Superstar Sleeze

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Jimmy Garvin - NWA Great American Bash 7/11/87 Steel Cage The build to this was fantastic. Some of the best unhinged, obnoxious Ric Flair promos ever. He was a total wildman. When he gave the fur coat to Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin's Main Squeeze, Precious, only to have her back smooching Gorgeous Jimmy in the every fur coat in the next segment, was just classic and what made it all better was his Meltdown. Meltdown of the Century. It was a Meltdown that played over multiple weeks. There's a very good Flair/Luger vs Garvins match that builds to this where Gorgeous Jimmy gets the visual pin on Flair. Gorgeous Jimmy wants a title match but Flair says only if he puts up Precious. If he wins, he gets date night with Precious. He sounds like a psycho creep and it is just so amazing. The other reason I am interested in this match is I have no idea how Flair is going to work this match. Jimmy is not technical, workrate like Steamboat/Windham, he is not a small, quick guy like Morton/Koko, he is not a musclehead like Nikita/Kerry/Luger, he is not a stiff brawler like Ronnie Garvin or Wahoo. My guess is the default template is the musclehead template but man Jimmy Garvin doing press slams sounds awfully funny to me. Unfortunately, this is clipped too, I would love to see it in full. Garvin starts off with stiff, wicked over hand chops in the corner, maybe he will be in Ronnie's category...hmmm...Flair Flop. 1-2-No! Garvin goes for chinlock/smother. Flair goes for the balls. Well we might just get the Flair heat segment so maybe we will never find out. Snapmare. Garvin press slams him off the top rope. Well everyone does that spot so not surprising. Garvin applies the Figure-4. Another common Flair trope. Flair hollering never gets old! They are working the Figure-4 very well. Ahh shit from Flair. Jimmy goes for it again, but eyerake from Flair. Garvin has been blinded and a big punch to the breadbasket. O'Connor Roll by Garvin as a counter to a Flair suplex. 15 minutes has elapsed missing the first ten minutes. The firefight in the corner is not the best. Garvin throws him into the cage and again. Flair is the best. Garvin rakes his face across the cage. We have blood baby! The cage bumps gives Garvin something to do without having rely on his own spots. Moon Over Greensboro! Precious hopes she does not have to see that tonight! Garvin slams his head into the top of the cage, but still not enough. More Cage throws and rakes. Ten count punches in the corner. Flair back drop. Garvin goes down on a leapfrog. Since Garvin is a babyface, I think it is legit (i.e. not playing possum). It is. This is Flair's opening. Jimmy Garvin is a better heel and is similar to Flair when he wrestles thats why this could be interesting. Flair is so great at working the leg. Kneecrusher and the way he stomps the knee. Jimmy is selling like a million bucks plenty of verbal selling. Ronnie Garvin is out to exhort him. Flair is on cruise control and Jimmy's sell is carrying it. Flair is hip thrusting at Ronnie and Precious. Another kneecrusher. Woooooooooooo! Jimmy fights back from his knees and the crowd and Ronnie comes alive! Flair chops him down. Flair on top is a thing of beauty. The chops and the work on the knee. Kneedrop on the knee! Flair is the king. Double goozle in the corner. Awesome firefight breaks out in the corner. Garvin beats him down but he collapses. Flair climbs and Garvin's knee does not hold up. There's a lot of Flair ass in this match. Flair crotches himself! 1-2-NO! Crowd bit hard on that nearfall. He is going to try for the Brainbuster, but his knee gave out. Now we go to school! Figure-4! Is this the finish? Flair has the top rope for extra leverage. Some fan really wants to defend the honor of Precious tries to scale the Cage but it is actually harder than it looks apparently and security yanks him down. Tommy Young looked ready to fight him. It kinda undercuts the moment as Garvin just submitted and the defender of Precious muddied the water. Flair has a hold of Precious. HANDS OF STONE! Flair is left to scurry out of the ring on his knees! This is all to build to the big Garvin vs Flair confrontation later in the year. This was better than it had any right to be. **** I could see it being higher if we have the full match.

NWA US Heavyweight Champion Nikita Koloff vs Lex Luger - Great American Bash 1987 Steel Cage Match Nikita has spent all of 1987 as US Champion, but I think he spent most of it playing second fiddle to the American Dream in the Superpowers. He won the Crockett Cup with Big Dust and was a part of the winning team at inaugural Wargames a week prior. The build has been ascension of Lex Luger is academic and it is just a matter of time that Luger becomes a champion like Flair and Blanchard and he has his eyes set on the US Championship. They had one brawl a month ago but other than that not much of a personal build to this one. Stream of consciousness to save time baby: Nikita has a neck brace on...I dont know why...hmmm...lock up to start. Piledriven twice during Wargames, I had forgotten that, been a couple years since I have seen Wargames. Nikita is pretty over. There is a pretty sneaky clip. They show a random fan and come back to the action. The only giveaway there is a clip is that Luger went from being dry to sweating profusely. I dont know how much we are missing and if there is a full version. Luger rams Nikita into the top turnbuckle and chokes him on the middle rope, reverse elbow. 1-2-No. Nikita fights back from his knees. Luger is registering those shots to his midsection so well. Chinlock by Luger. This chinlock is quite long. Very uncharacteristic for Crockett. Not a chance brutha by Luger was nice trash talk. Ring announcer says 25 minutes has elapsed. I would say we are missing 20 minutes easy then. Making this pretty much impossible to rate. Nikita is working to a vertical base. Koloff breaks free only to eat a Swinging neckbreaker. Luger rips off the neck race and throws it outside the cage. The beatdown is on. Massive clothesline by Luger. that looked great and only gets two. Luger is thinking Piledriver which makes sense give the injury. Koloff with one last gasp back drops Luger out of it. Full nelson by Luger. I am a pretty big Luger fan and I thought these two worked well together in the Crockett Cup Final, but this is not doing much for me. Luger is trying, but isnt doing much. Slugfest erupts. Luger goes to the eyes and again leans on Koloff as he drapes over the ropes. Shin across the throat. Luger/Nikita arent exactly two guys you really want going 30 minutes unless it is with Flair. I think if this was short, sweet power match this could have been great. Another chinlock. Does not even seem like a match I want to seek out in full at this point. Koloff breaks it by ramming Luger into the buckles. Koloff repeatedly punches him in the breadbasket back to a slugfest but this time Nikita is roaring back. Ten count punches in the corner. RUSSIAN SICKLE BUT HE HITS LUGER AND REF! Covers, but there is no ref! JJ throws in a chair for Luger. Waffles Nikita from behind. He throws the Smoking Gun out to JJ. Luger hoists him up into the Torture Rack as the ref comes to at the perfect time to call for the bell since Nikita has been knocked out. This was pretty much the end of Nikita as a main event act and this began the rise of Luger. Outside of an awesome heel finish, there's not much to this match. I would say we get about 10 minutes.

