80s AJW

 Yumi Ogura & Kazue Nagahori vs Mika Komatsu & Kanako Nagatomo AJW 6/21/1986

Crazy match that was over 30 minutes of straight wrestling with a ton of intensity and hard-fought chew-em-up style matwork. Really unique from a modern perspective. The match followed a simple formula, they would alternate between matwork and explosive standing moves, but the intensity at which they fought in and out of the holds was great. In terms of moves there was nothing mindblowing happening, but its 80s AJW so it feels somewhat familiar but different, and the real selling point is the struggle. They sold the match like a sporting contest that would occasionally come to a boiling point. The pinfall attempts and the struggle over getting out of them was fantastic – really nailed that amateur wrestling-like feeling of when a guy feels he is about to get rolled in his shoulders and gets into that “oh shit” zone to desperately scramble out. I really liked Kanako Nagatomo here, she hit these cool Zidane headbutts and knew how to work some mean indian deathlocks. Ogura & Nagahori would throw these wild kicks and solebutts, often out of nowhere, and they weren’t afraid to get chippy. At one point you had Komatsu and I think Nagahori going into this almost Lawler/Mantell style strike exchange on their knees with both of them throwing open hands. So the chippiness was great, the matwork was great, and the flying moves were cool (at one point one of them hit this awesome jumping victory roll that looked like the most beautiful flash pin ever). The match didn’t have a ton of limb selling or build to the transitions but they sold the whole thing as an intense sporting contest where either team could take the lead at the drop of a hat, so I didn’t care. Even something like a takedown into an ankle lock felt important, and the way they would elaborate on that really drives the point home. Matches like this that eschew traditional US style ring psychology but still work in their own way are really interesting to me. Really unique, great match that everyone should give a shot.

Chigusa Nagayo vs Lioness Asuka, AJW 6/13/1987

The match begins with a jump start. In the first minute, there's a suplex on the floor and then Lioness misses a crazy dive. Nagayo goes for the kill locking in a sharpshooter, but Lioness scrambles for the ropes. Lioness comes back with a shootstyle armbar and attacking Chigusas arm for a bit. Is Lioness gonna work the arm? No, they reset to a neutral position, working a test of strength before Chigusa takes over. After that the match becomes more focussed on grinding matwork with occasional outbursts of Lioness' kicks, with Chigusa always grinding her back down with headlocks etc. A flick is switched when a tombstone attempt is reversed and they work a 50/50 nearfall run with a lot of big moves. Lioness giant swing as a nearfall is a really cool spot, Chigusas much less energetic version less so.

A lot of cool wrestling on display here with both of them hitting some cool fireman carrys and suplexes. There was considerable struggle and a palpable sense of "grind her down". The UWF influence was really cool. Certainly made me wish this style would come back and be brought to its completion. This match felt a little random to be truely gripping for me but it was cool to watch.

Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs Lola Gonzalez & La Galactica, AJW 10/6/1984

Another really wild match from this era. What makes this stand out is the rudo tour de force from Gonzalez and Galactica. They both did a great job both bumping for their opponents and beating the hell out of them. Gonzalez especially stood out in a major way and I was surprised this match isn't more famous considering she doesn't exactly have a ton of matches on tape. Galactica was a bit more subdued but she got some good licks in. At one point she had this really awesome sugar hold on Chigusa tearing up her leg. Also, Dump Matsumoto and her gang is at ringside and she interfers liberally in this match, at one point jumping straight in the ring to beat on people with an iron rod. If you don't like liberal interferences you'll probably dislike this but I didn't mind it because the action still stayed in the ring and it was all part of the beatdown. In a way mid 80s AJW feels like this corrupt lawless land where all the referees are crooked and you might get stabbed by Dump Matsumoto at the drop of a hat. Of course the Crush Gals are generating molten heat by just existing in this match. There's a minute long Chigusa chant as she's exchanging basic knucklelocks. Any wrestler alive today would give their toe for these kind of reactions. They were super in the moment and feeding off the energy. Some things they did looked a little sloppy or blown, with Chigusas kicks not looking very good yet, and the comebacks felt pretty random (e.g. Chigusa gets her leg worked over and comes back just hitting a random tombstone piledriver), but it doesn't really matter when you have a pair of babyfaces this passionate. The escalating violence towards the end was really great with Asuka bleeding in a really grizzly way, and Gonzalez also getting bloodied with a bleeding Asuka hitting an amazing late match giant swing, fans pelting the ring with garbage in protest to the over the top heel antics etc. Both looked like they wanted to make the cover of an Apter mag. Great spectacle with the atmosphere being off the charts.

