peachchaos

The heel team would actually not be a bad faction at all if they had hung together until Heenan came to New York. First couple minutes are very strong with the heels making the crowd pop huge for the Samoans as faces. It's all for not as one of the ring ropes breaks pretty quickly and we're left with a trainwreck not even Murdoch can salvage. For a minute there it seems like the whole ring is coming down but they keep working. To their credit, Adonis and Murdoch adapt on the spot and cut the ring in half to do arm work. It's not quite the clusterfuck it could have been and the heels even use the broken ropes to their advantage. The faces finally get a tag and decide to just say fuck it and everyone comes in to distract the ref and eventually Studd gets a cover. Not very coherent besides some typical Adonis/Murdoch goodness, but the Samoans were very over and could have been highly effective in this role. *1/4

aired live on PRISM Network; TNT - 8/21/84 Guest referee Freddie Blassie is your tell here. Tito is currently Intercontinental Champion and very over with the Philly crowd. Some good stuff here from the heels as Blassie actually plays it fair and prevents Sheik from using a closed fist, only to piss Sheik off in the process as he throws a hissy fit. The contrast between Tito's lightning fast rope run and crossbody segment with Blassie's slowcount is fun too. More good shine action and another slow count. Sheik's normal boot stomps during the heat segment but Tito's selling and hope spots are always top notch. Now Blassie of course works a fastcount on Sheik's offense. Sheik loads the boot and Blassie looks the other way. Santana rolls up Sheik and another ref comes in and bypasses Blassie for the count. Fun stuff. **

A vast improvement from their MSG match the previous month and easily one of the best Hogan title defenses so far. We know Valentine is competent enough to go but what makes this good is Hogan actually gives him quite a bit of offense and let's him cut off the first hulk-up. There's a decent amount of legwork building toward a figure four that never gets applied before the lariat/legdrop hits the mark. ***

Video Before the match, we go backstage to what feels like must be the first instance of a black limousine pulling up to a wrestling arena. If only Shiavone had somehow been on Vince's radar at this point this would feel just like Nitro. From inside the limo comes Cindy Lauper and David Wolf, followed by the Freebirds as Skynyrd starts playing to a big pop. And sure enough, we even get the Goldberg entrance as the camera follow NWO Stars and Bars and their MTV entourage all the way to the ring. Thoughtfully, the Birds are decked out in their shiny Green Bay Packers-colored robes instead of the Rebel gear they're known to sport. They get a good pop despite not being on WWF TV much and being off WTBS for a few years. This is a fine debut and showcase. Gordy's stuff looks solid and the crowd eats up Michael Hayes like cupcakes. The job squad tries to all come at Gordy at once and then everyone gets involved before Gordy hits a sick powerbomb driver on Fulton and drops him right on his neck. Gorilla did his best and called it an "upside down bearhug drop". Then Lauper comes in to celebrate with her mark manager and the crowd pops big for the whole thing. This is cool. A special moment way ahead of it's time, during an eventful and exiting period of change for pro wrestling. Not unlike something from Monday nights in the 90's at all in several ways. It's so strange that it didn't work out for The Freebirds in this run and interesting to see them come in for their one-shot on the same night Backlund takes a walk. Vince made some important decisions around this time. Some genius and some stinkers. I think leaving the Fabulous Freebirds floating in the toilet is a stinker. He should've flushed them down the world's throat and made millions of dollars with Michael Hayes on MTV. Another good example of why the wrestling war he started in 1984 lasted until 2001. It should have been over from the start. Cool segment.

"The Battle of the Behemoths" This is one of those PWO challenges where these guys wrestled so many times that there had to be at least one of them that doesn't stink, right? The best work I've seen from Studd is on the Garbage Tapes and those are usually partial clips. This is hardly worked as the title in quotes above from the ring announcer would suggest. Instead, Studd stays outside the ring and plays chickenshit a lot only to come back in for chin locks and front face locks and not much else from Andre. They run that same basic sequence three times but it does result in a decent chop fest when Studd does finally come at Andre with blows. Studd blocks the slam by grabbing the top rope and takes over with more big fists. Andre hits a huge knee lift and goes for another slam but Studd takes a walk. Better luck next time.

