I Was There by Harry White
Brody vs. Flair, 2/11/1983
When the Checkerdome/Arena would be the host of a card instead of the usual
Kiel Auditorium home of wrestling, the fans knew something special was coming
up. Few, if any, could realize just how special and how memorable that card
would be. Over twenty years later I can still only use the same word I used
when the 60 minute bell rang an end to Flair/Brody, WOW! A simple word for a
complex match, but when one was left almost breathless a longer word
description would have been difficult. The St Louis Blues hockey team had many
Checkerdome/Arena sellouts as did the St Louis Steamers indoor soccer team.
Neither of those mainsteam attractions packed in more rabid fans in the
building than Flair/Brody. It would be hard to say that any of those mainsteam
fans saw anything more wild or thrilling than what wrestling fans saw on
Feb 11, 1983. What a great pairing for a wrestling match to capture the
imagination and build a feud. Not just the usual good vs bad but the pretty
(in Flair) vs the non pretty (in Brody).
Set the stage with an indecisive Kiel main event and push it until it packs the Checkerdome and bring with it a big contingent of Brody watching Japanese press to push the limits of the building fire code. St Louis wrestling had a long history of long main events. I had been lucky enough to see some excellent hour draws in Funk/Brisco, Race/Sammartino, Race/Rocky Johnson, and barely recall a Thesz/O’ Connor bell to bell. They all seemed to have a part where you could run out and grab a quick hot dog because you knew there would be some two minute long headlocks somewhere during the match. Except for the first few minutes and the one minute rest period between falls, the action of Flair/Brody appeared to be non stop fast and furious. There were two reasons for this.
One, the action was actually really fast and furious and two, the Race/Baba match preceeding it was fought to a slug like pace. Few if any wanted to leave their seat as the fans began to realize they were seeing a match unlike most others. The ones who did leave their seat did so involuntarily as participants in fan fight after fan fight were escorted out. I sat right in the middle of the Arena and half way up from the floor. It was a good panorama view of the ring, the floor and a part of the rest of the building and I will never forget the view of the match and the crowd which was as hot and emotion filled as any crowd I have ever seen. The match can be seen on video. Like a joke that loses something in translation, there is no way a video can capture the speed of movement, emotion and intensity of this epic encounter.
I consider myself indeed fortunate to have not
only seen this great match but one of the most unique athletes ever to grace a
wrestling ring, do an interview and cut a commercial. A match seen over 20
years ago could either be forgotten or the memory diminished among hundreds of
other matches but this one never will.