Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match #2: Ricky Morton vs. Sonny King (4/26/80)

This is a very young Ricky Morton before the days of the big mullet and teen girl adored Rock N Roll Express. I don’t know much about Sonny King but he’s got a territorial journeyman look to him.
Very amateur style opening as they try a Greco roman knuckle lock feeling out process. This isn’t just amateur wrestling, it’s MMA-like without strikes. Good technical struggle, but not much crowd heat from the studio (not their type of match).

This reminds me of another experimental match from modern times – Danielson vs Chad Collyer from an fall of 2002 ROH. An amateur style match that really never escalates beyond that, and is both beautiful and loses you at the same time. Sonny King is impressive as a technician, but the story of the vet vs green boy is kind of lost in the lack of passion.

Morton survives the match and almost gets the pinfall at the end. A ten minute time limit draw. Cool that it was on the set, but won’t rank high for me. 2 ¼ stars and 4/10.

Match Discussion Here