Superstar Sleeze

Rick Martel & Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart & Slick vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam 89 It is Quebec's All-Star has been assembled to crush Tito Santana and his allies, The Rockers. If you add Dino Bravo, you would have a pretty badass Survivor Series Team. Also, they should have stuck Martel with Hart. He had all the other Quebecois at this point and he has the bitchin as all hell Quebec jacket. The story is cntered Ricky and Tito after the fallout from Wrestlemania V. From my understanding, they were running an angle around the horn where Martel would attack Tito from behind during his entrance. The referee would rule that the bout would have to take place later. Then Martel would usually win a short match (under minutes) by some sort of nefarious tactic. I was pretty disappointed to discover this because I was excited for a bevy of 10+ minute Tito vs Martel matches. At Summerslam '89, STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES~! The babyfaces start off hot with some double teaming. The Rockers slingshot Tito who does a cross body on Raymond and Martel. The Meadowlands is rocking for this match. The first bit of Martel we see if him high stepping while punching Marty. The announcers inform me he does a cartwheel, but the camera work is a bit shoddy. Gone are all the cool spots, in their place is a cocky heel with a great right. Tito gets the tag and Martel fucking dives out of the ring to tag Raymond. Tito gets distracted by Jacques allowing for Raymond to hit a high knee from behind.This is one of better Tito face in perils I have seen as everyone worked really well here. Ricky Martel helps do a double hotshot onto Tito and now he comes in. Tony is indignant about the abject cowardice of Martel while Jesse defends him. This is actually some pretty good stuff between the two. Tony blows every WWF announcer out of the water at this point as he sound genuinely excited about the product and makes you believe in all of Tito's hope spots. Jacques lets out a big "Woo-hoo" after a sweet dropkick. When Tito starts to mount a comeback on Martel, Jacques runs over and pulls his hair so that Martel can reestablish his advantage. "SUNSET FLIP!" by Tito and the crowd loves Tito. Raymond applies a Boston Crab and Jacques with a big knee drop on Tito as the crowd gasps, but it only gets two. . The crowd chants for Tito during the abdominal stretch. Desperation cross body by Tito for 2 on Jacques. Jacques accidentally hits a high-knee on Raymond while Tito got out of the way. Shawn is in and cleans house on all three men. Katie bar the door because a pier-six brawl has erupted. TITO BLASTS MARTEL WITH A FLYING BURRITO!!! In the confusion, Martel clobbers Marty on a rollup-attempt to win the match. It is clear that Vince had big plans for Martel as he is letting him pick up wins in the Tito feud albeit protecting Tito with the surrounding angle and Martel picked up the win here. This is a really fun popcorn match where the Nordiques play excellent dastardly heels who use every trick in the book to keep Tito down. Martel is reveling in besting his former partner Tito. However, one of these nefarious tricks backfires on the Nordiques allowing for the Rockers to come to aid of their friend. Tito getting to hit Martel with his finish was supposed to be the feel-good climax, but future booking plans necessitated that Martel be kept strong while Tito was beginning his descent down the card. Martel is a fun heel with all his antics, but do miss his big spots. This is one helluva performance from Tito and the Rougeaus really hit their stride in 1989 after some awful years. It is too bad tag wrestling was pretty much dead in the water in a scant few months. This is a fun match that people should check out if they never had.

The Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart vs The Bushwhackers - Royal Rumble 1990 I have never seen a Bushwhackers match (I have seen the Sheepherders) and you cant go through life without seeing the Bushwhackers, right? Also, Jacques has a beard!?!?!? Lots of cool gems in this one. I think if they went full-on comedy through the entirety match it could have been half-way decent. But this match started off as comedy sucked and so maybe there was nothing that could save this. The fans do love the Bushwhackers and doing their weird march. Everyone including the ref (who is Danny Davis!) gets their ass bitten. Jacques comes in and thinks he is smart for avoiding some stuff. The Rougeaus take over and it starts off pretty well as the Rougeaus seem pretty energetic as they showboat and beat on Luke. They drop Luke on the top rope throat-first, which seems like a decent bump. Instead of following it up with a pinfall attempt, Raymond puts him in a chinlock?!?!? Stupid. This is when the Rougeaus mail in and the usual boring Rougeaus come in. Chinlocks and abdominal stretches. Jacques eats knees on a splash. Jacques does the most ridiculous oversell over a Butch "punch" to the midsection. Jimmy Hart is in the ring and the Whackers are finally going to give the Mouth of the South what he deserves. Rougeaus dropkick the Buchwhackers into each other. Raymond puts him a Boston Crab and when Jacques gets tripped by the ropes. The Bushwhackers hit the battering ram for the win. Bushwhackers pretty much sucked and they worked wicked light. I did not find them that funny. Rougeaus could not give a fuck and this would be their last match. I guess Raymond was pretty injured at this point and Jacques would go on to be the Mountie. The Rougeaus vs The Garvins w/Precious? - St. Jean Baptist Massacre Montreal 1985? Thanks Dave! This was a pretty wicked beatdown the Garvins gave the Rougeaus. Precious lays some smack talk on Jacques and Ronnie sprays hair spray in Jacques' eyes. Ronnie and Jimmy Garvin are the strangest brother combination in pro wrestling. They gang up on Raymond and Jacques Sr. comes in. It feels like AWA in a good way to me. As the fans pop huge for Jacques Sr., they want to see the old hero save his sons, but the Garvins sell for the elder Jacques, but he goes after Precious. The Garvins attack him and give him a double bodyslam. Then they do the what I believe is the Rougeaus finish. They put Jacques Sr in a Boston Crab and drop a knee drop on him. At some point Jacques blades and Jacques Sr. does a stretcher job. Montreal is friggin hot to see the Garvins get their just desserts. The Garvins definitely did a number on the local heroes and then they cut a local spot promo with Jimmy Garvin just lambasting Ontario and Ronnie says they annihilated the Rougeaus. After, the beatdown and promo just like the rest of 1985 Montreal I want to see Garvin get their asses kicked by the Rougeaus. The Rougeaus vs The Garvins w/Precious - Montreal 1985? Jimmy Garvin looks just so friggin sleezy. That is really saying something in pro wrestling. Garvins seem to be taking this affair lightly until the Rougeaus come out and they try to keep them out. The Rougeaus overwhelm the Garvins and just unload on them. They even do the row your boat spot! Raymond looks awesome and is throwing huge right hand bombs! He piledrives Ronnie Garvin! Jacques with a fist drop and a second rope knee drop and Ronnie is gushing blood. The crowd is going crazy for the Rougeaus and Ronnie making them look a million bucks. Jacques chucks Jimmy Jam off the top rope and melee ensues. The Rougeaus spike Ronnie on his head! Jimmy puts Ronnie's foot on the rope to save him. Ronnie starts to fire back and hits a leaping headbutt to tag in Jimmy. Jimmy bumps around for the Rougeaus in a more overtly dramatic way. Ronnie grabs his tights and pulls him down. Jimmy is able to grab a reverse chinlock. This makes sense the Rougeaus are fuckin hot. The Garvins are just trying to break their momentum and you see them going back to the chinlock. Jimmy gets a knee lift for 2. They censor Ronnie's blood. Ronnie and Jacques are going at it while Jimmy has Raymond in a chinlock. Jimmy and Raymond collide pretty wickedly in a fast criss-cross. Both tag out, Jacques with a standing dropkick on Ronnie. Jacques dropkicks both Garvins. Jacques rams Jimmy's balls into the post a couple times, but Ronnie slugs Jacques Sr. The ref calls off the match. O Fuck You! He disqualifies the Rougeaus?!?!? Double Go Fuck Yourself! After WWF match after WWF match this match kicks so much ass and is such a breath of fresh air. I assume most people here would like this match better than the Rockers matches as this way more violent and a very heated brawl. It is really energetic and action-packed. It never lets up. I think the Rockers matches has its own high points and is a very different match. I like this match a lot, but I think I would put the Rockers match over this. However, this is incredible brawl and I wish we had the blowoff because this is just another primer. I am not going to say where were these Rougeaus because WWF was not conducive to bringing this out of their performer. I wish the Rougeaus would had some spots in the NWA territories because they are kick ass vengeful babyfaces.

Akeem sucked out loud when I was watching him maybe it was one of those things you had to be there for. WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Mr. Fuji vs The British Bulldogs - MSG 7/88 If you told me, "Sleeze, there are going to be 3 extended heat segments in this match and you will like it" I would have said "Dont apply to work for Miss Cleo." But shockingly enough I liked this match a good deal. I would say it is one of the better Demolition matches, just falling short of Summerslam '88 match and about even with the Islanders match. This match really encapsulates what is said about Demolition forcing their opponents to work for their offense. There is a real sense of struggle and urgency in this match that you do not find in the Hart Foundation and Bulldogs matches. The beginning of the match really felt like four titans just blasting each other to get the victory. The Bulldogs controlled the more powerful Demolition by using wristlocks but were not afraid to throw some bows at the Demos. The Demos never just lay down and took the offense they made sure to get their shots in to let the Bulldogs know they were still there. Davey Boy ends up going to the outside and then getting run into the steel post. Ax gets a little lazy here with vulcan nerve pinch. Davey Boy was prone to an attack and would have liked to see Demolition press their advantage. When Davey Boy elbows out of a chinlock, Ax gives him some shots for good measure and then Davey Boy punts him on a telegraphed back body drop. It is little things like that convey a sense of struggle. Dynamite in and he and Ax miscommunicate on a clothesline and he hits his snap suplex, but he gets hit in the back of the head by Smash while running the ropes. His back gets ran into the apron and he becomes the Face In Peril. Smash suplexes Dynamite back into the ring. Dynamite with a wicked clothesline and here comes Davey Boy. Davey Boy hits one of his impactful dropkicks, but gets the back body dropped and again becomes the face in peril. The Bulldogs just can not sustain any offense against the powerful machine known as Demolition. Demolition is eating them up, but the Bulldogs are putting up more of a fight and are not just mailing this one in like the rest of 1988. At one point, Davey Boy just starts throwing shivers and actually gets a nearfall on Ax. It feels like a fight. Smash's backbreaker gets two. Smith gets his feet up in the corner. Dynamite in and he gets a wicked clothesline and a wicked flying headbutt. He takes the Bret Bump in the corner. It feels like the Bulldogs are wrestling like individuals and Demolition wrestles like a team and thats why the Bulldogs can not sustain offense. Davey Boy mows down Demolition by himself. He gets his running powerslam and the ref just stops counting at 2 and the crowd goes bonkers thinking the Bulldogs have won the title. The ref goes to break up an Ax/Dynamite fight only to get clobbered off camera. Smith has Fuji by the collar (better than the time Fuji just no sold all of Neidhart's punches) and Rougeaus come in and hit him with the cane allowing Demolition to pick up the victory. The Rougeaus interference set up the Summerslam match, but was there an rhyme or reason to it? This match more so than any other WWF tag matches felt like a fight, but again I wish Demolition would press the advantage in their heat segments. If they did that, I think I would rate them among the best of all time. I loved the sense of struggle the constant little shots each team gave each other. Another interesting thread that was woven through the match was that Demolition really wrestled as a team and the Bulldogs wrestled as individuals. You would often see one Bulldog attempt to overwhelm both members of Demolition because they got the dug into early hole by the heat segment. They could not escape from this vicious cycle. Since most tag matches have maximum 2 heat segments by drawing out to three it really demonstrated how the first heat segment can cause a perpetual cycle of the babyface team having to fight underneath. I may just start coming around to heel Demolition that being said I still have not seen a good babyface Demolition match.

