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Post by elliott on Dec 4, 2017 23:15:31 GMT -5
Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (Loser Leaves Town - Memphis - 6/6/1983) One of the greatest brawls of all time. Punching, drama, emotion. I won't have it as high as the 85 version, but that's like saying "I won't have Flair/Steamboat Match X as high as Flair/Steamboat Match Y."
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Post by Cap on Dec 5, 2017 8:09:15 GMT -5
Seconded
I also wont have this as high as the 85 version of the match, but it will very likely make the list and pretty comfortably. This is a great match with a ton of drama. I use the word urgency a lot to describe the quality that I might find most important in wrestling and this match is made of urgency. Just classic stuff. I see it on a lot of lists.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 5, 2018 19:21:04 GMT -5
Third. #1 contender to me. It's one of those matches that never gets old, and It's been nearly 35 years since!
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 3, 2018 18:18:32 GMT -5
Classic match that I've just watched for the first time. With Lance Russell on commentary you need no build-up as he explains everything simply. Great dominance by Dundee in the early going. I loved his elbowdrops and also his bump to the floor. Lawler earned every bit of his comeback. The intensity as solid throughout and the build to the finish was superb.
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Post by superstarsleeze on Jul 22, 2018 10:49:12 GMT -5
I like most of you preferred the 85 match to the 83 match but rewatching them within a week of each other I have flipped flopped. I think this is the classic. I don't see this as a hate-filled brawl at all. Just two men desperate not to leave the Town that made them stars. There is so much caution not to make a mistake and each highspot is a miss and causes a major shift. The person who sticks with the basics is rewarded. The feel good ending is great. I think I just talked myself into upgrading this to 5 stars! Let's send it!
AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Bill Dundee vs Jerry Lawler - Memphis 6/6/83 Loser Leaves Town
The Little Aussie, Bill Dundee, sure did cause a big stink with his dyed jet black hair and his bad reputation. The King was trying to be diplomatic and amicably part ways with his former tag partner citing irreconcilable differences. Dundee wanted to make sure those differences were known and that was he tired of living in the shadow of the King and he was sick of everyone taking the King's side. So the King tells you all I am a nice guy so you like me and now that Lawler tells you I ain't you don't like me very much. Personally, I agree with Dundee that's a bit fucked up. You should like someone on their own merits not because someone else's opinion of that person. The way the Superstar went about it, well I can't condone. He name-called Lawler, he interfered in his matches, and he manhandled and took advantage of younger wrestlers (Tommy Rogers, Ricky Morton etc...) to prove a point. You got a problem with Lawler take it out on Lawler, you prick, mano y mano. He ends up winning the Southern Heavyweight Championship and this leads to a Loser Leaves Town match. Memphis TV devotes an entire TV show to build to this match and it is simply awesome. Covering so many different angles about what it means to have a Loser Leaves town match between the two biggest superstars of the promotion. I highly recommend watching it before this match.
I just finished watching Lawler face Terry Funk and Dutch Mantell, two excellent punchers, but goddamn if Bill Dundee does not have the sweetest punch this side of Jerry "The King" Lawler. Hot Dog! Those were some beauties. The match was interesting to me because this did not feel like a blood feud battle. This was not Slaughter/Sheik or Magnum/Tully. It was a bit closer to Duggan/DiBiase. It was a classic feel-good match. Yes, it was a stand-up contest, but everything was built around feel good spots. Dundee missing moves early, bailing at the threat of a punch, and selling a punch like death. Then Dundee hits a pair of bulldogs, only on the third to be crotched on the top rope. These are great feel-good spots that bring a smile to my face, but this not visceral hatred that Slaughter/Sheik and Magnum/Tully provide. I am a-ok with that because I can appreciate Star Wars as much as I can appreciate Gangs of New York.
