Superstar Sleeze

I need to finish up my 80s WWF tag team watching, but I am close enough to done that I am starting my next project: WCW's midcard from approximately GAB 1991 -Bash at the Beach '94. So I am definitely going to need a Brian Pillman thread to house this all. So after Pillman delivered one of the greatest performances in Wargames history. He had a heated feud with Barry Windham that could have elevated him to the World Title contender status. You could tell how much Flair loved working with Pillman and how much of a star vibe Pillman had in 1991. Then they ran the angle where Pillman is retired, but comes back as the Yellow Dog. I kinda shit on this angle in a '91 yearbook thread "Flair/AA vs Eaton/Pillman", but seeing the following match softened my stance. I think in theory this is actually a great angle to raise Pillman's stock even more. You have all these heels, Studd, the Horsemen etc... desperately trying to unmask him in Bounty Matches, but Pillman keeps avoiding them. I think doing "this as a worst kept secret" is definitely for the best because now the fans see Pillman as overcoming this bounty and all the heels including Ric Flair gunning for him. My problem remains is why the fuck did they choose the "Yellow Dog". At least the Midnight Rider sounds cool. Yellow dog sounds like an insult from a Terry Funk promo and on top of that the ring attire is friggin' stupid. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Diamond Studd w/DDP vs Yellow Dog/Bobby Eaton - WCW 6/91 I believe this Flair's last televised performance with WCW until his '93 return as GAB starts that week according to JR and I know he is gone before the Meadowlands show. I actually liked this match even more than the Flair/AA vs Eaton/Pillman as this match seemed more heated and had more of a focus. The focus was getting the Yellow Dog over like rover. JR aggravates Paul E. with obtuse references to Pillman while the Yellow Dog does moves and Paul E. flips his shit each time. Studd is a little clunky, but hell if he does not sell and bump for Pillman. Pillman does not give an all-time great offensive performance but they way Flair and Studd treat him makes you feel like Pillman is a star. I love the ending where the heels just jump Pillman and try to remove his mask. It puts over the mask and the angle over so much before Eaton makes the save. I would be remiss not to mention that Flair/Eaton segments are so fucking good even better than the last tag. Those strike exchanges are everything you would want out of Flair/Eaton. I would not say a much see match as Flair/Eaton had a better match in 01/90 and Pillman has had better performances. However, it did a really good job getting the bounty angle and making me a believer in the angle even if they ended up botching the end game. ----------------------------------------------------------- Ok, I did all of two seconds of googling (what an age we lived in) and found out Barry Windham ran this exact angle in Florida where he returned as the Yellow Dog. Since Windham was the guy who put Pillman out of WCW, I think that is a really sweet piece of continuity. That being said the ring costume is still atrocious. --------------------------------------------------------- Yellow Dog, Bobby Eaton & Dustin Rhodes vs Barry Windham, Arn Anderson & Diamond Studd w/DDP - WCW 07/21/91 Crazy to think out of these seven, it was DDP that got a run with the world title (when Barry won the title in '93, it was the second-class title). I would this at about same level as the above match nothing you have to see, but this a whole lot of fun. Plus the crowd is wicked into this match. I think the Yellow Dog angle was actually getting over until they had to abort it because Windham's face turn and the light heavyweight division. The beginning was definitely best part with Windham going right after the mask and Pillman showing up him and Arn. Holy shit, did we have some good worked punches in this match and Pillman's sweet overhand chop. Hell pretty much all Hall and Dustin could offer at this point was a sweet worked punch. Studd/Eaton and Studd/Rhodes was awkward. Dustin had some nice exchanges with Arn and Windham. Arn rolling to the outside to escape Dustin only to get clobbered by Eaton never gets old. Then we hit the triple figure-4 that gets the crowd pumped. Eaton falls prey to a Horsemen trap as he ducks an Arn punch on the outside only to be clobbered by B-Dub. The heat segment was pretty decent nothing to write home about except Eaton takes the Pillman chin first bump onto railing that always looks wicked painful. Pillman botches a leapfrog before getting the pin on Arn. They all go after the mask, but Dustin clears the ring with a chair. The beginning of the match was the best part with Pillman really looking like a star. I think they should have been more unmasking attempts to really put over the angle. The match just settled into normal match mode after the heated beginning. It is too bad Windham had already cut his hair or they did not have another long-haired upper midcard heel. Yellow Dog in hair vs mask match would have been a sweet blowoff. --------------------------------------------------------------- Going back in time to the Windham/Pillman series on TV. I have seen the matches before and remember liking them. For some reason, I don't think I saw the taped fist match at SuperBrawl. Brain Pillman vs Barry Windham - WCW 3/21/91 WCW's TV schedule is so confusing, but I don't think this match made the yearbook, but the subsequent matches did. I think this is the perfect first match in a series. You don't want to blow your wad all at once. They did some nice heated work, but left themselves plenty of room to build on this. Pillman goes right after the arm early, but Pillman counteracts that with athletic pinfall attempts (crucifix and sunset flip). We get some nice Pillman overhand chops, before working Windham's leg. To Windham's he sells Pillman's leg work for a while when it really felt perfunctory so Windham saved that portion. Pillman shoulder ends up getting rammed into the turnbuckle and the rest of it writes itself as Windham beats on the arm and eye-rakes whenever Pillman tries to rally. Eventually Pillman hits a clothesline and they brawl onto the outside before AA comes to attack Pillman. The whole thing gets thrown out and the Steiners save. Like, I said a really good first match in a series, but I kinda remember my problem with this series is that there is no progression from here. Let us see... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman vs Barry Windham - WCW Pro 4/6/91 Tony and Larry Z are excellent on commentary what the hell happened during the Nitro Era. Actually, there was some progression here, but given that they would still have another match before the Taped Fist match, this is another great addition to the series. Unlike the Wargames performance, Pillman is relying on speed rather than violence to keep Windham off balance and ultimately take the advantage by working Barry's arm in an eye for an eye type move. I liked Pillman's hammerlock work and his general ability to overcome Windham's tricks and cheat moves with speed and heart. Windham does a great job of putting over Pillman as he comes in wary and sells well for Pillman. We come back from commercial and finally Windham is able to hiptoss Pillman from the top rope thus gaining him the advantage. I thought this heat segment was even better and grittier with Windham really working Pillman's arm with holds, slams and ripping at the shoulder brace. I love a good fish hook and Windham using that 'ol hook in the mouth to stymie Pillman was great. Just when Pillman looks to mount a comeback, Windham rolls through and grabs the tights with both hands to secure the victory. As B-Dub is gloating with Larry Z, Pillman leaps onto Windham and it is on like Donkey Kong. Windham gains the advantage again hitting a bulldog structured so that it would look like he is trying to separate the shoulder. Larry Z thinks Pillman has a death wish and like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Pillman claws his way over and grabs Windham's hair. Once again, Windham quashes Pillman by attacking the shoulder. After Big Barry goes back to talk to the Living Legend, here comes EL Gigante and now Windham heads for the hills. They did a really good job of putting over Pillman's never say die attitude. You are just waiting for Pillman to really erupt as he has just been using speed and guts so far, which should come eventually. This would have been enhanced if JR was on commentary in terms of getting that aspect over, but Tony and Larry did a great job breaking down the match. They have not had that break out match that you know they can have. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman vs Barry Windham - WCW 4/27/91 They still had to save something in the tank for Superbrawl I, but this was getting closer to that grudge match type atmosphere as Pillman was more violent than athletic in this match. You really had JR harping on the grudge match feeling in the match. Pillman no longer has the shoulder brace so this should be more about the feud than the shoulder injury. They sort of had a false start as there was a botched back body drop and they kind of lost their place. Then they reset did the back body drop and Pillman came on strong with some wicked chops. He dropkicked Windham off the the top rope and hit a double axe-handle off the top rope onto the floor. Things definitely feel more heated from Pillman's side. Pillman should never do leapfrogs maybe he got better at them, but in 1991 he did this sort of one legged deal and it looked awful. Windham threw him up in the air and he belly flopped. Windham dropped him with nasty brainbuster. Windham was excellent as a prick heel with tons of eye-rakes to stymie Pillman and a nice fish hook. A lariat only gets two for Windham. Pillman is bleeding and it may be from Windham digging his nails in his eyes because I can't tell when he would have bladed. Pillman mounts a comeback with a spinning heel kick and missile dropkick. He gets an inside cradle on a bodyslam and AA interferes. They beat him down before Eaton makes a save to add heat to his SuperBrawl encounter with AA. It was not all-time classic as it was still missing that level of heat. I like how they have built on each match as they are finally getting into the fight portion of the feud, but still saving something for the taped fist match. Pillman wrestled a totally different match and he did as equally well as in the above matches. Windham is great at walking a fine line between giving Pillman too much and still protecting himself. It was another good match, but hoping that the Taped Fist match is that all-time classic. -------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman vs Barry Windham - Superbrawl I Taped Fist Match I had never seen this match before, but definitely came across to me as an unsung classic. I agree that it is too abrupt to consider this a MOTYC or a true all-time great match, but for as long it lasts this match kills it. Windham establishes he is the bigger of the two and is real cocky at the beginning. Once Pillman gets him off his feet, he is relentless with punches and follows him onto the corner. Windham exclaims " Get him off me! Dont he know the rules!". Dusty says the rules were thrown out when he injured him or something to that effect. Pillman dropkicks him off the top and comes off the top with a punch and he is pumped. Big Barry is bleeding early, but he uses Pillman's momentum against him and Pillman goes flying into the post and he is busted open. Windham sends Pillman crashing into the railing falling with him in the bump of the match. You can feel how much these two are trying to kill each other. Pillman comes back with some vicious chops, which is my I did not like this choice of gimmick for them. Pillman does not really use punches. I am just glad 2010 JR is not calling this match otherwise those chops would carcinogenic. Windham with a big belly to back suplex, but nothing is holding Pillman down until they crack heads. Pillman ascends the top rope, but Windham hits him with a low blow and then hits a superplex with a floatover for the win. It really was a beautiful superplex. The problem with this match is that it felt too abrupt. I do not think we saw as many fist fight exchanges as I wanted to see. For what we got, it was a vicious match with plenty of bleeding and some nice highspots. Also, felt bad that Pillman still got the screws put to him. Windham is such a great performer and throughout this series he has played bully and coward both convincingly. Pillman has played the plucky underdog with a heart three sizes too big so well. I just feel the booking was not there for them to make this all-time series. The Yellow Dog angle could have gone somewhere, but external forces (as always in WCW) were against them. However, this series bookend by two great performances at Wargames and Superbrawl. I would say this is pretty easily 1991 WCW's feud of the year. ----------------------------------------------------- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman - WCW 4/91 Holy fuck, what a war! I have seen this match before and I made the case for the '90 match being better, but I am having a hard time believing that after watching this one again. I don't mean this as a slight to the Windham series, but this match blows those TV matches out of the water. This was a gritty, nasty match. Flair's chest is bleeding within the first five minutes from Pillman's overhand chops. I love how when Flair chops Pillmain in the corner he immediately ties him up to prevent another Pillman chop. Pillman can not be denied early on as he is looking for vengeance for what the Horsemen did to him. Pillman looks to take an eye for an eye by wrapping Flair's leg around the post. Pillman applies a half-crab, but cant hold on. Flair hits a reverse atomic drop out of the corner and he takes over. This part of the match veers from brutal brawl to putting over Pillman's heart as he is just withstanding the relentless onslaught of Flair's cheating. He put his feet on the ropes multiple times, a low blow and eye-rakes. He was really pouring it on. Pillman just kept coming. Paul E. keeps bringing up Flair/Pillman's teacher/student relationship, which is a nice touch to put over how personal this rivalry is. Pillman press slams Flair, who keeps jawing with the crowd. However, Pillman crashes and burns on the missile dropkick. Still, Pillman chops his way out of trouble and Flair flops and flips for him, but Flair catches Pillman on the outside. Still, Pillman just keeps coming back with chops, but then he dropkicks the ref by accident. Flair is able to slap on the figure-4 and AA is out to give him extra leverage. Pillman keeps kicking out even in these dire circumstances, until El Gigante arrives on the scene to attack the Horsemen triggering the DQ. It is an absolute shame Pillman did not get the spot on the January Clash as announced on the TV, which went instead to Scotty Steiner. These matches with Flair are reminiscent of Flair's brutal battles with Ronnie Garvin, which were absolute wars. The first five minutes of this were stiff as all hell. After that, transitioned nicely into a gritty contest with Flair doing everything he could to win the match to get the hell out of dodge so he no longer had to withstand the wrath of Flair. Pillman was that pitbull just like JR said who did not say die. It is a gripping contest that would be a MOTY in WWF, but with Wargames '91 and Steamboat/Rhodes vs Enforcers match, this is in the next class down. Pillman should have been a huge babyface star in 1991 WCW and the more I watch. The more I grow disappointed with my beloved WCW. ---------------------------------------------------- I knew that Pillman was trained by Stu Hart that's why he was in the Hart Foundation in '97. I cant believe I was worked by Heyman. Shakin' my head at myself.

