Sid: A 10/10 in “Look” if there ever was one, with physical charisma to match… it’s a shame he never figured out the other stuff.
Welcome back to more Dream Matches! I have a wild assortment for you today, as I cover WWF, WCW, and even a really cool old-school match from Japan in 1974!
We start off with Sid’s big 1995 return, as he takes on newbie Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw in one of those bouts that is everything Sid is- quick, not highly-rated, yet completely awesome and drives the fans wild. Then it’s the strangest Clash of the JTTS Guys ever, as Virgil faces “El Matador” Tito Santana in the friendliest match ever in Spain! More of Buddy Landel’s weird WWF run, as he gets a jobber squash against a young Matt Hardy and showcases his stiff striking skills! Then it’s a Battle of the Brits in WCW, as Dave Taylor faces off against “British Bulldog” Davey-Boy Smith.
And finally, we hit Japan in 1974, as a 23-year old Jumbo Tsuruta with all of one year in the business faces the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco in a title fight! Come see just HOW GOOD Jumbo was with only a year in the business, and how much the ’70s style resembled the ’80s NWA one.
SID vs. JUSTIN “HAWK” BRADSHAW (w/ Uncle Zebekiah):
(WWF RAW, 1995-ish)
* Okay, HERE’s a wild one- Sid, freshly returned as a babyface out to help Shawn Michaels now that the Ultimate Warrior’s gone again, and he’s up against midcarder Bradshaw, not QUITE as protected as he’d be even a couple of years later. And in a perfect expression of Sid’s power, his borderline S-Tier charisma has the entire crowd eating out the palm of his hand, which tended to happen every time he debuted, even though he had weak promos and worse in-ring skill.
The big bulls go face to face immediately, revealing that Sid even dwarfs BRADSHAW of all people, and it’s immediately awesome because they slug it out like crazy until Sid staggers him and hits a huge chokeslam. Then Sid just turns to the crowd and relishes in the ovation, so Bradshaw wisely just cheats and uses his bullrope to smash the big guy, drawing the DQ at (1:05). He AND Zebekiah come in for the beatdown, disappointing the crowd… until Sid just pops up, ducks the double-clothesline assisted by the rope, beats the hell out of both of them, then hits his beautiful Powerbomb on Bradshaw anyways! And then grabs Zebekiah by the throat and looks to the fans with that perfect “SHOULD I DO IT?!” expression, and of course the fans go nuts and he yanks Zebekiah up by the beard, stuffs him up, and Powerbombs him. It will never not be impressive how over Sid is. It’s just too bad he always had diminishing returns in every company.
Rating: DUD (not even a match! The best stuff is after the bell rings! But OMG Sid is so damn over)
Santana spent the last few years of his WWF career on active job duty, putting over nearly EVERYONE, but being given an iota of credibility in each loss.
“EL MATADOR” TITO SANTANA vs. VIRGIL:
(WWF in Spain, July 17th, 1993)
* This is a weird one- Face vs. Face, with Santana probably helping Virgil get some experience. Tito’s in green tights, and Virgil’s in the white & black vertical striped ones.
Virgil’s all smiles as they do some clean breaks, then go-behinds until Virgil puts Tito on the floor to escape an armbar. Tito appears offended, so Virgil explains himself, holds the ropes for him, and they shake hands- god I wish Heenan was on commentary to show proper disgust to this “sportsmanship” garbage. Virgil reverses a headlock to a schoolboy for two, then does his own headlock- Tito fights out of it but takes a shoulderblock & cross-body for two. Virgil keeps going to the headlock, getting a sunset flip off a reversal, reversed for two, then back to it and they do the headscissors reversal. Tito finally hits a backdrop suplex to escape- Virgil going up like crap but taking a big bump off of it. Tito does his own headlock but takes a bad inside cradle (Virgil falls back way too far and drags Tito with him), kicking out and then dodging an elbowdrop, cradling Virgil in an equally-bad manner for the three (5:26).
Wow, interesting, unique kind of bout- a rare Face/Face match with no chicanery, hurt feelings or aggression. It seems like Santana was leading Virgil through a series of reversal sequences to help him develop as a worker, yet also giving himself a win, putting Virgil in his place on the “Babyface JTTS Pecking Order”. The headlock reversals were okay- sorta like the opening 5 minutes of a Flair/Steamboat match, but Virgil wasn’t QUITE as good, and both cradles were ugly as hell.
