Superstar Sleeze

PARV having the same wrestler twice is still funniest thing on a GWE podcast. But I legit just lost my shit that Dean had Rufus R Jones over Fujinami. That's ducking awesome

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Koko Ware - Memphis 11/18/85 You forget how big Ric Flair is because he very rarely gets to wrestle people he is larger than. This is a chance for Flair to bully his opponent like he did with Morton. The beginning of the match is all about establishing Koko as a challenger. Lance does a great job narrating this story. Stating Koko is nervous about this opportunity and that he is starting with fundamentals (headlock) to get himself a rhythm and credits Dusty with this advice is fucking excellent. That's what commentary should be! Lance states Flair thinks he has himself a cakewalk, but beware of Koko (pun intended). After the headlocks, Flair tries to intimidate Koko with some shoving, but Koko shoves him right back in a great spot Flair takes a bump. . "I think Flair was thinking he was just dealing with another local yokel" - Lance Russell, best commentator ever. Flair and Koko have an excellent slugfest. Flair chops and Koko hits him with those sweet Mempho punches in an absolutely electric segment. Flair Flop! Koko more punches and another nearfall! Crossbody! Flair tries a different tact, amateur takedowns, but ends up embarrassed falling out of the ring. Flair meets him with a kick to the midsection on a test of strength and BIG chop. Not the best transition to heat, but Flair works an excellent heat segment on the arm. He was really good at arm work. Koko tries punches and chops, but Flair is able to bully Koko in a way he cant with a smaller opponent. I like that wrinkle a lot. Koko gets the sleeper! The more I think about the sleeper is a great way to get out of the heat. It allows the babyface to get his energy back and sap Flair's energy. Smart spot calling by Flair! Flair cuts off again with a suplex into a DOUBLE STOMP! My favorite Flair move. Figure-4, baby! Dusty cheers on Koko and Koko reverses the pressure! Flair was really good dynamic wrestling. It never feels my turn, your turn, but no one has complete and utter control over the other person. Flair is always fighting back and Koko is too. I think that's what makes Flair matches so great. Ok, fun spot even if it is anachronism was when Flair punched Koko's head on the sunset flip and hurt his hand. Flair kneedrop missed! Good setup for Koko figure-4. Koko stays on the leg and starts throwing some serious chops. Fire fight! Koko is coming back and DROPKICK that Lance was hyping. Another dropkick! Here comes Dundee! Flair comes crashing into a distracted Koko with a knee from behind to win the match. Dusty & Koko clear the ring. Really great finish and Flair gets to over. Great Flair vs underdog match and even though Flair spent so much time as champion we don't have a lot of these matches. The first third is great at establishing Koko as a threat. The middle third is Flair kicking ass, but always letting Koko get his hope spots. I think that is so crucial. Flair never just dominates a segment. His opponent fight back and he has to cheat by grabbing the hair or knee to the midsection to maintain advantage. It is these transient moments that keep the match engaging because there is a real sense of struggle. I loved the set up for each of the figure-4s. I think sometimes Flair just calls them randomly on his own opponent, but this time his timing was great. Koko had just made a decent comeback and he looked to extinguish with his figure-4 and Koko was set up by him missing a knee drop. Perfect finish run with Koko getting two dropkicks right before Dundee fuck finish, but Flair still gets the pin to get us a real finish but protect Koko. Excellent Flair match in a year of fucking greatness. People talk about 1989, but holy shit 1985, what a year for Flair! ****1/2

Southern Tag Team Champions Sheepherders vs Fabulous Ones - Memphis 8/6/85 Steel Cage The world's flimiest and shortest steel cage surrounds the ring for this violent tag team match. Nowhere near the best of the best AWA tag team steel cage matches that have become my favorite genre in wrestling, but still pretty fun. I thought Rip Morgan was better in this, but still kinda load. They start outside the ring. Nice story with Morgan being the bigger being able to get the upper hand on Lane and throw him into the cage. Keirn, the asskicker of the Fabs, kicked Boyd's ass. Keirn/Morgan was kinda stalemate with Keirn faring well. It looks like someone forgot to put a door on the cage. Keirn rips one side of the cage open to throw Morgan in. Keirn doing pretty well against Morgan, until Boyd rips open the cage and now the numbers game gets to Keirn. Finally Lane gets up and has to enter the ring the same way. Lane's kicks looked more violent. I think Lane had not figured out a way to work his kicks so that they looked great and violent without shoot kicking someone in the face. Now with the sides even, the babyfaces start to kick ass. Boyd has been busted open previously so it Morgan now. They work the cuts and lots of punching. The one spot I remember is Boyd ballshots Keirn and just lingers there for an awkward amount of time. There is a cut and Morgan is gone. The Fabs are destroying Boyd. They start throwing the ref around so you know what is going to happen. The ref scales the cage and Lane throws him over the cage. That was pretty sweet. Ref calls the whole thing off. Lame finish. Pretty fun cage match nothing too memorable happens, but crowd was hot. ***1/2

Rick Martel did not best Ted DiBiase, so sad.

