Superstar Sleeze

WWF World Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian vs Hardyz vs Dudleyz - WWF Summerslam 2000 TLC I remember like this a helluva a lot more than both the Wrestlemania triple threats they had. At first, I couldn't figure out why. Sure it was fun, senseless, mindless violence. The real value is how well the finish is executed. Each wrestler is eliminated in a hellacious fashion. Jeff Hardy's swandive is sick. Then Bubba's crashing through four tables on the outside from a 20 ft ladder in the ring is insane. Then Matt Hardy is sent out the same way only you forget there are tables there so you are freaking the fuck out! Edge's spear on Lita looks super safe until you hear her head crack against a ladder. Nasty! The chicken fight dangling from the belts reminds me of how much fun the greatest video game ever, Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain was. I miss playing that with my brother on PS2, stacked roster and easy controls (I suck at video games). At the age of 10, I remember really liking Edge & Christian and thinking they were hilarious. I was surprised how much they were booed by the Nor Cackalacky crowd, which was not just pro-Hardyz, but liked the Dudz too. The beginning of the match features a lot of crazy spots and is entertaining, but the high water mark is how well they do the finish. ****1/4

HHH, X-Pac, Chris Benoit, Saturn & Dean Malenko vs The Rock, Mankind & Too Cool - RAW 2/7/00 I have actually never seen this before and holy shit was this fucking hot as hell. The crowd was just electric. One of the hottest American crowds I have ever heard. Great, great babyface shine. Too Cool did not look that out of place in the main event. They easily could have been wrestling the Hardyz, Dudz and E&C. The Worm was great at the beginning. Scotty 2 Hotty reverse suplex on Deano Machino, wow! Rikishi looked fine. The Radicalz were servicable, but Saturn and Malenko came off as midcarders which they were and until the end Benoit did not seem that special. Benoit's value is his offense. He is great at selling and bumping, but in a popcorn match thats not where he excels. X-Pac and HHH were fantastic. I loved the crowd chanting Asshole at HHH when he got in the ring. Thats heat, BABY! There was so much energy in this match. Just a really great, babyface-oriented popcorn, TV match. It was real feel good until Benoit got the win with the Diving Headbutt, which was his shining moment. Kane's return fucking blew the roof off the place and was an excellent way to send everyone home happy. Really enjoyable. ***1/2

