05/04/1981 WWF: Garden Alley Street Fight: Pat Patterson def. Sgt. Slaughter in 14:25. 

This is one of the most famous company matches before the national expansion. Slaughter, playing his much more fun dickhead drill Sergeant gimmick here, was tremendous, as was the babyface Patterson. Pat wore a white “I ❤️ NY” t-shirt, in a not-so-subtle collective ass-kiss of the MSG faithful. Since we’re in 1981, there’s an East Village joke somewhere. Everything Patterson did looked safe, but good at the same time, much like pro wrestling was intended to be, even down to the punches. Slaughter was excellent, selling for a big guy and did it in a way that could be seen by the people in the highest seats in the arena, particularly when Pat whipped him with a belt. Just these great big dramatic flails. Both men used the belt liberally, with Slaughter eventually stripping Pat of his tourist tee. I like how Pat is from San Francisco, CA, wearing jeans and big cowboy boots. Slaughter missed a charge in the corner and did a great job making a post shot look like he cracked his head spot on the metal pole. He bladed DEEP, covering his face in his own dark red plasma to the delight of the NYC bloodthirsty fans. He eventually cut off Pat with brass knuckles after bleeding a gusher, but Pat eventually came back with more post shots and took his cowboy boot off to pummel the Sarge. Man, what a fucking great back-and-forth, and holding off on the blood until later in the match was an excellent call. Slaughter wouldn’t stay down, but his manager, the Grand Wizard, threw the towel in the ring as Slaughter staggered around the ring looking like he was beaten to a literal bloody pulp. This was a masterclass of how to work to the crowd and make everything mean something. *****