I really like the touch of all the other wrestlers and managers watching the match from the front row adds to the gravity. Dundee looked nervous and skiddish at the start making mistakes, but when Lawler gets a little cocky by playing to the crowd with the face Dundee starts unloading some fists. The beginning shows the risk of movement and if Dundee can stand and punch with Lawler he may have a better chance. They knock heads and the playing field seems levelled. Dundee gets a nice straight right and Dundee sticks with his game plan of movement hitting a top rope headbutt. The smaller Dundee needs the momentum to cause more damage, but is trying to use the punch to set this up. He comes flying into the corner with a high knee and takes a nasty spill outside the ring. Lawler punches him right in the face, but misses the top rope legdrop. I like how high risk moves are portrayed in this match. They are home runs that both men desperately want to hit in this high stakes match, but miss at the outset because they have not damaged the other enough. Dundee hits a piledriver but his knee is fucked up from the previous high knee he tried in the corner. Awesome! It is a piledriver where he falls off to the right side. Dundee is limping and Lawler is grabbing his right hip. Memphis does such a great job selling these injuries and making every move and miss mean so much. Dundee loads the boot and hits a sliding dropkick. Dundee takes over on Lawler on the outside and hits some of the bets punches you will ever see. Memphis gets a ton of deserved credit for some of the best punches ever, but what needs to be mentioned is how well the wrestlers sell a punch. It makes those punches mean even more. Dundee works the King of Mountain ramming him into post and splitting Lawler open above the eye. Lawler takes his bump off the apron onto the table. Once Lawler gets back in the ring and Lawler does not seem to be as phased by Dundee's punches. Crowd perrks up. Is Dundee punching himself out? STRAP DOWN! Crowd explodes LAWLER COMEBACK! He tees off on Dundee and kicks the Little Aussie's ass. The crowd provides the sound effects for every heavy blow. Lawler gets a cocky ala the Dutch Mantell match and almost gets caught with a sunset flip. Dundee hits a series of chop blocks, but on the third one Lawler nails an upper cut and then a BIG PILEDRIVER~! to send his archrival packing out of Memphis.
i love how Memphis treats high spots. In such a high stakes match, you want to leave it all out in the ring so it makes sense to go for broke. In Memphis, high spots are something you have to earn. You need to use your stand up game to set up high spots because if you dont, you will crash and burn. Lawler missing that top rope legdrop could have cost him the entire match as that was the big turning point that afforded Dundee the opportunity to really open up a big lead. "Don't count the King out so soon" is what Lance Russell is always fond of saying. Lawler made his vaunted comeback, but it was almost not enough. He was able to vanquish Bill Dundee with a well-timed uppercut and a wicked piledriver.
Jerry Lawler definitely had a formula of taking a lot of heat and making that spectacular comeback. I think this was the Lawler formula executed to perfection. They probably could have one false finish in Dundee's favor to really sell the drama that Lawler was leaving that really would have put this over the top. This is every bit the classic people acclaimed. There is some controversy. This is usually the run away pick for best match in Memphis history. I am not sure I feel that way. I would say at this Dutch Mantell No DQ match is a bit superior for more memorable spots and even more drama. I never felt Lawler was in danger in this one and it was just a really fun match for that reason I cant go five stars. As a feel good match, this is hard to beat and at the end of day wrestling should leave you smiling and this one did just that. *****
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Post by Cap on Aug 16, 2018 11:47:33 GMT -5
From my rewatch project on 8/16/2018
Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (Loser Leaves Town – Southern Heavyweight Title – 6/6/1983) Current Rank 66 Trending: Up This is sort of a strange one. For the longest time I felt like their second LLT match was the better one. I still suspect that might be true, but I don’t think I ever really realized quite how much we were missing from that. I don’t think we are missing quite as much of this one. In any case, I feel like I have a better sense of this match on rewatch. I also feel like the gap between the two closed a good bit. This match is on the rise. The combos here are great. The strikes are stiff. The emotion is raw. The flow of this match is incredible, on par with Villano/Atlantis. I feel like this is a match on the rise a bit. I have always had this as a 5 star classic, but I came away from this watch, focusing particularly on the way stakes are used to create drama, with a new appreciation for this match, for the urgency in every movement, and for just how carefully everything is put together here. I could watch these two punch each other in the mouth all day and this is absolutely class work, could creep into the top 50 or 40.
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Post by microstatistics on Feb 13, 2019 0:29:10 GMT -5
Is there a link for this? I've seen LLT 85 and 86 but was never able to find this one.
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Post by mvz on Mar 25, 2021 3:36:58 GMT -5
Dundee’s punches to Lawler outside the ring was probably the best punching I’ve ever seen in a match. Great selling of the damage throughout the match. I liked the sunset flip spot near the end. And of course a satisfying finish. Great dramatic brawl.
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Post by lemming on Dec 15, 2021 11:41:16 GMT -5
Is there a link for this? I've seen LLT 85 and 86 but was never able to find this one. Just echoing this request a few years on - is this available online to anyone's knowledge?
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Post by KB8 on Feb 21, 2023 15:44:34 GMT -5
Yeah, I wouldn't blink if this was someone's #1.
I'll get this out the way first. The clipping absolutely does my head in. Clipping in every match is a bummer, but this is particularly infuriating because it feels so haphazard. These weren't strategically placed commercial breaks, or inserted in a way that was designed to make it look like we never missed anything (joshi promotions seemed to be the master at this, for whatever that's worth). I think we get four cuts in the first five minutes and each time we come back there's a difference in how the two of them are selling, so we know something of substance just happened. It always feels like those cuts mess with the pacing, worse than it does in most matches, never mind any as obviously incredible as this one. And the fact it IS incredible makes it worse. It's something I've never been able to shake and it kills me that we don't have the full picture of this match, even if we only miss about seven minutes in the end.
