Observer Matches of the 80s

[Guest Loss4Words]

So much discussion takes place about great matches of the 90s that I thought it might be interesting to delve a little farther back and provide and gather opinions. Here are the top ten matches of every year per the Observer. I'll throw my two cents in wherever I think it's necessary.

 

1983

"1. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle, 3/12/83"

 

Haven't seen this match, but Sarge was one of the best workers in the business in the early 80s, so seeing him in a top spot doesn't surprise me all that much. I love pretty much anything that comes out of Mid-Atlantic because the heat is just unreal for any and everything. Like I said, I haven't seen this match but Steamboat and Kernodle were two great workers in their time too, so I'm sure it was good. I haven't seen enough of Jay Youngblood to fairly judge him.

 

"2. Ric Flair vs. Harley Race, 11/24/83"

 

This was definitely a terrific little match with great emotion and good build throughout. I think the finish came across a little botched, but it was still a pretty amazing encounter. No way it's ahead of #3 though.

 

"3. Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid, 4/23/83"

 

I'd consider this one of the top two or three matches of the 80s and it was incredibly influential. I think we're still seeing influences spawned from this match. My only complaint here is that I've watched this match ten times or so and I still can't figure out what the finish is. Did DK get disqualified for using that bottle? Does the match continue? Maybe my tape just cuts short, I don't know.

 

"4. Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan, 6/2/83"

 

This is actually a good effort, but I think I remember this match more for the urban myth surrounding it than I do the match itself. For those of you unaware, rumor has it that Hogan's "mistake" that caused Inoki to suffer a concussion here wasn't actually a "mistake", but I guess it's one of those things we'll never know for sure. All that's known is that Inoki was booked to take this one but the ref had no choice but to count Inoki out after he landed head first on the floor. Hogan ended up holding the title for close to a year.

 

"5. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy, 8/31/83"

 

These teams had so many great matches with each other, so I'm not entirely sure what this one is, but it doesn't surprise me to see it ranked favorably. Terry Funk was one of the best ever and in the early 80s, he really peaked.

 

"6. The Von Erichs vs. The Freebirds, 7/4/83"

 

I'm a big fan of this feud and always have been, but I'm not sure I've seen this match specifically. Most of the Freebirds-Vons matches followed the same formula, with the Von Erichs overcoming incredible odds to win in the end, only for the Freebirds to sink to new lows (as box offices rose to new heights) after the matches. This was fairly early in the feud, so I'm sure the heat was pretty spectacular just because the matchup was still fresh.

 

"7. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich, 12/25/82"

 

Outstanding match. This baby actually won Match of the Decade in the '89 Observer Yearbook. I think that's a little much, but it's still a great effort, around ****1/4 or ****1/2 from where I sit. This match did spark the aforementioned Von Erichs-Freebirds feud, but that shouldn't detract from how painstakingly great the match was. Flair played the perfect heel here and seemed to know just the right times to do every move to get the crowd worked up into a frenzy. A true classic, even though I've heard the 08/15/82 2/3 falls match between the two is better.

 

"8. Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka, 7/23/83"

 

Great moment when Snuka jumped off the cage, but a little bit of an overrated match in my eyes.

 

"9. Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes, 11/24/83"

 

Haven't seen, but have heard good things about this one. Not exactly what I'd call a MOTYC, even based on hearsay. Hayes was never the world's greatest worker. His real talent was on the stick.

 

"10. Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine, 11/24/83"

 

Good match, albeit VERY slow. I wouldn't consider it anywhere near MOTYC caliber.

 

Other matches from 1983 that were SCREWED (a la Bret Hart):

 

Hector Guerrero v Atsushi Onita, 04/22/83

Riki Choshu v Tatsumi Fujinami, 04/03/83

Ric Flair v Jumbo Tsuruta, ??/??/83

Ric Flair v Barry Windham, ??/??/83

Stan Lane & Jackie Fargo v Moondogs, Spring 1983

 

 

"1984"

 

Shall we?

 

"1. Von Erichs vs. The Freebirds, 7/4/84"

 

Nowhere near match of the year, but a great match, around ****1/2 by my stretch. This may have been the first "Badstreet match" but don't quote me on that. It's just like a Bunkhouse match for those of you curious. Probably the best six-man of the feud, which is really saying something.

 

"2. Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik, 6/16/84"

 

Ah, the boot camp match. You know, I could shoot myself for STILL not seeing this one. I've heard so much about it, but have yet to see it for myself.

 

"3. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair, 5/6/84"

 

Subpar match, but great atmosphere and post-match celebration. Kerry's run would last 16 days.

 

"4. Dynamite Kid vs. The Cobra, 7/5/84"

 

Unsure what this match is, but the tourney final earlier in the year was GREAT.

 

"5. Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Nobuhiko Takada, 4/19/84"

 

Haven't seen, but Yatsu was a hell of a worker in the early-to-mid 80s before he just slowly dissipated into nothingness.

 

"6. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, 5/29/84"

 

Great match with an exposition a little on the slow side, but not overly harmful. It's Flair v Steamboat, deal with it.

 

"7. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki, 12/5/84"

 

I haven't seen any pre-'87 Takada but apparently he was clicking early on, so maybe I should.

 

"8. Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik, 1/23/84"

 

Important match in the way the wrestling landscape changed forever. VERY historically significant, but obviously not much in terms of workrate.

 

"9. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & The Cobra vs.

Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & David Shults, 7/13/84"

 

Haven't seen this one, but the Bulldogs were in some great six-mans, including one with Ben Bassarab where I can't remember for the life of me who else was in the match.

 

"10. Bruiser Brody vs. Jerry Blackwell, 10/21/84"

 

Jerry Blackwell? Maybe I just haven't seen his key stuff. And the more Brody I watch, the more I become bored with him because the finishes in all of his matches SUCK and Vader blew him away in the ring, so he's not the best big man ever.

 

"11. Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith, 7/20/84"

 

Once again, if this is the match earlier in the year, I agree with its place here. DBS probably peaked around this time.

 

"12. Akira Maeda vs. Super Tiger (Sayama), 9/11/84"

 

Is this the groin shot match? Just curious.

 

"13. Ricky Steamboat vs. Dick Slater, 6/84"

 

Big Slater supporter here, but I haven't seen this match.

 

"14. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich, 5/24/84"

 

Not really that great of a match. Maybe somewhere around ***1/2, which is good, but not great. Kerry's half month as NWA champ was actually one of his worst in terms of match quality.

 

"15. The Cobra vs. Kuniak Kobayashi, 8/2/84"

 

I've never really been able to get into Kobayashi, but this could be a good match. I think I might have it on AJ Classics and just haven't gotten to it yet.

