knows how to time everything right.

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NWA Classics On Demand - Price Tag Review #4

We got some new stuff today, nothing that got me super excited, but definitely new footage.

Bruiser Brody v. Rocky Johnson 9/8/78 -$0.25

This was a 2/3 falls taped fist match for the Brass Knuckle Title. Rocky came to the ring with 70's Heavyweight Cleveland Williams who they said was in charge of taping his hands, cool old school touch. The match itself was well laid out, with Brody doing more selling then I am used to seeing from him. Still the execution just wasn't there, if you are going to do a taped fist match, I am going to need to see stuff land, and both guys punches were really loose. I liked Brody ripping up the turnbuckle, and was surprised to see Rocky go over, but this wasn't nearly violent enough. Brody continues to be the biggest old school lie.

Dusty Rhodes/Bad Leroy Brown v. Killer Karl Krup/Gary Hart 9/8/78- $0.10

It is always fun to watch Dusty dance and shtick it up, but this was a pretty bad heel team. KKK is by far the lesser KKK, and Gary Hart is a great talker, but a crappy wrestler. Pretty much a one man Dusty show, which is fun, but makes for a rough 25 minutes

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NWA Classics on Demand - Price Tag Reviews #2

Our running tally from yesterday is $2.65

Andre the Giant v. Harley Race 1/7/79 $3.00

This is exactly the kind of match I was hoping would show up when this service was pitched. Two absolute legends, guys with limited footage in their primes having an old school 35 minute 2/3 fall World title match. I am pretty sure there is no other footage of Andre wrestling for the NWA title, and I am also pretty sure this is the only version of this match up we have. First fall was pretty interesting with Andre really doing some nasty arm work, lots of twisting and pulling, a nasty looking hammerlock submission, the Anderson brother hammerlock body slam ect.. Harley gets dominated most of the first fall, but is able to get Andre to the floor and hit a nasty looking bodyslam on the concrete for the countout.

Second fall had Harley working a bear hug for some reason, Andre sold it well, but it is a conceptually odd move to use on a guy that much bigger then you. Andre makes a big comeback, hits a butterfly suplex and a big splash for the pin. Third fall is pretty short and has Harley bumped around the ring before deciding to bail to the floor, where he grabs Andre's legs so they both get counted out. Sort of a clever finish by Harley, although also sort of bullshit. Still a great match, cool chance to see both guys younger and spry, and neat to watch Andre work this kind of NWA title match. Well worth at least $3.00 and that is cutting it a little short.

Chavo and Hector Guerrero v. Dr. Death Steve Williams and Ted DiBiase 7/85 $1.00

This was a Banolero on a Poll match and isn't something we had available when we did the Mid-South set. Really neat to see the Guerreros, as they are dynamic tag team, my favorite spot was a minute in when the Guerrerros did a  do see do dropkick spot, and Dr. Death and DiBiase tryed the same thing and failed.   Match was hurt a little by the on the poll stip, the Bandolero wasn't hung on the poll as much as dropped around it, so the wrestlers had to drag it to the top to free it, and their was a lot of battling around a poll instead of just wrestling, not sure if this would have made the DVDVR set, but it was still cool to unearth. I am really hoping for a bunch of new Chavo Guerrero stuff, such an awesome guy with a under documented career.

$6.65 with plenty of cool looking shit left to come, shouldn't have any problem earning a second month subscription

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NWA Classics On Demand - Price Tag Reviews

Pretty cool idea as the NWA has gotten a hold of Paul Bosch's Houston wrestling archive and is putting it up on demand. Lots of previously unavailable stuff here, and some very cool on paper matches. I figured I would get the first month for $9.77 and see if it is worth it. So I am going to rate each match by how much it is worth to me, and see if gets to $9.77, if it does, I'll kick in for another month


Chris Adams v. Kevin Von Erich 1/18/85 $0.10

Really fun six minute sprint, both guys really went after each other. Adams looked awesome, as he is very good at timing some super violent looking superkicks, including catching Kevin with one as he was coming into the ring, and blasting him with one to the back of the head for the pin. Looks like the folks running this put in new commentary, and while it isn't awful, it is pretty generic, full of cliche and amateur sounding. I liked this match a bunch, but it was on the DVDVR 80's set, I am mostly interested in seeing new stuff so I am only going to give this match a dime

Nick Kozak v. Apache Bull Ramos 1/7/79 $0.05

My all time favorite band The Mountain Goats put out an amazing all wrestling themed album Beat the Champ earlier this year. One of the songs "The Ballad of Bull Ramos" is about the ending days of Bull Ramos's life, and the joy one can find in your memories, and how even death isn't sad when you've lived a great life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRZHsqvoJMM

This match wasn't much, the kind of match people who say they hate 70's wrestling are talking about, lots of nerve holds and criss crossing, Ramos wins with a terrible elbow drop. Still giving this a nickel for giving me an excuse to post this song, and listen to it a couple of times.

Wahoo McDaniel v. Terry Funk
Wahoo McDaniel v. Gino Hernandez 2/6/81 $2.50

A bit of a bait and switch as this is listed as a Terry Funk v. Wahoo McDaniel and that match is the semi-finals of an elimination tourney to wrestle Harley Race for the title. The Funk v. McDaniel section is only about three minutes as Funk jumps Wahoo at the bell, smashed his headdress (Wahoo must have bought the headdress's in bulk, for all the times they got ripped up) and threw him around the ring, before Terry got quickly rolled up. Gino runs in and they both beat on Wahoo a bit before the start of the final match. Wahoo v. Gino was a pretty great double juice brawl, with Gino really doing a grizzly blade job. Wahoo is so great a just leveling people with chops, and Gino is awesome as a pinball heel. he flies over the top rope a couple of times with true abandon. A little bummed I didn't get to see more of a Funk v. Wahoo dream match, but Wahoo v. Gino was really good and the kind of hidden gem I want this project to unearth. Easily worth $2.50 or so

After the first three matches of the month we are at $2.65, pretty good start as I have waited on watching some truly juicy looking stuff

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