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes - NWA Worldwide 6/13/87 Originally, I skipped this match, but this was the major angle going into Great American Bash that all the promos centered around so I figured I'd go back and watch it. This is NOT just for the Television Championship, it is also for a $100,000 jackpot with each man contributing 50 grand of their own money. This stems from Tully's $10k challenge. Stream of consciousness, if you will... The Dusty vs Tully singles feud probably defined Crockett more than any other singles feud in this era. It was woven from beginning to end. Dusty drops Tully face first into the match. Armdrag. Now it is time for shucking and jiving courtesy of the American Dream. Tully in response decides to take a walk. They have added Dark Journey to Tully Blanchard Entreprises. She does not add much like Baby Doll. Big hiptoss by Big Dust. Dusty flashes the Elbow and Tully powders. Dusty gives chase. Tully ties to sweep the leg. Tully feeds for the Bionic Elbow and Dusty obliges. Tully powders. Dusty is rolling. Big chops in the corner by Big Dust. Bionic Elbow sends Tully packing. Dusty is whipping the crowd into a frenzy threatening to injure Tully's leg still playing off that Dusty leg injury. Dusty stomps the leg. Tully tucks tail and retreats to the corner. Tully is pissed, humiliated and left hobbled. Dusty wrenches the leg around the steel guard rail. The crowd love it. Tully is limping. I thought Dusty was going to wrap Tully leg around the post but instead takes Magnum's cane and whacks Tully with it. They have been bringing Magnum out with Dusty to pop the crowd and give Mags a little love. Figure-4 by The Dream! Tully makes the ropes. Mags/Tully confrontation. Mags takes a swing at Tully. Dusty rams Tully's head into the railing. FIGURE-4 ON THE FLOOR! I am glad I went back and watched this. Pretty damn entertaining. Tommy Young tries to unravel them and JJ stomps Dusty in the head. Tully is still hobbling. Dusty is selling the leg I am not sure why, but Tully has applied the FIgure-4 in the ring. Dusty reverses the pressure and Tully is left hollering for JJ who pulls him to the ropes. Tully's leg selling is phenomenal. He limps into Dusty who hits the DDT! Both men are in a bad way. Tully uses JJ's shoe to whack Dusty's knee and then wrenches it around the bottom rope. Dusty punches his way out of trouble. Dusty is amazing selling all this. Tully likes trying for the Slingshot Suplex and usually leads to a reverse. Here Tully floats over. Mid-ring collision on the cross-body block. Bionic Elbows by Dusty after each Elbow, he takes a rest in the corner. Tully charges High Knee to turnbuckles! Dusty Figure-4?!? Time? Tully goes for the eyes to avoid it. Fight over a backslide, Dusty wins that battle. Dusty atomic drop and Tully face first bump. The Dream is in control down the stretch. Dusty Sleeper. Tully makes the ropes. DUSTY HITS THE SLINGSHOT SUPLEX! 1-2-3! Tully gets his foot on the ropes too late! Crowd goes wild. JJ STEALS THE MONEY! THE COPS ARE FOLLOWING! THEY ARE ON THE TAKE! Young has called the match off erroneously! Dusty is chasing JJ and Tommy Young counts Dusty out! WHAT THE FUCK! Tommy Young must have thought that Tully had gotten his foot on the ropes in time. What a travesty of justice! This also leads to a Barbed Wire Ladder for $100,000 at Great American Bash. DUSTY WANTS HIS FUCKIN MONEY! DUSTY SWEARING UP A STORM! I LOVE IT! Holy Shit! They took a feud that was way past its expiration date and just reheated it and made it taste oh so good! Incredible! ****

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Robert Gibson - NWA Pro 5/16/87 This match was hyped up on Chad's excellent Carolina Dreamin' podcast so lets check it out, in order to save time, stream of consciousness style, jack: Bob Caudle on the call always warms my heart. The crowd loves them some Rock N Roll of course. TV Championship and Tully's $10,000 challenge. Tully wants Gibson to shake his hand. Gibson has seen this movie before and ducks the cheapshot. Atomic Drop and hiptoss. Blanchard powders. We are off to a red hot start. Knucklelock? Collar elbow tie up. Gibson evades the punch in the corner. Blanchard wrist control nope Gibson reverses takes him down with an arm bar. Crowd is wild for the Rock N Rolls. Gibson is one step ahead of Blanchard. You got to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on Gibson. Nice Hammerlock takedown by Gibson accentuated by the great sell of Tully as he was being taken down. Hammerlock/Half Nelson pin attempts. JJ messes with Gibson. Gibson gives chase. As Gibson chases JJ into the ring, Blanchard attacks in the ropes. Just a tease! Gibson dropkick! Tully powders again. We go to a break as the rout is on! It looks like we are going to have a new TV Champion and Tully is going to be $10k lighter, baby. Short knee by Tully. Kneelift again. Hiptoss by Gibson, dropkick. Tully needs to stop setting his opponent into motion when he starts to get an advantage. He should just be conservtative and take them down. It is his major flaw. Arm stretcher by Gibson, Tully rolls up on it, but Gibson reverses into a headscissors. Gibson working a clinic. Tully throws a knee again. Swinging neckbreaker not my favorite move but this could be the transition. THESZ PRESS! ROCK N ROLL! ROCK N ROLL! ROCK N ROLL! Sorry Jim Ross not on the call. Schoolboy but ref was messing with Morton. Come on Ricky stop beign a glory hog! Tully clobbers Robert with a punch. Knee/Shin across the nose. He hurls Gibson on the floor. Snake eyes on railing. Morton cant help himself and this affords JJ the opportunity to rake the eyes of Gibson. I would have liked a more emphatic transition to heat. Tully uses the tights to try to pin Gibson. Tully goes up top and somebody has been hanging out with Flair way too much at the Marriott as he gets press slammed off the top. Backslide...1-2-No! Wild swing and Back Suplex by Gibson but Gibson is selling the impact too as we go to commercial. ENZIGUIRI! IN 1986! Gibson is cooking. Tully Flair Flops. Tully gets the foot on the ropes. Gibson sleeper! They end up in the ropes. Small package by Gibson. Tully is looking Slingshot Suplex, but Gibson reverses it on Tully. Ref bump as Gibson biels Tully into him. Tully uses the tights to launch Gibson into the middle turnbuckle. Sunset Flip! Morton counts 1-2-3! Morton punches JJ and Gibson sends Tully over the top rope. I think that will be a DQ win for Tully. Flair is attacking Morton. I would love more matches between those two! The Horsemen double team, Top Rope Kneedrop by Flair and Figure-4 by Flair. Gibson saves with chair. I dont think this went anywhere as the Road Warriors, Garvins and Superpowers were their main adversaries. I dont think I was quite as high on this as Chad. I thought this was very entertaining but it did not stand out too strongly in the pack of action-oriented Crockett matches. I really liked all the gaga and the antics at the outset of the match. At the end of day, it was a heavy babyface match. Gibson looked great, I will give him that. This was a very Flair match but Tully doesnt quite have all the tools that Flair has. Plenty of great action from Gibson down the stretch and great feeding/bumping/stooging from Tully. ***3/4

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Barry Windham - WCW Sunday Edition 5/10/87 NWA was so hot that they had to go to another night! They have rekindled that Tully/Dusty feud now for the fourth time. It is officially getting old. The crux of the feud is money. Tully is bragging how he came from money and he is money. He dont care for the plight of the common man or any common man success stories. Dusty Rhodes is putting up Fifty Thousand Dollars of Common Man Money against Tully. Even if the feuds are recycled, Tully is in his prime. Windham spent the first third of the year as Flair's primary challenger. Flair is moving onto the Garvins, his promos have been great. Windham has been shunted back down. Stream of consciousness style, daddy: This is in the TV Studio and there is $10k of Tully's money on the line. Lock up to start and into the ropes. We get a beak and then Blanchard falling out of the ropes. BW armdrag and Tully powders. Barry has filled out at this point of his career. He is a tall drink of water, baby. Short knee by Tully and some European Uppercuts and now to the breadbasket, BW comes roaring back. Big punch and stomps him out of the ring. Pretty basic shine thus far. Solid. Tully shoves BW as he is incensed & humiliated. Firefight. Barry gets the better of it. Ten count punch. We go to a break. We come back and they are tussling on the mat. Tully throws a wild left showing his desperation. Knucklelock but Barry creams him with a punch. Dropkick. Tully knees him in the side to break up the pin interesting way to do that. Tully is starts to build momentum until he sets BW in motion and gets nailed with a reverse elbow. Lariat out of the corner. JJ distracts the ref for two. Windham catches a sleeper. Tully uses the hair and they tumble to the floor. Windham maintains the sleeper on the floor. This has been all Windham, baby. Back to commercial. We come back with Windham piston punches to Tully. Tony says it has been a see-saw battle. I dont know what match he has been watching. This has been all Windham. Tully uses the JJ's shoe and it only gets two! Wow! I bit on that nearfall hard. Tully nails the suplex. Standing elbow for two. Tully uses the tights to throw BW to the floor. Tully teases a piledriver on the floor, back drop out of it. BW Slugs Tully. Gutwrench suplex by Windham. Powerslam. 2. Barry is pouring it on. GO BARRY GO! Tully short knee and is thinking figure-4 but BW kicks off. Floatover suplex by the silky smooth Windham. Tony lets us know there is 1 minute to go! Dropkick, eyerake at 2 to break it up. I am like these physical break ups by Tully. They brawl on the outside as the bell rings as the time limit expired. Solid match. Nothing to really write home about. It was a very Crockett workrate, action-packed type match. Windham controls the majority and overcomes cheating, short heat segment and I liked that he poured it on as we went to the draw. ***1/4