Honestly, I have nothing to contribute, but it is these threads that make me love this place. I have just filled in my gaps between 83-88 and I think this thread will help me reach even further back. Just a great, great thread topic, I know I am going to learn a lot from it. Thanks.

I have had a blog for a while, but I have been posting intermittently since its inception, I think a year ago. However, I am making concerted effort to publish blogs more frequently and with more analysis. The blog will also feature articles on my other two passions: heavy metal and European History. So if you are interested in either, just a little extra bang for your buck. Basically, it will just be a place to put all my WWF Tag Team match reviews in one place from there I will venture into other styles. I hope once I watch more wrestling to be able to do better broad analysis between wrestlers. I hope you enjoy! The first one I compiled is for the heel run of the Hart Foundation. The tentative schedule is Killer Bees, Islanders, British Bulldogs, Strike Force, Demolition (first heel run), Dream Team & New Dream Team, Rougeaus, Brainbusters, Hart Foundation (babyface run), Demolition (1989-90), Rockers. Then from there, I don't know where I will go. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-1985-1987.html

If there was a Young Stallions thread, I would put this in there Team Hart Foundation (Hart Foundation, Islanders, Demolition, New Dream Team & Bolsheviks) vs Team Strike Force (Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Rougeaus, Killer Bees & Young Stallions) - Survivor Series 1987 I knew this match was well-regarded, but I had no idea what outcome was. I can not believe the two bottom feeding babyface tag teams were the winners. More so, I cant believe the match was booked around the Young Stallions being booked as the stars. There was no reason before or after to understand this book decision as Strike Force and British Bulldogs continued to be the preeminent babyface tag teams for the near future with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Demolition ending the next year as the top three babyface tag teams. Odd booking aside, this was a really fun match. They did not really try to weave a story, but it was action-packed and they busted out some pretty cool moves. The only story, I really noticed was the resiliency of the Young Stallions. Just because the Young Stallions were booked as the stars, does not mean they wrestled well, mind you. They were the worst wrestlers out there. Notably, Jim Powers was being a huge pussy for not taking the hotshot on 2 occasions. The match started off with Martel/Volkoff tearing it up shades of how good their SNME match would turn out. Volkoff looked like a monster Tito hit the Flying Burrito to get the pin on Boris. Ax came in and did his usual Demoition bit. They establish the nature of the gimmick with tons of quick tags that keep the action fresh. One notable exchange was the chop exchange between Haku/Dynamite, where the hell was that in their matches. Everyone is hitting all their stuff with a lot of intensity. The Stallions get worked over a little bit. Jacques gets the tag, but crashes and burns on a reverse cross body and Ax gets the pin. The Stallions get crushed by a Neidhart backbreaker/Haku flying chop. The Valentine adds a sweet shoulderbreaker and a vertical suplex (he throws him more than slams him back). Dino Bravo hits like the best gutwrench suplex ever and they still cant pin the Stallions. Demolition becomes fustrated and gets themselves DQ'd by pushing the ref. Bret crushes Dynamite with a piledriver and cant get the pin. The heels just cant buy a win. Tama/Martel have a great exchange as usual, but Martel applies his Boston Crab too close to the heel corner and Neidhart clobbers him. Santana makes a similar mistake on a pinfall attempt and gets whacked in the big of the head by a Bret elbow and gets pinned!?!?!??!?!? That was the first sign something fishy was up. Now there is a long Stallions heat segment with Valentine that is pretty decent because Valentine stiffing shitty wrestlers is always fun. Powers refuses to get dropped across the ropes properly because he is a mega-pussy. The match gets clipped here and we miss the Bulldogs getting eliminated. According to one review, I missed a Bret backbreaker into a Tama knee and other general awesomeness. Disappointing. When we come back, the Stallions are still getting beat on, so it appears as if you missed nothing even though you missed the number 2 face tag team being eliminated. Valentien goes for the figure-4, but Roma gets a sunset flip (blind tag) for the win. For shame, as the New Dream Team were the best workers. Though Hart Foundation and Islanders have been working pretty friggin well also. The Killer Bees have been non-existent and Young Stallions have sucked but been the crux of this match. The Bees begin and Brunzell hits a pretty sweet high knee. Roma is back in to be the face in peril. Islanders start busting out their offense and look great. Brunzell is working offense for the faces, Stallions on FIP duty and Blair on the apron, just where he should be. This is the best Brunzell has looked in the WWF. Roma gets the first bit of offense for the Stallions with a fist drop on Bret Hart, but that is short-lived with Bret hitting a suplex on him. Islanders again rocking it in the ring. Brunzell is in with the Hitman. He has the Hitman to be slammed. Tama dropkicks Hitman to get him on top of Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through for the pin. At this point, I was in shock because I expected the top 2 heel teams to easily vanquish the two babyface jobber tag teams. Islanders jump right on Brunzell to press while they still can. Islanders do a little too much vulcan nerve pinch, but Haku works in a shoulderbreaker and they are doing their best to keep Brunzell in their corner. Stallions get a quick powerslam, but Islanders are able to overwhelm them again. Blair gets tagged and swarmed (pun intended). Islanders always press their advantage. Wicked reverse elbow by Tama. Tama misses a big elbow, the key weakness of all 80s WWF heels. Brunzell, hot tag, double noggin knocker, DROPKICK~! Haku saves. Brunzell attempts sunset flip on Tama and Blair with mask jumps over and gets his own sunset flip to complete the upset. Brunzell puts on his mask too outside as they celebrate. MASKED CONFUSION~! On one hand, the Stallions looked awesome by surviving and resilient because they got beat on mercilessly. But they only got in like two offensive moves and they sucked in the ring. Bees showed up half through the match and it was the best Brunzell looked in the WWF, but none babyfaces aside from Martel looked all that great. This was a great showcase for the heel teams as they had a ton of offense and really worked crisp and efficient. It is crazy to think in one years time there would be an utter dearth of heel tag teams and an overabundance of babyface tag teams. I went in with high expectations and it was a bit of a let down. It was action packed and 30+ minutes flew by which is a credit to the teams, but it lacked a great story to really make it classic. It was a great fun, action blockbuster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hart Foundation & Hacksaw Duggan vs Fabulous Rougeaus & Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart & Frenchy Martin - 2 out of 3 Falls Royal; Rumble '89 Is that Dylan out there accompanying the Quebecois? I cant believe they gave Bravo, a world's strongest man gimmick because he is just not that large. His battle of bulls with Neidhart ends up with the Anvil winning with a clothesline. Duggan comes in and dwarfs Bravo. Bret comes in and gets a series of nearfalls the idea is to win that all-important first fall quickly. Bravo pulls down the ropes and Bret crashes and burns to the outside. Bravo gets a side slam and excitedly tags Rougeaus. Raymond hoists Bret up onto his shoulders and Jacques leaps from the top rope and does a seated senton to Bret. It was pretty impressive. The French Canadians go up one fall to none. Rougeaus press their advantage against Bret. Unfortunately, Raymond does a gutwrench suplex to Bret. Dino has one of the best gutwrench suplexes so it seems like a waste to have Raymond do it. Dino in with a reverse atomic drop. Now the Rougeaus do a double team gutbuster. Dino grabs a bearhug on Bret and the chant of U-S-A! fills The Summit in Houston and Jesse is all over this one as the Quebecois has the Albertan in a bearhug. Bravo lowers Bret's shoulders on the mat, but only for a 2. Jacques now applies a camel clutch. Now the Boston Crab, which results in a false tag. They now go into the abdominal stretch and Raymond kicks Bret while he is in prone. Jacques gets cocky during a monkey flip attempt and Bret hits a reverse atomic drop. Duggan in to a big pop with some Sid-esque punches. He slingshots Anvil and then Bret onto hapless Raymond before winning the fall himself with an elbow. It is all knotted up. Bret is still selling on the outside. Duggan wanders over into the heel corner and gets triple teamed. Gorilla tries to cover and says that what happens when you are not used to tag wrestling. Jesse makes me laugh when he says "No. Thats what happens you're Jim Duggan." Lots of triple team choking and stomping. Jacques does hit a really nice dropkick. Bravo hits a reverse atomic drop, but that sends Duggan over to tag Bret. Bret hits his own reverse atomic drop. If you like the reverse atomic drop this is your match! Bret pounds away on Bravo and gets a backbreaker. His second rope elbow is broken up. Bret goes for his reverse sunset flip, but Bravo hooks the ropes and Duggans whacks him with 2x4 for the win. This was the best Rougeaus match outside of the Rockers match that I really liked. I have become a fan of Dino Bravo; he is not a great lost worker, but he tries really hard and he is fun to watch. The Rougeaus have been really underwhelming thus far with some really lame match. This was a fun, popcorn match and was much better than I expected.

