On June 8th, 1983, Ric Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against All Japan Pro Wrestling ace Jumbo Tsuruta. Japan still cares about the NWA Title to this day, and matches like this are why. Also, I’m not TRYING to make all of the videos I post All Japan matches, it’s just kind of happening.
Fun things about this match:1. The referee is wearing all green, because green screams authority.
2. Jumbo Tsuruta selling the Figure Four is an act of cartoonish hilarity. So great.
3. In the after-match “guys help the wrestlers who are in need of significant medical attention” segment, keep an eye out for a very young Toshiaki Kawada. He’s not a head-kicking badass yet, but ten years later he and Misawa will be attempting to murder each other on a regular basis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HhL6LQ21s4
