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I loved this match. It was for the Johnny Valentine Cup. This was the Houston 2 ring special. This was all action Gino is sporting the blond hair. Kerry already is an incredible athlete here working a really fast pace. We see Kerry with an adominal claw which is how all the brothers start with till they master the head claw. Conway jr. looking really good throughout the match. In a pretty cutting edge spot Conway Jr. with an Ohtani boot scrape. I loved all of the Lothario/Gino interactions, especially the punches. Gino was the glue to his team. Gino telling Tiger to shine his shoes was heated. Kerry duplicating the 2 ring dive that Kevin did was great just as Paul was telling the audience the story. Seeing Brooks miss a running elbow and go flying out of the ring was gold. This turned into a pretty spirited brawl. The faces win 2 falls to 1. Post match the heels turn on Marcus . Super fun 6 man tag. 3 3/4*

This was a good match. We get some fun spots milked for comedy that got over big with me. Stasiak's main weapon is the Heart Punch. In the 1st fall he teases it like Jake Roberts teasing the DDT. Finally he hits it and Andre sells it like he's shot in the heart. Though it's a DQ because the Heart Punch has been banned. In between falls Andre is selling like death. Finally he recovers and the 2nd fall starts. Basically Andre is pissed and kicks the crap out of Stan and goes over. 2 1/2*

I'm not a Brody guy, but I'm all in on Gino. This match worked for me. Gino allowed Brody to be the best possible Brody. The 1st fall is Brody just beating Gino all over the place. Gino is bumping and frailing away. I also loved the finish of the 1st fall with Gino stealing the fall. Gino is a bloody mess. Gino's offense consists of brawling along with cheapshotting. These guys worked well together. Once Gran Marcus enters the fray the crowd is pretty nuclear. 2 3/4*

This was a real solid bout. Ivan was great at calling this match. He did a great job at highlighting Atlas strengths. He put over his strength. He put over his speed. He highlighted Tony's great dropkick, I loved the finish of the 1st 2 falls. I loved the post match brawl.I dug the best chant ever of You can't beat Texas. I hated Ivan's over reliance on the nerve hold. Overall, good stuff 2 3/4*. Got some commercials. I loved the break check commercial. They also had a Houston 100 commercial which is something I donated to instead of getting a speeding ticket in the 90's.

I found a lot to like about this match. I enjoyed the 1st fall the most. I enjoyed the IWRG mat work early. Then Gino was like screw this and goes full blown rudo. Very structured like a Lucha fall. The 2nd fall had some good lucha elements. I liked Gino in control early just beating on Sicodelico. Then like any good technico he makes a comeback with tons of fire. The 3rd fall was interesting. Sicodelico is selling a shoulder injury. Gino attacks it for a second, but then goes for the mask. Lewin in for the save. Calling the heels pussycats. I also enjoyed the commercials. Showing how big a wrestling town Houston is/was. 3 1/2*

I believe this has never been seen. This was just a battle. The announcing put their history together so it made sense for this World Title Match to seem more personal. This was gritty. Both guys with brutal chops. Flair's 1st sell of the job was tremendous. His whole body gyrated from the force. Wahoo is 1st to bleed. Not to be outdone, Wahoo takes a bite out of Flair's forehead and spits the plasma out and Flair's bleeding. That was disgusting. I loved this match. A perfect example of non formula Flair. Their wasn't long heat and shine segments. This was just a fight. 4 1/4*

I thought this was a well worked matched. Dusty was pretty spry here. In the 1st fall I enjoyed Patton's arm work. He also incorporated a hair pull to control Dusty. All the work in the 1st fall was really smartly done. Dusty hits a beautiful cross body for the 1st fall. The 2nd fall was entertaining as well. Patton using stomps. Great looking punches to the eye. It looked like he was trying to bust Dusty up hard way. He's smashing Dusty's head onto the table by the ring. Then they have this beautiful punch exchange. Overall really smart match. 2 1/2*

This was went pretty fast. It was a 2 ring battle royal with the winners of each ring facing off. I liked that the final winners in each ring would face one another. I kind of enjoyed the Valentine/Brody exchange at the end. Valentine's stuff looks so credible.

