Tully! Rude! Some '87 Crockett

Tully Blanchard v Tim Horner (JCP World Championship Wrestling, 1/3/87)

This match made me think about workrate. Or at least the term workrate and what it means now. Or what it MIGHT mean because honestly I'm not sure myself. And this probably sounds like a weird match to bring that term to the forefront of my mind, but it did all the same and mostly it was Tully. If you're taking workrate to literally mean the rate of work then Tully is a phenomenal workrate guy. He does not stop working. I guess the old talking point about headlocks and armbars and stuff is that they were "rest holds" and setting aside that that's pretty much nonsense, there are very few people who work holds like Tully, both from above as well as beneath. He's making other people work for things too, nothing given up easy or without a fight, always creating that sense of struggle. The first half of this, about eight minutes of a 16ish-minute match, was mostly Horner working the arm and controlling Tully. Or at least TRYING to control him because Tully was looking to escape and take shots and shortcuts whenever Horner gave him enough space. Horner tries to whip him from one corner to the other but Tully isn't satisfied and grabs a handful of hair to drag Horner to the mat, stumbles over into the other corner where Horner quickly follows up with a few strikes, THEN successfully whips Tully across to the buckles. Tully making him earn it made something fairly rudimentary feel significant. Before the match JJ puts up 10 grand of the Horsemen's money and even extends the TV title time limit to 25 minutes so you know before long he's sweating bullets on the floor, periodically pulling the wad of bills out his pocket and nervously counting them like a kid worrying about his Pokemon cards. Horner has lots of neat ways to drag Tully back into armbars and hammerlocks - a cool flying takedown, rolling through on a bodyslam to keep hold of the hammerlock, using the ropes to flip out of a wristlock and yank Tully back to the mat. Tully is the champ for a reason and always looks dangerous throwing body shots, short headbutts to the gut, pressing every advantage when he can. In the end it's his resourcefulness that wins out. I guess a handful of tights will work in a pinch. Horner got to look really strong and Tully going back for another bite after the bell shows how frustrated he was. Just solid pro wrestling all around.

Rick Rude v Robert Gibson (JCP Pro, 1/3/86)

I need to re-watch the Ragin' and Ravishing v Rock n Rolls series from '86. It's been a very long time. This would suggest there's still more to come in '87. It starts with Rude applying a headlock and shutting down Gibson the first couple times he tries to reverse it into a top wrist lock. Rude is too strong for a man with a mullet like that. On the third attempt Gibson just slips out the back and turns it into a hammerlock. Thus we establish that whatever Robert Gibson lacks in braun he more than makes up for in brains prolly. They do a leapfrog spot where Rude comes down selling the knee and I'd have bet my kidneys on it being a RUSE, but he actually plays it up the rest of the match which is sort of random but also very cool. Gibson working the leg is fine. Highlight of the match is the atomic drop where Rude sells the knee AND his buttocks. When Gibson hoisted him up for it I immediately hoped for a signature Rick Rude atomic drop sell while clutching the knee, and while he hadn't developed FULL Rick Rude atomic drop selling at this point he did indeed sell his butt and knee at the same time. If that's not worth three and one quarter stars I don't know what is.

Dump v Bull! The King v Wildfire! A couple very good wrestling matches from 1986

Dump Matsumoto v Bull Nakano (AJW, 5/17/86)

