RIP Kamala

Kamala vs. Hulk Hogan WWF MSG 12/26/86

ER: The Boston match earlier in the month got all the blood, but this was the most frenetically paced of all their matches. Hogan comes out in MSG with the Kamala warpaint and Kamala was not having any of it. He jumps Hogan the second he's through the ropes and starts whipping him with the title! Kamala whipping Hogan's back with the WWF title is a wild visual, and when Hogan gets the title back he folds it right up and runs it into Kamala's head. That's the story of this one, both guys going back and forth with hard attacks, Hogan constantly going after Wizard Iaukea and Kim Chee before Kamala comes blazing in with another chop, and it rules the whole time. I always liked how counterattacks confused Kamala. My little kid brain would make up fantastical stories about why Kamala did the things that he did, and I always imagined he was the best fighter in his tribe, and nobody ever stood up to him. So when he would stagger around confusedly while getting punched in the head, it was because he didn't know how to handle someone challenging him. Kamala hits a big crescent kick to derail a charging Hogan, Hogan throws a big lariat, and for the finish Hogan awesomely cheats to win! Hogan throws powder into the eyes of the Ugandan giant, dispatches of Wizard and runs Kim Chee brutally into the ringpost shoulder first, then gets back in the ring to deal with the staggered giant. Kamala has this great shaky body sell to put over the legdrop, like Hogan's leg had severed his spine or something. I always like the Hogan/Kamala pairing, but this is their best clash.

PAS: This was wild stuff, best Kamala match I have seen, and up there with the best Hogan matches. Pretty much worked at 100 miles an hour, starting with Kamala smashing Hogan with the belt, and ending with Hogan beating up the entire ringside. I imagine Hogan must have been deep into the white powder he threw at Kamala because I have never seen him work this pace, he was like a pressure boxer who was going to overwhelm his opponent with activity. I loved the spastic Kamala sells and all of the extra curricular stuff. Great close the show main event.


Kamala vs. Jerry Lawler Great Lakes Wrestling 12/89 - FUN

ER: This took place in Cleveland, and Paul Jones comes out managing Kamala while wearing a Bengals shirt. Lawler comes out wearing a full Cleveland Browns ensemble, and it's amazing. He's got brown tights with orange and white down the sides, Browns wristbands, orange tape and elbow pads, like the best version of John Cena's "wear the popular local team colors" gimmick. Lawler brings out a few Browns players (including "The Assassin" Eddie Johnson), announces them like he's bringing them out for FanFest Q&As, and getting two actual Browns and a practice squad guy feels like a big get for an indy show. The Browns have not been relevant for much of my life, but this show took place right at the end of their best years since their mid 1960s glory 25 years prior. They were regularly getting deep into the playoffs at this point (and this show happened during playoffs!), so getting any reps from the team must have been a fun live treat. The players don't do much at ringside, and one Brown looks genuinely uncomfortable with any type of spotlight, but it's still a nice visual having a few huge linebackers at ringside.

The match is a fun slow burn, with Lawler seeing no ins, no way to get at Kamala. Lawler kicks him in the stomach a couple times, nothing; Lawler rushes in to grab a bodyslam, but Kamala doesn't budge and delivers a downward chop the sends Lawler to the mat quick; Lawler grabs a side headlock, but Kamala picks him up and launches him across the ring. Lawler's bumping for Kamala is strong, going down hard for chops, landing with a flat thud after getting tossed off that headlock, eating a downward chop in the ropes and then flying over the top to the floor off another chop. The seating at this venue is in the round, and I love wrestling shows where the ring is up on a center pedestal. Lawler is someone who takes advantage of unique changes to a wrestling environment, so of course he takes another bump that sends him out of the ring and skidding off the raised stage. Lawler spends the first 8 minutes of this unsure just how to make any headway against Kamala, and then finally starts stomping feet. Kamala is great at selling the fear of having his feet stomped, running to the ropes each time and demanding Paul Jones rub them. Everyone plays this great. There's a great moment where Lawler stomps both of Kamala's feet and Kamala scurries to a turnbuckle, hugging it so that his feet are out of the ring, which allows Lawler to run up and get a schoolboy that I thought was going to end the match. Kamala absolutely crushes Lawler with his diving splash, and later we get the big late match moment of Kamala diving into an empty pool and Lawler taking him apart with punches. Paul Jones draws the DQ once Lawler hits the middle rope fistdrop, and the Browns players all rip off Jones' Bengals shirt while Lawler parades it around.

I love the touches Lawler can bring to a show like this, and those touches are even felt when he slyly gets in the name of what I can only assume is a show sponsor, or a Club owned by someone who put money into this show. Lawler gets on the house mic and tells everyone there will be an after party at Club Rio, gives the address, then says he wants all his friends there to party with him and the Browns. Now, the extra kind of touch that someone like Lawler can provide, is then challenging Paul Jones and Kamala to meet him there, allowing him to give the name of the club AND the address again. "You think you can remember that Jones? Or do I need to tell you again that Club Rio is located at 14751..." A master of the plug.

