Superstar Sleeze

Dudley Boyz vs Sandman & Tommy Dreamer - ECW One Night Stand “They believe because he [The Sandman] believes” -Mick Foley explaining Kayfabe in 5 words. It was never about the fans believing in Kayfabe or the whole thing was real or not. It is the wrestlers that have to believe in Kayfabe and everything else follows. It was when the wrestlers stop believing in Kayfabe that whole thing falls apart. My ECW knowledge peaks in 1995 decreases each subsequent year so I know these teams have history But I haven’t seen it. I assume RVD must have been injured because he is not on the card or any of the hijinx. So of those available to them this was the biggest possible main event. Heyman’s line that JBL was only champion because HHH didn’t want to work Tuesday was funny and Bradshaw’s reaction was even better. I wish I got the version with the real songs as Sandman’s entrance was epic you could tell by the fans reactions but I needed the real Metallica. BWO bit was good they needed to be on the card. Surprised Kid Kash was there but of course you needed Balls and Axl Rotten! The match itself there was not much to it. Lots of blood some sick chair shots and cookie sheet shots. It was more of a Dreamer match than Sandman match which bummed me out because I prefer Sandman by a lot, Impact Players come out. So we get the Francine / Beulah cat fight! Joey Styles is atrocious. Dreamer & Beulah DDTs on the Dudleyz. We get the 3-D. Spike Dudley comes out to light the table on FIRE which always looks cool and they put it out with Dreamer’s body. Sick finish. Stone Cold comes out and the Hammerstein EXPLODES~! The whole show the RAW & Smackdown heels Lee by Bischoff and JBL respectively have been watching like the two old dudes in the Muppets. We finally get the big brouhaha! Taz coming out in full regalia and choking out Angle was cool. They should have done a big spot with JBL getting his comeuppance. They have Foley drag Bischoff from the commentary desk to the Ring. Bischoff is in his element he kills it for all it’s worth. Stone Cold plays air traffic controller 3-D! Flying Headbutt! 619! All WWE Guys and A STONE COLD STUNNER! The Dudleyz take out the trash throwing Bischoff out of the Hammerstein but simultaneously walking out of WWE as this was their last night on a WWE show until their comeback they would be on TNA for the Spike TV run! It is not must see But it is pretty entertaining bullshit that flies by. *** 1/2

@ohtani's jacket post makes me want to rewatch this. Damn I got pumped up just reading that shit.

Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka - ECW One Night Stand 2005 A match that would be enhanced by watching on mute. Joey Styles starts off shrill and fucking annoying crosses into scum territory when he openly wises for Awesome to take his own life which tragically Awesome does later in life. Styles ends up dropping his phony aggrieved act and calls the match but he is so annoying that it hurts the match. The suicide was so disgusting and low even for pro wrestling. I enjoy pretty much all their matches together and I think this probably the best of the lot. All matches are great in the same vein of Big Dumb Fun and this is no exception. It is all killer no filler. Stringing big violent impactful high spot after each other. Theres not enough dumb wrestling anymore. Everyone’s trying to have these “classics” just go dumb. The third steel chair shot to Tanaka is the gnarliest chair shot I have ever seen. I love Powerbombs. There are so many great Powerbombs in this match. I love Awesome really javelins Tanaka on these Powerbombs. Some great dives too from Mike Awesome. The Finish with the AwesomeBomb from the Ring to the floor with out of nowhere Awesome over the top rope splash basically piledriving himself was insane! Incredible spot fest tons of fun doesnt over stay it’s welcome. **** 1/4

