The Boss vs. Vader

[7.0] "A more-than-decent big-man brawl with no rest holds or long lulls. There's action right from the start--both guys go at it hard, and Traylor in particular holds his own against the heavily favored Vader. The finish is relatively unspectacular and the match is too short, but up to that point, it's a surprisingly entertaining bout. Rounded up."

[4.0] "Not for me. There's a variety of stuff here, don't get me wrong, from brawling to some more athletic spots, but I think it relies too much on who's performing and their body shape, so this one simply didn't connect with me."

[8.0] "Man, this match is SO close to being unironically great. Like, I never really KNEW I wanted to see these two go at it back in the day, but damn, is the good stuff in this match SO good. It's like 700 pounds of man meat just FLYING and PINBALLING all over the place and I'll NEVER complain about that. Bro, the punches here are just BRUTAL and you wonder if the ring ropes are even going to hold up with so much MASS clanging into it. Vader bleeds, Bossman revels chunking his opponent's ass all over the canvas and the whole thing ends with Bossman freaking out and pounding EVERYBODY senseless with his night club like he was a LAPD cop or something. Great, GREAT stuff right here."

[8.0] "This is billed as a gigantic grudge match, and that's exactly what you get here. Boss rushing Vader early begins non-stop brawling action, which is mostly controlled by The Boss. These segments are great thanks to some ridiculous bumping from Vader, who probably shaved a year off of his career with this match. The few segments that Vader controls are also great. His punching is great in this match and there's one bump in particular that The Boss takes that is just insane. The crowd no-sells the Vader Bomb kickout, which leads to the always fantastic Vader moonsault. Not much story or psychology to this one, but it's an awesome hoss fight. ****"

[9.0] "Fucking awesome hoss fight, lots of stiff offense and some risky spots too. Boss's offense is super satisfying to watch, I havent seen too much of him but he's just rough and gritty, genuinely looks like you could've just pulled him out of some Texas bar. His striking in particular looked great, incredible punches, he beat the absolute shit out of Vader and picking him up like nothing. I could watch bossman and Vader exchange punches all day. Vader is awesome in this as usual. I loved this a lot"

[6.0] "For me these two didn't really click. A fun hoss fight and some interesting moments (not sure if the back body drop to the outside was deliberate? ) But for me the match didn't really flow. On the plus side , a well hit vadersault is always great and the Boss looked like a credible opponent to a still quite dominant Vader."

[6.0] "pretty decent big power hoss fight, lots of hard bumps and strong hits. Nothing unbelievable but decent."

[7.0] "This seemed like it was going to suck at first but they are legit hitting each other hard and slamming and suplexing each other all over the place. We even get a vader sault in this match. Lots of action and doesn't really have any slow portions."

[10.0] "They beat the shit out off eachother. They mostly just do that, but it somehow works. Some of it is the Boss being really over with the crowd and him being able to capitalize on it. But most of it is someone making Vader feel truly beatable. Yes, Vader has lost. He lost his title to Flair at the previous ppv, but it was on a roll up. If there the months of Vader being an invincible monster paid off with an excellent match, here the extended shine segment is both a shock and the reward from a long ago set up pay off at the same time. The match is almost just shine until Vader gets control to end it. The amount of retribution paid in full is glorious. And the way they deliver mechanically. I was very impressed with the way the Boss punches sounded and looked. Then I saw Vader's face and realised it was even better than I thought. Just the image of Vader bleed from the mouth and the eye while being smashed around by the Boss feels like such a victory. In the end, Vader wins, but both men's faces tell a completely different story. Vader survived the match. He was bullied in the ring just like he did to others for his whole run to that point."

