elliott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5LKear9iLs That's one I really like. Honestly I thought Starr was one of the real revelations on a set full of revelations. I found he consistently delivered whenever he popped up on the PR set. The Invader 1 match is the masterpiece, but I think Starr always looks sharp. Check him out in Portland & NJPW as well. I think a Ron Starr deep dive would prove really worthwhile. He's an excellent wrestler.

Its really interesting because the other big thing happening in 1977 WWWF was Patera's first run. Patera's first big rival when he broke into wrestling was against Superstar Graham. You can really see the Graham had on Patera's working style. . Patera isn't the over the top character that Graham is, but then Graham isn't the Olympic level athlete that Patera is.

@Grimmas mentioned that wrestlers who haven't been mentioned since the 2016 project are no longer candidates until they are commented on again. So I wanted to get this out of the way. I also thought it'd be funny to tag Grimmas and it be in the Superstar Graham thread. Superstar Graham is a viable top 100 candidate based on his 70s work. I haven't revisited his 80s work yet and I'm not expecting too much to be honest, but I wasn't expecting much out of his 70s work based on what I'd heard. It turns out I think he looks excellent based on his 70s work. I've mentioned elsewhere how much I enjoy stooging strongman wrestlers and Graham is an excellent example of this style of wrestler. Based on his reputation I didn't expect much of him but he kept popping up when I was looking at Bruno and Graham kept looking good. He's not going to be for everyone. He'll surprise you with quick flurries, a big bump or he'll come off the top rope. But with Graham you're going to get Bearhugs, Full Nelsons, things like that. Powerhouse submissions that are milked and played up big. Graham straddles the line between Strongman and Stooge incredibly well. He manages to keep his strong man credibility while infuriating the crowd by cheating & gloating but then he also puts the babyface over completely and totally. He will bump, beg off, get caught up in the ropes, he has no issue looking like a complete fool. Its great stuff. I wish we had more footage from his prime becasue he's a very compelling wrestler. He's got great stuff before and after but it looks like his case really hinges on his 76-78. In particular Graham's 1977 is a major year with the Bruno feud, the Dusty Feud, and other shockingly good matches with longtime WWWF mainstays Ivan Putski & Gorilla Monsoon. The Backlund matches in 78 are great as well. There's plenty to check out, but for me that Bruno feud was just like sent from heaven or something. Great stuff.

6 Month check in for Stock Rising/Falling. Stock Rising: Bruno, Bruno, Bruno and more Bruno - I've watched basically all of the available Bruno Sammartino on tape and I'd say he's a top 50 lock and closer to the top 20 than to 50. An awesome Ace and then his post-prime run is great too. Great selling, tremendous comebacks. Some of the best feuds of all time vs Graham, Patera, Larry Z and later Piper & Savage. Stooging Strongman - This is a category of wrestler I've come to love. Guys who are bodybuilder/weight lifter types who do lots of flexing and posing but then when the babyface makes a comeback they stooge around, beg off and make themselves look as foolish as possible but then are able to maintain enough credibility that if they snatch you in a bear hug or a full nelson, its a devastating move...but then if they need to they'll just choke someone out or use a foreign object or run off to the back to avoid any paybacks. . Austin Idol, Superstar Graham, and Ken Patera are the masters of this. Shinjiro Ohtani - I've watched the first couple of years of Zero-1 and Ohtani is absolutely fantastic working with a variety of opponents and looking good against everyone. I've always thought he was the best Junior after Liger from his generation, but it looks like his transition to being a heavyweight is better than I initially remembered at the time and now its become a case of "When does this guy fall off because its not before 2002?" Some Juniors Heavyweights - Two guys I've looked at and really enjoyed and want to make a spot for on my final list are Masao Orihara and Mens Teioh. Orihara is a case of a guy with really great variety. He is an awesome underdog getting smashed against bigger guys, he's an awesome intense prick pushing babyfaces around. He has a juniors Greatest Match Ever candidate with baby Ohtani. Great flyer. Great brawler. Can sell and do traditional style old school tag matches based around limbwork & cutting the ring off. Really someone who could do anything. Teioh is like a dream come true. THis guy is an amazing throwback with a million neat tricks thrown into very diverse settings like the M-Pro 10 man tags or later insane death matches. Works as well with Katsumi Usuda as he does with Winger. The list of junior heavyweights from his generation I'd put ahead of him is really small. Stock Falling: I'm keeping this positive.

