Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Disk 1 Rankings

1. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (No DQ) (3/23/81) [BADNEWS-9]
2. Bill Dundee vs. Wayne Farris & Tojo Yamamoto (3/7/81) [BADNEWS-6]
3. Bill Dundee & Tommy Rich vs. Dutch Mantell & Austin Idol (3/12/81) [BADNEWS-7]
4. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Empty Arena) (4/6/81) [BADNEWS-11]
5. Jerry Lawler vs. Dory Funk Jr. (3/30/81) [BADNEWS-10]
6. Bill Dundee vs. Tommy Rich (8/23/80) [BADNEWS-5]
7. Bill Dundee vs. Paul Ellering (5/24/80) [BADNEWS-3]
8. Dutch Mantell vs. Kevin Sullivan (5/9/81) [BADNEWS-14]
9. Bill Dundee & Tony Boyles vs. Wayne Farris & Larry Latham (6/7/80) [BADNEWS-4]
10. Bill Dundee & Dream Machine vs. Kevin Sullivan & Wayne Farris (5/2/81) [BADNEWS-12]
11. Bill Dundee vs. Larry Latham (4/19/80) [BADNEWS-1]
12. Bill Dundee & Dream Machine vs. Dutch Mantell & Wayne Farris (3/14/81) [BADNEWS-8]
13. Jerry Lawler vs. Crusher Blackwell (5/4/81) [BADNEWS-13]
14. Ricky Morton vs. Sonny King (4/26/80) [BADNEWS-2]

It should be noted that I am a notoriously low scorer of matches in the five star and/or 1-10 systems. Add to that that I’m very affected by watching too much wrestling, as well as the fact that I’ve been weaned on a lot of work rate oriented stuff. When you add it all up it might seem as though I am not impressed with the collection of matches. Not true at all. If you look at the Mid South ballot, I don’t believe I scored many matches initially at 4 stars or more. I’d say it would be fair to adjust the first five matches of that set to five star or 4 ¾ stars. It would also be fair in hindsight to adjust the top 20-25 to be at or above the 4 star level. In totality, I loved everything in the top 75. I liked/enjoyed everything from 75 to about 120 or so. Only the final 20 to 30 matches did very little for me. Everything else I’d gladly re-watch and recommend.

The same will be true of this set. The top four matches on this first disk are must see. Lawler vs Funk Jr. and Dundee vs Rich are both near that level. Even 7 through 14 are good matches, as I almost feel bad that Lawler vs Blackwell and Morton vs King finished so poorly when put against the rest.
Finally, I’d expect to see Lawler vs Funk (No DQ) in my top ten to fifteen at the end, but there is no guarantee.