80s Europe #11

 

Keith Haward vs. Chic Cullen, 3/5/1984

These two are kind of plain and non descript, but they were surprisingly able to create a bit of spark and tension by stubbornly trying to snap each others limbs. Lots of excellent arm and leg attack stuff, especially from Cullen. He looked like punky teenage boy with his tattoos and hair, but he sure could take a leg part. Dug all the toe holds, stepping into the kneecap etc. There were even some Fuchi-ish half crabs and a great Stretch Muffler. Haward is as stoic as they come but he gave Cullen a mean iceman glare at the right moment and went for the arm with abandon. All finishes were smart. Crazy ending. This was a borderline excellent bout.

Pete Roberts vs. Indio Guajaro (11/13/85)

This was all about the wild act of Indio Guajaro. It was nice to see him do his thing in front of an excitable British crowd. Very a-typical WoS match as it was almost constant action and attacking from Indio with Roberts retaliating. Roberts was one of those typically British faces, i.e. he was basically just a bloke who could wrestle, but he had no problem keeping up the pace and the crowd loved him. Guajaro took some big bumps and kept yanking the mic away from the MC to yell things in Spanish. Really heated, no downtime, doesn‘t overstay it‘s welcome, this was a great piece of TV.

Little Prince vs. Keith Haward (12/11/85)

This was really good. At first glance it was typical WoS stuff with two stoic grapplers trading holds, but they had really good intensity and kept building it until things got heated. Little Prince was a Pakistani wrestler. Stocky guy, but he could really go. He would slap Haward when he was down and he also threw one hell of a suplex. The match had the kind of ultra tight, detailed holds and awesome throws that I like. Haward is notorious for not having much personality but he showed enough fire when Prince started to slap the shit out of him. Good shit. 

 

80s Euro Master List

80s Europe #10

 Mike Bennett vs. Dan Collins, England 2/12/1985

This was really freaking great, honestly blows my mind nobody except OJ talks this match up much because it was a borderline 30 minute old school masterpiece worked at a relentless pace. Most of that was due to Mike Bennett, who looked like an old time grappling master doing a vicious heel act, in the same vein as Terry Rudge or Jim Breaks but with a bit more of a stone faced psycho vibe to him. You could write a book on how to wrestle just by observing what Bennet was doing here. He was tearing up young Dan Collins like no other in this bout. Loved the constant nelsons, shoulder stretches, the mean grovits, the facelocks and constantly pressuring Collins throat with his elbow or knee. At one point he did a jiu jitsu like guard sweep into an armbar which he used to strangle Collins with his foot on his throat. That is some truely next level stuff. It was the kind of stretching that was up there with the best of Fuchi or Jim Breaks and it was awe inspiring. Also, the way Bennett initially wouldn‘t give Collins much, denying his basic reversal attempts and gradually building the match towards bigger and bigger comebacks from Collins was nothing short of masterful. Bennett also kept escalating the violence in interesting ways, for example by topping off their first strike exchange by viciously kneeing a downed Collins in the face. Collins did pretty good for a 17 year old kid in this bout, he mostly stuck to retaliating against Bennetts tactics and never got lost which is very commendable. Still, safe to say Bennett was touched by the wrestling gods that night and running the show. When Bennett had enough and just busted up Collins nose and then kept hitting him in his bleeding face I felt this was Top 10 all time level. It build to great last two rounds with some real fireworks bumping from Bennett and a number of false finishes that would trick almost anyone watching. True to many European bouts, the actual ending underdelivers slightly, but everything up to that point was a honest to god wrestling masterclass.