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs Cactus Jack - Royal Rumble 2000 Street Fight Is there anyone better at selling Mick Foley's transformation into Cactus Jack than HHH? He knocked it outta the park in 1997 and again in 2000. I had never seen the video package before the match and it really shows how well the WWF was clicking at the time. It can be stated enough how important Mick Foley was to that roster. He was just so damn loveable in a way that Austin and Rock could never be. He was the underdog that everyone could rally around. He was also sadistic enough to be used to cement championship reigns (Taker 1997, Austin 1998, Rock 1999 and HHH 2000). Undoubtedly, HHH needed more help than the rest of those wrestlers who grew organically from a groundswell of support. HHH was the first of many artificially pushed wrestlers, which is now the commonplace in the WWE. He was also an interesting experiment in pushing a heel hard as a mainstay in the main event besides one off stints with Superstar Graham and Yokozuna, the WWF had never attempted before. It was an innovative paradigm shift that I think was worth the experimentation even if not everyone agrees with the results. There was no better wrestler to cement the position of the new ultimate bad guy than the ultimate underdog, Mankind. After HHH fired Mankind and then was forced to reinstate when presented with a locker room walkout, he beat the living shit out of Mankind. Only for Mankind to announce, Triple H would instead be facing Cactus Jack and that angle looked red hot with HHH selling fear perfectly and Cactus opening a can of whoop ass. This match was one of my favorites growing up, but I have not watched it probably 4 or so years. It holds up in a big way and it remains one of the best 2000s WWF/E matches of I have ever seen. Upon this viewing, I realized that was HHH's performance not Cactus' that makes this match so incredible. Don't get me wrong when you have a match as excellent as this one, both wrestlers are wrestling at a very high level. The way Cactus was wrestling, so aggressive, so sadistic, so forward, he could have easily heeled himself. HHH sold, bumped and stooged his way to one of the best heel performances ever. It was as if the Creature of the Black Lagoon was unleashed upon the most vile, reprehensible human. Normally, you would feel sympathy for HHH, but not in this case because he was so cowardly after he had been such a prick to Cactus. In a lot of ways this match reminded me of the Foley/Orton match, but what makes this one better is HHH's performance in ensuring Cactus is always 100% the babyface. In fairness, I think the Orton match did exist to set up Orton's face turn in August of 2004. I love the beginning shine of the match where Cactus just kicks HHH's ass for a good 10-15 minutes. There is a great moment where HHH swings the ring bell wildly and then runs for the high ground of the ring with a chair. You can sense his fear. Foley just shakes off the bell shot and then takes a wicked chair shot to the face and shakes off that. It is that horror movie moment when HHH realizes he will not be able to keep the incensed monster down. He is selling and bumping the whole way for Cactus. The Barbed Wire 2x4 was an excellent climax to the babyface shine. It got a great pop, it was a great escalation in violence, it allowed for a mini battle over an item within the larger scheme of the match. There was drama over who would score the big blow and then HHH bled buckets. Cactus getting the nearfall off the bat shot to the face was excellent. I thought it was a little weak that they did the back drop off the piledriver and instead of going to heat segment they regressed back to the barbed wire bat, which seemed like a step backwards instead of forward. Cactus took his two usual, nasty, nasty, nasty knee related bumps into the steps and HHH went to town driving the barbed wire bat into the knee. HHH's staggered selling never relented and he looked someone trying to survive by any means necessary rather than a proud champion exactly as a heel should be. I liked the handcuffs in this match because it actually set up for a really nice run of hope spots: headbutt to the balls and biting HHH in the cut. If you did not believe it before, you did now Catcus Jack hates this muthafucka and will do everything in his power to hurt and maim him. The Rock was definitely necessary and a perfectly acceptable way to get the handcuffs off Jack. The thumbtacks was another great way to escalate the violence. Stephanie was effective in distracting Cactus long enough for HHH to back drop Cactus into tacks so not a clean victory. The first Pedigree kickout was HUGE! Really put Cactus and the match over. Pedigree onto the tacks still after the six times I have seen it makes me cringe, grimace and a little queasy. Helmsley retained the championship, but it was a Pyrrhic victory as he is stretctered out only to have Cactus catch up to him and slam him back out. I think the one misfire was that they should have had Stephanie or someone physically interfere to set up the rematch, but still Cactus did get his heat back and HHH looked like he was barley alive by the end of it so it is a small critique. Overall, holy shit, this was fucking awesome. Even better than I remember it, which was just a violent street fight. It is so much more. It builds so well to the mid-match climax of the barbed wire bat then to the handcuffs and finally to the finish with thumbtacks. The characters are perfect. Cactus is a crazed monster that is always moving forward whether it is being slammed with a chair or handcuffed. He was out to destroy HHH. That's the difference between the bump machine of the early 90s and this Cactus, who has matured as a performer. He did not have this match by himself like he did with Sting. His bumps made sense, but more importantly he was out to hurt HHH and win the match. HHH knocked it out of the park in this one as he gave one of his best heel performance. He looked completely overwhelmed by the all out assault of Cactus. He was sold it like he shit a brick and he tried to hide behind weapons, but nothing was doing for him until he got a lucky break using Cactus' own momentum into the steel steps and then following that right up. Cactus took the vast majority of the match, but HHH earned his stripes by taking this beating. The heat segment was great and still featured a bunch of hope spots. The finish was a perfect climax to the his violent masterpiece. Holds up 100% and this match is HHH's best match (though I have the Daniel Bryan match as a close number two). *****