Soup, I did not like the Rockers/Hart Foundation 2 Out of 3 Falls match as you, but I think your own love of that match will actually increase if you watch the MSG 11/89 between the two. Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart 2/90 Wrestle Challenge The Anvil does the world's most clumsy job giving Bret's shades to a kid. I hope he was not the ring-bearer at anyone's wedding. They do some basic face vs face wrestling to prove they are equals. Bret busts out the sequence from their MSG match where Bret does a reverse atomic drop and hits a clothesline. Hey Bret misses an elbow too. Deja vu. Bret does his euro uppercuts into backslide sequence. Now they do Bret's backbreaker countered into a slam sequence. Bret is making Shawn look really good here, not a total knock on Shawn, but an observation. They fight over a vertical suplex in the ropes. Neither one wants to break. Shawn shoves Bret and Bret hits Shawn with a straight right. Marty gets on the apron and hits Bret with a straight right and it breaks down to a melee. It definitely presented an interesting angle on TV between two biggest face teams besides Demolition. At this point, the roster was way too babyface heavy and this shook things up. The Rockers vs Hart Foundation SNME 4/90 They basically work the sprint version of their MSG match, which hurts the feel of the match a lot. They are literally doing the same spots as the ones from the MSG match. If I am calling out Marty doing a drop toehold that's pretty pathetic. I had seen this match before because it was on the Bret Hart DVD and I always really like it, but now seeing the "complete" match from MSG, this took a huge hit from me. Since they are trying to get all the spots in, the match loses that tension that was building in the MSG match. Instead, they are just transitioning between spots with no breathe. Bret's sliding knee no longer feels like the climax to a great opening act to the match, but rather just another move. Now if they constructed new spots and created a new match for their sprint then I would judge it on its merits. Instead, it is just the clipped down version of the MSG match. For example, Rockers/Busters matches for the most part seemed unique. Of course, the big change in this match and the MSG match is the appearance of Demolition. Bret gets distracted first and Shawn dropkicks Bret to the outside and Demolition acts like lumberjacks. Marty's hot tag is pretty much the same though Anvils misses his slingshot splash here instead of the heat segment. They do the Anvil tossing Shawn onto outside when he kicks out as the spot to lead to Demolition getting involved. They look to send Shawn back in, but Marty, ever the hot-head, punches Ax. The match breaks down into a melee. Having seen the "full" version, this match seems like a let-down. As a sprint, it is fun because they cram a ridiculous amount of spots into the match, but less is more in this situation. I would put this firmly behind the Rockers/ Busters SNME sprint. The Rockers vs Hart Foundation - 2 Out of 3 Falls 10/90 I feel like I should watch this again because it was late at night and my brother watched it with me. Normally, I watch these matches by myself with undivided attention, but my brother, who I enjoy watching RAW with often has a lot of questions, which distracts me. Though he did point how dead the crowd was. I thought this match was overly long. Usually the SNME 2 out of 3 Falls match are like 10 minutes, which bothers me to end. So I was happy in that this match went a more appropriate length given the stipulation however I felt like they lost the story of the match after the rope break and just started throwing things out there, which made it feel long. First good thing as this was not a carbon copy of the MSG, which makes sense as this is the direct continuation of their SNME match and it feels like the continuation. You have spots where the wrestlers are learning from each other. The Rockers double team Bret, but duck the Anvil's clothesline and hit a double superkick. Bret still gets them with a double noggin knocker and Anvil hits his double clothesline. I marked pretty hard for the Rockers' duck and at that point, I thought this match was going to be pretty great. Marty is then tentative to go toe to toe with Anvil. He knows that Anvil usually steam rolls him so he gets started then hooks the ropes. Rockers end up on top with a double dropkick. The Rockers are learning from their mistakes and the Hart Foundation is not adapting. Rockers really get the best of the Hart Foundation with their double team moves. They double Irish Whip Anvil into the ropes knocking Bret off the apron. A double bodyslam should set up the double fist drop, but Bret breaks it up. Anvil gets the Oklahoma Slam on Shawn and Shawn does the Flair Flip in the corner. Bret gets frustrated after a nice series of moves: backbreaker, Russian Leg Sweep and a piledriver. This allows Shawn to tag Marty and Marty sits down on a Bret sunset flip to get 3. The first fall was incredible. The Rockers looked smart. They learned from the previous encounter and kept the Hart Foundation off balance. Once, Bret got into a groove he thought he had the fall won and then the Rockers pulled it out and he was fuckin pissed, really well-done. Bret is right on the attack as he is hot over the ending to the fall that he thought he had in hand. Bret and Marty really jockey for position on a suplex. They double team Bret again, but Anvil clears the ring with just his presence. Bret then sits in a front facelock, which my brother points out is boring. I have to agree. At some point, the top rope breaks by Marty. Bret gets wicked flustered slapping on a chinlock as you can see him trying to figure out what to do. Bret then takes the bump of the match as he takes his usual front-first bump into the turnbuckles, but only the bottom two and it looked sick. Marty's superkick gets two, but Bret hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bret bodyslams Anvil on top, which brother thought was pretty cool. Hart Foundation hit Demolition Decapitation for 2 and Shawn breaks up a Rocket Launcher. Bret hits a belly to back suplex, which sets up the Hart Attack to pick up the fall. I think if they cut out the beginning of this fall and just had the Hart Foundation pour it out it would have been better. The rope breaking made some of the spots look very awkward. Ring crew fixes the ropes. Hart Foundation gets the sliding knee in here and Anvil hits a back body drop. Bret is pressing the advantage with European uppercuts, but no backslide by Marty. Instead, Bret cross bodies the ropes, a dangerous proposition given that the ropes had just broken. At this point, I thought they just started throwing things out there as they sort of take turns hitting spots. I think the idea of was to create drama with both teams trading blows and never knowing when the match would stop. I just thought this looked too choreographed and they did not transition well between spots. Bret matches usually have good logical progression and the first two falls show that, but not the final fall. The final sequence sees Anvil suplexing Bret onto Marty's knees. Yet, Anvil clears the ring and they look to hit Hart Attack Shawn interrupts and Marty gets the pin. It just seemed like a mess as you have the Rockers injuring Bret, but the Anvil reclaims control only for Shawn to intervene. I just thought the match overstayed its welcome and plus the rope problems make this a disappointing match as the first fall started off so promising. Actually the first fall by itself would have been a classic match. The two additional falls dragged it down as they lost that fell that this match was a continuation instead they just started throwing things out there. The Rockers vs Hart Foundation Tokyo Dome 3/91 See Rockers vs Hart Foundation MSG 11/89. They basically do the same match verbatim only performed worse and with a finish. The Dome is not feeling this match and there is pretty much zero heat for this. The Rockers looked stoned. Bret looks wicked sick and very pale. Neither team seems very into match and just do the same spots from the MSG 89 match with no passion. The only difference is Hart Foundation add some attacks to heel it up a bit more, but to no avail the whole match feels perfunctory. The finish is that Bret rolls through Shawn's cross body and is able to get the win this time. Ostensibly because Bret was more over in Japan than the Rockers since he has worked there. Watch the 11/89 MSG match.

The Rockers vs Hart Foundation SNME 4/90 They basically work the sprint version of their MSG match, which hurts the feel of the match a lot. They are literally doing the same spots as the ones. If I am calling out Marty doing a drop toehold that's pretty pathetic. I had seen this match before because it was on the Bret Hart DVD and I always really like it, but now seeing the "complete" match from MSG, this took a huge hit from me. Since they are trying to get all the spots in, the match loses that tension that was building in the MSG match. Instead, they are just transitioning between spots with no breathe. Bret's sliding knee no longer feels like the climax to a great opening act to the match, but rather just another move. Now if they constructed new spots and created a new match for their sprint then I would judge it on its merits. Instead, it is just the clipped down version of the MSG match. For example, Rockers/Busters matches for the most part seemed unique. Of course, the big change in this match and the MSG match is the appearance of Demolition. Bret gets distracted first and Shawn dropkicks Bret to the outside and Demolition acts like lumberjacks. Marty's hot tag is pretty much the same though Anvils misses his slingshot splash here instead of the heat segment. They do the Anvil tossing Shawn onto outside when he kicks out as the spot to lead to Demolition getting involved. They look to send Shawn back in, but Marty, ever the hot-head, punches Ax. The match breaks down into a melee. Having seen the "full" version, this match seems like a let-down. As a sprint, it is fun because they cram a ridiculous amount of spots into the match, but less is more in this situation. I would put this firmly behind the Rockers/ Busters SNME sprint.

Could not agree with Soup more. Wrestling seems so stagnant now. It feels like the product presentation has not changed since 2003. Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart 2/90 Wrestle Challenge The Anvil does the world's most clumsy job giving Bret's shades to a kid. I hope he was not the ring-bearer at anyone's wrestling. They do some basic face vs face wrestling to prove they are equals. Bret busts out the sequence from their MSG match where Bret does a reverse atomic drop and hits a clothesline. Hey Bret misses an elbow too. Deja vu. Bret does his euro uppercuts into backslide sequence. Now they do Bret's backbreaker countered into a slam sequence. Bret is making Shawn look really good here, not a total knock on Shawn, but an observation. They fight over a vertical suplex in the ropes. Neither one wants to break. Shawn shoves Bret and Bret hits Shawn with a straight right. Marty gets on the apron and hits Bret with a straight right and it breaks down to a melee. It definitely presented an interesting angle on TV between two biggest face teams besides Demolition. At this point, the roster was way too babyface heavy and this shook things up.