Let me preface this with saying that Tommy Rich's career has always really interested me as he was the centerpiece of a possible Georgia national expansion. There were so many moving parts in the early 80s that from a political perspective it is easily the most interesting period to me as a wrestling fan. I have not seen much Tommy Rich, but what I have seen in Memphis against Dundee and as a tag team in the New Fabulous Ones is really good and he looks like he could be an all-time great as this thread posits. Of course, I say this because I am about to say something derogatory. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Tommy Rich - Power Hour (Taped 3/90) Shown 12/90 Before, I get to the match Woman is an absolute stunner in this. Any woman that appreciated Ric Flair is a-ok in my book. This is a broomstick match. Flair has so many spots that they do not do all of them and actually they stick to less frequent Flair spots that it makes this really fun. I expect Flair to have a broomstick match with likes of Tom Zenk, but I thought Tommy Rich may get a little more freedom. I was wondering why it did not make the '90 yearbook given the participants, but since it is just a match that exists in a vacuum and it feels like Rich is just an interchangeable wrestler in Flair's plug-n-play format I can understand why this did not make it. I really liked the opening Flair matwork and Rich's headscissors were really good. It was the usual babyface bests Flair on the mat and frustrates him, but in 1990 this was actually a pretty common sequence and Rich is really game for it. Flair goes to the corner and besides Vader may be the greatest corner wrestler of all time, but much to my surprise this is not the heat transition. See Flair still can surprise me. A reverse elbow sends Rich crashing to the floor. I love Flair out on the floor. He is just a wicked presence out there. he wraps Rich into a half nelson and throws his feet on the ropes, but to no avail. Flair busts out the butterfly suplex, my favorite suplex. Rich throws Flair into the railing. Flair's selling of this is why he is one of the best. Flair always used every inch of available real estate afforded to him that's how you make the most of your opportunities. Rich's big contribution to the match is Thesz Press down the stretch for two. The finish is a shoulder tackle where Flair knocks Rich's foot off the ropes and gets the two. They really put over Rich and the part fatigue play in wrestling with that finish. Too bad, they showed it 9 months after it was taped. I am a pretty unabashed Ric Flair fan and enjoyed watching this style match of his because he would bust it out less and less as time progressed. Unfortunately, this negated Tommy Rich's ability to make his mark in this match. The only reason a match with Zenk I would consider better than Rich's is because the Zenk match had Flair do a heel turn mid-match and this match was straight heel Flair match. The Zenk match had a more interesting hook even though Rich could keep up with Flair better.

Why, why, why didn't they play up the fact that exactly one year ago Punk needed all this help (Maddox, Shield) to beat Ryback. I don't think that would castrate Punk and then you could really play up "Can Punk beat this guy?" or does did Heyman really pull trump with this coup by gaining the services of Punk's archrival. Ugh. Regardless, it remains the match I am most interested in. This is the type of PPV (not that they would ever do it) where Wargames would come in handy. You do Bryan/Ziggler/Rhodes vs Orton/Shield in a Wargames you pop the buyrate without really having to move the story along and give the faces a victory. Instead, the story does seem to have stagnated. I still would say this is best year has been the best Orton year that I can ever remember as he is actually interacting with the crowd since Wrestlemania. Besides Punk/Ryback, I am interested in Rhodes Family vs the Shield and that's about it. I don't the story for Bryan is dead yet and there are plenty of ways to go, but they have definitely hit a lull in my interest for Bryan, but thats what the upper midcard is there for and they have some good stuff in that. I never buy non-Big 4 PPVs (well except MITB 2011), but just my thoughts anyways,

O shit, I was wondering if you were going to do Backlund's stuff in Japan. That stuff is so friggin' good. I have never actually watched his '79 stuff with Inoki, but his '78 match in Japan with Inoki is something I would rank higher than the Valentine '79 draw. Backlund/Dusty in Japan is an easy contender for Dusty's greatest match and Backlund/Hansen '80 Japan is just as good as you think it would be. Plus you are getting closer to the epic Backlund/Hogan match in Philly. Shit really getting revved up now.

Pillman looks like an absolute cant miss star to me in this. I love Eaton as much as the next Southern wrestling mark, but the way Pillman is fired up for this match and Eaton is just kinda there juxtaposed tells me all I need to know. Pillman should have been headlining with Flair and should have been pushed in the midcard singles title scene. Flair was surely an eager beaver in this match as he Flair Flops over nothing early. The beginning brawl seemed a little lukewarm to me. The first Flair/Eaton ratcheted up the heat as that was some really good exchanges. Now the Flair Flop off a railing shot seems much more apropos. The Horsemen work a nice heat segment with Pillman;s leg being worked on before Pillman's big retirement match against the Horsemen with Gigante. Eaton is in and gets a piece of Flair. Given how Flair took that back body drop and Flair Flip and then multiply that by 300 and then again by like 35 it is amazing he is still standing. The heels bail after this overwhelming babyface offense and they go off the air with the babyfaces chasing them to the back. This match is action-packed, but really the only things that stuck out to me are the Flair/Eaton exchanges and how much Pillman felt like a total star in this. You could say it was a big responsibility that he was chosen to basically create a whole division from scratch. I think we all agree that division was DOA. I wanted to see Pillman/Luger touring around the fall '91 for the belt.

This is the type of great match that I somehow always forgot about when I am making lists.Then whenever a wicked hot girl at the club asks me to rattle of My top 10 best WCW matches of the 90s and I list them then she says "What about Steamboat's return with Dustin against the Enforcers". I just rip off the nearest blazer from some hotshot, drop a knee on it and ask her to marry me on the spot. If I say it enough, this is bound to happen. Point is after this match, I am never forgetting about this match again. I don't know if it is in my top ten because it is fuckin' awesome and deserves all the praise it gets. To me all time great matches, need urgency and struggle. You have to believe these two men or teams are actually working to achieve victory. In this match, every single spot is worked for because how great all four of these men are. It has become almost cliche to praise how well the Enforcers put over Steamboat's return, but that only shows how great a job they do from the facial expressions to "NOT RICKY STEAMBOAT!". I watched this match with my mother and brother and when he said "He's just a man!" They popped huge. (My whole living with my parents may be a detriment to the above fantasy). I always, always loved that line. This tag match is like manna from heaven after being in the desert of WWF tags. Look, I have seen plenty of great WWF tags don't get me wrong, but there is nothing like Mama's home cookin'. I have come home, baby! Jim Ross sums up the beginning the best when he says the Enforcers have been totally psyched out my Ricky Steamboat explaining how they are just generally so cerebral, but this surprise has really unnerved. I love that is how that match really unfolds as the story in and out of the ring really connects. The babyface shine is just one of those really feel-good ones, but credit to the Enforcers they are still working to get the advantage they are just discombobulated by the presence of Steamboat. I would rank Ric Flair as the greatest verbal seller of all time, but Larry Z is definitely up there with him. From the beginning, Dustin looks like he belong in there with these three veterans as he is excellent at delivering some great babyface offense. The Enforcers are cheating and stalling like muthafuckas, but nothing seems to take effect as the babyfaces will just not be denied. The thing I really took away from this match was that the transition to the heat segment maybe the greatest transition I have ever seen. Larry Z slaps Steamboat to get him hot and he bails. The Steamer gives chase. Larry Z gets back in and tags Arn. As Steamboat gets back in, Arn hits him. Dustin goes to argue and Arn comes crashing down on the Dragon's back while the Living Legend holds him. Tony puts over that looked "helter-skelter", but it was actually a well-laid plan. That was the fuckin' beauty of it. It is did not look rehearsed. It looked like a really intelligent piece of strategy to finally give the Enforcers the advantage. The Enforcers work a kickass heat segment, but that's like telling you the sun is coming up tomorrow. It is just a clinic as they focus on Steamboat's back and constantly are keeping him in their corner. My favorite part is the Boston Crab where Larry Z is pushing Arn's head back just for that extra little bit. In a match like this, every inch counts. What I really want to make a point of is in a WWF tag usually the heels just do their thing. Here, Steamboat is still clawing at everything. He is still throwing strikes. He is looking to claw his way back into this anyway he can. This entire match has just had so much struggle to it and that's makes it so timeless. Who ever is on the defensive is still putting up a fight. Steamboat gets an atomic drop, but Arn's head snaps back and they crack heads. The ref's count is on, but the Dragon makes it to the Natural. Dustin is a house afire. He hits a wicked lariat and here comes the bulldog on AA. He tags Steamboat back in so Steamboat can hit the cross-body on Arn so he can get the feel-good moment in winning the tag titles in his return. They used Dustin perfectly in this match, but not due to a lack of experience as he was just about to have an absolutely incredible '92. Steamboat was the main focus of the match. You wanted to see Steamboat kick ass at the beginning, get his ass beat and then get the pinfall because he is in the returning hero. Dustin was a sweet guitar fill to Steamboat's all-time bitchin' riff. Dustin hit a lot of good offense to pop the crowd. This is my favorite Steamboat performance because of how passionate it is and how he just works every spot as hard as he can. I don't think much more can be said about the Enforcers, just a masterful heel performance. I am so glad to finally be home, again!

