Goody Bag 32: Stuff Your Numerals in a Sack, Mister!

 

Tiger Mask II v Kuniaki Kobayashi: From an AJPW show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo Japan on March 9 1985. Kobayashi goes right at him with a leg lariat at the bell, rattling Tiger. Criss cross allows Tiger to return the favor with a dropkick, and a release vertical suplex is worth a one count. Kobayashi smacks him with a backelbow and an elbowdrop for two, followed by a tombstone for two. Sling blade gets two, and he grounds Tiger in a chinlock. Tiger starts to escape, so Kobayashi fires off a kick combo, but Tiger brushes off a turnbuckle smash, and hits a jumping clothesline for two. Piledriver gets two, but a headlock is quickly countered with a saito suplex. They trade spinkicks, and Kobayashi snaps off a suplex for two, then grounds Tiger in a headscissors. Tiger counters to a toehold, then shifts it into a bow-and-arrow, but Kobayashi starts powering out, so Tiger mule-dropkicks him out of the ring. Back in, another criss cross ends in Tiger hitting a monkeyflip, and he sends Kobayashi back to the outside with another dropkick. He dives after him this time with a somersault plancha, but Kobayashi dodges. No matter, Tiger basically no-sells it anyway, which is fucking crazy in general, but especially considering this is 1985! Back in, Kobayashi headbutts him down to set up a Boston crab, but Tiger counters into a cradle for two - reversed by Kobayashi for two. Tiger with a butterfly suplex and a bodypress for two, but a dropkick fails to find the mark, and Kobayashi levels him with a lariat. Sidekick sends Tiger to the floor, and Kobayashi tries a tope, but misses. Tiger capitalizes with his own tope, and he vertical suplexes Kobayashi back in from the apron for one. Tiger suplex, but Kobayashi blocks, and side suplexes him when Tiger gives up. Bodyslam sets up a dive, but Tiger meets him at the top rope, and brings Kobayashi down with a vertical superplex for one. Bodyslam sets up a 2^nd rope flying elbowdrop for two, so Tiger goes all the way up, but Kobayashi brings him back down with a super electric chair! What the fucking fuck am I watching?!?! Bridging fisherman's suplex, but Tiger is in the ropes, so no count. Kobayashi tries again, but this time gets countered with a rollup for two, and a vertical suplex ends in both men tumbling over the top! Kobayashi posts him out there to set up a side suplex on the floor, and both guys end up getting counted out at 11:22. Okay, holy shit! This was so far ahead of its time that if I told you it happened six months ago, you'd probably believe me. The selling was almost non-existent, and it lacked a finish, but this was tremendous. **** ¼

NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Barry Windham: From NWA (CWF) Battle of the Belts 2, February 14 1986 in Orlando Florida. I always tend to think of this period as the very beginning of Windham's career, often forgetting that he was already a multi-time WWF tag champion by this point. Big criss cross to start, ending in Windham hitting a bodyslam, and the champion bailing to the outside to regroup. Back in, Ric tries locking up, but Windham controls with an armbar. He grounds Flair while working the arm, and we get a dangerous moment where Flair gets whipped into the ropes, but they're much looser than usual, and he nearly breaks his neck by hitting them at the wrong speed. That could have been very bad, but luckily it wasn't. Barry with a rollup for two, and Flair is getting totally manhandled here, so he resorts to trying to bully the referee for the DQ. That doesn't work, and Ric is forced to try and wrestle his challenger. Windham grounds him in a headscissors, but Flair manages a counter to a stepover-toehold, then into a cradle, but Windham is in the ropes. Flair stays on him with chops in the corner, but Windham slugs back, and puts the champ in a Boston crab. Ric has the ropes, so Barry delivers a vertical suplex for two, and works an abdominal stretch. Flair escapes, but Windham topples him for two on a bodyslam attempt, so the Nature Boy dumps his challenger to the outside. Ric follows to abuse him with chops, and using the guardrail busts Barry open. Back in, Flair delivers a kneedrop for two, and a snapmare sets up another kneedrop, but Windham dodges. He capitalizes with a figure four, but Flair makes the ropes. Windham keeps working on the leg, and an outside cradle gets two, but Flair manages to snapmare him down for a figure four headscissors. Don't see that one from him too often. Windham counters with a headlock, but Flair chops his way out, and delivers a piledriver for two. Another one, but Windham counters with a backdrop, and he blasts the champ with a jumping clothesline for two. Elbowsmash and a turnbuckle smash lead to a ten-punch count, and a cross corner whip flips Flair over the top to the floor. Barry follows, exacting some revenge for earlier by bashing Flair's head into the post, and now the Nature Boy is busted open as well. In, Windham pounds the cut in the corner, but Ric fights back with an inverted atomic drop. He tosses Barry out of the ring, so Windham flies back in with a slingshot sunset flip, but Ric blocks him, and grabs a sleeper. Windham drops him into the turnbuckles to escape, so Ric keeps after him with a hanging vertical suplex, and he starts going after the leg. Figure Four, but Windham reverses, so Flair goes to the top - only to get slammed off. I typed that sequence out before it even happened. Barry with a snapmare, but a kneedrop misses, thus aggravating the leg Ric was just working on. Flair lobs chops at him, and a snapmare sets up a double-stomp. That's another unique move from Flair tonight. Nice to see him changing things up once in a while. The referee goes down as they slug it out, allowing Flair to illegally toss Windham over the top, but Barry comes back at him with a missile dropkick! No referee to count the fall, however, and by the time he recovers, it isn't even enough to get a one count. Undeterred, Barry tries a sleeper, and he wears Flair down into a few two counts with the hold. Splash, but Flair lifts his knees to block, and a snapmare sets up a Figure Four, but Windham counters with a small package - Flair in the ropes. That leads to a slugfest, and Windham drops the champion with a lariat for two. Hanging floatover suplex gets two, and another corner whip flips Flair onto the apron. He runs to the next post and dives with a flying axehandle, but Windham slugs him out of the air, so Flair tries a bodypress - sending both men tumbling over the top. They slug it out on the floor, but don't mind the count, and both are counted out at 41:41. This one has gotten rave reviews over the years (including winning the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Match of the Year award for 1986), but it feels like it's been massively overrated. I found it to be really boring. Very slow, and it takes a long while to really get off the ground. Not to mention that they didn't need forty minutes to tell the story they were telling. No idea where people are seeing a five-star level match here (the finish alone pretty much disqualifies it from a perfect rating), or even anything even close to that level. ** ¼

NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Barry Windham: From NWA (JCP) Crockett Cup, April 11 1987 in Baltimore Maryland. Feeling out process to start, with Windham overpowering Flair through a number of exchanges, and no-selling his chops. Barry with a hiptoss and a dropkick for two, and a shoulderblock leads to Windham grounding the champion in a headlock. Flair escapes and bails, then suckers Barry into criss crossing on the way back in, so that Ric can hit him with a hotshot. Kneedrop follows, and he dumps his challenger to the outside for a shot into the rail. Watching the hick fans in the first row lose their minds at the abuse is a thing of beauty that we seldom (if ever) get to experience with modern smarkish crowds. Back in, Flair goes to work on the arm, but a series of right hands from the challenger flops him. Barry with a ten-punch count and a hiptoss, but Ric dodges the dropkick follow up this time, and slaps on the Figure Four! Flair isn't shy about using the ropes for leverage with the hold, but gets caught, and forced to break. Ric stays on track with a corner whip, but it backfires when Barry barrels out with a lariat, and they spill to the outside. Barry with a slingshot sunset flip for two on the way back in, and a backslide gets him two, so Flair bails. He regroups on the outside for a bit before coming back in, and he tries cornering Windham with chops, but Barry shrugs them off, and a series of rights is worth two. Mounted punches and a hanging floatover suplex get two, but a flying senton splash misses, and Flair tries for the Figure Four - Windham countering with a cradle for two. Criss cross ends in Flair trying a sleeper, but Windham quickly drops him into the buckles to escape, and another right sends Ric over the top. Windham is on his tail for a few trips into the rail out there, but a piledriver is countered with a backdrop on the floor, and Ric dives with a flying bodypress on the way back in - Windham rolling through for two. Cross corner whip flips Flair to the floor, so Windham hops out after him, but Ric is ready with a low blow this time. He tries a vertical suplex in from the apron, but Barry counters with a sleeper, and he wears Flair down to the mat for two. Splash, but Flair lifts his knees to block. He goes up, but Barry slams him down off the top, and he slaps on his own figure four! Flair escapes, so Windham powerslams him for two, then goes back to the figure four, but Ric rakes the eyes to block. Bodypress is supposed to send both guys over the top, but they botch it, and end up falling out through the ropes instead. Ric posts him out there, but Windham manages a missile dropkick for two - thinking he had three, but not noticing Ric's foot on the ropes. Next time hook the leg, punk. Jumping clothesline, but Flair is in the ropes again at two. What did I just tell you?!? Hanging floatover suplex gets two, but another figure four is blocked, and Ric takes him down in a headlock. That triggers a reversal sequence that ends in Windham hooking a backslide for two, and a rollup is worth two - reversed by Flair with a handful of tights to retain at 26:01! I enjoyed this a lot more than the boring Battle of the Belts match, as they hit a lot of the same notes, but did it in half the time, and had a finish to boot. That said, this is another one that's been overrated over the years. *** ¼

WWF Title Cage Match: Yokozuna v Bret Hart: From a WWF house show in Madison Square Garden on August 13 1993. Bret blitzes him at the bell, but he can't knock the champion down, and a bodypress is countered with a bodyslam. Yokozuna tries an elbowdrop from there, but Bret dodges, and goes back to hammering the big man with closed fist after closed fist. He manages to get him down this time, but Yoko grabs his ankle to prevent the challenger from exiting the cage. Yoko goes for the door, but Bret stops him, and he makes a climb attempt, but Yoko stops him. Riveting. Legdrop misses, so Bret goes for the door, but Yoko grabs the leg to stop the escape. Bret slugs at him again, and a pair of clotheslines connect, but a third is reversed. Yokozuna goes for the door, but Bret cuts him off, so Yoko turnbuckle smashes the challenger. Yoko works him over in slow, dull fashion, but an avalanche misses, and Bret hits a 2^nd rope flying bulldog. He climbs, but Mr. Fuji pokes him with the flag pole through the bars, and Bret is knocked back down to the canvas. Instead of a cage match, Bret should have simply angled for a rematch with manager's barred from ringside. The interference allows Yoko a legdrop, but going for the Banzi Drop allows Bret to scurry for the door - Fuji again getting involved to stop him. Bret takes him out, but not in time to stop Yokozuna from catching up to him, and that allows Yoko to toss Hart into the cage. He goes for the door, but Bret kicks the middle rope to crotch the champion on the way out, and a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop finds its mark. Bret climbs, and with Fuji out of play, it looks like he's going to make it this time! He nearly does, but Yoko manages to pull him down - crotching the Hitman across the top rope. Yoko with a headbutt and a bodyslam, but a splash misses, and Bret is able to ram him into the cage, then follow with a hangman's clothesline! Yoko grabs the salt bucket, but it backfires on him, and Bret makes a cover - sending the poor referee scrambling to run into the ring to count two for him. That's weird. Bret whacks him with it again, then makes a climb, but now he's got Jerry Lawler out there, and the King throws a handful of salt into Bret's eyes to stop him! With Hart blinded, Yoko crawls for the door, and he's able to escape at 21:30. Apparently there were people at the time who were calling this at near five-stars, which was either some sort of joke, or the result of heavy drug use. *