 

Other great 1984 matches:

Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd v Rock & Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan - Ricky Morton SHINES here and is probably the best I've ever seen him. Eaton cheats like NUTS and all six men are just busting their asses.

 

I haven't been able to find the 1985 list, so I will just provide my own here. These are my top matches for the year in no particular order.

 

1. Magnum TA v Tully Blanchard, 11/28/85

2. Dick Murdoch v Ted DiBiase, 12/85

3. Ric Flair v Rick Martel, 10/19/85

4. Bruiser Brody v Antonio Inoki (can't remember date, but it's a 60-minute draw)

5. Ric Flair v Barry Windham, 10/85 (from Florida)

6. Lioness Asuka v Jaguar Yokota, 08/22/85

 

"1986"

 

We shall.

 

"1. Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham, 2/14/86"

 

This is a match I'd be tempted to consider the best match of the decade with a better finish. I hate to see a 50 minute match end so indecisively.

 

"2. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, 1/28/86"

 

Completely off the charts. Choshu just caused all kinds of trouble in All Japan.  Probably one of the best matches I've ever seen, period. There was so much hate dripping off of my TV screen after this one that I had to take Windex to the tube after the match.

 

"3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda, 6/12/86"

 

People have griped about the finish, but that invalidates the rest of the match, which was incredible. The double-kick stuff was tricky for sure and yeah, they missed, but I really didn't care to be honest. One of the top ten matches of the decade.

 

"4. The Midnight Express vs. The Rock & Roll Express, 8/16/86"

 

Does this match exist in unedited fashion? Please YELL AT ME if it does. I have a JIP version that's all snowy and degenerated, but I'd love to have it in full.

 

"5. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 9/19/86"

 

I should see this. I always liked the matches they had together anyway.

 

"6. The Fantastics vs. The Sheepherders, 4/19/86"

 

This was such a great, totally forgotten feud. I think this is the Crockett Cup match, which I have yet to see for myself, but if it's like the rest of the feud, I'll be content.

 

"7. The Midnight Rockers vs. Doug Somers & Buddy Rose, 8/7/86"

 

If this is the Las Vegas match where Michaels and Jannetty won the titles, I'm with 'em here. I loved that match.

 

"8. The Cobra vs. Nobuhiko Takada, 6/17/86"

 

Takada just had an awesome career, didn't he? I should see this.

 

"9. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton, 7/5/86"

 

Sounds like it's just *barely* pre-Bash tour. I really enjoyed the match they had on TBS in the Techwood Drive hellhole where Gibson counted Flair down. Anything that can make that white trash crowd stop thinking of ways to work wrestlers' names into "let's go, blah blah, let's go" chants is good with me.

 

"10. The British Bulldogs vs. Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake, 4/7/86"

 

Good match, deplorable finish.

 

"1987"

 

Well ok then.

 

"1. Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage, 3/29/87"

 

NOT the match of the year by any stretch. Good, but not great. I'm one of the few who doesn't sing the praises of this one, but I think they crammed 30 minutes of work into 15 minutes here.

 

"2. Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham, 1/20/87"

 

One of the best matches of the decade. Windham was God and Flair's pretty good from what I've heard.

 

"3. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka, 2/26/87"

 

Was there a bad match in AJW around this time? Seriously?

 

"4. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 2/5/87"

 

I've seen a clipped version of this match that blew me away, but haven't seen the whole thing. On the ever-growing "to-do" list.

 

"5. Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka, 3/20/87"

 

I liked this foursome everytime they faced off, but I'm not sure which match this is specifically.

 

"6. Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham, 4/11/87"

 

Great match. I have a raw footage version of this, so I have finally found it unclipped. Yay me!

 

"7. El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, 7/27/87"

 

I think I owe it to myself to be introduced to some lucha that doesn't feature Rey, Juvi or Psicosis.

 

"8. Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol, 4/27/87"

 

Okay match, outstanding finish. The crowd was on the verge, well nevermind, they WERE rioting. When Tommy Rich came out from under the cage, I thought the building was going to explode and the anger shown when Lawler had his head shaved was unreal.

 

"9. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 10/6/87"

 

Haven't seen, but this doesn't surprise me.

 

"10. War Games, 7/4/87"

 

True classic, even though I like Wrestle War '92 much better. This was the original though.

 

"11. Riki Choshu & Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada & 12. Tatsumi Fujinami & Strong Machine

vs. Antonio Inoki & Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Dick Murdoch,

09/17/87"

 

I thought this was the Summer Fever tag for a sec, but I guess I haven't seen this one. Lots of great 10-mans in NJ in '87.

 

13. Akira Maeada & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki 14. Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki, 9/1/87"

 

Cut and paste error somewhere here, so maybe I should just take this chance to pimp the Summer Fever 10-man, which was way too short (9 falls in 35 minutes?), but was action packed nonetheless. TONS of drama here. Mary J. Blige would hate this.

 

"15. Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito, 4/27/87"

 

Haven't seen. What am I doing that makes me loathe all Inoki matches so much? He bores me to tears.

 

"16. Nick Bockwinkle vs. Curt Hennig, 5/2/87"

 

The coin match? Nah. These two had a better match on 12/31/86 that went an hour.

 

"1988"

 

Lots to cover here IIRC.

 

"1. Sting vs. Ric Flair, 3/27/88"

 

Excellent little match. I've been told that if I liked this match, I will LOVE Misawa v Tsuruta from 06/08/90, but anyway, this is a great match on its own. Flair does a great job keeping the obviously nervous-as-hell Sting from blowing up early on.

 

"2. The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics, 3/27/88"

 

Awesome, awesome match, perhaps my favorite tag match ever. Incredibly wild, yet incredibly sound.

 

"3. The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics, 4/26/88"

 

I've only seen this joined in progress. Where can I get the full version?

 

"4. Footloose vs. Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano, 7/19/88"

 

Need to see.

 

"5. Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase, 4/25/88"

 

The SNME match? It was good, but not great. They had a house show match later in the year in a cage that was their best effort that year.

 

"6. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka, 8/25/88"

 

Need to see. Were these the Crush Girls? I think I'm right, but I may be wrong.

 

"7. Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, 8/8/88"

 

Haven't seen.

 

"8. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu, 6/24/88"

 

Haven't seen.

 

"9. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, 8/30/88"

 

I didn't know Tsuruta and Yatsu ever teamed. I guess you learn something new every day.

 

"10. The Midnight Express vs. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, 8/26/88"

 

The September match where Arn & Tully headed for higher ground was great, but this looks to be a different match. It's the Midnights, of course it's great.

