Superstar Sleeze

You would think if they drew 20k or less that would be an indictment on Verne as a babyface draw instead of Bock as a champion draw. Instead, they needed a different person to unseat Bockwinkel. Instead of saying, Bockwinkel's entire 5 year reign comes down to this card and how well it draws. Yes, you could make the argument that people were tired of Bock, but they certainly were not up for Verne so I would expect a different face would have helped. Also, who did Verne defend against? Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey only? Maybe some Crusher Blackwell, could be interesting?

AWA Wrestling Party inspired me to watch some Bock/Verne! AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs. Verne Gagne - 2/10/79 Chicago This match felt a lot like a WWF Title Defense with a lot of babyface offense. It that a commonplace among Northern promotions? I will say moreso than most 70s matches they were really laying in their offense on each other. Verne may have looked like an old man, but he was kicking some serious ass against Bock. Bock was no slouch. In a common spot, where Bock goes to jumps down on Verne knee and misses, but instead of just missing he slams his ass into the mat. It is simple, but such commitment. It is JIP, but there does not seem like there are any other clips and it seemed pretty intact. Gagne was migrating and gyrating flustering Bock and then busting out a pretty sweet double arm scissors. After that he goes to the Indian Deathlock, but Bock uses the tights to break it up. Verne goes after the arm tenaciously, but Bock cuts this off with punches, lots of choking and onslaught of boots, but Gagne fires up with lots of bodyslams and strikes. Gagne misses the knee and here comes Bock. Gagne immediately turns over the figure-4 and then Bock whiffs on jumping on Gagne's knee. Gagne rakes Bock's face with his boot. Verne getting down and dirty! They fight over a headlock pretty fiercely with Bock dragging Verne over and raking his face over ropes and choking him. Verne spreads his leg on Bock's piledriver. I feel bad for the fan behind that view. Bock takes the back body drop. Verne cross bodies Bock over the top rope and they got me to bite that as a double countout finish. GAGNE CHOKE! Bobby tries to prevent this miscarriage of justice and gets dragged in. He hits Gagne for the DQ. Verne, justifiably pissed, whips Bobby into the turnbuckle and he taps a gusher. Verne showing he is more of high flyer than his kid hits a flying knee from the top. We get a great view of Bobby's crimson mask. Personal preferences aside (I like longer heat segments), they cut one helluva pace and Gagne's offense looked really credible. In the Verne's age versus Greg's physique debate, Verne overcomes his inherent disadvantage better if you ask me. Some of the early stuff can feel a little like an exhibition of Verne's offense, but halfway through they were really struggling over their holds and working to counter each other. Of the 70s matches, I have seen this has been one of the better ones. I would rank this a bit below the elite Backlund & Bockwinkel stuff, but still a very fun watch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Verne Gagne - 7/18/80 Chicago They did not cut the same pace as the above match. This one went 22 minutes and we got about 15 minutes, which is not too bad. Bock starts off the match hot with a nice Thesz Press and gets an early nearfall. Bock bitches out for Verne a bit, but Bock is able to grab a top wristlock. The top wristlock and double wristlock (Verne uses in response) are two of the harder holds to make entertaining even are wicked holds in MMA (props to Brock for getting it over). They do well by armdragging and slamming out of it, but holding on. They make Baba proud with a surfboard test of strength (if this had Japanese commentary, I am sure they would be losing their shit). Verne starts laying in some shots in the corner that look really good especially kneedrops, but Bock is able to trip him up from the outside and wrap his leg around the post. Once again, Verne cuts Bock off a little early for my tastes especially since he is going over by breaking up a leg lace with his free leg. Credit to Verne, he is selling the leg like a champ and Bock is really good at selling fatigue. Verne's knee gives out on a bodyslam attempt, which I always dig, but Bock misses his knee drop onto Verne's knee (variation of transition spot above). Verne has one heavy sunset flip and then they knock heads pretty violently. Bock gets the piledriver, but no win and he goes to the well one too many times. Verne misses a dropkick; Bock tries to pounce and whiffs; GAGNE CHOKE! Gagne wins! Babyfaces flood the ring to celebrate. This is a step down from the previous match because of the lack pacing and there are less strikes. They are working holds more and holds that are hard to wrench in a good wrestling way. After the leg work by Bock, the match picks up, but still it is not enough to get the match over the top. Again, I have feel like Verne gobbled up Bockwinkel, which was weird since he was going over so he could have had a real sweet comeback to take the win. Of what we saw, it was sound, but nothing that sets your world a fire. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AWA World Heavyweight Champion Verne Gagne vs Nick Bockwinkel - 5/10/81 St. Paul Verne's Retirement Match Win, lose or draw he is retiring and trying to be the first to do it as champion. This match is similar to the one above, but has a way better home stretch and it feels more intact as I think the time announcement may have been gimmicked. I could not find the actual match time on this one, but we have 19 minutes of footage (though includes intros and post-match). If you tack this home stretch on the beginning of the '79 match, I say you have an all-time classic, but I think I would go the '79 match by a hair. Instead of the hot Thesz Press, they do a tenacious lock-up. Bock wins with a top wristlock and they do a little test of strength before some Gagne armdrags with Bock holding on, which I enjoy. Verne eventually gets him into an armbar, but Bock uses the hair to get out, but Verne is able to transition a armdarg into an armbar to see Heenan flip out at ringside makes that spot. There is a commercial clip (forgot that) and Bock ends getting his legs stretched as if he had a cramp in there during a basketball game (this is why I like '79 match better). Verne works the spinning toe hold well before Bock grabs the crossface. Bock is usually the one that instigates that chippiness and the earlier he can the better the matches are. They work a ref bump into the match, which I dig as it is an interesting wrinkle. Verne gets two dropkicks, but no ref. "Wicked" Nick gets him from behind with a double axe-handle and a dramatic two count. Gagne makes a mini-comback. Jesus, dude, let Bock have some sustained offense. Bock gets the piledriver for 2 and he is in disbelief trying two more pinfalls. Bock is going for falls after everything trying to scrape a win together. GAGNE CHOKE! HUGE POP! Bock reverses into the ORIENTAL SLEEPER! Gagne is fighting it with all he has got and is selling really well, before executing a belly to back suplex for the win and to retire as champion. I liked this finish better than the others, but the work at the beginning was the same sound, solid work as the '80 match. So I am going with '79 match as the match to watch between these two. There are two mentalities: the babyface always goes over in the end and upon leaving you do the job. Something had to give. Personally, Gagne going over Bock in a non-title setting for his "retirement" match may be better from a long-term standpoint, but they said on camera they drew 17,000 for this sweet gimmick of can Verne retire as champion (think Sampras at 2002 US Open that's some sweet shit). I think most people would agree that it was how they handled just giving the belt back to Bock was the issue. However, there was a real drop off after Bockwinkel, he seemed to defend against Tito a lot during '81 (Thanks Mookie!), but they probably would have had to gotten a big name outsider to really draw.