NWA US Champion Nikita Koloff vs Magnum TA - NWA Worldwide 9/20/86 2/3 Falls I think one of the reasons I waited this long to watch the Nikita/Magnum stuff is because of Crocketts taping vs airing schedule it gets really confusing what is what. Match 7 is the banger in my opinion and Thats from August Worldwide. Nikita wins with a chain. Nikita is 100% official champion for this match which is the rematch and it is 2/3 Falls. In a way we are getting Matches 8, 9 & 10 all in one go. First Fall: These two have really great chemistry with each other. This is not as uptempo as Match 7 but had a great Clash of Titans. Every lock up matters. Every punch matters. Mags has a great punch and there are some magnificent ones on display here. Mags tags Nikita first who powders. Nikita gets a cheap shot in the ropes and uses his power/weight and underhanded tactics to maintain control. Magnum gets a flash pin with Belly 2 Belly awesome! Second Fall: Mags is working the leg. Nikita lures him outside and smashes his head into railing. Really rings his bell. Great heat segment bashing Mags head into hard objects. Love the style of choke slam Nikita does here. Full force choke and driving Mags down to the ground would love to see someone do that in modern times. RUSSIAN SICKLE! Loving the efficiency of the falls. Third Fall: Mags is under the gun he is well behind Nikita now that he has felt the Sickle. I love all the hope spots. The crossbody. The double noggin knocker. The punch as Nikita comes off the top. Each time Nikita comes back and regains controls. It generates such strong tension. Like a real sporting contest of can your hero, your hometown favorite come from behind. Every opening is met with an answer from Nikita. I love the struggle, the urgency from both men to either keep control or wrest control. Nikita misses a shoulder tackle in the corner. Magnum really storms back. He calls for the Belly 2 Belly but has to settle for a backslide. Tommy counts three but immediately sees the feet on the ropes. He does NOT call for the bell. Mags thinks he has won, he grabs the belt and punches Uncle Ivan and smashes Nikita with the US Title and Tommy Young has the best reaction “Why did you go and do that Magnum now I gotta DQ you”. One of the best finishes of this type because you can see why Magnum thought he won and the heels were just jumping him post match against the referee hand being forced to DQ Mags. Not as good as Match 7 but this is still great. I love using 2/3 Falls to get to see each of their finishes actually win a fall as in the 80s that never happened. All in all a good fuck finish. **** 1/4

NWA US Champion Magnum TA vs Nikita Koloff - NWA Worldwide 8/23/86 Match #7 These two captured lightning in a bottle! I wouldn’t call either a great worker but this was a home run! Magnum feels like an incomplete case. He was just getting good and finally feeling big time when the accident happened. The crowd being absolutely molten got also helped. Mags shine is so fun and amplified the crowd. The crossbody near fall right off the bat the crowd was rocking. Dropkicking over the top. There was something about the Double Axehandle from the top that was just so big time, so king sized so electric. Sometimes a move is just a move but sometimes it is a MOVE~! And you know in that moment of time you have captured something special. We miss the transition to heat but we get a great Dustin-style bump on a missed crossbody and the way Nikita works the back is so good. The shoulder tackles driving Magnum into hard parts of ring is great. I loved the Bearhug. An all time great bear hug. Magnum does have an undeniable punch. Really fucking good! Loved loved the finish! Uncle Ivan gets piledriven on the floor. Electric! Tussle with Krushev the ref gets entangled. FLYING CHAIN RUSSIAN SICKLE 1-2-3! HOLY FUCK ALL TIME GREAT HEEL FINISH! THIS MATCH RULES! **** 1/2

Terry Funk vs Barry Windham - WWC 9/19/86 WWC Universal Title Tournament First Round I believe the only meeting between two legends that you think would have faced off against each other multiple times but not sure where and when their paths would have crossed. This is the WWC match that has stuck out to me as the match I really wanted to watch after a decade plus finally getting to it. BW starts off having some fun at Funk’s expense where his cowboy hat and Funk is down to stooge early. Hennig was not a bad pick for Mr Perfect but Windham is one of the most athletic men to ever wrestle. Watch how he nonchalantly catches a flying wooden chair with one hand from a Funk temper tantrum. Some see sawing on the top rope from Funk. All in good fun. Now it is time for the match to pick up on the outside. if you love piledrivers you will love this match, 5 total. Two from Funk on the outside here and a then a mule kick Ballshot because we are in Puerto Rico baby! In addition to how Windham catches that chair, watch he melts into his bumps especially a crazy one through the ropes to the floor. Such a stud. The heads collide and now it is BW’s turn. One of the best Windham control segments I have seen. Three piledrivers, two on the floor. Great punches of course. What makes this so great are the little wrinkles they throw in. When Windham misses an elbow drop he sells so well that you think it is leading to a heat segment. Instead he holds onto the top rope on a neck breaker and Funk goes crashing down. Excellent. Funk throws in some light heartedness acting so phased by repeated blows into the top turnbuckle that he is still seesawing until he falls out of the Ring head- first and ends up horse collaring a chair and feeding for Windham punches. Excellent! BW LARIAT! Barry thinks he gets the pin but Funk rolls him up for the win im a very 80s finish for BW to save face. Funk’s promo against Rick Martel is fun at first saying he is cattle rancher not a pig farmer and Puerto Rico is full of pigs but takes a darker turn when he references that Martel’s life-ending heart attack that happened on the island. This was awesome real slam bang stuff no down time that was elevated by Funk’s humor/creativity and Windham’s athleticism. ****

