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Post by marc91 on Jan 5, 2024 21:58:50 GMT 1
#0008 Two Out Of Three Falls Match NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Titles Butch Miller & Luke Williams (c) vs. Rick Martel & Roddy Piper (PNW 26.01.1980) Portland was such a fun territory. Piper and Martel seem to be having a blast while tagging and dominating the match, interestingly that's the same thing that Martel did against Harley Race, despite being a babyface (the heel is usually the one that leads the match). The future Bushwhackers here are 10/15 years younger and don't have a silly gimmick, they hold their ground quite well and get decent heat with their dirty tactics (ironically enough, they hit Piper on his ear, a good few years before the Greg Valentine match). We get a non-finish, with the promise of an upcoming rematch, so that's good enough for me ***1/4 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 5, 2024 23:47:49 GMT 1
#0009
Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey (JOINT PROMOTIONS 28.01.1980)
This was ridiculously good. The match has the best looking and quickest armdrag/armbar sequences you could ever find, of course Saint was the one mastering the moves, while Grey was selling huge for him and getting a lot of sympathy from the crowd (to the point that Saint was booed by some fans, like a 2005 John Cena!). The control of the pace was nothing but excellent, as the match never dragged because Grey refused to stay down and his quick comebacks were always a threat. Grey's offence gets more risky when we get to the penultimate round and he manages to find two brave pinfalls on Saint, to win a match that seemed impossible for him to fix at that point
****1/4 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 6, 2024 13:00:18 GMT 1
#0010 Two Out Of Three Falls Match NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title & WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Unification Match Steve Keirn (c) vs Tatsumi Fujinami (c) (NJPW 01.02.1980) It's nice to see the Junior Heavyweights main eventing a show, even if it's just a B event. This was solid and good at times, but Keirn controlled the pace with a dull legwork at the beginning and the match was clearly affected by the lack of excitement. There was nothing wrong with his offence or Fujinami's selling, it just never became too good or dramatic. Things got better when Keirn was getting outwrestled and started punching Fujinami to get blood from forehead stitches, causing a disqualification. However, it didn't last long because Fujinami had a quick comeback and won the second fall in a couple of minutes. Seeing a 2/3 falls with a 2-0 result it's also quite fresh, but it's too bad that the match had an eventful start and ended right when it was getting good
***1/4 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 7, 2024 12:09:50 GMT 1
#0011 WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs Dynamite Kid (NJPW 05.02.1980) This was better than the Steve Keirn match, part of the reason is Dynamite using a different strategy than his partner and aiming to open Fujinami's forehead as soon as possible (as it was really effective when Keirn did it). Fujinami continuously checks his wound and then sells it really well when he starts bleeding, his strategy went out of the window as he was trying to keep Dynamite off his forehead with some matwork. Dynamite gets to look good, even in defeat, as his pin on the first diving headbutt was too cocky and then missing the second one completely changed the match. They also teased the suicide dive again from a desperate Fujinami, which he missed and seemed to be the end for him before he traps Dynamite with the bridge pin. The crowd was into it all along, which is another good thing
**** |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 7, 2024 18:13:15 GMT 1
#0012 NWF World Heavyweight Title Match Antonio Inoki (c) vs Stan Hansen (NJPW 08.02.1980) This was simple and easy for them, yet still good and what you would expect from these two in just 15 minutes of action. Inoki tries to ground the gaijin, who bumps around for the Ace and can't wait to beat the crap out of the champion as soon as he has a chance to do it. You can tell that they have more matches ahead of them, as the finishing stretch leaves space to future opportunities (the lariat kickout and the double count-out these being two features that they will probably revisit later). Inoki gets protected because the lariat only beats him by count-out, even though this causes a title change anyway
***1/4 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 8, 2024 22:58:33 GMT 1
#0013 British Welterweight Title Match Jim Breaks (c) vs Young David (JOINT PROMOTIONS 13.02.1980): ***3/4 Man, Davey Boy was so slim and athletic... it's so sad. This was really good, Breaks is a great heel (the other JP matches I have seen had no real heels, so this is refreshing) and keeps messing with the crowd, using all the dirty tactics he knows and always cheap shotting David at the end of each round, until David finally fires back for a great pop from the crowd. What stops this match from being an all time great is how long it takes them to get the focus on David's arm, but when they do it's great stuff because David sells it well and also wears some bandage to get more drama. We get a nice, non-decisive finish, as David finally gets a pinfall but he just gets a draw and so the title doesn't change hands
***3/4 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 9, 2024 2:25:04 GMT 1
#0014 Two Out Of Three Falls Match NWA United National Title Dick Murdoch (c) vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW 05.03.1980) Once again, an All Japan match gets clipped and we get only 20 minutes of a match that actually lasted 30 minutes. But, to be fair, this was solid and never became anything special, so this is not a tragedy. The crowd didn't help much, as they sat back for most of it and never helped the guys. Murdoch looked good when he got to dictate the pace of the match, while Jumbo seemed to be a bit off at the beginning, before changing gear in the last few minutes of the match and also managing to wake up the crowd. It's still a solid match and the best part of it is Murdoch trying to break Jumbo's neck, before Tsuruta finally gets a reaction. I liked the small package from Jumbo at the end, fighting from underneath to make Murdoch look good in defeat ***1//4 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 9, 2024 15:28:14 GMT 1
#0015 Jeff Kaye vs Jon Cortez (JOINT PROMOTIONS 05.03.1980) This was alright, a solid match but easily the weaker 80s Joint Promotions stuff I have reviewed so far. This was lacking both the heat of David/Breaks and the technical quality of Saint/Grey, so it was an okay match where nothing special really happened from bell to bell. I did enjoy part of the matwork, especially at the beginning, but there were never enough interest or drama in it; for instance, we had a few unnecessary comedy spots from Cortez when he was 1-0 down, which again depended more from the crowd's reaction rather than his own intent. Cortez was on form, while Kaye didn't impress me that much and it's a shame because he was colling most of the match
*** |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 9, 2024 18:42:12 GMT 1
#0016 Vic Faulkner vs Mick McMichael (JOINT PROMOTIONS 12.03.1980) This is more like it, actually this was a total blast. It's such a natural pairing, because McMichael is an experienced veteran with limited stamina, while Faulkner loves to bump around the ring for him. This also works because it has a bit of everything: solid matwork, good pace, counters and just a little bit of comedy this time around; it's all savvily mixed and it gives us 15 good minutes that are as good as anything else you could see today. McMichael is almost tempted to cheat because Faulkner is too unpredictable at times, but then decides not to and the stalemate gives us a double pinfall at the end
***1/2 |
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Post by marc91 on Jan 10, 2024 12:59:08 GMT 1
#0017 Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbyszko (WWF 24.03.1980) Boy, the MSG was really hot for this. I love storyline progression and here you can see Zbyszko regretting his betrayal, because this time Bruno is not holding back at all and he can't wait to punish his former student. A simple bearhug gets a lot of cheers and Zbyszko sold it like a star. Zbyszko hides and runs, getting momentum in a cheap way at every turn, even trying to prevent Bruno from entering the ring as a whole. Contrarily to what happened in their first match, this time Bruno is the one to snap and he beats the hell out of Zbyszko causing a DQ. This was a notch above the Allentown match and I like the fact that there is more to come from these two
***1/2
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