Jon Cortez vs. Keith Hayward, 11/5/1980
These two always did very no-nonsense technical matches together, and this was no exception. Big emphasis on amateur moves like single leg takedowns, firemans carries, pick-ups etc. There were some flashier moves, but most of this resembled a World of Sport take on shootstyle. Some top notch stuff in this. Bit slow paced and some moments in the last round felt blown, but keep in mind the much decorated Hayward was pretty much a rookie here. Quite impressive showing.
Johnny South vs. Ringo Rigby (8/5/80)
Tough contest in front of a really hot crowd. South looked like a hard man. His subtle heel moves early on where great - defensively shoving Rigby around, crawling to the ropes - and the crowd was super uptight about every bit of it. They ain't letting you get away with shoving a guy in the ropes in World of Sport. There were some cool holds early on, including a great struggle over a surfboard hold, but Johnny South then unleashed an asskicking. Really dug his face scrapes and forearm drops. Rigby looked quite good as a fired up young guy. He fired back with some cool double handed chops and big dropkicks. It builds to a series of pretty great strike exchanges and there was an insane spot where both guys ran heads first into each other. Simple but super enjoyable.
Jon Cortez vs. Pete Lapaque (1/28/80)
This was a totally dope match. Just the kind of random World of Sport bout you can turn on and get lost in. Jon Cortez was so great at crafting these throwaway matches as intense struggles. Pete LaPaque is a cool, chubby rudo, but this is all about Cortez who is such a graceful, awesome wrestler. Starts of with some slick grappling, then great arm work from LaPaque, Walton talking endlessly about how to tell wrestlers apart, and then lots of niggle and head to head wrestling with plenty of neat spots. One might complain about the kind of flat endings but don't forget this was just an undercard bout to the bigger Saint/Grey match later. As such it was real good.
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