Hi! Its been a year. I had to re-read all of the threads to know what was happening! LOLOL I had to check what was said because I had no idea because its been a year. You said: The line was "access to the best opponents." I was just pointing out that Hogan's opponents weren't always the best. Sometimes he'd be out there with Nick Bockwinkel or a Randy Savage, other times he was in the ring with a Nikolai Volkoff or a Big John Studd. "Access to the best opponents" doesn't at all read like good oppoents were heated up for him in important events seen by many. It just read like "Access to the best opponents." But I've seen enough Volkoff & Studd to know that there's no amount of heating up possible that makes those guys good opponents for anyone. But I don't see what the problem is? The job of a wrestling promoter is to heat wrestlers up and pit them against each other to draw money. Lots of people got to work in heated up programs against hot opponents. We can point to a million hot programs over the years. We can point to people who delivered when given those opportunities and we can point to people who didn't. The performance is what matters You did list many other items but I wasn't sure how to respond to some of them or the point of others or something. I dunno its from a year ago. I'll hit them now though if you like. Total career value - Not sure what you mean by this. I'm just watching the matches and performances and seeing if they're good or bad. Drawing power - Not something I care about I haven' t looked at one card and said "ah, sellout, great!" Terry FUnk is my #1 and he was the worst drawing NWA champ of his era. I still love the crazy bastard and no one's taking that #1 spot. "Pops." I don't even know what to say to that. Wrestling is a form of performance art that engages its live audience. Reactions are the point? Who is responsible for those pops? Booking, I don't care about booking. I probably am the most forgiving person possible of a shitty rip off finish. I don't care who wins or who loses or where you are on the card. Was the match good? Were the performances good? Big moment opportunities - "Big moment opportunites" are important only in the sense of are you delivering or aren't you. Not everyone gets big opportunities. Not all careers are equal. Mic work - I'm literally not watching any promos. The last promo I watched was a Matt Borne as Doink promo like over a year ago. I couldn't possibly be a more wrong person to suggest I place any value on promos. I fast forward that. I'm just watching the matches. The only time I'll ever get excited about promo's is Andy Kaufman but I'm not considering his promo's as part of his case. Storylines - See above. I just watch the matches. Access to the best opponents - we covered that. Marketing - Don't care. When I watched Hogan vs Kamala at MSG and thought it was a really good match, I didn't listen to the local radio spots beforehand or buy any Hulkster shirts. I watched the match 30+ years later and thought "that was a really good match" On your first point, we agree. . Its about making the most of your opportunities and delivering with the opportunities you're given. I've said several times throughout this project that i find it impossible to have a set in stone criteria becasue not all wrestlers have the same opportunities so you have to look at what each wrestler did and consider it on its on terms. I What I would do is watch a bunch of Rip Rogers or John Tatums, think about what they do and don't t do well, highlight performances I like and go from there. On your 2nd point we agree & disagree. Hogan's unique look definitely plays a huge role in him getting over everywhere. Absolutely. Nobody would deny that. The look is part of the total package. The fact that he was able to stay over for so long was because he delivered. If Hogan's performance & skills didn't matter, they could've easily just replicated Hogan's drawing power & appeal with Ultimate Warrior. Lord knows they tried. Warrior couldn't hold up his end of the bargain. Anecdotally, all of my friends in high school who were those Attitude Era teenage fans, they all quit watching in 2002-03 when it became all about HHH. HHH wasn't delivering with his wealth of opportunities because HHH stunk Getting the opportunity isn't whats important, its what you do with it. I grew up with him and watched all his matches on video. I loved him as a young kid but hated him as a teenager. I thought he was slow and old and was an asshole holding down my favorites like Juventud or Rey Misterio. I wanted to watch this new stuff I was learning about like MIchinoku Pro or All Japan. I've only come around on Hogan somewhat recently and see him as a great wrestler. Things Hogan is good at like structuring his matches, psychology, selling, engaging with the live crowd are some of the things I value most in wrestling at this point. Jim Londos isn't someone I'm considering for the project becasue we don't have the matches to see how good he was. Jimmy Londos is #1 in a different project. Not this one. I don't know who you are, you're responding to a post from a year ago, I have hardly posted here lately and so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it and know that I completely forgot about this discussion from last year? If you've followed on the discord then you'll know what when I watch matches I often provide commentary and screen shots on things I like. You won't see me talking about how much the show drew though or the cool interview because I don't care for the sake of this project. I'm just watching the matches and performances and seeing if they're good or not and making observations based on that. I'm not counting his push or main event spot, you're saying I am. I can't help that. I am so the wrong person to accuse of this becuase like my entire engagement with wrestling at this point is just watching the matches. I don't care about promos, angles storylines whatever. I'm literally not watching them. The commentary often tells you everything you need to know about that stuff and in international stuff you can just figure out whats going on by watching: its wrestling not rocket science. He was mostly booked to work in short 8-12 minute long matches during his WWF prime. I pointed out that he was good at that style of match. Wrestlers should be good at working the styles of matches they are booked to work. He had