Rock N Roll Express vs Horsemen (Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger) - JCP 4/3/87 I am not sure of the date we want to use. I believe this was shown on SuperBouts on the Superstation 5/30/87, but I dont know how to find the cards for that. Cagematch makes me believe this is when the match takes place. Please move and/or re-date to the appropriate place. Decided to skip ahead and check out 1987 because of all the Crockett years, it is the year I know the least about and the one I have seen the least footage. The Flair promo giving Precious the mink coat only for her to take the coat and return to kissing Gorgeous Jimmy is the best angle ever! Ric Flair was in his element! Just some of his best material ever! At this time, Ole has departed and Luger is in. Luger instantaneously presents such an interesting dynamic. Teaming with Flair, Blanchard or Double A is immediately interesting. Ragin' & Ravishin' are still World Tag Team Champs, I really should look into if they had any title defenses against the Road Warriors or anyone else because it is a forgotten run. Rock N Rolls would be awarded the belts after Rick Rude left for WWF. Stream of Consciousness style: JJ looks concerned for some reason. Rock N Roll Express are still over like rover baby. The Total Package is such a great moniker. Luger is a giant compared to everyone else. Rock n Roll chant to start as Gibson cheerleads from the apron. Blanchard short knee on the lockup but Morton counters with a dropkick, bump and powder. Morton gives chase immediately and punches Blanchard repeatedly. Firefight breaks out and Morton wins, Morton ten count in the punches. Dropkick! Luger coming off the apron feeds and bumps for Morton dropkick. Horsemen are in a disarray and they powder to break their rhythm. Tully & Gibson now. Tully short knee again, but Gibson grabs the sleeper as Tully calls for Luger. Double Sleeper! Nice crowd pleasing spot. Tully reaching out for a tag oh so close, ref didnt see it, and Rock N Rolls change as the ref blocks Luger. It is always fun when the faces throw this back in the heels face. It is ok because the Rock N Rolls have so much history with the Horsemen. You dont need to re-establish that in every match. We continue with the heel in peril, a second time the ref misses the tag to Luger. This is good role reversal. JJ is on commentary complaining about some home cookin' from the ref to appease the fans. Finally tags Luger only for Luger to eat an armdrag! Hilarious! It was a COLD tag! That's great! Luger is a great verbal seller. Luger kneelfit in the ropes. Gibson crossbody for two and armdrag. Rock N Rolls continue to mess with the Horsemen by switching without tagging behind the ref's back. Luger bullies in the corner but Luger charges and misses, eats buckles and another armdrag. So simple but so fun. Gibson comes in with a slingshot kneedrop on the arm. I will admit the arm bars could be tighter and more snug, but the whole messing with the Horsemen hook keeps this fun. Tully loses his cool and this leads to more Rock N Roll double teaming behind the ref's back. This is inverted Southern Style. Morton working the hammerlock. Luger is trying to make the tag desperately and finally makes it. Tully comes in and tries to clubber his way to victory, but Morton is rock n rolling with those rights! JJ pulls down the top rope as Morton tumbles over the top rope and crashed to the floor. Finally we are moving to the heat segment. Tully drives him hard into he apron. Tully clearly tags in front of the ref. Luger steps on Morton's throat. Luger reverse elbow. Luger shoots Morton in to make the Bearhug look cool. Luger looks amazing. Morton escapes the bearhug but Luger hurries over to tag Tully to keep the advantage as we go to break. Morton reverses a suplex on Tully as we come back from break. Double tag. Gibson dropkicks Luger! Punches Tully! Punch to the breadbasket by Luger, bodyslam on Luger, fist drop, 2 count. Morton schoolboy on Luger. Oklahoma Side Roll. JJ thinks there is only 2 minutes left. Morton's back gives out. Morton catches the knee. You know what they means. Double Figure-4! Crowd loves it! JJ rakes the eye of Morton to save Tully. Tully suplexes Morton, but takes a bad bump on it too. Small package by Morton, kick out. 30 seconds. Backslide by Morton, 2. Morton Top Rope Crossbody as the time limit expires. Double Dropkick on Tully to send the fans home happy! Not as good as the Anderson time limit draws. The gaga with cheating babyfaces flustering the Horsemen kept the double heel in peril entertaining. I wish we got to see more of Luger's offense. I actually like the fact that Rock N Rolls had more time to try to desperately win the match. I wish the Andersons matches had that. Yeah, not as much meat on the bone. ***1/2

Ole Anderson vs Ricky Morton - Worldwide 10/11/86 I am pretty excited for this match because I think their chemistry should be off the charts. Stream of consciousness style: Ole was still great in 1986 and he was 44 years old. So I understand retiring, but he worked a style perfect for being a middle aged curmudgeon. At this point, the RNRs have wrested the titles from MX. They start off red hot. Ole comes charging in for the lock up. Stone Cold always says you can tell how good a match is based off the opening lock-up, this should be a humdinger. Ole bullies him into the ropes. Big punches to the abdomen. Morton refuses just get to a knee. He tries to keep his left side away from Ole. He is trying to fight back and Ole is just bullying him. This is a firefight. The crowd is fucking frothing at the mouth for Ricky Morton. MORTON ROARS BACK! He attacks Ole's abdomen relentlessly. In the ropes, Ole palm strikes Morton. Nice sell and Morton retreats to cover up. Ole comes in to consolidate but Morton FIRES BACK! I like that Morton keeps overcoming The Rock Ole. We come back from commercial with Ole choking Morton on the middle rope. This is classic Ole. Just grinding. Big stomp to the injured face of Morton. Foot right on the face. Ole fires Morton face first into the buckle. Bodyslam and nice meaty standing elbow for 2. Ole is besides himself. Back into the buckles. Morton fires backs to the midsection and then to the head. I love that he is going head hunting. Ole is on jelly legs to one knee and finally Ole bumps for Morton! Morton is such a fantastic puncher. Ole is putting over Morton huge. He looks completely overwhelmed by Morton's excellent punches. Ole does a Valentine like Face First Timber Bump. Ole presses him off on the recover. Ole LUNGES at Morton and butts him in the abdomen! This is a WAR! Dripping with struggle. Big Double Axe Handle. Morton fires back. This crowd is insane for Morton. Dropkick! Big right to Ole. Morton caught him in the midsection with a punch when Ole tried the double axehandle. Morton is just pummeling him with punches. Ole keeps kicking at 1 because he is an asshole. Ole catches him in the face, HEADBUTT! This is so rugged. I wish we had more Ole Anderson. I think if we had Georgia Ole from late 70s/early 80s, he would be a Top 50 worker of all time. HIGH CROSSBODY TOPPLES OLE! Arn freaks out and attacks Morton to trigger the DQ. they attack. Double Team Gordbuster! Dusty comes to save. Arn is rubbing Morton's face into the concrete floor while Ole & Tully beat up Dusty. Magnum saves which has to be one of the last time we see Magnum. I would rank Ole vs Magnum still as the best Ole singles match but this was awesome. Ole made himself a Mountain for Morton to climb but when it come time he make Morton look like a million bucks. Morton has a terrific punch. ***3/4

