One of the great match-angle packages in wrestling history. When it first got some decent exposure in our circle of hell/the internet there was talk of it being the best double turn ever, and while I'm not sure that's the case I can at least buy it as being up there. DiBiase had been on a tear as the number one heel in the territory for the past four years. He had the loaded glove and it put away everyone he crossed paths with. After all that time it made sense that he was in line for a chance at the big belt, so when Flair rolled into town and Butch Reed couldn't make the match, DiBiase stepped up. Then Dick Murdoch, who'd been back for a few months as the lovable sort of good-natured southern boy that you wouldn't have taken for a closet white supremacist, took umbrage and asked DiBiase to step aside. Murdoch felt as though HE should be next man up. So when DiBiase refused to back down Murdoch cleaned his clock. The first punch he throws is one of the best punches ever, the sound of it being caught perfectly through Boyd Pierce's microphone. Murdoch rams DiBiase into the post and DiBiase goes bananas with the blade. After about ten seconds he's left an actual puddle of blood on the floor and he's covered head to toe. As we cut to commercial Flair grabs the mic and says he's heading for home, paycheque in the mail after an easy night's work. When we get back we hear that matchmaker Grizzly Smith has confirmed that there WILL be a title match on TV, and at that point DiBiase stumbles back out to the ring with a bandaged up forehead and generally looking like he's been robbed and beaten in the street. The match itself is short and honestly not all that different from most Flair studio matches. It's sort of amusing seeing how he'll still go to the top rope even in a promotion where top rope moves are banned, or how he'll corral DiBiase into headlock rope-running sequences late in the match when DiBiase is trying to sell can't-stand-up exhaustion from the blood loss. A man truly determined to play the greatest hits, when playing some other tracks might've been a more appropriate option. But this was all about DiBiase anyway, and as far as babyface DiBiase performances go this might be his very best. I guess the circumstances almost drive you to make the comparison with Austin, where both guys used an epic blade job to solidify themselves as men of the people. I don't really care whose performance was better or if they're even really comparable in the first place, but this is about as good as it gets for blood loss, last-legs selling to garner sympathy. He would not stay down and both Ross and Watts on commentary drove home the point that, even if he didn't have the cleanest of pasts, his technical pedigree was inarguable and clearly he had the heart of a lion. The bandage only stays on for a few minutes and a few minutes after that he's a complete mess again. I wish Flair drew some more attention to it, got a little vicious in that awesome way he sometimes would, but DiBiase drew enough attention to it with the way he wouldn't be able to follow up on moves, how he could barely even cover Flair, and then the bump over the top and his struggle to get back to his feet. If there was any question about Murdoch being a changed man then the brainbuster on the concrete made sure of it, DiBiase being carted out on a stretcher after convulsing on the floor, Murdoch with his shirt off as if he expected any sort of fight. Maybe those two will settle that new score at some point, and maybe it'll be good?
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