[NWA Bracket] Round 1 Match 3: Harley Race Vs Kerry Von Erich

[Hyorinmaru]

King Harley Race

During his years as a wrestler he has worked for all Major promotions including the NWA. He became an 8 time NWA Champion during a time when wrestlers rarely repeated as champion. He is also the first ever US Champion. he has been awarded 4 awards from PWI, wresler of the Year and Match of the year each awarded 2 times.



Kerry Von Erich

A member of the Legendary Von Erich Wrestling Family he spent most of his career in WCCW. While there he had legendary feuds with The Fabulous Freebirds and Jerry "The King" Lawler. He has won title in WCCW, NWA, WCWA, and WWE. He also won PWI's match or the year and most popular wrestler of the year award.​

 

[Shadowmancer]

This is a tough one, But I am going to go with "Handsome" Harley Race with this one. He was the Man before Ric Flair became the Man. He is still influential today just by looking at the man that is currently on top of Smackdown, Triple H. Harley Race defines the look of a champion. One of the greatest Heels to step into the Ring. This is not taking anything away from Kerry Von Erich, who was a great wrestler in his own right. I just feel Harley Race is the winner.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Harley Race is goingto win this. He was on of the best heels of his day and he had legendary feuds with the likes of Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair. He is an 8 time NWA Champion when most people were getting 1 or 2 runs with the title. He was also the first US Champion which is another huge acomplishment.

 

[Shocky]

Harley Race is a bad ass. My 60 year old dad has told me that without question, the greatest wrestler he has ever watched was Harley Race. when that man speaks, I listen. I remember the tail end of Harley's career growing up, and even then, he wasn't that bad. I remember him more for being the mouthpiece to Vader but he was very good at that.

People want to say that triple H and HBK are the new Ric Flair, I beg to differ. While It was touched upon in another thread that HBK is more similar to Savage then Flair, Triple H is the second coming of Harley Race. From the Race Goattee to all of the moves involving a flying Knee, Triple H is the embodiement of Harley Race. Von Erich was good, but not that good. I think his death propelled him into another level, much like Eddie Guerrero, that he doesn't deserve to be at.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Harley Race kicks ass. Man, he did some of the best "old-school" work I've ever seen. Legendary feud with Ric Flair as you may recall. What can one say? Race is one of the all-time greats and is still around.

I never really saw much of the Von Erichs in my travels throughout the history of wrestling. So I can't really make a decision on Von Erich here. But this is Harley Race he's up against, after all. He can't be better.

 

[lionheart01]

Well even though I enjoy the work of both men, I think Im going to have to go with kerry Von Eric.

He has just always entertained me more then harley race and I think he was very underutilized in the wwf

 

[Father:_Polley]

This is no disrespect to Kerry Von Erich... but he's famous for being a big name in his father's company. It's not really hard to actually succeed when your dad owns the company. Even Stephanie and Shane have title reigns in WWE. While I'm not comparing Von Erich to either of them because there is no doubt he was a very skilled wrestler and held probably every belt in the NWA... but he hardly ever held the top belt.

He had one NWA Heavyweight reign, and a WWF Intercontinental reign.

Harley Race has had gold everywhere he went during his career. When a man who has never won gold in either WCW or WWE, but both felt the need to insert him into their HOF, that shows the respect they have for him.
The fact that HHH emulates him with the 'Harley Race' high knee shows the respect with which he is seen in the wrestling community. Race deserves to go over here

 

[klunderbunker]

Let me start by saying that Kerry is one of my all time favorites. He and I share a birthday, and he cut my all time favorite promo at Summerslam 90. He had the look, the build, the promos, everything that was needed to be a major star, and he beat Race clean once in Texas on a major card which gave him the Number 1 contendership that got him his world title. He's great, no question about it.

However, he's in over his head here. Do you know how many people that have had more title reigns than Race there are? 5. HHH, Hogan, Sting, Rock and Flair. To say that is elite company is an understatement, especially when he won them when the title meant more than ever. Race was one of the greatest heels of all time bar none. As so many people have said, HHH grew up in the business under the eye of Ric Flair. Does he emulate Flair? Not in the slightest. He models himself after a better wrestler and worker: Harley Race.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Results: 20-5 in favor of Harley Race, he moves on to the second round to face either Lou Thesz or Michael Hayes

my thoughts: People seem to like Von Erich a lot more than I thought they would so I figured it would have been closer than it was. With that being said I think the right man won. Kerry was good, but like Polley said it's not that hard to be champion when your father own the company (WCCW). Race was a great Heel and a great Champion and only 5 stars have held more world title reigns than he has which says something about all 6 of these men.