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...
The gimmick has not quite come into its full form just yet. Before the start of the match, Jim Breaks is all business, while Adrian Street primps and preens a bit, pissing Breaks off by carefully buttoning his robe before turning to address the match. Street prances out, taunting Jim Breaks, who doesn't know what to make of it, and locks a great headlock on. Although both guys use headlocks, Grovits, front chanceries regularly, the headlocks and chin and neck cranks are much more Street's friend than Breaks', and over the next six rounds, Street manages to slap on not only quarter and three-quarter nelsons (with neck cranks), but even a crossface chickenwing hold. Both guys are known to bend or break rules, but Street is by far the more likely to do it in this match I think, both as a matter of style and because his opponent is presented as the better grappler...or at least the more dogged wrestler.
This match has a lot going for it. For most of this match, Breaks works on the left arm, working obsessively towards the Jim Breaks Special. As he pushes it further and further, Street's desperation grows, and Breaks continues to push his torture of Street further and further, twisting and folding his arm and wrist. At one point, Breaks folds his arm against the mat, pressing his palm flat under his own shoulder blade as Street expresses his agony in every way he knows how.
Adrian Street engages in a bit of brawling in this match, starting with roughness against the ropes, later targeting Breaks' nose by hitting elbows, uppercuts, clubbing forearms, and more than a little bit of dirty face-raking. In the final round, Street extends this roughness to an excellent series of brutal escapes, cutting off the Breaks Special with a huge clubbing blow. The final round hits a real fever pitch,
As far as I can tell, one particular joy in a good World of Sports match is the break between rounds, which is used maximally by the two grapplers in this match. During the first break, Street's had a great round, so he sits up on the top turnbuckle to taunt that self-serious prick Jim Breaks. Later breaks grow increasingly argumentative, Breaks at one point offering up his towel for an infuriated Street. The last break period, between rounds five and six, is especially dramatic, showing the final stage of the match's narrative. They achieve a great harmony between comedy and drama in the breaks.
After the finish, there's a return to the comedy which is so strong throughout this match, as during the announcement of the result, Adrian Street takes a chance to taunt Breaks one final time. A lot of the humor in this match comes from the primping and preening of Adrian Street, as he's doing it to taunt Breaks and demonstrate how easy this match really is for him. Street uses this aspect of the gimmick to show the level of desperation, as early on he's rarely out of sorts, whereas in the final two rounds he looks absolutely wild.
There are some phenomenal commentary calls this match, including best of all an early call that comes at Breaks' expense: "But Breaks spends most of his time complaining to the referee, anyway." Besides the commentary, something else I love about this match is that there are very few attempts for a pinfall. Almost the entire match is spent battling over various holds.
In terms of the grappling, this thing is really incredible, and it has an absurd number of minor details that should be imitated. Among my favorite details are the amazing expressions during several key stretches, that absolutely sickening noise Breaks somehow creates whenever he snaps the wrist, and the incessant arguing of both wrestlers and the referee. Poor guy had his work cut out.
If modern day technicians spent more time emulating the grappling and storytelling of matches like this, and less time working in annoying references to wrestlers from this time, wrestling would change for the better. Every single hold mattered.
The MOTY Verdict: Yeah, if someone told me this was their favorite match of 1972, I wouldn't think they were wrong for feeling that way. Hell, if somebody told me this was their favorite match of all time, I wouldn't think they were wrong for feeling that way.
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