In one night, WCW turns around the entire company from what could have been a death blow at Great American Bash '91. It was really only 4 months and I think that's actually pretty damn fast given what happened. I am not saying Rude + Steamboat = Flair, but fuck if it did not make great TV right through Beach Blast '92. This match is the WWF's domain, not that they would ever come close to running an angle like this until the Attitude Era. WWF is usually better at using as a match as backdrop to run an angle, but WCW kills them on this one as this is just superb. I remember reading about this angle on Wrestlecrap and thinking what the fuck is wrong with this author this sounds bitchin'. So having watched it a couple since then, yep I was right, the execution was pitch perfect. Paul E. is excellent as the evil genius that rambles too long giving the hero enough time to make it back. Sting hitting the military press to Rude on the ramp was one of the best hope spots of all time. He really could pull this out. They do everything they can to protect Sting. Rude works over his badly injured knee, he pokes him in the eyes, Paul E. hits him in the head with the phone and finally Rude chop blocks AND grabs the tights to get the pin. I think every bit of it works. This is where you want all this shit in excess because it makes both parties garner more heat. Outside of the Vader series, this may be the best Sting performance of all time as he really milks the knee injury and delivers a great heroic performance. Rude immediately feels like a huge deal in WCW beating Sting for a title in a great dick heel performance. Kudos to the booking committee to stick the titles on Rude and Steamboat right off the bat . That's how you build on an immediate impact.

Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko, Sid Vicious) vs. Sting's Squadron (Sting, Brian Pillman & Steiner Brothers) - WCW Wrestlewar '91 WARGAMES Watched this match last night and those first five minutes blew me away moreso than any watch I had had before. From the beginning, when the visibly injured Pillman breaks from the pack to exact revenge from the Horsemen. I love how commentary puts that and all things Pillman over. I like how Pillman mixed athletic and violent spots to display both sides of his character. Sometimes, when people grab onto the ceiling of the cage and try to do a spot it comes off artificial. This looked Pillman was looking for that extra leverage to fuck up Barry Windham. Once Pillman busted Windham out, when he had Windham's blood smeared on his mouth that is one of the most feral, barbaric things you will ever see in a wrestling ring. Pillman was a man possessed in that segment. I loved Barry Windham's crazy out of control bump over the top rope of both rings into the next ring. Windham was a next level athlete. Flair is in like a wild man and even with his mushroom cut can still go toe to toe with Pillman in a chopfest. Flair begs off and now finally Big, Bloodied Barry has recovered enough to break Pillman's momentum. Together the Horsemen friggin chuck Pillman as hard they can shoulder first into the cage. I said "Holy Shit!" audibly seeing that. That was such a great spot. Flair goes over and gives the Sting team a big 'ol hip thrust. I love it! Barry hoists Pillman onto his shoulder and drives him his shoulder into the cage. Then they throw Pillman across into the other ring (a wicked bump, similar to Big Barry's earlier) in order to get him away from Sting's door. Holy shit, that's some sweet strategy. I know just realized Pillman did the same thing to Windham in the first segment. Even in the heat of the battle, these wrestlers are the ultimate tacticians. Both Horsemen meet Sting at the door, but Sting is hopped on on that sweet Phoenix noise!?!?!?!?! He hits a double clothesline to a big pop. It is bulldogs for everyone. Windham is resorting to eye-rakes to everyone, but Sting can't be denied. Larry Z in is so Sting just flies over both rings and clobbers Larry Z. It settles into a blur of violence until the wicked ending. The Steiners brought a lot of great energy while Sid brought a lot of awkward spot calling and stilted moments. Sid single-handlely knocks this out of classic status for me. I say that as one of the biggest Sid's fans of all time, but I gotta call a spade a spade. They hit a great crowd-pleasing spot in the form of a quadruple figure-4 spot. I like violence as much as next wrestling fan, but I thought the violence at the beginning of this match was a lot more noteworthy than the middle of the match. I thought it was interesting that Rick Steiner was the one that busted Flair open. I thought those honors would have gone to the Stinger. I swear everytime the camera was on Sid he was calling a spot. Ugh. I actually like how Larry Z threw Rick Steiner into the cage hard, but Steiner no-sold because "Muthafucka, I got no brains." Scotty Steiner is the bundle of energy you expect great Steinerline on Sid. Stinger Splash by Sting and locks the Scorpion Deathlock onto Flair. I agree that this some of the best Flair/Sting segments ever. I never been a big fan of the military press into the roof spot as it does not looks like it hurts. I LOVE that while a bunch of action is going on you can hear Larry Z's screams of agony in the background. Wargames is friggin' awesome. Sid gets a hold of Pillman and throws him up into the ceiling. Then he nearly kills Pillman dead with the first powerbomb and then does another one. El Gigante, the friendly giant, is out to surrender for his unconscious amigo. I know that powerbomb was unsafe, but goddamn it looked brutal. This is an excellent violent affair. That maybe the best opening 10 minutes in Wargames history. Pillman is an absolute beast throughout the match and the best violent performance of his career. I would say this the WCW match of the year over the Clash Tag that features the return of Dragon. I have to think long and hard if it is better than '94 Wargames match. I would say they are pretty even. '94 may win out because there is more emotion with Dusty & Dustin vs the Stud Stable. Still is a very breezy and bloody match. ****1/2 I do not think that I have to tell anyone that 1991 WCW booking sucked the meat missile. I will say that I think the first half of the year actually sucked worst than the second half. I think the uncertainty of whether Flair would leave or not hurt more than Flair actually hurt the company more than his outright leaving. I went through the results for '91 and Flair basically wrestled only Sting and Gigante on the house show loop. I was trying to read WCW TV recaps where I could, but I could not glean any reason to believe they were building towards Luger/Flair in the same way as in '90 when Flair/Sting was being built. Late WCW '91 sucked because of lack of talent and a huge void. Early WCW '91 sucked because Flair was on top and no one was building towards anything. Luger and Sting were stuck in a malaise and a returning Nikita Koloff was not the solution. Also, how come Pillman got bumped from Jan Clash spot that Scotty Steiner got? I read that Pillman was announced on TV as having that match. Early '91 WCW was devoid of angles and direction. I love Pillman, but the fuckin Yellow Dog angle was the hottest angle of the Summer of '91. You need a hotter main event angle than that.

This match was pretty decent. I watched Barry's big return to the NWA at the end of the Flair/Luger match. It just lacked the big return feel I expected. Already, it just seems like business as usual for Big Barry as he is teaming with Double A against the Roadies. I like that the Horsemen get some offense in even if Roadies no sell it as it feels like they are overcoming an obstacle as opposed to WWF where the Busters were thrown around willy nilly by teams like Demolition. I thought this was pretty action-packed, but it was a short-ish match so they could afford to go all out. The Road Warriors are finally done in by a knee to the back during a bearhug. Barry shows up both Hawk and Animal by doing a way better powerslam than they ever could hope of doing. Animal's headbutts from the knees were the best part of this because he actually looked like he got some decent spring going into Windham's gut. We get a total clusterfuck finish because Sid fucks up. Eventually, Ole is out and we get a proper Horsemen, but wait what's this? Junkyard Dog in the always timeless Zubaz (the only way to look bitchin' as all hell and still be comfortable) leads the Dudes withe Attitude to make the save. Barry looked like he had not missed a step since leaving the NWA in February of 1989 and otherwise just your basic NWA TV Main Event.

The Rockers vs Nasty Boys w/Jimmy Hart - 11/91 UK I have been looking forward to revisiting because I feel like the Nasties and the Rockers are such a natural pairing. This is easily the Nasties best match in the WWF and one of my picks for Top Ten WWF Rockers matches. It is very similar in format to the Rougeaus match, but just does not do everything as well as that match. They do a little bit of stooging for the crowd before the match proper gets started. The UK crowd lapped it up again responding accordingly. I liked how the Nasties always looked like they were going to get control with strikes, but the Rockers would always gain the upperhand. Especially, like the first sequence where Shawn bit his away out of a bearhug and then Marty dove onto both Nasty Boys. They did no tag switch out much to the chagrin of Jimmy Hart and delight of the Brits. Eventually, Knobs pulls down the ropes and Shawn goes tumbling over. I liked the King of the Mountain portion of the heat segment, but once it got in the ring it dragged a bit. I think thats where this match really loses ground on the Rougeaus is in the heat segment. Shawn powers up on a camel clutch, which I did not care for that spot. Marty runs through the Nasties in a really good sequence. I thought they blew the finish where Marty got the pin, but Shawn upstaged him, but it turned out to be a false finish. In the confusion, Jimmy gets one of the Nasties the Megaphone to polish off the Rockers, which makes sense since the Rockers would be breaking up soon. Yes, this is a poor man's Rougeaus/Rockers, but I still like it a good bit. The Rockers work around the Nasties' goon offense making them look like clumsy, lunkhead heels until the Nasties finally break the momentum with some underhanded tactics. I really liked Nasties' strikes and I wish they just brawled with the Rockers during their control segment. Thats what is really missing from the Rocker's WWF resume is a nasty brawl and if there was ever team to deliver that it would have been the Nasty Boys. I would have loved to see a good chase for the Nasties' tag belts by the Rockers in the summer of '91 if there was no LOD. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs Haku & Barbarian w/The Brain - Wrestlemania VII From a poor man's Rougeaus match to a poor man's Powers of Pain match, but still really fucking good. I loved all the action in this and this would be the perfect match to get a crowd revved up for a Wrestlemania if it was any crowd besides this lame LA crowd. Shawn & Haku worked a nice little sprint to start things off. I liked how when Shawn was moving he had the advantage, but if Haku could just catch him the momentum would switch to him. It really established the dynamic of the match. Little bit of self-plagiarism from their Hart Foundation match, after a double team Barbie decks them both (their synchorized 360 sells are really good), but the Rockers send both packing with double superkicks. The future Faces of Fear regroup with The Brain after was a pretty well-executed Rockers offensive series. The Barbie/Marty sequence was not as fun, but Barb has some really sweet strikes. In a really great sequence, Shawn helps Marty do a rana takeover on Barb with a dropkick. When Marty tries again on Haku, the ref detains Shawn and Barb takes Marty while on Haku's shoulders and drops him throat first across the top rope. That was friggin' bitchin' both as a spot and in the intelligence of it all. What follows is a well-down power heat segment with the highlights being Haku's backbreakers and Barbie catching Marty off the second rope into a bitchin' powerslam. Barb misses his diving headbutt. Before this, I would have given Marty the edge in work because he was the better hot tag, but this match proves Shawn had really closed the gap as he worked a really good hot tag and really let himself fly. They double dropkick Barbie out. Marty hits Haku with a missile dropkick and Shawn grabs the victory with a flying cross-body to end a great match. I would say the Powers of Pain match is better because everything seems bigger in that match. The Rockers shine is bigger and the heat segment is bigger, but this is the finish that match should have had. This was actually probably the Rockers' biggest victory in the WWF that was televised. I wish they kept Haku & Barbarian together throughout '91 as they would have been perfect foils for LOD in the fall. I just have write-ups to do for Heenan Family vs Ultimate Warriors, the OX Rumble match and watch the match against LOD. I am going to miss the Rockers.

