Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts, (8/9/86 Boston, MA) Options

[(Mul)Doomstone]

[Phil Schneider]

I really dug this, and it is currently on the cusp of my top ten. The thing I liked the most about this match is that it wasn't really worked like WWF formula. Roberts spends the first part of the match blocking all of Steamboats strikes and evading and outhinking him. Which is a real contrast from the usual weak WWF heel, this frustrates Steamboat who starts brawling, and then ends up torching his arm on the ring post. Roberts then does some really nasty Fuchish arm work, which leads to awesome Steamboat selling, and an actual good ref bump finish. Just a blast, and way better then their snake pit match

Phil

[sydneybrown]

I loved it too. As I mentioned before the reset, I would have loved it even more if the kid who was screaming "JAKE THE SNAKE" was given a proper beating afterwards......

The greatness of this match is how exciting the first five minutes or so is despite the fact that not a single offensive move is delivered. It makes Steamboat's chops seem like a big deal when he finally hits one. And it presents Jake as Steamboat's equal, as if he really DID do his homework on The Dragon.

And Steamboat leaving his battered arm exposed because there's no feeling in it is a thing of beauty.

I'm looking at top 20 for this one.

BTW, I'm starting to notice a trend in the reviews of these matches. Anyone noticing the less of a "WWF-feel" the match has, the higher the ranking it invariably gets?

[aceman]

solid fare with steamer leading jake through various bumps. with his snap & speed around the ring you could really tell steamboat was peaking here, would achieve better results with the more capable macho man soon after.

[JNLister]

Er, wow.

I'm a long-time pimper of this match. It scores 100% on the psychology formula, namely:

Proportion of match which could be physically performed by Kriss Sprules

multipled by

Proportion of star rating which would be lost if Kriss Sprules did, indeed, physically perform the match

It's one of those matches that is both detailed yet incredibly simple. There will be many many indy wrestlers in the next year who chop each other hundreds of times in an effort to emulate Kobashi-Sasaki when they could easily study and learn from this match. Monsoon and Hayes also do a great job reiterating the story for anyone watching who doesn't catch on.

I'm going to have this extremely high, possibly even the highest non-gimmicked singles match.

And did I imagine it, or are there literally no two-counts in the whole match? Try copying that, Amazing Red.

[Shoe]

I sooo loved this match. It's a shame it didn't take place at The Big Event. The psychology was so simple yet so effective. Jake and Steamboat were so on here. The work and psychology really draw you into the match. The arm work was top notch of course aided by Steamboats incredible selling. Jakes blocking of the karate gets him over as a smart heel. Furthermore, it gets a ooh from the crowd which sets off a payoff later in the match of Steamboat nailing him with chops and stuff later. So like any good heel/babyface confrontation the heel gets his comeuppness. It was a really good match, and a match that gets better the more you watch it. That's psychology 101.

[fidelityastro]

This is my third favorite match so far. This was basically the best possible Jake the Snake match I can imagine. That is, the psychology is great, but ultimately it's somewhat hurt by Jake's relative lack of offensive ability. Comparing this to the Steamboat/Savage match before it: in that match the two men just WAIL on each other, and you can feel the hate. This match, though a much smarter match, just doesn't have that. Granted, Jake is aware of this limitation and constructs his matches around it, but it's still a limitation.

That being said, this is still my #3 match right now just for how perfectly constructed it is.

[Mac]

As we close in on the deadline I just wanted to give this match a bump. I love this match and I hope it doesn't get underrated due to Jake not having a "big" offense. There was such great pacing and storytelling going on here, it was really a showcase for Jake's talents. Its definitely in my top 10, and might crack the top 5. If you've forgotten about it, give it another look.

[onlxn]

HOLY SHIT!

I've been avoiding these comments for the matches I hadn't seen, and so didn't know anything about this one -- thought their Snakepit match was kinda fun, but below-average for the set. Expected them to be able to put together something a little better, so thought maybe this could crack the 30s for me, something like that.

Through 60 matches, I have this at #2 with a bullet, just edging out Warrior/Rude. Steamboat gives a great babyface performance, and Jake gives probably the best heel performance on all of these discs. Sheik and Rude and Murdoch and Savage and Bret give great athletic performances as heels elsewhere on the set, but this is the best *heel* performance. Everything Jake does is in the service of making the crowd understand he's a clever, dangerous scumbag.

The reason I rate this above Warrior/Rude is that the pin there was due to Piper interfering -- worked fine, but it was another feud intruding on the match, rather than a match story paying off. The pin here comes from Jake's dirty tactics; he gets cute with the rules one too many times and pays for it, reviving the ref only for so he can count the Steamer roll-up. Not a 100% clean finish, but a perfect finish -- the same rule-breaking that got Jake the advantage costs him the match.

Will watch this (and my other top-ranked matches) again, and maybe I'll lower its placement a little on second viewing... but I doubt it. Brilliant match.

[Raven Mack]

I am frantically working through the set, and had to point out how I sat there watching this match thinking to myself had wrestling gone in the direction this match took it, wrestling would be humongous in a completely different way - less t-shirt sales to kids maybe, but far more wrestling fans. A great motherfuckin' match.

[texanspaniard]

I really dig this match alot! Jake blocking all the chops early on really built up Steamboat's chops in the match so that when Steamboat started getting them through it seemed big! But Jake doesn't forget the chops or his strategy to avoid them when Ricky is on a tear hitting them. He dodges a chop and Steamboat injures his arm on the ring post! Roberts working over of the arm and Steamboat's incredible selling of the arm and building his offense around one good arm afterwards was great. This was so good and the crowd was NUTS when Steamboat managed to pull off the win. Really good match!