Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Waiting For The Hammer To Fall


Greg Valentine (c) VS Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat - WWF Intercontinental Championship 6/21/1985

CJD: For the past two weeks I've been talking about the strengths of Kerry Von Erich as a babyface. Well I'm going to follow him up with possibly the greatest babyface ever in Ricky Steamboat. I've seen a little bit of Steamboat in WWF from this era, namely some of the Muraco feud, but I had forgotten just how much he was focused on the martial arts aspect of his gimmick. It seems like he ate up Valentine a little more as a result, or maybe because this was early on in his run in NY this was treated as more of a showcase match. Either way make no mistake, Valentine does a fantastic job of keeping his heat while making Steamer look like a million bucks. Jimmy Hart brings the perfect balance of vocal interference without overwhelming the match, and add in a rare appearance from Mean Gene on commentary and this was a forward playing match for certain.

JJZ: And we got Gorilla on commentary! Look at that belt! I'm liking it Chris. I don't recall Mean Gene doing color ever so I was excited when I read that. Tights and all, they were trying to make a Bruce Lee Jr back then with Ricky. Greg's selling is superb and is making Steamboat's strikes look like a million bucks. Nobody works the gut these days, we need more midsection work. These two are doing a great job of it in this match. It's all about working the hand anymore. I totally forgot that Valentine called himself "The Master of the Figure Four." They have said Karate at least 20 times, I can picture Vince screaming in the headset KARATE KARATE KARATE! Really good match. I liked the finish, especially that the commentators were questioning it. Good shit.

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