Bob in the 90s! Bob Backlund vs Doink The Clown - 06/93 JR informs us that Yoko just beat Hogan for the title putting this somewhere in June of '93. I have seen plenty of evil Doink to see he is one of the better mat-focused wrestlers that WWF has ever had. It is still pretty surreal that Backlund and Doink The Clown had a really good worked amateur match. Backlund got a couple got highspots like blocking hiptoss into an ab stretch and vertical suplex. I was really impressed with how they worked the amateur rides, which I think is a spot Swagger & amateur should crib. Doink catches Backlund with a cradle after 5 or minutes. Good for what it was. Bob Backlund vs Bret Hart - MSG 6/93 Fancam Not the best fancam work, but after kinda choppy first five minutes, the fan settles in. Backlund played the subtle heel in this match, but early on they kept things civil, but heated. I liked the struggle over the hiptoss a lot,but it was mostly just Bob wrenching the headlock and Bret working the arm. Eventually Bob is able to grab a leg and he does some nice leg work and the match finally starts to move. They do a really nice quick pinfall sequence out of a Boston crab. Bret is able to grab a chicken wing out of a leg lace, which Bob counters into this pretty crazy pinning predicament. Bret applies the rolling short arm scissors and Bob's power spot does not look as cool on Bret. Bret does a Choshu and immediately cross bodies Backlund. Backlund follows up with a belly to back suplex, but only gets two. They work a pretty hot home stretch with Backlund making Bret extend his normal home stretch moves by adding counters. There is a great struggle over a verticla suplex that ends with a Bret inside cradle. The little kid watching with his dad starts rooting for Backlund, which is funny to me. Bob smokes Bret with a forearm out of the corner that gets a big gasp thanks in part to Bret's awesome sell. Backlund does his spinning bootrake. Backlund threatens to elbow Bret in the head, but refrains. Instead, he hits a biggggggggggg atomic drop and a wicked piledriver for 2. Backlund tries to get the Bret roll-up, but Bret rolls through to get 3 much to the chagrin of the erstwhile young lad, who had become a Backlund fan. This is like a NJPW Juniors match where if you JIP halfway through you would probably rate this as a pretty damn good match with great work by both. However, the first 15 minutes is a chore to sit through and the second half is not that incredible to make up for the pedestrian beginning. It is more of a disappointing match than anything. Their July '94 match remains their match to watch.

Hi, I am Martin and I am a wrestling addict. I am 24 years old. I grew up and still reside in the Boston Metro area (but live closer to Boston than that poseur Cena, who is practically from New Hampshire). My first exposure to wrestling was the week before Luger won the title from Hogan on Nitro in 1997. I was next door at my grandmother's and my uncle was watching I definitely remember Bret Hart. He "ruined" it for me like 30 seconds into watching it saying it was all fake and I was like whatever, this is fuckin cool. I ran next door and said we got to put it on channels 33 and 35. My parents were like why? When my mother saw what was on the screen she just shook her head and my dad said don't worry everyone goes through this phase. O little did they know... The next week the Luger title victory hooked me totally and I can still see Luger racking Hogan and Randy Anderson signalling for the bell. I remember getting Alex Wright and Lex Luger confused (Luger sounded so German)s. I became a huge nWo mark and this is probably thing I carry with me the most to this day is how much I love that group. People can't shit on Nash and Hall all they want, they were fuckin cool. I was definitely more of a WCW fan because they had the nWo (DX was clearly a rip-off), better storytelling and more interesting matches in my mind. The WWF just seemed too teenage to me like as a child I did not like all the angst, anger and general rudeness. I fuckin' hated D-X because of how bratty they were. I really wanted Undertaker to friggin' clobber them. However, as much I want this to be about me choosing WCW, my hand was forced. My mother banned me from watching WWF because of the Dustin Rhodes/Terri Runnels angle and the general raciness. My mother loved the luchadores and thought it was more suitable for a child so that's the way we went. My father did not give a fuck and I distinctly remember watching the Christmas episode of RAW with him including the D-X thongs skit and the Crapper 3:16. My first live event was the Boston Brawl, which was a friggin' ridiculously loaded card from WCW. I saw Jericho, Booker, Goldberg, Valentine, Steiners, Raven, Benoit vs Eddy, DDP/Luger/Larry Z vs Savage/Nash/Hall and Sting vs Hogan in a cage. I shit you not, the Boston crowd was chanting "Bruno!" at Larry Z and I just gotten into wrestling history so I understood why, but holy shit looking back on it, it was the coolest thing ever. It is the only time, I ever got to see my favorite wrestler, Randy Savage live and it will forever be my favorite live show I saw. I am a bit jealous of you guys because I had a very short tenure as a "mark". Not just with Uncle "ruining" it for me because I still rooted for things like the Undertaker beating up DX even when I knew it was just fake. However, I am a huge history buff. There is something about knowing past that is really important to me. I read a ton of history and really enjoy it as a hobby. So when I started watching wrestling, I obviously realized the first week I watched was not the very first week it existed so I was interested in learning more especially title history. So I did what every child in 1998 would do, I connected to AOL and hit up Hisa's wrestling titles site and prowrestlinghistory.com. I purchased the PWI almanac for 1997. To find out that I post with the guy who wrote that timeline is friggin crazy because I have nearly ripped that thing to shreds from how many times I read it. However, it would have been good if I just stuck out there and maybe I could have preserved my markdom. However, I found WrestleLine.com (CRZ, Scott Keith and Rick Scaia etc...) and became a smart mark in 1999 at the tender age of 10. Yes folks a ten year old cared about whether Benoit was being pushed effectively and would roll their eyes at HHH/Steph wedding drama because that was soap opera bullshit (even though I am a total soap opera mark. General Hospital is the best thing on TV right now. ). I still remember Vince Russo's mug on the front Wrestleline when he jumped ship. I know Scott Keith is a punching bag here and rightfully so. He had some real bullshit theories and you should call him out on them. I will refrain ever saying a bad word about him because what he did was so important for me to understand wrestling history. Hisa & prowrestlinghistory gave me the results, but he gave me the context and the action. Unfortunately, until about 2011, I was stuck smart mark cynicism where everything was about workrate and God Forbid you ever use a chinlock. Now, I am able to watch the matches instead of just read his reviews, I can formulate my own opinions based on my own criteria. That being said, he was still an indispensable tool when I was growing up in learning about wrestling history. I only stopped watching wrestling for a stretch of time once when my beloved WCW was bought and Invasion botched (September 2001). I came back for the nWo and that was botched and I had no intention of ever watching wrestling again until my dad got a cable TV scrambler. To show off his new device, he taped Wrestlemania XIX for free and I watched it again fell in love all over again. I have never looked back. I remind him every single chance I get that, Dad you brought it on yourself. You were in the clear and now you in this mess stuck watching Fandango (my Dad loathes Fandango). My favorite promotions are JCP/WCW late 80s and All Japan in 90s with an extremely soft spot for WCW 97-01. It is amazing that anyone ever became a pro wrestling fan in 1999 because both products pretty much suck, but here I am. I really just wanted to point out how in the internet era, it is hard to be a mark. My background is not necessarily a territory bias, but that I have literally been a smart mark my whole life, which pretty much sucks. I just learned how to put the "mark" back into "smart mark" and have been enjoying wrestling a lot more. Now if I can just retrain my Dad and brother...they learned how to discern quality wrestling during my jaded cynical smart mark period now every reverse chinlock is insta-suck match and Kurt Angle is God. My brother is getting better about this, but I think my Dad is a lost cause.