This is 2 out of 3 falls and it's pretty good. I'm a sucker for limb work that tells a story and we got it here in spades. Valentine in all 3 falls is just going after the leg. Nothing ground breaking but it makes sense. Tiger is actually a pretty good baby face. He sells the leg like a champ. He shows great fire. At one point he does a Steamboat Starcade 84, and instead of protecting his ribs, he's protecting his leg by using a side stance. Conway was also pretty good at using some nice revenge spots on Greg's leg. I also enjoyed how they refer to Greg as Johnny's brother. I wonder what year they started doing the real story. I hated the screw job finish of the 3rd fall, and felt they could have gone home a few minutes earlier. Overall if you're a fan of story telling, good snug limb work, and psychology you'll like this match. 3 1/2*

This is a non title match. The 1st match between the 2 legendary teams in Houston. This is coming off the huge match between Midnight Express vs Bill Watts and Stagger Lee that drew a 102,000 house. Here they drew a 60,000 house which is around 8,000 people. This match was awesome and deserving of their legend of the teams. The crowd is super hot. Both teams get incredible reactions just by high fiving their partners. A lot of wrestlers in today's era would pay their salary to get a reaction like that. The 1st few minutes is both teams playing to the crowd. Establishing a dynamic with them. Taking their time. We see both Gibson and Morton do rope running spots by using a headlock and hair pull. I'm a sucker for that spot. In a rope running spot Eaton nails Morton in the back with the racquet to set up the heat. What a heat segment it is. Condrey stomps the back and follows up with posting his back. Eaton sledgehammers the back and follows up with a back breaker. The back work goes on with quick tags. This is all awesome stuff. They toss Morton over the top rope. They distract the ref and toss him over the other side of the ring. Not to dismiss him, but Cornette is working hard here. On the floor Eaton nails Morton with a chair. In ring Eaton nails a nasty power slam. Morton getting close to the tag. Eaton runs across the ring and nails Gibson before he can make the tag. Gibson has had enough and runs over and hip tosses Morton to his side. I hate that spot but the crowd ate it up. Gibson is in and on fire. Eaton pulls the rope again and Gibson bumps to the floor. It looks like Gibson is going to play FIP too, but it's all a miss direction. In a nice payback Morton trips up one of the MX which allows Gibson to score the pin. The heels try to convince the ref that the Rock n Roll used a chain, but it's a lie. The crowd calls them out on their bull shit. Great match and hopefully we have more to come of this feud 4 1/4*

This was a pretty great match with really cool small moments to go along with big moments. Early on Flair put over Reed's strength. In a really cool moment early on Flair would go after Reed's leg not once, but twice. Each time Reed would rag doll Flair in a headlock to stop the attempt. Reed would use the headlock as a weapon through out. Reed also used the bear hug that Flair sold big. Speaking of selling. I've never seen anyone sell Flair's chops the way Reed did and really put them over. Reed would get chopped and seemed so annoyed he'd go after Flair. You need to see what I'm talking about. Both guys really turned this into something special. 4*

We get a feeling out process to start. Hart is active at ringside early. Lewin tosses Funk to the outside to a waiting Hart who attacks. This sets up the heat. Funk is back in, but it looks like his arm has been hurt. Lewin follows up by posting the arm. Lewin chops the arm, puts a nerve hold on it, more chops, wristlock with the arm extended, then into a hammerlock. Funk is tremendous in selling this big. Lewin with judo thrusts to the arm, and posts the arm again. Lewin has just destroyed Funk's arm. Funk fires off some jabs to get some seperation to no avail.More arm work, then Funk tries standing headbutts to get seperation, again no luck. Funk with an ankle pick and knee drop, but Lewin catches him with a judo thrust to the neck for a 3 count. The 2nd fall starts with Lewin on the arm. He puts Funk on a table and slams his head onto the table for a bit. Back into the ring and Terry catches Lewin with the ankle pick/knee drop combo. Funk still slling th damage of his arm big. Big Atomic drop by Funk. Spinning boot scrape by Terry. Terry peppers him with jabs . Then he locks on his spinning toe hold for the fall. The 3rd fall starts with Terry going after the leg. Hart is massaging Lewin's leg. Funk bites Lewin. We this awesome leg lock by Funk that no one ever does anymore. Funk moves into a grapevine of the leg. Lewin teases a FO, then hits Funk with it. This was timed perfectly. Lewin works Funk over with the FO. Funk goes for the anklepick/spinning toe hold combo. Then he goes after Hart. Bronco calls for the bell for the DQ while Lewin has Funk in the Oriental sleeper. 4 3/4* Final Thoughts. I think this is my favorite match that has been uploaded. The limb work and selling is top notch here. The timing of the comebacks and cut offs were tremendous. This was a great Terry Funk performance. Shows why he's the legend . Easily my favorite Mark Lewin match ever.