Worth watching as a historical document and a social study on wrestling audiences. The Philly sports crowd is infamous of course, but Backlund had his detractors in every market by this point. It's not a majority of the fanbase in any sense, but a vocal minority at times is palpable. At this stage in the game, though, with Bob long since associated with the strap and working opening spots in face-vs-face exhibitions, it just comes off as fickle behavior from spoiled fans. Bellomo keeps up around on the mat with Backlund and they do some entertaining work, almost lucha comedy stuff, with both guys trying to out-nice the other. The action is therefore very tenuous since there won't be any level of violence, which draws boring chants from some of the audience. Heckling, I'd say. None of the action is outright terrible and a good deal of the crowd is into this, whether they're for or against Bob, they get into the match well enough for it not to overstay it's welcome. Bob wins with a bridge. *3/4 And he goes out not with a bang, but with a hug as he and Bellomo embrace out of respect. Bob gets on the mic and says he's "ready to get that belt back any time", which is a real downer to go out on if not for the fact that he does actually get the belt back...in time.

Nothing to this, goes a few minutes and Lothario squashes Budrow with the supersock punch. But it is always cool seeing Jose punch a dude out. Landell sells it like a man, of course. The Guerrerros jump Jose afterwards and Buddy gets a few shots in there as retribution. Enjoying this latin pop explosion '84 feud here.

"I doubt that you've even seen anything like this. This is just absolutely mankind at it's worst. Mankind at it's most vicious. Mankind at it's most dangerous." - Bill Mercer We're roughly 9 minutes into a Wild Bill Irwin vs. Mike Von Erich match that wasn't half bad to be honest. Mike had just hit a huge knee to Irwin's face as he was coming off the ropes for a two count when David Manning entered the ring to talk to the referee. Really nice moment of mystique here as announcer Bill Mercer wonders what's going on as the officials separate the wrestlers and start the match. Manning gets on the mic and tells the crowd they have to pause this match until the next match is over because Terry Gordy and Killer Khan had a fight in the back and if they don't wrestle now the match will never happen! Crowd goes apeshit. Irwin protests but Manning threatens to disqualify him and throw the match out completely. That popped the crowd even more and now the whole place is in a constant frenzy. The Freebirds come out and Gordy is already wearing a crimson mask and jacked up. Maybe the most intense energy I've seen from him and Hayes slapping him around to get him even more psyched out is a nice touch. Jesus, the girls in the crowd even lose their shit for Killer fucking Khan's entrance. This is heat. Immediately they claw at each other with punches, chops, slaps, eye gouges. Khan's bleeding from behind the ear as he bites the cut on Gordy's forehead. Not to be outdone, Gordy smells blood and goes right for that ear with closed strikes before closing in and locking up so he can get close enough to do some biting of his own. Viscous struggle for control in the corner. Fight-for-your-life stuff. No technique to any of this stuff, they're just throwing bombs and hoping they connect. Nasty kicks and punches. Gordy focuses back on the ear with his strikes. He gets a bigfoot off the ropes but neither guy can gain control. This is outta control. More biting and hair-pulling. Akbar and Hayes come in and the others jump the ring for a riot brawl. Huge pop when Hayes finally gets his hands on Akbar. By now the entire roster is out for the fight. This is some Bash '89 goodness in terms of postmatch brawling. Hayes comes in with a non folding wooden chair and after all that Bronco Lubich has disqualified and thrown the whole thing out. *** Great angle to set up the Texas Death Match a few months later and get the entire roster involved. Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer must have loved this segment.

'MEAN' GENE OKERLUND COLLECTION GENE-O-MANIA RUNS WILD | AUGUST 26, 1984 Despite being the voice of WWE, Mean Gene Okerlund gets in shape to team with Hulk Hogan against Mr. Fuji and George 'The Animal' Steele. TV-PG This is on the network along with the incredible video package where Hogan trains Gene to get him into shape for the match. Famously parodied in the Attitude Era during the build to the 1999 Rumble, with Shane in the Hogan role and Vince as Gene. Except here in the wholesome original, Hogan drinks the raw eggs along with Okerlund. The match is a great deal of fun too, with these impossibly old heels not standing a chance against Hogan regardless of who is on the other end of the tag rope. So Hulk makes light of the situation and the crowd eats up every bit of Gene's participation. Probably the night of his life, even if it looked like Hogan was going to break his back when he dropped him for the double team finish. **

