AJPW Giant Series, Tokyo, Japan
Funk is defending the NWA International heavyweight title and, shock of shocks, he comes out first with the belt. Brody is out second, carrying his chain, shit flying at him from the crowd, ambling around the ring the way he does, before climbing right in, circling around, barking. Funk’s ready to fight, and Brody always is.
Referee trying to get the chain from Brody as the ring announcer reads his spiel, and Brody breaks free and goes after Funk, who hits him with a couple European uppercuts. They criss cross and Funk catches Brody again, but Brody fights back and flings Dory to the floor.
Brody goes out, and they fight into the crowd right away, Brody pulling Funk by his head and then whacking him with a weapon of some kind. They’re way up the stairs here. Brody stomping on a downed Funk, who is out of the camera shot, because this is 1981 and they can only do so much.
Brody picks Funk up and brings him back toward the ring, shoving him into the ring post, then back into the ring, where Dory’s head is already bloodied. Goddamn I love this shit.
Funk off the ropes, Brody drops him with the dropkick. Funk stands up, Brody puts him back down with an elbow smash. Brody back to his feet, Funk up, Brody smashes him again, then bites the open wound. People used to just love to bite an open forehead wound.
Brody stomping on Funk, then throws him back out to the floor again. Brody going for the eyes, and now they’re wandering out into the audience again. The humanoids. The sea of humanity. Up into the stands they go, Brody in control, crushing Funk with a hard right hand.
Funk walks back into the ring, but Brody is right behind him and slams him down hard. Brody is in pure animal mode here, just fucking dominating the 18-year veteran and former NWA worlds heavyweight champion.
Brody drops the knee, measuring it well, and covers for two, but Funk kicks out with some fire, showing there’s still more in the tank. Brody stays on him, kicking him down every time Funk tries to stand back up.
Dory off the ropes, Brody catches him coming off with another kick, then another quick kneedrop for another two count. Funk again kicks out with some pop in it, and Brody again knocks him right back down.
Funk’s head smashed off the top turnbuckle. He’s breathing hard, the blood pouring down the left side of his face. Brody tosses him to the canvas, then just stomps him right in the cut. Brody scoops Funk again and drops him again, effortless stuff.
Again, Brody covers. Again, Funk kicks out.
Brody comes forward with another kick, Dory bounces off the ropes and smacks Brody with a forearm! He comes off the other side and does it again. Dory’s firing up! Brody sent off the ropes, Funk hits the other side, and comes off and his Bruiser with an elbow. Brody wobbles and goes down, then out to the floor.
Dory follows out and sends Brody into the ring post, then snapmares him over on the floor. Funk gets a short running start and dropkicks Brody down. Brody’s head smashed into another post, and now the crimson is flowing on the big man, too!
Brody hits another post. Funk has evened things up here. Back in, snapmare, and Dory is going for the spinning toehold. He gets one turn, bu Brody knocks him back down to the mat. Funk with a European uppercut, Brody goes to the eyes.
Brody sends Funk to the corner with a whip, then slowly walks over and unloads with a couple of overhand chops. Brody sets up and hits a third overhand chop, then snapmares Funk over to the canvas.
Brody to the corner, then comes out for the big legdrop, but Funk sits up and avoids the impact. Funk goes for the double underhook suplex, but Brody drops down to his knees to block. Snapmare from Funk, then he just lays in with a bunch of hammer fists down on Brody’s big skull.
Brody with an elbow to the gut, but Funk cracks him with another European uppercut. Brody fires back with a chop and some kicks, knocking Funk back down. Brody with a big double sledge to the head, then he hits a fistdrop.
Bruiser goes for another pin after another firstdrop, but again Funk kicks out, and this time Brody’s big body rolls over the referee. Funk back up and goes for a suplex, and he gets it, but Brody’s legs hit the recovering referee.
So there’s no referee, and the wrestlers around the ring are alerting Dory to that fact. Meanwhile, Brody is outside the ring, bleeding and looking for his chain, which he finds and swings at Funk, who ducks. Funk has a piece of the chain now and cracks Brody with a few shots to the head.
The referee sees this, and Funk shoves him down. Funk possessed now, going after Brody. This is about blood and the fight now. Buck Robley comes in and Funk decks him, too. The young wrestlers come in to help and Funk goes after all of them as the bell keeps sounding.
Robley finally takes Funk down and helps Brody hit a flying kneedrop from the top rope on Dory. Robley clearing the ring of the young boys as Brody has the chain back. Terry Funk hits the ring and goes after Robley and Brody! They tear his ugly sport jacket off and Terry doesn’t give a fuck, he’s fighting any son of a bitch that gets near him. Terry and Brody go out of the ring while Dory fights Buck. This is out of control. These goddamn Americans, you can’t take these fuckers anywhere.
The Funks double up on Brody inside the ring, and Brody takes a powder with Robley. Meanwhile, somewhat lost in all this is that Brody has won by DQ, and the title DOES change hands.
Rating: 4.5/5. This ruled. Brody, like I said, is in full animal mode for this one, and Dory makes a great opponent for that, as he takes everything Bruiser can dish out, bleeds, sucks wind, and keeps on fighting until it’s the exact right time to make the comeback and make things even more interesting. The post-match brawl is terrific. The Funks just made for excellent Brody enemies, they really understood how to work perfectly with his style and approach and make it the best possible outcome for everyone.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
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