Tito Santana vs "The Widowmaker" Barry Windham - Primetime Wrestling 10/89 This felt like a 80s WWF version of a mid-00s WWE match as they were just throwing out offense against each other in order to make themselves look good. It is a bit above that because Windham sells and bumps well for Tito early on and Tito does settle into a heat segment. The first portion is a bit too spotty as they are really not letting their spots breathe. I don't mind it being nip and tuck per se, but there was less of a sense of struggle and more just using parity to display both wrestler's moves. Barry would at times let Tito stuff take effect, but he would go for the shinbreaker so quickly or an eye-rake. They were just packing way too much in there. On the flip side, Tito was not letting him build momentum, but as the babyface he should be coming. Tito does have a great punch. Windham needed to pick something to cut him off that was the jawbreaker into the ab stretch. Barry's heat segment was pretty tedious and instead of a constant build in heat it lets off a lot of heat. He takes the Flair throw off the top rope, but it is just a hope spot as he is able to hotshot Tito and grab a powerslam. Barry taunts and showboats more than I remember, just a WWF thing I suppose? Tito punches the left leg to cut off Windham and applies the figure-4 and the heat to the match is restored instantaneously. Barry gets a rope break and goes back to underhanded tactics like the eye-rake and fish hook. He can not sustain as Tito blocks Barry's suplex attempt and hits one of his own. They collide heads, I have no idea why, but it was a "cool" 80s spot. Tito whips Barry over the top turnbuckles and slams him into the post. He delivers the Flying Burrito, but the bells rings signaling a draw. Tito has wicked tunnel vision and is still putting the boots to Barry and another FLying Burrito sends him packing. They definitely packed way too much in this match and still managed to have a dead segment in terms of Barry's heat. Windham was strange in the WWF ring, he felt like he needed to show boat more and play a character I guess. Tito was the most exciting part of the match, but still there was no real story. They were both just tossing moves and spots like candy to show off. It is worth to see the one notable match of Windham's 89 run, but nothing that gets above decent.

O HELL NO!!! My brother and I were dying of laughter every time, Austin would say "Mo in stealth mode, fly one the wall, recording audio WHOOP-ASS!" He better keep saying that with the new guy. Austin is fuckin' hilarious though. My brother and I get a kick out of his working man gimmick and his constant "Is that a straight shoot?" He is definitely my go-to podcast right now as he is wildly entertaining, but still dropping that 411 and breaking it down for all us working cats.

What's funny (Keller does not touch on it in his response, which I only skimmed) is that the story is a hammy-down Kliq story. It is actually a Nash story, which makes more sense as Nash was with Dallas in '92. Nash tells this story verbatim on the Steve Austin Show only with him in the room with Dallas. I understand why Trips used this story because it fit the answer he wanted, but it is just a Kliq story to show how some boys take the dirt sheets too seriously. Nash does not tell it in a way to make the dirt sheets look fickle as Triple H does, but just to say you can't get all caught up in that. I like Kliq interviews for the most part, but usually prefer Nash, Hall and Waltman to Michaels & Hunter.

