NWA Classics 24/7 #30

Jose Lothario & Al Madril v Dick Murdoch & Killer Brooks (Houston Wrestling, 2/10/78)

How about Dickie Murdoch and the Supersock for a dream match! Murdoch's boots were the swankest you've ever laid eyes on but you would be a FOOL to think he wasn't about to punch people in the nose here all the same. Brooks is absolute top tier scuzz, the sort of dirtbag who sits in the corner of a bar drinking the same beer for three hours, people-watching a bunch of people fully aware of his presence yet equally hesitant to acknowledge it. You don't turn your gaze to that corner booth. Of course Lothario and Madril encounter those sorts on the regular. The best way to deal with a wretch like Tim Brooks is crack him in the face. Still, Brooks has been doing this too long not to have a counterstrike up his snot-coated sleeve and you know Murdoch - his cousin, according to Boesch - has a trick or two up his own. They end up spending most of the first fall working over Madril's leg, which they get to initially by smashing him in the kneecap with the edge of a chair. And then just when you think Lothario is about to clean house off the hot tag, Murdoch shuts him down IMMEDIATELY with an uppercut. I almost gasped, firstly because a Dick Murdoch uppercut is one of the greatest things in wrestling, but also because I'd have bet the house on Lothario being the one to throw it. It even leads to the heels taking the first fall and sometimes a cool wrinkle like that makes you want to see that babyface comeback even more. Sure enough the second fall is quick as the babyfaces even it up with a sunset flip, then going into the third Murdoch gets popped in the mouth and his sell of losing a tooth is pretty much exquisite. He asks Bronko Lubich to check for gaps and by this point the crowd want ALL of his teeth to be loosened so the third fall has the sort of heat you just don't see anymore. This ruled. Murdoch v Lothario would easily be nine stars, whether it's on a 1978 curve or a 2028 curve.