Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase

[9.0] "A fucking war. A fucking WAR. The tuxedo shirts seem gimmicky until they bloom with crimson and sell the hatred and drama of the match. If you only know these two from their anodyne WWF days, you're missing out."

[8.0] "God, I would have loved to see this in person. The whole presentation with the cage and the tuxedos was so surreal and unique for the time. Just incredible 1980s brawling here. Like Greg Valentine, 90s wrestling fans should be forced to watch early-mid 80s Duggan before rating his work. Cage matches, taped fist, dog collars, dude was having great bloody matches."

[10.0] "THIS. IS. WRESTLING. A lot of people in the modern industry today try to be flashy, but you can get the crowd screaming their fucking heads off if you're either Jim Duggan or Ted DiBiase in '85. This was a beautiful match, bloody and brutal as can be, and the punch at the end had me pumping my fist; possibly one of the greatest punches in the history of the wrestling business. This RULED. [*****]"

[9.0] "Before we even get to the match, just look at that gimmick. A Loser Leaves Town Coal Miner's Glove On A Pole Steel Cage Tuxedo Street Fight. Brilliant. Duggan and DiBiase have a great bloody brawl, with Hacksaw looking like a beast towards the end. Duggan won by using the Coal Miner's Glove to hit possibly the greatest punch in wrestling history to exile DiBiase from Houston... for 30 days. Gotta love those territory gimmicks!"

[8.0] "A matryoshka of gimmicks in this BLOODY loser leaves town coal miner's glove on a pole loser leaves town cage match. Something tells me that Paul Boesch didn't get the deposit back on those suits but the crowd was riotous for Duggan here. Looks like Dibiase is off to AJPW for a while."

[8.0] "This felt very similar to their taped fists match from a few weeks before this, although that's not a bad thing. The stipulation might feel like a Vince Russo wet dream, but they make this work and it makes sense if you watch the TV show. As soon as I saw Duggan enter the cage in his white tuxedo, I knew he was going to bleed buckets. Dibiase is the king of stalling and giving just enough back to make you yearn for him to get a proper ass kicking. This doesn't quite live up to the hype for me, but it's worth seeing to show you that Jim Duggan isn't just a patriotic simpleton who walks around with a 2x4."

[7.0] "This was fun and very goofy. A lot of gimmick were combined there. Tuxedos + Steel Cage + Loser Leaves Town + Glove On a Pole. Very nice brawl but I would prefer if it lasted a little bit longer and was more technical."

[10.0] "The Loser Leaves Town Coal Miner's Glove On A Pole Steel Cage Tuxedo Street Fight is iconic for a reason: it's peak Territories-era kayfabe. A goofy Hero vs Villain story that the crowd eats up not just because of the work of the men during the match but because of the setup. Every piece of this stip is pulled from the build, all of it logically building to the kind of agreement two men who hate each other might have to settle their issues. The tuxedo aspect is the most striking but also the best part, as it takes the dynamic between the two men to an extreme, and allows for a number of good spots and visuals (Duggan soaking his shirt in his own blood, even as it's being removed, Dibiase taking off his own coat to climb and getting it ripped off of him as catharsis, using loose fabric to choke). The build to the glove is simple but effective and the way Duggan spends nearly half the match dodging it and setting up one big punch is legendary stuff, especially once you know that the Coal Miner's Glove is Dibiase's signature weapon. It's outstanding to see a match worked so simply have so many moving parts and storytelling, and I barely talked about how incredible Dibiase's work is here, from his mannerisms to his heat segment to his remarkable bumping for the few turning points of the match. By far the best match Duggan ever had and probably Dibiase's best too. ****3/4"

[9.0] "This is one of those 'you gotta see it to believe it' 80s US territory matches. It's wacky and cartoony, but at the same time fascinating, incredibly heated and VIOLENT - this match wouldn't work as well as it did if only one of them would bleed."

[8.0] "I wish I knew more about the feud leading up to this because they brought all the viciousness you would want in a cage match. Excellent storytelling. ****"

[6.0] "Not sure how people can rate this a ten, it was literally Dibiase whipping the shit out of Duggan for majority of the match only for Duggan to make a comeback at the end and win the match. Sure it was bloody as all hell but most cages where back then. Only good part was we got to see Dibiase doing what he did best"

[3.0] "Byfar one of the most 80's matches I've ever seen, but not very good outside of that. The stipulation is dumb and convoluted, the drama feels hamfisted, and the brawling is tiresome and repetitive. Nobody would be talking about this match if it took place in the past decade imo, and if they did it would probably be because it's lackluster at its best and boring at its worst. *1/2"

[10.0] "The brawling was incredible. I liked Duggan getting all the control at the start and beating down DiBiase. I liked how DiBiase got momentum by cheating. You wouldn't know why they're wearing tuxedos without the backstory but I still enjoyed the gimmick. It was a great way to show struggle throughout the match. DiBiase left Duggan a bloody mess with his whole tux torn apart and it was awesome. Both men were left worn down with less than they started and ripped apart. I loved how they went from full tuxes to being bloody in their slacks and depicts a real battle between the two. The punch and sell of the punch with the coal miners glove was amazing and was an epic way to end the match and was one of my favorite finishes to a match ever. All in all it was an excellent battle of attrition with both men getting destroyed. They left it all in the ring, both bloody messes and it was fantastic. My words can't help, but it was one of the best brawls in wrestling history."

[8.0] "Pretty good brawl. Very intense despite the rather silly tuxedo inclusion. Crowd was going crazy for it. Good scrap ***3/4"

[10.0] "Both Jim and Ted give career performances in this one-of-a-kind match. It's only 10 minutes long but there not being a single wasted moment is enough to make this one of the best matches of the 80s. Seek out the pre-match video if you can (it's on YouTube as of now) that gives the backstory that led to this wacky stipulation. Ted DiBiase is outraged that Jim Duggan won the 'Best Dressed Man in Mid-South Wrestling' vote rather than him, so this was made a tuxedo match. Ted has an army of cronies that interfere in matches on his behalf, hence the cage, and he'd been winning matches with a loaded glove, so the coal miner's glove is suspended above the ring and is fair game should anyone grab it. Perfect layout. Right from the start you get Ted attempt to sneak attack Jim from behind after a load of stalling, thinking he'll get the advantage, then you see that 'oh shit... ' look on his face when he realises he's now in a cage with a untamed beast of a man. An awesome, gritty brawl follows with punches flying everywhere (there's about 2 actual wrestling moves in this FIGHT), both guys working to their characters. Ted is a sneaky coward who occasionally gets the upper hand through underhanded cunning tricks whereas Jim is a huge monster babyface just plowing through. Ted looks like he's about to win as he blinds Jim with powder and you feel the crowd start to act a bit dejected, only for Jim to fight back more with the ferocity of a mythological being and delivers perhaps the GREATEST PUNCH IN THE HISTORY OF WRESTLING! You have to see it. *****"