Jim Breaks vs. Dan Collins, England 4/26/1984.

This was the more loud, boisterous version of the Bennett match. I preferred Bennetts performance but this was a near classic in it‘s own right. The workmanship of a guy like Breaks, who could‘ve just coasted doing his bread and butter stuff in a match against a kid but instead decided to up the ante and work some neat details fascinates me. Here we got some nice Breaks grappling, the usual Breaks heat seeking and joing dislocating arm work, and then something entirely new as Breaks started to wrench the hell out of Collins face and busted him up. The face stuff was nasty as hell, although Breaks didn‘t build to Collins getting some kind of epic payback. Instead we got a unique moment where Collins bursted out of Breaks hold headbutting him in the jaw, which Breaks sold in amazing fashion. Really, all the dangerous bumps and canadian destroyers in the world can‘t measure up to how Breaks sold that jaw headbutt. Collins got nowhere near as much offense as in the Bennett match, but he got that headbutt, plus he busted Breaks eye open with a nasty elbow. That eye thing may have been an accident but the way the camera cut away made me think Breaks actually bladed his brow there, fucker sure was crazy enough to do that. The finish was another fluke but at least it was a straight pin. I‘ll leave it to you to decide which was better, although I prefer the more overarching brilliance of the Bennett match. Both these matches are good as hell in their own right, that is for sure.

 

80s Europe Master List

Assorted Japanese Handhelds

 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Masanobu Fuchi, AJPW 3/24/1992

This channel is really dropping gem after gem. The crowd for this was super hot, and kind of split between their love for Misawa and wanting Fuchi to pull off a huge upset. Naturally Fuchis reaction to becoming a fan favourite is being a dick, like he gets a big pop and the first thing he does is go over and grind his elbow in Misawas face. This was all about how Misawa could blow away Fuchi in 45 seconds if only he got to unleash his elbows but Fuchi works a smart match evading his downfall for as long as possible. Really nice basic work of Fuchi controlling early and putting over Misawas elbows as absolutely devastating whenever they connected. A cool cut off happens and Fuchi starts stretching and twisting up Misawas leg. Misawa does his cool stoic "acting unphased but hobbling across the ring" selling. I loved how Misawas first move after the comeback is the facelock which is a move that is established as being able to beat Fuchi in 1992. They even protect Fuchis finisher! And the crowd went nuts for those nearfalls. I kind of wanted Fuchi to make another big comeback rally, but I always want more Fuchi. Really good match, anyways.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Shunji Kosugi, NJPW 11/19/1984

Young lion Hashimoto footage is kind of scarce, so any find like this is welcome, and against the mysterious Shunji Kosugi no less! This was a typical NJPW young lion affair, lots of groundwork. The trademark viciousness of Hashimoto was not all over the match but it was present, at one point he hit a vicious kick combo. He also busted out a really fast belly to belly suplex, and really grinded into holds with his bodyweight. I thought this was gonna get really good in the last minute when Hashimoto turned up the heat hitting some gnarly headbutts and bitchslapping Kosugi, but then Kosugi just kind of pinned him.  Still it's very nice to see all the basic ingredients of what made Hashimoto so great being in place in his first year of wrestling.

RIP Tarzan Goto

Tarzan Goto & Atsushi Onita vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, WAR 2/3/1994 - EPIC