enough stamina to go out and work his style of match. If he was booked to go long and he blew up and his lack of stamina negatively affected the match, that would be an issue. But that wasn't an issue until much later in his career when his body was breaking down. I tend to be more forgiving than most about that sort of thing. I didn't say "points" for the occasional suplex so I'm not sure why you're using quotes. I did suggest that Hogan knew what he was good at and had enough stuff that he didn't need to use it all in every match but could add in different things from time to time and it would always look good. This is a good trait. I also noted that someone in his position (literally the most famous wrestler in the entire world) probably did play a part in his decision to stick to what he knew he was good at. A year ago, I chose to make no value judgement on that. I I said "There are pros & cons to this for sure that we could get into if necessary. When he did step outside of his comfort zone he showed he could do more than what Vince asked him to." He had a formula but he wasn't doing the exact same match every time. I'm not giving out points or counting up moves. I chose to make no judgment on it but just noted it as a reality. You say its "faint praise" because you choose to view it as faint praise and you aren't looking at the full picture of what I'm saying. Yes I did say he was an underrated tag wrestler (unclear why thats faint praise but that's the value you chose to place on it) but I also said this about his tag work: "He's awesome working the apron and waiting for the hot tag. Like one of the best apron workers of all time. Great on the hot tag too." That's not faint praise. That's pointing out things he awesome, best of all time and Great at. These are traits. Ones he's quite good at in my opinion you can see. I also didn't say "limited but efficient" moveset. I said "limited but good." I called it straight up good, because Hogan's offense was good. I also said "The punches look good, the big boot often looks good, his body slam is perfection, great atomic drop, good lariat, I have no issues with the leg drop either. He'd mix in other stuff too on occasion (suplexes or backbreakers) and it tends to look good because Hulk Hogan wasn't gonna try and do stuff that he couldn't do." I called his offense good and then listed a bunch of shit that I think he does well. I even poked a little fun at him for whiffing on the big boot sometimes "the big boot often looks good." Its not a complete list, just a quick offering up of stuff he can do & do well. He's not Akira Hokuto out there. But the stuff he did looked good consistently. This is not me damning Hogan with faint praise. This is pointing out good traits. Willingness to bleed - I like blood. Sue me. I like it in brawls. Hogan was the biggest star in the world in 1984 and 1985 but he'd bleed a gusher on occasion and good for him. I'm not saying all wrestling needs to have blood or a wrestler needs to bleed to be great. I'm just noting it as something Hogan would do to add to his matches that he really didnt' need to do if he didn't want to but he would on occasion to make make the performance more intense, engaging & dramatic. Its just one of several things I noted. Good puncher - anyone who has ever talked to me about wrestling knows I love punches. Hogan used a lot of punches and they often looked good-great. Not sure what the problem is. Not a bad as athlete as we remember - Yeah, Hogan was a lot smoother and natural in the ring than his reputation from hardcore fans would lead you to believe. Looking the part both physically (MUSCLES~!) and athletically is a good thing. Hogan didn't have to rely on just being a roided up freak because he was a good athlete too. ^Bolded by me for emphasis. I think maybe this is our big issue. These aren't criteria. These are traits. I can't remember Kiyoshi Tamura ever bleeding in a match but he's gonna be way ahead of Hogan. Hogan being willing to bleed is a trait not a criteria. Hogan being a great tag worker is a trait not a criteria. I don't have set criteria. Every wrestler is different and should be taken on a case by case basis. I've said this throughout the project. Everybody's opportunity and role was different. There are general things I like and look for. But I don't have a set criteria or formula or boxes I check off. THat's just not how I engage with this stuff. I very much doubt I'd have Hogan as a top 10 seller or tag wrestler. But so what? Are the 10 best sellers ever the only people that should be considered great sellers? Are they (whomever they are) the only people who can be praised for their selling? Hogan was great at selling. That is a thing you would want a wrestler to be great at. Whats the problem here? I think selling is the single most important thing in wrestling. Literally #1. So Hogan being a great & consistently logical seller is a meaningful trait to me. You might argue its not logical and the Hulk Up is stupid. And that's fine. We would have to agree to disagree. Because within the made up world of pro-wrestling, Hulk Hogan Hulks up. It becomes logical because it is treated as such and thats what matters. Hogan sometimes worked in tag matches. And when he did he was often great in them, stood out and knew how to do the things that make tag matches special & different from singles matches. He knew how to engage from the apron and from inside the ring. He knew what to do during ref distraction spots. I already mentioned he's an awesome hot tag. That he was great and stood out in them and knew how to work them from different points of emphasis is a good thing that we would want from a wrestler. Why should we ignore it for Hogan? So what if he's not Arn Anderson or Bobby Eaton out there. He can still be a great tag wrestler when he's given the opportunity to work tag matches. Its not a criteria, its a trait. I also said he was great on the hot tag but you left that out as well. I will have people on my list who aren't great tag wrestlers and people who are. You are welcome to use whatever criteria you choose to. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. The point is to watch wrestling and talk about it becasue we're dorks who like to watch wrestling and talk about it. If you choose to value like PWI 500 placements or number of intercontinental titles feel free. That's kinda not the point of the project but you are free to do what you wish and engage how you choose. Its just I wouldn't expect much engagement becasue those things aren't what this project is about. The only criteria is to enjoy yourself watching wrestling. That's all this is. An excuse to watch a ton of wrestling and then at the end you make a list. What you choose to value is up to you. My remark about Hogan being a better heel It was a tongue in cheek response to you saying "Rick Steamboat does everything better than Hogan/Rock except make more money." I'm not deducting a point for Steamboat for not working heel. I was jokingly pointing to something Hogan did better than Steamboat. I think Steamboat is a better wrestler than Hogan. I also pointed out that Hogan was better at delivering in Japan than Steamboat and I stand by that as a non-tongue-in-cheek comment I've always been bored by Steamboat's Japan matches while Hogan has a bunch of stuff I really like. And its not a situation where Hogan is getting better opportunities. Steamboat is getting to go over and work with Ric Flair, Jumbo Tsuruta or Misawa and he has boring matches. I also said Hogan was a better brawler than Steamboat. That also doesn't deduct a point from Steamboat. That's just saying Hogan is better at this one thing. Steamboat is better than Hogan at other things. I still think Steamboat is a better wrestler than Hulk Hogan. Not all candidacies are the same. Just because someone is better at one thing doesnt mean they're better at all things. I don't care what wrestlers or promoters think. I don't listen to shoot interviews or read autobiographies. I don't care about any of that. I'm just watching old matches and coming to conclusions based on that. We disagree about Hogan's match output. I think he had lots of very good-great matches as early as 1980 and as late as 2002. I would never argue he was great or even good that entire time as there are some very low points of course. But I have zero problem calling Hogan a great wrestler. I think his in-ring peak is probably 1984-1988 with some amazing stuff before and after that. I would actually say that Hogan has a much bigger output than many hardcore fans believe as evidenced by your response, but I value different things and see things differently than most hardcore fans. Have you seen the Dusty vs Backlund match from NJPW becasue its a lot of fun. What about the Hogan vs Backlund match from Philly that's 30 minutes of young pre-prime Hogan keeping up with Backlund. Its clearly Backlund leading the match...but you would expect the veteran long time world champ to lead the new young villain. Anyway, I don't think just like executing armlocks and submissions are all it takes to be a great wrestler. I think there's a lot more to it than that. I'm looking at performance, not just technique. The performance involves a lot more than just who can do the smoothest looking drop toe hold and floatover. I disagree that Hogan had poor execution of the fundamentals of being a pro-wrestler. I think Hogan was fundamentally sound and was capable of working good-great matches with a wide variety of opponents of varying levels of talent in different but often extremly high profile settings (thinking about Pressure to perform in stressful situations not ticket sales). I think the fundamentals are related as much to psychology and selling and understanding how to work in a variety of different situations. Knowing all the holds is great but you don't need to know all the holds to be a great wrestler. If thats what you think, that's great. Just know that I view things differently. You are the one who keeps bringing up drawing, stop projecting that onto me. I don't care about that stuff for a project like this. We do the Greatest Match Ever all the time and my #1 US match of all time is Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol. It drew 85,000 fewer fans than Hogan vs Andre did a month earlier. I still like the Lawler vs Idol match better I do like charismatic wrestlers. Probably every great wrestler is charismatic. But its not a criteria, its a trait. Backlund was charsismatic too, drew a ton and had an amazing connection with the crowd. One of the loudest reactions I've ever heard is the finish of the Backlund vs Patera Texas Death Match. Its not like he was Joe Malenko out there wrestling in a vacuum I've also said many times that I don't think all styles are created equal. THere are styles of wrestling I don't like and they won't be represented on my list. This...this is not what happened. https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/33853-greatest-wrestler-ever-master-rankings-list-do-not-post-in-this-thread/ 93) Bob Backlund (2495 points, 57 ballots, 57.40 avg, high: 5 - Scott Bernard, 2006: 76) 75) Hulk Hogan (3155 points, 78 ballots, 60.65 avg, high: 6 - Chris Powell, 2006: 86) Hogan's average vote was 60.65 Backlund's was 57.40. But Hogan was on more ballots so he finished higher. No clue where the numbers "41" and "54 come in. And just to hit absolutely everything, I said that Hogan finished 75 in the 2016 project. I didn't say I had him "penciled in" for 75. He didn't make my list in 2016. He's likely to make my list this time, but I'm not sure where. If you're asking on a hypotheical list that I made where Hogan ended up ranked 75th where would I rate Backlund in comparison to Hogan? Well sorry to disappoint but I cant answer that. I have a lot more Backlund yet. I want to watch more of his prime stuff. I LOVE his comeback run in 1994. Heel Backlund is amazing and its the sort of post-prime stuff that definitely helps in my mind. Whenever I've watched Backlund in the past I've always really enjoyed him I just haven't done a focused Backlund project to really hammer out my thoughts on him. I could still name a bunch of Backlund I already like from his prime though and given how much I like a lot of the late 70s & early 80s WWF I expect Backlund to deliver whenever I do end up watching him in depth. But again we seem to value very different things and approach what makes a good wrestler or good performance from very different places. Edit: Wanted to mention since this started in the Bruno thread. Since that thread I've watched almost every single Bruno match I could find and I think he's one of the best American wrestlers of all time. So its safe to say we have different things we look for in what makes a wrestler great.

