Pat Patterson vs. Sergeant Slaughter (Alley Fight, which took place in Madison Square Garden, which is not located inside an alley), from the May 4, 1981 episode of WWF on MSG Network

Wrestling Observer’s pick for the best match of 1981 was boring and terrible. The crowd were losing their minds for two guys spending the better part of fifteen minutes pretending to choke each other; I imagine they’d spontaneously combust if they watched Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher. There’s also no compelling storytelling, just a whole bunch of stumbling around and awkwardly landing shots like it’s something out of “Bottom”—this, in the same year as the first in a series of heralded bouts between Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid. It got better near the finish, but I can’t recommend this.

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