This is the match that stole the #1 spot from the 6/3/ Misawa/Kawada match in the 1994 Japan Match of the Year awards. That should give you an idea of what kind of epic scope we are looking at for a match here. Of course, it‘s FMW vs. WAR and two of the biggest stars in all of Japan, Onita and Tenryu are involved, so you are going to have absolutely molten heat and crazy reactions for everything compared to the somewhat sterile formality of a Misawa/Kawada match, but this match is way more than just star power. It‘s a remarkably intricate match, really, and there‘s a sneaky Goto performance here as he plays second fiddle to Onita but largely carries his team. They work the early exchanges with insanely high stakes and drop of a hat momentum shifts, guys get thrown outside just to get back in immediately to not risk a brawl outside, later Tenryu immediately tags out after eating an armbreaker from Goto to avoid possible armwork etc. Goto works the early exchanges teasing Onita coming in to square off with Tenryu. When Onita finally tags in the place comes unglued, but he soon gets busted open and kicked to a bloody pulp by Tenryu and Hara. WAR guys kicking a bleeding guy in the face is tried and true greatness, and when someone as charismatic of a bleeding babyface as Onita is on the receiving end it‘s really upper echelon stuff. I really liked how Onitas hot tag seemed to come as a fluke as he just ducked a move, but Goto just immediately tags him in again as if to give the fans some more star action but Onita gets his ass kicked even more. At that point it‘s like Onita is the broken down megastar and Goto starts thinking on how to salvage his team. Tenryu gets a bit too angry at Goto breaking up a pin, rushing him which in turn leads to Goto clocking Tenryu with a chair and bloodying him. At that point the match just becomes this huge Tarzan Goto rally where he just keeps taking people out. He busts out his huge superfly splash to Hara which leads to Hara having to get taped up, later he hits his huge facebuster to Tenryu onto a table which is a fucking nasty move to take on those hard ass Japanese tables. Hara getting taped up after the splash is honestly such a neat detail, how many tag matches do you recall where a guy has to get taped up after eating a finisher to continue the match? It‘s rare but it totally makes sense and it should happen more often, and it made the second superfly splash to Tenryu so much more brutal. When Hara later grabs Gotos leg to prevent him from making another safe it‘s really this crucial moment and maybe most heated moment in the whole match, as Goto has safed Onitas ass for half the match. It‘s really an amazing match full of impeccable timing and psychology, I have to say Onitas basic DDT to Tenruy reentering the ring may have been one of the greatest transitions ever, and Tenryu was world class as usual going from megastar who‘s pained to deal with these garbage wrestling scumbags to being furious and beating the shit out of people to punch drunkenly trying to lariat and abiesigiri his way out of a really tense situation. I also really like Hara just for his crazy facial expressions and selling, he looks mad tough shrugging of Gotos headbutts and strikes initially so when Goto lariats him really hard and his eyes roll back it looks just killer. Really everyone here was great and it‘s no surprise this ended up being the #1 match of the year, heated to the max with a beautiful story where they did a great job going from Onita bleeding and getting beaten to Onita and Tenryu taking guys out and swarming Tenryu, ending with an all-timer of a finish. I mean people can complain about sloppiness or whatever, but for me it doesn‘t get much more real than Tenryu trying to duck an enzuigiri only for Onita to catch him and drop him on his head because Onita is that beaten up and broken. This may not just be the greatest tag of 1994, but the greatest tag match of all time.

Tarzan Goto vs. Cactus Jack IWA 10/5/1995 - EPIC

These two are among the most „crazy brawler“ looking guys in history, and they do a bunch of crazy brawling in this, but there‘s also a surprising amount of wrestling! Jack controls early with a fucking Fujiwara armbar of all things and then works a bunch of sleeper holds. Technical babyface is a bit strange for Mick Foley to work, but they do a pretty fun job at it! Of course, 1995 Mick Foley is also an absolute bump freak and down to trade punches with Goto, and Goto is a great bruiser squashing him with nasty lariats and facebusters. Both guys end up bleeding big and Goto does his classic bloodletting, cracking Foley with a beer bottle and stabbing him in the face. Goto getting heel reactions from his home crowd says alot about what an effective heel he is, and Jack bleeds and sells like crazy. What makes the match is the amount of energy both guys put in, usually in these kind of matches guys will stroll around or lay on the mat while the other guy sets things up, here both guys are constantly reaching for weapons, when Goto goes outside Jack follows him and connects with a nasty hip attack, later Jack catches Goto in a backslide during a lazy moment for a tremendous hope spot. Tremendous Foley performance and Goto is a fantastic antagonist while also putting Foley over huge, and this match was a great example of both guys having the nuts and bolts of wrestling down along with the crazy bumps and blood.