Santana/Valentine Santana/Savage Savage/Steamboat You'll want to just watch all of these for sure. Can't go wrong with these matches. Steamboat/Muraco - Not sure. My general rule of thumb is to skip Muraco matches. Hart Foundation/Bees - 2/17/86 from MSG is the one you want Hart Foundation/Bulldogs - Grimmas has 1/18/86 from Landover, MD as their top match between them. Grimmas is probably the world's foremost Bret Hart expert who isn't just Bret Hart so I'm inclined to trust them. Valentine and Beefcake/Bulldogs - Not sure. I haven't done the real tag team deep dive that I need to do for this era. I'm sure there are some gems. Steamboat/Roberts - 8/9/86 in Boston I think. Hogan/Savage - I'm a HUGE fan of their 80s matches. I think they have tremendous chemistry. The standouts are 1/27/86, 5/24/86, 10/10/89. Hogan/Orndorff - 4/21/85 from this time period but I have their best match as 7/7/84 from Philly. It seems like the Philly versions of matches are often the best Orndorff/Rude & Hogan/DiBiase - I haven't revisited any of these recently. I think Dibiase is pretty disappointing in the WWF, but I'd expect Rude vs Orndorff to be solid. That 1985-87 era for the WWF was absolutely loaded. In addition to all of the stuff above, I included some more things to watch from that era. Its too bad we didn't get a proper DVDVR 80s set because the reputation that 80s WWF was a bad place for in ring work is completely wrong. There is so much good stuff just waiting to be found. Also don't sleep on 1984. Maybe the best singles match & the best tag match in the history of the company took place in 1984 Andre the Giant vs Ken Patera (WWF – 1/21/85) Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper (WWF – 2/18/85) Hulk Hogan vs Ken Patera (WWF – 5/25/85) Bobby Heenan vs David Sammartino (WWF – 6/29/85) Roddy Piper vs Paul Orndorff (WWF – 7/27/85) Terry Funk vs Junkyard Dog (WWF – 8/18/85) Bruno Sammartino & Paul Orndorff vs Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr (WWF – 9/28/85) Terry Funk vs Junkyard Dog (WWF – 10/12/85) Bruno Sammartino & Paul Orndorff vs Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr (WWF – 10/26/85) Bruno Sammartino vs Roddy Piper (WWF – 12/7/85) Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk (WWF – 12/15/85) Bruno Sammartino & Paul Orndorff vs Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr (WWF – 1/11/86) Terry Funk vs Junkyard Dog (WWF – 2/8/86) Bruno Sammartino vs Roddy Piper (Cage Match – WWF – 2/8/86) Hulk Hogan & Junkyard Dog vs Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr (WWF – 3/8/86) Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper vs Paul Orndorff & Harley Race (WWF – 11/24/86) Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts (WWF – 11/29/86) Hulk Hogan vs Kamala (WWF – 12/26/86) Bruno Sammartino vs Randy Savage (WWF – 1/3/87) Hulk Hogan & Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage & Honky Tonk Man (WWF – 1/5/87) Randy Savage vs Bruno Sammartino (Lumberjack Match – WWF – 2/7/87) Bobby Heenan & King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Big Machine & Super Machine & Lou Albano (WWF Big Event 2/9/87 Randy Savage vs Bret Hart (WWF Saturday Night Main Event – 11/11/87) Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man (WWF – 11/24/87) This is also nowhere near complete. I haven't watched everything from this time period so I bet there's a lot more good stuff out there.

