Throwback Match Reviews: Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW) (06/08/1983)

Ric Flair vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW) 06/08/1983

This was a great match with a little questionable finish that ultimately did not hurt the match any further. It was a 2 out of 3 falls match for the NWA World Title. Let’s get the bad parts out of the way first. The first 20 minutes or so were very boring and very uneventful. Nothing of note happened and nothing built towards anything later in the match. It was your standard trading holds and selling. A lot of time could have been cut from this match. Another thing that bothered me about this match is the outcome. Jumbo was up one fall to none when the time limit expired. I feel like he should have won instead of it being a draw. It was anything atrocious enough to ruin the match but it was a little dumb. One last thing that I’m nitpicking here is Flair applying the Figure Four to the wrong leg. He’d been working one one of Jumbo’s legs but applied the hold on the other one. That took me out of the match a bit.

The match saw two amazing performances from both wrestlers. Jumbo began to unload on Flair with everything. Flair’s selling here was outstanding. Flair’s selling highlighted Jumbo’s offense. Everything looked painful. There was some color on Flair’s face that also made everything look brutal. All of Jumbo’s offense and control periods are uplifted further by the rabid crowd. The selling in this match after the first twenty minutes was great and consistent. Like I mentioned before Flair’s selling was great but it’s the fact that he was doing it throughout the entirety of the match, even when he was on offense. Jumbo also did a great job selling his leg that Flair worked on the entire match. Even when he was dishing out offense he remembered to clutch his leg. All that work led to a Figure Four spot. Despite it being applied on the wrong leg it was an amazing spot. The look of pain on Jumbo’s face as Flair continues to damage the leg really sold the spot. Flair’s desperation as time is running out and Jumbo refuses to give up or stay down plays up to Jumbo’s resilience as a babyface. 

Had we been given a sensible finish and cut some down time this great match could have been an all-time classic.

Final Rating - ****¼