I have been busy with a non-wrestling related vanity project in the form of Vivid Technicolor Radio. It is a podcast me and my childhood friend are doing on music videos and the machine behind pop music. We just released our first episode. I thought it was good insofar as we sounded intelligent and there were not that many dead spots. However, I think it could have been funnier (not everyone can be Johnny Sorrow there first time out) and a even more insightful. Once, I feel like we start hitting stride, I will probably double my posts here with anything from that. In the meantime, I have reached the halfway point of my series on WWF 80s tag wrestling by looking at the lackluster and underwhelming Fabulous Rougeaus, who never ceased to bore me. They did imporve wit their heel turn, but by the time they figured it out against the Rockers, it was too late and they were programmed to their death against the Bushwhackers. An ignominious end to an ignominious team. Since it is the half way point, I did some rankings of the matches and teams so far that we had seen. I excluded all singles matches and non-WWF tag matches from the rankings. Best Tag Teams of 80s WWF so far: 1. The Islanders - Great babyface and heel run that got cut short by Tama leaving. Excellent feud with Strike Force. 2. British Bulldogs - Even though I was down on them for their Hart Foundation work, they had an excellent series with the Dream Team and proved they could still go against Demolition in '88. 3. Demolition - Great matches, but not real money feuds so far as their program with Strike Force was disappointing. Still great matches with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Bulldogs cant be denied. 4. Hart Foundation - Bret Hart is a great ring general, but he is much better at playing the subtle heel than the out and out heel. I like Bret a lot and he showed a lot of promise, but he did not always deliver. 5. Rougeaus - Rockers match saves them from the last spot. 6. Killer Bees - Inoffensive, but not much going on. Best Tag Matches of WWF (1985-1991) so far: 1. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Rockers - London 10/89 2. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 9/87 3. WWF World Tag Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86 2 Out of 3 Falls 4. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 10/87 2 Out of 3 Falls 5. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Rockers - MSG 10/88 6. WWF World Tag Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II 7. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88 8. WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs Strike Force - MSG 11/87 9. Survivor Series '88 10. Rick Martel & Rougeaus vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam '89 11. Islanders vs Demolition - MSG 2/87 12. Survivor Series '87 13. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs British Bulldogs - MSG 7/88 14. Demolition vs Killer Bees - Houston 9/87 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...n-boys-wwf.html Viva Le Quebec!

I watched it twice, but I guess that was over six months ago. My appreciation of matches definitely follows the inverse-square law with time. I have a tendency to underrate matches I have not seen in a while and I overrate matches I have just seen. I will try to watch RNRs vs Russians again this weekend.

I agree with this. No way would the Rockers have that kind of match with the Russians. On the flip side, I can see the RNR having better matches with the Rougeous/Powers of Pain and just as good if not better matches with Rose/Somers. The Rockers match with POP would most likely be better than an RNR match with the POP by a healthy margin. RNR never worked power spotfests very well. Later on in 1990, they wrestle Doom in what is considered a pretty disappointing match because Doom just kinda does holds with no real heat. I think we all agree that Doom is way better than POP. Rockers played to POP strengths and just said do power moves and we will bump like crazy. I am not trying to take away from the RNR, but their best matches in my view are against teams like MX, Bodies and the Horsemen. I don't think they always clicked for me against power teams like Russians, Ragin' & Ravishin' and Doom. Their heat segments tended to be too drawn out in my opinion. You think that would be the easier story to tell, but something seems to be missing. I actually think Rockers/Demos & Rockers/POP is better than any match the RNRs did with a power team including the Russians. I still want to do a bigger write-up, but I think the Rockers had more great matches with more teams than the RNRs. Of course, I have only seen the Bodies matches from the 90s, so maybe there is more and I don't know too much about their Mid-South run except the stuff with MX. Rockers has Rose/Somers, Demolition, Hart Foundation, Rougueas, Orient Express, Powers of Pain, and Brainbusters. The RNRs have MX, Bodies, Russians, Ragin' N Ravishin, and Horsemen. Yes RNRs had the better feuds and Rockers only had Rose & Somers, but the Rockers delivered as that popcorn babyface tag team to pop the crowd on each card for the WWF. I think the RNRs are better, but just not by as much as people think.