 

"11. Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase, 7/22/88"

 

Haven't seen, but Savage v DiBiase was quite the feud in '88.

 

"12. Hiroshi Hase vs. Owen Hart, 5/27/88"

 

I've seen this. I LOVED it the first time and was disappointed the second time, so I should probably re-watch and let time number three be the charm.

 

"13. Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 3/19/88"

 

I've seen a clipped version of this gem. Loved it, need to see it unedited.

 

"14. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask, 3/9/88"

 

Have heard all kinds of good stuff, but haven't seen for myself.

 

"15. Owen Hart vs. Keiichi Yamada, 6/10/88"

 

Overrated match in my eyes, yet still very good.

 

"16. Akira Maeda vs. Kazuo Yamazaki, 5/12/88"

 

I should see this. Maeda was WOTY in '88, so obviously it was a great year for him.

 

"17. Owen Hart vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 6/24/88"

 

Sounds like a great match. I should search it down. Owen was great before he bummed out his knee. Still great afterwards, but in a totally different way.

 

"18. Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Nobuhiko Takada, 8/13/88"

 

I am almost totally unexposed to Yamazaki. Sounds like my loss.

 

"1989"

 

Goosebumps.

 

"1. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 4/2/89"

 

I like 02/20 or 03/18 better, but this is a definite classic. Everything that can be said has been said.

 

"2. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 5/7/89"

 

See above.

 

"3. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 2/20/89"

 

I'm in the minority where I thought this was the best of the series. The crowd wanted to love Flair and hate Steamboat so badly, but Flair worked so well that they went from chanting "Steamboat sucks" to just "Steamboat" in mere minutes. Good stuff.

 

"4. Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, 11/15/89"

 

Overrated match in my view. Lots of intensity, but not much else. Flair's never been much of a brawler in my eyes.

 

"5. Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano, 9/20/89"

 

Love all the Liger-Sano matches I've seen, but know no dates on any of them, so who knows what I've seen and haven't.

 

"6. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 6/5/89"

 

I've heard this match called the starting point for new All Japan fans. I didn't start here and still haven't seen this one, but it's still on my to-do list, I promise.

 

"7. Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, 7/23/89"

 

Lots of blown spots and the pacing was too slow for my tastes. Still a good match though.

 

"8. Footloose vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas, 6/5/89"

 

Should see.

 

"9. Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano, 7/13/89"

 

See above.

 

"10. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund, 12/22/88"

 

Have heard all kinds of things, but haven't seen. Backlund shooting just seems STRANGE to me.

 

"11. The Rockers vs. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, 2/17/89"

 

Great, but FAR too short.

 

"12. Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada, 1/10/89"

 

I always liked both guys, so I should see this one.

 

Please feel free to contribute to my limited expertise. Thanks.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

""3. The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics, 4/26/88"

 

I've only seen this joined in progress. Where can I get the full version?"

 

I got it from Lynch.  21 minutes of 35-40 shown.  They show it all, cutting away fro the 1:30 to 2:30 comml breaks.  I have it, as well as the whole 1988 MX/Fantastics feud on MX Vol. 2

 

Tim

[Guest CB2M]

"6. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 6/5/89"

 

"I've heard this match called the starting point for new All Japan fans. I didn't start here and still haven't seen this one, but it's still on my to-do list, I promise."

 

I haven't got the foggiest idea why anyone would say that, other than it can be looked at as a prelude to Misawa vs. Kawada 6/3/94.  But this isn't in the same league as that match.  It's very heated and stiff, but archaic if you compare it to the 90's stuff.  If this was my All Japan starting point, I would have never gone back.

 

On the other hand, I absolutely loved both 1990 Jumbo vs. Misawa matches, and the ensuing Misawa & Co. vs. Jumbo & Co. feud.  That's where you start IMO.

[Guest MrDanger]

Just a few thoughts:

 

Ric Flair vs. Harley Race, 11/24/83

 

I love this match, it's in the Jumbo/Misawa bracket where it gets better the more times I watch it. Just a shame about that horrible finish. Word has it that they had several better straight matches earlier in the year, I'd like to see them.

 

 

Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka, 7/23/83

 

Killer splash-spot aside, a nothing match.

 

 

Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine, 11/24/83

 

Damn innovative for it's time and great sell job by Piper but it looks REALLY dated these days.

 

 

Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik, 1/23/84

 

I was actually surprised how good they match was, obviously pretty short but it was everything it could have been.

 

 

Magnum TA v Tully Blanchard, 11/28/85

 

I'm probably the only person in history to not like this match; I made the error of watching this match without knowing the back-story so I could never really get into it emotionally.

 

 

Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage, 3/29/87

 

Pretty mind blowing for 1987 but it hasn't aged well, comes across as really choreographed when you know it was heavily choreographed (Does that make sense?)

 

 

Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol, 4/27/87

 

Finish alone makes it a great match, Memphis mayhem at it's best and the best ever riot outside of Tijuana.

 

 

Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase, 4/25/88

 

Haven't seen this match in close to 10 years but I can't remember it blowing me away

 

 

Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, 7/23/89

 

Very overrated a few blown spots and relied heavily on shortcuts. I preferred the tag match at Havoc.

 

 

The Rockers vs. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, 2/17/89

 

One of my favourite ever tag matches. The Rockers for me were the ultimate babyface team, Janetty's selling was perfect and Michaels was a fantastic clean up guy, add that to their innovative move set and you have one hell of a team. They could have been better than the Rock N Roll Express if they had better opponents.

[Guest Momoracci]

Not a wealth of comments from me, mainly due to my youth and upbringing on syndicated 80's WWF squashes, but here we go....

 

"1983"

 

 

"3. Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid, 4/23/83"

 

I'd consider this one of the top two or three matches of the 80s and it was incredibly influential. I think we're still seeing influences spawned from this match. My only complaint here is that I've watched this match ten times or so and I still can't figure out what the finish is. Did DK get disqualified for using that bottle? Does the match continue? Maybe my tape just cuts short, I don't know.

 

Me: Jeff Bowdren's Top 20 matches of the 80's list has it at # 3, I think. I haven't seen a large enough wealth of footage to judge, but I'd say that could very well be right. Super match, and I'll have to double check on the finish.

 

"4. Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan, 6/2/83"

 

This is actually a good effort, but I think I remember this match more for the urban myth surrounding it than I do the match itself. For those of you unaware, rumor has it that Hogan's "mistake" that caused Inoki to suffer a concussion here wasn't actually a "mistake", but I guess it's one of those things we'll never know for sure. All that's known is that Inoki was booked to take this one but the ref had no choice but to count Inoki out after he landed head first on the floor. Hogan ended up holding the title for close to a year.

