The British Bulldog vs The Warlord (WWF, 3-24-1991)

Event: WWF WrestleMania VII, Los Angeles, CA

What a powerful matchup. Davey Boy Smith is back in the WWF, without Dynamite Kid, for his first WrestleMania as a singles competitor. Also the first WrestleMania for the Warlord as a singles competitor.

I saw Warlord live recently with Black Label Pro in Crown Point, Indiana. He doesn’t move so good anymore but seemed like a pretty nice old fella.

Worth watching the pre-match promos, particularly the one with Slick and Warlord. Davey Boy has a new dog, Winston.

Warlord, bigger than Davey Boy, shoves Smith off to the corner to start, then wins a lockup and drives a forearm down over Davey’s back. Smith uses his superior speed and agility to unleash a series of running shoulder tackles that drop Warlord and send him scampering out to Slick for some advice.

Warlord’s strength wins out for a moment. “That’s the price you pay when you’re a big dummy!” Slick exclaims at ringside. It’s true. That’s generally the price I pay. I get slammed to the ground by a bigger man.

Warlord with a bearhug, which I hear is the worst wrestling move in the world. Smith nods his head as the crowd claps. Right hands from Davey Boy to get out of it, ending with that ear clapper thing. Warlord stunguns Davey Boy over the top rope.

Hey! No one has broken the Warlord’s full nelson to date. So that’s what we’re waiting to see here, really, if Bulldog can do it. Strong style evolves as they trade forearms at mid-ring, but Warlord grabs him and DRILLS Davey Boy with a belly-to-belly.

After Warlord shows off his great amateur background with that belly-to-belly slam, he grabs a chinlock. Reasonable. That leads to Davey Boy’s comeback and a 10-count slam of the head into the corner.

Smith from the second rope with a jumping — punch. Great stuff. Smith goes for a sunset flip, Warlord drops down while flexing, Smith turns that over with a pin attempt, gets two. “Pendulum has swung about four different times already!” Then Bulldog runs into a boot in the corner.

Warlord takes the advantage for a bit of a breather, as he is a big, big man. And then he gets the full nelson. Gorilla doesn’t think the fingers are locked, and it appears they’re not. Slick calls for the referee to stop it. Fingers are in fact not locked, but it’s still a painful hold from the big feller.

Bulldog does get out, and then he lifts Warlord for the powerslam. It hits, three count.

Rating: 2.5/5. This is one of those matches that gets bad reviews in RANTS!! and what have you, but honestly, is it bad? Nah. It’s actually really fast-paced for two big guys, they use all the time they’re given save for one chinlock (and the full nelson, but that’s a finishing hold), and the crowd is into it. It’s not great or even particularly good, but it’s a match too easily written off as bad because, well, it’s two big power wrestlers so it must be slow and laborious. There is little room in the wrestling critique world, I find, for saying something is bang average and entertaining enough, which is exactly what this match is.