Rock N Roll Express vs Ole & Arn Anderson - JCP Great American Bash 7/26/1986 I gotta say I thought this match was absolutely terrific. I think it is Top 5 Rock N Roll Express match of all time good. There were a couple things I liked about the previous Saturday Night match more. I thought they did the cutoffs of Morton's tags better. They really made it was at the last second they grabbed the ankle and prevented him from making the tag. I thought that really built the tension. Other than that, I thought this match either incorporated everything I liked about the last match or improved upon it. Like the last match, this is also a 20 minute draw. The first 11 minutes are pure shine, Good Golly Miss Molly, for a man who love shine, this was tremendous. Arn talks about a bunch of trash about breaking Morton's nose again only to fall face first on his nose and then get DDT'd where he sold his nose/face and powdered. They did the same spots the last match but I thought Arn's trash talk in this match built to it better. Morton slipping out of the ropes to avoid being in the Anderson corner popped me just like when Gibson did the match prior. They go right into the heel in peril. At first I was bummed they were working Arn's leg as Ole was the one with the hurt leg from the Dusty injury at the beginning of the year. Not to be disappointed it was double heel in peril. It was still awesome. I loved the standard Rock N Roll somersault leg snap into the punches and Ole tried to cut them off but they bumrushed him anyways. Ole is great in these matches. He is The Rock. He minimizes his bumps so that when he does take them they are so meaningful. The climax to the babyface shine is the Double Figure-4 which gets a massive pop. This is especially rich because I just came off listening to an Ole Anderson shoot interview where he is interviewed by Ricky Morton. It was pretty interesting. If you can get by Ole's cantankerous attitude and his failing memory, somebody needs to properly interview because Morton bless his heart is not the right guy, you do learn some stuff and Ole's Jim Barnett impression is hilarious. Ole complimented Rock N Roll Express, Arn Anderson, Buzz Sawyer, Sgt Slaughter and Don Kernodle of all people. Everyone one else was the shits or a dumbass. In the case of Ric Flair, both. It was so nice to see him forced to do a Ric Flair spot and hear the crowd pop. Take that, asshole. Ole grinds Gibson's face and rams his head into Arn's knee. Arn sells the knee because he was just in a Figure-4. Nice Arn gutbuster. They start to work the arm of Gibson, but they cannot consolidate for as long as they like because Gibson whacks Ole's bad leg repeatedly as here comes Morton with slams for everyone. In a fracas, Ole lunges headfirst and butts Morton in the abdomen. Ole STOMPS Morton right in the face. It is on, brutha. Excellent 8 minute heat segment where the Andersons TORTURE Morton and his injured face. I think why I like this more than Starrcade is they still had the face injury hook. Ole is just in his fucking element grinding Morton's face. At one point, he wraps a Camera lanyard around his nose and just yanks as hard as he can. Arn rakes his face across the top rope and smokes Gibson on the apron for good measure. They even work in their finish at the time which is a cool one. Ole hits a flying kneedrop from the middle rope on the arm as Arn holds a standing Morton. It looks brutal Morton gets a couple good hope spots, Morton attacking the injured leg of Ole, but Ole drop toeholding him, a crossbody from the top. The finish is Arn comes charging in and takes a great crotch bump into the turnbuckles. Gibson is red hot with only 30 seconds left, meeting of the minds! Sleeper by Gibson on Arn as the bell rings to signal a 20 minute draw. I think the one change I would make it shorten the shine by like 2-3 minutes. Give Morton a couple more hope spots/cutoffs and then two minutes of blistering Rock N Rock Express finish stretch where they desperately try to win. Other than that, this rocked! Consummate babyface tag team vs consummate heel tag team. For my money, their best match together. ****1/2

NWA World TV Champion Arn Anderson vs Dusty Rhodes - NWA Pro 9/13/86 Arn's TV Championship has taken a backseat since "The Rock" Ole Anderson has returned. Dusty lifting the belt off him makes sense as it gives Dusty a little heat back as he goes into another singles feud with Tully Blanchard. Arn is pretty much in full-time tag team with Ole feuding with RNRs so it makes sense in that way too. Stream of consciousness because it is just so much more efficient, baby: Arn and Dusty feuded at the beginning of the year and they had good chemistry. Big shouldertackle to start it off. Arn sells it so damn well. Arn comes in and Dusty bows up and Arn backpedals. I love Arn. Arn thrusts the shoulder in the ropes. Sunset flip nothing doing. Big punch and Arn powders. Great sell by him as the crowd gets on his case. Dusty Chants Ring Out! Single leg back heel trip by Dusty and it looks Dusty maybe going for an eye for an eye, a leg for a leg if you will! Arn sells the leg, hobbling on the outside. Arn grabs wrist control. Classic Anderson wrestling. Takes him down by the tights, arm bar. Dusty gets a vertical base, no struggle. Arn yanks him back down by the tights. We are going to a commercial break. When we come back, Double A has moved to working the leg. Dusty is really hollering, upping the selling. Surprisingly, Dusty goes to the eye to escape the toehold. Dusty is limping and Arn kicks out the leg. Spinning Toehold! Classic hold, love it. Solid heat segment. Dusty looks desperate chopping Arn's leg. Bionic Elbow and Figure-4! As he is going for the Figure-4, Dusty's knee gives out! Awesome spot! Arn back to the leg lace. Bionic Elbow in the leg lace, but not enough on it. Spinning Toehold but kicked off. Bionic Elbow. Dusty hurls him out and Arn is on the floor. Dusty slams him into the railing. The Dream needed something desperation. Kneedrop on the floor seems pretty dumb given his injury. Arn back to the leg in the ring. Arn comes off the middle rope and Dusty meets him with a clothesline...1...2...NO! Ref bump. Arn uses the time to get a chair. Misses the home run shot on the leg. DDT ON THE CHAIR! 1-2-3! Awesome finish! Arn carried this. Awesome selling during the shine, really entertained. The armbar stuff was not great. The leg work was top notch, plenty of great selling and hope spots. I thought the finish was awesome. Great way to fight fire with fire. ***1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes - NWA Pro 8/23/86 Flair had since regained the title from Dusty since dropping it in the Cage back in July. Dusty's reign was only 14 days and served just to serve as a way to pop the crowd and give him a victory over the Horsemen. His real arch-nemesis, Tully re-injured his leg in Kansas City the night before with a chair attack. This is a rematch for the World Championship. Stream of consciousness baby: Baby Doll is still with Dream and I dont think for a long. I think this is the heel turn match. Unfortunately, Baby Doll would be shipped to the freshly purchased Central States territory with lover, Sam Houston. I like Baby Doll and am sad to see her go. Bob Caudle on commentary, Oh Hell Yeah! The opening strut-off puts a smile a mile wide on my face! I love it! Big chops by Flair early but Dusty Press Slam, ground and pound, three Bionic Elbows and it is time for Dusty to Dusty. Dusty is not favoring the leg. Flair is so good at selling the straight right to the face. Flair powders as he is completely overwhelmed by this fast break offense. Flair tries to set Big Dust in motion, but he ends up on the losing end of a hiptoss in a criss cross. Strikes or in motion, Dusty has come to play today. Flair exhausting all other options, feigns a lock up and just kicks him right in the bad knee! Dusty has to powder. Baby Doll shows concern. Flair chops, but Dusty is a fist of fury. Bionic Elbow! Dusty had to keep movin' & groovin'. Standing elbow. Ref shove spot and Bionic Elbow. This thing has broken wide open. Flair dramatic powder. He sells the rout so well. Is there anyone who sells being routed so well? Dusty is looking for the ten punches in the corner. Lets see if we get the reverse atomic drop. Nope! Flip Flop Fly double punch...Flair Flop! Flair goes for the eyes and snapmare out of the corner. Flair rapid piston punches, but Dusty comes furiously back! Wow! Dusty lifts him a foot off the ground with an uppercut sending him over the top. Flair sells rout. He has gone for the eyes and the knee. Nothing doing. Lets see what else Flair has up his sleeve. Dusty playing "Red Light, Green Light" with the Bionic Elbow is the best. Flair sleeper! Dusty dives so Flair goes into turnbuckle. Press slam off the top! This as been a shellacking! Dusty Figure-4! Wow! This is all shine! Flair is getting his ass kicked from pillar to post. Fun match so far. Flair has been selling so well in this match. Dusty has turned up the charisma. We go to commercial break while in the Figure-4. We come back with Flair targeting the knee. As we were going to ads, I noticed Flair was punching Dusty's bad knee while in the Figure-4. Flair is Wooing and stomping the knee. Flair is in his element, Baby! Take him to school, Champ! Dusty kicks him off trying for the Figure-4. Big right uppercut sends Flair to the floor. Flair into the post and it is blade city, brutha. Dusty bites the cut. Ten count punches. Flair Flip. Suplex him in but Flair kicks out. Flair begs off. Clothesline out of the corner. Baby Doll puts Flair's foot on the bottom rope! Flair swipes at the knee while Dusty is incredulous at the actions of Baby Doll. Flair crashed down on the knee. Figure-4 by Flair! The announcers are selling that Flair is also shocked by Baby Doll and that this was not a conspiracy. I know she ends up doing promos with him. Baby Doll stops Dusty from turning over the Figure-4. Dusty is pissed. Chopblock! Ref bump on a Figure-4 kick off. Firefight. Dusty is swinging for the fences. Flair kicks the knee. Flair charges. Dusty clothesline! Cover, no ref! Baby Doll has a chair! Baby Doll swings for Dusty but misses and Baby Doll loses control of the chair. Dusty SNAPS~! He goes bezerk and is jabbing the chair into Flair's leg. An eye for an eye, a knee for a knee, Tully saves Flair and starts attacking Dusty's leg with the chair then the Risky Business Boys clear the ring. Baby Doll leaves with the Horsemen, it was clear they were always in cahoots. They pair Baby Doll almost exclusively with Flair like JJ was with Tully. It is just weird because Baby Doll was Tully's Perfect Ten first. Not as good as the Cage match which was an amazing Flair performance coupled with a fun Dusty shine and comeback/finish. Flair was awesome in the shine, selling the rout. Dusty was fun. The finish was a good angle but it didnt really go anywhere. It never drags but it never really gets to the next level. ***1/2

