Superstar Sleeze Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 UWF Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham vs Dick Murdoch - UWF 7/11/87 (Aired on UWF TV 8/1/87) Crockett has already purchased the UWF at this point and this was during brief run where they tried to keep it as a separate entity sending over Windham to anchor the babyface side. I think they missed a big opportunity of having Windham in the Garvin slot. I love the Flair/Garvin series especially 87 and am a Garvin fan, but they could have really built to the future with a Windham victory there. I have seen this match a bunch of times and loved it. I saved it for last because I thought it had a legitimate shot as the best Mid-South match. To my surprise, I don't even have this in my top 5. There has been that much great shit in Mid-South. That's not indictment on this match, which is still fantastic just goes to show you how stacked Mid-South was. If you like punching, this match is for you. I think that's strength of this match and why it finished so high in the original poll. Flair matches can be polarizing. A good punch is a great unifier of all wrestling fans. These two are the best punchers in the business and so this match had that in spades. The first fifteen minutes are characterized by dueling arm work. Murdoch is the God King of arm work even moreso than the Andersons. He just tortures his opponent and he has so many holds at his disposal. On the flip side, he is so good at selling arm work with his face and his body. My complaint is that it was a little too easy for them to get in and out of arm holds here. I liked how Murdoch set up his arm holds with elbows to the face and yanking the arm against the apron and other nasty ways. Whereas Windham used speed and movement to set up his like a dropkick or a crossbody. The match picks up half way through when Murdoch backs him into the corner and pops him one. Watch Windham sell this. Perfect. Just simple perfection. Really gets this over as a big turning point in the match. Windham hits a spinning neckbreaker to even the playing field. Murdoch sells this a bit over the top, but I love over the top. I really enjoyed it and you all need to watch it. Windham has such a beautiful punch and he is looking to get his receipt. Murdoch ends up on the outside and Windham hits the atomic drop that sends him into the post. Murdoch rakes the eyes, but on the suplex back into the ring Windham falls on top. I love from his knees Murdoch pops Windhams in the face with a punch. Great shit! The slugfests that ensue should be legendary. They are just going blow for blow with incredible selling on each punch. They are holding each other up and punching each other. Murdoch's missed windmill punches is the classic spot I always remember (that and Terry Taylor dubbing himself Vero's Hero on commentary) with Windham cleaning his clock after that bit of fun . Murdoch tries to get up on the top rope, but he looks like a beached whale, lol. Windham press slams him off and figure-4 time. You can say Flair forced him to do that spot now! The finish stretch is Hot Stuff (Murdoch's manager) distracting the ref and Murdoch busting Windham open with the mic whilst in the figure-4. Murdoch tries to put Windham away, but Windham keeps attacking the leg all the while the time limit is about to expire. Belt shot by Murdoch! Kneecrusher by Windham! Spinning Toehold and Figure-4! He makes it to the ropes. BRAINBUSTAH~! But Gilbert has the ref distracted as the time limit expires. Well that is just poor managing right there. The middle portion of this is simply awesome. Great punches and selling. Exactly what you want from these two. Thought the beginning (too easy to get in and out of arm holds) and finish (shoehorning the leg stuff and manager stuff. It felt like a detour from something that was awesome to something I have seen before) just weren't there with the rest of the match. I wish we had every Dick Murdoch match ever. He is fucking incredible. ****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makai Club #1 Posted June 22, 2019 Report Share Posted June 22, 2019 It's a shame that this is JIP because if this was a full match and this is 5 star territory, legitimately. The punches, the selling, the work on the arm by Murdoch, the heat. Everything was simply great. Murdoch mixes bumping around for Windham with kicking his ass pillar to post perfectly well. Windham looked so great in the match - what a wrestler prime Windham is. The finish wasn't great though. So missing half the match and a bad finish prvents it's potential which is unfourtunte because this is a classic. ****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted April 8, 2020 Report Share Posted April 8, 2020 On 6/22/2019 at 6:12 AM, Makai Club #1 said: It's a shame that this is JIP because if this was a full match and this is 5 star territory, legitimately. The punches, the selling, the work on the arm by Murdoch, the heat. Everything was simply great. Murdoch mixes bumping around for Windham with kicking his ass pillar to post perfectly well. Windham looked so great in the match - what a wrestler prime Windham is. The finish wasn't great though. So missing half the match and a bad finish prvents it's potential which is unfourtunte because this is a classic. ****1/2 The only version I've ever seen of this is 32 minutes of TV time, and it has full intros and bell-to-bell of the match. I'll drop you a DM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.