Amazing post.

I absolutely love that Kashin vs Rob Van Dam vs Necro Butcher is a match that happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E8k86p9ST0

Big matches existed before PPV. Big matches exist outside of TV. The Big Event wasnt a PPV. WrestleMania 1 wasnt a PPV Guess those shouldn't count? Those literal dozens of matches in MSG, Philly, Boston, LA, Detroit etc are big matches. You're really going to argue that "pretty much everyone in the RAW/Nitro era" (your words) has more big matches than Hulk Hogan?

Hogan was a great worker and had way more than 4 big matches in a year but let's not let reality get in the way.

I disagree with literally every argument made there.

You were always right! Thank you for banging the drum!

Love to see it. Devil is definitely a #1 contender. She checks any box you can come up with.

Somehow its been 6 months since we last did this. Figured with a year down it might be time for a check in. Who are some stock rising/falling folks for you at this point?

I've watched a good bit of Bruno lately and I'm sold. The big feuds for me are of course the Larry Z feud, but I love love love Bruno's matches with Ken Patera. And honestly, the Superstar Graham matches are a blast as well. Between these and the mid 80s stuff I've always been a big fan of, it sort of unlocked Bruno for me and now I will absolutely watch 20 minutes of Bruno vs George Steele or Bepo Mongol or whomever. Great pro-wrestler. Special really.