Dudley Boyz vs Hardy Boyz - WWF Royal Rumble 2000 Tables Match Holy shit, this was even better than I remembered! Super tight, exciting car crash spotfest of a match. I think I might prefer this over both the TLCs. I really liked how every single moment was motivated by putting someone through a table. They were indulging the crowd by trying to win the match and thats exactly how it should be. You win the match by putting people through tables so they were constantly setting themselves up for that. Really well done. I think a lot of car crash matches that this inspired just do crazy spots for the sake of crazy spots, but this match is better than those because all the crazy spots were motivated by securing a victory. I loved the escalation of spots in this match. Those chairshots were friggin' nasty. It is amazing Jeff Hardy is still alive nevermind wrestling given all the crazy bumps. Bubba chucking the table at Jeff as he came flying over the barricade. The Hardyz use a splash/legdrop combo to put Bubba through a table. My favorite spot up until the finish was when the Hardy desperately were trying to put Devon through a table, Devon moves from one table and Matt crashes through it, but Devon is now on top of another table, he moves again and Jeff canonballs through that table. Sick! The Dudz take advantage and Bubba SuperBombs Matt's ass through a table. JR gets the rules wrong as I think you had to put your opponents consecutively through tables so it actually reset as Teddy Long seemed to waive off everything and JR did say that at the beginning. The finish sequence is insane and is one of the coolest ever. Bubba is going to Balcony Dive through Matt on a bunch of tables, but Jeff unlaods with chairshots to the skull and Bubba falls through the tables. Matt sets Devon up on a table. Jeff rips his shirt off, soaks in the moment like a veteran pro and swandives off the balcony through Devon. Awesome finish! The Hardyz were an updated version of the blowjob tag team. The best way to book blowjob tag team to get them over with men and women alike is have them prove their mettle against gnarly monsters in violent bouts. In a lot of ways this was just Fabs vs Moondogs 2000 or Fans vs Sheepherders 2000. It worked brilliantly. The ladder match with E&C put them on the map, but this match made them stars. One of the best spotfests I have ever seen. Loved it! ****1/4

Yes clearly Bryan is out because of Sheamus not because Bryan was trying to go a million miles per hour and prove he was every bit the wrestler he was before the injury such as taking half Nelson duplexes from Luke Harper. If it wasn't Sheamus, it was going to be someone else. No need to call Sheamus, a stiff piece of shit.

Clearly this is meant to be the first chapter in a feud between them, so AJ isn't going to finish him off with a Styles Clash Totally agree with Mr. Jackson. It was a hot 90s style workrate TV match where wrestlers took risks and those did not always pan out. Yea there were clunky moments in the first point but they seemed on point in second half. I appreciated that was not move and then no transition the opponent hits a move. Here there were misses and that had consequences. It was a babyface veteran vs babyface newcomer match with Styles needing prove himself. He got himself a tidy win but nothing definitive because this is going to be their workrate feud. A great way to start the feud not perfect but a great way and something that was traditional and smart. In my personal opinion this type of booking should be celebrated not complained about.

It was a neck crank dude. Commentators have gone off on tangents during chin locks and head locks. It wasn't that egregious is all I'm getting at.

The Wyatt's threw Kane, Show and Henry out with ease. Brock man handled all three Wyatts. He ripped through them. Wyatts were established as the dominating force and he dominated them. Then after being worn down by manhandled three large men he was ganged up on by four large men. No shame there. Frustrating as a Brock fan and wanting to see Brock/Roman II, but no shame. WWE went out of their way to set up an elaborate plot device to have him eliminated and this is the second biggest program for Mania. AJ & Jericho at best can only hope for a distant third. People may groan but I'd like to see AJ vs Y2j at Mania. AJ vs Indy Star has been there done that I'll see it at Payback and it will be good feel to it

Is this in response to me? If so, AJ had a great entrance and then did pretty much nothing. Jericho just lasted a really long time. My mom was openly mocking for just laying in the corner. AJ probably made the last impression because it was his debut. Jericho, no way. Don't see that at all. If that was selling like crazy, standards for selling have dropped to a record low. Brock ripped through everyone. He sold some fatigued but he just lifted 300 lbs men repeatedly. He crushed everything in his path. It took four HUGE men to take him down. I'll grant you taking his elimination in stride.