Shout out to @El Boricua for recommending this gem WWC Universal Champion Carlos Colon vs Kamala - WWC 1/6/86 Kamala is a million times better than Abdullah The Butcher! This might be my favorite Kamala individual performance and that’s saying a lot because I’m a Kamala mark. Right from the opening bell theres more zip and gusto to everything he does. He is throwing those overhand chops. I love his reaction to being punched first is to run around like a madman and touch his toes. Second is to powder and he stooges so good. His kicks look the best I’ve ever seen him. Arm pit nerve hold popped me. Unfortunately theres a clip and we don’t see how Akbar gets busted open. Kamala shoves the ref three times, three strikes youre out but he decimates Colon before leaving with a punctuation mark of a Splash which is sold like death. 10 minutes of Kamala awesomeness! Wish we had it in full and wish we had the rematch!

WWC Universal Champion Carlos Colon vs Tully Blanchard - WWC 1983 I believe the commentary team is Hugo Sanovich and Bobby Jaggers it is helpful on some ways and distracting & annoying in others but it is totally worth it for Jaggers mispronouncing flagrant as fragrant. The idea of fragrant violation in response to a ball shot had me laughing so hard I had to pause the video. Everything Flair detractors say about Flair being weak applies to Tully a hundredfold. I like Tully but this is not a wrestler with much in the way of offense or working on top. He is the ultimate stooge and heat seeker. This is very compatible with Colon’s style as Tully can pinball and stooge off of Colon’s punches and draw heat by stalling and short cuts. We get that with a foreign object and throwing Colon out of the Ring multiple times and brawling at the railing. I thought the first Colon comeback started lame. Kind of like I am over this I am going to fights back and do a ROUNDOFF~! But even though transition was lame the match really picked up here. Loved the atomic drop on the railing. Love AWA-style spot where Tully gets his foot on the rope so Colon attacks it and works it over building to the Figure-4. We get the Fragrant Mule Kick Ballshot! I didn’t like Tully getting right back on offense after that. Good use of the ref to blind Colon coming off the top eating a punch. I liked the ref bump leading to ref table topping Tully on a suplex attempt got three. This match is proof even 1980s matches needed an editor. I think if switch the order of some of the spots you could have really whipped me and the crowd into a frenzy. I would say this is a fragrant *** 1/2 match.

WWC Universal Champion Carlos Colon vs Bruiser Brody - WWC 1984 Chain Match I dont think I have ever heard Brody speak before. Totally kills the aura. He shouldn’t speak. Lame promo. I like Brody more than most and this was a good Brody performance. He is easily better than Abby in my opinion but far worse than Hansen. This is nowhere near as good as Hansen Bullrope match as this is also touch four corners match. I like how Brody needs to be beaten down and pinned down to chain him to Colon. He blindsides Colon but with the belt and punch he can hold him down. Colon kicks some ass inside and outside the Ring. Brody comes back using the chain to thrust at Colon’s throat, wrapping the chain around Colon’s eyes is the money shot of the match. Brody kicks some ass on the outside he is the first to touch corners. Colon starts rifling him shots. Brody has such a good register with the hair. Bodyslam by Colon! WOW! Colon starts going for corners. Brody’s ally gives him a kidney shot and Colon collapses into the fourth corner for the classic 80s fuck finish. I mean Brody didnt even have to be pinned he couldn’t have just been KO’d for the fourth corner. Always got to save that heat. There is way more heat for the managers to brawl as Brody decks Colin’s buddy but Colon beats both the heels back to the dressing room before checking on his compadre. Very good double juice brawl with some nice chain usage. Both have better matches but this is good. *** 1/2