My name is Martin. I keep meaning to do one of those introductory posts and I am going to head over there now. I really appreciate the shout-out. You hope after watching all that footage that you will find a hidden gem and I am glad that you enjoyed it as much as I did. I will say you really have to watch the feud progress from Islanders turning heel on the Can-Ams on TV, Zenk being a pussy, Martel saying he would fight them both on his own (Tama match is so friggin good), Tito getting dragged into it, and then the badass tag matches. I am glad that unlike the Legends of Wrestling Roundtable this did not become a Ray Stevens wankfest. In their defense, it was Pat Patterson and Bock on the same show, so you knew those two were going to put over Stevens huge, but they would never stop talking about their respective teams. If I remember correctly, Patterson kept trying to hint his was the better team, but Bock kept respectfully replying well we didn't see each other's matches. It was a fun bit of passive aggression. This had a bit more variety than that show, but did lack the bitchin' Ray Stevens stories from Bock & Pat. I thought this was a good mix of opinions. Whoever said the Rockers was the best tag team is a wicked awesome dude! Whoever did not like the Fantastics, well you suck! If that is the same person, I guess it is all rendered mott. I know Chad's, Charles' and Peter's voices, but I still get Justin and Scott confused. I don't think the Rockers are the best tag team ever. I am a huge Midnights mark. I just like that people are coming around to placing the Rockers in that elite category. Chad, you hit every single elite Rockers match I would mention. To pick nits, I prefer the Hart Foundation 11/89 MSG match to the phantom switch, but you rattled off all of them. It is really the variety of great matches with a variety of teams that should be the Rockers hallmark. I think they are really even, but I give the edge to Marty because he is just as good as Shawn at the FIP, but much better at the hot tag. Shawn had better charisma and ring presence. Hell why stop at Martel. I think we can make the case for Tito being better than Steamboat. There are huge gaps in Steamboat's activity and some real dull stretches. I think all three are real close. Obviously, Steamboat has some really high peak profile matches, which are really hard to overcome, but I think all three are close. I have watched the vast majority of Strike Force matches and what separates Martel from Tito as a tag worker is that Tito is content to just sell during the heat segment, but Martel will work in hope spots. Santana was very rarely a tag worker in his career from what I have seen so kudos to him for being as good as he was. I preferred the Midnights/Fantastics series to the Midnights/RNRs series for the longest time. Wrestlewar '90 match bridges the gap, but I need to go back and rewatch all that. Hart Foundation are wicked overrated. I don't mind the repeated spots as much, but it is just the mechanical feel of the matches. There is something I can't put my finger on, but Bret is way, way better singles wrestler. I have never seen a Owen/Yoko match and you guys got me interested. Hardys late run in '06 sounds really interesting and I will give that match against MNM a look see when I get a chance. shoe, Bock is a spot on pick. Bock & Saito fuckin' rules. So can I now pick the Steiners as my most underrated tag team? I have been writing about the Islanders forever, but I will give a shout-out to the Islanders as a great underrated tag team. They worked really good matches against Hart Foundation, Dream Team and Demolition as babyfaces and Bulldogs as heels and then excellent matches against Strike Force as heels. The Windham & Dustin team was a really good tag team throughout 1992 that sometimes gets overlooked. Best tag worker I will go with Eaton. My underrated pick would be the Hammer as he was really good with Beefcake and Bravo. Weirdly enough, I couldn't find any of his matches with Honky. Imagine if we had Valentine & Flair footage. Great show and I am like 6 matches away from finishing my big late 80s WWF tag series then I am never watching another tag match. I kid, I kid, but seriously it is getting tiresome.

I love how Johnny puts over Don Muraco as a man who rips families asunder "He is a man whose family has spent time with me and we still can't agree on Don Muraco." This is when you guys really shine as this was the weakest disc yet (Valentine/Bruno seems interesting) and this is definitely the most fun podcast going today.

More Bob in Japan! Bob Backlund vs Riki Choshu 8/24/84 New Japan Choshu King Prick vs the respectful All-American Boy in Japan and really shows how over Choshu heel run was given the crowd reactions. Backlund extends the hand early as a sign of respect and Choshu ignores him. This is a really tough and gritty match. It feels like a real struggle in every moment of the match to gain the advantage on your opponent. I am not accustomed to this much Choshu matwork (I have only watched 90s Choshu and some of the All Japan tags), but it is Backlund match so this was a cool showcase for this side of Choshu. Some of the highlights was Backlund's bridge out of the headscissors and Backlund's ridiculous short-arm scissors pick-up. What I love is that Choshu does not just let Backlund slap him; he hits an immediate cross-body, which was really cool. Choshu goes for the Scorpion, but Backlund fights him off and the go back to the knucklelock for the third time and Choshu goes for the fireman's carry out of it, but again Backlund blocks. Choshu finally says "Fuck It" and kicks him in the gut. At about 15 minutes in, that is the first strike of the match and Backlund sells this kick as well as you will ever see a kick to gut. That was such a great climax to all the tenacious matwork for Choshu King Prick just to kick him in the gut. The ref has to hold Choshu back from following up, but Backlund kicks out at 2. The Japanese crowd actually cheers Backlund's comeback, but that is stopped short by a clothesline. However, Backlund press slams Choshu off the top rope, before picking him up in the airplane spin. This has debilitating effects on Backlund too as they both tumble to the outside where they both struggle to beat the count, but it is a double countout. Again, Choshu ignores the Backlund hand shake. Ooooooooooooo! The finish is pretty lame and yeah I know it was commonplace in Japan, but just because the standard operating practice doesn't make it good. I loved the build to Choshu finally just kicking Backlund in the gut. If this had a better home stretch it was an all-time classic. It was some real good gritty matwork, with a great hook, but missed that final piece to really put it over the top.

One of my favorite short-live babyface tag teams is Strike Force. We really lucked out when Zenk decided to be a chump. I have already spoken about the quality of matches with the Islanders ad nauseum. Instead, their break up angle was the first for babyfaces of the Hulkamania Era with Rockers much more famously following suit. Their matches with each other and other singles stars in the mid-card were always heated. Tito was having great matches with Mr. Perfect all the way into 1990. Santana along with Valentine, Backlund and Savage are mortal locks in my Top 5 80s WWF workers. Martel's run here with Strike Force extends his claim as one of the all-time best 80s babyface workers. Crank up Girls in Cars (or Careless Whisper, if you are so inclined, thanks to Dave Musgrave!), watch Strike Force kick some Islanders' ass and shout ARRIBA! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...to-santana.html

I listened to this entire podcast just to listen to your reaction to the Mother of All Dropkicks. You guys did not disappoint. I can't wait to follow along with the Lucha set.

Lets go through Demolition vs Rockers 1990 feud... WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Rockers - SNME 7/90 Since this is 1990, this is not going to be anywhere near the 1988 match and it was a backdrop to transition the three-way feud from Rockers/Hart Foundation to Rockers/Demolition to Demolition/Hart Foundation for Summerslam. Crush is really not good when he is asked to sell for the Rockers. It is pretty heel in peril to begin with for the first five minutes or so with none of the Demolition trademark work. Marty even gains controls without double teaming. They go through the usually team moves to clear the ring. There is a really poor rana by Shawn where he just hooks underneath the shoulders and Jannetty dropkicks over him. They work over Crush's arm and we get some Warlord-inspired selling here. Marty slides underneath Smash, but Ax smokes this smarty-pants. Crush is actually halfway decent on offense making him better than Warlord and Akeem in my book. Jannetty sells pretty well and takes the Bret Bump, before hitting a reverse bulldog to tag in Shawn. Double dropkick. Double fistdrop, but Crush saves. Shawn goes for that Bret roll-up off the ropes, but Ax crushes him with a lariat for the win. Hart Foundation & LOD are out to complain, but decision stands. This is a pretty by the numbers match and illustrates the continued drop in quality of Demolition performances since 1988 and they are starting to lose heat also. The Rockers looked pretty good, but nothing outstanding. The finish does not even build the Hart Foundation/Demolition match all that well. ----------------------------------------------------- Rockers vs Demolition - MSG 11/90 Holy shit, this match totally snuck up on me and I thought it was really good. It was not an elite Rockers match, but this was still really good. This is by far the best Smash & Crush match and I am favorite Crush match of all time. This is a good speed vs. power match without huge bumps, but still good work. The opening Jannetty/Crush bit is the best thing I have ever seen out of Crush. It is light-hearted, but still establishes the dynamic of the match really well. People should watch it because there is too much good stuff for me to write down every single thing they do. It is punctuated by Shawn with a dropkick to tabletop Crush. I really dig the tabletop spot. Crush throws Shawn around, but Shawn bites out of the bearhug. Rockers showing a bit of a vicious side. Smash comes in and I love the Smash/Shawn bit too. Smash thinks he outsmarted Michaels by ducking, but Shawn hits Smash with a fist and then Smash does some weeble-wobble selling before crashing down. Rockers do their quick tag arm work and Smash sells discombobulated about as well as you can. In a spot I fuckin love, Marty runs the ropes, but halts before getting hit by Crush so he gets hit from behind by Smash. The heat segment is decent with the highlights being Crush hitting a double axehandle onto Jannety's back and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. We hit the bearhug. Smash hipchecks the turnbuckle. Smash tries desperately to stop the hot tag, but you can't deny Marty Jannetty. Shawn busts out the flying shoulder tackle, which I don't like for his size. Shawn really wants to hit a sunset flip, but Smash is holding onto Crush and Marty leapfrogs over Smash and breaks that up, sunset flip only gets two. The Rockers hit the worst double superkick ever. They do one a little better and Shawn hits a rocket launcher fist drop, but Crush pulls the ref out for the DQ. They are still protecting Demolition!?!?!?!?!?1??! This match is a ton of fun and even though it lacks the big spots of Powers Of Pain match, this one definitely required more finesse from Demolition. In that match, Rockers adapted to Powers of Pain to deliver a great match. In this match, Demolition can contribute to the match. The Marty/Crush and Shawn/Smash segments require better work from both parties. I loved those. The heat segments and home stretch were good, but not at the level of the shine segments.This is another great speed versus power match from the Rockers that continues to bolster their case as an all-time great tag team as it is still different than first Demos & POP match. It was wrestled as a cross of the Rougeaus and Demolition match, which was really interesting layout. So finally, Demolition has reached their 1988 peak again and it's a great match to end their run (well I am not watching their '91 stuff). Demolition work way better as heels to me.