 

Me: Well, Hogan could have attacked the ref to get a DQ, but ya know, it's Hogan.....

 

 

"8. Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka, 7/23/83"

 

Great moment when Snuka jumped off the cage, but a little bit of an overrated match in my eyes.

 

 

Me: I'm pretty sure I've seen this in full, but my inability to recall details leads me to think it's only memorable for the jump.

 

 

"1984"

 

 

 

"2. Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik, 6/16/84"

 

Ah, the boot camp match. You know, I could shoot myself for STILL not seeing this one. I've heard so much about it, but have yet to see it for myself.

 

Me: This is so high on my must see list, especially since I need to cleanse the image of Slaughter as only being a sub par worker from my mind.

 

 

"6. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, 5/29/84"

 

Great match with an exposition a little on the slow side, but not overly harmful. It's Flair v Steamboat, deal with it.

 

Me: I'm pretty sure I have this sitting on my hard drive. I keep meaning to give it a look.

 

 

"12. Akira Maeda vs. Super Tiger (Sayama), 9/11/84"

 

Is this the groin shot match? Just curious.

 

Me: The groin shot match is 9/2/85

 

 

 

"15. The Cobra vs. Kuniak Kobayashi, 8/2/84"

 

I've never really been able to get into Kobayashi, but this could be a good match. I think I might have it on AJ Classics and just haven't gotten to it yet.

 

Me: I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure this would be an NJ match. Didn't Ishingundan not show up in AJ till 1985?

 

 

I haven't been able to find the 1985 list, so I will just provide my own here. These are my top matches for the year in no particular order.

 

 

6. Lioness Asuka v Jaguar Yokota, 08/22/85

 

Me: Does this exist in full? I thought it was only clips (maybe I'm confusing it with Lioness vs Chigusa). Where did you get it, if full?

 

"1986"

 

 

 

"2. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, 1/28/86"

 

Completely off the charts. Choshu just caused all kinds of trouble in All Japan.  Probably one of the best matches I've ever seen, period. There was so much hate dripping off of my TV screen after this one that I had to take Windex to the tube after the match.

 

Me: Right at the absolute peak of my must see list after reading the stuff about Choshu's Army over on TOA recently. Maybe I'll actually pop for the supposedly great comps Barnett made of this stuff.

 

"3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda, 6/12/86"

 

People have griped about the finish, but that invalidates the rest of the match, which was incredible. The double-kick stuff was tricky for sure and yeah, they missed, but I really didn't care to be honest. One of the top ten matches of the decade.

 

Me: Saw this for the first time last week. All I'll say is that for them to have worked to a point where they could have people talking about the possibility of it being the match of the decade if it weren't for a botched finish, is something both men should be lauded for.

 

 

"7. The Midnight Rockers vs. Doug Somers & Buddy Rose, 8/7/86"

 

If this is the Las Vegas match where Michaels and Jannetty won the titles, I'm with 'em here. I loved that match.

 

Me: If this is the match with oodles of juice, I've seen in clipped form only. Looked super though.

 

 

"1987"

 

 

"3. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka, 2/26/87"

 

Was there a bad match in AJW around this time? Seriously?

 

Me: Maybe this is the only existing in clips match I referenced earlier. If that's again not the case, I'd love to see it in full.

 

"4. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 2/5/87"

 

I've seen a clipped version of this match that blew me away, but haven't seen the whole thing. On the ever-growing "to-do" list.

 

Me: Is this the broken fingers match?

 

 

"7. El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, 7/27/87"

 

I think I owe it to myself to be introduced to some lucha that doesn't feature Rey, Juvi or Psicosis.

 

Me: Again on my must see list. Their 9/97 match is something I've recently been giving consideration to as the pinnacle of wrestling, bar none.

 

"8. Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol, 4/27/87"

 

Okay match, outstanding finish. The crowd was on the verge, well nevermind, they WERE rioting. When Tommy Rich came out from under the cage, I thought the building was going to explode and the anger shown when Lawler had his head shaved was unreal.

 

Me: I just recently got a tape with clips building to this, then the match in full. I'll probably be watching this in the next day or two. It'll be my intro to Memphis, WHOOO!

 

"9. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 10/6/87"

 

Haven't seen, but this doesn't surprise me.

 

Me: Haven't seen any singles between them pre-1988

 

"10. War Games, 7/4/87"

 

True classic, even though I like Wrestle War '92 much better. This was the original though.

 

Me: Can't say a bad thing about it. Just frigging superb.

 

"11. Riki Choshu & Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada & 12. Tatsumi Fujinami & Strong Machine

vs. Antonio Inoki & Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Dick Murdoch,

09/17/87"

 

I thought this was the Summer Fever tag for a sec, but I guess I haven't seen this one. Lots of great 10-mans in NJ in '87.

 

Me: On my must see list (noticing a pattern? lousy brokeness). NJ vs UWF 10 mans sound superb, and I hope to pick some up soon.

 

 

"15. Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito, 4/27/87"

 

Haven't seen. What am I doing that makes me loathe all Inoki matches so much? He bores me to tears.

 

Me: Masa Saito was supposed to be a really super worker in the 80's. Maybe I'll keep this in the back of my mind for a future date.

 

 

 

"1988"

 

 

 

 

"4. Footloose vs. Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano, 7/19/88"

 

Need to see.

 

Me: Pretty sure this is on an AJ Classics. Haven't heard it pimped before.

 

 

"6. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka, 8/25/88"

 

Need to see. Were these the Crush Girls? I think I'm right, but I may be wrong.

 

Me: This is indeed the Crush Girls. I need so much more 80's Zenjo. Kinda strange that neither of Chigusa's hair matches with Dump Matsumoto didn't make one of the lists.

 

 

 

"9. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, 8/30/88"

 

I didn't know Tsuruta and Yatsu ever teamed. I guess you learn something new every day.

 

Me: Tsuruta and Yatsu were known as The Olympics, for obvious reasons.

 

 

"14. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask, 3/9/88"

 

Have heard all kinds of good stuff, but haven't seen for myself.

 

Me: Make a point of it. I'm absolutely in hippy dippy love with this match.

 

"15. Owen Hart vs. Keiichi Yamada, 6/10/88"

 

Overrated match in my eyes, yet still very good.

 

Me: I've seen one of their matches before Yamada put the Liger mask on. If this is it, it's very sound, but not up to snuff with their 4/91 match.

 

"16. Akira Maeda vs. Kazuo Yamazaki, 5/12/88"

 

I should see this. Maeda was WOTY in '88, so obviously it was a great year for him.