Soup, not to nitpick, but maybe go Southern is the way to put it with Arn & Tully. Dont forget getting schticky with the Rougueas The Rockers vs New Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart - 6/89 Rockers have taken over well for the Islanders as the team that just cant have a bad match. This is just good, solid tag team wrestler that is entertaining throughout. I was expecting a little bit more because I think The Hammer may be the best WWF worker of the 80s, but this settles in that good territory. Bravo is incredibly better when compared to Beefcake. He definitely has energy and I won't ever fault someone for that. The story of the match is as you expect Rockers' speed and continuity versus the strength of Bravo & ruggedness of Valentine. They establish Bravo is stronger than Marty so Marty blind tags Shawn, who dropkicks Bravo in the back into a Marty slam and then a slam for Valentine; Rockers clear the ring. Valentine gets in with Shawn and Demolition wishes they were this good at clubbering offense. Valentine works over Shawn's shoulder and rams it into the post. Shawn creates space and then rams The Hammer's shoulder into the ringpost. I love payback spots. This is a couple minutes of Rockers' targeting Valentine's arm it is well done, fast pace work that never delves into heel in peril. Valentine with a forearm shot tags in Bravo, who takes a monkey flip form Marty. On the second monkey flip, Bravo catches Marty and gives him a reverse atomic drop. Bravo then lets out what can only be described as the "Howard Dean Scream" as he tags in the Hammer. Marty is the face in peril as New Dream Team works over him in entertaining fashion. This heat segment was better than some of Busters' heat segment. They were constantly tagging out and never just settling for choking. Bravo hits a great gutwrench suplex. Bravo misses the elbow. The crowd pops huge. Shawn comes in a house of fire. Ducks punches and punches of his own and suplexes Bravo. Double dropkick on Bravo, dropkicks for everyone including the Mouth of the South. Double fistdrop from the top, but Valnetine breaks it up. Shawn & Dino bump heads; Valentine puts Bravo on top; Jannetty breaks it up. Jannety in as a reverse sunset flip and Valentine clothesline him as the ref detains Shawn so the New Dream Teams WINS?!?!?!?!?!??!? Wait Valentiner/Bravo won? They have not been a regular team since 1987. I just dont get it. It seems like The Rockers have been pushed hard to this point maybe Vince sees they will hit a ceiling since the Demos and Hart Foundation are also faces. I wish Valentine/Bravo got a serious push as the number 2 heel team. Fuckin' weird finish aside, it was a fun match which cut a brisk pace and everything was well-executed. The Rockers are definitely the best home stretch team in the WWF as that stuff was wicked entertaining to watch. Just watched The Rockers vs Rougeaus from London '89, but Im too tired to comment. In short, I fuckin loved that match. I have seen it before and really remember enjoying. I liked it just as much if not more. I have grown to love "less is more", but sometimes you just want to them throw the kitchen sink at you. Well, that match had pretty much every tag team trope stuffed in it and it fuckin ruled. I will say more tomorrow, but just loved it. I know it is a bit polarizing for all the bullshit at the beginning and propbably for cramming too much in. I didnt care because it had me smiling ear to ear for 25 minutes. Right up there with MX/RnRs Wrestlewar '90 in type of match that will just make me smile in any given situation. The Rockers vs Hart Foundation MSG 11/89 This match is equitable without trading spots back and forth with not rhyme or reason. If there is one thing that is Bret's bread and butter it is the face vs face matches. He is an incredible subtle heel. Most babyface vs babyfaces matches establish a sense of equality between the combatants. Heels are usually inferior in some way to their face counterpart which incites their underhanded tactics. Not to be disappointed, this match at the beginning is very symmetrical. Bret hits a move. Marty hits that move. Bret misses an elbow. Marty misses an elbow. So on and so forth, you can sense that brimming tension from experience you just are waiting for the Hart Foundation to get so frustrated they cheat. It is that tension that keeps you in suspense becuase just dont know when it is going to happen. Anvil actually has a really good sequence with Shawn. Shawn attempts to shoulderblock Anvil, but cant. He smartens up and tries a high cross body and Anvil catches him, but Shawn rolls through into a pinning combination. Once again, there is that sense of frustration. Anvil just needs to get a hold of this quick little bugger and Shawn is frustrated that Anvil is so much stronger that it creating such an obstacle. When Marty comes in, he gets steamrolled and Anvil feels like he finally go it. Then Marty hits a drop toe hold into a front facelock. Marty breathes a sigh of relief and Anvil is like "Fuck, again". Anvil gets frustrated tags out and Bret misses an elbow. Eventually Bret gets an atomic drop and he tags in Anvil. Finally, Bret has enough and he slides and buries the knee in Shawn's back while he is running the ropes, vintage Hart Foundation. It blows off Act One of the Tension. One thing I really like about this is that while it is super segmented like most Bret matches there is more of a sense of struggle. Shawn is not just a rag doll for the Harts he is fighting back and getting pinning combination of the Harts. He just cant get to his corner. Anvil is working the lower back with power holds and Bret is employing his usual crisp offense. Shawn is easily the best FIP they have ever had. This is the best Hart Foundation heat segment I have seen. Anvil misses the slingshot splash and they got me on that one.Instead, it was a missed elbow by Bret that gave SHawn the opportunity for tag to Marty. I didnt think the crowd was in step with Marty, but it was a good hot tag by Marty. He was focused on getting pinfalls as opposed to big spots, which I think fans are used to. Backslides, cross bodies, and sunset flips not vicious holds, but quick barrage to try win the match and again a lot of suspense. When Bret grabs with a double leg takedown and stomps him in the gut. Finally breaking the momentum of Marty. He sells the breather so well. It expresses "I weathered that storm. Damn that little fucker is fast". Bret ducks and Marty high cross bodies nothing but the concrete floor in a nasty bump. Marty tags out quickly. Shawn gets steamrolled by Anvil and bumps out of control for that one. Still only 2. Now standing dropkick by Shawn gets 2. It is just a barrage of nearfalls back and forth between Shawn and Bret. Shawn wrangles Bret into an abdominal stretch. Anvil comes in break this up and Marty is hot comes in shove Anvil. Bell rings signaling a draw. Both teams go at it, but mid card babyfaces come out to break it up. The tension comes to boiling point, but it is not allowed to spill over I think I talked by myself into liking this as my favorite Hart Foundation match. The Demolition match is close, but this one is a well-structured three Act play. You see the frustration that neither team can get the advantage, which ends with Bret burying the knee in Shawn's back. Act II is FIP, which has the usual tension of when will Shawn get the tag. Act III was a just a barrage of nearfalls where you were wondering who would get the duke and if maybe someone's temper would get the best of them. Instead we were robbed of a finish, but in a good way that made you want to see it climax later.

We have a severe disconnect. I loved this match and thought it was one of the better 80s WWF Tags. Yes, the Beefcake stuff drags it down, but all the parts with Valentine were friggin amazing. One of the reasons, I liked this so much is because Valentine makes the Islanders earn their babyface shine segment. He is constantly firing off shots to the gut or reissting takedowns or holds. It is not just the stooging. It is amount of defense Valentine employs that sets this match apart. This is not just to pick on Demolition, but all heel WWF tag teams were nowhere near as good at that as Valentine. Harts definitely did the super segmented approach to their tag matches. Demolition made the babyfaces earn it by foricing them to do double teams but it was not by defense per se. It was how they structured. Valentine actually worked defense. I will do a full write up tonight because last night I had a bunch of shit so I just watched the match. I really enjoyed this match. As much I loved Valentine's performance, I thought Islanders were just as good. I cant believe I almost overlooked the Islanders vs Valentine. That is pretty much the ultimate 80s WWF tag dream match for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weird, on second watch was not digging it as much. I think overstated the amount of Hammer offense in this one. Also, we are watching two incarnations of the same match. The Dream Team vs Islanders 12/86 Boston Tama is looking PIMP at the beginning of the match. That jacket is fuckin *****, maybe that's why I got distracted. beefcake add his one useful contribution drops down to the Superfly pose and does "Up Yours!". Haku/Tama start with early double teams on Valentine's arm. Haku gets him a figure 4 armlock and head headscissors and also a hammerlock pinfall attempt. Tama and Valentine have a nice vicious exchange and Valentine also takes a cross body from Tama. Haku veers off cours and starts going after legs: single Boston Crab and spreading his legs apart. Basically the first half of the match was jaw-jacking and then has been working over Valentine. Valentine has kept it interesting with some stogging, but I really want to see him light someone up. Valentine gets a wicked reverse elbow to turn the tide and send Tama crashing to the paraquet floor. Tama is milking it for all its worth and once back in gets thrown back to the outside to take some light Beefcake offense. Valentine brings him in a with a suplex. Tags in Beefcake, but before exiting steps on Tama. Beefcake distracts Haku & ref for more Valentine offense. Beefcake knew where his bread was buttered. Beefcake displays why he is a candidate for worst wrestler of all time with his lame offense. Tama is selling incredibly well and really trying to make up for Beefcake's shitty offense. In such a short time period, Tama has proved himself to have more versatility than most wrestlers display in their whole careers as he plays both an excellent sympathetic face in peril and a great douchebag heel. Valentine comes in and hits a reverse tombstone and then gets a figure 4, but Haku sensing the end is near breaks that up. Tama blocks a Valentine suplex and hits his own. Haku gets the tag and the place is rocking. Haku is a Tongan Tribal Fire Fully Ablaze!!! Haku is just killing the Dream left and right. TIMBAAAAAAAH! Beefcake is calling for timeout. The Islanders have the former champs where they want them. Haku hoists Valentine up and Tama comes acorss with the flying cross body and the bell sounds signaling the time limit draw. TAMA IS PISSED!!! He calls for 5 more minutes. The Dream Team tease taking them up on the offer before bailing. Gorilla gets a word with the three of them and it is a pretty non-descript promo. Maybe I shouldnt watch matches so late because I did not think it was nearly as good, but I didn't think it was bad either. It was just disappointing. I wanted Valentine and Islanders to really light each other up. Haku was more explosive offensively than I had seen before in the babyface run and Tama was his usual badass self. If only the match I originally outlined was the match that took place.

The Rockers vs Twin Towers - Wrestlemania V I thought I'd at least get all the Twin Towers match out of the way. As a complete match this is fine, but the finish to this is really friggin' good. Rockers try to turn this into a track meet so start by making the Towers chase them and Shawn hits a dropkick on Bossman. Once Akeem gets in, Shawn shows him up by doing a decent moonwalk. Shawn is my hero. I hate Akeem. Marty gets sandwhiched and Ventura's predictions look to be coming true as Marty is doinated by fat man offense like being trapped in the corner as they both splash him. Bossman holds Marty, but Akeem splashes Bossman. Marty crawls to Shawn. Shawn gets a dropkick and then punches in the corner. They double Irish Whip Akeem. They get double shoulderblocks from the middle rope for 2. Akeem kills Shawn dead with a clothesline. Apparently, you don't show up Bossman misses a top splash; Shawn gets 2. Marty tabletops Bossman; double dropkick to Akeem on the apron; both ascend to the top and double missile dropkick Bossman. Holy shit that was pretty cool. Akeem saves. Shawn off the top rope gets caught in a powerbomb by Bossman and a splash by Akeem finishes them. They were working the match I expected them to work and I was fine with that. Then they kicked into overdrive with that home stretch. That was some really good stuff and stuff that I do not think any other babyface tag team in the WWF could pull off. I would say it is stuff like that make it seem like the Rockers are the best WWF Tag team of all time.

