Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Flair vs Steamboat in Japan 1982


One of the classic Flair/Steamboat matches was their battle in Japan on June 4, 1982. Flair was in the middle of his first reign as NWA world heavyweight champion.

I love the way the NWA belt was treated with such respect in Japan, and how "over" it was with the fans. In the video of this match the crowd has the wonderful reaction when Flair opens his robe and when the All Japan Wrestling official holds the belt up for display before the match. 



And the match was another masterpiece between the two, who had more classic matches over a 17 year period than you can count.

Edit: We originally linked to the video of this match on YouTube, but that video has subsequently been removed.