 

Me: I'm just starting into 80's Maeda, so this should go on my list behind his stuff later in the year with Takada. This was from the UWF restart show, BTW.

 

 

 

"1989"

 

*Clip the Flair/Steamboat stuff, since enough has been said from enough parties.

 

 

"6. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 6/5/89"

 

I've heard this match called the starting point for new All Japan fans. I didn't start here and still haven't seen this one, but it's still on my to-do list, I promise.

 

Me: Get their feud tape that covers all their matches from 10/88 to 4/90. Almost all great stuff. 10/88 is probably the best overall match, but 6/89 is definitely the most significant. Most would consider it a precursor to Misawa/Kawada, but I find more parity and complexity in this feud and just generally enjoy it on a higher personal level.

 

 

 

"8. Footloose vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas, 6/5/89"

 

Should see.

 

Me: Ditto

 

 

"10. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund, 12/22/88"

 

Have heard all kinds of things, but haven't seen. Backlund shooting just seems STRANGE to me.

 

Me: Chris Coey recently did a really good review of this over at Air Raid Crash. I'll definitely be getting it at some point.

 

 

"12. Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada, 1/10/89"

 

I always liked both guys, so I should see this one.

 

Me: I only have their 6/89 match. If I recall, this one is a thirty minute draw.

 

Also, where's the 12/88 Kawada/Tenryu vs Hansen/Gordy match. It absolutely belongs on either the 88 or 89 list, depending on what year you're going by.

 

Please feel free to contribute to my limited expertise. Thanks.

 

Me: Hardly limited. I could only hope to have seen the scope of footage you have. Fun topic.

[Guest Loss4Words]

Just because I noticed there weren't any on the list, would you guys consider Flair v Luger 12/26/88 better than Flair v Sting 03/27/88? I think I would, and while most people rank the Flair v Luger match pretty highly, it's not something that gets mentioned often when talking about great matches, which is a shame. The formula here is so simple yet so effective -- Luger plays Superman, then the downtrodden comeback kid only to make another comeback as Superman and finally succumb to Flair's cheating. This may have been the best US singles match in 1988, but I think the voting deadlines hurt it a little. Other matches I'd like to add to the list above include:

 

05/04/81 - Sgt. Slaughter v Pat Patterson - This match hasn't aged especially well, but for its time, it was brilliant. Brawls were novelties back then (as opposed to now, where good wrestling is the novelty) and Patterson was such an awesome worker. He was a great babyface and the Northeast crowds can be tough, so I thought it was a testament to his working ability that he was able to get the crowd behind him so solidly against Slaughter.

 

05/19/80 - Bob Backlund v Ken Patera - Texas Death Match

I've never actually seen this match, but I've seen high praise for it and would love to hear someone's thoughts on what makes the match so great.

 

09/23/81 - Jerry Lawler v Terry Funk - Empty Arena Match

Cute concept, but this match is terribly overrated. I like the setup and I like the booking and I REALLY like Lance Russell's commentary, but there's barely a match going on once you look past the great setup. I do enjoy Funk's selling ("MY EYE!"), but as far as the match itself, even Funk has admitted that he feels it's overrated.

 

07/23/82 - Tiger Mask v Dynamite Kid - Probably my favorite of the entire series. It ended in a DQ, which puts it at ****3/4 in my eyes, but as far as prolonging the feud, it was a very effective DQ. This was also the FIRST TM-DK match I ever saw, which may explain my bias toward it.

 

08/30/82 - Tiger Mask v Dynamite Kid - I've never understood the overwhelming support for the MSG match. While it was a great little contest, it only lasted 8 minutes. I'd probably tap it around ***1/2 or ***3/4, which is a great rating, but I wouldn't put it as high as some do in terms of great matches in the 80s.

 

04/20/88 - Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v Lex Luger & Barry Windham - Windham's heel turn is what this match is most remembered for, but even if you factor that out, this is an outstanding match that tells a superb story. In a matter of 15 minutes or so, Windham goes from beloved white bread babyface to a bitter, svelte young athlete tired of watching his friends hog all the glory, so he's now stepping out ready to take the world on. Luger can't tag in because Arn & Tully have beaten the shit out of him and you can almost feel the emotion. Great selling by Luger, even better characterization by Windham and nice match flow set by Anderson and Blanchard while Luger and Windham do their thing.

 

??/??/86 - Akira Maeda v Don Nielssen - Very famous match which I just couldn't get into because I feel like wrestling should be WRESTLING, not some weird mixture of martial arts and shootfighting. I know the reverse argument here and I really tried to get into this one, but I was just too closed-minded I think. I might try again sometime.

 

12/06/87 - AJW 12-woman marathon tag - I wish I could remember everyone in this match at the moment, but I can't unfortunately. I was awestruck by the smooth pace maintained for the entire 60 minutes, which I guess isn't so hard to do when you have 12 world class workers in one match. Hidden gem.

 

05/86 - Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantel v Bill Dundee & Buddy Landell - This is the semi-famous Texas Death Match that went 60 minutes and featured 27 near falls if my memory is being kind to me today. Great work from all four here and a match that doesn't often get props for whatever reason.

 

03/30/85 - Hacksaw Duggan v Ted DiBiase - As much as I agree that Duggan was a hell of a worker around this time, I just don't see the big deal here. Neat booking with the 1200 or so stipulations and gimmicks attached to this match, but it ends up only going 12 minutes or so and nothing of note really happens within the MATCH. A little on the overrated side.

 

02/07/86 - Midnight Express v Rock & Roll Express - They've had better matches, but this one was a great one with the Midnights claiming the NWA tag titles for the first time. I think this is a match that you could say reads like a template for the entire feud in some ways.

 

??/??/86 - Steve Williams & Ted DiBiase v Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts - To me, Doc & Ted are one of the greatest tag teams of all time. I love the excitement level in this match and the awesome face work from Williams and DiBiase. Hard to do a good match with the lumberjack gimmick, but this is certainly a great example of just that.

 

01/??/84 - Ric Flair v Bruiser Brody - I'm not even sure I have *that* much of the date right, but it's a 60-minute draw and it's 2/3 falls and it's great work from both in front of a typically awesome St. Louis crowd. Worth a gander.

 

That's it for now. I might add more in later.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

"Just because I noticed there weren't any on the list, would you guys consider Flair v Luger 12/26/88 better than Flair v Sting 03/27/88?"

 

Flair v Sting from Clash I i svery much over rated as it is simply a typical Flair match with another wrestler.  Compare it to the 86-7 series v Windham and see how it is really pedestrian.  As for the Flair/Luger match, it is better just because Luger is *that* much worse than even a green Sting.  Both good matches to compare to Flair's prior work in 1986-87 and then his work in 1989 v Steamboat.

