|
|
Post by elliott on Aug 16, 2019 6:47:50 GMT -5
Opinions have ebbed and flowed so much over time with Harley it is hard to know where people stand. I've always been positive more or less when it comes to Harley. The Houston footage really filled out his resume'.
|
|
|
|
Post by elliott on Dec 5, 2019 6:09:15 GMT -5
Where do folks stand on Harley? He finished 12th in the 2006 Smarkschoice GWE and then fell to 45th during PWO's 2016 poll. We've gotten to see quite a bit of new Harley footage in the past 5 years and it has been largely outstanding. For his era he was an outstanding bumper and in terms of offense was basically the Kobashi of the 70s. Great at big slow matches and also sprinty bomb fests. Not the best mat worker, especially compared to previous NWA champs. But had the tough guy aura and everything he did looked good. His headbutts, elbow drops, knee drops, punches etc were all among the best ever in wrestling and he used them to keep his matches interesting and engaging until he got to his big bombs.
We don't even have close to a good selection of his prime & immediate post prime years. Probably less than .5% of his prime is available. Maybe 1%. Yet we've got examples of Harley in really great matches against a wide variety of opponents.
vs Giant Baba 12/9/75
vs Jumbo Tsuruta 6/11/77
vs Terry Funk 7/1/77
vs Jerry Lawler 12/11/77
vs Wahoo McDaniel 2/10/78
vs Andre the Giant 1/7/79
vs El Halcon 8/31/79
vs Giant Baba 10/31/79
vs Rick Martel 1/12/80
vs. Giant Baba 9/4/80
vs. Giant Baba 9/9/80
vs Bob Backlund 9/22/80
vs Gino Hernandez 9/28/80
vs Jumbo Tsuruta 8/1/82
vs Giant Baba 10/26/82
vs Flair 8/31/83
vs Kevin Von Erich 6/17/83
vs Iceman Parsons 10/7/83
vs Billy Jack 10/22/83
vs Jumbo 10/26/83
vs Ric Flair 5/22/84
vs Rick Martel 4/20/86
vs Hulk Hogan 6/4/87
I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting as this was just stuff I had readily available on various lists.
|
|
|
|
Post by bossrock on Dec 5, 2019 6:22:54 GMT -5
I love the "I want rid of Flair!" promo.
|
|
|
|
Post by elliott on May 13, 2020 4:03:37 GMT -5
In the Funk vs Kobashi thread, Cap said this:
I was gonna respond there and remembered I'd made a Harley thread. He finished 45th in GWE which is probably higher than I'd rank him on a GWE list, but not an insanely high ranking or anything.
Of the matches listed above I'd recommend checking out:
vs Wahoo McDaniel 2/10/78 Houston
vs Andre the Giant 1/7/79 Houston
vs Billy Jack 10/22/83 PNW
They're all great matches but less famous than the Funk match, Lawler/Race, Race/Flair, Race vs Baba/Jumbo. In particular the Billy Jack match I had this to say about it in the nomination thread:
"Uh, where the fuck did this come from? This was an awesome world title match with the veteran Race leading the limited but very game Billy Jack through a long classically structured match. Not the best Race match I’ve ever seen, but the most impressive given the experience level of Billy Jack. Shocked."
Race is a guy people went way overboard on in the early 2000s peaking with his #12 finish of the smarkschoice GWE poll. Which led to a backlash. Top 50ish feels right.
|
|
|
|
Post by KB8 on May 13, 2020 9:57:08 GMT -5
The last time I watched a solid chunk of Race was on the All Japan 80s set and most of it bored me half to sleep. Some of that is because pre-Choshu All Japan house style just isn't all that enjoyable to me at this point. Probably a lot, in fact, because his stateside stuff from the same period always ends up being way more enjoyable. I still haven't even seen the Funk match yet but he'd rock into Dallas and have a fucking awesome match with Kevin von Erich and then something super fun against Iceman Parsons and I wonder if I shouldn't do a proper deep dive on his US run. I don't think I'm likely to have him on a top 100, but his stock would almost certainly rise from where it was the last time I properly thought about him.
|
|
|
|
Post by workedshoot on May 27, 2020 12:54:29 GMT -5
I'd like to also recommend Harley Race vs Ric Flair, Meadowlands 2-24-85 Pro Wrestling USA
|
|
|
|
Post by elliott on May 29, 2020 2:10:55 GMT -5
Its such a bummer that the Starrcade main event was such a let down. Its one of the most important matches ever and by far their highest profile, but I think its the worst match I've seen them have together. Will check out that Meadowlands match. I can't remember if I've ever seen it.
|
|