WWC Universal Champion Carlos Colon vs Ric Flair - WWC 10/16/82 Ric Flair is the NWA World Heavyweight Champion but they make it clear that Flair is challenging for Colon’s Universal Title as Colon is billed as “Campeon” and Flair, “Retador”. However I still didn’t expect a clean finish. Excellent Flair title defense! I was really interested to see how Colon fit within the Flair Formula and just how how Colon would work Championship style match. I wish we had more of this style from Colon. Amateur riding to start from Flair but Colon escapes. Colon grabs a hammerlock and basically doesnt let go for 10 minutes. Typically great Flair in how he makes Colon fight through his offense to earn the arm work. Flair tries the chops but Colon wrenches him down with the wristlock. Flair tries to turn it into a track meet but Colin stays disciplined laser focused on the arm. Here comes the Flair roughhousing the knee lifts, the elbows but Colon won’t give up. It takes a well timed Headbutt to the midsection or was it lower Ahhhhh the beauty of pro wrestling to get Colon off his game. Classic Flair rough housing and crowding but he isn’t in there with just any Jamoke this is fiery Carlitos Colon and two fire fights that break out in the corner are just money reminiscent of Garvin and Wahoo! Flair powders! Hell Yeah! Flair is able to go to his old stand by and throw Colon out of the Ring twice to take over. One thing that is unexpected is how much bigger Flair is than Colon. Colon disappears behind Flair at times and we forget how big Flair really is. Hoists Colon up for two snake eyes which was cool. Gutwrench, butterfly, delayed vertical suplexes. Flair’s punches in the corner are so underrated. He crashes down on the knee. When Flair is feeling it, there’s nothing better. Electric. Figure-4. Colon reverses it! Colon Press Slam! Colon FIGURE-4! Dueling Figure-4s. Flair eye rake! Back Suplex! Great organic transition into the piledriver and smashing Colon’s head into the exposed part of the turnbuckle and the post busting him open. Excellent! Flair’s elbows and those rapid fire punches to the open wound on the head are amazing! He has such an underrated punch. He looks unhinged. This is an all time great Flair heat segment. Colon gets a couple babyface hope spots the sunset flip and the crossbody. Flair freaks out and throws him back outside and wants to smash Carlitos head into more steel but ends him tasting steel! I bite on the double Countout here hard. Flair is reeling. MULE KICK BALLSHOT! Ultimate act of desperation. Nobody does it better. You felt like everything was slipping away from Flair and out of desperation he takes the low road! SLEEPER! Colon falls forward! FIRE FIGHT BREAKS OUT! COLON KNOCKDOWNS FLAIR! ROUNDOFF~! PUERTO RICO IS ROCKING! FLAIR FLIP! The crowd believes! Flair double leg…feet on the ropes. Flair argues with the ref. O’Connor Roll 1-2-No! Flair hip toes! BLOCKED! BACKSLIDE 1-2-3! PUERTO RICO AND ME IN BED JUST LOST MY SHIT This had two things going for it that most Flair matches dont the first and biggest they could give us a BIG CLEAN BABYFACE VICTORY In front of the Hometown Crowd because this was for Colon’s title and not Flair’s. Being the 80s I did NOT think we would get one even though it was possible because of it being for Universal Title. That was sick. The other thing is we have very few Flair matches where he is so much bigger than his opponent and those matches are special. He can really manhandle and sink his teeth into a heat segment. I am a massive Flair fan and this is one of his best heat segments of all time. Colon brings that Garvin/Wahoo dimension and kickass stand and bang fire fights. Dueling Figure-4s were great. This should be heralded as one of the all time great Championship Style matches! **** 1/2

Carlos Colon vs Abdullah the Butcher - WWC 1991 Only have a year for this and Cagematch has no record of them fighting in 1991. Technically this is actually a match as they never entered the Ring and the whole thing gets thrown as a no contest. It is Carlitos versus Abby lots of blood and violence. It suffers from the same problems as the June 1985 match but at half the length it is mercifully short. It reads as a laundry list of violent spots instead of making you feel. Colon blindsides Abby with the fork, then a wooden beam which he chokes him with then a cinder block. Punches, head butts and gnawing. Abby is such a poor seller you dont feel anything. Abby gets the fork and starts bloodying Carlitos. A masked ally of Abby gets his Zubaz torn off and Carlitos kicks him in the yam bags and the sell of that is amazing. Honestly that spot makes the whole thing worth it. They fight near semi trailer and the match gets called off dont know why then but I am ok with it. Carlitos beats Abby and his allies back with punches and headbutts. *** for tearing the Zubaz and back kicking him in the balls.