Southern Tag Team Champions Fabulous Ones vs Sheepherders - Memphis 6/22/85 "The bloody rulebook is my Bible." - Lord Jonathan Boyd The Sheepherders in question are Boyd and Rip Morgan. Morgan sucks. Lane cuts a "Love it or leave it" promo before this and Keirn says that Fabs feel their hands are forced to put up the tag titles on TV. So we get a studio TV match. Different shine than we were seeing before. PYTs are in the mold of MX with bump, schtick and stooge. Herders are definitely more gritty and ornery. I like Boyd he looks like a scummy, scrappy asshole. Lots of headlocks from Fabs. Morgan is just useless, no presence, he is just a big body. Keirn has nice offense. He bumps to the outside and Boyd jabs him with the New Zealand flag busting him. Awesome bladejob by Keirn. The heat segment drags for two reasons. Morgan is boring. Keirn, while good at selling and the blood helps, just has no hope spots. I can only see Morgan stomp for so long. Have Morgan cut you off to add some dynamics. Boyd is great as that old school heel that claws at the cut and bites it, but neither more. I loved the finish! We get the false tag and then when it looks we will get the real hot tag the Boyd wallops him with a foreign object. Morgan sucks and does not cover him. Boyd comes in and covers him. Morgan not covering him kinda dilutes the impact. Marlin & some other dude are out to strip the Herders of the belts. Boyd is great in this and some chump lawyer tries to get in good with the Herders. Fun angle, lots of blood, but not much to the match. ***

Hit me up with some match recommendations and I will check it out.

Rock N Roll Express vs The Nightmares - Memphis 1/18/85 The Nightmares are Ken Wayne and Danny Davis. I only know Danny Davis through Stone Cold who said he had a stiff chop and was a good mentor. They are a couple short dudes. Mempho was definitely the short man's territory. RNRs must be on loan from Watts. They looks so good here. Awesome, awesome shine. I am loving these Memphis tag team match shine. Just so many fun spots. Just watch it. Cant describe them all. If you don't smile, well then you just have no soul. I thought the heat segment is what brings this above the PYT/Fabs matches as the Nightmares are more focused on Gibson's knee and do some great work on it. I loved the Boston Crab with assist. Morton is a great hot tag, awesome punches. He gets nailed with a cane. One Nightmare backbreakers him, but the other misses the diving headbutt to lose the match. RNRs were typically awesome. Nightmares were a couple Koko's great offense but even more focus. The PYT matches have had minutes where the match drags. This one never did. All action. Good fun! ***3/4

Southern Tag Team Champions PYT Express vs Fabulous Ones - Memphis 4/22/85 Best spot ever! Stan Lane steps on Norvell Austin while he is in an armstretcher to jaw with Koko and then steps on him on the way back. So Koko gives pursuit and steps right on Norvell and then does it on the way back! I laughed out loud! One of the funniest spots I have ever seen. Koko is a dynamo! Holy shit! Could he go! Takes a ridiculous bump off a monkey flip. The armstretcher did go on too long, but once in the heat segment. Koko was flying all over the place kicking Lane's ass. Koko missed his true calling as a hot tag in a big time babyface tag team. Loved the double teams, the cane shot and hell even Norvell had some good power offense (backbreaker, shoulderbreaker). Koko had a great fistdrop, dropkick and a ton of offense. Ware goes to the eyes to cut Lane off but misses a flying headbutt. Keirn is a great ass kicking hot tag. Wicked lame finish with Lanny Poffo should strolling into the ring and attacking the Fabs. Really similar to the '84 match just with a way worse finish. This one did have that really funny spot. Koko is awesome! ***1/2

Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert vs Phil Hickerson & The Spoiler - Memphis 6/25/84 Street Fight Holy shit! Memphis this is what I am talking about! Awesome, bloody brawl! Hickerson & Spoiler are dressed in their janitor blues. Rich is busted open early by Hickerson and a chain. Hickerson seems like an ornery fellow. Gilbert tries to grab a mic stand to help Tommy, but he ends up falling. Rich turns the tide on Hickerson by driving his head into the table. This is a wild, wooly affair. Hickerson bleeding buckets. There is a pool of his blood on the floor. Gilbert goes for the mask of Spoiler, but Spoiler gets his boot and clobbers him. Gilbert bleeding now. Spoiler should blade under his mask! Spoiler starts walloping Tommy with his boot, but takes three shots before it registers because Tommy Rich is in the Zone! Rich takes his boot off and starts going to town. This is an amazing Rich performance. Gilbert PILEDRIVES The Spoiler on the outside!!! WOW! Rich has a loaded mask and headbutts Hickerson for the win. One of the all-time great Southern brawls and one of the best sub-ten minutes matches in history! That is what a street fight should be. ****1/2

Fabulous Ones vs PYT Express - Memphis 6/25/84 As the biggest Sweet Stan Lane fan on PWO, gotta give my boy a hand, he was awesome in this match. Starting with the bitchin' snow leopard tights all the way to the Double DDT that ended the match in victory for the Fabs. I thought Lane & Keirn were super fun in the shine. I love a pair of fun-loving babyfaces. Lane & Keirn were both great at making the beginning of the match fun with their mannerisms and antics. I liked Lane pulling Koko away in a toehold from Norvell in circles until the ref could get to them. PYTs love their miscommunication spots, definite MX influence and I love it. Once it came down to brass tacks, very engaging heat segment. Koko was fucking on. He was just the revved up little engine that was throwing Lane all around. No Vulcan Nerve Pinches here! I thought Lane was great at selling and timing hope spots. One of the funniest bits was Koko fires off a quick string of moves and Norvell lumbers in, pauses, kicks Lane cover. Lots of double teaming and classic tag spots. Fabs switch, hey all blond, bearded white men look the same! Keirn was an awesome house of fire. I loved his punches and kicks. Double DDT ends it. Very fun standard Southern tag. ***1/2

Southern Tag Team Champions Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert vs PYT Express - Memphis 5/18/84 Falls Count Anywhere Now this is more like it! Super heated brawl! There is really not much to recap. For about 12 minutes, it is a balls to wall slugfest. With all due respect to Norvell and Rich, Gilbert and Koko (or should I say Stagger Lee as the announcer keeps calling him) owned this. Gilbert was a heat seeking missile for Pretty Young Things just tackling them at every turn. A Koko Ware vs. Eddie Gilbert from 1984 is a new dream match for me. Holy shit! They had insane chemistry. I loved Koko breaking a cane over Gilbert's back and then jabbing him in the throat. In fairness, Rich was a tremendous hot tag. Actually good arena brawling! Oh ECW why could you not be more like Mempho! They end up on a stage in the back of arena and Rich slugs the ref triggering a DQ. I actually booed in my chair in 2016. I was pissed! What a lame finish! It is falls count anywhere! Let there be a winner! Super fun, This is what I expected out of Memphis! ****1/4

Southern Tag Team Champions Tommy Rich vs PYT Express - Memphis 4/12/84 I could watch GIlbert & Koko punch each other day all day long, sadly that's only a small part of this match. Rich & Gilbert are working a New Fabs gimmick with Footloose as their entrance music. PYTs are Koko Ware and Norvell Austin. The match totally peaks in the shine. Ware & Gilbert slugfest is awesome and climaxes with Ware punching Austin in the face. Then Rich gets Austin in a full nelson only to turn around at the last second to have Ware blast Austin again. PYTs argue with Austin telling Ware he is supposed to hit the blond white dude not his fellow black man. They hug it out. The heat segment grinds the match to a halt lots of nerve pinch. The finish run is fun. Gilbert was a good house of fire temporarily stopped by a Koko headbutt, but a crossbody means the champs retain. Shine was fun that's it.

For the record, heel Demolition in 1988 is quite good. The fact the face teams always had to double up their move and tag in and out is awesome. You are totally correct. My malfunction is 1989 babyface Demolition, which is dreadful. You know how Parv complains about Bob Backlund, babyface Demolition is infinitely worse. 1990-91 Demolition they were washed up., but still there is a Rockers match that timeframe that is decent and I liked the Warrior/Road Warriors six-mans.

Now I have never felt closer to Matt when he couldn't remember the Spanish name for the Atlantis move and said he is from Boston as why he couldn't pronounce it. it is so true people from Boston (my father and myself especially) cant pronounce shit. All in one podcast, Matt D taking me on that ride.