This was less outrageous than many of the Dump singles matches (or just Dump matches) of the time, at least in that she wasn't trying to chop Bull's hair off mid-match or stab her in the arm with scissors. Given that they were stablemates maybe she respected Bull enough to only clobber her across the head with a kendo stick. Dump has always been and maybe always will be a bit of a strange case to me. An ENIGMA, if you will. I don't always love the act and all of the bells and whistles, sometimes I don't find her particularly compelling working from beneath, but on those occasions where she does lean all the way into selling vulnerability, however briefly, it makes it feel like the opponent's climbed a mountain. Bull would be cut off at every turn here, usually by one of Dump's other underlings bowing to her commands and jumping Bull, so any time Dump looked in danger it wouldn't last. Bull might hit a German suplex and rock Dump, might even retaliate with some weapon shots of her own, but Dump had the game rigged fifty ways in her favour. There was one point where Bull went at her with a kendo stick and Dump produced two more from who knows where. At another point Bull strung together some offence, then Dump's cronies halted her, and that gave Dump enough time to wrap a chain around Bull's neck and dog walk her around ringside. I don't have a clue where she even got the chain from, didn't see her grab it from anywhere, it just appeared when she needed it, some black magic from a deal Dump might've made with the devil. All of that made the moment where Bull actually got the upper hand feel momentous. She turned the tables and Dump went down, clearly in trouble, then came up bloody, and for a second there I was desperate for Bull to press the advantage and take Dump down a peg. It never happened because sometimes the deck is stacked just too high, but there will frequently be a moment in a Dump Matsumoto match where it hits me that, even if I don't love it personally, it's just about impossible to ignore how effective all of the surrounding bullshit is in delaying that gratification. Even if it only leads to a chink in the armour, the opponent comes off all the better for it. Imagine the reaction if someone were to actually beat her. This was pretty awesome and easily one of my favourite Dump matches.

Jerry Lawler v Tommy Rich (Memphis, 12/29/86)

It's a bummer that we miss what sounds like about half of this, if we're going by the time calls. Even what we get is pretty great, though. The clips of their match from the previous week make that one look like an all-timer, how it built to them trying to punch each other's head off and Lawler even getting knocked off the bleachers, and this one didn't take long to match the vibe of that. They at least TRY and not turn it into a fist fight straight away but you can tell it won't be long before it goes that way. Even with both being babyface I loved how Rich was sort of underhanded early about throwing forearms. Not even underhanded really; it was a legal strike, it just came quickly off the clean breaks and there's a part of you that knew he was doing it to goad Lawler into losing his cool. Of course Lawler did and responded not with forearms but with punches. You knew Rich took some satisfaction in that, even with having to eat those punches. I would bet money on that being deliberate, a bit of heel subtlety considering the crowd probably would've been MORE inclined to get behind him had he just dropped the charade, been up front about everything and punched Lawler in the face. Knowing where this feud goes and what it leads to a few months down the line it's a cool piece of progression towards Rich and Idol dishing Lawler the ultimate humiliation and inciting a riot in the process. Rich's first punch of the match might not have been the one where he's falling backwards into the sunset flip, but that's the one that sticks out most and what a fucking punch it was. Then by the end they do what you knew they'd end up doing and that's trying to punch each other's lights out. Again. I haven't revisited the Lawler/Rich-Idol feud since going through the DVDVR Memphis set in 2008 (holy fuck that is nearly half my life ago) and I feel like I should do it justice by re-watching the whole thing in its entirety. This was a hell of a place to start.

Fujinami! Choshu! Fujiwara and Saito and six other guys! Panther and Atlantis! A couple very good wrestling matches!

Riki Choshu, Masa Saito, Super Strong Machine, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiro Saito v Tatsumi Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura, Keiichi Yamada & Shiro Koshinaka (New Japan, 9/12/88)

I've said it probably three dozen times by now, on this nonsense blog of 15 years and any other message board I've posted drivel on, but the New Japan multi-man tag really is a can't-fail prospect. This was another killer iteration of it, you'll be shocked to hear. Yamada was like an enthusiastic younger brother from the start, holding the ropes open for his teammates to get in the ring pre-match then coming close to scoring the elimination on Kobayashi. He didn't quite manage it but maybe one day his time will come. Fujiwara wasn't as featured in this as he was in the previous couple years' iterations, which will always bum me out, but he did get to clonk someone with a headbutt and rip off a lethal armbar. I didn't think the body of this was as engaging as some of the real classic New Japan multi-mans - nothing grabbed me as a through line narratively the way a few of the others from this period did. All the same it's impossible for these guys with this much time not to produce plenty of individual moments. Then there's the final pairing with Fujinami and Saito, the latter slowly bleeding himself into a state of unconsciousness. You could see Saito had untied the turnbuckle padding while Fujinami and Choshu were still going at it. He doesn't need to do stuff like that, he's built like a small tank and dangerous enough as is, but I guess sometimes he can't help himself. That it backfired was pretty much justice, but then the beating he takes afterwards almost forces you into showing sympathy. His selling was obviously amazing and the blade job is nuts and then in the end his last gambit was practically to fall down and let momentum take its course. A hell of a match, if maybe only my sixth or seventh favourite version of it. 