With it being almost five years removed from Bryan-Triple H, I think I'm honing in on the fact that it's my favorite modern match. The face/heel dynamics, the picture-perfect storyline heading in, combined with flawless execution of a technical masterpiece all leading into a universally feel good moment make it hard to beat for me. Seriously, the crossface chickenwing? Cena-Punk MITB has the WMVII feel good finish to it too, but Punk's journey just doesn't have the weight for me personally. Would have been amazing if he had just left wrestling at that point. Bryan at 30 is the closest I've seen to Terry Funk in All Japan in terms of emotional investment that connects with me. So many other great matches from this decade though. Crazy to think of what's in store for us in 2019.

Finally...this has been added to The Network. Rey works smart like a territory era veteran and moves like a spring chicken. Andrade is as proficient a worker in terms of execution as they come, so this is a perfect fit. The headlock sequence at the start is easily one of the best in company history. It's not even just an entertaining struggle for control, it's a sequence of innovation and creative expression. Once a viable and viscous finisher, the headlock became relegated to rest hold status as the style of worked combat evolved. It's usually a meaningless time-filler in the lull of a match before a cut-off and comeback. But Rey Mysterio approaches rainy days like he's the Cat in the Hat. From there, the matwork builds to some big high risk spots that foreshadow a big finishing run that we don't get to see due to some good heel tactics. They move so fluent and fast that it's easy to miss some of the bombs they drop and carefully placed strikes from Andrade. Roller coaster ride with substance and a good n dirty heel finish to draw me into the rematch. ****

For all the rightful negativity towards current WWE booking, here is a well laid out and totally competent hour of wrestling. Every segment here has a place and a purpose and serves to advance the story as a whole moving into the Network special. Quality varies drastically in terms of the participants, but again the solid booking serves its purpose and this is worked to highlight each player's strengths as much as possible. Unfortunately Kofi can't be helped, his offense will always look soft with pantomime selling. It's the style of work only Cena somehow transcends, amazingly enough. The good news is Kofi came to the campfire with 3 all-timers in Bryan, Joe, and Styles. Realistically in terms of consistency and output, Orton's not terribly far off. Even the Hardy showcase was brief, leaving plenty of time for the masters to turn the coal into crystal. Easy thumbs up all around. ***1/2

Hulk Hogan defends the WWF World Title -- aired on Japanese TV - 1/4/85; Prime Time Wrestling - 2/19/85 full version available on WWE's Top 50 Superstars of All Time DVD Oh, what a difference a year makes. This match comes almost to the date of the anniversary of Sheik's screwjob title win, the angle that served as the creative catalyst for the decade. Only twelve months later, this resembles a different promotion. Howdy Doody is out; Hulkamania is in. The Three Wise Men are being outshined by Roddy Piper and Bobby Heenan. And Vince McMahon is going to put wrestling on the Moon. One thing I don't think Vince ever considered is just how over Sheik would get, not just as a result of the title change but in terms of the character as a commodity. Fans hated the man and flocked to arenas to see him get his ass kicked, whether is was by Hogan or Slaughter. Even decades later, people remember The Iron Sheik as WWF Champion. Maybe I'm reaching here, but I think Vince left some money on the table with the Sheik in 1984. But unfortunately, for Cos to garner Main Event heat again, he would have to get the strap back for a short time and that wasn't ever going to happen. So here we have Sheik's final MSG as a headliner. Interesting to note this is one of those rare occasions where the main event actually closed the show due to the Piper-Lauper angle earlier in the event which set up WrestleMania. Sheik interrupts Howard Finkle's introduction to get on the house mic and declare that Cindy Lauper got what she deserved. Amazing. Similar to the January match, but this time Sheik tries to jump the bell only to get bodyslammed as they both still have their entrance gear on. A lariat knocks Sheik's robe off and Hulk shreds and sheds. Backdrop driver. Big suplex. A pair of elbow drops from Hogan. Hulk bends for a backdrop but gets kicked with the pointed boot. Trademark release gut-wrench suplex from Sheik. Kicks to the back enable the Hulk-up. Powerslam. Legdrop. Pin. *1/2 Total squash as to be expected. Which is sad, there's no reason Hogan couldn't give more to the Sheik and work towards an epic brawl. Sheik moved onto JTTS and relegated to tag roles for the rest of his career. I'm not saying he deserved more, but there was a time and a place where fans reacted to him as the Darth Vader of wrestling. Vince would try that exact formula many times but never quite as effective.