Here we go... The Rockers vs Rougeaus - 10/89 London, England This is pro wrestling. I know pro wrestling can be a lot of things, but this really captures the fun, light-hearted aspect of wrestling that develops into a dramatic story: can Shawn Michaels make the tag? It is such a simple hook. I often feel compelled to dig deeper to prove that it is more impressive match. In this match, it is beauty is how shallow it is. It is two pricks trying to show up the good guys. The good guys goofing on the bad guys and having fun at their expense. The crowd is laughing along right with them. This level of entertainment and fun is what is missing from most WWF face control segments. Until the pricks can grab a handful of hair, then it becomes a dramatic effort from Michaels to get the hot tag to escape an incredible onslaught from the dastardly, underhanded bad guys. The amount of offense Michaels takes and his selling is the drama that most their WWF heat segments are missing. The go home stretch calls back to the opening with the good guys using the bad guys own dirty tactics against them to pick up the victory. Who are these guys and what did they do with the Rougeaus? The Rougeaus have been the most underwhelming tag team that I have seen in my viewing. Their heat segments tend to be borefests and Raymond seems devoid of any charisma. In this match, the Rougeaus look like the best WWF heel tag team ever in this one match. They stooge and bitch out like the Busters and they have the offense of the Midnight Express in this match. I understand the beginning can be tedious for some, but I like bullshit. You will see that Marty does want to lock up twice, but each time Jacques calls him a chicken and goads him into doing the relatively easy feat of athleticism. I am a sucker for heels that congratulate themselves over simple feats. However, now the Rockers get the idea how they can really show up the Rougeaus with Shawn's moonsault and shaking the ropes for Jacques. How much Jacques throws his head being rammed into the top turnbuckle is awesome. I laughed again (only thing I laugh at each time). I love how Jacques scurries away into the protective embrace of Raymond. The MX used Cornette to bitch out for them, but here the Rougeaus do it themselves. The leg work is incredible and the best Rockers control segment with all the switches without tags. Jacques, the ref and crowd just make this segment so great and another stretch where I can not stop smiling. Then while Jacques is arguing, Raymond will actually get to the corner, but he wont be there. I just love that stuff. Hell, even Raymond is great for all his work within this hold and constantly keeping it moving. Eventually, Jacques grabs Shawn's hair and Raymond rams a pretty nice knee into Shawn's back transforming this match from light-hearted to a dramatic affair. Already, you can tell Rougeaus are game for what I consider the best heat segment in WWF 80s tag wrestling. Shawn takes his Flair Flip bump into the turnbuckle and bumps huge off a double chop. The stars are just aligned in this match as Shawn is having his best FIP and the Rougeaus are just fucking on. Raymond's savate kick sends Shawn tumbling over the top rope and they start working on Shawn's back. They do the Boston Crab/knee combo and then Raymond throws Shawn onto Jacques' knee. Seriously, where the hell have these Rougeaus been. "We are really seeing the Rougeaus at their absolute best." - Tony. Tony always knows what's up. Jacques does a fake clap for a tag and the crowd boos the shit out of him. I love this crowd! Raymond busts out the rolling short arm scissors into a pin combination and Shawn reverses. I love this match! Jacques knees Raymond by accident and lets out a nice, hearty "Fuck!". Here comes Marty doing his best Rick Martel. Hands above his head, so energized just hitting anything in blue and yellow including the Mouth of the South. Raymond trips him from the outside allowing Jacques to get a piledriver. Now the Rougeaus go for the coup d'grace the Megaphone, but Shawn is able to get it and hit Jacques for Marty to get the pin. Once again, the Rockers give the Rougeaus a taste of their own medicine. I love the MX/RNR Wrestlewar '90 match and I really don't think this is far off of it. I think this is probably the match I select as the best WWF tag match of the Hulkamania Era (84-91) when all is said and done. It has the best control and heat segments with an actual, logical finish with a really good transition that bridges light-hearted with dramatic. The criticism I know is that there is a lot of bs in the beginning, but I enjoyed it and it played into the control segment well with the Rockers still fucking around with the Rougeaus and it sort of fuels the Rougeaus fire to really kick their ass even though they were the ones that instigated it. Shawn is really off the charts selling and bumping for the Rougeaus.

I have been meaning to watch that match forever and I am avoiding the reviews for now, but I will try to contribute soon. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Ivan Koloff - MSG 8/78 This is pretty fuckin' awesome match and a real eye-opener to how good Uncle Ivan was in comparison to other 70s heels. Although, I thought he was bigger, he seemed pretty small against Backlund. Unfortunately, there is some clipping in this match so you do not get all the transitions, but what I did see was really great matwork and a very energetic match. That being said and maybe it is because I am missing some transitions I felt that some of the selling was neglected as the match progressed. It almost comes across as a matwork spotfest. Backlund uses the headscissors instead of the headlock as his go-to work hold and they do some really cool stuff as compared to Murdoch/O'Connor (a total borefest in my opinion). Backlund transitioning out of a double wristlock to a headscissors was incredible as well as Koloff's work to get out of this headscissors. The bridge work is an excellent display of Backlund's crazy strength. Koloff uses his strength to place Backlund on the top turn turnbuckle, which is important for later on. We go from knucklelock to a Koloff headscissors, but Backlund headstands out and gets his own headscissors after a dropkick. Backlund gets his side headlock, but Koloff pretty quickly gets a hair pull into his own headscissors, which I really liked. Backlund working his hardest to get out of headscissor with a sweet bridge and Koloff is smart to realize he is about break out and just breaks it himself to drop a knee. Koloff has a pretty sweet offensive flurry before Backlund catches his foot and does some pretty solid leg work, but due to cutting Koloff ends up in a short-arm scissors so that Backlund can do his dead weight lift spot to place Koloff on the top rope and punctuates it with a slap. Backlund gets a nice back body drop and right back to the leg, not exactly selling the arm. I love a double gut stomp, such a great heel move. They do some intense tussling and they knock heads causing Backlund to fall out of the ring. Koloff kicks Backlund's ass, but Koloff whiffs on a kneedrop. Koloff hits a pretty wicked stomp from the top onto Backlund's head when he is on the apron, which busts Backlund open. Koloff levels him with a big boot in the face, but huge Backlund comeback that is wicked with the ref throwing the whole thing out before the Backlund atomic drop. I loved the mat work and all the struggle. They do a lot of heated transitions even if it is just a dropkick or a knee working hard to progress the match. You get a lot of Backlund spots: mirror dead lift spots, the great work in the holds and Backlund's heated moves. Also, compared to so many heels, Koloff really has a lot of offense and is really trying to match Backlund's energy in these holds. The ending stuff is a really good display of Koloff as a 70s offensive dynamo with backbreaker, vertical suplex and flying kneedrop. The climax of the match was that really sweet stomp from the top that would looks good enough to put on TV right now and use it as a spot to write someone out. Backlund's comeback makes me really want to see the rematch, but I don't see it uploaded. I expected this to be gnarly, dastardly foreigner against clean cut super babyface, but it is almost worked as a face vs face mat clinic with Koloff heating things up with nasty knees. I thoroughly enjoyed this as one of the better WWF clinics that cut a great pace. So John or anybody else, do we have the September MSG match?