lol I have already watched this match. I watched this morning and really liked all the same things. I am upping it to *** 1/2. I will say I liked it in the context of watching it after seeing Flair against Tony Colon and Jerry Finley. Against Tony, he is in complete control it is just chops and a suplex Figure 4 win. Finley is able to get a toehold and kick out of the gutwrench suplex But the butterfly -> Figure-4 win it. Here Tommy Gilbert gets more like a typical Flair opponent winning tests of strength. Coming back from multiple suplexes. He gets a fun blast with the dropkicks. I loved the misses dropkick leading to his dropkick. Really fun studio match looking forward to Flair vs Colon.

Andre The Giant vs Abdullah The Butcher - WWC 9/17/83 They bring in Andre for their big 10th anniversary show and I believe Colon works a draw against NWA Champ Harley Race so bringing out their big guns. Hell Yeah! This ruled! Fro Andre is best Andre! He was moving and hitting like a wild man! Those sledgehammer punches/forearms and mighty headbutts looked killer! Butt butt in the corner! This is a violent, vicious giant. I didn’t know how Abby was going to take over but here come the throat thrusts. Andre sells so well. He fights from his back swinging wild bear paws. This has a big fight feel! Two larger than life characters! I like how commentary the Largest Wrestler vs Most Violent Wrestler! The Giant vs The Madman! It spills to the outside and Andre hits Abby with a fence for a double Countout. This was trending 4+ But abrupt finish leaves wanting more but we don’t get more. *** 1/2

Champion Abdullah the Butcher vs Carlos Colon - WWC September 1981 Everyone agrees this is from Trinidad & Tobago and 1981. Cagematch thinks it is 8/11 but Colon is North American Champion but loses the title. But Abby comes out with the belt. PWO has settled for September and maybe for the West Indies title. Either way this is a great match and maybe my favorite of these two. Helps they are 5 years younger and Colon has a great Stache in this and looks so much more youthful. It is not really different from their other matches, punches, throat thrusts, headbutts, biting, ball shots blood lots and lots of blood. It is how they do it. Colon had a little extra zip that comes from being 5 years younger and his punches looked gnarlier. The work on Abby’s ear was sick but ultimately it is a forehead bladejob. Abby’s selling clicked more with me here than elsewhere. Here he felt feral rather than a tub of goo just absorbing pain & punishment. Like he was waiting for the right moment to strike. I thought his strikes looked a million times better here. Throat thrusts had some oomph. There was a great straight right that stopped Colon in his tracks. It felt like more of a fight. Abby was timing his strikes better and sending with force. Love them trading BALLSHOTS. We get trademark Colon round off. The head ramming into the post looked great. There was a sense of fight for survival as they got back to the Ring. Abby dropped two tub of goo elbow drops. Colon kicks out of both. The ref calls the match off though in a weak finish. It makes the match feel incomplete as there felt like each had more to give and there was more meat on the bone. The Colon/Abby match with the most vim & vigor. A better finish gets it to 4 but going *** 3/4

Carlos Colon vs Terry Funk - WWC 9/21/86 WWC Universal Championship Tournament Finals The capper to the great WWC Universal Championship Tournament and the 13th Anniversary Show which must represent a high water mark for WWC. After all those Abby matches, Terry Funk is a breath of fresh air. Someone who can actually move and bump for Colon. I know this match is famous as the Finals of a famous Tournament but it should be famous for being a great match as well. It is the Terry Funk Show. You can see why his fans think he think he is the greatest wrestler of all time. If you love his brand of entertainment, there is no one better. He trips on his poncho, he feeds on a layout across the top turnbuckle and then perfectly feeds for seesaw punches in the middle rope (take notes, Muraco) and then of course the stumbling and bumbling in the crowd wiping out chairs throwing chairs. Classic stuff. Funk’s heat segment is also good shit: piledriver on the outside, punches and smashing Colon’s head into the post. Love the side headlock, trick knee Ballshot. Funk works a sleeper. What really puts this over the top for me is Colon throws it all back in Funk’s face with a Ballshot and a piledriver on the floor. I love that symmetry. All your Colon favorites good punches, headbutts, ROUNDOFF~!, TOE TOUCH! I liked the Figure-4 work and bit on it as well as Funk collapsing on a suplex attempt because of his knee. Junior hits him with a boot. 1-2-NO! Good heel nearfall. Very creative and inventive finish. They trade headbutts progressively get more groggy. Colon gets the final Headbutt for the win. Excellent Terry Funk match very entertaining **** 1/4

