MOTY Project: Adrian Street vs. Jim Breaks (12-2-72, Joint Promotion)

 Alright, so one could argue that "Exotic" Adrian Street exploited homophobia a little bit. This would be wrong, I think--Adrian Street was, as far as I know, the first implicitly-gay wrestling character who was presented as a real threat. He was also a genius wrestler and legitimately tough as nails, and was a friend to the gay community. Anyways, the match...

MOTY Project: PWI in 72/73

 THE PWI PICKS

So, with the first ever PWI Matches of the Year, we've got two I can't really properly consider. In January '72, Bruno Sammartino finishes first in a battle royal held in Los Angeles. It's a bit of a non-starter, because as far as I know, no footage of this match exists, and even if it did, I don't enjoy battle royals to any incredible extent, especially battle royals from this era. For an example of a battle royal from this year, see this:

1972 Battle Royal

It's not bad. In fact, in comparison to the average battle royal in the present day this is pretty phenomenal. But, man, I can't stand the meandering.  (Also, full disclosure, I can't identify, like, any of these guys, and I'd be really fascinated with anyone who really could identify every wrestler here.)

So, as far as what I know about this match, apparently Mike LeBelle held a 22-man battle royal every year. According to a poster at Wrestling Classics, the structure of this event was that various wrestlers competed in singles matches, before eventually competing in the actual battle royal. In that thread, wrestling historian Steve Yohe seems to report that the event was just alright. (Steve Yohe wrestled a bear, he knows what he's talking about.)

So for 1972 I'm kind of stuck with the PWI pick, which means...I guess I'm going to have to burn through a bunch of 1972 matches to find a pick. The first flight of matches will be something like a solid five-hour chunk of wrestling.

Several shows held on 27-10-24

I watched a bunch of the shows from the 27th, consuming more wrestling than is medically safe in the process.