Rock N Roll Express vs Ole & Arn Anderson - JCP WCW 7/19/86 This was taped in front of an arena but sounds like it was shown in full on the 6:05 show on TBS. Doing this stream of consciousness style: The pop for Rock N Roll Express is IN-FUCKING-SANE! Wow there is over and then there is Rock N Roll Express OVER, brutha. Ricky is not wearing his protective mask but he is out for blood. Ole only returned about a month ago, but he is clicking with Arn immediately. These two are feuding over the No.1 Contendership to the Midnight Express' Championship. Andersons look to trap Gibson in the corner early but he slips through the ropes. Smart. Morton is in and he is looking to break Arn's nose. He drives Arn face first into the mat and then DDTs him but Arn sells his nose/face. Awesome. Arn is the best. Great sell. Powders. He tags out to The Rock, Ole. Ole is an ornery, mean bastard. I am looking forward to this. Morton fights his way out of the corner. Katie Bar The Door, A Pier-Six Brawl in a Brewin'! Ole plays pinball for the Rock N Rolls. Morton sells his hand because he threw so many punches. Ole grabs the wristlock and bullies him over to Arn. Tag out. Arn throws Gibson out. Ole throws Gibson into the railing and he comes up favoring the arm. Morton comes to check and it doesnt look good. Arn bars the arm as Gibson returns. ROCK N ROLL! ROCK N ROLL! ROCK N ROLL! Rings out! Arn torturing the arm. Gibson snapmare, but Arn scrambles and grabs the leg to prevent the tag. Great hope spot. Ole is working the arm we go to break. Arn is going for the hammerlock pin. Gibson scrambles through Arn's legs and tags out. Morton is house afire! Oh Hell Yeah! Punches for everyone! If your name is Anderson, he has a fist with your name on it. Missile Dropkick! Carolina is Cookin Tonight! Arn's bump is fuckin classic. I love it! Morton is not suffocating enough and lets the tag happen. Morton single leg pick on Ole and Morton elbows the injured leg of Ole (Ole was out for six months due to a broken leg courtesy of the American Dream). The classic Rock N Roll double team, forward somersault with the Ole's legs and then cream Arn on the apron. Love it! Heel in peril in the middle of the match interesting, but I dig. I like change ups like this. They are working Ole's leg like champs, usually this would take place in their shine. I like mixing it up. Rock N Roll Chants! As loud as ever even with them in control! Love it! RNRs even do a little cheating working Ole's leg. Even a great tag cutoff from Gibson. This is great. There is a Bunkhouse match between RNRs and Andersons they are hyping in early August, we gotta find it. BREAK IT Chants as Morton is working the leg, I love it! Morton gets too cocky and takes a swing at Arn and he takes his eye off the prize. Ole headbutts Morton. Here we go double face in peril baby! Ole holds Morton as Arn stomps Morton mercilessly. Morton DROP Toehold! What? Psyche! Double heel in peril segment! Oh shit they got me good! Morton tags in Gibson and he works Arn's leg tying him up in an Indian Deathlock. Wow! I cant believe they didnt go into a second heat segment. Nice swerve. Morton tags in and they switch on the Indian Deathlock. Arn hooting and hollering is great. We go to break. FUCK! We dont see the transition. We come back to Arn raking Morton's injured nose across the top rope. Arn is raking the face. This is merciless and I love it. Ole is stepping on Morton's face. KNEE DROP TO THE FACE! 1-2-NO! Morton CLAWS Arn's face to get out of a chinlock. Love Arn's bellowing in pain. Arn grabs the ankle to prevent the tag. Ole quashes that. Ole with a mean backbreaker. I really like Ole. KNEE RAKE ACROSS THE FACE! Rubbing the nose on the bottom rope. Ole is awesome. Palm strike to the nose. Ole is in his element. Ole tries the knucklelock pin I gotta say this is going a little too long. Rather him by grinding that face. Morton using repeated heabutts to get out makes it worth it. Morton is punching the hell out of Ole. Ole maneuvers him into their corner, blocks the tag and Arn is in. David Crockett says there is only 3 minutes left! TOP ROPE CROSS BODY! Here we go Ricky! Arn holds the leg and Ole s back in. Morton has momentum off the ropes, Crossbody for 1-2-NO! MORTON IS SPENT. Gibson is playing cheerleader. Arn prevents the tag again. Ole was going to come crashing down on Ricky but Gibson cant take it any longer he comes flying in and punches Ole has he comes off the ropes. Finish time. Melee ensues. Gibson is red-hot. The ref says Gibson is legal. That's weird. Gibson reverses the suplex on Arn. Wow! Gibson O'Connor Roll on Ole for 2. Gibson grabs a sleeper on Arn as the bell rings for the draw. Morton grabs a sleeper on Ole as the crowd goes wild. I LOVED THIS! Amazing work by all four. These four were made for each other, the consummate babyfaces vs consummate heels. The match is hurt because the transition to heat segment was during the ad break. I dont mind the Draw finish but I think it could have been a little hotter, Morton looked poised to hit a Missile Dropkick but no one saw him and they worked an O'Connor Roll instead. This was still terrific! Awesome! ****1/4