Carlos Colon vs Abdullah The Butcher - WWC 9/20/86 WWC Universal Title Semifinals You Cant say I haven’t given Colon vs Abby a fair shot. In my opinion, this is probably the most famous shows WWC ever did as they load up their Universal Title tournament with famous wrestlers from mainland to create one of the most star studded tournaments of all time. It is all a part of their 1986 Anniversary show. I randomly watched Funk vs Martel years ago and have always meant to watch the whole tournament. This feud has been raging all year and goes back to the 1985 Anniversary show a year ago. This is the semifinals winner faces Funk. They bring in Stan Hansen to kick off the famous feud with Colon next month meaning we get a break from Colon & Abby. Pretty middle of the road Colon vs Abby match. Not as boring as the June one but nowhere as heated as the Spring one. Abby jabs Colon with a fork and he works a pretty basic heat segment the usual Abby offense. Colon sells better than him so it is more interesting. Abby hits a couple elbow drops and clothesline. Colon comes back with punches. ROUNDOFF~! It is come back time. Colon works a spirited come back. Punching Abby until he bleeds. Head butts TOE TOUCH! Ball shot! Leg drops! Gary Hart gives Abby a foreign object. Colon fights through it. Monkey Flip. Suplex. Hits Abby with the foreign object for the win! Abby attacks with Gary Harts crutch but the babyfaces save. Solid match nothing you have to see but inoffensive. ***

@El Boricua are we sure this is 6/29/86? It is for the Universal Championship and both Cagematch and Wikipedia have the title vacant on 6/29. It doesn’t feel like a rematch to the eye clawing. I am thinking this is the March 1986 match from the DVDVR set or at least before April 29th when title is listed as vacated. What do you think? WWC Universal Champion Carlos Colon vs Abdullah The Butcher - WWC 1986 Holding off on putting a date on this as there feels like a discrepancy between the match date listed (6/29/86) and Thai being for Universal Title which according to Cagematch and Wikipedia was vacant at the time. The other strange thing about this match s it has English Commentary overdubbed but it sounds like it was done in the early 2000s has that ROH sort of dweeby commentary feel where they are trying to ape the 80s style but come off sounding like tools and just no one would talk like that. As for the match this is a MASSIVE upgrade over the 6/15/86 snore fest I watched yesterday. This is way more heated and has a real hate-filled fight to it. Abby gets caught with the fork early but he a low blow and is able to bust Colon open. The blows are more uptempo and there’s a real fighting through each others offense. Abby goes for the eye! This match feels like it happened before the 6/15/86 where Colon was going for the eye in revenge. Abby gets an elbow drop as a climax to his heat segment. Colon pulls out a fork and busts Abby open. ROUND OFF! He is blasting Abby with punches and headbutts. Good brawling on the floor. Low blow! Great finish. Dropkick causes ref to be wiped out by Abby. TOP ROPE ATOMIC SENTON DROP! No ref. Abby shoves Colon off and hits ref. Abby gets a fork and a wicked clothesline and the heel ref counts three. NEW CHAMP?!? But the original ref throws the match out and awards the title to Colon. Did this cause the title to be held in abeyance? Is this March 1986 match on DVDVR set? So many questions but if you want ignore the commentary, this is a very entertaining brawl. It felt like a fight. Abby had a really good control segment. There were strong meaningful momentum shifts and enjoyed the finish a lot. Recommend this one as a very good Colon/Abby match *** 3/4

lol I am about to write a review praising a match he is in against Carlos Colon dated 6/29/86 but I think it is March or April of 1986. Thanks for watching a match because of me sorry it sucked @Stephen-