Hell, I cant believe it has been over a month since I watched me some Hammer that Owen match was pretty bitchin'. The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/85 This match sure lived up to the hype and may be the best Beefcake performance I have ever seen. This match was all about tempo. Santana was in his red-hot feud with Valentine who had broken his leg and taken his title. The crowd was molten for that angle. The babyfaces worked their entire end in an up-tempo, fired -up fashion. The Dream Team knowing they could not match this attempted every trick in the book to break their momentum and work a real grinding style. This led to a really good match. Early on Steamboat and Santana have a hot shine sequence with Beefcake and Valentine just bumping all over the place for them. I have been down on WWF Steamboat, but he was pumped for this match just flying around the ring. You know that Tito is going to bring the hate with his fists balled up. Beefcake and Valentine do their best to stall and break this momentum, but at first there seems like no end to this onslaught. Until, Tito goes for the figure-4 on Valentine, who grabs his trunks and hits a knee in the midsection. Once he hits a shoulderbreaker he consolidates the advantage for the Dream Team and grinds the match to a halt. They work on Santana with some double teams and Valentine slaps on an arm bar. Tito is almost able to make the tag, but Valentine knocks Steamboat off the apron and then Beefcake comes around and beats on Steamboat. The crowd was just eating this all up. The Beefer gets cocky and goads Steamboat. Tito is able to crawl past Beefcake and get the hot tag to Steamboat. IT IS BREAKING LOOSE IN TORONTO! Steamboat with his best hot tag I have seen. He unloads on both the Hammer and the Beefer with karate shots. The crowd was losing their shit for this. Steamboat grabs the sleeper hold, but Beefcake with an eye-rake. Valentine and Steamboat have a good exchange until an eye-rake does Steamboat in and Valentine consolidates with a gut buster. I preferred the Steamboat FIP is a better at selling and the Dream Team really unloaded with double teams and offense. Valentine starts to warm him up for the figure-4, but Steamboat knows his way around the figure-4 and grabs an inside cradle. Steamboat fights out of the corner and is able to Tito. ARRIBA! Double noggin knocker. Tito drops Valentine with a right. Flying Burrito to a huge pop! Beefcake saves. Melee ensues. They are double teaming Tito and Steamboat flies off the top onto Beefcake. Tito blocks Valentine's atomic drop and applies the figure-4 for the submission victory. ARRIBA! Wooooooooooooo, I am out of breathe after that one. This is babyface wrestling 101, folks. Steamboat and Santana gave maximum effort and I bet it is real easy when you have a crowd as hot as this one at the Maple Leaf Gardens. The Dream Team wrestled a smart match to ensure constant heat throughout the match as they built not one, but two really hot tags. In some of those double FIP AWA tags, the first hot tag is not all that hot, but in this match that Steamboat hot tag is just as red-hot as the following Santana one. Beefcake actually wrestled pretty well here and was not as awkward as usual. The Hammer is going to clog the lane every time and make sure that babyface earns every shot. This up there with the Bulldogs match as one of the best WWF Tags of the 80s. -------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs US Express vs The Dream Team - Philly 9/85 I am glad I went back and watched these two Dream Team matches because they could contend with the Islanders as my favorite heel tag team in 80s WWF. I will say one of the disappointments of Valentine sticking in one promotion for so long is that we did not get stuff like Valentine vs Windham one on one at length. Also, what I do not understand is why Beefcake seemed to suck so hard in '86. I mean Valentine barely let Beefcake wrestle in Wrestlemania II. He wrestled pretty decently in these two matches. He is still only the fourth best wrestler in these matches, but he is not sucking out loud. I loved the start to this match as the Dream Team jumps them and a melee ensues. The Windham/Valentine exchange makes me want that singles match so much. The faces send the heels packing. Valentine & Beefcake true to form work smart and try to break their momentum. We get Windham/Valentine proper and the two minutes we get is awesome. Valentine stops the runaway freight train with a knee lift. Beefcake loses this advantage and we go to Heel In Peril with some arm work. I actually think Beefcake sold this pretty well and Rotundo worked pretty well in this segment. The US Express even hits a double dropkick (way better than Rockers one) on Beefer. Beefcake works Rotundo to his corrner and he blind tagged Valentine, who came off the top with a sledge onto Rotundo. Valentine suffocates Rotundo and is relentless on his legs and Rotundo sells pretty well. Rotundo is good at working some strikes in his hope spots in the corner. I dig Dream Team double whip into the corner. We hit the front facelock for a while. I will say the Valentine drop toehold to prevent Rotundo from making the tag is one of the best of those kind. Windham and Valentine get back into it. I just love how chippy this is. Valentine hits his shoulder breaker. I dig the shoulderbreaker I think someone should incorporate it in their moveset, but it is weird for Valentine's moveset. Valentine gets kicked off by Rotundo on his figure-4 into his corner so he can tag Beefer. But Rotundo escapes and hot tag to BIG BARRY!!! I love how Windham steps through his punches. He hits Valentine with a bulldog, but Valentine KICKS OUT! Now that's a death sentence for a babyface. Windham goes for the second bulldog, but Beefcake puts "Luscious" Johnny V's hair product in Barry's eyes. Valentine hits an elbow to seal the deal. The other match is definitely the better workrate match and the front facelock stuff does drag, but Windham & Valentine are really excellent. I wish they would some of that beginning melee stuff in other matches it gives matches a more heated feel. I thought this is one of the better title switches I have seen. Actually lets rank the title switches (I don't have the Colossal Connection switches yet) 1. Bulldogs/Dream Team 2. Dream Team/US Express 3. Hart Foundation/Strike Force 4. Demolition vs Hart Foundation 5. Demolition vs BrainBusters MSG 9/89 6. Demolition vs Strike Force 7. Demolition vs Brainbusters - SNME 8. Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs 9. Hart Foundation vs Nasty Boys -That heat segment fuckin sucked.

So I watched this mostly because I have been immersing myself in the 80s WWF tag matches and I wanted to take a step back and see what more casual observers remembered of the matches. The best part of the show I will admit is knowing that Soup will be on soon to break down the tag teams soon so I will definitely be listening to that. So lets break it down: In the Sweet Sixteen: 7 of 16 teams were 80s tag teams (I exclusively have been watching 80s tags). 7 of 16 were 90s/Attitude Era and the remaining two were from the Cena era. The recent era has had a lot of thrown together tag teams so I understand the usual bias against them even though I have not watched them with a careful eye. I would say that in general I have that biased also. Just some quick notes on this and the early rounds. I would debate the NAO going over on the Steiners based on being a draw so I thought you all got it right. I think you called the resuscitation of tag division with Owen/Bulldog way too early. the tag division was not revitalized until the NAO took the belts. Outside, of the title switch to Austin/HBK, Owen &Bulldog really were not featured as a team and did not have any "great" matches. Owen & Bulldog strike me as one of those teams that remember more fondly than their push or matches. I think don't feel like the Shield are out of place as a Top 20 team in WWE history, they have been pushed strong and have a great resume of tag team matches. The Quebecers are so much better than the Rougeaus and I glad you didn't pick the Rougeaus because they are such a lackluster tag team. Rougeaus are perhaps the most boring tag team in WWF history. O yeah, the Killer Bees are not underrated either, they are just boring as all hell. The Quebecers Rule with great matches against the Steiners, Kid & Marty, and the Harts. January 1994 is this weird bizarre month where WWF has the best tag division in the world with Quebecers, Kid & Marty, Harts, Steiners and Headshrinkers. Then by mid-'94 you have Headshrinkers and Diesel/Shawn barely defending the belts. The Elite Eight: 7 of 8 teams are 80s teams! There is just one 90s team. I think this is a function of the WWF never really having a very good tag team division. So the 80s since there were a lot of tag teams people associate that when it was good. I have enjoyed the Rockers and the Islanders/Strike Force, but wallowing through it I find there is more mediocre/blase than there is good. Twin Towers out and out suck. I am taking this an ironic love because Akeem may be the worst gimmick I have ever seen. From a match quality standpoint, the Rockers are the best WWF tag team and one of the best tag teams of all-time Demolition & LOD had shockingly good matches against each other in 1990. The Warrior six-man tag from SNME 1990 is wicked good and they had a straight tag match from 11/90 that maybe Crush's best match ever. I watched the LOD face the Hart Foundation in '91 and again it was a pretty good match. LOD was definitely revitalized by this run. I love the Demolition Love. They were the aces of 80s division and there was no tag team pushed harder than Demolition for that period of time. If I was going from a strictly business/kayfabe perspective, throwing out match quality (not that Demolition did not have quality matches) I would say Demolition is the greatest WWF Tag Team. I am so glad you didn't go they were Road Warrior's ripoff and just shit on them like so many other fans. Hart Foundation vs Bulldogs, I was dreading this. Two of the most overrated tag teams of all-time. Bret Hart was an incredible ring general in his tag matches, but he shined in singles matches in the 80s against Steamer, Savage, Perfect, DiBiase and Martel. The Bulldogs have the Dream Team feud, which is one of the best WWF tag feuds ever. After the Dynmaite injury, they never really were the same. The Hart Foundation's face run is incredibly lackluster: a feud against the Rougeaus (that sucked), Bret's '89 singles run (so no feuds, just one-off matches), the '90 run against a decrepit division (Demolition & Rhythm 'n' Blues) and the shitty tag title loss to the Nasties (I think Bret still may be in that camel clutch, yawn). Bulldogs take this because of Dream Team feud. I am going to pretend you taking the Brainbusters over the Hardys did not happen. If you include the NWA stuff then it is Arn & Tully in a walk, but the WWF run is just two programs: Rockers & Demolition. My thoughts on the Demolition program is they gotten eaten alive and I know others who have watched the footage disagree with me, but I was not a fan of that series. The Rockers SNME sprint is one of the best matches of the era, but I do not think Busters have nearly enough on their resume to warrant beating the Hardys. Like you all said, the Hardys is not just the Attitude Era their reunion stuff was some of the best tag team stuff of the Cena era. Edge & Christian is pretty overrated due to their awesome promos, but never really dug them as an in-ring tag team. What's interesting is I am more inclined to see the Busters over E&C than Hardys, but you guys took them over both. Final Four All 4 are 80s tag teams! Demolition vs Rockers '88 MSG match is one of the best tag matches in WWF history, definitely check that out. Whenever I see lists like this, to me there are two type of pro wrestling lists. The Hogan List that's a llist that emphasizes the attributes that would allow Hogan to claim he is the greatest wrestler of all time. And the Flair list that that emphasizes the attributes that would allow Flair to claim he is the greatest wrestler of all time. Demolition is my Hogan List champion for WWF tag teams and the Rockers are my Flair List champions. It is a pick 'em and I would say this was the side of the bracket, I most agreed on. I really think there is absolutely nothing the Hart Foundation can claim that is the consistent level of Busters/ Rockers, E&C/Haryds/Dudleyz, Bulldogs/Dream Team, Rockers/Everyone, and Demolition as a draw. The Hart Foundation have the Bulldogs feud, but it is underwhelming due to the injury and then for '88-'89 Bret was in the singles ranks barely paying attention to the tag ranks. By 1990, the tag division had shit the bed. I feel like the Hart Foundatuion is everyone's default answer because of how hard WWF has pushed Bret Hart as this all-time great and the only reason the Rockers don't get the same treatment is they never won the tag titles. Championships do matter and it is why teams like Hart Foundation get elevated above these other teams. I have watched Hart Foundation against pretty much every opponent. Their matches are solid, but they are really not that good. Hogan List Top 4: 1. Demolition 2. New Age Outlaws 3. Hardys 4. Edge & Christian/Dudz (I would want to hear arguments for a 4th team) Flair List Top 4 1. Rockers 2. Hardys 3. Islanders 4. Strike Force To me when you are talking the greatest tag team of WWF, it is a three team race between Demolition, Hardys and Rockers. From a ring quality, I do not think anyone can touch Rockers and since I am a fan of in-ring quality they would be my pick. Anyways fun show that was breezy and was cool to get people's perspective that are not so immersed in 80s WWF Tag Wrestling. EDIT: We do have Busters vs Bushwackers, but WWE.com does not have up in full. I have not checked it out, but if that is indeed the finish that is some Hogan-Era WCW booking right there.

