TSC Evaluation #37: Harley Race

[mrken12]

In the last evaluation, Sandman got a score of 4.03.

TSC Evaluation #36: The Sandman

Spoiler: Leaderboard

Eddie Guerrero: 9.60 TSC Evaluation #35: Eddie Guerrero
Rick Rude: 9.16 TSC Evaluation #21: Rick Rude
Sting: 9.00 TSC Evaluation #20: Sting
Ricky Steamboat: 8.86 TSC Evaluation #32: Ricky Steamboat
Rey Mysterio Jr.: 8.78 TSC Evaluation #15: Rey Mysterio Jr
Scott Steiner: 8.59 TSC Evaluation #2: Scott Steiner
Booker T: 8.53 TSC Evaluation #25: Booker T
Terry Funk: 8.40 TSC Evaluation #11: Terry Funk
Vader: 8.25 TSC Evaluation #12: Vader
Rob Van Dam: 8.14 TSC Evaluation #9: Rob Van Dam
Andre The Giant: 8.10 TSC Evaluation #18: Andre The Giant
DDP: 7.95 TSC Evaluation #16: Diamond Dallas Page
CM Punk: 7.92 TSC Evaluation #7: CM Punk
Owen Hart: 7.79 TSC Evaluation #30: Owen Hart
Arn Anderson: 7.75 TSC Evaluation #33: Arn Anderson
Raven: 7.71 TSC Evaluation #19: Raven
Batista: 7.69 TSC Evaluation #28: Batista
Ron Simmons: 7.56 TSC Evaluation #26: Ron Simmons
Roddy Piper: 7.53 TSC Evaluation #6: Roddy Piper
Shelton Benjamin: 7.50 TSC Evaluation #31: Shelton Benjamin
2 Cold Scorpio: 7.36 TSC Evaluation #23: 2 Cold Scorpio
Goldberg: 7.18 TSC Evaluation #3: Goldberg
Sycho Sid: 7.02 TSC Evaluation #4: Sycho Sid / Sid Vicious
Junkyard Dog: 6.92 TSC Evaluation #24: Junkyard Dog
Ultimate Warrior: 6.79 TSC Evaluation #10: The Ultimate Warrior
X-Pac: 6.78 TSC Evaluation #34: X-Pac
MVP: 6.64 TSC Evaluation #27: Montel Vontavious Porter
D'Lo Brown: 6.48 TSC Evaluation #13: D'Lo Brown
Sabu: 6.12 TSC Evaluation #22: Sabu
Lex Luger: 6.03 TSC Evaluation #8: Lex Luger
Tazz: 6.02 TSC Evaluation #5: Tazz
Mike Awesome: 5.94 TSC Evaluation #29: Mike Awesome
Chyna: 5.74 TSC Evaluation #17: Chyna
Jeff Jarrett: 4.49 TSC Evaluation: Jeff Jarrett
Tommy Dreamer: 3.96 TSC Evaluation #14: Tommy Dreamer

If people have any requests for future wrestlers you want to see evaluated, let me know. I'll have one wrestler evaluated for each week every Wednesday.

For #38 it will be Brian Pillman.

Pending requests: Ted DiBiase, Jake The Snake Roberts, Bam Bam Bigelow, Kurt Angle, Billy Gunn, Kane, Undertaker, Big Show, Rikishi, Mr. Perfect, Chris Kanyon, The Godfather, Val Venis, Big Boss Man, Stan Hansen, Christian Cage, Goldust, William Regal, Tully Blanchard, Eddie Gilbert, Barry Windham, Bobby Eaton, Stevie Richards

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Major Accomplishments

All Japan Pro Wrestling
NWA United National Championship (1x)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (7x)
PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

All Star Pro-Wrestling (New Zealand)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

American Wrestling Association
AWA World Tag Team Championship (3x) – with Larry Hennig (replaced by Chris Markoff in their final reign)

Cauliflower Alley Club
Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2006)

Central States Wrestling
NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (9x)
NWA North American Tag Team Championship (Central States version) (2x) – with Baron von Raschke (1), Roger Kirby (1)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (3x) – with Roger Kirby (2), Bob Roop (1)
NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1x)
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (1x)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

NWA Mid-America
NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (2x)

Eastern Sports Association
IW North American Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1x)
NWA Macon Tag Team Championship (1x) – with Buddy Colt
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Maple Leaf Wrestling
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Missouri Sports Hall of Fame
Class of 2013

National Wrestling Alliance
NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)

NWA Hollywood
Los Angeles Battle Royal (1969)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Match of the Year (1973) vs. Dory Funk, Jr. on May 24
Match of the Year (1979) vs. Dusty Rhodes on August 21
Match of the Year (1983) vs. Ric Flair on June 10
Stanley Weston Award (2006)
Wrestler of the Year (1979, 1983)
Ranked No. 8 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003

Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2004
Class of 2017 - Inducted as a part of a tag team with Larry "The Axe" Hennig