Blue Panther v Atlantis (CMLL, 12/5/97)

Of course this is amazing, and having watched their 1991 match a couple months ago, still finding that one great too, I'd rank this one even higher. Maybe this sort of lucha matwork-heavy contest is the only thing that challenges the New Japan multi-man as the best match type ever. Even though six years had passed since the '91 title match there was still a sense here that Atlantis had and maybe would always have Panther's number. He needed to win two straight while Panther only needed one fall, as per the rules of this tournament? Didn't matter. Atlantis' use of wrist control at the start was awesome and even when Panther managed to work his way out and turn it into a full nelson, you kind of knew Atlantis would have him where he wanted him again pretty soon. The primera wasn't long but it was a tremendous example of why us nerds love the lucha grappling and the last minute of it set us up for the segunda, with Panther continually having to kick out of pin attempts or escape holds, Atlantis winning out in the end through attrition if nothing else. You could say Panther knew he had a bit of wiggle room in the first fall given that Atlantis needed to win both, but even if he did it didn't seem to do him any favours because Atlantis was still a force after that. Panther was determined to lock in that Gory Special and Atlantis would not allow it for more than five seconds, then I thought Panther might've cracked the code with the rolling surfboard. I loved the finish too. Panther gets up and celebrates after reversing a victory roll and almost pinning Atlantis, I guess thinking he's finally figured out how to beat the man, but Atlantis was one step ahead as always and yoinked him into La Atlantida. Just a fantastic match.

GCW at the Omni (2/26/84)

The WWE Vault has been doing the lord's work over the past few months. Just last week they dropped a never before seen Lawler/Savage match from '85, the week before that THE mother of all Omni shows with a Piper/Sawyer dog collar main event, and a while before that they dropped this, in full, pretty much out of nowhere. I finally got around to finishing it. You can read words about it if you like. 

Pez Whatley v Jesse Barr

A serviceable enough opener; nothing remotely spectacular but it had a couple moments that you'll remember a week or two later. The only Whatley I've watched over the last five years has been '86 heel turn Shaska Whatley who cut Jimmy Valiant's hair but this was the whimsical babyface Whatley we all know and love (I assume). His big flying cross body was neat but it quite simply paled in comparison to Barr's kneelift as Pez was trying to get back in the ring. It sounded like it took Whatley's head off and a really good kneelift is sorely missed in today's pro wrestling. He went for it again at the end and surely would've put the proverbial nail in Pez Whatley's coffin, but Pez moved and Barr took an awesome bump off the miss. Bring back the kneelift. 

The Spoiler v Johnny Rich

Man I really wish we had a ton of Spoiler footage. I've said that every time I've watched a Spoiler match in the last 10 years, so probably four times in total, and the statement rings truer every time. He has such a cool presence - a calmness, a composure where you know he's dangerous. For such a unit of a guy he has remarkable grace whenever he walks along the top rope or climbs the turnbuckle, perching up there with the ease of a gymnast before jumping off and clubbering someone in the neck. Eventually it would backfire and when it did he took a great bump across the ring as Rich threw him off the ropes. There was another awesome moment involving the ropes, this time with Spoiler sort of draping Rich's shoulders and throat over the top while he hung between that and the middle rope, and Spoiler kicking the top rope into Rich's throat about sent him flying out the ring like a crash test dummy. There was an audible gasp as Rich barely managed to hang on upside down. I like how the ref' made a point of checking Spoiler's mask at the start for a hidden object and later when Rich went for a monkey flip out the corner he started going for the mask. You'd think that would foreshadow a shady headbutt but no, Spoiler just grabbed Rich by the face instead and tried to squeeze his brains out. Rich even juices and the finishing claw/sleeper hold combo looked properly brutal. The Vault releasing a couple dozen Spoiler matches wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Ted DiBiase v Mr. R