I reject the notion Brock is just a guy. They went out of their way to have four HUGE men. Take him out. It was incredibly frustratingandcheap but it was the necessary to eliminate Brock from the match before the match. Look how Brock was booked before. Quickly eliminating people and dominating mammoths. Have no clue, how you come out feeling that Brock is just a guy.

I can see you saying it will date badly like babyface DX or Edge & Christian. I don't think Edge & Christian have dated badly per se. I can see you say goofball humor won't last. I disagree I love it. But Men on a Fucking Mission? They were never even as close to as over as the NEW DAY!

I love gimmick. The gimmick is a bit trite, but I think it could be overcome. The problem is the booking. The zero rationale for who they attack. They attack a random person. Spout some Mumbai jumbo and feud for four months and lose. Complain about Raven all you want at least his feuds had progression and his promos motivation. The Wyatt's like most things in WWE are half baked

Love you, PARV. But no, no we won't because New Day Rocks! New Day Rocks! New Day Rocks!

I got HHH all the way tonight. But will be rooting for Brock BABY! Also just want to add Becky Lynch has been crushing it on the mic and in the ring. She pulled a fun match out of Tamina. She is the best pure babyface on the roster. She is wicked charismatic and is pretty funny. I hope she either wins tonight or at Mania.

American Heavyweight Champion Chris Adams vs Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin - WCCW 4/2/84 The women are out with their men for this straight up championship bout. Garvin likes showing off scientific abilities early on in matches. He also loves yelling "He is going down, tonight, BABY!". Garvin loves using this to set up one-upmanship later on in the match. I think it works on the level that Garvin is the challenger so he starting right into the heat. He is really good at working the arm with a variety of strong arm holds, but he allows Adams to keep the crowd involved into it with cool spots like his bridge out of the armstretcher and his general energy. So it works almost as a shine because the crowd is still able to invest in Adams who can show off his athleticism. Again, just to reiterate, Garvin really worked the arm like a champ. As expected, Adams ended up putting Garvin into double wristlock. Just when it looked Adams would go on a fast break Garvin takes a powder. Garvin yanks the hair to get out of a chinlock, but that was only to set up Adams using his speed to get back into the chinlock. Again, Garvin setting up the face to one-up him and end up back where they started. Garvin has been really strong in these matches as a ring general and a selfless heel. He does get chinlock-y in the match. Garvin misses a kneedrop and this leads to Adams kicking Garvin's knee. I really liked kicking his knee out from under him when he was running the ropes.The finish run was one would expects involves the ladies. Adams is bridging out from under a pin and Precious hooks the leg, but the ref does not count to three. Garvin takes advantage of the distraction for another pinning combination, but Sunshine yanks him off by the hair. More chaos and Adams goes for O'Connor Roll, but Precious blinds him with the spray. Garvin steals the American championship!!! SUNSHINE IS PISSED! Sunshine attacks Precious again.Good match to set up some rematches. Garvin has a strong grasp on heel psychology even if he can be kinda boring sometimes. Adams is a fun good-looking, athletic babyface. I look forward to see what he can do against someone else besides Garvin. ***

"Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin w/Precious vs "Gentleman" Chris Adams w/ Sunshine - WCCW 1/30/84 Steel Cage Match World Class was way ahead of its time. Better TV production values, entrance music, cool badass heel stable and catfights! Was there any place doing catfights before Precious & Sunshine? This is for the vacant American Heavyweight Championship. I don't know why it is vacant, but I do know why Sunshine dumped Garvin it was because he hired Precious as her valet and that of course led to problems. I should really watch those angles. This was pretty outright boring for the first half of it with all the excitement coming from the women and whether they would go at it. Otherwise, they just did Adams one upping Garvin with long leg grapevine. I did like Garvin's verbal selling and Adams mocking the Garvin strut. Once Garvin headbutted Adams in the midsection, the match at least picked up from an action standpoint with Garvin being a scummy heel and Adams selling. Finally Adams goes into the cage and is bleeding profusely. Wow! Huge bladejob! Sunshine is a really effective valet selling her anxiety well. I did not get a real feel for Precious, but Sunshine is pretty charismatic. Adams' comeback was fine, but I thought the best part of the match by far was the finish. Adams landed on his feet from a back body drop and then promptly SUPERKICKED Garvin's head off. New American Heavyweight Champion! Garvin sends Adams flying out of the ring. Sunshine is locked in the cage with Precious and Garvin. Sunshine beats the living shit out of Precious. Adams clears the ring, but Garvin absconds with the championship belt. Sunshine talks some smack, which is great! Awesome angle for a return match. Blood, women and a badass finish make this an easy recommendation, but way too much downtime to say this is anymore than just very good. ***1/2

Terry Taylor vs Chris Adams - UWF TV 5/3/87 Vero's Hero puts in one of the best performances of his career as the entire match is one long, simmering heel turn. I noticed something was up almost immediately when did not shake the Gentleman's hand. Also, Taylor did a great job early on showing how insecure he felt. He would try something and nothing would stick. While Adams was always one step ahead of Taylor, whether it was taking him over with a headlock or double wristlock or powering him down off a leapfrog sequence. We saw Taylor try to pick up the tempo, slow it down by going into ropes or the outside or counterwrestling, but at each step Adams was a head of Taylor. I thought the way Taylor sold was much more like a heel would where he looked like he was being wimp whereas a face would fight through the pain. You could really feel the insecurity in Taylor's mind and that insecurity led him to start taking shortcuts. Like a kneelift to the Gentleman when he gave him a clean break or a closed fist. The closed fist started sending off the alarm bells in JR's & TA's heads especially as the ref confronts Terry Taylor. It is clear that Taylor favorite heel was Ric Flair, who he worked with closely in 1985. There were a lot of moments in this where Taylor looked like Flair, but not moreso than late in the match by the way he begged off. As good as Taylor was at slowly ramping up his heelishness, I thought Adams wrestled as the consummate babyface. His scientific wrestling was both exciting as it was pure. I loved his hope spots being pinning combinations. This was nowhere near Flair/Steamboat, but in a lot of ways it felt like that. By Adams wrestling so pure, it really highlighted Taylor's heelishness. Taylor bumrushed him with a headbutt into the midsection and finally Adams realizes that Taylor is being a prick and he headbutted Taylor into the midsection and here comes the heavy blows like punches and clotheslines. I love how Adams is now throwing it back in Taylor's face. Adams collides with the ref on a criss cross sequence. In the previous Adams/Taylor matches they have helped each other into the ring. This time TERRY TAYLOR PILEDROVE ADAMS ON THE CONCRETE! As a nice touch, Taylor plays dead and the ref counts both men down. Of course, Taylor is able to get back up and win by the countout. At the beginning of the match, Terry Taylor was cheered and by the end he is resoundingly booed. Taylor cements his heel turn in his post-match promo. I loved the story this told of Taylor's insecurities leading to him joining the dark side. I don't know if you could do a heel turn just based on how someone's tactics changed in a match. I loved the simplicity of the times. Taylor and Adams both delivered excellent performances. ****1/2