Carlos Colon vs Abdullah The Butcher - WWC 6/15/86 What a total snoozer! This is the worst match I have seen in like 5 years I have to say. It was so brutally boring. I was begging for the ref to DQ Colon have he gut shotted him with a chair. When Colon got Abby off his feet with a monkey flip, please fucking pin him. If this match was 5-10minutes and you know Abby displayed any sort of effort this could have been great, but at 25 minutes what a waste of time. Colon had vacated the Universal Title and that would be get settled at the Anniversary show in September with the pretty famous tournament that had some great matches. This match featured a lot of eye work so it should have been great. It seemed like Carlos was getting revenge for something Abby did to his eye. He was trying to claw Abby's eye out. Abby just showed zero fire, zero anything. He was bleeding and just nothing. I was begging him to do anything. I am usually an advocate for less bumping. This took too extreme, zero bumps and Abby only got off his feet like three times. There was punching and headbutting. It was done with no zip or pizzazz. Nada. Colon had some sort of Sheik-esque foreign object he was stabbing Abby's eye with which should have been AWESOME, but instead was so flat. Abby bled. Did nothing else. Colon worked the cut with punches, head butts, gnawing and the foreign object. Good ballshot. This should have been good, but it was so boring. 25 minutes of my life I am never getting back.

Roddy Piper vs Adrian Adonis - WrestleMania III Hair vs Hair This was not only Piper’s retirement match but Adonis only worked four more matches for the WWF before going to the AWA. Wicked fun match. A Piper match that lives up to the hype. Piper has the belt of his kilt tucked into his trunks. He whips Adonis with it. Jimmy Hart distracts and Adonis gives him a taste of his own medicine. The ref is going to let anything fly! Adonis bumping just like SNME was Great. All the spots with Jimmy Hart were so fun! Piper launches Hart like a missile into the Adorable one twice. Jimmy trips Piper. This is what makes the match great. Adonis gets real heat on Piper. Bouncing him off a ringside table. Great punches. Jimmy Hart with the Spray. Good Night Irene. It is High Drama in the Pontiac Silverdome! Adonis thought he had it won and releases the hold. Brutus Beefcake of all people comes out and revives Piper who wins with a sleeper! For people like me who have been wondering for years why Beefcake turned babyface and became Brutus The Barber Beefcake it is because on the 2/28/87 Superstars Adonis & The Dream Team lost a match to Leapin Lanny & the Can-Ams and Adonis cut Beefcake’s hair. I have not seen the angle yet but it is cool to know the context. They give Adonis a funny half hair cut he throws a temper tantrum. Piper is having fun and soaking in the adulation as he would be gone until 1989 not a bad layoff. Loved the Flower Shop vs Piper Pit story and even though I have seen this match before I am happy to review at the conclusion of seeing the whole story play out. Great story and match! ****

Roddy Piper vs Adrian Adonis - WWF SNME 1/3/87 The Flower Shop vs Pipers Pit is one of my favorite angles of all time! Piper vs Muraco and Orton fell flat but now that Adonis is back this is rocking. Adonis bumps HUGE for Piper. Piper likes looking like Superman so this helps. Kilt blinding, massive knee lift, Adonis caught up in the ropes in a great spot, the Ray Steven’s flips bump. Really fun shine. Adonis fights back. Good Night Irene! Both spill to the outside. Piper clocks Jimmy Hart. Adonis sprays Piper with Flower Perfume to win by Countout. The perfect big fun match to get you pumped for the big pay off at WrestleMania III. ***

Randy Savage vs George The Animal Steele - WWF SNME 1/3/87 Fucking fantastic! I watched this yesterday and today just to make sure I wasn’t going crazy this was awesome! Vince at the height of his creative and booking powers. George The Animal Steele says he has a surprise. He gives Elizabeth the Mine Doll Savage is irate and bounces it off the mat. Great Steele shine with Double Goozle and some great shots. He waves down the entrance ramp. Allowing Savage to take over. Savage looks to polish Steele off with the big elbow but maybe the first instance of wait what THATS RICKY THE DRAGON STEAMBOAT’s MUSIC! Epic 80s Staredown between them! Steele throws Savage off the top and over the top rope! Carries Elizabeth. We go to commercial. The SNME matches that went to commercial always had a mini-climax to suck you in to the second half. They need to bring that back. Steamboat gets cleared from ringside. Steele comes back on fire rams Macho Man’s head into the buckle with a Bulldog headlock. Rips the turnbuckle stuffing with his mouth and blinds Savage and the ref with it. Savage shoves Steele into the buckles. Great fight breaks out Savage is hitting these great strikes look at Thant clubbing clothesline! Steele is biting and cheating his ass off! It is a war. Steele hits Macho Man with a foreign object but gets into it with the ref. THE RING BELL~! 1-2-3! Steamboat chases off Savage and tends to George The Animal. Terrific shit! The angle is ***** top notch shit but the match totally exceeds expectations. This ruled! Great fight! ****