This wasn't much of a match as opposed to an angle. I don't think I've seen any of the DiBiase/Rich feud from Georgia but of course Mr. R is Rich under a mask. They worked five minutes of decent enough headlock takeovers and Rich frustrating DiBiase, then DiBiase's crew, Spoiler and Jesse Bar among them, hit the ring to get at Rich. They never manged to collar him and in the end were left looking foolish. Honestly I'd rather see a Spoiler/Rich match than DiBiase/Rich, but I guess that's because there's really nothing more to learn about Ted at this point. Spoiler v Rich would probably have Spoiler jumping off the rope with a loaded headbutt and Rich leaving puddles of blood on the floor.

Tommy Rogers v Les Thornton

Tommy Rogers was so good. It's always worth mentioning his great dropkick that he hit about five of here, and at least one was to Thornton's face. This had five minutes of really nice work around a headlock and Thornton ripping Tommy into a headdcissors by the hair. These were nasty hair pulls too, really yanking Rogers in there and the headscissors itself was super tight. Tommy would manage to pop out and immediately leap into the headlock again just for the hair to be pulled, quick enough for the ref' to maybe miss it but for the crowd do the same. And that crowd got more and more frustrated and that's what you want, right? Cool spot where Tommy pops out and runs the ropes, Thornton raises his legs like he's about to hit the monkey flip, and when you think Tommy will do the cartwheel spot he just grabs the legs and stomps him in the gut (after asking crowd if they want him to stomp the gut). Rogers' sunset flip is also wonderful, really quick and I love how he uses his legs to keep the arms down. An awesome pro wrestler. 

Wahoo McDaniel v Nikolai Volkoff 

This was a Big Boy Slugfest. It went six minutes and they used that whole time to throw meaty shots and bump into each other, which is about all I wanted out of Wahoo McDaniel v Nikolai Volkoff. Wahoo obviously has great chops and he caught Nikolai with one right to the face as he was coming out the corner. Volkoff takes big exaggerated bumps for Wahoo's shots, almost like he's surprised that a man of his BULK can be affected by regular chops. Volkoff has a real nice backbreaker and then hoists Wahoo, not a small man himself, into a military press that he turns into another backbreaker. Wahoo is on the apron getting clubbed in the neck so he just throws his shoulder into Nikolai's face and Volkoff goes flying. By that point ol Nikolai should not have been surprised. 

Jake Roberts v Ron Garvin

Awesome match with a tremendous slimeball Jake performance. He makes a point before the bell to highlight that he has taped up ribs, telling the ref' to make sure Garvin doesn't throw any punches there. The match is about 13 minutes long and probably nine of those minutes build to Garvin throwing his first punch to the midsection, then they continue building the next few minutes to him throwing his first punch to the face. It was a fantastic example of pacing and escalation and heat-building. Jake works a top wristlock and is pretty much masterful at manipulating the ref's position so he can cheat, moving Garvin around the ring so Ellering can involve himself when necessary, using different forms of leverage to keep Garvin grounded or cut him off. That leverage would come from simple things like his own physical height advantage, then he'd use the bottom turnbuckle to jump in the air and accentuate that height advantage even more, and of course the ropes were always in play for him to use when he needed to. He throws a bunch of little pot shots, grabs Garvin's hair and tights, and whenever Garvin cocks his fist to retaliate the ref' interjects long enough for Jake to sneak in another blow. Every time Garvin has a chance to swing on him and it's ripped away the heat goes up and up and they're itching for Jake to get cracked long before he does. Jake's selling of the ribs is really awesome too. There was a moment early where he threw an uppercut with maybe a little too much rotation and immediately grabbed his midsection in pain, then later he hit an elbow drop and clutched at his side when he hit the mat. This wasn't a match where he was on the back foot for very long or receiving much damage, so he was left to sell from above, while working his own offence, and I always love it when wrestlers pay attention to detail like that, to show how that injury is a constant and not a temporary inconvenience. It gives the crowd something to latch onto when they know the babyface can offset the rampant cheating with the right strike, so every hope spot or even a hint of a fight back gets a reaction. Garvin tries to escape holds by going for the tape around the ribs and Jake starts wrenching on the hold or shifting position straight away, desperate to keep Garvin from exploiting it. When Garvin starts building more steam Jake turns away from the ref' under the pretence that he's holding the ribs in agony only to unwrap tape from his wrist and use it to choke Garvin. When Garvin throws the first punch to the ribs Jake's selling is immaculate and he keeps it up after that, all the way to the end. Jake unloads with shots and Garvin won't budge before throwing that first big fist to the jaw, which Jake goes down like a ton of bricks for and also sells the midsection upon bumping on his back. The finish is great. Garvin getting planted fully on his cranium with the DDT on the chair would've been amazing on its own, but Jake waits until the ref comes to and he hits Garvin with another elbow drop, writhing in pain afterwards, just to show what he'll put his body through to win. It was almost heroic. 

