Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor

[8.0] "One of the last big territory defences of the big gold belt, and it's not an inner-circle candidate but it is good. A remarkable thing is - and this is such a feature of prime Flair - that this doesn't lag despite being long and despite being mapped quite simply. This starts with a loooong headlocks sequence and it's pretty good, actually, subtly varied and contested. Flair only cheats a little - legs on ropes on some pins, that sort of thing - and wins clean, albeit off a rollup reversal. Taylor can keep up, and moves nicely, though he's not a commanding presence - he's really just the likeable local babyface. One thing to commend about this sort of style - even if you're not convinced by the added Flairisms - is that the big moves do impact - the Figure Four does feel deadly, Vertical Suplexes do feel like possible pins, etc. It's an everyday brilliant entry in the Flair catalogue. 4/5"

[10.0] "Unbelievable bout, one of the best matches I've ever watched in my entire life, this is very close to perfection for me, it's a style that I love, and the elements of the match are very refined, and culminated into an all-time classic. Terry Taylor is not a guy that people give too much praise, specially because of his WWF/WCW runs, that are obviously extremely mainstream, but boy he could wrestle, say what you want, of course that Ric Flair makes any wrestler 1000% better, but he was great here, very good performance, and his stoic and dangerous posture really helped the atmosphere of the match. The beginning of the match is very slow and methodical, there are people that would hate this, but I love a good headlock exchange, it's a classical style, very purist, and the quality is awesome. The match got me interested ever since the headlock story, Taylor kept trapping Flair into the headlock, and he couldn't leave, that created a super captivating and tense moment, with many creative solutions. The entire thing has 40-minutes, and I was interested in every single one of them, the ending stretch is one of the greatest things ever, it's hypnotic, and they didn't left the basics, they've created an insane anticipation and tension with the most simple moves out there, which means this match has an incredible psychology. The selling is awesome, after the beginning filled with headlocks, they went for a chop battle, and there were many of those, chops, punches, everything was excellent... but the most important thing is that they sold every single move incredibly well, and that's why, despite very long, the match was interesting, because it was something dark and brutal, they weren't kidding out there, and every time a boxing posture was triggered I popped very hard, love matches like this. The crowd really helped too, the NOLA Superdome was packed and they haven't stopped screaming for one single second, so very special environment there, really helped the match to become an epic. Approximately at the 30-minute mark Flair went for the figure four, and Taylor did the classic reversal, which made the audience go crazy and scream very loud... a few moments later, it was the time for Taylor to perform the figure four leg lock, and it was an amazing near finish too. These little sequences were fantastic, there wasn't a huge character work here in this match, but Flair was the subtle heel, he did two or three little heel works, that made it clear he's the man with less morals in the match, but it wasn't something scandalous, it's subtle, and it really shows the genius of Flair. This match was complete, people tend to hate roll-up finishes, but this one was phenomenal in my opinion, the match was long, very hard to put the other man down, it's very Flair to outsmart the opponent and retain the title, it worked very well, and after it ended the crowd started to sing 'bullshit, bullshit', which shows that the ending generated the proper reaction - {****3/4}"

[7.0] "Seeing the rating I was really hoping for more. Don't get me wrong, this is still really good but since they go 40 minutes it does start very slow. The end sprint is fantastic and is a classic long Flair match. If you YouTube Jim Ross's story of this match, apparently Flair was out partying all night before this and had Terry Taylor get him a coffee after a short nap in the locker room and that's about all the discussing they did for this. Now that may be a carny story for sure but if I truly believed it I'd bump it up another point because both of these men's stamina is amazing even if they were well prepared."

[8.0] "Chances are if you have Ric Flair in a long match during this time period it's gonna be worth your time, and this did not disappoint. They brought great mat work to the table in this match, and if you were looking for physicality from these two they gave you that with their chops and punches. The crowd was really behind Taylor in this, but Flair would beat him by grabbing the tights.****1/4"

[8.0] "This was not at the level of emotion or athleticism as the best Ric Flair bouts, but it was still pretty great. As one would expect, this had the classic Flair formula, although it was a bit heavier on the rest holds than usual. The crowd was behind Taylor from the beginning, and almost everything he did looked really good. ****"

[9.0] "Proof positive once again that Flair in the 80s was a true wizard. He took one of the most boring, basic guys around in Terry Taylor and had a great 40 minute match with him."

[7.0] "The final five minutes of the match were pretty exciting, and all the build up was correct. Something was missing to be considered an outstanding match, but I can't decifer what."

[10.0] "The pacing of this match really stood out. It is very surprising that this match actually went almost 40 minutes because as you watch it you get so caught up in it, and it is so good, that it doesn't even feel like that much time has elapsed at all. Ric Flair truly was the ultimate master of working long-winded matches no matter who his opponent was."

[10.0] "As previous comments described, this is a classic Flair title defense - after the match was over, Taylor looked like a made man/uncrowned champion and Flair looked like a piece of shit that got away with the title. Chants 'Bullshit! ' after the match were the perfect soundtrack."

[9.0] "Prototypical Flair title defense. Fantastic Flair performance and Terry sells pretty great as well. Basically the best version of the classic Flair title defense you'll see but not distinct enough for me to give it the full 10."

[10.0] "Incredible fast-paced match that goes 40 minutes and never lets up. I've never seen Terry Taylor look as good as this, this was a great exhibition of his athletic prowess if anything. ****3/4"