 

"04/20/88 - Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v Lex Luger & Barry Windham - Windham's heel turn is what this match is most remembered for, but even if you factor that out, this is an outstanding match that tells a superb story. In a matter of 15 minutes or so, Windham goes from beloved white bread babyface to a bitter, svelte young athlete tired of watching his friends hog all the glory, so he's now stepping out ready to take the world on. Luger can't tag in because Arn & Tully have beaten the shit out of him and you can almost feel the emotion. Great selling by Luger, even better characterization by Windham and nice match flow set by Anderson and Blanchard while Luger and Windham do their thing."

 

Beautiful match.  Tully/AA were so simple in how they went about laying out a match.  So simple yet so effective.  And of course Windham was up for the challnege.  I have only seen the last 7 minutes of this match, does it exist in fuller form?

 

It's really too bad the MX and Tully/AA only met once, at a house show, that is on a Hand Held with a fairly crappy angle.

 

Tim

[Guest Loss4Words]

Answering questions best I can:

 

"Me: I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure this would be an NJ match. Didn't Ishingundan not show up in AJ till 1985?"

 

That would be correct. This was actually a tournament final for the WWF Jr. heavyweight title and took place in an NJ ring.

 

"6. Lioness Asuka v Jaguar Yokota, 08/22/85

 

Me: Does this exist in full? I thought it was only clips (maybe I'm confusing it with Lioness vs Chigusa). Where did you get it, if full?"

 

My version lasts 15 minutes and there does not SEEM to be any major clippage going on. I don't know how long the match was originally, so I'm not sure if mine is edited or not. I have it on two tapes -- one is on one of the Jo Mosh RSPW comps and the other is on John McAdam's Wrestling From The 80s Vol. 31.

 

"4. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 2/5/87

 

I've seen a clipped version of this match that blew me away, but haven't seen the whole thing. On the ever-growing "to-do" list.

 

Me: Is this the broken fingers match?"

 

Yes.

 

"Beautiful match.  Tully/AA were so simple in how they went about laying out a match.  So simple yet so effective.  And of course Windham was up for the challnege.  I have only seen the last 7 minutes of this match, does it exist in fuller form?"

 

Yes. It's on McAdam's NWA comp from March-May of '88 in entirety. I'd put the match around ****, maybe higher. Aside from the War Games concept, that 20-25 minutes may have been Dusty Rhodes' peak as a booker.

[Guest Jubuki]

>>"2. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, 1/28/86"

 

This is probably my favorite tag match of the decade.  While it was Choshu who changed the style of AJ tags, this is still a great way to refute the 'Jumbo is lazy' policy of Meltzer.  He was anything but, and he looked tons better than Choshu here.  Required viewing.

 

>>"3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda, 6/12/86"

 

People make too much of a big deal about the finish; everything before it is amazing.  No matter how stiff or violent matches since have ended up, none match this for brutality.  Again, required viewing.

 

>>"1. Sting vs. Ric Flair, 3/27/88"

 

Excellent little match. I've been told that if I liked this match, I will LOVE Misawa v Tsuruta from 06/08/90,

 

Not so, actually...

 

>>"14. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask, 3/9/88"

 

If you see THIS one, you'll see just how not-great Flair/Sting really is.  Sting was nearly directionless in that match - he did the requisite Beat Up Flair stuff, but so did everyone else for the 3 or 4 years previous to that.  Just count the number of times he repeats spots and quits doing something when he shouldn't (like the corner punches). Jumbo & Misawa kept their match simple to start and worked up from there, and it ended up more exciting than the Clash match, even though Flair/Sting was probably more believable as a big upset.

 

Also on the 88 list should be the 11/10 Takada/Maeda & the 3/11 Takada/Hase.  The first is far better, but the second is neat in its own right and hangs with a lot of the stuff on the list...not to mention being better than the #1...

 

>>"2. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 5/7/89"

 

Eh...this match is great...but I fucking hate it.  As good as Flair is, this isn't one of his best matches.  Steamboat spends all that time building (allegedly) towards the double chickenwing, but Flair hardly sells the arm worth a crap.  Add in the stupid 'judges' nonsense that hearkens back to the Sting screwjob (not to mention that they'd just wrestled a 2/3 falls match, so thinking they'd go to a draw is counter-intuitive), and this starts falling apart at the seams.  For being a blowoff of Flair's heeldom, it sure didn't feel like a blowoff.

 

>>"3. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 2/20/89"

 

This was the best of the series for me, too.  But, I've never been too high on them as a whole.  It was almost the 90's, and the best the U.S. had to offer was stuff that belonged in the 70's...I've never been a fan of that.

 

>>"4. Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, 11/15/89"

 

Liked this the one time I saw it...but that's been at least 2 years ago, so maybe it's time to go back through this stuff.

 

>>"6. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 6/5/89"

 

It sets the trend for the style of work they were heading towards - compared to Flair/Steamboat, this is ridiculously high-tech.  Granted, Flair/Steamboat is a pretty even series in terms of who's bringing the best work, whereas this is mostly Jumbo, but it's still something of a marvel, considering what was going on elsewhere.

 

>>"10. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund, 12/22/88"

 

While I dislike the WON voting system, I have to say this is a fantastic match.  It's near-frightening (in a good way) to think that, even though Takada is one of the top 5 workers in the world at that point & his opponent had been out of wrestling for 4 years, all the best stuff here is Mr. Bob.  McMahon never knew what he had in this guy.

[Guest Loss4Words]

Other matches to add to the discussion:

 

10/01/86 - Barry Windham v Ron Bass - I have yet to see this one, but I've heard quite a few high compliments toward this match. I really believe that Windham may have been the second or third best worker in the world at one point.

 

08/11/89 - Owen Hart v Dynamite Kid - No DQ - This is another Calgary match that is actually available in complete form believe it or not. I haven't seen it, but I'm really wanting to see it. Anyone seen it and have any opinions to provide here?

 

12/31/89 - Jushin Liger v Black Tiger - This match actually took place in Moscow, Russia, and is VERY rare but is supposed to be a classic. I am trying to find it as we speak but I'm not having much luck.

 

10/??/85 - Ric Flair v Kerry Von Erich - This is the semi-famous 1-hour draw from Hawaii. It aired only once and it was on the Financial News Network. I do have this one and think it's one of Flair's greatest matches and the best I've ever seen from Kerry by far. Flair could do a lot with Kerry when he was completely out of it and when Kerry actually had his working shoes on, he could do even more.