Loss, if it is any solace, the Alex Wright dance move is always over like rover at the club. So is Norman Smiley's Big Wiggle...now that I think about all my club moves are wrestling-inspired. Who needs Ballroom dance classes when you have Monday Night Nitro!

I agree it was the best Bruno I have seen, but granted I have not seen a lot of them. I do want to eventually track down the Stan Hansen series. It was nothing I would go out of my way to see it again, but it was a decent match. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Superstar Graham vs Dusty Rhodes - 9/77 MSG This is NOT the match to show people to prove to them that 70s wrestling can be exciting and good. This is definitely one of worst matches I have seen in quite some time. The positives were both had tremendous outfits could draw great heat in their respective roles. Dusty's migrating and gyrating routine will always be over with me. I did like how they built the match around Dusty's elbow, but besides that this match just kept going and going. I have never seen a shittier lock-up in my life. It was just one shitty lock-up after another each time Dusty throwing him off and Graham bumping pretty well. You can tell Vince holds Dusty's character in disdain calling him rollie-polie and getting in other subtle digs. Dusty gives him a couple wags of the finger, before Graham gets him in a test of strength, but Dusty is able to stomp on his fingers. Grahma remains undeterred, if strength won't work then he will cheat. He gives him a couple fingers in the throat. There is early shades of "Karate" Billy Graham. Graham locks on a chinlock and then a bearhug here is where they really build the elbow as the devastating last resort that Dusty needs to apply. After a couple of teases, Dusty finally unloads the elbow, but misses the follow-up elbow. Graham in the most impressive spot of the match hoists Dusty up and applies an over-the-shoulder- backbreaker, but he can't hold him. So he unleashes a series of elbows, but finally misses one. Graham goes up top, but takes the Flair bump off the top and the a back body drop over the top to give the American Dream the countout victory. There is a pretty loud bullshit chant and Dust gets on the house mic to say "Superstar, I came along way to whip your ass!" TEXAS DEATH MATCH BABY! Those lock-ups actually should be seen just to see how remarkably shitty they are. These two are not exactly offensive dynamos and it lends itself to a pretty boring match. You can get by on shtick pretty far with me, but you got to have some compelling work in there to build to the finish. Dusty was pretty bad at selling Superstar's shitty offense and Superstar moves around the ring in a very awkward manner. I plan on watching the Death Match and Bullrope match, but I do not have high hopes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Superstar Graham vs Dusty Rhodes - Texas Bullrope Match MSG 8/78 I have the American Dream's DVD from when I was in high school and I bought originally just for the promos. I do not think I have watched even half the matches on it. I remember this match piqued my interest and when I put it on it turned me off of 70s wrestling until recently. You know what, I still think it sucks. We are joined in progress, but thanks to Fink's announcement, we know we only missed at most 90 seconds off the beginning. This is does not stop Dusty from fibbin' saying "Remember this was JIP, we were going a lot longer before that". Always working. They establish early on Superstar has nowhere to run with the bullrope attached to his wrist. Graham is the absolute worst on transitions as he just starts choking Dusty and hits with the bell to bust him open. He goes up top and Dusty yanks him off. Now it is Graham's turn to bell getting smashed with the cowbell. After some unheated back and forth, Dusty hits a home run with bell and Strongbow (Parv's favorite wrestler) counts out Superstar. Superstar displays more fire in the post-match when he chases off Fink then he does in the whole match. There are no transitions, no heat, Graham is the among the worst control wrestlers. Even Dusty seemed off his game as he was not really hitting his spots with gusto. Lets see if the Death Match can save this series.