aired on All American Wrestling - 1/13/85; Japanese TV - 1/4/85 available on CHV Best of the WWF Vol. 1 Never read much about this one so let's give it a shot. This takes place after intermission on a very stacked card, the final MSG show of 1984. Needless to say it's been a hell of a year for WWF and not just in terms of mainstream attention and national expansion. This is comfortably the best in-ring work we'll see out of New York for 15 years. Unfortunately this is mainly due to a handful of guys who won't stick around long enough for the WrestleMania payday (Murdoch, Slaughter) and an insanely over heel gimmick that ran it's course (Iron Sheik). Another big highlight of not just '84, but the early years of the decade as well, is the talent sharing between WWF and NJPW. This match, along with Inoki's performance on the same show, represent the end of that exchange in terms of Japanese talent working the Garden. Under the masks are Mark Rocco from England as Black Tiger and George Takano from Japan as The Cobra. Both guys mainly worked New Japan at this point, with Takano spending the Summer in Calgary, usually working the Bulldogs and making for an extremely fun 1984. The first noticeable thing is just how spectacular their ring attire looks compared to the usual one-tone trunks and boots to which the NYC was accustom. Both outfits shine and shimmer and the masks look incredibly detailed. They resemble comic book superheroes so closely it's hard not to picture every kid in the audience losing their shit. Very fast tie up to start and into arm-ringers and roll-throughs. Tiger focuses on an armbar but sends him to the ropes for a lariat and follows with a somersault senton. A lot of headlocks and holds as the gather and figure out the next spot. It is what is it. Nice back body drop as the Cobra takes control. Back body drop followed by a Saito suplex. Reverse crusifix pin attempt gets 2. Cool kip up from Tiger out of the headscissors. Cobra lifts Tiger on his shoulders for what seems to be an airplane spin, but instead we get a Roderick Strong-style gut buster! Boston crab doesn't work and Cobra mods it into a surfboard that's too close to the ropes. Dropkick takes Black Tiger outside the ring and Cobra throws him from the top rope back as he tried to climb back in. Another kip up from Tiger, this time off a lariat bump. Swinging neckbreaker gets 2. Cobra hits a nice spinning leg lariat. Clip to a suicide dive. Nice use of the MSG aisle. Huge brainbuster suplex doesn't go home. Black Tiger hits a tombstone but doesn't get it completely so he tries again but the Cobra reverses for his own tombstone. Top rope senton bomb! 1-2-3! Crowd was really into this, but without any heel-face dynamics, they transformed into a modern indie audience, only popping for the high spots. If these were company guys and one of them goes heel with Blassie as his mouthpiece, I think there could be a pretty strong program here. There was nothing there to this match, though. No heat or struggle, just an exhibition of moves which can sometimes be the perfect thing. As a post intermission warm-up for the Piper-Snuka tag that followed, this was highly enjoyable popcorn rasslin'. **3/4

We also have clips from 7/26, 9/1, 9/24, and 12/20 and tags with Flair & Mosco vs. Valentine & Sheiky baby from 8/17 & 9/6 if anyone needs more Dream Team Implodes in their life.

These are all solid nominations. I would add the Rhodes Family vs. The Shield from Battleground 2013, The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Ryback TLC, Bryan-Lesnar, and Punk-Cena from RAW. The Ronda Rousey debut at Mania is somewhere in the mix too.

I think they will, Brian was just blocked from even posting them for awhile there. All the clips on the Arcadian Vanguard channel are still out there.

no, but I bet he worked Jack Brisco

Well now this is a horse of a different color. Not sure if the first clip is out there at all, but the broadway is a stone cold classic. Marty's 5 star review

I'll take all the Lou Thesz we can get, but I really hope they're sitting on a stash of Dory-Jack title matches ready to drop one of these weeks.

To be fair, the Bugenhagen gimmick is designed to fail.There's zero mileage for something like this after the first few appearances. So of course WWE will move it to main and shove it down our throats until we hate it. I partially agree with Dream. Something hasn't clicked quite yet with the gimmick, but I think it will and when it does it will stick. If they sent him up today, he'd never find it and would get washed away pretty quickly.