But setting aside that thing that isn't even the wrestlers' fault, this was of course a fucking tremendous bitta the pro wrestling. The early stages nailed that proper big fight feel, a perfect blend of aggression and hesitancy befitting the stakes. Lance calls it the biggest match in the history of the Mid-South Coliseum, and you believe him, for who are you to doubt the dulcet tones of Lance Russell? Those first few strikes were great. Lawler tags Dundee with a quick backpedalling shot that puts him on his arse, Dundee checking his teeth while looking at Lawler with unveiled contempt. Lawler tags him again coming out the corner, so Dundee responds with two of the greatest bulldogs ever seen. Lawler takes the first one right on his face and Dundee had that headlock in tight enough that I'm not sure Lawler could've shaken him even if he'd legitimately tried. Lawler's reversal of the third one leads to a reset of sorts, with Dundee having to regroup and plot another course. Even with those bastard jump cuts the opening minutes had a few resets like that, where Dundee had to peel back before approaching things from a different angle.
And Dundee really was the story here. It's one of his all-time best performances, a man who would not stop. He was all over Lawler like a rash and the King of the Mountain segment is one of the best ever. Lawler takes a wild bump to the floor, one that you think is only going to be teased when he grabs hold of the ropes, until Dundee kicks him in the gut and Lawler flies back off the apron. The camera shooting it from the opposite side of the ring made it look like Lawler was heaved off a cliff. Dundee then batters him - literally - from one side of the ring to the other, Lawler repeatedly trying to climb back into the thing only for Dundee to ram him into the post or kick him in the eye. Lawler's table bump off the apron is a corker and the visual of him lying on the concrete with one side of his face covered in blood was incredible. But that was where Dundee fucked up. He was relentless up until then. He should've pressed the advantage, picked clean the carcass when Lawler was ripe for it, but instead he either settled for the count out or figured he'd finish things when Lawler crawled back in. Instead Lawler had time to recover for once and when he dropped that strap you wondered if Dundee hadn't undone all of his good work. The last time I watched this I thought the comeback came off a little sudden, but this time that 9-count before he made it back into the ring felt like just the right amount of distance needed to make it work. Dundee going for broke only to get decapitated by the greatest uppercut ever thrown and piledriven to hell was a fitting way to cap it. You have the King dead to rights you don't let him off the hook.
There's a line that strength and conditioning coaches use about doing the basics right. You see all of these crazy Instagram workouts and lunatics like Joel Seedman talking about eccentric isometrics and there's this thing called plyogility and this all got very off topic and none of you give a shit about any of it but basically, the simple stuff that athletes have been doing for eons will generally yield you better results than a lot of the cool shit on social media. This was all about the basics and those basics looking absolutely great. You knew the punches would be amazing because obviously the punches would be amazing, and these were possibly the greatest punches ever thrown, but all the other stuff looked equally amazing. Missed moves like Dundee's elbow drop early, or Lawler's missed ledgrop off the top. The way they clashed together running the ropes. Even the way they'd kick out on pin attempts, Dundee at one point getting thrown clean out the ring. Everything they did, every move, every strike, every miss carried weight and was sold like a man's livelihood was on the line. Treat something like it matters, sell it like it matters, people will buy it like it matters. Look at the reaction for the finish and tell me it didn't.
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Post by mvz on May 5, 2023 9:46:47 GMT -5
I rewatched this and like a few other commenters, it has grown in my esteem. I will be rewatching the 85 match (which made my list last time) and I think this is right there with it.
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Post by mrjmml on May 5, 2023 13:39:07 GMT -5
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Post by mrjmml on May 5, 2023 13:40:46 GMT -5
2nd. The only reason why this isn't match of the year is MS-1 vs Sangre Chicana 9/23/1983.
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Post by microstatistics on May 6, 2023 12:56:18 GMT -5
Thanks. I managed to obtain it a few years ago. This fell in the same vein as Okada vs. Shibata for me in that, after all the hype and praise, it was so supremely disappointing that I had no desire to revisit or even discuss it at any length.
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Post by puropotsy on May 30, 2023 9:50:10 GMT -5
Classic match that I've just watched for the first time. With Lance Russell on commentary you need no build-up as he explains everything simply. Great dominance by Dundee in the early going. I loved his elbowdrops and also his bump to the floor. Lawler earned every bit of his comeback. The intensity as solid throughout and the build to the finish was superb. From today's re-watch A battle of simplicity used to tell an amazing story. The structure of the match is great and it is an amazing battle of punches. Two master storytellers tell a masterful story.
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