This is another match that has never aired. It's a doozy. We get a wild brawl to start. That morphs into an incredible shine. Both TA and Wrestling 2 look like a million bucks. The MX are so good at getting their opponents over. Eventually we see the MX get heat on 2. It is pretty great. 2 is a really good FIP. The hot tag blows the roof off the place. We get this wild finish. Again the heat here is ridiculous. The MX are masters at getting heat. 4 1/4*

We are JIP about 6 minutes in. This is Flair touring champ match. I enjoyed Flair's arm work in this. I liked how Flair used TA's momentum to toss him to the outside to set up his heat. The finish was sloppy in the sense that it was reversed.. I loved the post match with Wahoo kicking ass. 4*

This is where each member of the losing team gets 5 lashes. This is pretty great and is worked differently because of the stip. We open up with a brawl and the baby faces are standing tall. Then the bout slows down. Magnum TA grabs Eaton and tosses him over the top rope. Cornette and Condrey are besides themselves. That is until the over the PA we get the announcement this is a no DQ match. Magnum teases doing it again, but Condrey is on the floor waiting . So TA reverses course and tosses him over the top on the other side. We get a long shine sequence.To make sure we still remember this is no DQ Eaton attacks 2. In a nice payback spot the MX toss TA over the ropes to set up the heat. We see the MX work over TA's arm. The work is methodical, but everything gets over. Wrestling 2 gets a hot tag and is glorious in his role. The finish sees Cornette push 2's feet off the rope for the screw job. The faces take their licking and vow revenge. 4*

This is a really good bout. Reed was good here, but Tito put on an incredible baby face performance. We get an opening shine with Tito working the arm, and by working I mean cranking the shit out of it. Reed fights out and starts to get some heat on Tito. Tito is just fighting underneath the whole time. Gets some hope spots makes a mini comeback. Reed cuts him and really is awesome in his heat segment. Reed is really good going after Tito's neck. Again Tito is great in his selling. The Soup bone from the top rope was a great nearfall. Tito makes a great comeback and they build to the finish. They cut a real good pace, both guys made everything mean something. They told a great story,. Plus I think Joel Watts is the ref. 4*

I believe this is a new match too, and I was at this show. This was pretty interesting. Chavo has so many variations on the suplex. Fantastics had a really strong shine sequence. They did a great job working the arm and the crowd lost it later on a double row, row, row the boat spot. The heat segments were really weird. Instead of a good sized one on Fulton. We got 3 short ones on Fulton. Still I liked good far outweighed the bad. 3 1/2*

Jose Lothario vs Gino Hernandez 1/19/79 This is a Texas Death match in a cage and it's amazing. Lothario threw a great punch. Gino shined him up real good.Lothario working the arm was great. Gino bumped big,had a good elbow. This was super hate filled. Gino's knee drops were vicious. Watch this match Asap if you're a fan of smart work. They did an amazing job of miliking the drama. 4*

This was just a hate filled brawl. Both guys bleeding. Lothario's punches were so on point. Hector bumping big for them. Hector's punches were pretty great too. We got nasty chair shots. The crowd was going crazy here. These guys were so awesome. The brawling was so intense. I totally bought into the finish. 4 1/4*

