Lots of stalling to begin with that honestly was fine by me as it added to the drama of them finally locking up, including plenty of Flair trash talking and posturing. Flair took the early advantage and worked on Mutoh's arm eventually Mutoh broke free and used his speed to send Flair over and out the ring, which was pretty cool. Flair regained control and essentially went american old school with basic holds and takeovers wearing down Mutoh though I did enjoy once they began exchanging strikes picking up the intensity.
The match style feels like something from 1989 rather than 1995 but even without a barrage of moves by Flair it still kept an interesting pace. A missed top rope missile dropkick by Mutoh gave Flair his opening to apply the figure four, which roused the crowd into a Mutoh chant and cheers when he got to the ropes. Mutoh delivered a thunderous top rope superplex and an old head wound of Mutoh's suddenly re-opened letting the blood flow and Mutoh went mental.
A moonsault attempt by Mutoh misses the mark with Flair rolling out of the way and he used that moment to work on Mutoh's mess of a face with open punches but the blood, seemed to waken up Mutoh who got up time and time again no matter how many punches Flair hit him with. The blood is flowing and its quite a visual and genuinely adds to the drama as the crowd don't want to see Mutoh lose at all.
Classic Flair stuff now with shin crushers and Mutoh hitting sudden inside cradles off Flair figure four attempts and a Mutoh backslide got a super close near fall. The blood has just covered Mutoh's face sending him into a demon like rage and all it takes is a sudden moonsault for Mutoh to capture the win.
Real slow start but once Mutoh's old wound let the blood flow then the drama turned up to a whole new level and it helped turn the match in to something quite cool and entertaining. I liked it and thought that Flair who seemed a little too old to be taken seriously still stood his ground and helped generate that compelling drama we all love.