Stan Hansen & King Kong Bundy v The Road Warriors 

You knew this would be sensational right from the lock-ups. Hansen and Hawk going at each other like a pair of bighorn rams trying to grind the other's ear off with their forearms was probably the best lock-up work I've ever seen and the crowd lapped up every second of it. Bundy and Hawk also have one of the best tests of strength you'll get and Bundy actually winning felt sort of unbelievable. The whole babyface shine was tremendous, basically. It might be the most I've seen the Roadies stooge ever. Hawk charges Bundy in the corner and runs face-first into a knee, taking this awesome falling KO bump and there were people back then who really thought these guys couldn't work a lick. The transition into Hansen working face in peril wasn't anything standout, but I guess sometimes two giant roided up bastards in face paint punching you repeatedly in the arm will do the trick. The actual heat segment itself was great. I wasn't used to seeing the Road Warriors show ass like they did early and I wasn't used to seeing them work as frantically as this on top. They're these menacing monsters who will more often than not obliterate people and not look particularly vulnerable in the process, so it was cool to see them do everything at double pace to make sure Hansen stays in their corner, or even just on the mat in general. When one would tag out they'd stay in the ring long enough to keep a hold of Hansen so the other could get in, both of them putting the boots to him for as long as they could without being disqualified. At one point they both just stormed Hansen in the corner with stomps and forearm clubs and it really put over how much of a force Hansen was, the fact that THESE two were having to resort to something like that, not because they wanted to beat on a guy for the hell of it but because on this occasion they needed to. Obviously Hansen will fire back any chance he gets and MAKES the Roadies keep him down, giving nothing for free in true Stan Hansen fashion. And Bundy coming in off the hot tag is yet another thing I don't remember seeing much of, but like everything else in this match it ruled. He was slamming both Road Warriors like they were sleeping bags fulla feathers and hit at least one huge splash. If you were expecting a clean finish I'm not sure what to tell you, but it breaks down into a nice brawl after the thing gets thrown out and that's about all I was hoping for. Hansen is the perfect sort of maniac in this setting because he won't settle until some proper shit has kicked off and here he just kept going after everyone, Ellering including, until they all cut and ran. This totally delivered everything I wanted from it. 

Ric Flair v Brad Armstrong 

You've possibly - nay, PROBABLY - seen this match before. Perhaps not this SPECIFIC match, between Ric Flair and Brad Armstrong from Atlanta's Omni Arena on the night of February 26th, 1984, but a Ric Flair match similar enough where you watch this one and have a fairly decent idea of how it's going to go. There's nothing wrong with that either. It can be fun knowing beforehand what you're about to dedicate 20 minutes of your life to.  This was Flair coming in respectful, taking the young local challenger seriously and working clean. There was no bullshit, no strutting, no mocking, no wooing. Before long he got frustrated at Armstrong winning exchanges and the composure started to crumble, his true colours peeking through. He sought a reprieve without outright begging off, threw a few potshots without resorting to anything below the belt. They did a few things Flair liked to do, messed one of them up, did it again a second later. In the end he was pushed, maybe not to the limit but far enough where he was concerned, yet found a way to escape with the belt. He was resourceful if nothing else. 