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage w/Sherri - 6/89 Boston I like this match better than Wrestlemania V because at this point the angle has changed. Savage has moved on with a new woman and now the feud is more about the WWF Title rather than Elizabeth so it does not necessitate an out of control brawl. Instead, Savage can do all his Memphis bullshit and make it look good in the WWF ring. He tosses in a chair and Hogan just pops a squat, which is pretty amusing. Savage gets on the mic and does a little trash talking. Nothing phases Hogan so Savage attacks with the cape to blind Hogan. This sets up the story that Savage always needs some nefarious tactics to get one over on Hogan. Hogan oversells again at the beginning, but take controls pretty quickly with an atomic drop and rights. He is very energized for this match and they do all the staple spots like Savage hiding behind Sherri. When Sherri gets on the ring apron, the goofy Hogan comes out and it is pretty funny. Savage hits him with a high knee. Savage takes over with liberal help from Sherri, which is very different from Elizabeth. Hell, it si very different from most managers you dont see Heenan, Fuji or Hart get this involved. Hogan makes his comeback off a chinlock, but Sherri trips him and he goes after Sherri, but Savage jumps on him with all his weight while Hogan's neck is across the ropes. That was a great spot. Savage receives a foreign object from Sherri and hits Hogan with it from thE top rope. KICK OUT! HULK-UP! Big boot and Savage powders drawing Hogan to the outside. Savage into the post and Sherri jumps on Hogan's back. Hogan threatens to hit SHerri and Savage pushes Hogan into the railing. Savage wins by countout. Hogan makes his comeback clears the ring. He hits an atomic dorp on Sherri. "ATOMIC DROP! AND EVERYBODY LOVES IT!" - Tony Schiavone. It was a very fun match, but I don't think these two ever reached that masterpiece status together, but they always had good matches. I was surprised at the countout finish. I would have figured Hogan was beating Savage clean around this point unless they wanted to keep him "healthy" for Summerslam.

Well I thought watching shitty wrestling for completest sake was what the cool kids were doing. WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Twin Towers 4/88 Boston Well it is better, but that is not saying much. It is a pretty decent match, but again nothing I'd go out of my way to see. Ax does give a pretty inspired face in peril performance, but Akeem with his stupid fuckin mannerisms keep taking me out of the match. I don't remember the mannerisms being so prominent in the Megapowers vs Twin Towers match, but here they are so aggravating. Akeem is like the love child of Crusher Blackwell and Dusty Rhodes. Sorry for ruining your lunch and sex drive. Was Akeem intended to be a potshot at Dusty. I have to imagine it was. Demolition wrestle like their babyface opponents used to wrestle against them only Demolition-y. Demos use a lot of frequent tag and spend a lot of time clubbing the Towers down in double team like fashion. It is smart offense, but nothing terribly entertaining. It is establishing that the Towers and Demolition are of equal strength thus double teaming is necessary for either team to get the advantage. Likewise, the Twin Towers garner the advantage by sandwhiching Ax. Thats a whole lotta man between those three dudes. I wonder if Smash felt left out? Ax is doing his best but the Towers aren't really doing much, just usual choking and double teaming. They sandwhich Ax in the corner again. They get cocky and try one more time and miss. Ax tags Smash and Smash is getting better and really lets Bossman and Akeem have it. They do a double hotshot on Akeem, but the ref had been bumped by a collision and there is no one to count. Bossman uses his night stick to hit both members of Demolition. The ref feigns counting to three, but is actually calling the match off as a no contest. Smash chases off the Twin Towers with a wooden chair. I would be remiss to mention that Tony Schiavone is such a better play by play guy than anybody in WWF. He may just be the best in history of our sport. Nah, Im kidding, Lance Russel is and no once comes close. The match was alright. I wanted more of a clash of titans feel instead I got the normal tag formula feel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Twin Towers - Boston 6/3/89 I cant believe I am going to say this, but bring back Warlord and all his awkwardness. Anything beats Akeem grabbing his crotch or doing dance moves to sell Demolition's holds. I don't think there is anyway Akeem could have a good match given his gimmick. I dont mind comedy in a wrestling match, but this is abjectly bad comedy that also does not have a place in this type of match. Even with this gripe, this match is better than the last match because the other three wrestlers put on a better match, but this still is not something I consider a very good match. Demolition begin in similar fashion use double team clubbering to wear down their opponents. Bossman looks stupids taking as he is putting up no resistance and just taking it. Dont even get me started on Akeem. Bossman does do a cool sell. He is on his knees get punched in the head and does a back bend so the back of his head touches the mat and then comes back up like a drum major. Tony notes "Demolition gets a lot of mileage out of their forearms and fist". Tell me about it. The transition was not memorable it just felt like the heels sort of took over, which is very odd for an Eadie match. Akeem does a couple butt splashes in the corner, a sort of proto-stinkface. Smash is the face in peril and not nearly as good as Ax. Bossman hits a wicked spinebuster. The Twin Towers are not pressing the advantage. Bossman goes for his rope straddle and misses. This is only false hot tag and Akeem delivers a leg drop, Smash hits a clothesline and here comes Ax. Walking Disaster! Ax is definitely rejuvenated since babyface turn if only he had a better partner. When Bossman collides with Akeem, he gets hit in the face with his nightstick and Ax pins him. It was an alright match, but once again nothing that was impressive. In fact, Akeem was so irritating that overwhelms the match. Well, onto the Brainbusters, if there is anybody that can save me it is Arn & Tully!

WWF has a history of not giving a fuck what other promotions do. They took Backlund out of relative obscurity and turned him into their second longest reigning champion. I don't think WWF was thinking well Georgia treated him like a mid-carder so we would look bad for pushing him to the top. WWF did as they please. They saw money in the Sheik and gave him a big run with Slaughter. Muraco was on the downside big time. He has two peaks '81 against Backlund and '83 against Backlund & Snuka. Once he dropped the IC Title to Tito, Muraco was never a major player in the WWF. He did some funny vignettes with Fuji, sure, but he gone for huge periods of time. He is a pretty bad example. Piper, I will definitely buy as someone, who was always well-protected by McMahon. Piper eclipsed Sheik by 1985, but in 1984 they were still establishing Piper. Sheik was still being fed jobbers in early 84 after his title loss. I do not think he was in the right place, right time. I believe he was chosen for the reasons I outline above. I do not recall it being treated as upset, but I have not watched that match in a while. When Sheik & Volkoff were going against Slaughter & JYD (#2 & #3 heels) they treated as a threat. The title change was done because of Wrestlemania, but it is not like Vince chose another heel tag team. He chose Sheik & Volkoff because he believed they were his best heel tag team. I agree with your overarching point that Iron Sheik had a very small peak as a main player, roughly late 1983-85. We would scoff at such a small run when other wrestlers have been able to stand the test of time, but Sheik has stood the test of time in a different way. He is a well-known character from the WWF Golden Age. That is something to be heralded for. I just think you went way OVERBOARD declaring that Sheik's run against Brunzell in Mid-Atlantic somehow is more important than the Sheik/Slaughter feud. I really, really dont think your career trajectory can be broadly described when there were such boundaries between the territories. There are going to be a lot more discrete, transient spikes in the early 80s then you will see in the National era, which have more broad, steady-state behavior.

Stan Stasiak was the expected retort, but I hardly think Sheik was just the next scheduled challenger. Backlund fought Don Muraco, Ivan Koloff, the Samoans, Sgt. Slaughter, the Masked Superstar and the Iron Sheik in 1983. There is no doubt Vince Jr was looking to get the belt off Backlund onto someone with more marketability. Vince Jr was looking to go national. He did not want a demographic champion that only appealed to a small segment of the American population. He wanted the ultimate American Hero that would appeal to a wide swath of America. His title victory had to be against a figure that all Americans would revile. Don Muraco, the beach bum is not going to be that iconic moment for the Vince's greatest creation. Vince has kind of gotten way from this over the years, but the reason I think he was such a brilliant promoter was he distilled wrestling into singular moments that are easily disgestible. Other promotions focused on angles. Other focus on matches. Vince focuses on moments. 1980s Vince is so calculating as a promoter there is no way Iron Sheik was just another challenger. He was the transitional champion that Vince needed to create that iconic moment. America triumphs over its Enemies! Vince made the decision that Iron Sheik was the best foreign heel in America at that point. Vince in the 80s was so good at down cycling wrestlers, but still getting so much out of them. He would use the IC and Tag division to keep big stars interesting fresh, but Hogan was an immovable object on top. The more 80s WWF I watch, it is not the angles or wrestling that I find brilliant. It is Vince's booking and his way of capturing and extracting moments out of wrestling. Sheik was a beneficiary of this. Hogan was the top dog, but Sheik was still in very important angles against Slaughter and the US Express over the course of two years.

We are having this thread and NO ONE cares to argue that someone thinks the Iron Sheik's top run was in Mid-Atlantic in 1980. Seriously? The guy was chosen to be a heel transitional champ in the WWF that is a huge badge of honor. In a babyface territory like the WWF to be selected to be champ indicates how good he McMahons thought you were a heel. Sheik was WWF's top heel in 1984 by far. He had Hogan's best matches in 1984, a really good bloody one in Philly (April or May I believe). Sheik/Slaughter was the number one feud in the WWF. Hogan was the top attraction, but he was not involved in the top feud he was taking on an assortment of characters: Studd, Valentine, Dr. D, Orndorff and Sheik. The Slaughter/Sheik angle was the blood feud of that year and a big draw. The Sheik/Slaughter Bootcamp Match outdrew the Brawl To End It All, which was the only think I would consider maybe a bigger angle (Cyndi Lauper was huge). In addition, he was getting singles matches with Backlund, Tito and Andre. When he was not wrestling jobbers, he was wrestling the top 5 babyfaces in the promotion and usually as the main drawing match. Then the dismissal of the Sheik/Volkoff tag team like it was just some random occurrence that they won the titles. They were the number one heel tag team from late 1984 when they faced off against Slaughter/JYD and until the rise of the Dream Team. The Sheik&Volkoff vs Slaughter/JYD did some big business and kept the Slaughter/Sheik feud fresh. Adonis/Murdoch were being phased out in favor of Sheik and Volkoff and thats why the won the titles. Sheik&Volkoff vs US Express was the number one tag feud for the majority of the year. At this point, the Dream Team assumes the mantle of number one heel tag team. It is the 80s, no heels ever win. Judging things by wins and losses versus major babyfaces is foolish. However, 1984 results does indicate the Sheik was being protected because the amount of jabronis he was still being fed. If he was facing major babyfaces, he would either be getting beaten or having clusterfuck finishes. By 1985, you see that happening with matches against Blackjack Mulligan and Junkyard Dog. Did Sheik have the run on top that some the territory stars? No, not at all. Are there more deserving candidates if we took a non-WWF-centric view, of course. However, I was watching ESPN back during college basketball season. Who got name-dropped Sgt Slaughter and Iron Sheik. Iron Sheik is a relatively big name in the wrestling community because he played such a great classic wrestler. When people think of wrestlers it is people like Sheik who pop in their head because of how he looked and was presented. Add in that he is a WWF guy that puts him over a bunch of candidates. I just did think you are severely understating his runs 1984 and 1985 where he was a huge part of the WWF promotion.