OMG. This match has never aired and it might be their best match between these 2 teams to ever air which says a lot. This is a classic feud . We have tons of matches between the 2 teams. This is the best. The opening shine set the pace early, and it was great.Cornette might have had one of his all time great performances. He gets the crowd into a total lather. He does a modified Wrestle War 90 spot with the ref. Except better because it never gets over the top. He does this all without the tennis racquet. When the MX get on the heat they just beat the hell out of Tommy Rogers. The crowd is insane here. Corny cheapshotting throughout. Fulton was great at always running out to try to protect his partner, but just can't. Fulton's work on the outside can't be overlooked because he added so much gravatis to the situation. They tease a hot tag, but the MX knock Fulton off the apron. The crowd is insane, and they want to kill Corny. Several of them look to lynch him. The cops are even nervous at this point. Finally, we get a hot tag and when I say the crowd erupts, it's not hyperbole. When The Fantastics go over it was like Jordan hitting the bucket against Craig Ehlo.This is everything I love about wrestling 4 1/2*

Man oh Man was I stoked to see this come up. These guys didn't dissapoint me in the least. Your AWA World Heavyweight Champion along with being my #4 wrestler on my #PWOGWE ballot. This match never aired . So thank you Bruce and nwaclassics.com . It means so much to be able to see this instead of Ricky Morton talk about the time he went a broadway with Bock in Houston in some RF Video shoot interview. This is 2 out of 3 falls. The 1st fall is solid stuff. Early on Bock targets the neck, and I'll be damned if it doesn't payoff in the finish of the 1st fall with a Bock piledriver. Here Bock is the maestro while Morton is the up and comer. Bock was just a step ahead in this fall. One spot that I loved seeing was Bock slamming Morton, Morton kicks off Bock, Morton slams Bock. This was a spot Bret and Hennig would use in their matches against each other. I've seen Bock use this with Bret, Hennig,Martel and others. It's cool to see it here and his influence on other wrestlers. The 2nd fall Bock is really aggressive going after Morton's neck. Morton is selling it big time and this fall takes the match up to another level. Morton steals the 2nd fall with a flash pin. The 3rd fall seals the deal for me. Morton is out and he wants payback on the neck. So we get that for a bit. Then Bock misses and Morton goes after the leg. I loved Morton's knee drop to the back of the leg. The drama around the Figure 4 was tremendous. We see the banana peel finish that protects both guys. 4 1/4*

This is in a cage and is under Texas Tornado rules. This was a total fight. Both teams bleed in a fun spirited brawl. We start with a good heat segment by the Fabs. Just beating on the Guerreros. They finally make a comeback. Which gets cut off by the Fabs. We get a little misdirection which results with the Guerreros delivering a Spike Pile Driver. I enjoyed this a good bit. 3 1/2*

This was interesting, and the guys worked hard. The match was super heated. I wouldn't consider this a good match though. At times the strikes were good. Then at times Hercules strikes looked terrible. We got a lot of pole spots. When it was on the mat and ringside we got a fun brawl. Though the match had drama, and post match a killer Cornette promo building to a hair match.

This was a weird match. I thought the 1st fall was rather dull. It had it's moments, but the finish set up the excitement for the rest of the match. Stomper goes over the 1st fall with the claw and it bloodys up Slater. The 2nd fall Stomper is attacking the cut. Now this is more like it. Slater though steals the fall. The 3 rd fall is tremendous and a wild double juice brawl. This was hate filled, and both guys were going after the cuts. Overall I'm not sure how I feel about this match.

This is a non title match. So the goal is simple. Make Chavo a threat, and make the audience believe he will be the next AWA World Champ. In the match I feel they accomplished this. Bockwinkle along with Buddy Rose are the 2 best at working different type of matches. It starts with Bock trying to slow the pace and use the weight advantage. They start an over the head wristlock battle. This transitions into Chavo working Bock's arm. The arm work here is real nifty. Chavo also is good at keeping Bock off balance with his speed. Eventually Nick escapes and because his arm has been worked over uses his legs and puts Chavo in a body scissor. This is something all wrestlers should look at. In a really nice touch, we see Bock trying to shake the arm out. We some real fun stuff come out of the body scissors. Then transitions into Bock stooging for Chavo. We see Chavo deliver a beautiful German Suplex for the win. I guarantee in the rematch if we get to see it; Bockwinkle will work a different match . 3 1/2*