Brutha, don't blow the gimmick, I am Superstar SLEEZE The Ultimate Warrior entrance to this match makes this entire project worth. I have not laughed so hard at wrestling in so long. The Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom vs Demolition - MSG 9/90 This match was way, way better than it had any right to be. Easily, the best Demolition match since the Rockers '88 match. The only problem was that went too long that Animal FIP killed the momentum of the match. The opening shine sequence was pretty good with Hawk hitting a wicked dropkick and shoulder tackle. As LOD's big debut, it was a good way to put over their offense. Oddly, Warrior plays the FIP in a really well-done segment. Warrior missed a splash and in almost Shield-esque swarm Warrior and just suffocate him with body shots and triple teaming. It definitely felt like some good old-school Demolition. The only reason I found it weird because Warrior was the Champ at the time is all. Animal breaks up Demolition Decapitation and Warrior does a disco roll over to Animal to tag him in. I thought Ax was actually going to take Doomsday Device for a second, but it was broken up. We get a boring Animal FIP where chinlocks abound, which disappoints me because if they just went home after the Warrior FIP I could would say this was a remarkably good match. Warrior gets the hot tag as expected and mows down everyone. The crowd gives him a pretty good pop, but is hardly molten or bananas as Gorilla says. Warrior splash gives the Warriors a victory. I thought I was going to recommend this match only for Warrior's entrance, but it was surprisingly good and the Warrior FIP comes off great, but the Animal FIP sours the match a bit. --------------------------------------------------------- It is like Vince heard my prayers from 2013 and put on the following match, which was bitchin' The Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom vs Demolition - SNME 10/90 Take all the good parts from the last match and subtract the Animal FIP you have this match and it is awesome. Yes this match is a pretty much verbatim performance from above the MSG, but I was digging that performance so much, but this time they go home after the Warrior FIP and it is a great match. This match is like the opposite of the Hart Foundation vs Rockers, where the SNME match is hurt by seeing the "full-length" MSG match. The difference is the home stretch where Hawk looks friggin great. He does not have to sell and he just bowls people over. He tags in Warrior for a Warrior Splash. I definitely recommend this one over the the MSG show. ----------------------------------------------- Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji vs Legion of Doom - 11/20/90 Demolition with Mr. Fuji just feels right. This match harkens back to the glory days of Demolition with spirited cut-offs and well-worked segments. The home stretch is a bit messed up due to poor positioning by some people, but overall it is a pretty good match. It is weird though as there is zero heat for this match except for the hot tag to Animal. You would not know this DEMOLITION VS THE ROAD WARRIORS from the way the crowd is reacting and it is a good power match. Animal and Crush do a little tit for tat symmetry that establishes the two teams as equals. Hawk runs through a bit of his offense. I am a big fan of his shoulder tackle. There are elements of the old Demolition ethic where Crush interrupts a suplex attempt by Hawk. Demolition made LOD work for it. Fuji hooks Hawk leg and Smash blasts Hawk to the outside from behind. Fuji gets in a cane shot onto Hawk's back and they zero in on his back throughout the heat segment. They hit Demolition Decapitation to zero heat in a weird moment, but Animal saves. Hawk gets a clothesline and Animal gets the hot tag. In a pretty impressive feat of agility, Animal actually flips out of a double belly to back suplex and clotheslines Demolition members. They tease Doomsday Device, but Fuji hits Hawk again. Demolition take it to Animal with a Crush knee drop from the top and Smash hitting a suplex to zero heat. Before, Smash gets himself in position to take a top rope clothesline from Hawk to give LOD the victory. Afterwards they deck Fuji for good measure. The home stretch did not feel urgent enough, but I thought all the stuff leading up to it was really well-worked. The finish was messed up by Smash facing the wrong way on his piledriver attempt. I was pretty much dreading this series and this was the most fun I have had watching Demolition since they were heels in 1988. I will say I remember liking LOD's match against the Hart Foundation. None of this stuff has been earth-shattering, but LOD definitely feels revitalized in the ring and trying their hardest even though the crowds have been lukewarm. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Legion of Doom) vs The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect & Demolition) - Survivor Series 1990 This is nothing all that great and I would not watch this again, but it is largely inoffensive save for the Perfect heat segment on Warrior drags. I really liked Animal tackle out of Smash it really felt out of nowhere. Smash plays pinball early before Animal gets in trouble and Hennig looks good with his strikes. Animal hits his powerslam and Perfect pinballs well perfectly for the Warriors. As expected, Ax takes the pinfall from Warrior, it was sad seeing how degraded he can he became as he was totally out of position for Warrior and just looked bad. I actually like the Hawk/Demolition stuff as Hawk was the best offensive worker for all 8 guys and it was nice to see them do his thing. The lamest brawl ever gets LOD/Demolition DDQ leaving Perfect against Von Erich and Warrior. Von Erich had zero offense besides the punch. He actually was moving pretty decent, but I still don't get why they put the IC strap on him. Warrior runs Perfect and Brain's head together. Warrior seemed to really whip the Brain over the barricade, I actually felt bad for him. Perfect beat Von Erich on teh Perfectplex after Kerry's head hit the exposed turnbuckle. Warrior comes in and hits his head on the exposed turnbuckle, but kicks out of the Perfectplex that really should have been the impetus as opposed to the boring 5 minute heat segment that ensued. Perfect has some offense, but they have built to the Warrior's head into exposed turnbuckle into the Perfectplex rather than start with it. After watching these matches, I have to say it feels like the WWF World Champion is slumming it. In the NWA, the Road Warriors were the equals of the Horsemen. In the WWF, it feels like Warrior is losing heat by being a part of this feud. Not to mention, he is in the curtain-jerking match. At this point, it feels like Martel/Roberts has a way hotter feud than anything Hogan or Warrior is doing. 1990 was not a very good year for WWF, but after Summerslam until Wrestlemania VII must have been brutal. Don't worry about this match, watch the SNME match.

Up there with Stan Hansen bowling over a flower girl in AJPW 1990. For the amount of hours I put into watching WWF Tag Wrestling, this made it all worth it.

Can Bret pull off the same miracle as Shawn & Marty? Hart Foundation vs Powers of Pain - Wrestlefest '90 It is worth noting that the Hart Foundation are once again talking about winning the tag titles foreshadowing that Bret has returned solidly to the tag ranks. The short answer is no with a caveat. This would be a very good match if Warlord did not suck out loud. The Rockers made Warlord look good by making him take some bumps early and bumping huge for him. Bret actually makes him sell arm work. Yes it should be on Warlord for sucking, but Bret should recognize this and adapt. God if Barbie just had a different partner. The way Warlord just sat in those arm holds was just embarrassing to watch. Counter to this was Barbie/Anvil battle of the bulls and then Bret crawling through Barbie's legs to let Anvil clothesline him. This was some fun face shine, but gets bogged down once Warlord is in there. The transition was lame as it was Warlord just picking up Bret and giving him a backbreaker. Warlord wrung his arm at least. Barbie hit his wicked sweet headbutt and big boot to Bret. Watching all this Bret reminds me how great his selling is. For so long I was focused on how amazing his offense was for a North American wrestler. Bret hits a boot in the corner and the Anvil is hot. Fuji trips up Anvil and a melee ensues. Fuji hits Warlord with his cane and Anvil beats the count for the victory. POP try to get their heat back, but Bret apprehends the cane and goes to town. Nothing worth going out of your way to see, but it is pretty decent. The second best Powers of Pain match I have seen, not that is high praise. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fuck, it looks like I would have to buy the new Bret Hart DVD to see the Twin Towers match. Who knew Akeem would be a draw in 2013? On second thought, omitting that match and just wrapping up Hart Foundation with Busters may be for the best. ----------------------------------------------------------------- WWF World Tag Team Champs The Brain Busters vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '89 Non-title Non-title due to this match being signed before Busters' title victory. The Busters just loved to bump and sell for WWF babyfaces. Maybe, it was not Eadie's fault at all, it may just be how the Busters wanted to work. Like I am not a person to claim heels need to be a faces level because they really should not. The babyfaces should be better except the heels utilize nefarious tactics, but at the same time heels should not be out and out jabronis. I didn't mind this match as much because we do get a heat segment (on Anvil, weird), but still the Hart Foundation gobbled them up. At first, I felt a bit hypocritical for enjoying this match a lot more than the Demolition matches especially after raising such a big stink. At the end of the day, I rather watch Bret Hart's offense than Demolition's offense. I still don't think it is one of the elite tag team matches of 80s WWF, but it is still very good. I would actually put it around the Summerslam '89 six-man tag in terms of quality. The Hart Foundation establishes the arm-based attack on both Busters each time they come in. The best spot of this segment really encapsulates Bret and something I never really thought about. Arn executes a drop toehold into a hammerlock, but rides high and Bret counters to a headlock. Bret just has this look on his face that was just like one big eye-roll and I immediately thought of Tenryu. Bret is amazing at displaying contempt for his opponents. He is one of the few wrestlers that is not only condescending on the mic, but is actually condescending in the ring also. Bret does an excellent top wristlock bridge transitions into the Busters double top wristlock spot that always gets a huge pop. Arn blindsides Bret, but this was not the transition as Bret is back on offense. However, Arn pulls Tully out of the way and Anvil eats the turnbuckles. We get the Anvil FIP, which is weird and no spinebuster. It is decent stuff, but you know it can be better. They do Arn's head collision spot and Bobby's facial expression that makes it. Then the Hart Foundation sliding knee on the apron is the transition. After watching basically every major Hart Foundation match, I marked out that Bret did that to transition. I have watched this match twice before and I never even batted an eye. This time I was like "Of course that was the transition. That's genius!" Bret kicks some serious Tully ass and then runs through Tully. It is breaking loose in Tulsa and Anvil is slingshotted in (love that spot) and then slams Bret onto Tully. Heenan distracts the ref and Arn second-rope elbow costs Hart Foundation the match as AA gets the pin. The nice little touch is he uses Bret's arm to cover his head so that ref won't notice. This is a really fun match, but like a lot Hart Foundation matches I have watched, but it feels mechanical and exhibition-y at the beginning. However, it is still a fun match that is enjoyable. I am just happier with the idea that Bret Hart vs AA & Tully exists more than it in practice. I know one of the things that people go after the Rockers for not having that money feud, but Hart Foundation did not have one from 1988-1991 that's pretty incredible. It was just how WWF tag scene was booked with Demolition going from POP, Towers, Busters, Colossal Connection, but they pretty much leave all the other tag teams to float in the wind. With that match, I close the book on Hart Foundation and Busters. I just have some Demolition and Rockers matches to finish up. Maybe I will sneak in some more Valentine.