I cribbed the first half of my name from Graham (Sorry, Dundee). The second half of my name comes from my favorite genre of music: sleaze rock. Well Titans of Wrestling inspired me to say why stop at 1979 why not go even further back. WWF World Heavyweight Champion "Superstar" Graham vs Bruno Sammartino w/Arnold Skaaland - 6/77 MSG This is a perfect match for podcast listening as not much happens but it is an enjoyable tit for tat match. I thought Graham was going to be Ventura-level shit in the ring, but he was not atrocious. His strikes are pretty weak and his bumping at the beginning is really goofy at the beginning. As the match progresses, he sells fatigue, punishment better through just collapsing. His physique would impressive in 2013 nevermind 1977 and Bruno is nothing to sneeze at either. Bruno is actually pretty good in this match even though his strikes are pretty weak, but he displays a lot better fire and energy than I expected. He was moving really well. Graham uses the ropes and the outside to break up Bruno's momentum until he is able to lock on a full nelson. Then in the theme of the match, Bruno says anything you can do I can do better. Bruno slaps on his own full nelson and Graham collapses onto the ropes. Graham then tries a surfboard, but in a spot that would make Baba proud, they do a surfboard test of strength with Bruno applying his own. This time when Graham makes the ropes Bruno delivers a nice knee. Graham actually gets some offense in after a thumb to the throat with some Irish whips and shitty kicks. He grabs a bear hug, but staying true to the match Bruno grabs his own. Bruno ends up on the outside they do a little King of the Mountain before Arnie Bar The Door There Is A Pier-Six Brawl A Brewing and the ref gets caught in the fracas before calling the match out. It was a pretty tepid melee as far as melee goes not that New York was every known for that. Bruno actually looked decent here (dont remember liking Bruno all that much), Graham exceeded expectation of possibly being the shittiest wrestler ever. I like tit for tat matches, but this had absolutely no transitions in it whatsoever. They would just move in between segments as if they existed in a vacuum. Not a match, I would watch again.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Pat Patterson - MSG 09/79 Cage match I am not a fan of WWF Cage match and even a good one like the Slaughter match is not something I want to watch again. This one is again a pretty mediocre match, but not awful just tedious like most cage matches. They start off with punches and Backlund immediately throws him in the cage. They start off with trading escapes. The one thing, I liked about the Backlund/Slaughter cage match was how concentrated Backlund on bloodying Slaughter before leaving. This match seems more like two guys just trying to win, which I understand is the point, but in a cage match that consists of some boring cage escapes. Whilst they were boring, some of the way their knees were bending did seem awful painful. There is a clip mid-point after they both fall off the cage. I cant tell if Backlund got bloodied somehow else or Patterson punches bloodied him. Backlund catapults Patterson into the cage and that busts wide open. Backlund has some pretty good punches in this, but both seem pretty slow. I know both have another gear, but both seem more committed to just punch it out "dramatically" on his knees. Big atomic drop from Backlund! (Ok I am stretching for high spots). Hey the Patterson Knuckledusters, I am glad there is some continuity. The finish sucked out loud for me with his falling out of the cage on his back. I do not know the booking going forward, but I thought it was a pretty lame way for a face to win. Not a bad match per se, just your typical WWF Cage, which never really does it for me. Cage matches seems more like a restriction for the wrestlers rather than a way to get even more heat.

WWF North American Heavyweight Champion Ted DiBiase vs Pat Patterson - 6/79 Thanks to the Titans of Wrestling for bringing this to my attention as it is the best babyface Ted DiBiase match I have ever seen and a really fun studio match. It is one of those great popcorn match with the babyface dominating and the crowd totally with him in lockstep. The crowd crescendos with those arm-wrenches and the boisterous chants during the knees to Patterson's arm. My younger brother has really made me a crowd reaction mark and I was a real sucker for this work. DiBiase, to his credit, was working with great energy and laying it into Pat's arm. Pat made DiBiase look like a million bucks with a really unselfish performance: bump to outside off dropkick, begging off and selling the arm work. They do a King of the Mountain for the heat segment, which ends quickly with a fired-up Ted (reminding me of Tito Santana) slamming Pat's head into the table and with lots of great punches. Patterson throws DiBiase into the ref and pulls the old knuckledusters out of the trunk to win the title by nefarious tactics. This was a really inspired performance from DiBiase and Patterson both playing their roles in a studio match. However, I would have loved to have seen a MSG/Boston/Philly match with a real heat segment and so I could see the other side of babyface Ted. The fired-up offense is only one part of the equation and would like to see him sell. I am always looking for more Pat Patterson because he seems like such a great wrestler in my limited viewing. -------------------------------------------------------------- WWF North American Heavyweight Champion Pat Patterson vs Ted DiBiase - MSG 10/79 This match is very much in a similar vein to the above match with DiBiase dominating the match with lots of fired-up babyface offense, but coming out on the short-end of the stick. Patterson with lots of stalling early on, which does get irksome because is in excess of 4 minutes. Finally, DiBiase, who is sick and tired of this bullshit, bum-rushes Patterson and goes after his arm again. The crowd seems hot, but not as hot as the studio crowd, but it is pretty similar offense. I like Patterson sell of being slammed into the mat. Patterson ends up eating the post with shoulder, which sets up some abdominal stretches as a possible finish. Patterson rakes DiBiase's eyes and does some choking before DiBiase fires up out of the corner with an eye-rake, nice little FU to Patterson. I love how DiBiase slams the match in frustration during his comeback, which was a really cool touch. He works some hot dropkicks, but whiffs on one. Here comes the kunckledusters, but DiBiase is smartened up to this and blocks it. He blocks that and grabs the knucks, but DiBiase waits too long to use them. Patterson grabs a double leg takedown to flash pin DiBiase. I would have liked DiBiase being so pissed he got DQ'd for using the knucks then you build up either DiBiase's last chance match or a no holds barred match, but maybe this was DiBiase's last match anyways. Booking aside, this was a very good match, but once again would have liked to see more of a heat segment. These types of popcorn matches can only rate so highly for me. They are fun to watch, but lack substance to me. I prefer these type of matches for TV matches or to set up angles. Still, I really liked both of their performances as it is just reinforced their work from the angle.