Big John Studd & King Kong Bundy vs Big & Super Machine - WWF Superstars 11/15/86 Billed as Capt Lou’s retirement match, this was also the last match for the Machines (Blackjack Mulligan was already being promoted as returning) and Big John Studd’s last match until 1989. RIP Heenan Family. Whenever I think of the Heenan Family, I think of Studd & Bundy and Studd & Patera. I have watched way more Studd & Bundy that I should but loved it. It felt like they were building to a Studd babyface turn and Studd vs Bundy at WM III. Was it health problems that caused Studd to leave? Huge match for TV as this blows off a months long feud that was the #2 feud behind Hogan/Wonderful. Not much meat on the bone. Superstar Cant slam Studd who falls on top of him and beats him up. Bundy loses control of Blackjack who slams Studd!!! Always a big pop. Bundy holds Blackjack and Studd crashes down for the pin. Heenan Family wins the feud! So long Studd, it has been a pleasure! Studd & the Brain forever!

Roddy Piper Vs Bob Orton - WWF Philly Spectrum 11/8/86 I am just not much of a Piper guy. I kinda already knew that but these last three matches confirmed it. I mean he has his moments dont get me wrong but baseline Piper doesnt do it for me. I just never been into spazzy people whether it is Piper or Mox or in between. This was better than Muraco because Orton is better than Muraco But didnt really grant my attention. Orton doesnt have the charisma to be an NWA traveling champion But he wrestles like one so I appreciate it. I appreciate that he worked the leg and forced Piper to sell it. Single leg crab and Figure-4. I liked Piper’s hulk-up through the Figure-4. Nice Orton’s got back on top and worked to the Superplex but Piper countered. Same finish as Muraco, Orton runs into Jimmy Hart and Piper rolls him up. Piper sends both packing. It is the big Piper vs Orton match but it is just good. *** 1/4

Roddy Piper vs Don Muraco - WWF Boston Garden 11/1/86 Man someone in WWF loved entrance music stealing gimmicks in 1986. Coming off the ultra-hot Flower Shop angle where Muraco/Orton/Adonis injured Roddy Piper, Muraco has stolen Piper’s music and kilt. This would also lead to the Muraco/Orton team that lasted until Mania III and maybe beyond. They had a cool squash on Superstars where Orton hit a Superplex and Muraco hit a Tombstone. Piper really didn’t want to sell the injury from the Flower Shop. He repeatedly fools the heels by showing his knee is fine on Superstars and SNME and here he doesn’t sell it all. So weird. I want to like Don Muraco so bad because he looks so cool but God he is just not good. I believe this Piper first big house show singles match as a babyface and he gets a superstar reaction from Boston. Piper is wrestling fiery but feel like his stuff is hit and miss whether it looks good. This was more miss. Muraco just doesnt try at all during the shine. This will sound better on paper with Piper blinding Muraco with the kilt and the big kneelift in the corner. The biting and the chair shot. The way Muraco sets up for the see saw spot in the ropes is so lazy. The Piper Bulldog popped me and Alfred. Muraco eye poke and javelins Piper into the Piper to bust him and Fuji gets in a cane shot. Super Piper just rushes the Ring and tackles Muraco and bites him until Muraco bleeds. Piper suplex. Fuji cane shot Muraco falls on Piper nope. 21st century Muraco runs into Fuji and Piper rolls him up. Piper was trying but his shit didnt look great I feel like the Muraco blood was not earned. Muraco didnt get anything and his stooging/ heel-selling was terrible. They did a lot in a short time. Borderline three stars but I am going under. They had so much to work with and they underperformed.