PAS: This had everything you want from a Jerry Lawler indy appearance outside of an actual great match. All of the shtick around the Browns at ringside and Paul Jones and his Bengals shirt is great and I loved Lawler's custom Browns gear (although not having a strap to drop really takes a big chunk out of Lawler's shtick).  This had a lot of stalling with Lawler trying to figure out the Kamala puzzle, classic slow starter Lawler, although it didn't have the payoff his matches usually have. I did love the bump off the stage and both the hit splash and missed splash. I just think we needed a bigger payoff for all of the setup, with Jones coming in and causing a DQ pretty quickly into Lawler's offense run. Still the whole package was such a treat.


Kamala vs. Yokozuna WWF Raw 5/17/93 - EPIC

ER: This is the kind of match the 305 Live project was made for. Literally slapping meat and several staredown moments that made this come off like two walruses fighting over mating privileges. Two monsters eyeballing each other with confusion, square, and charge into each other. Then, after crashing together, both get back even farther to run in again with a bigger lead! Nearly this whole match is them on their feet, Kamala throwing hard overhand chops and Yokozuna fighting back with uppercuts and cross chops. Kamala runs the ropes a lot which looks cool with his size, and he has that way of running the ropes where he looks like he's about to lose his balance, like a toddler getting their legs and running for several steps before plopping gracelessly to the ground. Kamala flies into Yokozuna and I love the force he used to rain down chops. Yokozuna knocks Kamala to a knee, Kamala blocks an overhand chop and delivers one of his own to stagger Yokozuna, and it all plays BIG. Fans in 1993 were so damn into just the concept of a large man FALLING and you could hear that excitement in the crowd. This was already a very exciting night of Raw. There was still the upcoming Jannetty/Michaels match that was set up earlier in the show, and they got to see The Kid upset Razor Ramon, so the crowd is in a good mood. They've already seen a good simple angle and a majorly unexpected win, and now they're seeing two huge giants sprint belly first into each other and then ALMOST fall down. Who among us wouldn't be losing our shit? And they lose it, alright, enough to start a loud USA chant. Why they started a USA chant? Couldn't tell you, but they were united in it because of this match. Fuji grabs Kamala's leg to distract him and allow Yoko to hit two crushing hip attack avalanches in the corner. I wanted this to go even longer, but the visual of the Ugandan savage taking the banzai drop was great.

PAS: Really fun way to put over a new monster (although Yokozuna wasn't that new at this point), having him vanquish the old one. I loved the opening of this, Yokozuna is a great teeter totter, and it was really cool how the Sumo got staggered during the bull rush. Yoko could put a guy down, and his victory was dominant. But Kamala had a couple of moments, and they were big moments.


Kamala vs. Eddie Kingston PWS 12/6/08 - FUN

PAS: This was very much Eddie Kingston wrestling a 58 year old legend with health problems. He shticked it up, jawed with the fans, made sure to make zero contact with any of his strikes (which I imagine would have worked well with a live crowd, a little less so with a close up camera) and went down quick and decisively.  Kamala still had a great looking overhand chop at this age, but wasn't going down for a splash. I enjoyed the nostalgia of him pinning Kingston on his stomach, and Eddie made sure to stooge big for every move.

ER: This is maybe 3 minutes long and absurdly fun. Eddie cuts a backstage promo that makes it sounds like he's going to go full Eddie Kingston on him. I'm thinking Kingston is going to come out and try to yank Kamala's ear lobe off while grabbing at his cheek. The crowd is full of kids, and as Kamala belly slaps his way to the ring you can see a bunch of kids slapping his belly. I was scared of Kamala was I was a kid. He was one of my very earliest favorite wrestlers. I fully bought into him being a Ugandan savage, thought he was a cannibal, pictured him making a stew out of jungle explorers in a giant pot over a fire. And kids in 2008 were smacking his belly! I also like how old man Kamala is wearing Tevas, like he's a BBQ dad who is still savage on the weekends. Kingston looks like he has a blast working a quick match with Kamala, making goofy faces and wobbles while taking Kamala chops, and his worked punch was kind of sweet. He threw the best possible punch intended to miss an opponent by 6", timing a nice arm slap that he doesn't do on normal punches he throws. He was taking care of this legend. Kingston is going to be the guy to mess up Gypsy Joe, he's the loudmouth with respect. He had the biggest smile on his face when Kamala rolled him onto his belly for the pin. He was laughing like a comedian being brought into the middle of a classic bit for the first time. He was seeing how it worked from inside and his smile was hilarious as Kamala slowly rolled him onto his back. I loved it.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JERRY LAWLER

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE EDDIE KINGSTON