Tarzan Goto vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 8/4/1990 - GREAT

This was the first ever exploding barbedwire match and also a match that stole the match of the year awards, proving Goto had some serious workrate cred in Japan in the 90s. Unlike later explosion matches where they would milk and tease the falls into the wire to the max this match is chaotic like a warzone as the explosions go of left and right sometimes triggered by guys just stepping too hastily next to the wire. Onita unwittingly triggers two explosions early on and he gets up bleeding from his arm and a nasty cut in his back. Goto is right on him dropping him with fat powermoves and bloodying his face with nasty headbutts and fists. They make up for the shoddy explosions by headbutting each other to a bloody pulp and it's quite gritty. Goto works on Onitas bad leg a bit with some figure 4s that Onita punches and headbutts his way out of and they continue fighting. Goto is bombing Onita and he looks done but Onita is able to ram him into the wire and Goto takes the biggest bump of the match as he gets entangled in barbedwire and explosions. Then Onita keeps dropping him with like a dozen powerbombs and DDTs until Goto stays down. Could've done with another big Goto rally having a go Onitas bad leg like they teased but it was a wild, cool, experimental fight that probably sent the fans imagination running wild in 1990.

Tarzan Goto vs. Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 11/28/1984 - FUN

What an insane upload. Mostly a fun technical match, with Goto doing the same cool hold for hold work while mixing in cool headbutts he would do later as a veteran. Kawada is a black trunks rookie and pretty athletic, he busts out a few very clean flips and even leaps to the top rope to hit a huge crossbody. Goto takes it in a style with the big Superfly Splash.

Tarzan Goto Documentation

80s Europe #9

 

Marty Jones vs. Dynamite Kid, WoS 1/19/1983

Kid sure has got on the good stuff while abroad. Even Walton couldn‘t help but point it out. This match had some nice wrestling, but they soon got to business: Kid deciding he doesn‘t give a damn about the british rules anymore and just deciding to beat the shit out of Jones. It just turns into a super heated slugfest with both guys dropping bombs and stiffing each other. Jones going berserk at the sight of his own blood was great and Kids turnbuckle bumps shocked the audience. Dug all the brutal looking knee drop. They may have gotten a bit carried away bending the rules but what the hell, it was a great match.

Terry Rudge vs. Pete Roberts (WoS 3/21/83)

Nifty bout that was worked without rounds and just 2/3 falls. Rudge fucking rules sneaking in headbutts and working the cravate. His selling of the little things, like putting a random arm whip over by having his shoulder go limb and stumbling over in pain is so good. This had a nice mix of wrestling and niggle. Rudge never unleashed his full ass kicking tendencies, but they worked a breathless pace. Roberts looked good. The match had two cool finishes and some really nice nearfalls in the 3rd. Good shit.

Steve Grey vs. Steve Speed (1/25/84)

Here‘s the rarest creature in the world: A World of Sport sprint. You know it‘s gonna be good when a guy named Steve Speed is in it. Speed was really lean and could go hard. Chock full of great exchanges, and I loved how competitive they made this. Most workers would just go from one spot to another, but they took the time to work the holds and pins. Speed gets a nosebleed and as soon as Grey notices he elbows him in the fucking nose and stomps on his face. Grey could be a right prick when he wanted. Speed went hard hitting surprise dropkicks but in the end the champ was too much. Pretty great under 10 minute match.

 

80s Euro Master List

RIP Paul Orndorff

 

Paul Orndorff vs. Bob Orton Jr., WWF 5/25/1985

Pretty much an 80s US heavyweight workrate match. Fast pace, with unpredictable structure. Both guys throw a tons of great punches, and them putting over the momentum swings looked awesome and totally credible. Anybody Orndorff gets punched he‘s bowled across the ring and selling in such a way that you really buy a simple punch as a momentum changer. Orton Jr. Has the cast on his arm and there is some brief but vicious looking armwork from Orndorff. Fun spot where Orndorff counters a piledriver and Orton drops into a tree of woe. Some great looking punch combos to end it before Orndorff punches the referee. This looks like a great feud.