Matt, my parents have been waiting for me to settle/calm down for 26 years and all I got to say is ain't happening, brutha! WOOOOOOOOO! I would be totally happy to Tom Zenk to Kelly's Ricky Martel. You can take your technical proficiency, all about getting paid & laid. Smash is yucky.

I knew Demolition/Brainbusters would come up at some point with you two. I never feel more distant with you both than on that awful, awful series of matches. Im actually excited and dreading those matches for Tag Teams Back Again. Excited to see what Kelly thinks and dreading because they suck.

SAMOA JOE JUST WON NXT CHAMPIONSHIP IN LOWELL!! HOLY SHIT MARKING OUT! JUMPED UP AMD DOWN FOR JOY

I need to get Classics! Bockwinkel vs Morton. That's a dream match!

Pete, excellent review. Taylor really upped his game against Flair and he never rose to the occasion again. Flair is so great at gradualism within match. I love it NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Taylor - Mid-South, Houston 5/3/85 Fantastic match! I love how this is the more fleshed out version of the 4/28 match, just with 10 extra minutes & some better Flair spot calling they take a great match and make it a total classic. I really like Flair for his high-energy take on wrestling that is not to say go-go-go or working too fast, but everything is energetic. This may be his best low-energy performance. Now low-energy Flair is pretty much everyone else's normal energy level. This match was a great example of Flair gradualism. The shine was better than the previous match because there was a little more struggle, Flair got in some more control and Flair argued with the ref. All these things made the shine seem more consequential. Again, Flair did not get over as a bumping machine, but rather established himself as good, but then Taylor started to get the better of him. Flair does the handshake and goes for amateur takedowns, but this does not lead to the heat instead they work a great headlock sequence with Flair trying everything he can to get out of it so Taylor has to struggle to keep it on. Flair is getting pissed starts throwing hiptosses, but he gets blocked after a couple. He starts shoving Taylor, but Taylor will NOT be intimidated! Flair crowds in the corner and looks like he is ready to take over. PSYCH! Taylor comes roaring back with punches. However, the ref tries to stop the punching and Flair gets a knee to family jewels of Vero's Hero. Now, finally Flair finally takes over. Flair had to do so much to get to the heat segment and Taylor looked world class by overcoming him at every turn. Really great extended shine even if it was not a typical one. Flair throws Taylor around with a butterfly suplex and blasts him with chops. Taylor was really good at selling. Again, Flair shows how great he is working the arm and Taylor meets him with an inspired selling performance. Even on a shouldertackle with the bad arm, Taylor sells his bad arm. Taylor starts firing away with punches as Flair tries to grab the hair. Again, Flair shows a great sense of gradualism. Taylor has to overcome a Flair sleeper and an attempted Flair piledriver before Taylor finally gets his own sleeper. It is not one move, but a collection of spots that transitions you to full control. I love that! Throughout the finish stretch, you feel like most men are spent. Flair loves the cheapshots low to the abdomen while Taylor is selling his ass off and trying for whatever hope spot he can like all the Flair staples: sunset flip, bridge into backslide, slam him off the top rope. Flair loves the ropes in Houston. Saves him on the sleeper and a suplex. Is there anyone better at selling discombobulated down a finish run than Flair. They knock heads with Flair falling on top. Taylor gets his feet on ropes, but Flair pulls them off to win the match! I feel like this is exemplary in the how they gradually they build throughout the match. Nothing is abrupt. Everything is earned by attrition and effort. To me this match is representative of the greatness of Flair spot calling because of his ability to layer a match with his spots that is meaningful in every way. Also throughout the match (it is documented in the matches with the Von Erichs) he is constantly struggling and making the babyfaces earn their controls. It is not a typical high energy, bump-a-thon by Flair until late in the game so it makes it different enough for diehard Flair fans like myself to see something unique. Love this match! ****3/4

He tweeted he was retiring. Becky Lynch tweeted that he should join her in WWE (Irish connection, that's it). So it is off to the races