Ted DiBiase & Terry Taylor vs. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts -UWF TV 10/12/86 Country Whipping Match Bill Watts was clearly one of those people, who have never listened to the lyrics of Born In The USA. Was it every babyface's entrance theme? I am a total sucker for matches like this and this did not disappoint at all. I loved the energy, chaos and violence of this. I thought this was another badass DIBiase performance. His stock is starting to go up in my book. I thought all four men did a great job blending crowd pleasing spots with the violence. I liked the babyfaces railroading Buddy Roberts and isolating him from Hayes. Hayes then not wanting to be tagged in was funny. I thought the straps definitely livened up the usually bland Taylor and DiBiase and the Freebirds are the perfect heels to stooge and bump for them. I loved Taylor strapping Hayes from behind. Just as we saw in World Class, Buddy Roberts was the spark plug for the Freebirds and he did through eyerakes and choking. At first it looked like Taylor play face in peril, but he roared back with his strap. It was a nasty eyegouge by Roberts that fucked up DiBiase that started the FIP. I loved DiBiase's sell of this complete with losing control of the strap. DiBiase clobbered right with Roberts and I like this electricity DiBiase is bringing. DiBiase looks like has things in hand, but back from commercial and DiBiase is getting his ass whipped. I cant believe the Freebirds are actually getting work on top after all those World Class matches with the Von Erichs. I really liked the heat segment. Roberts strapping Taylor in the face on the apron was great as was all the double teaming and choking. I think I like DiBiase better as a face, he is really good at selling. Hayes will not be purely sexy in this match, but purely sadistic. I like that quote. DOuble clothesline! He leaps and makes the tag to Taylor! Taylor was a totally fine hot tag and the finish was a bit abrupt with just a hot cross body. I really enjoyed this one was an awesome TV main event. Finish being abrupt was my only complaint. ****1/4 After the match, there is a great brawl. Taylor goes throat first into the railing and there is a great sell. DIBiase looks for his black glove in this trunks, but Hayes blindsides him and uses the BLACK GLOVE AGAINST HIM!!! Awesome, awesome ending. Definitely makes you want to tune in next week.

UWF Heavyweight Champion Terry Gordy vs Dr. Death - UWF TV 9/28/86 I liked how all three matches told different stories, This is the valiant comeback from a pre-match injury match that I am a total sucker for. Hacksaw challenges the winner, but gives Gordy the thumbs down, which riles up the Freebirds triggering a massive brawl where One Man Gang and Skandor Akbar also come down. Hayes crashes down with all his weight on the outstretched arm of Dr. Death held in place by Gordy. It seems like Doc wont be able to make it out, but he is going to fight through the pain. For the next twelve minutes, Steve WIlliams gives his best non-All Japan performance of his life. He is constantly selling his arm and coming up with a ton of new ways to hurl his body at Gordy while protecting his arm. He was headbutting him, charging him, hell he even modified his crossbody. Gordy just really does nothing for me at this point. Everything about him is so adequate except for bumping. He is incredible at bumping, but he just does not add much else. His arm work was necessary, but he never took it to the next level. I thought Dr. Death gave a stellar performance and really carried Gordy here to something special. Credit where credit is due, when it came time to bump for this comeback Gordy did shine. Finish was predictably lame with Gordy using the foreign object, but that is infinitely more tolerable than referee buffoonery in the earlier pair of matches. I liked this match a whole lot, definitely check it out for Doc's performance. ****1/4