I watched six minutes worth of clips from Bockwinkel vs Andre at Cominskey Park. Holy Shit, was it good. Andre was taking some pretty wicked bumps including one huge one over the top ropes with Bock. It was crazy, but the gist you get from the clips is that Andre is working underneath and it looked surprisingly credible. Andre was selling like a champ for Bock, who had some great offense. I wish we had the complete match, but clips are worth watching. Andre/Hansen is pretty bitchin', but I have never been able to find the Khan match. Do we have footage of Harley vs Andre? Did Flair ever work Andre and do we have footage?

I am about 2/3s of the way in and it just breezes by. Since I just incredible amount of Hart Foundation recently ( as well as I have seen pretty much every major Bret 90s match), I wanted to mention my biggest take home message from his work was that he was ready for "primetime" at the beginning of his WWF tenure. He was the best ring general (case to be made for Bill Eadie) of the tag division and you could tell that he would be a major singles star. I think Loss comparison of the WWF Tag Division to WCW's cruiserweight division is something I never thought of before and a really good way to frame the tag division. That being said Bret Hart was the Rey Mysterio of the division was allowed to mix with the singles stars. If you look at his 1989 tenure, he barely wrestles tag matches. If you just look at PPV matches like I did before, you would think Hart Foundation was still going strong. However, when you look at the loop and the Primetime Wrestling, the majority of the matches were usually draws against the midcard name heels like Mr. Perfect, Greg Valentine, Dino Bravo, Honky Tonk Man, Rick Martel etc... I do not think it is just hindsight that lends credence to the Bret Hart was wise beyond his years during his tag tenure. There is enough instances that Vince saw this rare talent of ring generalship par excellence in Bret Hart. Vince's restraint whether it was due to prudence or external circumstances when it came to pushing Bret to singles stardom is one of the best slow-burn pushes ever. Loss's point about how Bret would have been the best touring champ of the 90s if there was such a thing is spot on. Maybe, Loss mentions this in the last third or someone else asserts it, but I want to assert that Bret Hart is the greatest "face vs face" wrestler in history. He fuckin rules as a subtle heel in those type of matches. I want to rewatch the Ironman match with Shawn again (have not seen in a couple years) because I think I will like it even more watching Bret Hart heel it up in his usual subtle fashion now that I have noticed how good Bret performs in the face vs face environment. It is that type of elite ring generalship that Flair and Hart share in common more than anything else. When you have two alpha males like that you can see why they butt heads. It is old they are so similar that's why they don't like each other. I will listen to the last hour when I get a chance, but some really good stuff so far.

This is the sprint version of today WWE main event style, but since it is not dragged out and the false finishers are not all finishers it is more exciting than dramatic. Hey, Tito, does not work as pissed off as usual and it is still a great match. This match is really built to showcase Mr. Perfect and his heat segments are way better in this match. If you tack the Tito babyface shine from April on this bad boy you would really have a match for the ages. Tito looks hot to begin with and Perfect takes a big bump off the chop, but this is a lot shorter and Perfect take command early off a telegraphed back body drop. I was not a fan of the transitions in this match they seemed generic and forced there was no logical progression. Perfect busts out his stock WWF offense: his big knee lift and standing dropkick. The chinlock/chokehold with Bobby was excellent. It was a pretty inventive ref bump, I will give that. Tito pours on the false finishes with figure-4, Flying Burrito, second rope clothesline and cross-body. Perfect takes over and the rest of his arsenal is unveiled the rolling necksnap and twisting thing between his thighs. Tito just says it is my turns with some piston punches and then a punch sends Perfect way over the ropes. Here comes the HUGE Mr. Perfect bumps including his famous posting of himself off hair biel and the atomic drop into turnbuckle. They sneak in one more false finish off a clothesline for Tito, before Tito counters the Perfectplex with an inside cradle countered by a Perfect Inside Cradle. That is a way better finish than April match. Perfect looked as good here as he pretty much ever did in WWF outside his work with Bret with really good heat segments and eating Tito's offense like a champ. I liked how he waited until the end to unleash his barrage of bumps. Tito played a fired-up, big move babyface much better than I thought he would and he did not feel that pissed off. I'd probably still have Rockers/POP and Valentine/Garvin ahead of this, but a solid WWF MOTYC for 1990.