[9.0] "This was a hoot. A match that doesn't overstay its welcome as an undercard match that's being headlined by Ric and Steamboat. No time wasted, just two super heavyweights beating tf out of each other. Does it get any better than that? One of the best wcw ppvs in the company's history that continues to age like fine wine. This was incredible. There's just something about how wrestling use to be presented in the 80 and 90's. It used to be better for real. ****1/2"

[10.0] "Insanely underrated. One of the greatest super heavyweight matches to ever take place on US soil. Both man are going insanely stiff, Vader is bleeding from his mouth and seemingly his eye(! ) before the match is even half over. Boss is throwing great strikes and doing big bombs like throwing Vader into the first row and chucking him off the top rope, while Vader is slamming back with his famous clubbing blows, and in the end hits a phenomenal Vader-sault to put Boss away clean as a whistle. Amazing knock down drag out fight between two behemoths, and I think it is really being slept on as a great match of this era. Vader was truly the man in this time and Boss(man) actually had much more to offer than people seem to remember!"

[9.0] "The best Ray "Boss/Big Boss Man" Traylor match I've seen to date, probably because it was nothing more than him and Vader potatoing each other for ten minutes. A hoss match in the best sense of the term, brutal and only less than perfect because five to ten more minutes of them beating the hell out of each other would've been even better."

[6.0] "Some sloppiness here and there, but because the dumps were taken by the super heavyweights they didn't have to be 100% clean. A mixed reaction for The Boss Man, so Vader took advantage of that and pandered to the crowd a little bit, so the fans enjoyed it even more."

[9.0] "I originally watched this match in 2004 and remembered it being surprisingly good, and after watching it again 20 years later, I now think it's a mini-masterpiece that's even better than I remembered. There is nothing here to dislike. Insanely stiff, chaotic, fast-paced, brutal wrestling full of huge moves. This felt like a war despite only lasting 9 minutes. Vader was bleeding from the mouth and the eye, and Boss Man took a scary bump to the outside that nearly could have broken his neck. This is the best Boss Man has ever looked, slamming Vader in the ring, Powerbombing him off the top rope, kicking out of the splash, and looking like a star in the process."

[7.0] "Two big old boys hard a hard hitting match which was a whole lot of fun and Vader's moonsault finish was pretty impressive, both moved a lot quicker than I was anticipating as well. Solid fun!"

[7.0] "Good hoss fight between Vader and the Boss Man. A lot of fun and a forgotten gem of a match on this card."

[7.0] "HOSS, HOSS, HOSS, HOSS! You want your 5 star matches? You want your 30 minute classics. Nahhhh! On my life this was probably one of the funnest big man matches Ive ever seen. Vader and the Boss beat the ever loving crap out of each other, with stiff shots a plenty as over 700lbs of humanity repeatedly crash into each other. Top it all off with a spectacular moonsault from Vader and I see very little not to like about this match."

[6.0] "Potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes with the added bonus of a Vader moonsault. Vader bleeds so much from the eye it feels like Bossman is the real winner."

[8.0] "A fairly solid big vs. big match. A few minor botches here and there. But seeing a big, finish the match with a moonsault is a good payoff."

[5.0] "Hard hitting big man brawl and Boss Man gives Vader a run for his money. Kinda short but I liked it."

[7.0] "This might of been slow and sloppy in places, but this was hoss-on-hoss comfort food! Props to Race getting accidentally bulldozed by Vader at the start of the match. He might be retired and 51 years old here, but he wasn't afraid to take a violent tumble. These guys potato each other and Vader bleeds a gusher. Bossman throws himself around like he's a cruiserweight for Vader. Vader doesn't quite get the win with the Vaderbomb, so he takes it to the next level and hits a moonsault for the win. Seeing Vader doing a moonsault will never get old."

[8.0] "Underrated match-it's stiff, compact, good powerhouse moves & strikes (typical of majority of Vader matches), with a great clean finish. My only complaint would be a couple minor botches by Boss-jumping down off the top rope onto Vader in what should have been a clothesline was more like an awkward bump into the head, and then the "DDT" onto Vader from the top rope wasn't executed too great. ***1/2 - ***3/4 in my book, would go **** without botches."

[5.0] "This was a solid brawl, and not only did Vader and Boss both take some big bumps, but so did Harley Race. The only downer was Vader suffered a broken wrist when Boss was careless when slamming him off the middle rope."

[7.0] "Highly enjoyable match with two big men that have a nice bout that does not last too much. Vader is able to do a sault and a Moonsault to close the match, The Boss has one of its best performance here. ***1/4"