St. Louis Wrestling Club
NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship (7x)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Stampede Wrestling
Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1x)
Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame

St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2007

Tokyo Sports
Match of the Year (1978) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta on January 20

World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
IWA World Tag Team Championship (1x) – with Larry Hennig

World Championship Wrestling
WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1994)

World Wrestling Association
WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1x)

World Wrestling Council
WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (1x)

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
King of the Ring (1986)
Sam Muchnick Memorial Tournament (1986)
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)
Slammy Awards (2x)
-Best Ring Apparel (1987)
-Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Scholarship Award (1987) with Haku, Tama, André the Giant, Hercules, and King Kong Bundy

Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Match of the Year (1983) vs. Ric Flair at Starrcade
Wrestler of the Year (1980, 1981)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)


With a scale of 1-10 how would you rate Harley Race in these categories:

-Mic work/promos

-Personality/gimmicks

-Ring work (along with some of your favorite matches/feuds)

-Overall rating (which doesn't have to be an average of the above scores)

 

[Jmare007]

To be honest I used to find Harley overrated as fukk in the ring. But the more 70's work from him has surfaced, the more I am about it. He wasn't elite or world class level at anything but he did have a presence and could work his ass off to have entertaining matches.

He gets a 7 from me. Five years ago it would've been a 5 or 6

 

[Rout3r2035]

Innovator of a stronger style in the Americas. Has a great match catalogue with guys like Flair, Lawler, Steamboat, and Funk, but at the same time he's probably the weaker worker in all of those matches. Few promos I've seen seem solid especially for the time. Had a weird "tough guy" charisma to him when he wrestled despite lacking a great physique. Certainly influential to other legends like HHH, Cena, Paul Heyman, and even other guys that came not too long after his peak like Arn Anderson. I'll give him an 8.

 

[patscorpio]

One of the all time great bumpers and a hell of a dangerous shooter on top of being strong as fukk.

Very solid and believable promo. Very old school.

His matches were textbook. Unfortunately ring wise I've only seen him as a kid as King Harley Race in the WWE not the NWA of the 70s and early 80s. He was past his prime in contrast to the NWA days but the matches with Hogan and JYD were solid as hell.

I'll give him a 7

 

[Tommy Fits]

I caught the very very very tail end of his career and that was mostly through vhs and baseball cards and all I remember thinking was, why is this old fat guy the king

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

I caught the very very very tail end of his career and that was mostly through vhs and baseball cards and all I remember thinking was, why is this old fat guy the king

Yeah his 88 wwf run was all I saw before going back.

In retrospect he as a great tough guy back when wrestling was a lot of guys like him and ole and the funks, and he stood out...but I'd be lying if I was like oh shyt a Harley race match ever in my life.

 

[Here Comes the Pain]

Harley race gets an 8 from me.

One of the original OGs of this wrestling stuff.

 

[Konnan]

Mic work: 5. I guess he was alright he was believable and got the point across but his delivery is so deadpan boring

Personality/gimmick: 8.5. He presented himself as a no nonsense ass kicker and he did it well but pretty bland overall byt do was every other wrestler from that era besides a couple

Ring work: 8 dude could go and he got his opponent over. He took Flair to the next level od his career

Overall: NWA Harley Race 8.5. WWF Harley Race 4.5

 

[CM_Burns]

Hes the definition of an old school wrassler "Brother we gotta bring the territory up, the house was down last night" type.

I havent seen enough of him to rate though

 

[mrken12]

He had a fight with Vader a few years ago.

411MANIA | Details on Vader and Harley Race’s Indy Fight

Rob Feinstein posted the following to Facebook about Vader and Harley Race’s altercation at at the PSW show on Friday night:

“Vader was in a foul mood the entire day which is typical of him. He started to talk nasty to a few fans and Race did not approve. Race told Vader not to disrespect the fans as they are paying to see them. Vader made a smart ass comment which pissed Harley off. Harley who is crippled now struck Vader in the head with a punch. Vader when to strike back but instead hit a promoter who was standing near by. The promoter from what I told had to get a ice pack and Vader walked out of the room. That was basically how it went down and I am shocked that Vader would do that in front of the fans. I was waiting for Orndorff to do a run in.”

 

[Ill Lou Malnati]

To be honest, I'm not familiar much with Harley in his NWA prime. I've seen the match (or matches) he had with Flair in the early '80s, but that's not my favored style of wrestling. Not going to break this one down, because I really can only judge him on his mid-card WWF run as "The King" and time as a manager.

I'll give him a 6 overall.

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

Can I add Stevie Richards to the request list?

 

[mrken12]

Ricky Steamboat vs Harley Race [AJPW, 12/07/82]



Harley Race vs Bob Backlund [9/22/80]



Harley Race vs Giant Baba [AJPW, 10/31/79]

 

[Mack de la Rocha]

I can't accurately rate Harley, but he's at the top of A LOT of wrestlers' GOAT lists. I'm glad my favorites were all videotaped