NWA US Champion Magnum TA vs Nikita Koloff - JCP Great American Bash Match #4 Best of 7 Series I thought this was the most acclaimed match of the Best of 7 series, but perhaps it is just the most widely available as this happened on the last show of the Great American Bash Tour 1986. Chad/Soup says Match #6 is the way to go and it looks like the grand finale is also available. This being pro wrestling of course the Russian Heel is up 3-Zip going into Match #4. I thought this was very ok. I cant say I am huge on either of these guys. I like Koloff's look and generally enjoy Soviet/Russians in wrestling, but usually he leaves me wanting more. Since this match is mostly heat segment and not shine. This is the case as Koloff is not really that compelling over a worker on top. He uses a lot of chinlocks, some ringpost shots, throw him out of the ring stuff. Magnum blades pretty hard for this as he is definitely a part of the Color Blind Pro Wrestler Union that believes red is green, baby. Magnum is very solid. He is not next level for me. Could he have gotten there? Definitely possible. He had the fundamentals and foundations but sadly we never to know. Too much reliance on blood to get this match over. Magnum kind of just took his licks. Sold fine but I would have liked him to be more active with peppering in some hope spots and showing some life. The transition to heat was pretty weak just some shoulders in the corner during a ref count and then Koloff just kinda clubbers. I would have liked a more emphatic transition. Magnum shows a little fire down the stretch but they go to a King of the Mountain spot. Magnum Sunset Flips in, Koloff sells the shock really well, Tommy Young kicks his hand off to and 1-2-3! Mags wins, Nikita kicked out at 3. Fine match, but not too much to it. Didnt see the big deal. Doesnt make me want to seek out the other two, but I probably will, but they have been de-prioritized.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes - GAB 1986 Steel Cage Doing this stream of consciousness style. I dont think Dusty should have won the title at Starrcade 1985 as that would be too soon, but I think there was a more optimal spot. Flair vs Dusty is something that could always be heated up at a moment's notice, but there had a lot of time since the feud was at its peak in the fall of 1985. Flair had moved onto Garvin & Morton; Dusty: Arn/Tully and the Midnight Express. The opening strut-off is why I love both these guys. Put a big smile to myself. Big Dust shine, looping punches and big Bionic Elbow to the crown of the head, Flair bumps for it and some verbal selling. Flair tries some stand up wrestling but Dusty shows his acumen reveeses the hammerlock into an armbar. Flair says fuck it and tries to throw him in the Cage. This is why I love Flair the shifting strategies. Dusty gets the boot up to prevent going into the cage. Test of strength goe Dusty way and he takes Flair down with the arm-wringer. Dusty takes control of the wrist. Good verbal selling from Flair as Dusty bars the arm. We get our first criss cross and Flair eats the Hip Toss. Flair tries to take it to strikes with a quick chop, but Dusty chops him down. Flair is besides himself. Flair is a genius. I love he tries to baffle his opponent by coming at so many angles. Flair gets his first in roads with a short knee but movement creates an opportunity for Big Dust, Press Slam and we get a little cocky Dusty. Dusty presses advantage in corner. Ref counts and here's the short knee. Dusty overcomes in the next criss cross with a Sleeper. Flair getting those heel hope spots teases but we are still shining. Flair is creating opportunities for himself and Dusty is overcoming. Dusty drops the standing elbow for two and bars the arm. Flair gets up to a vertical base throws him off. Flair catches him on a cross cross with a punch to the gut. Dusty is doubled over in a lot of pain. It is interesting it is Dusty NOT Flair that eats the steel first. This signifies Flair is desperate. He has had his ass kicked and now it is time to use his Environment to consolidate his advantage. Again Dusty goes into the cage, bleeding and Flair drops the signature knee. Flair rubs Dusty's face into the Cage. Grating it. I dont think I have ever seen this before. I think this is my favorite of their series. Dusty looks down and out. Flair is really in a groove here. Kneedrop on the injured leg! The Horsemen always have that to go back to. Stomp on the ankle. WOOOOOO! Flair is cruising as we get the ten minute time call. Flair comes crashing down with all his weight on Dusty's leg. Figure-4! Dusty bleeding, screaming and hollering! Flair looking fresh as a daisy, baby! Dusty digs down deep and REVERSES the pressure. Flair rakes Dusty's face across the top rope. I like that they stuck with the heat segment. Dusty showed life but needs to do more to come back. Dusty is kinda of a cold, dead fish in his heat segments. I would like to see more vivacity out of him. Dusty explodes with a clothesline off the ropes. Ok, I see you, Big Dust. Here comes the fire fight. Flair looks to escape but Dusty catches him and slams him head first into the corner of the cage! Flair tries to use the corner but Dusty overpowers him and hurls him into the cage. Dusty HURLS FLAIRS INTO TEH CGAE for the big poo. Dusty grates the bloody Flair across the Cage. Another Cage toss for good measure. Flair is the man! Dusty kicks the knee...Flair tries to escape, I think it is time for Moon over Miami! There it is but not as extreme as the Morton cage match from Japanese TV. Dusty headbutts at top of Cage and Flair crotches himself. Flair bloody begging off, looking for escape but he will find no quarter, no refuge inside the unforgiving Steel Cage! Dusty rams his head into the Cage more. Dusty punches the Cage and hurt his head! INTERESTING WRINKLE! I thought they were going him. Flair has life. So much for that, here's the Press Slam and Dusty applies the Figure-4! I could see this as the finish. Dusty has used the Figure-4 before to win. Dusty chopping Flair and wants the Bionic Elbow but Flair walks away to Flop is hilarious. They a clothesline/standing elbow. I love how Flair vacillates between Fight and Flight in Cage matches. It is so primal. BIG HOPE SPOT FOR FLAIR! Flair dives from the top rope and gets the crossbody! Very cool! Dusty is back on top. Flair goes for the slam...Inside Cradle...1-2-3! Big Pop! The American Dream did it! The American Dream Lives & Breathes in Every Single One of Us No Matter Color, Race of Creed! God Bless Dusty Rhodes! I love you, brutha. Legitimately a great match. Flair was phenomenal in this. Dusty could have been more active in his heat segment, but he brought the charisma & charm that only he can in the shine and finish. I love Dusty and so happy he got this moment. Not quite at the emotional level of Kerry winning the title for David in 1984, but still hits home, baby! Love you, Big Dust! ****

Road Warriors & Baby Doll vs Midnight Express & Jim Cornette - Great American Bash 7/26/86 Steel Cage I didn’t know this match existed and I don’t know if there was any build to this besides the Baby Doll vs Corny build at the time. Dusty was squaring off with Flair on this night and Mags was paired with Nikita. I really wanted the Dusty version of this match to be test but I was disappointed. Surprisingly I thought this match was better but still didn’t quite scratch that itch. Cornette cutting a promo at the beginning saying he wants Baby Doll one on one helped get the match off to a better start. I can’t tell if Baby Doll whiffed by accident or on purpose but they do Eaton arm drag spot again which I like. I thought the Road Warriors vs MX portion of the match was even better than the Mags vs MX portion. Really great shine, Animal Looked great especially that reverse leap frog. Some nice heel hope spots, Cornette gets in and misses the elbow drop and then high tails it out of there. I liked that and think they could have gone to that well a bit more. Hawk no selling Eaton’s rights as he was just tagging him was great. The heat segment on Animal was short but sweet. Eaton successfully hitting the knee drop off the top of the cage was insane but he needed to make it feel like a bigger deal. Eaton makes things look too easy sometimes. They do Animal catches Eaton coming down from top of cage. Katie Bar the Door, here I liked Baby Doll having to yank Cornette down from the Cage to avoid escaping that was better than the first match. Road Warriors spook Corny who turns around into a HUGE right by Baby Doll she really socked him that time. I still felt they left stuff on the table they could have used but this was still a lot of fun and a much better finish. ***3/4

America’s Team & Baby Doll vs Midnight Express & Jim Cornette - Great American Bash 1986 Steel Cage This is a feud I gotta go back and watch all the promos for. They must be epic. This speaks to the Eaton/Condrey version of the MX being a main event act feuding with the no. 1 babyface Dusty credibly as opposed to Eaton/Lane which were treated more as a work rate midcard act. This had serious hidden gem vibes at the beginning channeling the awesome MX vs Watts/JYD match from Mid-South but the abrupt finish leaves the viewer wanting more. I think they could have done a lot more with Cornette and Baby Doll. Their final showdown was not as dramatic as it could have been. Cornette creates a diversion by acting like he wants to give Baby Doll a go but Eaton charges and Baby Doll arm drags him. Dusty hurls him into cage and we are off to an auspicious start. The MX rule at shining faces and this is no different. It has been awhile since I watched Eaton and my God is his right hand pretty. Lots of great punches by everyone. Dusty is so much fun to watch I could used more of him too. Magnum takes most of the match. MX gets a couple false starts. They do the Cornette tags in, U-Turn spot which is always great. Eaton finally gets one in on Magnum and the heat segment starts. Strong not too long. Magnum catches Eaton coming off the top of the cage with a right. They do the Katie Bar The Door Pier-Six brawl finish. Baby Doll brings Cornette in the hard way he eats the Elbow and Baby Doll socks him for the win. On the outside Big Bubba Roger lays waste to Big Dust while MX hold the cage locked to prevent help. I think they left a lot on the table. Cornette gets a couple unfair spots in on Mags and Dust would have made the finish huge. I think you need the four men to clear out and have that Cornette/Baby Doll stand off. Crowd would have went wild for that brawl. Then have Dust and Mags pinball Cornette and Baby Doll finish him off. What we got was just not very satisfying. The MX vs Mags work was top notch I wanted more Gaga from the other three. ***1/4

Road Warriors vs Ivan & Nikita Koloff - Great American Bash 1986 Russian Chain Didn’t see the build for this. I feel like Uncle Ivan would have some good promos. This seems like a pretty natural pairing. Hawk/Nikita are a pretty boring duo and just do a bunch of aimless brawling. Ivan makes Animal interesting better selling and actually runs high spots. Ivan bleeds and sells well. Lots of whipping, choking and fists with chain. Ivan low blows Animal. Russians gets a bit of offense. Warriors come back. Finish is ref is bumped...Nikita takes off band and Sickles Animal! No ref! Uncle Ivan goes up top but Ellering shoves him off and crotches him. 1-2-3. This was pretty alright. ***