Paul Orndorff vs. Sgt. Slaughter, WWF 6/2/1984

Yeah this rules. Orndorff is super hated and the fans pelt the ring with garbage at his sight. Slaughter catches Orndorffs back to start but Orndorff starts beating him back down fast. As usual, Orndorffs bumping and offense were super on point. Slaughter is a bloody mess soon and Orndorff is all over him working his cut with any method he can find. Slaughter makes a big comeback – only to get launched into the turnbuckle chest first and tumbling outside. That would be a throwaway spot now but here it‘s sold like a huge deal and sets up another great heat segment. Orndorff landing a running knee to Slaughters cracked ribs and then limping was just great. That‘s how you put over that you‘re in a gritty dangerous fight. The ending makes you want to see more of these two tearing each other up but apparently this was their only televised singles. Travesty.

More Assorted Rare NJPW TV

 Riki Choshu vs. Antonio Inoki (NJPW 5/18/1984)

One of my favourite matchups in all of Japanese wrestling, and this is another good one in their series. Choshu blitzes Inoki with a big lariat followed by an oklahoma stampede and the match is blazing hot right from the go. Choshu is decimating Inoki and going for the sharpshooter while Inoki is just trying to hang on and regain his senses. Choshu is a bulldozer in this constantly pressing on, and we get several neat Inoki comebacks including one where he just clocks Choshu with a random kick that Choshu sells huge because Inoki is that much of a badass. When Inoki finally gets something going he goes berserk throwing punches and open hands and trying to pull Choshus scalp off. Love how heated the crowd gets when Inoki merely teases his armbreaker. Finishing run is pretty great and extremely well put together with an unexpectedly big bump, a typically 80s finish being test, Inoki seemingly getting destroyed etc. Great little match.

Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido (NJPW 12/11/1986)

Great tag between 4 badass wrestlers that have no problem snapping limbs. The heat was all about Maeda/Inoki, but Fujiwara stole the show. Him vs. Kido is a proven great match up, and there were several cool moments. Kido tossed the fuck out of Fujiwara after he tried getting cute with punches, later Fujiwara repaid him by making him eat a desperation punch to the face. Inoki was being a fucker, cheapshotting Maeda in the ropes and then tagging in Fujiwara, who promptly ate an asskicking, then Inoki again sneakily came in to clock enzuigiri Kido with an enzuigiri only for Kido to tag in Maeda who promptly proceeded to stomp Inokis ass. Last couple minutes were great as Kido and Maeda kept tagging in and out trying to swarm Inoki who kept coming up with counters like a dick.

Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Akira Maeda (NJPW 11/24/1986)

Really cool little scrap where they do some cool grappling and then slap the shit out of eachother. Sakaguchi is Mr. Judo so he wasn’t having Maedas crappy UWF leglocks. Maeda responds in kind by kicking Sakaguchi in the face like a punk. Sakaguchi gets mad and the match is thrown out over a triviality but they keep beating on eachother. Sakaguchi even looks like he’s had enough but Maeda just keeps hitting him, unphased by oodles of ring boys in jumpsuits coming in to separate the two.

RIP Hacksaw Butch Reed

 

Butch Reed vs. Junkyard Dog (Mid-South 7/29/1983)