 

02/28/85 - Ric Flair v Harley Race - Great work here. As much as I love the Starrcade '83 match, I have to put this one slightly above it. Flair's selling is always good but I think it's bar none in this match. Race looks terrific here as well. This is probably the last truly great match of Race's career.

 

12/12/84 - Harley Race & Nick Bockwinkel v Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta - A VERY hidden gem that very few know about. The match itself is okay -- it's nothing especially terrific but the last ten minutes are just mind-blowing as the pace increases and the near falls and suspense escalate to a point I've rarely seen in any match. Just another great match in a long list of them for four all-time greats. Bockwinkel could have been so much more in the AWA had he had more opponents that were on his level.

 

08/03/84 - Ric Flair v Kerry Von Erich - Once again, these two produce a great match. I think this is kind of a repeat of other matches and is pretty identical to an AWESOME match they had in January 1985 in St. Louis, but seeing as how this match took place first, I guess this was the trendsetter here. I should really make a Flair v Kerry comp sometime.

 

11/24/84 - Terry Gordy v Killer Khan - I have yet to see this match, but some have proclaimed it as Gordy's greatest match, or rather Gordy's greatest performance. Anyone seen this that can back or refute that claim?

 

06/16/84 - Midnight Express v Rock & Roll Express - This is the match where the MX won the Mid South tag titles. I really enjoyed this one. To me, as many great matches as these teams had with each other, their best matches together were in Mid South.

 

05/11/84 - Ric Flair v Kerry Von Erich - What was I saying about Flair v Kerry? Anyway, this match makes maybe the only truly great match I've seen during Kerry's (very) short run as NWA World champ. It's definitely better than Texas Stadium, that's for sure.

 

05/05/85 - Midnight Express v Fantastics - I've actually seen this match get as high a rating as ****1/2, which blows my mind. It's probably the weakest of the entire feud if you ask me.

 

Just a few more matches to add to the thread. Who knows, maybe with time, we can make this a pretty definitive thread about 80s classics.

[Guest JHawk]

One error I've noticed throughout:

 

The Muraco-Snuka cage match was 10/17/1983.  This July date would probably be a house show (MSG maybe?)  They had a good little match in Philly a week prior to this one that I just saw recently.

[Guest The Son of Sting]

Does anyone know were i can get a comp with all this stuff on?

Thanks in advance.

[Guest Loss4Words]

I don't know, but I really wish more people would participate in this discussion. Thanks to those who have. It's certainly a fresh issue, unlike a newbie who doesn't read any posts that aren't their own coming in here every few weeks going on about how they're just getting into Puro and want tape recommendations. If everyone would rather just talk about 6/3/94 Misawa v Kawada, the '94 J-Cup, M-Pro from '96, Misawa & Co. v Jumbo & Co., and Dreamslam I & II over and over and over and over again, I guess that's okay, but I would like to get a little variety in here.

[Guest Don Becker]

Reading this thread reminds me of just how much old-school stuff I don't have.  Apart from the original Best of Starrcade tape I have no NWA from before '88, and the only 80's puro I have is clipped to hell (the NJPW Radical Fights DVDs).

 

Still, one of my biggest pet peeves is the confusion between the IWGP Heavyweight title and the IWGP tournaments.  The title didn't come into being until after the '87 tourney.  Everything before that was just a tournament - Hogan didn't beat Inoki for any title.

[Guest Loss4Words]

"Still, one of my biggest pet peeves is the confusion between the IWGP Heavyweight title and the IWGP tournaments.  The title didn't come into being until after the '87 tourney.  Everything before that was just a tournament - Hogan didn't beat Inoki for any title."

 

Wow, I did *not* know that. Seriously. I guess it's funny how you hear something so much that you start accepting it as truth whether it is or not, not unlike the "93,173" number that gets circulated about Wrestlemania III's attendance when they actually had 78,000 on hand. Even PWI has Hogan listed as the first-ever IWGP champ. Thanks for the info.

[Guest Spanky]

Random Thoughts!

 

 

"3. Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid, 4/23/83"

 

I'd consider this one of the top two or three matches of the 80s and it was incredibly influential. I think we're still seeing influences spawned from this match. My only complaint here is that I've watched this match ten times or so and I still can't figure out what the finish is. Did DK get disqualified for using that bottle? Does the match continue? Maybe my tape just cuts short, I don't know.

 

This match didn't work for me.  The first ten minutes were outstanding, probably the best batch of work from the entire series, but I didn't like the goofiness that followed.  I kinda dug the idea that DK badly wanted to earn a win over Tiger so he begged for the match to be restarted... only to go for a freakin' chinlock after hitting a tombstone and flying headbutt instead of going for the cover.  Instead of a great dramatic near fall, we got a resthold.  Disappointing.

 

I dunno, there just wasn't enough wrestling for me after the frist ten minutes or so.  I liked the match from 1982 (except maybe the MSG bout) a lot more.  The 1/28/82 match doesn't get nearly enough play from fans.  It was a pretty damn good little match, but gets lost in the run of 7/82 and 8/82 and 4/83.  It deserves better.

 

 

 

"7. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich, 12/25/82"

 

Outstanding match. This baby actually won Match of the Decade in the '89 Observer Yearbook.

 

Actually, it was in the '87 Yearbook.  Flair-Steamboat from 5/89 bagged the '89 MOTD award.  Neither of them deserved it.  I think the cage match has become a part of the wrestling canon through the famous angle and legendary feud that resulted from it, and it's placed the match on a pedestal that it's work didn't quite earn.  That's not to say it wasn't a fine match, but it didn't kick me in the nads like some of these other great bouts.

 

 

"5. Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Nobuhiko Takada, 4/19/84"

 

Haven't seen, but Yatsu was a hell of a worker in the early-to-mid 80s before he just slowly dissipated into nothingness.

 

I saw this one a while back, but unfortunately my copy of the bout is somewhere up around Boston now.  

 

Anyway, I remember it being really hot with a lot of moves.

 

 

"15. The Cobra vs. Kuniak Kobayashi, 8/2/84"

 

I've never really been able to get into Kobayashi, but this could be a good match. I think I might have it on AJ Classics and just haven't gotten to it yet.

 

IIRC, this was a pretty nifty spotfest... and that's coming from a pretty big Cobra basher.

 

 

"2. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, 1/28/86"

 

Completely off the charts. Choshu just caused all kinds of trouble in All Japan.   Probably one of the best matches I've ever seen, period. There was so much hate dripping off of my TV screen after this one that I had to take Windex to the tube after the match.

 

This is on the same tape as Takada-Yatsu.  I remember digging it a ton, though.  80s All Japan doesn't always do a lot for me, but this match was chill.

