Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 103: Buzz Sawyer vs. Dr. Death (1/28/86)

Buzz is such a heel he yells on the mic like a stereotypical wrestler, and then complains of hair pulls when they first lock up.

The early head lock stuff is awesome. Anyone who reads my reviews knows I’m a sucker for a good head lock with a story. So simple and so good. Also love body slam spots that get taken to a narrative level inside the match. So here Doc has him tight and grinds him up, and Sawyer is one hell of a bucking bronco. When he finally get Doc off, after they go all over the place with the head lock, Sawyer does an awesome drop down-leapfrog (that he shouldn’t be able to do any more than Murdoch) while Doc runs the ropes hard. Doc catches him and holds him up until press slamming him. Even Sawyer’s sell of the slam was cool and unique. The first minute was so good that the match can only get worse from here.

Doc drags Sawyer back into the ring, and back to the hard headlock. He won’t be thrown off. Sawyer tries a suplex. Nope, Doc absorbs the blow, and now they’re on the mat in the head lock.

Doc maintains a side headlock, as Sawyer tries to slide out under the ropes. It gets loose, but Doc clamps it out tighter on the outside. Even better, they struggle around the ring, bouncing off the camera and the barricades, and then Sawyer rolls back in. All this and Doc won’t let go. If this was ROH the crowd would have popped when they got back into the center of the ring. As it is, I’m marking out at home.

Doc is rolled up in the head lock, but after a few counts the ref notices Sawyer has the tights. Rope breaks, Sawyer punches, but can’t hit. Back into the head lock. It’s totally fluid too. I can’t go on move by move, but Doc keeps finding ways back into the headlock, while Sawyer tries the tights and the hair pulls to gain advantages.

Sawyer finally shoves Doc off and pushes him threw the ropes when he comes back. He finds a way around the ref to slam Dr. Death’s back into the barricade, and then body slams him on the concrete. Advantage Sawyer.

The first 6 minutes is so entertaining if you love the detail work, and it’s all based around the head lock.

Sawyer’s work is very back based, following what he injured on Doc. BIG suplex back in. Bear hug on the ground into pins. Doc was all headlock and Sawyer is all back. The most well thought out match since Murdoch and Nightmare.

Bear hug almost goes to long, but Doc does try to come back after doing the hands drop gimmick. Sawyer kills his back with stiff elbow drops, but Doc presses him off for the second time on a pin attempt.

Crap. Sawyer back to the bear hug. It was okay the first time for an old-time submission of the territory years, but now it’s too much. Doc is clubbing his way out of it, so that builds well. Again, Sawyer cuts off the comeback hard with a belly-to-belly.

Third time is always the charm in wrestling, and the third comeback always come sooner after the second one the two comes after one. Third comeback works, and I love that Doc back body drops and than grabs his back and goes to his knees. He gets up, makes the 3-point stance charge for a wobbly Sawyer, and gets tosses passed Sawyer and all the way to the outside floor.

Sawyer follows to the outside, enough head trauma for Williams to blade. Sawyer’s heel;ing is great here, as he laughs like a wacko, draws the section around hi m into a frenzy, and keeps going out to do more damage. Buzz Sawyer is legit crazy!

The beating on Doc is all focused on head trauma and the cut. Boots one by one. Slowly Sawyer goes from being the scary one to being scared. Doc is rising, bloody face, looking ferocious. Crowd starts really going off. Doc bites Sawyers face and he gigs huge, then feeds Doc’s punches. Clothesline of decapitation. Punches from the mount. Buzz tries to leave. Wild brawl to the outside. Buzz finally does leave, and both are counted out.

20 minutes that built from technical and intense, but paced, to an all out speed brawl of beauty. Doc’s stomps at the end, and Buzz Sawyer’s reactions of fear as he looks on from the aisle, are the perfect period to this match. Very little was missing, and I’d be wrong to go much below a four stars. 4 stars and 8.3/10.

Match Discussion Here