Really epic, insanely heated match and a total battle of superstars, like a blue collar working mans version of Rock/Hogan if that was an actually great match. If you ask me, US wrestling never got better than two guys just trading great punch combos with the heel bumping all over the place. Junkyard Dog opens this match coming forward like an offensive truck, hitting a bunch of great punches (yup). Loved how he made a basic hip toss exciting by immediattely following up with a punch in the face. Butch Reed is just perfect in that section, trying to fire back but being overwhelmed, really great escalating bumping from him. Reeds comeback looks really violent as he basically just punches JYD in the throat and then follows up with knees and boots to the throat. Instead of a standard heat segment/comeback they do this great battle of attrition segment with Reed going for a choke and JYD coming back punching him in the face from mount and gouging his eye. Normally chokes are pretty trite in wrestling matches but these two make it look like two men really trying to strangle each other to death. 5 minutes in and this feels like an epic battle. I didn’t even have a problem with the chinlock, as it didn’t go long, and JYD had seemingly punched himself out setting up another Butch Reed comeback. Down the stretch we get JYD headbutting Reeds bandage off, bloodying him, more great punch exchanges including a really great Lawler/Dundee one on their knees and another great barfight attempted strangulation. The finish was great as the referee gets bumped, initially it didn’t seem to affect thee match as they just continue beating on each other, but then another ref bump happens. King Kong Bundy comes in but JYD takes him out (because JYD was god that night), only to get caught with a beautiful Reed dropkick to the back of the head. Reed then lands a clothesline off the tope (were top rope moves illegal at this time?) for the 3 count. Really a way cooler finish than some serious of crazy death moves and a great way to cap off a great great match.

Butch Reed vs. Junkyard Dog (Mid-South 11/4/1983)

I love me a seedy dog collar match. Reed is great here putting over how he really doesn’t like the gimmick before the bell. This was short but good. Dog opens by catching Reed in the kidney with punches, but when he goes for a headbutt Reed catches him flush with a punch in the face. Really nice Reed control segment where he goes to town whipping the hell out of JYD and looking really smug and self satisfied when he was dropping chain wrapped elbows. JYD hits some great punches to come back before a bunch of run ins happen. Steve Williams comes in to hit a 3 Point Stance charge against the intruder just as Reed misses his flying clothesline in another cool moment.

Butch Reed vs. Master G (Mid-South 11/9/1984)

This was JIP, which I’m salty about because this looked like another great match. This is a “Ghetto Street Fight” which means both guys are in their street clothes and you get the cool visual of a bleeding Butch Reed limping around the ring with torn clothes like he had been through a war, really cool violent blaxploitation vibe. Master G is all kinds of fired up here and beats the shit out of Reed with chairs and a belt. Reed is able to dump G over the top rope (a dangerous move in Watts UWF) and tries to hit G with some powder, but G is able to kick the powder out of his hand in a cool spot. Reed has some powder left though and is able to stun G before absolutely nailing him with a massive piledriver.

Butch Reed & Ernie Ladd vs. Brickhouse Brown & Master G (Mid-South 10/21/1984)

Really, really fun houseshow tag. God, promotions today would kill to have this kind of heat on their biggest shows (pandemy or not). We start with Brown & G hitting really slick armdrags and dropkicks for a shine segment before Ladd & Reed take over to kick some ass. Ladd is so great here, he is pretty over the hill but still really fun as an old guy throwing punches and dropping legs across guys backs. Reed was in kind of a supporting role to the amazing charisma of The Big Cat, but he does hit some big offense including an absolute beauty of a back suplex to Brickhouse. I am not sure why I’ve never heard of Master G, because he looks damn good in these matches. The finish is really fun with G putting this funky RINGS style sambo leglock on Ladd and Reed just hitting a fistdrop for Ladd to get the pin. Super basic but such a cool match, old school is the best.

Butch Reed vs. Magnum TA (Mid-South 8/31/1984)

Really good US style title match. This was worked like how these matches should be worked. The stakes are high, so however gets an armlock or a shoulderblock is important, and they really work it that way. Really good hold for hold wrestling to start, executed with a sense of attrition. I love watching these guys running the ropes and doing leapfrogs. Reed takes over when he is able to catch Magnum with a really great jumping knee out of nowhere. Magnum is loopy after that and Reed follows up with further head/neck trauma moves like a hotshot, neckbreaker etc. TA comes back through a standard chinlock segment and starts pinballing Reed all over the ring to the crowds delight before Reed is able to clock him with a foreign object given from Ernie Ladd and score the upset win. Really good postmatch here with Jose Lothario throwing punches and a bunch of policemen having to be at ringside cause the crowd was getting quite unruly, really shows how ballsy you had to be to be a heel in that era.