 

 

"3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda, 6/12/86"

 

People have griped about the finish, but that invalidates the rest of the match, which was incredible. The double-kick stuff was tricky for sure and yeah, they missed, but I really didn't care to be honest. One of the top ten matches of the decade.

 

On some level, I actually like the finish.  It would've worked for me if they'd actually connected with the kicks.  Still, a fabulous match.  The theme of Fujinami struggling against the badass fighting machine really connected with me.  I wonder how good this match would've been had they been able to go the distance.  They didn't even get two thirds of the way through, and it was still magnificent.

 

 

"1. Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage, 3/29/87"

 

NOT the match of the year by any stretch. Good, but not great. I'm one of the few who doesn't sing the praises of this one, but I think they crammed 30 minutes of work into 15 minutes here.

 

I liked this match, but not as MOTY.  Savage crushed Steamboat's larynx and Ricky decides to get revenge with... armdrags?!?  Come on Ricky, don't be such a puss.  Even that notwithstanding, I don't understand all the praise this match receives.

 

 

"4. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka, 2/5/87"

 

I've seen a clipped version of this match that blew me away, but haven't seen the whole thing. On the ever-growing "to-do" list.

 

Was this the match where Kosh worked over Takada's fingers?  If so, it's pretty choice.

 

 

"6. Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham, 4/11/87"

 

Great match. I have a raw footage version of this, so I have finally found it unclipped. Yay me!

 

Yeah, I dug this one too.  I think I like Barry against Flair better than Steamboat against Flair.

 

 

13. Akira Maeada & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki 14. Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki, 9/1/87"

 

Cut and paste error somewhere here

 

I think I've seen that error somewhere before.  ;-)

 

 

"1. Sting vs. Ric Flair, 3/27/88"

 

Excellent little match. I've been told that if I liked this match, I will LOVE Misawa v Tsuruta from 06/08/90, but anyway, this is a great match on its own. Flair does a great job keeping the obviously nervous-as-hell Sting from blowing up early on.

 

Flair by the numbers.  That's a good thing sometimes, but I grow tired of it easily.  As Chris said, it's too repetitive.  Not a bad match by any means, just not worthy of MOTY status.  Probably not even one of the ten best matches in 1988.

 

 

"2. The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics, 3/27/88"

 

Awesome, awesome match, perhaps my favorite tag match ever. Incredibly wild, yet incredibly sound.

 

I friggin' love this.  Very few of the brawls we've seen all over the Whiff the last few years can touch the intensity this one had.  Fun as hell.  Tommy Rogers is one of the most underrated wreslters of his generation.

 

 

"3. The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics, 4/26/88"

 

I've only seen this joined in progress. Where can I get the full version?

 

This was the title change in Chattanooga, right?  Great match, but their nontitle match from a couple months earlier was right there with it.  The only thing I don't like about these matches is the Fans' offense.  I hate 80s US babyface offense, where it's all about the armbar.  Still, a relatively minor complaint for a great series of matches.  These two teams really clicked.

 

 

"14. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask, 3/9/88"

 

Have heard all kinds of good stuff, but haven't seen for myself.

 

This seems to be hit and miss with most people.  Some dig it for the youth-veteran vibe, but some seem to think it's overrated ala Flair-Sting.  I tend to go with the former, but I haven't watched this in ages.

 

 

"1. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 4/2/89"

 

I like 02/20 or 03/18 better, but this is a definite classic. Everything that can be said has been said.

 

Great match.  I would have to watch 2/20 again to see which I liked more, but both are better than the overrated 5/7.  The famous six star match from Landover is worth seeing as well.

 

 

"2. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 5/7/89"

 

See above.

 

I agree with what Chris said.  I see he read Idol's thesis on the match too.  

 

 

"3. Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair, 2/20/89"

 

I'm in the minority where I thought this was the best of the series. The crowd wanted to love Flair and hate Steamboat so badly, but Flair worked so well that they went from chanting "Steamboat sucks" to just "Steamboat" in mere minutes. Good stuff.

 

I liked the drama of the near falls down the home stretch.  That's something I really value (one reason I'm a big AJ fan), and this did that better than the other matches in this series, IIRC.

 

 

"4. Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, 11/15/89"

 

Overrated match in my view. Lots of intensity, but not much else. Flair's never been much of a brawler in my eyes.

 

Agreed that it's overrated, disagree about the intensity.  I thought the Bash match was more intense, and a better bout.  This didn't seem to have the intensity that an "I Quit" match should have.

 

 

"6. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu, 6/5/89"

 

I've heard this match called the starting point for new All Japan fans. I didn't start here and still haven't seen this one, but it's still on my to-do list, I promise.

 

Transcendent match.  Seriously, this is the buscuits.  A strong Match of the Decade contender.

 

 

"7. Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, 7/23/89"

 

Lots of blown spots and the pacing was too slow for my tastes. Still a good match though.

 

Liked this better than the "I Quit" match.

 

Tangent - I really would've liked to see a heel Barry Windham come in after the Funk feud died down, instead of Flair turning heel to work with Luger and Sting.  It could've combined the great work of the Steamboat program and the hatred of the Funk program, and potentially surpassed them both.

 

 

Simon,

proud member of the Barry Windham Marching & Chowder Society

[Guest Jubuki]

I've always liked the 4/83 match quite a bit, maybe because as time goes by I'm finding more and more matches with non-finishes that I still love the Hell out of.  That being said, I've also always been on board the 1/82 bandwagon - far and away their best technical match, and I felt it was far, far better in every other respect than the stuff from MSG and the other 8/82 match.  I haven't watched that feud in probably 8 months, though...probably should again.

 

And speaking of early Juniors, I was half-impressed, half-disappointed with Cobra.  Watched the WWF Jr. heavy title tournament, which is pretty good, and he was damned nice against Davey.  Against DK, though, there just wasn't enough selling.  They took a move, sold it, kicked out...and then stood up, rather than continuing to sell.  Cobra was guiltier than DK, although it was a problem for both.  I don't know if that's symptomatic of his work as a whole, but I was at least intrigued by that more than I was by his dumpy Z-1 stuff (duh).

 

The other stuff I've already commented on, or I can't because I haven't seen it -- a mid-late 80's Barry Windham checklist, something like the look at Jumbo vs. Misawa in terms of TV, should be out there.  I'd have to agree about the Barry feud; I remember he was feuding with Sting and Luger over the U.S. title, dropping it to Luger at Chi-Town, so the seeds were there to let Steamer face Barry once or twice as the #2 heel and let him look strong by taking Ricky to the wall.  Too bad they went with the muscleheads instead of the talent after the Funk thing burnt out.  Then again, I probably would have booked the whole scene differently.