Tully Blanchard vs Ronnie Garvin - Great American Bash 1986 Taped Fist i don’t think this is for the National Heavyweight Championship as Garvin wins the match but there is no title change. I watched the build for this which occurs after the famous 5/3/86 Worldwide match that some consider the best match in JCP history but I think was a little too long in the tooth and all over the place. Blanchard knocked out Garvin using a Taped Fist (but I think he may had a foreign object too) when Garvin was wrestling Leo Burke. Tully really gloated about this saying Garvin said “No Mas” a popular reference at the time and that fans should be chanting “I Quit” at Garvin not him. This match is very similar to one that takes places at the end out of tour but with enough key differences that let me say I do significantly prefer the last one. I think the last one they really go all in on the heel shenanigans and chicanery. There’s a lot more Gaga. The finish is a really strong heel finish. There’s still plenty of Gaga at the beginning but Tully actually bloodies and takes over on Garvin for longer so it makes the Wahoo spot feel less fun and more necessary. Babyface interference in my opinion should be fun and make you smile but not be integral to the actual wrestling babyface taking the match. I didn’t like the finish here either. They do a double KO spot with Tully coming off the top rope and Garvin punching him as he comes crashing down. Then it is first to get to their feet wins. Tully is a chicken heel not a monster heel I thought this protected him too much and if Garvin was going to win with no title change just have him win. I think this finish would have better suited to have JJ hold Garvin down while Tully got back to his feet. Definitely a fun match still I just prefer the 7/26 match from the end of the tour. ***1/2

Rewatched this and enjoyed immensely more than the initial version of the bout which took place on 7/5 which I will review shortly. This is good Craic as the Irish would say! ****

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Hawk - Great American Bash 1986 I feel like I have seen this before, but maybe not. This is in Philadelphia and the first stop on the Great American Bash Tour 1986. The hook of the tour was that Flair was going to defend his title 14 times in 30 days. The lead up promos from Flair were perfect...he was an exemplary braggadocios sportsman. Flair was mostly focused on Ricky Morton who he had disfigured and was feuding over his status as a teenie bopper idol and of course Big Dust, but in addition he was throwing some jabs at Hawk. Saying he was going to stretch his neck out and he would be called Big Bird, I think he should have went Ostrich there but no one is perfect. Hawk tried to confront before a Flair Squash but the Horsemen at full strength (Ole is back!) jumped him and Animal. I do'nt think the gulf between Hawk and Animal is huge (I do think Hawk is better) but for some reason Hawk was the one that always got the singles opportunities like this. Reviewing as I watch to save time...I think they are at the Eagles stadium, JCP was hot in 1986! We got Tony/David on commentary. Lock-up traditional Flair big bump off the throw off. Get it again, Naitch! Big bump again! Hawk shoulder check him down. Flair powders. I love Flair. Hawk's power advantage established. Flair tries to crowd in the corner a normal strategy on the ref break...he throws the short knee...chops...Hawk unphased turns it around...Hawk slashing chops. Hawk clothesline. Flair evades a second one...big delayed vertical for the Champ...this is all to set up the EMPHATIC KICK OUT! AWESOME PRESSES HIM OFF! BIG PRESS SLAM FOR HAWK! Everything is to make Hawk look good. Loved them working that suplex/press off spot. That popped the crowd. Hawk worked the Butch Reed headlock holding on during push offs. Flair tries to turn into a top wristlock but Hawk is too strong. Ref checks Flair. Great psychology and really fun match so far. Hawk looks to finish Flair off having used the headlock well. He goes high risk. Middle rope flying clothesline but HAWK CRASHES & BURNS! Hawk powders! Big opening for Flair. Big chops by Flair on the floor. Here COMES THE NATURE BOY! WOOOOOO! Knee drop! Big kick out by Hawk. Flair working the corner like a champ. Back suplex by Flair that usually the prelude to the Figure-4. This is a compressed Flair match if I have ever seen one which is a great idea given the limitations of Hawk. Figure-4 gets great heat as Flair uses the ropes. Ref catches him and breaks the hold. Flair moves to the Sleeper another favorite spot. BIG CHOP TO THE CHEST! Flair goes up top and we have all seen this movie before! Hawk's press slam are super impressed because Flair is NOT getting a running start, Hawk is just pressing him from a standing position. Big nearfall for Hawk from a clothesline. Big reaction from crowd. Crowd pops for the Powerslam. Oh yes! Flair made a big deal of slapping Hawk because Hawk is such a tough guy it was supposed to be the ultimate sign of disrespect in the build to the match. So Hawk takes the time to SLAP Flair! That was Hawk's revenge because he was not going to win the match. That was your feel-good victory. Hawk wipes out the ref with a huge Shoulder Tackle. Hawk's punches look like shit. Flair Flip and goes up top. Hawk catches him, Argentine Backbreaker! Cover, no ref! Dusty Finish...PHILLY ERUPTS! I guess Hawk would have gotten over as a champion based on that. That was a massive pop. I hate Dusty Finishes, it such a dick move to the fan. Very fun Flair Formula for your basic power wrestler. Flair rules. ***1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Morton - JCP 7/11/86 Steel Cage. This is not my pick for the Greatest Match of All Time which happened on 7/5/86. I usually like to watch the match and then write my review from memory. However, given the amount of footage I want to watch before Greatest WCW match of All Time. Unfortunately, I will be reviewing this how I watch it, which I think does not lead to as cogent of a review as I will be rambling and finding my way to a conclusion. Lets do it! No helicopter tonight for Flair in the indoor Omni, but Morton has his facemask. As a recap, Flair disfigured Morton's face because he was jealous that girls were going wild for Morton and he felt he should have a monopoly on female affection. Headlock throw off. Common beginning spot in their matches. Morton rubs Flair's face in the mat as revenge for having his face rubbed in concrete. Flair begs off. Fists balled now. Lockup. Morton rakes Flair's face across the rope. Great Flair sell. Love the psychology. Flair is the Man at milking a moment and really making it big. Flair loves to use the corner. Besides Vader, no one uses the corner better. Flair pulls Morton's facemask off in the corner. He revels in the victory but the celebration is premature. Morton O'Connor Roll and retrieves the mask and punches Flair. He puts the mask back on. GREAT TEASE! I love that! Morton headlock. Morton ten count punches in the face and then NOSE RAKE...grabs the beak and punches it again. He yanks the big schnozz of Flair! This is killer! Smashes face into mat. Flair is so great at verbal selling and really inviting more pain. Short Knee by Flair. One of the key differences between 80s Flair and 90s Flair is the use of the short knee as something the babyfaces have to fight through. Hiptoss and big dropkick. Fight through Morton does! Morton is a gamer! Goes for the first cover and the back to the nose. Flair face first into the turnbuckle and then Flair Flop! Love Flair. Morton misses a standing elbow drop, first mistake. Morton backslide glad they didn't go into heat yet. Good tease again. Heel hope spots are another great thing about the 80s add to the tension. You know the heat segment is coming, but don't know when. They do the Flair firefight in the corner that is always a Sleeze Pleezer and Morton wins. Ground and pound. Flair has had enough! He goes to escape and Morton yanks down his trunks which pops the Japanese announcers to prevent him from escaping. Always a fun Flair spot. I think that's the closest we ever got to X-Rated with that spot too! That was close! Flair short knee...maybe low...big chop...Morton kinda dies....ahhhhhh it was not the heat segment...faked me out....Flair misses kneed drop and Morton Figure-4. Flair was still premature. Morton playing possum. Good shit. Morton does the 7/10 split. Flair's sell is so damn good. Flair punches the gut as he is on one knee. Big elbow by Flair, but still selling the knee. Floatover on the vertical suplex, Flair bucks him off on the O'Connor Roll...misses Elbow...Flair is getting so close. Morton sleeper. This is such a great extended shine. They are varying so much, Flair is selling SO BIG and plenty of hope spots that Morton is evading & fighting through. This is another classic. Morton decks him coming off the ropes. O'Connor Roll bumps the ref...ref in position...Flair reverses has the trunks...1-2-3! WOAH! The match was literally all shine! That's super cool and unique. I think more matches should end like this. Honestly I think that's a cool wrinkle reminds me of the Andersons vs RnRs from Starrcade 1986. Cant go higher than **** but this is cool.