So I have a question for everyone that has watched more Tito than me. I want to assert based off what I have watched that he has two modes: pissed off babyface and boring. I think he really has no idea how to work a great match without acting like he needs beat his opponents ass like something was stolen from him. It is a bit weird when he does this and has no feud like with Perfect or DiBiase. I enjoy it helluva lot, don't get me wrong, but it comes across as a bit strange at times. Like the announcers are taken aback that docile Tito has erupted with fiery rage. Especially in the Perfect match where he posts Perfect leg for no particularly good reason. Yes, Perfect is a prick in the storylines, I get that, but what makes Tito a babyface should be a little more restraint until he is slighted. Other babyfaces have more range and can tell different stories based on the heat level without always coming off as pissed off babyfaces. That being said when he wants to wrestle "scientific" he is pretty fuckin' boring see the Don Muraco match (maybe the worst match ever featuring two decent wrestlers) and that Rick Rude match. So am I wrong? Does Tito have different gears besides painfully dull and I am gonna whoop your candy-ass? I would love to see that so please point me in that direction.

I liked this a good bit because Tito is at his best when he makes it into a Catalina Bar The Casa Tijuana Brawl! From what I have seen Tito really just has two modes: pissed off babyface and boring. It seems when Tito is motivated he just makes all his matches into blood feud matches because he knows no other way to make a match exciting. I ain't one to complain because this match comes off a lot better with Tito breaking up some go-behinds with hard elbows. Then following Perfect out to the outside with the chop and back in with a sweet springboard shoulderblock that looked stiff. Perfect is pretty damn good in this match and bumps in a tasteful manner. I dug the transition with Tito tripping over Perfect on a drop-down someone needs to crib that for a PPV main event transition. Perfect save for his working punch looks pretty awful on offense and just taunts. Tito is like fuck this shit and just starts working over the leg wrapping around the ringpost and then going for the Figure-4. Heenan is out and they go with a lame inside cradle after Tito had just been kicking Perfect. Jeez, a little more chicanery would have been nice, just felt anti-climatic. I know you have to save the Perfectplex for the return match so I understand that. Heenan/Perfect just make sense together even if it was at tail end of both careers. Tito ruled this match and carried to the promised land. Mr. Perfect was decent, but nothing stand out. I do love the bump he takes when he gets kicked in the back of the leg, but other than that a blase performance.

Still top 5 though, baby! It is actually kind of surprising how thin the elite US tag teams are. I agree those were two other teams I would put in my Top 5. Tully & Arn have longevity issues and Fantastics while they were great with MX, I can't think of many other tag matches they had were great with different teams. I think those are easier arguments for the Rockers, but I would not begrudge anyone having those teams over the Rockers.

As the guy who threw out the "Top 5" comment, I usually refrain from those comments unless I have actually made a list. I have not even come close to making a list so I feel foolish that I even threw it out there. I will say when I made that declaration only the Midnight Express & Rock 'N' Roll Express were the two teams I would put ahead of the Rockers from the US. I think they are at least in the conversation with any other American tag team ever. However, I do want to give a go at trying to point out why the Rockers are closer to the RNRs than maybe one would think. However, it is 2 am here. So I will give it a go over the course of the next couple days and see if I can get something up by the weekend.

Clearly it stems from their bitchin' 1996 feud, which featured probably the greatest sentence ever uttered, "Is that Embalming Fluid No. 5, I smell?" Goldust from his debut to about when he drops the title to Ahmed is one of the best gimmicks they ever produced. I am abstaining for now until I can think this one out a bit more. At first it seem like Taker in a walk, but then you realize how fuckin' useless he was until about 1996 and how good Dustin was from about 1992-96.

Here comes The Ax! Here Comes The Smasher! Slow day at work, means that I can finally get this blog up. I know that Demolition has been a firebrand on this site. I have to say I fall in the middle. I recognize Demolition's strengths: match layout and more competitive matches with less of an exhibition-feel. However, their matches can meander and fall flat. There are plenty of faults, but they guys should not be dismissed just because they look like their Road Warriors. They should be judged based on their own merits. I would highly recommend their matches against Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88 and against the Rockers 10/88 MSG show as their two stand-out matches. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...es-ax-here.html

One hour in and already this show has really inspired me to watch two really good AA/Dusty matches that I never seen before. The TV Title change to Dusty, while a weird finish, maybe the best Dusty match save for the Backlund one I saw a while ago. I love when a podcast inspires stuff like that. Keep churning them out because they sound great.