Man, I miss wrestling like this so much. Working, limited high spots, psychology, no spamming of finishers/kick-out, overuse of weapons, etc. This is what pro wrestling should be focused on with some exceptions when the story calls for it.
course you know this was All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) at a time when it was one of the Best Professional Wrestling Promotions on the planet. The WWWF/WWF/WWE during that era wasn't even close.
These two sold this match and the Japanese audience showed their true appreciation for the NWA even before the match started with the flowers and pomp... when it ended, Steamboat showed his true character by handing the belt to Flair and shaking his hand, and waving to the crowd as well... back when pro wrestling was LEGIT!!!!
The quality and presentation from Japan from here in the early 80's and even back to the 70's makes it look to me wayyy ahead of it's time. It looks way closer to modern, even the people in the stands.
They had 6 Years of Wrestling each other in Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling by this point. And battled over a number of Mid-Atlantic Championship Belts and NWA Champions Titles. Yes they were pretty evenly matched and could go hold for hold and move for move.
These two always had such good matches. I love unearthing these AWA and NWA title matches from the 70s and 80s that took part in Japan. The crowd and atmosphere is so unique. Love the Japanese commentary for more authenticity
If Steamboat would have been 10 years younger, he would have won the World Championship belt several times. It's a shame they only ever put it on him one time.
Steamboat came along in the wrong era. This was the period in which the NWA preferred heels as their world champion because the local promoters wanted the heel champion to defend the title against their most popular babyface to generate the biggest gates and make the most money.
That's because that part we couldn't fake sometimes guys got stabbed hit with all kind of objects coming to the ring I'm sure they were not happy about having to go through that crowd even steamboat seem to be upset and he was the Babyface😊
@@vivahernando1 Dude, wtf are you talking about? The business was actually exposed in the 30's and throughout the years people always knew that it was "fakish". It became "official" in the 90's when McMahon did it.....And as far as "can't put the toothpaste back in" is concerned, sorry but I disagree, unlike you I don't actually need it to be "real" to enjoy it. I just needed it to look real and pretend that it was real. And that IS the art of professional wrestling not the meaningless acrobatic bullsh#t we have today.........
Society got cheap and quick, they want fast-paced crap instead an actual mix of technical wrestling with high spots plus the allure of Kayfabe It's sad. It's a desperate cry of a fast food culture nowadays. Thank God for RU-vid!! This will never die
Friday, 6/4/1982 (AJPW: Excite Series - Day 19 ) From: Nagaoka, Nigata ( Japan ) Match 10: Main Event: NWA World HW Title Match Ric Flair ( of. MACW: NWA World HW Champion- Day #260 of 631) ( Reign 1 of 8 ) defeated Ricky Steamboat ( of MACW)
People today don’t understand how popular Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Tito Santana were back then. They were like rockstars. When they entered the stadium people would go nuts. The Japanese fans loved Steamboat because he looked Asian and he was their “Bruce Lee”. I don’t think wrestlers got paid that much money back then, but if Steamboat was out today with all the social media, he would have been mega rich.
If Steamboat or Tito were in their primes in the 2000s to 2010s, they would have been multiple times world champions. Today, there are more titles, and the title reigns tend to be a lot shorter. Back then, there were only a couple of big-name world titles, the WWF, the NWA, and the AWA, and the champions tended to hold onto the titles for years, thus there was not a whole lot of opportunity for a lot of guys to have world title reigns.
I'm shocked they only went 20 minutes. LOL!! Ricky Steamboat was the perfect and greatest rival of Flair and the only man who was his equal in the ring!
Wonder why Steamboat wasn’t declared as the first Japanese American to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, it was history making but he was also first of Asian decent to win that title. Seems like racism there 😔
The territory system was slowly dying out when Vince McMahon Jr. Bought the WWF from his father in 1982 and started poaching all the talent from every territory. But Vince struggled with getting the southern fans, who supported the NWA, to switch over to his product. Flair was very over in the South and was the main reason the NWA stayed afloat as long as it did until Ted Turner purchased the company and renamed it to WCW. I loved the Crockett Jr. era of the 80s but he didn't have the infrastructure to compete with Vince. Flair always loved facing Steamboat. He's said on numerous occasions that Steamboat was one of his favorite opponents.
@@Sweeptheleg83 Thank you very much for answering my comment and telling me the details. I can speak and understand English. There were a lot of proーwrestler I like. My favorite are Bruiser Brody and JohnーStanley Hansen(Stan Hansen）、Giant Baba、Harley Race, etc.
@@rodzor When it comes to Professional Wresting Play by Play, manny Fans have Him Ross on their Mount Rushmore of Professional Wrestling Announcers. I rank Jim Ross up there with The Legendary Gordon Solie and Lance Russell.
