An early morning present as I've got a heck of a day ahead.
This is one of those strange matches. I don't think people thought a Ric Flair-Terry Funk feud had the traction to go as long as it did in 1989 but both guys were into it pretty good and had a good supporting cast to make things work over the course of several months.
So this Flair-Funk match at The Great American Bash in 1989 was thought to be a blow off to a quick feud/injury angle but the AMAZING brawl at the end of this match showed that it was just the beginning.
Come for the match, stay for the brawl. Enjoy.
This is one of those strange matches. I don't think people thought a Ric Flair-Terry Funk feud had the traction to go as long as it did in 1989 but both guys were into it pretty good and had a good supporting cast to make things work over the course of several months.
So this Flair-Funk match at The Great American Bash in 1989 was thought to be a blow off to a quick feud/injury angle but the AMAZING brawl at the end of this match showed that it was just the beginning.
Come for the match, stay for the brawl. Enjoy.
Watched this entire show just yesterday! Still better than wm 17 in my humble opinion.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most under rated matches of all time. One of the only times I enjoyed babyface Ric Flair, Terry Funk is that good as a heel.
ReplyDeleteVIVA LA LUCHA LIBRE~!
ReplyDeleteIt's really close.
ReplyDeleteVery, but slight edge to this one for my $. I'm still a mark for sting v muta and it was only 10 min match. Luger brought the goods that night too!
ReplyDeleteMost people call their "I Quit" match at Clash IX a classic, and I suppose it was, but I will take this match any day. More intense, and the post-match brawl is just icing on the cake.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the chances Bruno comes back to put HHH over?
ReplyDeleteWow. I remember this match. Flair was only a SIX time champion at this point.
ReplyDeleteThe kneedrops on the back of Funk's head/neck was brutal as fuck. And Funk's sell of the piledriver was hilarious.
Funk collapsing at around 21:00 was great. He just looked like a man collapsing out of exhaustion and blood loss. Just a great little thing.
ReplyDeleteAnd the ending sequence was pretty damn good too.
For all the crap that WCW rightfully gets for it's booking over the years - the angles involving Flair were perfectly booked in this time period. The Steamboat feud led directly to the Funk feud, which led directly to the Sting feud.
ReplyDeleteRemember when Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio was a Wrestlemania title match? This was much better than that.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great fued. Funk suffocating Flair with a plastic bag on television is still one of the great moments
ReplyDeleteNWA World Title, so not yet WCW. Not until 1991.
ReplyDeleteI know the title changed it's name in '91, but I think they were already owned by Turner and had changed he name of the promotion to WCW.
ReplyDeleteAs was Flair paying his fine, in order to "get him back in the ring".
ReplyDeleteSteiners/Varsity Club is controlled chaos, and it's always good to watch Sid early in his NWA career.
ReplyDeleteAnd Luger back then was incredibly awesome as a heel - I would almost say if Cena turned heel, he'd be a prototype of Luger's heel work in 89. Yes, Luger was that good.
Luger may never have lived up to the expectations and hopes a lot of people had for him, but his work in this period shows why people were so high on him to begin with. I thought his heel character was great as well. Of course at GAB '89 he was working with one of the greatest babyfaces of all time.
ReplyDeleteBTW, went to MSG for an Eagles concert last month. They did a heck of a job in renovating it
ReplyDeleteIndeed owned by turner.
ReplyDeleteHHH has to go over. Gotta keep him strong for that Hackenschmidt match down the road.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, think it's kind of cool that Triple H & Bruno have become friends.
ReplyDeleteSuch a fantastic show. My only problem was funk breaking his arm and not being able to be in clash tag match and funk never winning any of the matches of the feud. They should have went over at Halloween havoc and built to huge blow offs at starcade. However, I have admitted in the past that though being able to watch that I Quit match on TV as a kid was one of my favorite experiences as a fan. So half of one, six of another.
ReplyDeleteZombies and wrestling? I'd say this is an original idea but I lived through WCW.
ReplyDeleteHis workrate was the Narcissist was spotty, but that character was terrific and he played it wonderfully.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that Bash 89 was better than WM X-Seven. I don't really think you can compare them. Bash '89 had four great angles and they were at the apex of very good feuds that were built over time and allowed to mature.
ReplyDeleteX-Seven was a different era. Only the TLC 2 match was a real blowoff from a long-term feud. Austin-Rock, Undertaker-HHH were fabulous brawls and Angle-Benoit was a very good pure wrestling match.
But outside of the McMahons match and Austin-Rock (to a lesser extend) it wasn't a blow-off PPV. If was a bunch of great matches that sort of led to more stuff. Rock-Austin fought again...Angle-Benoit fought again...Undertaker-HHH fought twice more at Wrestlemania.
So I just can't compare the two because different eras. I could compared Bash 89 to like Wrestlemania III because that card had a lot of blowoff matches. Even though Hulk and Andre fought again, the WM match felt very much like the final encounter. Even the minor stuff like Jake Roberts-Honky Tonk Man went through the process and ended at Wrestlemania III.
Great feud and great match. 89 thru 92 NWA/WCW was excellent. It blew away the WWF in those years in actual wrestling. Gimmicks and angles are another story.
ReplyDeleteYeah Lex was really good in 89 and 90. Even 91 he was still bringing it for the most part.
ReplyDeleteLuger's heel work was so good people cheered him more for that than for being a face. I mean, watch Clash 9 with him and Brian Pillman. The cheers he got from smacking Pillman in the head with a chair had to be seen and heard to be believed.
ReplyDeleteWasn't that the same crowd that popped like crazy for the MX heel turn?
ReplyDeleteThey were "officially" NWA World Championship Wrestling untin 1991, then in a rare case of beating the WWF to anything they "Got the NWA Out" and became just WCW.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to double-check that before I posted.
Vince never let luger be himself and he never got over--even the narcisst was just a bland cartoon with a costume. Wcw always let luger be himself and he got over.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. My favorite time period in wrestling
ReplyDeleteHell yea they did. Fun match from beginning to end
ReplyDeleteYep. Today WWE would call it "Bizarro World", but the pop was HUGE when Eaton hit Shane with the tennis racket.
ReplyDeleteMan, I want to rewatch it now - Clash 9 was such an awesome show.