Dick The Bruiser vs. Giant Baba

[5.0] "Love to see more Dick The Bruiser and he's here with perennial babyface Baba, nice dynamic off the bat. It doesn't take long for Dick to resort to cheating and in this case smashing Baba's knee off the ring post and locking in a single leg crab to score the first fall. Not crazy about his methods of cheating in the second fall where he hides a rope from the ref pretty much in plain sight by switching what hand he holds it in and putting it behind his back, I'm all for heels cheating but trying a little harder to hide and make it more subtle would be nice. Baba scores the second fall through desperation by pushing Dick into the post and getting back in for a countout, busting him open in the process. The work between this and the third fall is the best stuff all match with Dick trying to swing some chairs at Baba and Baba retaliating by choking him out with a chord from maybe a camera. The third fall finally gets underway and watching Dick claw at Baba's knee, biting away with a cut on his own face is a hell of a visual. Baba wins it with a rebound chop in a fairly short one that had some time cut off the top, not complaining about a short match but this is neither guys best with the most entertaining stuff happening outside the falls. Still mostly a fun time though."

[5.0] "Didn't think this was great or anything. First time seeing Dick The Bruiser, so maybe that could be why. I liked the brawling, but that doesn't make it a classic for me. ** 1/4"

[10.0] "This honestly makes modern wrestling violence look childish. Because this feels real. It was even a spors--it was just two guys trying to kill each other. So raw and gritty. You're not even thinking about how they worked it out, because you're too caught up in it. Even if you're not trying to suspend your disbelief, you end up getting sucked in anyway."

[7.0] "Not the prettiest match you'll ever see by a long stretch, but it was good fun. Dick gets a quick first fall with the leg work then we get a fun little brawl on the outside before Baba finishes him off inside for the win. A simple formula but Dick played the nasty heel well (the blood was a nice touch) and Baba was a good resilient babyface again. ***1/2"

[10.0] "A great and very exciting match. Giant Baba and Dick the Bruiser had a lot of great in-ring chemistry. They legit seemed like they wanted to actually brutalize each other. The highlights are Dick doing his signature knee biting and Baba trying to strangle Dick with the mic wire. Such a great match."

[7.0] "Having only seen the final years of Dick the Bruiser, watching this match was really entertaining, a great heel wherever he was."

[8.0] "Really fun match, one of the earliest matches think I have seen. Dick The Bruiser does knee biting. Enjoyed this"

[7.0] "Baba's leg was the story of the first fall - fun match - good 60's brawl with blood - bruiser bite the leg and it's bloody !"

[7.0] "Baba snapping and choking The Bruiser with a mic wire was great. Nice brawl with some leg work from Dick in the beginning of the match and then just chaotic fighting between the two."

[7.0] "This is a defense of Baba's NWA International Heavyweight title. Unfortunately, approximately the first four minutes are missing from the copy in circulation. I definitely put this off for too long, though, because this match has some really positive qualities. The layout is psychologically satisfying and builds to Baba's climactic revenge well. Bruiser goes to Baba's taped-up knee, even BITING IT in the second fall, and Baba's limb selling is excellent. Even with the cut, this is a strong JWA Baba match that I wish I'd gotten to sooner. It blows up nicely, which I expected, but I underestimated how much meat would be on the bone here. ***1/2"