Rating: *1/2 (like the start of a good match, but ended before the “real” match happened)
“NATURE BOY” BUDDY LANDEL vs. MATT HARDY:
(WWF Superstars, Dec. 23rd, 1995)
* So with Buddy earning himself some cred with a quick squash loss to Ahmed Johnson, Vince threw him a bone and let him hang around for a bit. Here he is taking on a jobber Matt Hardy, having beaten Bob Holly earlier in the week! Hardy, in powder blue tights, was impressing guys backstage with his work ethic, and would be only a few years away from a push.
Buddy actually beats the hell out of Matt to start, throwing some vicious short clotheslines. Then it’s a back body drop, kneedrops and a mat slam, and Matt is just bumping like nuts for him, not over-doing it, but making it look lethal. Vince is only barely paying attention on commentary, but Mr. Perfect is marking out for Buddy’s deliberate offense and move application. Buddy does the Flair “brush hair- WOO!” taunt to build his SmackDown! meter, but Matt gets his foot up in the corner, and slowly aims for a Springboard Moonsault (!! he was doing that all the way back then! Yet he dropped it by the time he became a full-time guy!), but Buddy rolls out and measures him with a BIG elbowdrop for the pin at (2:35). Wait- tell me that wasn’t his finisher! It was a good elbow, but wow- weird way to beat a jobber.
Rating: 1/2* (just a squash, but Buddy beat the bejeezus out of him, with good selling by Matt)
“THE BRITISH BULLDOG” DAVEY-BOY SMITH vs. DAVE TAYLOR:
(WCW Thunder, Feb. 26th 1998)
* Oh yeah! All-Brit Dream Match! Though it’s “could not possibly give less of a crap” Davey and Taylor as a JTTS. Bulldog’s in red/blue bicolor tights while Dave’s in red trunks with a blue lining.
Bulldog wins a basic hiptoss sequence and clotheslines Taylor to the floor- Bulldog lets him in and eats a boot for it, then European uppercuts & a suplex while the announcers go on about Bulldog injuring Steve McMichael. Interestingly they put over Steve’s toughness and how he never missed a football game, despite Bulldog obviously being a face here. Bulldog reverses a whip and hits a clothesline, back elbow & delayed vertical suplex for two, then Taylor reverses a whip but charges into the corner- Davey-Boy catches him with the Running Powerslam and that’s that at (2:18). Not bad by squash standards, as Bulldog mostly controls, gives up a tiny bit, then handily wins with his usual stuff. He was beyond done at this point in his career but both he & Taylor could do this in their sleep.
Rating: 1/2* (just the basics and an easy win in two minutes, but neither guy looked bad)
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:
BEST 2 OF 3 FALLS:
JACK BRISCO vs. JUMBO TSURUTA:
(All Japan Pro Wrestling, Jan. 30th 1974)
* Linked to me by RudoAwakening, here’s Jack Brisco as the NWA Champion, taking on a very young Jumbo Tsuruta! I’m only familiar with Jumbo as the nigh-unconquerable grumpy powerhouse of the early ’90s, so it’s a kick to see him so young here. Jumbo’s all of 23 years old and has only a year in the business at this point, yet I’ve heard he more or less debuted already good. Jack’s NWA Title is a lil’ red strapped belt with a very small, rectangular central plate here. Jack has a dumpy face and pretty plain body, and is in blue trunks, while Jumbo has the Inoki Sideburns and is in red trunks.
FALL ONE: Very “old school” (I mean, duh) start, as they do quick lockups until Jack gets caught in an armdrag and Jumbo works an armlock. He eats a slam but goes right back to it, and yeah- he looks like any top-tier wrestler from the ’70s-80s out there, not a one-year guy at all. Jack avoids a double-arm suplex (the MDK of the ’70s judging by the crowd reaction to that tease) but Jumbo wristlocks him- Jack makes a big show out of trying to power out, only for Jumbo to spin his arm the other way, then reverses Jack’s hiptoss by rolling through with another armlock to the fans’ approval. Jack, bleeding from the mouth, nearly resorts to a closed fist, then Jumbo cranks on the arm until Jack speeds out, managing to catch him with a rollup off the ropes for two. Jack uses the hair to reverse Jumbo into a chinlock- Jumbo fights out and gets a chickenwing, but Jack takes him down and works a deathlock, bridging out of Jumbo’s counter and spinning to slap it back on. Jack forearming him in the ribs every time he gets up is a great bit of veteran thinking. Jumbo finally chokes him so Jack makes the ropes, then just slugs him with forearms into snapmares, but Jumbo catches him with a backslide for two and hits bodyslams, being hesitant on his follow-ups. He drops elbows, but misses one and Jack capitalizes with a kinda lame Backbreaker for the pin at (12:55).
