Match #18 Aug. 24, 1982, World Class Championship Wrestling, Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair, NWA World Heavyweight Championship (2/3 Falls)

As Jim Ross once said, 'you want to talk about controversy', I would say is an appropriate way to describe this encounter. Ric Flair defends the NWA Title against Kerry Von Erich in WCCW. Von Erich is pretty much the 'man' in Texas at this time and these two go to war for the ten pounds of gold.

A pretty back and forth match here as it take about twenty-five minutes to decide the first fall. A ref bump would occur as Von Erich accidentally strikes the referee. A WCCW ref would come down to fill in while the ref was down and Von Erich would get a sleeper hold on Flair. Flair was pretty much out as the ref went to check on him and the bell rings. The original referee had disqualified Von Erich for striking him and crowd goes nuts. They believed that Von Erich should have won the first fall and be up 1-0, but it is Flair who is wins the first fall.


The second fall sees Ric Flair work over Kerry Von Erich's knee. Flair would use every trick he had to try and destroy the knee of Von Erich to snap in the figure-four and try to win this fall. Flair would get the hold, but Von Erich had the where with all to reverse it. Von Erich would gain the advantage by applying the Iron Claw to Flair. Flair would get busted open as a result of the hold and be pinned as well giving fall two to Von Erich.

The third fall would get underway and see both men just laying into each other. Von Erich would get the advantage and just start pummeling Flair. The ref would try to get Von Erich off of Flair but was unable to. As a result, the referee would disqualify both men and making Flair retain the title. Once again the crowd is livid feeling as though Von Erich was screwed out of two falls here. Fritz Von Erich would come down to ringside, Kerry's father, and get into the face of the referee. This would be after Flair and Von Erich would continue brawling after the match was over. Fritz even tried to choke out the ref and fight him as he felt his son had been screwed out of the title as well. A controversial end to a great title match you could definitely say.

My Grade: A+
Great drama and great action here by two of the best.