NWA TV Champion Arn Anderson vs Ronnie Garvin - JCP 4/12/86 Probably too clipped up to rate as it is 13 minutes of 20 but the clipping of this handheld is all over the place. Garvin swarms Arn to start in the corner and is all over him. Arn powders. Our video cameraman is not a Horseman fan it sounds like. JCP crowds in 1986 are the best. Garvin grabs a top wristlock and they go bananas! Our cameraman informs us that "Arn is a big baby like Tully Blanchard". I love how Arn always puts over the Hands of Stone. Garvin cocks his fist and Arn drops down and powders. Awesome! Get a clip after a tussle over a top wristlock to the ten minute mark. It seems like the cut out mostly shine. I am a big fan of shine so that matters to me. Arn starts to target the leg of Garvin. They are in a long drawn out hold and based on our vantage point does not look too interesting. Garvin starts to fire back with big chops. Arn does the Flair Flop. Arn & Tully are less likely to go toe to toe with Garvin like Flair would and puts a damper on their matches with Garvin. I am a bit lower on the popular Garvin/Tully Worldwide match from May 1986, Tully does not wrestle strong enough in it in my opinion, still a great match but not as good as the high end Flair or Valentine work against Garvin. Garvin stomps the hands. Anderson returns the favor and begins to work the arm. Clip to Garvin taking a big bump. Arn slams the hand against the top turnbuckle which is great psychology. I do believe this plays into the May Worldwide match with Tully. Arn working the hand is the best thing so far in this match. Garvin is selling the hand well and Arn is positively torturing it. As the clock winds down to the time limit, I was like this is really weird. Arn is being so aggressive as a heel champion and the babyface challenger is on defense, but it works perfectly to the finish. The finish rules with about 15 seconds, Garvin rears back and KO's with Hands of Stone BUT he can't cover because he is in too much pain! Arn really sells being knocked out cold well! That was a ***** finish, I'd probably go ~**** overall but hard to say for sure.

Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes - JCP 4/26/86 Non Title Texas Death Match This is a handheld and I am pretty sure we are not missing much. Tully is definitely Dusty's best opponent. I think with Dusty you need someone who is really going to go all in and stooge and show ass and is not concerned about getting himself over or working his layout. The beginning of this match the rout is on. Dusty just wallops Tully repeatedly and runs up the score with three straight falls showing clearly he is The Man and that Tully is overwhelmed. The missed legsweep and Dusty cocking the Bionic Elbow. Tully's frustration and Dusty's cockiness is so perfect. It reminded me of the best Dusty match ever their Starrcade 1986 when Dusty plays "Red Light, Green Light" with his Bionic Elbow. Tully needs a timeout after losing three straight falls. I would say so. Here comes Tully...lunging at the gut of Dusty well that is a wide mark...sorry had to and he gets vicious on the outside. He uses JJ's shoe to inflict further damage and Dusty juices. One thing that I think keeps Tully from being as great as Flair in my mind is that Tully usually stooges, feed and bumps even more than Flair without ratcheting up the aggression when it comes time. This match sees Tully take more charge. Bully Tommy Young and really stay on Dusty and grind him. Tully gets a fall and there's a little drama whether Dusty will get up and he does. Dusty times his comeback well with some well-placed rights that find their mark. Tully retreats to the safety of the ropes & JJ. As JJ distracts, Tully gets JJ's show wallops Dusty with it. This garners Tully his second pinfall and there's even more drama if Dusty will make it to his feet. Tully is perched on the middle rope ready for Dusty as soon as he gets up and Tully comes crashing down on him. This time Dusty kicks out and here comes Big Dust! Strong punches followed up by swinging for the fences with his double axe-handles and then exploding out of a three point stance. I guess this combines his love of baseball, football and wrestling. This gets Dusty another three count. Clip here. Tully sweeps the leg and goes after Dusty's perennially injured leg. He yanks off Dusty's boot and beats his leg with it. Figure-4! This match rocks! Dusty is such a great seller and Tully has been really good on offense! Tommy Young calls the fall as Dusty gets up, he CLOBBERS Tully with the Cowboy Boot! They love shoe-related offense in this match. Tully stays on the injured leg, goes back to the Figure-4, inside cradle gets three for Dusty. Tully lunges right at Dusty love the reaction. They knock heads on the criss cross. Lame finish coming I can feel it. Dusty beats the ten count, but Tully cant. No title switch so title was not on the line. Finish was very 80s. The Cowboy Boot would have been a great finish. Rest of the match was killer. Check this out! ***3/4

NWA National Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Tully Blanchard - JCP WCW 3/8/86 Joined in Progress as Tony/David bring us the title switch from some house show footage with Flair on commentary. Tully vs Dusty was the big feud of the opening part of 1986. Tully is working the leg and Dusty is selling like a million bucks. This crowd is RABID for Dusty. Crockett crowds are just on fire at this time period. Dusty gets a couple hope spots but Tully snuffs them out. TULLY HITS THE SLINGSHOT SUPLEX!!!! 1-2-NO Hugh sigh of relief! Insane nearfall for the 80s. I dont know if I had ever seen Tully hit that move on a non-Jobber before. Here comes Dusty. The crowd loses their shit. We are talking he puts on a Sleeper and you would have thought everyone had won a million dollars they went bezerk. They do a more convoluted Savage/Tito finish which happened just a couple weeks prior. JJ throws in the knuckledusters as Dusty is attacking JJ. Tully actually misses and ends up outside. Flair puts the knuckledusters back on Tully. Then they do the exact same Savage/Tito finish to switch the National Title. Baby Doll is incensed and starts wailing on Flair. JJ yanks her down by the hair. She smacks him into next week. The Horsemen take Baby Doll down by the legs and hold her down so that Flair can hit the Bombs Away Kneedrop. This is fucking insane! Magnum/RnRs save. That was crazy and the way Baby Doll was resisting made it very uncomfortable. Very enjoyable match, great heel finish. One of the better Dusty matches, wish we had the whole thing. ***3/4

I dont know who pissed in my corn flakes, but this match is way better than ***, it is ***3/4. They built the Hands of Stone really well, with Arn powdering both times. Great tension and really puts over that move for when he faces Flair. Great combination of physicality and workrate which is what the Carolinas are known for. They are always moving but it is because they are always jockeying for a hold or an opening for a strike. Great stuff all around, one of the best TV matches. I still recommend Flair vs Jabroni. Kickass Flair offensive performance.

National Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Arn Anderson - JCP 2/23/86 Steel Cage Death Match Again this is filmed for Japanese TV and thus I was super confused what the rules were. Dusty takes the first fall at the end of the shine which totally caught me off guard. Then the match continued and I was like Oh it must 2 out of 3 falls. Then Dusty won 2-1 but the match kept going, I was like what the fuck. Then I was like maybe it is Death Match Rules but the ref has not been counting then Dusty Walloped him with Cowboy boot and got up before ten and the match was called. So I am pretty sure this is contested under Death Match rules. I thought the beginning of this ruled hard. Arn is just the perfect big bumping stooge heel for the ultra-charismatic Dusty Rhodes to work. Dusty kicks ass then Arn punches the cage by accident and then looks for a way out. Good stuff. We get the whole work the leg for revenge. Then he just hurls Arn into the cage a bunch, he juices. Bionic Elbow 1-2-3! You will be hard pressed to find a better shine. Good craic. Dusty presses the advantage. Arn gets a hold of some knuckledusters probably from the bloody Flair who is ringside. Arn ties it 1-1. Arn works the leg in grand fashion! Flair is celebrating, gets on the house mic to talk trash twice including letting Baby Doll know she will not be riding Space Mountain. Great selling and work here. I LOVED Dusty's fire up. DOUBLE BIRD! BIONIC ELBOW! OH HELL YEAH! Arn cuts it back off. The finish peters out. Arn goes for the Figure-4 inside cradle for three. Dusty Cowboy Boot and Arn is knocked out. I thought this was killer up until the finish where there was no energy. Horsement try to break his leg again but are run off. ***1/2