Demolition as babyfaces sort of dreading this, but also intrigued. WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji - 11/88 Boston One of the first matches of this feud proper as Fuji turned his back on Demolition and joined the Warlord & Barbarian. Demolition clears the ring and they tease getting Fuji, but POP makes the save. Demos doing double-team forearm sledges and crowd seems to be behind Demolition. Smash tries to chinlock Barbarian and Barbarian gives him an uppercut as to say I am not going to be your heel in peril, bitch. Warlord is useless. Ax gets hit with the cane when he gets too close to Fuji. Boring heat segment as not surprisingly these two teams cant put together there. Barbarian could have salvaged it, but he settled for the Vulcan nerve pinch. It breaks loose in Tulsa as Smash comes in and Barbarian does a cartwheel out of the ring to a big pop and best bump of the match. Smash is better than Brunzell at being a hot tag I will give him that. Fuji just sort of wanders in the ring. He looks lost to be honest. Ref just throws the match out and Ax chases them off with the cane. An inauspicious start to Demolition's babyface run, but we could chock that up to Warlord sucking. ----------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji - 12/88 MSG NO DQ Holy shit! Barbarian speaks! Decent promo by him. Fuji may be the most useless manager save for Albano. This match outright sucks. If it is NO DQ give me a brawl, I know it is late 80s WWF. I dont need blood, just some wild out of control brawl. Instead it is boring, shitty match. At least it was short. Ax was movin and shakin tonight. I have not seen him move so well since watching Demolition and actually took a pretty bump off Fuji's cane. Barbarian did his best with a nice flying shoulderblock, a shoulderbreaker and missing a top rope diving headbutt. He is the best worker of the 4. Ax and Barbarian could have had a decent singles match. Smash has no idea how to be a babyface. He just slaps on restholds. Ax understands he needs to keep things moving. Warlord is a candidate for worst wrestler ever. Finish is a countout victory for the Powers of Pain as Ax/Barbarian brawl on the outside. Only one more match.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji - Wrestlemania V The best match of the series as Barbarian brought some nice moves during the heat segment and it climaxed appropriately with Fuji getting his comeuppance. I dont mind the double clubbering from Demolition it is the chinlocks on the POP that are boring. Warlord is so awkward taking the Demos offense. Barbarian uppercuts and works his usual moves: flying shoulderblock as Fuji gets his licks in. Fuji gets cocky and misses a top rope leg drop. Smash in with some bodyslams and they drop Warlord throat first across the top rope. POP breaks it up. Fuji with salt in Warlord's eyes. Leaving Fuji alone to take Demolition Decapitation. The first time I have actually seen Demolition hit that move. The match has better executed heat segment and Fuji eating Decapitation was a fitting climax. It is only up from here.

I would say he would be very much regarded in the same light as Dynamite Kid, wonderful "technical" worker in WWF's "Golden Age" Tag division. Since he did have a couple good to great singles matches under his belt such as the Savage SNME match, Perfect & DiBiase matches there might be some clamor for "What could have been", but nothing at the level of a Magnum TA that you dont see with Dynamite. Of course, I think he is way better than Dynamite as a worker in all their matches, but to the untrained eye I could see the comparisons being made.

WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88 This is a battle between the two best in-ring generals of the WWF Tag Division: Ax & Bret. However, Bret proves that his will is indomitable and this is most definitely a Hart Foundation match, but surprisingly it is their best match I have seen so far. Demolition's trademarks of their opponents needing to double up, their early strength advantage, aimless beatdowns are nowhere to be found. Instead they are replaced by Bret and Anvil having their way with Demolition until Bret runs his shoulder into the post giving Demolition a focused attack. The beginning of the match is only interesting insofar that it sets the mood that the Hart Foundation is in control and the Demolition have no strength advantage. Anvil eats a knee while running the ropes ala the heel Hart Foundation. That is a short heat segment, before Bret's shoulder eats the post. Bret is a great sympathetic face in peril as the Demolition is relentless on his shoulder. This is the best Demolition control segment so far because their focused attack and being very active in it. Bret gets a clothesline for the false hot tag and then a boot to the face on a charge. Anvil is hot tonight! He dropkicks and slams Demolition at will clearing them from the ring. In my favorite spot of the match, Bret slingshots Anvil over the top rope onto Demolition on the floor. Anvil gets a running powerslam for 2. They do the Anvil slingshot into the corner and that only gets 2. A Bret backbreaker gets 2 and Ax saves. Fuji is on the apron and takes about 7 Anvil blows without flinching until Ax can finally hit Bret with Hart's megaphone. Way to make Anvil look like a chump, Fuji. Besides Fuji no-selling all of Anvil's punches, this was way better than I expected because I always thought Summerslam '90 match kinda sucked. The beginning could have been helped by using some of Eadie's touches. However, the heat segment and the stretch were all very entertaining and worked well. So far this was the Anvil's best performance. I did not see Jimmy Hart's turn on the Hart Foundation. Whats the deal? Who dumped who? Jimmy Hart was not managing the Rougeaus yet so it was not exactly a double turn. Also seems weird that Hart Foundation were totally non-existent between Wrestlemania IV and Summerslam '88, but I guess the best way to turn someone face back then was give them a layoff so people could forget all the dastardly things you had done. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji vs Hart Foundation - 10/88 SNME This match is more of a backdrop to really kickstart Rougeaus/Hart Foundation feud in earnest around the horn while Demolition works against the Powers of Pain. It is very similar to Summerslam match only in low gear and a generic heat segment. Anvil controls early with a vertical suplex after some double teaming from Demolition. Bret does well for himself for about minute before he falls prey to the awesome might of Demolition. Bret is the best babyface worker that Demolition has faced in terms of selling and Bret gets the Demolition offense over that way. Hot tag to the Anvil, who is as I expected a pretty good hot tag besides the low-flying dropkicks just stick to power moves. He hits his running powerslam, but it gets broken up. Fuji & Hart on the ring apron while the Rougeaus sneak out. Fuji gets decked by Bret and sells. Anvil has Jimmy by the collar, but one of the Rougeaus tosses the meagphone to Ax who nails Anvil for the win in the confusion. Not a match to go out your way to see, but it does kickstart the number 3 tag team feud with Rockers/Busters and Demolition/Powers Of Pain at 2 and 1. Finally the tag team division looks healthy again after a pretty dismal 1988.