UWF Heavyweight Champion Terry Gordy vs Dr. Death - UWF TV 9/15/86 Jim Ross informs us that Gordy has returned from the Orient and Doc from the hospital courtesy of a Freebird piledriver on the floor. This definitely has more of a feel of a revenge match. Doc takes the majority of the match especially the first 8 minutes where he just kicks Gordy's ass. I like the amateur beginning and once Doc has control of the match he really throws him around. Gordy did go after the neck at some points, but Doc would almost immediately counter. Doc was clearly supposed to be perceived as the better wrestler. Doc was not great conjuring up that belief that he really wanted to kick ass. He did kick ass, but that hatred was not quite there. Back from commercial, Gordy was in control for a hot second before Doc exploded and then hit a piledriver! But he doesnt cover?!?! Instead, he riles up the crowd. He wants another piledriver to really pay him back for that piledriver, but first he bites him. Ok, I am starting to believe in this hatred. He is really gnawing on him. PILEDRIVER~! Business has picked up! Kick out!?!?!?!?!?!? Doc hammers on the head. Gordy levels the ref with a reverse crossbody! Second ref, Oh I know the finish, Doc knocks this muthafucka out with a Oklahoma Stampede. German suplex. One ref counts each man down and there is controversy?!?!?! The first match was your fun Clash of the Titans, this was more of the revenge match. Since Watts knew Doc was going to get fucked at least he gave him most of the match. I liked the first match more because it was more competitive, but this was still fun as a hoss fight. They both had shitty finishes. ***3/4

UWF Heavyweight Champion Terry Gordy vs Dr. Death - UWF TV 6/22/86 If there is one style of wrestling I'm partial to it is this raw-bone, pure power slobberknockers pitting two stout hosses against each other. Mid-South gives you a lot of variety, but this is their bread and butter. Who better than two members of the Miracle Violence Connections butting heads. Doc throwing Gordy around was fucking impressive as all hell at the beginning. Gordy took him down with a clothesline and then whipped him so hard into the buckles that it broke the top turnbuckle. Worked or not, I don't think it was that was awesome. I thought Michael Hayes was great on commentary. Doc was great at firing up and working in hope spots only to miss the big blows like his headbutt or spear. The finish run was wicked hot with Doc finally nailing the spear by wiping out the ref. Hayes trips him up so Bill Watts slugs Hayes. Doc slams Gordy down with authority and Watts counts the pin. It is clearly a Dusty FInish, but it get a huge pop. That's really my least favorite finish so the match leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but up until the end this just pure heavyweight fun. ****

Pete, did you think the finish was a little anticlimactic? I thought that was the weakest part of the match. Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion Dick Slater vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts - Mid-South, Houston 2/28/86 No DQ, Dark Journey in a Cage Slater had since won the championship back in the intervening weeks. Dark Journey is back, but it is neutralized by being in a cage high above the ring or at least that is the plan. I thought the body of this match was even better than their previous match, but the finish was a little lackluster so they are in a dead heat. The body sees really great dueling arm work. Jake is relentless on the arm at beginning wrapping it around the post a couple times. He is playing to the crowd and jawing with Dark Journey to keep his arm entertaining, but also he is keeping it moving. I thought he did a really nice job. Slater set himself up nicely to be cut off and brought back down by the arm. On the outside, Slater turns the tide by ramming Roberts shoulder first twice into the post. Slater works the arm beautifully. This is even better than Snake's arm work. Roberts arm gets trapped in the ropes and Slater smashes a chair into it. Dark Journey gives the thumbs up while the crowd hollers and boos. Jake sells the arm like a million bucks showing how much of an inhibition is for him as he tries to block punches or hit a kneelift. This is best selling I have seen in quite some time. Eventually, Snake goes back to what worked for him two weeks ago walloping Slater with his boot. Jake goes for the DDT, but Russian Legsweep by Slater and Dark Journey throws a chain down from her perch. They tussle over the chain, but eventually Slater comes crashing down on Jake the Snake to win the match. Now he holds all the gold! Slater and Roberts worked their asses off in the body. Jake did a great job fighting through the pain. Everything was set up for a hot finish, but Slater just came crashing down off the top without the chain. I know top rope moves were a big deal in the Mid-South, but still it was kinda lame. If he had the chain, that would have been better. Awesome limbwork watch it for that. ****1/4

