Your Love Is Blind, Blind As A Bat

British Bulldogs VS Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy - AJPW 5/6/1989

JJZ: So my fear with any AJPW match that I watch is that I have seen it before and don't remember. I have zero memory of ever seeing the Bulldogs vs Hansen and Gordy. If I did and don't remember this banger shame on me. Goddammit this was spectacular. First the crowd was at a ten. Second the wrestlers were killing it. All four guys wanted to bring the house down. It's so wild to watch Davey Boy who is sweating steroids going shot for shot against Stan who looking like he just stepped off the bar stool. This is just a beef slapping hoss battle at its finest. Ain't no real psychology to it. Just four guys beating the shit out of eachother. Enjoy it.

CJD: You read my mind with that comment about Hansen/DBS. This match certainly had the big fight feels. The Bulldogs were limited but Stan and Terry made them look like a million bucks. Gordy really went above and beyond. The way he kept selling the press slam, like that was the reason Hansen tried to sneak in as the illegal man, was such a wonderful touch. And man, what a beautiful finish, as perfect as you could hope from a match like this. This was a dream match that delivered, and with the limitations you had from a barely mobile Dynanite and a walking science experiment in Davey, that's pretty damn impressive!

He Came In Like A Wrecking Ball

Bret Hart/British Bulldog VS Owen Hart/Bob Backlund - WWF Action Zone 2/26/1995

JJZ: As A kid I had Survior Series '94 on VHS and I must have watched Bret Hart VS Bob Blacklund 100 times. I loved that match. I loved the throw in the towel stipulation. This match is a build to their Mania match though. And I hated that match. But all four of these guys worked a fucking hell of a match here. They built to a hot tag that blew the goddamn roof of the place. Bret sold like a beast. Bret is one of my all time favorites and I'm always so happy when I get to see new to me matches of his. Davey Boy played his role perfectly. Great showing of power to start and came in like a wrecking ball on that hot tag. Hope you enjoy baby cakes. Owen and Backlund play some great heels. I always found myself getting so annoyed at Owen during his heel runs.

CJD: Todd Pettengill calling Davey Boy a role model and a True Hero given some of the allegations against him since is one I'm sure he'd like back. Man does he suck on commentary. What a shill. This was a fun house show main event style match. Good aggressive heat from the Owen and Backlund team. I thought for the talent in this one it was a little paint by numbers. But like you said it jumps out on paper as a match you want to see if you haven't. And there's something about Action Zone matches that pop me the same way I think SNME does for you. Plus you've given me countless possibilities for next week!

JJZ: I loved that Davey Boy was getting the shine. You never saw Bret getting owned liked that. Especially leading into a Mania match. It didn't hurt Bret at all but made the Bulldog look like a fucking beast. He is a brick shit house and this match made him look unstoppable.

CJD: That's a good point about Bret, it made the heels look really strong too. I had no problem with Davey Boy's role in the match, I just wish it was fleshed out more. He gets a reputation for being a lunkhead stiff which when motivated and not bursting at the gills with steroids I think was not the case at all. Like you pointed out last week, you can't have a career as storied and successful as his on physique alone. So I was a little disappointed this match did nothing to prove that reputation wrong even though he did his job well. I liked this match, I just didn't love it. I'll use a JJZ metaphor you dropped on one of my matches previously. I saw the names, I saw the auspicious Action Zone format, and I thought I was getting an Iron Chef meal. Instead I got Iron Chefs hosting an episode of Diners, Drive Ins & Dives. They kept it light and breezy and entertaining without putting too much thought into it. And I'll gladly take their take on a diner dash, especially when so many of these careers were cut short.

[editor's note - This match has been taken down since we originally shared it. We'll check back periodically to see if we can find a new link. We apologize for the inconvenience!]

They Call Me Mr Dynamite

Davey Boy Smith/Dynamite Kid VS Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW RWTL 7/12/1985

CJD: One of the aspects of 80s wrestling I find most fascinating is All Japan and New Japan sniping talent from each other. And still to this day there's a quality to watching the British Bulldogs in AJPW that makes me think "did this really happen??" But they fit in seamlessly and this match is a great example. Both teams cut off the ring nicely and both teams wrestle to their strengths. I feel like we've been bringing that fire back and forth with our match selections and this might be a bit more of a refreshing mint to cool the palette. But I'm all about those ebbs and flows and while this isn't a MOTY kind of encounter, it is a dream match that I was very satisfied with. And am still kind of amazed even happened in the first place.

JJZ: So I'm gonna start this with a question that I know I could just look up but I'll act like it's the 80s where that wasn't possible. Did Dynamite Kid hurt his back in AJPW or NJPW? Davey Boy really has had a crazy career. Having successful runs in 80s WWF, AJPW and NJPW. Then early 90s WWF and WCW. Then again in late 90s WWF. Dude has been around. Definitely have a classic build starting out here. Gotta point out real quick that this match gets extra points for being in my favorite AJPW ring. Love the red and blue split. Very nice tag match. Told a good story and everyone came out looking strong. I like the finish because honestly I didn't see it coming in the RWTL. Also love the connection between the two matches from Dynamite against a top NJPW star last week to Dynamite against top AJPW stars.