After watching all these WWF tag matches, I was being to think all this heel in peril stuff was a bit overstated, but then Demos/Bees and Rockers/Busters worked lengthy heel in peril segments. The Rockers vs The Brainbusters - 1/89 MSG This match is all about the Busters putting over the Rockers as the hot, new WWF tag team. Double A slaps Michaels and Michaels returns the favor showing he wont back down. Another fun spot is Tully tries to tag out while in a wristlock by having Arn tag his foot, but ref wont allow it. In an excellent sequence. Both the Busters put top wristlocks on Marty, Marty skins the cat; dropkicks the both of them; slams Arn and gives Tully a double superkick. The Rockers are rolling. Tully, sensing things are getting out of hand, feigns extending an olive branch only to kick Marty. Jannetty gets an atomic drop onto Tully, but when Shawn enters the match in the confusion he misses a dropkick, but Shawn is able to get a hurricanrana on Arn and a double dropkick re-establish the Rockers on top. Shawn gives chase to Tully and Arn is lying in wait and Shawn eats a clothesline. The Busters double team and choke Michaels, but they are not zeroing in one body part. Shawn's punches look so much better here than in the 00s. The Busters are not doing much in the way of spots but they are following up on their advantage. Tully/Shawn do to the bridge into backslide sequence that I have always liked. Shawn must have been over the moon working with Tully and especially doing that sequence. Shawn does the leap for the tag, but Tully catches him and gives him a reverse atomic drop. AA follows up with a spinebuster for 2. AA does his knucklelock sequence and Shawn gets his knees up. They both tag out. Tully is hilarious begging off for Marty. The Rockers get the rocket launcher, but Arn saves. As Marty goes to suplex Tully, Arn grabs Marty leg out from under him and holds down his tassel as Tully gets the pin. That would also be the finish for Rude/ Warrior Wrestlemania V match. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs The Brainbusters - 3/89 Boston This is the definitely worst match of the lot. Marty may be stoned out of his mind as he works in slow motion during this match and is also working the face in peril. The Rockers work a really deliberate pace, which surprises Tony Schiavone, always weird to hear him commentate on WWF matches and is quite boring. The beginning stuff with Shawn and Tully is pretty good as Tully amuses me. Tully armdrags Shawn and struts over to Arn to celebrate. Shawn armdrags Tully and he crawls to Marty's corner and bitches out. Arn comes in and they do some slugging both looking good. The Rockers do some synchronized dropkicks and Marty barley makes contact. They double hiptoss and double dropkick Arn and he needs up on his ass calling for a timeout. Funny stuff. Arn ends up hitting the post with his shoulder, which results in a long and boring heel in peril segment on Arn's arm. This Boston crowd is nothing like New York and is dead, but I dont blame them. I know Marty blew two spots, but I cant seem to recall what they were. They work Tully's arm and it just goes one. Synchronized figure-4s wake up the crowd and the heels break up with eye-rakes. This time Marty goes for headscissors only have his neck dropped across the rope. Tully hotshots him for go measure and there is plenty of choking to take away Marty's wind. At some point, AA thrusted his hips at Shawn, somebody missed Naitch a lot. All the focus is on Marty's neck. Arn does his knucklelock sequence, but this time he catches himself and parlays it into catapulting Marty into Tully's forearm. Marty does the leap for the tag spot. Marty starts piling on the hope spots with a flying bodypress for 2 and a sunste flip for 2. Jannetty even gets a vertical suplex so Tully punches Shawn, which distracts the ref and Arn dumps Marty over the top rope. Shawn gets the hot tag after Marty gets in some more punches. Shawn is not as good as Marty at the house of fire stuff. Shawn and AA end up outside brawling, but Rockers get back in hit the Rocket Launcher and just like MSG AA pulls out the ref for the DQ. This is the least of the matches as Marty was blowing spots and looked awful. Shawn looked pretty good, but was not as good as Marty as the hot tag. The Busters were a bit more focused in their heat segments and their antics were great, but were dragged down by that interminable heel in peril segment. I think the Rockers will end up being the best WWF Tag Team, but everyone can lay an egg. We will see how the SNME matches hold up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs The Brainbusters w/Bobby The Brain Heenan - 3/89 SNME What a sprint! I am out of breath just having watched this. This is the match I was really looking for from these guys. Busters blindside early. Tully goes for the kill with his slingshot suplex and Marty counters, but Tully counters into a rollup only for Shawn to cross body block Tully while in the rollup. Busters try to whip the Rockers into each other they do a little do-see-do and knock the Busters out. Crazy good opening sequence as Busters powder. Shawn press slams Arn off the top and it ends up with the Busters taking synchronized superkicks. Shawn hits a nice headscissors on Tully. Arn gets one shoulderblock on Shawn, but Shawn gets a drop toehold on the next one. Heenan pulls down the top rope, which gets him ejected of course he hems and haw to great crowd heat. Marty actually starts the next segment and Marty goes for the atomic drop, but while hoisted up Tully tags Arn. Arn comes in and smashes Marty. Marty bumps great for that. Marty playing a much more active face in peril. Arn dumps Marty over the top onto the floor. I love when Arn desperately tries to grasp for the ropes on a sunset flip attempt by Jannetty. Tully/Jannetty get to do the bridge/backslide/leap for tag/reverse atomic drop sequence that always looks good. Arn in with a wicked spinebuster and Shawn makes the save. Arn attempts a Vaderbomb attempt and eats knees. Both teams tag. Tully bitches out for Shawn, who does a much better job on this hot tag as the crowd is rocking. Shawn attempts a suplex on Arn, only for Tully to sunset flip Shawn and Arn to blast Shawn. Marty retaliates by diving on Tully. They end up on the floor where they back body drop Tully onto Arn. The result is a double countout. The Rockers get back in the ring and give both Busters a double dropkick for the symbolic victory. This was such a great sprint as it was bell-to-bell action that got over both tag teams to a national audience. The Rockers played a great high-energy tag team that could not be stopped until the Busters started using underhanded tactics. The Busters worked a tough, rugged style, but worked hard to put over the Rockers. They worked some very intricate sequences for the 80s and they came off great. My favorite match of theirs by far and one of the best 80s tag matches from the WWF. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs The Brainbusters w/Bobby The Brain Heenan - 11/89 SNME 2 out of 3 Falls This is a pretty good match in the Rockers series. I would put it below the January MSG match and the barnburner 3/89 SNME match. There is dissension in the Heenan Family due to the Busters' loss of the tag belts and whether Heenan is meaningful to the success of the team. Marty gets wrist control and Tully tries to use some hair to get the advantage, but Marty keeps kipping up. Marty attempts a sunset flip, but Tully holds onto Arn and Shawn comes crashing down on Tully's back. The Rockers go up 1-0 quickly and Heenan is irate and berates the Busters. Heenan shoves Tully and realizes his mistake and powders. Rockers hit synchronized superkicks to start second fall and Heenan deserts his own tag team. Well soon he will fashion a new one out of his current clients in the form of the Colossal Connection. I am actually intrigued to watch some Colossal Connection matches. Rockers were really hit and miss with their double dropkick they did not always connect together, They were really good at the double kip-up. Lots of double teaming from the Rockers before Shawn gets dropped over the top rope on a headscissors. I like that transition spot so I dont mind seeing it 3 times, now. Tully gets pin to even it up. Marty tries to guard Shawn as he is gasping for breath. They clear Marty out and AA gets a wicked spinebuster for 2, but Marty saves. Arn does his knucklelock sequence and ends with Shawn being catapulted into Tully. Tully throws Shawn over the top rope onto the floor. Shawn is on jelly legs, but manages blocking being sent into the post on the apron. He hits a cross body block off the top for two. Arn in and he hits Marty to prevent tag. Marty punches Arn and his head rocks back and collides with Shawn's. That was a pretty well-done execution of that spot. Marty tags in after Shawn crawls under AA's legs. Marty is a house of fire, but gets caught by being outnumbered. Arn sets Marty up for the spike piledriver, but Shawn knocks Tully off the top and hits a cross body block off the top to win the match. This is the Brainbusters farewell as they finally put the Rockers over clean as fresh laundry. It was a fitting ending and pretty good much for the time allotted to it just under 10 minutes. I will say 2 out of 3 falls matches on SNME are a pet peeve of mine because multiple falls do not normally occur inside 10 minutes unless it is under these rules. It is the Rockers/Busters it is still a pretty good match.

I am not able to put my finger on why just yet, but the proof is in the pudding. Bret Hart is a way better singles wrestler than he is a tag wrestler. All his tag matches have left me feeling underwhelmed. The following two matches from early '89 against DiBiase and Hennig demonstrate Bret was ready for Primetime in 1989. It is for the best Vince waited to give Bret the proper push he deserved in 1991 rather than be allowed to wallow in the WWF midcard mire from 1989-91. It is that level of patience that is missing from Vince nowadays. On the same token, he no longer uses the tag division effectively so that he can afford to be patient. However, it was this uncertainity that really hurt Bret from 1988-1990. The Hart Foundation was positioned behind Demolition and the Rockers as the number 3 babyface tag team and this start-stop hurt his match output I feel. Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiasie - 3/89 Wrestling Challenge This felt like a NWA Touring title defense. However, DiBiase did not give as much to Bret early as Flair would, of course Ted did not have 30+ minutes to work this match. Instead it gave this match the feel that Bret was more of a plucky challenger and Ted the dominant champ rather than equals. Bret starts off hot and is looking to get DiBiase off balance early. He goes for a lot of big moves early thinking that this was his best chance to beat DiBiase was to catch him unawares early with Russian Legsweep, atomic drop, crossbody, small package. DiBiase, visibly flustered, takes a powder twice to collect himself and break Bret's momentum. Eventually DiBiase moves out the way and Bret does his crossbody of the ropes spot that always looks nasty and Bret milks it for all its worth. DiBiase work his heat segment well pressing his advantage and showing his confident demeanor as the Million Dollar Champion. DiBiase even hit a elbow off the second rope that is more rare than a Flair success off the top rope. Ted delivers a fist drop and a vertical suplex gets 2. Bret gets his own vertical suplex, which is a good hope spot. DiBiase hits a belly to back suplex to quash that. A DiBiase backbreaker gets two; Bret grabs a small package for two again. It feels like DiBiase is in control, but Bret is not going away. DiBiase gets another fist drop and he works an active chinlock. Double clothesline sends both men to the mat. Bret gets a press slam off the top. I feel at home, now. Bret executes his backbreaker/elbow combo for 2. Bret high knees the turnbuckle. Thus DiBiase goes to work over it with the Spinning Toehold inevitable he gets kicked off to the outside so Bret follows him out with a plancha. Slugfest ensues and a double countout results. Bret actually gets the better of Ted in the post-match antics, which indicates that Vince definitely had confidence in him. I am hard pressed to think of a better DiBiase match in the WWF. There was some really great action here and an excellent story told by both men. Each man played their parts well as DiBiase looked so self-assured and Bret plays such a great, plucky face in peril. The finish sequence was beautiful as everything logically connected. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - 4/89 MSG This felt like a Nick Bockwinkel AWA title defense with Perfect letting Hart get more offense in than DiBiase and making them appear as equals. Perfect worked a more rugged style than he usually did in the WWF and also added the King of the Mountain segment for maximum effect. Bret once again played such a great face, but this time did not feel as plucky rather as confident challenger. I really liked the opening shine segment. Bret has a such great offensive arsenal and he always puts it on display in singles matches. One of my favorite spots was Perfect missing a drop toe hold. It was a nice touch and I wished there were more spots like that sprinkled into matches. Bret goes for a lot of pinfall attempts early. I like always trying to win mentality. He even busts out his crucifix pins. They do a bodyslam->kickoff symmetry sequence. My absolute favorite spot of the match is Bret trips Perfect and pushes him down and Perfect falls flat on his face with authority. It was such an excellent spot. Hennig, much like DiBiase, takes a walk to collect himself and break Bret's momentum. Perfect gets back in and when the opportunity presented itself in the corner, Perfect clocked Bret with a straight right. Perfect gets a big kneelift and a wicked chop sending Bret to floor. They play King of the Mountain as Perfect wont let Bret back in. This climaxes with Bret taking his bump off the apron onto the railing. Perfect only gets two of it. He hits a standing dropkick sending him back to the floor. Perfect decides to use the spinning toe hold. I thought they could have set this up better like in the DiBiase match where Bret injured his knee first. Bret kicks off Hennig into the post and he sells it well perfectly. Bret is relentless on the arm and his offense looked great. He was really capitalizing on his newfound advantage. However, he commits the cardinal sin of wrestling by going for another crucifix pin and Perfect dumps him hard onto mat. Perfect is still selling the arm and cant press his advantage. Perfect uses the hair to stop Bret's abdominal stretch. Bret pushes Perfect out of the ring on a rollup attempt and follows up with a plancha. Here comes the big Bret comeback: Perfect spins out on an atomic drop, vertical suplex, backbreaker and elbow, but time limit expires. I, much like, Lord Alfred totally forgot about the time limit and was totally engrossed in the action. Bret wants five more minutes, but Perfect blindsides him. Bret ends up getting the better of him and sends him packing. That is twice that Bret was allowed to get the symbolical victory over two top heels. This was a great action-packed match. I would say the heat segment dragged a little bit more in the Perfect match, but I thought work through King of the Mountain and the Bret's comeback were done excellently. I would give this match the nod over the DiBiase, but it is close. In any event, both are great showcases of all three men and prove that Bret was ready to be a major singles player as early as 1989.

