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Matches from 1977


Phil Schneider

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Harley Race v. Jerry Lawler 12/10/77

 

You don't hear this match mentioned along the classics of American wrestling, but I think this maybe as good as any long Flair title defense, and is the best Harley Race match I have ever seen. Race is great here but this is a Jerry Lawler match, he looks on another level here, like he should be the guy touring with the belt.

 

The opening part of the match was built around Lawler grounding Race with a headlock, you don't really think of either guy as a matworker, but they ran through some spectacular reversals and counters.

 

Lawler really controls large sections of this match and it actually exposes a bit of a flaw in what Race does. Race has a big arsenal of athletic bumps, and he is backflipping and diving on all of Lawlers early punches. This is a sixty minute match, when he is twirling on a punch in minute five, it doesn't mean as much when he does it in minute fifty. Lawler in contrast is really amazing at long term selling, his bumps really are much bigger as the match goes on, and he is spectacular at digging down for one last shot.

 

One of the things I have noticed in watching Jerry Lawler matches, is he is a master at building to a big spot in a match. Race keeps cutting Lawler off with headbutts to the belly, after four or five times, Lawler dips back and kicks Race right in the face when he tries it. It is a great big of in match strategy, and is awesome because they set it up for so long.

 

Of course one of the great things about any Lawler matches is the punches, and they are amazing. Jabs, uppercuts, straight rights, hooks, punches on his knees, punches from the mount, diving punches, jumping punches. Lawler has more variety on his shots then anyone, ever, and they all rule. Race also has great punches, but he never goes toe to toes with Lawler, all of his shots are kind of sneaky. He also throws some amazing headbutts, just killing Lawler with a standing headbutt on a rope break, and his diving headbutts look like he crushes Lawlers orbital bones. What makes the diving headbutts so great too, is that Race misses it the first couple of times he tries it, so when he lands it, it looks even more spectacular.

 

Your finish was a little weird for a touring champ ending. Flair would often end his draws on defense, escaping with his belt at last minute. Race is on defense at this end of this match too, but Lawler almost throws too much at him. You don't get the sense Lawler was moments away from winning the belt, it almost more like Lawler doesn't have enough in his arsenal to finish Race.

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/

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  • 2 years later...

Watched this for the first time yesterday, on the Lawler comp.

 

WHAT WORKED:

 

* Its Lawler and Race, working an old school, long match. Race worked really well in the ending stretch with his avoidance and escape of the sleeper and pinning combinations.

* Lawler's usage of the side headlock, and Race being unable to escape. I liked how they worked each other over, Lawler with the side headlock/sleeper and fist drops/knee drops. Race was doing a front face lock, a guillotine choke and his falling head butts and knee drops.

* The pacing. There didn't seem to be much wasted time, laying around, stalling, etc.

* The announcing.

* Race's heel tactics, trying to get Lawler disqualified on numerous occasions.

* Lawler, the home town boy whipping the NWA champion. Flair adopted this method.

* The bumps. Taking a scoop slam on the concrete floor in 1977 was huge. Race bumped around like a mad man, falling to the floor, missing the diving head butt.

* The selling. They sold fatigue, whether it was real or not, it was convincing.

* The brawling. They brawled quite nicely, not as much as Memphis is known for, or for that matter, Lawler and Race; but what they did do was nice.

* The first fifteen minutes was superb. I think that if they had done this differently, that it would be a much better match, say a twenty/thirty minute long match with a double DDQ/count out.

 

WHAT DIDN'T WORK:

 

* It was obvious they were working a sixty minute draw. Especially when they were counting the minutes down, a dead give away. I believe the announcer even said, five down fifty five to go.

* The repetitiveness of the match. Lawler did like eight scoop slams, many vertical suplexes, etc. Also, Race repeated many spots over and over, like the foot on the rope. What makes that spot worse, is the fact Lawler continued to make the same mistake, over and over.

* Lawler looking like an idiot. As mentioned already, and the fact he was going to let Race get counted out. I don't know if there was a clause to get a re-match because of a count out, or what. The ref did something truly stupid as well, obviously knowing Race's feet were on the ropes but counted anyway, setting up a false finish.

* Phantom moves. I say at least four, which ate nothing but air. Like Race kicking Lawler super quick to get out of a hold, or his head butt while tangled up in the ropes.

* Race in the sleeper. After nearly fifty-seven minutes, Race was locked in the sleeper. It should have ended the match, at least have Race fall to the outside and have Lawler physically unable to pick the lifeless body up.

* Clipping. I don't know how much was missed, but clipping irritates me. The video quality was probably the best around, but I am so accustomed to pristine quality, that once it is gone, it is noticeable.

* The ending. Lawler threw everything at Race, everything in his arsenal, and Race wouldn't stay down. The pacing here needed to be spread out, instead of a flurry of offense because the timer is ticking down, when a person is fatigued, it shows.

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I liked the match, especially the first fifteen minutes. I was annoyed at the end of the match, which I definite described above. I always rate matches, but I don't have a clue as to where I should place this. An all-time classic, I am not sure. A great match, for most parts, yes. A five star bout, I don't think so, having seen many five star bouts in my time, I don't think I can in good conscience give this the full monty. I will say one thing though, for a sixty minute title defense in 1977, it is a good contest; it is doubtful it can stand the test of time, most of the match is sub par compared to later bouts.

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Great reviews, both.

 

I'm curious what you mean by "it's doubtful it can stand the test of time". It's already been 32 years since it happened and you're still calling it an above average match. How much more proving over time does it need to do?

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My tastes need to broaden, basically. I can see the greatness, but I am conditioned to steller matches like Misawa/Kobashi and Flair/Steamboat. Once I have a deeper appreciation for this much slower, heavy psychology based wrestling, I might enjoy it more - althought Flair/Steamboat have those characteristics, it was 1989, not 1977, there is a difference. That's why I said it is doubtful, because I enjoy more intense, faster paced matches.

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My tastes need to broaden, basically. I can see the greatness, but I am conditioned to steller matches like Misawa/Kobashi and Flair/Steamboat. Once I have a deeper appreciation for this much slower, heavy psychology based wrestling, I might enjoy it more - althought Flair/Steamboat have those characteristics, it was 1989, not 1977, there is a difference. That's why I said it is doubtful, because I enjoy more intense, faster paced matches.

Oh gotcha...you meant for you personally and not necessarily "over time" in the broad sense.

 

I, myself, am not a huge fan of this match. I like it enough but it's not in my top 10 of Lawler matches. My favorite Lawler match would have to be the LLT against Dundee in '83 and his barbed wire against Mantell in '82.

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WHAT DIDN'T WORK:

 

* It was obvious they were working a sixty minute draw. Especially when they were counting the minutes down, a dead give away. I believe the announcer even said, five down fifty five to go.

FWIW Lance did this a lot, even in matches that didn't go to a draw.."five down, 55 to wrestler" and whatnot. More a standard of his announcing style than trying to give away the draw aspect of it.

 

I always hated matches that counted down the minutes, personally. It provides for the odd surprise (8/8/82 Martel vs. Brunzell saw Martel score a pin at 29:57 of a 30:00 match, for example, right in the middle of the final five second countdown), but mostly it voids the match of suspense that someone will actually win the thing. Bockwinkel vs. hennig from 1986 was really, really hurt by this, IMO. Blears and Trongard pretty much called the draw way before the halfway point in the way they discussed the match.

 

The WWF title match between Backlund and Valentine from 1979 that went 60 minutes didn't do this, as I remember, and it made when the bell did ring for the draw that much better.

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