I am shocked Angle is finishing ahead of all these people. Crazy.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Wahoo McDaniel - Mid-South 7/26/85 Got to love when Flair finds himself in a fire fight. Flair's reaction to the first Wahoo chop is priceless, a mixture of shock, anger and fear. Flair mans up and says you want some muthafucka, come get some. They just unload on each other. Wahoo getting the better of Flair on the first two exchanges. Flair crowds him in the corner. It is a straight right to the nose that gives Flair the upper hand. Flair has an underrated working punch, very nice. Flair gives as good as he got. I know Flair arm work goes nowhere, but damn if he aint great at it. Of course, Wahoo makes his comeback by blasting away at Flair's chest with overhand chops. The finish run features some great Flair cheating and Wahoo just kicking ass. I really liked instead of slamming Flair off the top he chops him as he comes off the top. Flair tries to take it to the outside, but ends up eating the steel to bust him open. I liked Wahoo getting three nearfalls with each being broken up by the ropes. Wardance got a nice pop. Flair headbutts him low and gets the pin with the feet on the ropes. How poetic of a finish run! The ropes bail Flair out of losing and give him the win. Now that is some nice psychology. I love Flair versus a hard-hitter, not quite the Garvin level, but still damn good. ****1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Taylor - Mid-South 4/28/85 It is interesting they choose Taylor to be the first (I think he was the first) challenger to Flair's title. Duggan and Reed (Reed was a face I think by this point) were much bigger stars, but I imagine Watts thought Taylor was more apt to work the NWA World Championship style and also elevate him in the process. I agree Taylor is a great Flair opponent because he can go on the mat and he can ball up his fist and haul off on the Champ. Flair plays the babyface champion role early. He is reserved and subdued. It makes for not the best shine. He is respectful of Taylor getting the best of him on the mat. Taylor likes the hammerlock. Flair sits him up on the top rope and gives him a handshake. Flair now tries to go on offense with amateur takedowns but loses him on the mat. Flair is getting frustrated. You wont like him when he is frustrated. He throws Taylor out of the ring. Holds the ropes open for him and BAM! Chop! Now we go to school. The way he set up the heat actually makes up for the lackluster shine. Flair kicks the holy hell out of Taylor, who is a pretty good white meat babyface seller. The women in the crowd are calling Flair an asshole. He is having fun using the ropes to work Taylor's arm. There is a great spot with Flair kneeing Taylor in the balls in corner when he is trying to come back and then fucking with the ref. It is just so Flair and so fucking awesome. Taylor comes back with punches and then a sleeper to a big pop. Flair was right that sleeper was a money spot. I thought Taylor did a great job adding his own touches to the Flair match. I liked him working over the leg a lot and the Boston Crab. I did not agree with Flair's move to transition out of this into his standard set of spots to finish a match. Taylor was progressing the match nicely and it would have been cool to explore that. This was a short stretch because I thought the real finish run was actually quite novel for a Flair match and really well-built. Flair hit a kneecrusher to stop Taylor's momentum and went to work on the knee in compelling fashion. He got kicked off the figure-4, so wrapped it around the post. Taylor was valiantly fighting it off and it was a really nice struggle. As they brawl on the outside (Im thinking double countout), they get back in the ring and Taylor's foot gets caught in the ropes. Flair kicks at it mercilessly in a great spot of hopelessness. Flair wraps on the figure-4 and wins the match! Not a perfect match, but a really entertaining and interesting one. I liked Taylor as a Flair opponent as he is multi-faceted. He is not as good at any one thing as Garvin or Steamboat, but by combining striking and mat technique he was a versatile opponent. Also he was not gobbled up by the Flair formula as he added his own touches. The initial Flair heat segment was great, I really liked Taylor's comeback and the final finish stretch was gold. Really, really liked this one. ****1/4

I love that Flair/Foley promo from TNA. The best thing Foley did in that promotion by far, not even close. Flair/Lethal promo exchange would be number one for Flair in TNA. Flair gets to kiss Becky, I am jealous. Great heel tactic and Becky got her receipt. Flair eating the Rock's offense only to have Rock mock the strut in the most awesome possible fashion is winning. So yep, Ric Flair is still The Man!

Rock N Roll Express vs Dirty White Boys - Mid-South 5/11/85 The Rock n Roll Express were over like rover! Crowd was red hot for them the whole time. I said DiBiase & Doc worked like the MX during their heat segment. Dirty White Boys worked like MX in their shine. I am smiling ear to ear the whole time. If you took this shine with the DiBiase & Doc heat segment, you have an all-time Southern tag classic. Definitely check out this for the shine. The heat segment was fine, lots of cheating and double teaming. Great bumping and selling by Morton, but that's like saying the sun is going to come up. Dirty White Boys could have switched up from the sleeper more. I did like some of the strike exchanges between Morton and Tony Anthony. I thought Denton was the better White Boy in selling and bumping. The crowd erupted for the hot tag. A little disappointed about the DQ finish due to Gibson being thrown over the top rope. Really great shine, everything else was very good execution of the RNR formula. ***1/2