It's back! It was only a matter of time that I felt comfortable having watched enough Demolition to at least start commenting in this thread. I will say on an aesthetic point of view when silver is not the most prominent color of their face paint they definitely look the more intimidating. I know someone said the makeup kinda looked like KISS, but I beg to differ they were definitely inspired by everyone's favorite Satanic Heavy Metal Star, King Diamond of Mercyful Fate. Hail Satan! On a more serious note, I want to discuss some of the points made in this thread. I don't think I truly understood what Matt D meant by "trends". I have to come realize it is the inter-match storytelling and how Demolition adjust to their opponents. Now, if I wanted inter-match storytelling I would just watch All Japan, but Demolition does adapt to their opponents better than most WWF tag teams. Structure does not necessarily beget great work. What is a great plan without great execution? I have seen Demolition have matches that I consider. Their most impressive mauling match was against the Islanders because Tama bumped like a maniac for them. They did not just rely on their stomps and bearhugs to tell the story. In my opinion they had the best pure heel in peril tag match against Killer Bees and what I consider the best Killer Bees match I have ever seen. They worked hard to tell the story of the Bees overcoming the power of Demolition with smart work by targeting Ax's knee. However, too often Demolition settles for the bare minimum. They know they have an easy story to tell because they much larger than most their opponents and more often than not they will just phone in performances. I was so high on Strike Force until I saw them wrestle Demolition. Massive kudos to Demolition they were the preeminent tag team in WWF from 1988-90. There is no tag in the post-1984 WWF/E that can claim that reign of dominance. They had a gimmick that fit the time period well, played the characters well and delivered in the ring enough so that fans were willing to buy them as the top team. Yes, they laid their matches out well, but great structure is not great work unto itself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Demolition vs Killer Bees - 9/87 Houston 2 Out Of 3 Falls Before I rave about this match (just the first two falls), Pete Doherty is the fuckin worst commentator ever. This is the greatest Killer Bees match I have ever seen and I have watched way too many Killer Bees matches. This may be Demolition's best match as well, but it is still to early to tell and I hope they have better matches. On top of all this, I think the first fall is greatest heel in peril tag I have ever seen. I think it is a bit overstated that WWF tag matches were done in a heel-in-peril style. They usually had a normal babyface shine and any babyface limb work was perfunctory and short-lived. It is not the crux of the match and the face in peril is usually as long if not longer than the babyface shine. This match is heel in peril through and through and really well-done. The hook of the match is that Bees have managed to injure Ax's knee finally exposing a weakness to the seemingly indomitable Demolition. As Ax is struggling to tag Smash, you are happy to see Demolition finally writhe pain. The match begins as most Demolition matches do with concept that Bees have no chance on their own against Demolition. They have to manage to get a member of Demolition in their corner so they can do frequent tags and double teams. They are leveraging their speed advantage into double team moves. Demolition use a lot of cheating to parlay that into power moves. There is a real sense of struggle from the beginning. One team is not dominating the other rather they are jockeying for position. Ax keeps grabbing a front facelock and Blair keeps relentlessly pounding away at his knee. Finally Ax's knee gives out and the Bees just go to town on Ax's knee with all sorts of double teams, stretches and holds. Ax is desperately trying to get to Smash, but there is no sympathy to be had for these brutes. Blair goes for coup d'grace: figure-4. Smash sensing the end is nigh makes the save. In the confusion, Blair eats knees on a splash attempt and Demolition go up 1-0 in a great first fall. Ax tries to avoid starting the next fall even though he won the previous fall so Brunzell brings him in the hard way. Ax is able to tag out, but as Smash comes in he performs an atomic drop on Blair, who tags Brunzell while being hoisted up. Blair collides with Ax and Brunzell dropkicks Smash to win the second fall. It is all knotted up. Brunzell goes after Ax's leg again forcing him to tag out. This has really rendered Demolition into a one person team. Smash is able to get his boot up so that Blair wipes out. This sets up the Blair heat segment. This is great illustration of Demolition doing their bare minimum. The heat segment mainly consists of Demolition doing frequent tags to slap on the vulcan nerve pinch. It is not like they are using this hold to contain Blair. They should be pressing the advantage more instead it feels like killing time. Smash takes the Bret Bump into the turnbuckles and Ax misses an elbow. Has Bill Eadie ever hit an elbow? Brunzell is a small campfire as he only gets two with his dropkick. As he is running the ropes, Ax hits Jumpin Jim with Fuji's cane and that's all she wrote. If the match just ended after the first fall it would go down as one of lost classics. The second fall was actually perfect as the Bees deserved to win the first fall and got it all knotted up. The third fall was a bore and just dragged. As Meatloaf says Two Outta Three Aint Bad. Demolition vs Billy Jack Haynes & Ken Patera - 11/87 Boston This is definitely nothing for you to go out of your way to see as the Pride of Oregon & Richard Simmons Clone do battle with Mr. Fuji's Demolition. Patera really should have stuck with the bleach blonde hair. The key difference in this match from other Demos matches is that like the Powers of Pain match where these two strongmen do not need to double up their moves to gain advantage over Demolition. In fact, during Haynes' hot tag you see him dominating both members of Demolition. Part of me thinks this pretty foolish as Patera and Haynes were just mid-carders (Heenan & Patera angle may have been hot I am not too familiar with it.) whereas the Powers of Pain were being pushed as the Demolition's arch rivals. There were two heat segments. The first one on Haynes was nothing much. Patera showed very little in the way of offense. Demolition went after segment. Haynes has some decent power moves, he could be better in a different setting I have watched none of his Portland work. Billy Jack struggles to get on his dreaded full nelson and then all four men end up in the ring. The referee calls it a no contest. Ax goes to town on Patera's arm with cane. Haynes managed to grab the cane and fend off the Demolition sending them packing. Pretty run of the mill, blase match. Demolition just working the midcard teams before their eventual ascension to the No. 1 Tag Team spot at Wrestlemania IV. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ax vs Ken Patera - 2/88 MSG The Pro Wrestling Only Dream Match - 6 years after its expiration date. I was pleasantly surprised by this match. They cut a very good pace and it was well-worked. It was not spectacular, but it definitely was not a snoozefest. I felt Ax bumped better here than he had in most of his Demolition matches. Patera started off hot and really never let up. Patera was pretty good working Ax's arm early. Fuji played "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" with his case eventually this incensed Patera enough for to follow onto the floor. I thought this was going to be the transition spot, but curveball Patera runs Ax into the post and railing. The real one was Patera running into Ax's boot and then Ax going after Patera's cast arm. Fuji helped out with a couple cane shots. Patera locked in the full nelson, but Fuji distracted and Patera decked him. Here comes Smash! Walking Disaster! Ax blindsides Patera for the win. JYD makes the save. It is weird that Patera was feuding with Heenan, but wrestling Demolition. Patera's stock was clearly falling. The wrestling landscape had changed so much and he just could not really adapt. Demolition was on the upswing and about to become the No. 1 Tag Team in the WWF from 1988-1990. It was no brainer for Ax to pick up the duke. This was a solid match from two pros.

This is one of favorite wrestling comedy segments of all time. Just fuckin hilarious. One of the very few wrestling vignettes I show to my friends because everyone finds this funny. Sunny could have been a top heel manager instead of in the dead tag division.

Hart Foundation vs Fabulous Rougeaus Brothers - 9/88 Meadowlands Lord Alfred Hayes loses his shit when the crowd throws frogs at the Quebecois. This is one weird match. If you did not know any better from the outset of the match you would think the Harts were the heels and the Rougeaus faces. I would hazard that Bret's defense of the blatant cheating and arrogance was that they were still in transition to being babyface therefore it did not make sense to go full bore. Anyways, in the match you have to decide if you want to cheer for the pricks (Hart Foundation) who choke, pull hair, let a fallen crawl over to his tag partner only slap his hand away or the cowards (Rougeaus). Eventually Bret lets Raymond make the tag. Jacques is entertaining in his mannerisms, but his work always leaves something to be desired. Bret is such a great face in peril. He is just a natural. The Rougeaus just have no spots at all to offer this match. Anvil gets tagged in and he is pretty decent as a hot tag, I feel like he will get better. He has all the traits to be a great hot tag. Bret irish whips Anvil into Raymond and then nails him with a piledriver. The ref is distracted Jacques off the top hits a prone Bret and the Rougeaus win. I'm a bit surprised since Demolition currently heel were the tag champs and with the Bulldogs sliding down the card, I thought Harts would take the win. From a storyline standpoint, I know the Rougueas had turned heel at this time with their tiny American flags, but had the Hart Foundation turned face? There seems to be a long layoff for the Hart Foundation between WM IV and Sumemrslam '88 was that to ease the transition. I feel like I read somewhere that at some point Jimmy Hart betrays Hart Foundation to go with the Rougeaus, but I did not see him out there. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hart Foundation vs Fabulous Rougeaus - Boston 10/88 Brother Love as Special Guest Ref Now this is more like it: a nice little fun match. Brother Love rambles on for 4 minutes. I don't know much about Brother Love's history. I know he was the Undertaker's original manager, but was he ever given anyone else? It is actually a brilliant gimmick for a manager and something I think that would work today. The beginning of this match is really good and really establishes the stipulation of the match something that modern wrestling does not always do. Jacques pulls Bret's hair in order to get him to the ground and Brother Love lets it go. Bret pulls Jacques hair in a similar fashion and Brother Love makes him break his headlock. Bret gets a pinfall attempt Brother Love gives an exaggerated slow count. Jacques grabs a rollup while Bret is arguing and gets an egregious fast count. At this point, the heat is already nuclear in the Boston Garden with everyone throwing trash. Bret is so fed up he tags in the Anvil. The Rougeaus immediately point out that Bret is not holding the tag rope, Brother Love goes over to investigate and admonish him while the Rougeaus double team the Anvil. The Anvil FIP kills the match dead. The Rougeaus just have no spots, just choking, stomping and chinlocks. Brother Love lays the badmouth on the Anvil and also denies him a hot tag on grounds that Bret was not holding the tag rope. Bret eventually does come in and hits a bunch of his standard spots, which look amazing next to the Rougeaus' lame arsenal. Hart Foundation fed up with Brother Love dump his ass outside and hit the Hart Attack and Dave Hebner counts the three. The Rougeaus were pretty bland as babyfaces and the heel turn has not helped. The Quebecers were so good, but yet the Fabulous Rougeaus are so lame in the ring. The Hart Foundation have not found their groove yet as a babyface team, but you can tall Bret is being groomed to be a singles star, which I feel is hurting the standing of the team. Finally, Brother Love seems like a great gimmick to me would have been a great addition to the cast of Heenan, Hart and Fuji.