This is a Best of Three Falls match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
This is their big talked up classic match, but their 1982 match did more for me. A year before, Jumbo wrestled a perfect match and lost on a complete fluke draw. In 1982, he was all about showing himself on that level, but now he’s on that level, and he’s more aggressive. So while he knows he can beat Flair on the mat, once he’s doing that, he moves in onto the bad back of Flair pretty quickly, because he has the confidence to do that now. The thing is, this goes 60 minutes and it’s too early to flip that switch. They go back to the mat and holds for the next 25-30 and it feels off and weird. Flair goes to the arm to escape the attack, and Jumbo sells well in transition back to punishment. This is a great match and I don’t want to shit on it, but their 1982 match felt like two guys with an idea of their story and their plan and what they wanted to do, but this felt like two dudes winging it to kill some time. Flair tries leg work, but it fails and JUMBO DEBUTS HIS BACKDROP SUPLEX TO FINALLY PIN FLAIR TO GO 1-0! Flair shuts it down in the second fall. Jumbo comes back and they get into dramatic nearfalls and Flair bleeds some, BUT JUMBO MISSES THE HIGH KNEE AND FLIES OVER THE TOP TO HURT HIS LEG. Flair goes in 100% on the leg now. Some SUUUPER dramatic Figure Four nearfalls where Jumbo does amazing sells of losing consciousness in it before he rolls an arm up, BUT TIME EXPIRES! I get it, with Jumbo being the only one to win a fall to put him over big but also if he won the only fall, should the draw then not make it 2-1? There doesn’t seem to be a reason why he DOESN’T win the NWA Title here, as nice as the idea was.
***1/2
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