Re-Watching Jushin Thunder Liger (part 6)

Jushin Liger, El Samurai & Kendo Kashin v Shinjiro Ohtani, Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (New Japan, 6/24/98)

Very decent stuff. At this point I have a pretty strong idea of what I like in my pro wrestling and I'd say ultimately it comes back to some good old ANIMOSITY. Everything else being equal, give me some folk who don't like each other making it known that they don't like each other and I'll probably get something out of it. This had lots of tetchiness, so even though it was mostly back and forth without really settling into anything standout from a story perspective, the ill will kept things interesting the whole way. Liger and Kashin almost come to blows at the start because they're so overcome with DISGUST for the opposition and both want to start. Ohtani gets sent to the floor early and Liger whips him into the barricade, then kicks a cameraman up the arse for almost getting in the way. I liked the moments where the masked gentlemen would take a page from the young punks' book and throw some real derisory shit at them, the punks responding later with the same, with gusto and the smugness that comes with youth prolly. Liger going for the rolling kick only to roll into a double powerbomb/death valley driver combo looked awesome and seamless and not telegraphed at all. They probably ran some variation of this match up a dozen times a tour and it would've worked pretty well on every occasion. Hate really is all you need. 

Jushin Liger v Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan, 4/7/00)

I wanted to check out something from what is probably Liger's least acclaimed run (outside of when he was like 30 years into his career, I guess) - black suit Liger. I got into Japanese wrestling primarily through Liger as my gateway, but at the time I did he wasn't long coming off the run where people were calling him things like Hollywood Liger, lamenting his transformation into a no-selling machine who was running roughshod over the rest of the junior heavyweight division. I don't know if that run was used specifically to build to this title match, but he mostly got steamrolled here and I'm not sure the crowd ever expected anything different. Sasaki was a fine enough brick wall and pulled no punches against his old tag partner from their 1992 WCW excursion. As far as Liger stepping to heavyweight champions go this was nowhere near the Hashimoto match from '94, but I'm glad I watched it just to revisit what was considered a down period of his career. 

Tenryu Knows that Dickel ain't Pappy, He's Broke but He's Happy, and as Drunk as Any Rich Man Could Be

Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta v Yoshiaki Yatsu & Killer Khan (All Japan, 9/14/85) - GOOD

This was at its best when everyone was slapping each other about the face. There would be moments where someone would have a hold locked in and that would be fine and everything, but then wouldn't you know it someone would slap the other person in the face and things were just BETTER. Yatsu looked like he wanted to prove a point here, most likely the point that he could hang without Choshu in his corner, so he had a chip on his shoulder the whole way. Khan is a fun ruffian as always, super imposing, hit an awesome headbutt off the ropes and missed an equally awesome kneedrop. A missed kneedrop is an underrated quality to have and Khan has a better missed kneedrop than lots of guys. The work on Jumbo's arm is brief but good stuff and I really liked Khan taking off the elbow pad and wrapping the arm around the post repeatedly. I can only guess he was shrieking while doing it too and that always makes him seem like a feral maniac. 