Mid-South North American Champion Dick Slater vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts - Mid-South, Houston 2/14/86 No DQ In the angle leading to this match, Slater wanted to hold all the gold in Mid-South and was angling for Roberts' TV Championship. The Snakeman was ok with that as long because he wanted the North American Championship. Dicky Slater said the match would only be title vs title if the DDT was banned. Roberts being smarter than most wrestlers says no way, but when Slater doesn't budge he calls for Dark Journey to be banned. They brawl and Dark Journey sprays something in his eyes. Roberts in his blind sat DDTS DARK JOURNEY!!! HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS AWESOME! CROWD EXPLODED! Jake pokes fun of Slater asking him where Dark Journey is at the start of this match and Slater loses it on Roberts using a shirt to choke him and attack him. Slater beats the shit of Jake in this No DQ bout. He posts him, which busts him open. Piledriver! Jake's foot is on the ropes. Slater does his Terry Funk impressions while punching and chopping The Snake. Nice Russian Legsweep and then chokes him with tape. This is a really good match thus far. Slater has looked awesome and Roberts is a pretty decent seller. Jake takes off his boot and just starts wailing on Dicky Slater with it. Awesome idea! When you are getting beaten that bad, desperate times call for desperate measures. Slater blades off this. Roberts follows up with a clothesline and is signaling for the DDT! The crowd is going wild, but Slater dumps him with a back drop. Slater comes off the top, but cant follow it up. Jakes takes off his boot again, but loses control of it. Dicky Slater goes to pick it up. Jake steps on the boot and then BANG DDT! AWESOME FUCKING FINISH! Huge pop! This match is helped immensely by how over Jake and the DDT are. It was such a great ending. I thought Slater was great working on top kicking ass. He was getting revenge for the Dark Journey DDT, but never like the babyface. Too short to be an all-time classic, but as a feel good match with a ton of heat to it this was awesome. ****1/4

Butch Reed vs Buzz Sawyer - Mid-South 12/31/85 Dog Collar Match Think about the roster Mid-South had at this time on the heel side you had Dick Slater, Dick Murdoch and Buzz Sawyer, which is pretty great. Then get a load of the babyface side: Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase, Butch Reed and Jake Roberts. That is bonkers deep. Reed is looking for revenge on Sawyer. Sawyer wants a Dog Collar match and Reed is like you are playing right into my hand, sucka. Reed gets his No DQ match. I watched this six months ago and thought it was every bit as good as the Duggan Dog Collar match and still think so. It is just violence and hatred personified. I really like how such small mistakes can have such devastating consequences in a match like this. For instance, by missing one punch at the beginning, Sawyer gets his ass beat for the next five minutes and is bleeding like a stuck pig. Reed is great at hollering and really playing up how he much he enjoy beating Sawyer up. I loved the chain pressed against the cut. The same thing applied to Reed when he missed a fist drop now Sawyer could take over on him and really do a number on him and bust him open. It was a total war of attrition. I loved that Dog Bark Sawyer did. One of his chain whips sounded brutal on Reed's head. It was scary and crazy. Both men are exhausted and Reed bowls him over, but cant stand himself. Sawyer and rips off his Dog Collar and ties Reed to the bottom rope. Reed comes out of his funk and realizes his plight, but it is too late the Mad Dog sneak attacks. Then in one of the most brutal finishes of all time Sawyer goes to bulldog Reed, but because he is tied to the bottom rope he is yanked back violently to the ground. OUCH! 1-2-3, Buzz Sawyer wins. Slater and Sawyer look to double team Reed, but Duggan saves only to be clothesline brutally by the chain right before his North American heavyweight title match with Dicky Slater. Awesome, awesome violent spectacle. Sawyer was totally out of control and Reed was awesome as the avenging babyface. What an insane finish! Easy top 10 Mid-South match of all time. ****1/2

I didn't bring up in my review, but if they had Roberts work the neck more and Flair really sell they could have gotten this to *****. I can see why they wouldn't as it may have been to heel in peril. Maybe more hope spots around Roberts attacking the neck. Liked you said, that was one of the best pre-match angles ever. Really well done.