The last match before I complete my Strike Force Blog...all good things must come to an end. AWA World Tag Team Champions High Flyers vs Rick Martel & Tito Santana - 8/29/82 St. Paul These four guys go balls to wall for 15 minutes struggling to score a victory. It is two babyface vs babyface teams where neither team plays a subtle heel that you would often see in face vs face matches. It actually feels like puro in that way, it is a pure competition to see who is the best. The beginning of the match is very focused on Strike Force working over the High Flyers with headlock. I would say Martel is the better of the two in working the headlock. These are some really fast-paced headlock sequences. Martel/Gagne go through a wild headlock/headscissors exchange that would challenge anyone's cardio. You really get the feeling right out the gate that both teams are focused on picking up the victory. Santana, unlike Martel, is a little more content to sit in his headlock. Gagne tries working a crossface on Santana to break it up and feels really heated. Once Martel gets back in, he will run up the ropes and in order to do side headlock takeovers. Martel rules! They work some sequences in between these headlocks, but everything is very focused on the headlocks by Strike Force, which I like the concentration. At this point, we get a clip and now the High Flyers change the focus from headlocks to some really wicked leg work that is bitchin'. Gagne drops a knee on Tito Santana's knee and does his inverted deathlock (Gagnelock?), which looks pretty wicked given how he is applying it. Brunzell follows up with a figure-4 and then a spinning toe hold. Eventually, Santana kicks out and finally Martel gets in, but we find that Martel is selling his knee, which we must have missed in the clip. One last time for the Strike Force Fans, "IT'S RICKY MARTEL TIME, MUTHAFUCKAS!" but he is cut short because he hits a backbreaker, which hurts his own knee! Killer. Martel tags Tito and Gagne dodges this dropkick. This may sound weird. But I marked the fuck out for that. The force that Tito threw that dropkick and how quick Greg moved out of the way. Gagne hits a shinbreaker on the ailing knee of Santana and then applies Spinning Toe Hold. Martel gets the tag and runs through some more offense punctuating with a backbreaker. Tito back in with a wicked cross-body and he rattles off a ton of moves, but Gagne grabs the GAGNE CHOKE! Santana snapmares out and hoists Gagne up, but unbeknowst to Tito, Gagne tags Brunzell. Then Brunzell hits the most HOLY SHIT dropkick on Tito. He dropkicks him right in the head for the win. That was the best damn dropkick. I think any match that can make you mark out for a missed dropkick and a dropkick is a pretty damn incredible match. The story of this best match to prove you were best tag team in the AWA. It was wrestled clean, but that does not mean they wrestled like nancy boys and were polite. They were out for the victory. The tenacity shown on the headlocks and leg works was enthralling. The home stretch was one of the best with Martel's knee going out, Flyers going back to the legs, Tito rattling off moves, before the Mother of All Dropkicks. I don't want to say this blows all WWF tag team matches out of the water, but it does makes most of them look second-rate. This is an excellent showcase on how to work a heated face vs face match without any subtle heel tactics.

Ask and you shall receive, brutha. The Rockers vs Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji - MSG 1/90 This one has been pimped in the 1990 yearbook and very rightfully so. This is the Rockers' David vs Goliath masterpiece. They have the incredible sprint against the Brainbusters, a dramatic "face vs face" tag match with the Hart Foundation, a wicked entertaining light-hearted match with Rougeaus, a speed vs power Championship match with Demolition, bloodbath against Rose & Somers and an ultra-hot PPV opener against the Orient Express. (Yes, I mention this all to build to upcoming post on why the Rockers are worthy to be in the discussion with the Rock n Rolls). This takes on a different dynamic than the Demolition. The Demolition match reminded me how the RnRs wrestled the Russians it was speed versus power, but not necessarily size. In those matches, the heel teams use their power to attack specific body parts and work holds. This match worked more like a David vs Goliath spotfest (I mean that in a good way). The Powers of Pain are just throwing out all these badass bombs to defeat the Rockers. The Rockers are attempting to overcome pure power and are treated more like smaller wrestlers in this match. Out of all their classic matches, this has to be the most surprising because Powers of Pain really did suck. Look, Barbarian has the raw talent, but did not seem to pull altogether into one solid match until this match where he looked like the next big power heel in the WWF. Hell, the fuckin' Warlord looked great in this match. Jesus, if that is not an achievement I do not what is. Barbie chucks Shawn around early to establish the power advantage. Marty dropkicks Shawn on top of Barbie to demonstrate that the Rockers will need to use teamwork and tricks to overcome this power advantage. The Rockers clear the ring with a series of double teams done continuing the theme of teamwork including a Marty dropkick to help Shawn over on a rana and they tabletop Warlord. Warlord catches Marty with a wicked powerbomb eventually the Rockers were going to get caught and POP made them pay. Let the shit kicking commence. HOLY SHIT! The height that Marty takes on that back body drop needs to be seen. Holy shit now they just throw Marty up in the air and let him land hard on the canvas. A big boot by Barb sends Marty to the outside to take a cane shot from Fuji and Barbie rams him back first into the post. This onslaught ends when Barb missed second rope elbow. Shawn sunset flips Warlord, but Marty clothesline him, it is all about teamwork! In all the chaos, Shawn gets tripped by Fuji's cane and as he is getting up Barbie stops him in his tracks with an elbow for the win. Shawn in a fit of rage (Shawn temper tantrum? No way, right?) dropkicks Fuji, but Powers of Pain take control and beat the ever-loving shit out of Marty with the cane and a Hart Attack. I love this match in a string of great Rockers performances this one stands out for how concentrated they were on telling the teamwork story and how great Marty was at eating all the POP offense. For one match, Barbarian took all this athletic spots finally lived to his potential with some great work throughout the heat segment into the finish. Barbie chucks Shawn around. Shawn regroups with Marty. Marty cross bodies Shawn on top of Barbie. Rockers quick, Barbie throws them together. Double supekicks and double coltheslines & clears the ring. Marty bandaged. Warlord just punches. Marty dropkicks him over in a Shawn rana. They tabletop Warlord. Warlord catches Marty with a powerbomb and showboats. HOLY SHIT that back body drop! Holy shit that throw up in the air. Shawn saves. Barbie chokes him on apron. Warlord holds him & Barbie jumping headbutt to back. Barbie big boot -> Jannetty outside -> Fuji cane shot -> Barbie back first into post -> Huge clothesline. Marty hope spots ends with Barbie catching him into powerslam. Barbie misses second rope elbow. Shawn with hot punches. Shawn sunset flip Warlord and Marty clothesline him over. Marty dropkicks Shawn onto Warlord and Barbie elbows Warlord. Fuji trips Shawn with cane and Barbie elbows Shawn while he is getting up for the win. WOW! Shawn dropkicks Fuji out. POP beats the shit out of Marty with Hart Attack and cane. Killer match right up there with Rockers best stuff and a contender for best Hulkamania Era WWF tag team match. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs Orient Express w/ Mr. Fuji - Wrestlemania VI The Rockers should have came to "White Punks On Dope" for this match because this is wicked slow for a Rockers match. It reminds me of one of the March Busters match where stuff would happen, but it just felt lethargic. Pat Tanaka rules and I need to see more Badd Company from AWA. We do some standard fare Rockers double teaming to clear the ring. I will say whether sober or high as shit, The Rockers were never good at synchronizing their double team moves. It is not because one guy is more athletic or anything their timing just was always off on the superkicks or dropkicks etc. Sato holds the top rope and Jannetty spills onto the outside where Fuji takes liberties with him. It is a psych-job as Marty tags in Shawn and they hit a double dropkick. Crowd seems pretty dead for this (this Wrestlemania more than most feels like a one match card). Tanaka kicks Shawn in the head and Sato hits one of the best gutbusters I have seen. Tanaka follows it up with his explosive cross body and then holds Michaels for Sato to hit a knee drop from the top. OX is bringing the high quality offense before the vulcan nerve pinch. OX came to play, too bad the Rockers didn't. In a moment that encapsulates the match, Shawn hits Tanaka with a desperation clothesline except ti felt like Tanaka was waiting for it. Everything seems off and even Gorilla calls this "lethargic". The Rockers absolutely blow a double dropkick. They set up Tanaka for the double fist drop, but Fuji uses his cane to bring Jannetty down. Sato throws salt in Jannetty's eyes while he is stalking Fuji for the countout loss. Then in the spot of the match, Marty actually walks over the guardrail and faceplants to sell the "salt" in the eyes. That was frigging' awesome, it looked so real. This match sets up their loooooooooong feud as the tag division was starting to get pretty thin. They had not yet built up the chemistry they would have at Royal Rumble '91 where they tear the house down. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs Orient Express - 6/17/90 They are definitely clicking a lot better in this match, but it is nowhere near the level they would achieve at Royal Rumble '91. This match has way more heat and energy as both teams are bringing it. It has its slow patches, but they are definitely working more towards putting on a compelling match with struggle and urgency. The Rockers clear the ring per usual with some double team moves, but Tanaka cuts this short with a wicked punch on Michaels. Michaels fires up out of the corner with punches of his own. Both teams trade some armbars and this is the boring stretch of the match that does not really have that struggle and it seems like is going down the same road as Wrestlemania VI even though there is more energy from the Rockers. There is a really well done leapfrog into a partner collision spot during this stretch that gives you hope. Same heat transition spot only Jannetty gets kicked in the back of the head and he takes the cane shot here. Tanaka does the leapfrog over his partner to crash down on Marty's back. They hit the chinlock. They do some tag teases, Sato gets two off a fist drop and here comes Shawn who is a house afire. There is even a wicked clothesline by Shawn, man, Shawn really could go. Melee ensues and things break down on the floor. The Rockers beat the count back in. I preferred this match to Wrestlemania VI because of the energy of the match, but they still were not firing on all cylinders.