Genichiro Tenryu v Randy Savage (All Japan/WWF, 4/13/90) - EPIC

Pretty much perfect pro wrestling. Big spectacle wrestling from two guys who do spectacle wrestling as well as anybody ever has? Of course I'm going to love it. Actually that does Sherri a disservice because her presence elevated this even more. She was an incredible menace here, a plague upon Tenryu and the ref' and the timekeeper and anybody else who peeved her. It might be her best performance as a manager and that is a HIGH bar. Her and Savage were 100% authentic, nothing about their act toned down remotely and if anything they ramped it up even more. The match hadn't started and they were already heatseeking and Sherri especially wouldn't be satisfied until someone tried to fight her. It fired up Tenryu even more than usual and he'd chucked his jacket at Savage before the match started. The opening was basically immaculate, with Savage ducking out the ring to avoid Tenryu winding up for a chop, Sherri letting the crowd know what she thinks of them for having the audacity to boo. I've seen Tenryu unleash hell on more people than I could ever recall, but his reaction after the first chop flurry here was biblical, pumping his arms and cussing out Savage who lay broken in the corner, the place erupting around him. It was unbelievable and he'd never get that animated after leaving someone in a heap. His outbursts would be sudden but he'd usually keep an air of calm about himself afterwards, all business at the end of the day. This felt personal, like it had been bubbling for hours, even days, which showed how far Savage and Sherri had gotten under his skin in a matter of minutes. No matter what Tenryu did though, Queen Sherri would be there. After the chop flurry Tenryu hit a flying cross body off the apron to the floor (it was awesome), but then Sherri would take a swing at him from behind and it would give Savage his chance to bite back. The timekeeper was apoplectic when Savage threw Tenryu off the Dome stage and onto the table and Sherri saw that as her opportunity to antagonise someone else, which she did expertly. I thought the wee fella was going to rip off his tuxedo. At one point Tenryu was trying to climb in the ring so Sherri clocked him with an enziguri, ran around the other side of the ring, put her shoe back on, then flashed the ref' her most genial smile when questioned. Savage was amazing taking all of Tenryu's shots, including a boot coming out of the corner where he went jelly-legged and cross-eyed and once again you wonder why Americans would come to Japan and think they had to be STOIC. I can't imagine Savage had ever suffered a powerbomb in his life and you could tell he was a little tentative about it, but Tenryu's celebration was as raw and visceral as I've ever seen from him. Sherri got an "up yours!" gesture and even when he won the Triple Crown Tenryu wasn't this animated. Perfect pro wrestling. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Flair and the Andersons v Magnum and the Rock 'n' Rolls!

Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Ole Anderson v Magnum TA & Rock 'n' Roll Express (Elimination Match) (Pro, 8/3/86)

Fuck me if Magnum TA doesn't look like the future of the game. This was white LeBron with curls and a moustache, just a guy very obviously ready to explode. He was an amazing walking tall babyface here, a huge presence hitting everyone with press slams and belly-to-bellies while the crowd went full on apeshit berserk. He catches Ole - NOT a small individual - with a press slam, then throws Flair into the corner, roars like a lion as Flair comes running back out and heaves him into a press slam too. The pop for him hitting the belly-to-belly on Flair is ungodly but then if you thought he was merely here to throw some folks around you would be mistaken because his face in peril stint was magnificent. The heels essentially work over the scar tissue on his forehead which of course was fucking tremendous, raking his face across the ring ropes, grinding it into the mat, digging knuckles in there, all super nasty looking shit that probably gave Morton PTSD from a couple months earlier. Maybe Flair was just trying to disfigure anyone he thought was getting more attention from the ring rats than he was. Flair doing a reverse wheelbarrow thing where he drags Magnum around the ring as his face leaves blood trails on the mat is legitimately the first and only time I can remember him doing that. He never even did that to Morton and his whole motivation in that feud was to leave the wee fella as aesthetically undesirable as possible by the end of it. Morton himself was a rabid maniac around this time and tried to punch or rip someone's nose off at every turn. Prior to Magnum's elimination I think 90% of Morton's offence consisted of him punching someone in the nose, including Flair's when he came in the ring for the first time. He even headbutted him in the face at one point. The Horsemen breaking his nose really must've woken something in him, which leads to his own elimination when he drags Ole to the floor and tries to mash his face into the concrete, oblivious to the ref's count, driven purely by rage, fueled by several thousand shrieking women. Flair v Gibson to round things out is pretty great while it lasts, with Flair working over Gibson's taped up midsection. I love how Gibson sold them the whole way, almost like he was having back spasms and once or twice I wondered if he wasn't working thought a legit injury. Flair busted out a bow and arrow to work him over and that's another thing on the night that I'd never seen him do before or since. The extremely tepid DQ finish is extremely tepid, Morton merely shoving Flair as a response to being spat on and Tommy Young throwing it out, but otherwise this was fantastic and as blistering hot as anything else in wrestling at the time.