FALL TWO: Jack gets a headlock, but when he’s pushed into the ropes, just DECKS Jumbo with an elbow and is admonished by the ref. A headlock is punctuated by elbows to the head. Jumbo counters with a kneecrusher! Pouncing on the knee, he smashes it repeatedly and puts on a bridging hold, Jack actually kicking him off and over the ropes. Jumbo sunset flips back in for two and goes back to the leg, Jack begging off and bailing (Jumbo now repeatedly looking to the crowd for support like a good babyface), then making the ropes from a Boston Crab. They slug with out with elbows, but Jumbo cracks him with the Funk uppercuts and hits a Double-Arm Suplex AND an Overhead Belly-To-Belly for the three (7:32)! Jumbo pins the World Champion!
FALL THREE: Jack is dying on his feet and can barely stand as the bell rings, and Jumbo is a bundle of excitement, constantly gesturing to the fans as Jack begs off and gets killed. He stomps & stretches Jack’s injured back, forcing him to pick up Jumbo out of a camel clutch & smash him into the corner… but Jumbo pops out and nails him again! Abdominal stretch actually GETS A POP, Jack just shaking and flop-sweating, and they roll back to work counts off that. Jack breaks Jumbo’s bridge by jumping on him from a knucklelock… but Jumbo snags him in mid-jump with a body-scissors! Jumbo escapes and works the back- Jack finally slugs his way out and hits his own Double-Arm Suplex for two. Backbreaker- 2.7! But he goes for a headlock and Jumbo Backdrop Suplexes him, and when they get up they collide for another double-down! They slug it out and Jack eats Funk uppercuts & is dropkicked, but Jumbo goes to the well one too many times and face-splats off one. And then- oh this is beautiful- he tries that same rollup off the ropes he tried in Fall One, but this time Jack rolls through after “2” and sits on him, hooking both legs for the three (8:58)! See ya, rookie! Jack Brisco steals one and retains his title. Jumbo pounds the mat in frustration while Jack gets his hand raised.
Okay this style is SO hard to assess from a modern sentiment. The ’70s NWA style was sort of like the first 10-15 minutes of a Flair/Steamboat classic, but as like… the whole match, not the prelude. Endless going back to the same hold and moving around like that, slowwwwwwlllly catch-wrestling into another hold (like Jumbo trapped in the deathlock, but reaching back with his arm to lock Jack’s chin until he finally hauls him out of it). There’s interesting psychology going on here, though- Jack’s frustration with the quick, smart newbie. Nearly throwing an illegal fist in anger to escape, then later just cracking him with legal forearms whenever he gets an opening. Jumbo slamming Jack and hesitating before going for a pin or dropping elbows (that could be legit “rookie not knowing what to do next” but it also fits actual psychology). And it’s INTERESTING to me, but also “two dudes lying on the mat for 20 minutes” as well- the scholarly wrestling snob in me wants to forgive all that to show how learned I am but I just can’t all the way, lol. That said, the last fall got a LOT more epic, as there was great intensity and attempts to win every way they could.
Jumbo had great babyface fire in the second and third falls, and Jack was WONDERFUL as this Ric Flair “dying on his feet” champion, begging off and pleading to be spared from this onslaught. Jumbo was relentless on him, eagerly working the back injury and doing all sorts of holds and big moves… but then Jack showed where experience counted- Jumbo stunned himself missing a dropkick, and when he tried the rollup from earlier, Jack rolled back this time and got him. Age & experience can beat youthful exuberance and physicality any day, especially in the pre-MOVEZ era.
Rating: ***1/2 (okay I was gonna diss it based off of the slow first fall, but the last two were really good basic pro wrestling with good psychology that anyone could follow. Just fast-forward that other sh*t)