With more footage, it seems like Heenan would be a no-brainer top 5 all time candidate. He is incredible. Bobby Heenan vs Billy Red Cloud (Chain Match – AWA – 6/24/72) 4 minutes of clips. There’s an amazing spot where Red Cloud ties Bobby up in the chain and just spins him and Bobby goes 100mph and takes a big bump. Some funny comedy and then also guys trying to choke each other out with a chain. Wish this was full. Looks awesome. Bobby Heenan & Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza vs Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher & Little Bruiser (WWA – 11/24/72) I was unaware that Dick the Bruiser had a mini. Little Bruiser starts and Bobby gets down on his knees to mock him. Little Bruiser plants him with a dropkick and its off to the races with Bobby running around like a maniac to get away. Bobby’s athleticism is on display. Don’t let anyone ever tell you Bobby wasn’t an incredible athlete. Mulligan in so Bobby goes out. They set up a bunch of spots where Lilttle Bruiser can come in and punch Mulligan. Crowd loves it. Bobby is in ultra stooge mode here. He throws a great punch at Crusher so little bruiser comesin and bites him in the butt. Crowd fucking loves this shit. Bobby takes a huge upside down bump in the corner that allows more punches from Little Bruiser. Great schtick when Bobby comes in against Dick the Bruiser. Bobby is getting tossed around and winds up outside. Bobby back inside and he’s just covered in blood. Oh shit. Bobby gets posted and the Blackjacks get taken out and Bobby’s just gonna get killed. Little Bruisre climbs to the top rope and Bobby is held in place so Little Bruiser can throw some punches to the face. Heenan manages to escape and tag a Blackjack but he’s in dire straits. Bruiser & Crusher toss Little Bruisre from the top rope onto each Blackjack and set up Heenan for a top rope splash so Little Bruiser gets the big win. Fucking awesome stuff. Heenan looks out of this world great. Lilttle Bruiser gets attacked post match and crowd does not love it. Amazing pro-wrestling match wow. Bobby Heenan vs Cowboy Bob Ellis (AWA – 9/8/73) Bobby comes out on crutches. Offers to come back in 5 or 6 months for a match. Hahaha. Then all of the sudden Heenan tries to hit Ellis with the crutch. But he misses! UH OH! Ellis takes out both Blackjacks. Heenan dives out of the ring to escape. No match but a hell of an angle. Bobby Heenan & Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza vs Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher & Little Bruiser (WWA – 8/17/74) Same as the match from 11/24/72. Unclear what the real date is. Bobby Heenan vs Cowboy Bob Ellis (WWA – 5/4/74) Hey what do you know! Heenan did the return match! Haha! Starts with Heenan getting his ass kicked but Heenan goes after the eyes. Its short lived though. Ellis crotches Heenan on the ringpost. HUGE upside down bump in the corner from Heenan. Heenan goes back to the eyes and follows it up this time with some good punches. Heenan is an excellent puncher. But again its short lived. Ellis makes a comeback going after Heenan’s eyes and Heenan just flails about and begs off. Match continues with more stooging, and huge bumps from Heenan. This was a little too my turn your turn at times but still a total fucking blast. Heenan is such a compelling & dynamic performer. Bobby Heenan vs Pepper Gomez (Mexican Strap Match – AWA – 5/5/74) Last few minutes. Typical strap match finish guys dragging each other to the corners. Bobby Heenan & The Sheik vs Dick the Bruiser & Bobo Brazil (AWA – 9/7/74) This looks really cool. No sound and clipped a little bit but still about 10 minutes so we get a decent look. Heenan looks amazing. He bumps like a complete lunatic. Looks like an incredible athlete. I love the Heenan & Sheik team. Bet this was really fun. Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza vs Verne Gagne & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell (AWA – 1/29/78) Brief clips. Bobby Heenan vs Kenny Jay (AWA – 11/79) Just the post match of the only match Kenny Jay ever won. Crowd loves it Bobby is pissed. Bobby Heenan & Paul Christy & Tiny Hampton vs Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher & Spike Huber (AWA – 12/8/79) Starts with a little comedy and Heenan doing his crazy over the top rope bail out of the ring. Heenan takes any opportunity to cheat both from the apron and coming into the ring whenever possible for double teams. Lots of fun schtick. Bobby does have the opportunity to throw some great looking punches. He picks his spots well but he can get vicious when he needs to. This winds up with Heenan getting busted open and triple teamed. Great selling from Heenan. Crowd loves it. Good match. Heenan is the star as usual. Bobby Heenan vs Lord Alfred Hayes (AWA – 1/13/80) Amazing match. Lord Alfred does all sorts of weird mat work. Heenan is all schtick and bumps before going after the eyes to make his comeback. Heenan throws some great looking stomps. He’s got good despicable heel offense. He’s a great puncher. Great kicker. Those eye rakes look nasty. He chokes. It’s a good contrast with his over the top flashy bumping & selling. Fun post match with Heenan hitting the ref & Hayes with a chair. Terrific stuff. Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel vs The Crusher & Greg Gagne (AWA – 6/12/80) Bobby is just awesome here. More crazy athletic bumping. He throws a tremendous forearm. Bobby stooging for Crusher is just like textbook cowardly heel as good as it gets stuff. But Bobby displays a level of disrespect and viciousness towards Greg. Its an interesting match for that reason. You sort of get to see everything Bobby was capable of.He is an underrated vicious performer. And he’s as great of a comedy stooging wrestler as anyone else. Lots of fun. Heenan is definitely the highlight of a good match. Bobby Heenan vs Greg Gagne (Weasel Suit Match – AWA – 8/17/80) JIP. Bobby has his arm in a cast & so it gives Greg a target but it also a useful tool Bobby can cheat with. Great psychology & use of the cast as a weapon. It allows Bobby to really dominate Greg without Greg losing his credibility. Bobby is typically amazing here bumping, selling & stooging and really showing off his violent side. There’s real desperation to his work. Fantastic crowd. Awesome stuff. Wish we had the full match. Post match is GOAT stuff. Bobby Heenan vs Mad Dog Vachon (AWA – 12/11/80) I mean you can just picture this match right? Bobby plays terrified chickenshit heel. Constantly bailing out of the ring. Mad Dog is the tough as nails old bastard ready to fight this punk. Vachon kicks Bobby’s ass a little and they figure out a way to get Bobby some offense too. Basic but smart wrestling. This is a good matchup for both of these guys strengths. Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Bobby Duncam vs Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke & Buck Sumhofe (AWA – 2/28/82) JIP. Seems early in the match but Bobby is already laid out selling on the apron. Solid work early. Patera especially looks good. They set up Heenan coming in to go after Buck. Heenan is vicious choking Buck and throwing an awesome right hand. Great crowd really invested in this. Just solid basic smart work. Heenan is so smart working differently with each performer. He feels safe and at home going after Buck and then he’s a total cowardly chickenshit getting laid out with a punch or just begging off against Hogan and Baron. Fun traditional tag that breaks down into a really fun brawl. Good stuff. Bobby Heenan vs Buck Zumhofe (AWA – 3/4/82) Bobby is not afraid of Buck to start so we get a different kind of stooging from Bobby. He’s frustrated that he can’t get his hands on Buck. It’s a completely different approach than we normally see from Bobby but he’s just as comfortable working this style. They work some really amazing holy shit counters with Bobby setting up Buck beautifully. Don’t worry about Bobby’s early confidence. He gets his ass kicked and we get all the great bumping & selling you expect from Heenan. Match turns on an eye rake which is really smart for a lot of reasons. It’s a simple move that Heenan can use, its heelish and its devastating. Heenan’s eye rakes are BRUTAL. He is shows off his good heel offense. Really sharp looking punches, kicks and strikes to the throat. Whenever Heenan is on offense it looks good. IT doesn’t last long though and that’s fine because hes’ the GOAT bumper and an amazing seller. Heenan pulls out some great offense in this one. He does a 2nd rope butt splash and a beautiful atomic dop. Buck takes an incredible bump off a missed splash into the ropes. One of Heenan’s strengths is crafting believable transitions and that is one of the best you’ll ever see. Finishing stretch is great with Bobby in total desperation mode. Post match is fantastic with Bobby being forced to put on the weasel suit and chasing Buck around while wearing it. Classic. A great Buck Zumhofe match. What the fuck. Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel vs Hulk Hogan (AWA – 5/2/82) 2 on 1 match starts with Heenan & Bock double teaming Hogan. They each grab and arm and take turns kicking him until Hogan slams them together, tears his shirt off and starts raining down punches on the dastardly heels as the crowd completely loses their minds. Incredible start. Heenan & Bock regain their composure in their corner. Amazing stuff. They follow it up with more great schtick that involves Bock & Heenan unexpectedly slamming into each other. Its basic stuff but it makes Hulk looks AWESOME, the crowd eats it up and so do I. Just classic stuff. Bobby does a great job keeping himself involved when he’s not actually in the match. Attempting to sneak behind Hulk along the apron. Its great stuff keeping the crowd engaged while Hulk has Bock in a chinlock. Really great transition to Heenan getting some real shots in on Hulk before getting caught and getting his ass kicked. They do a good job of getting to a Hogan in peril section. Heenan does some good stuff from the apron. Choking Hogan with a towel behind the ref’s back. Driving Hogan’s neck into the top rope. Hogan does sort of an extended comeback with multiple hope spots before the real Hulk Up and that’s pretty cool to se him still developing the routine and still working more traditional comebacks. His interactions with Bobby down the stretch are fucking fantastic and the crowd loves it. Satisfying finish. This shit is pure magic. Classic wrestling match. Bobby Heenan & Jacques Goulet vs Brad Rheingans & Buck Zumhofe (AWA – 7/18/82) JIP This is like an experiment to see if Heenan can have an interesting much while saddled with 3 boring performers and the answer is holy shit yes. Heenan is incredible every second of this match whether he’s in the match or not. Just an amazing one man show. He’s bumping like a fool doing comedy spots, picking his spots on offense to get some nasty shots in. Incredible stuff. Getting the crowd involved during a fucking Brad Reheigans in peril with Goulet working an extended Iron Claw as non Von Erich outside of Texas is an achievement. Buck’s hot tag is Heenan making chicken soup out of chicken shit. Good match solely on the strength of Heenan’s performance. Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel & Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum vs Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant (AWA – 11/7/82) The AWA doesn’t get their due for having some of the hottest crowds in wrestling history. Bobby is amazing here as usual and there are some fantastic interactions obviously, but this is probably the only match I’ve seen Heenan in where he’s not the undisputed star of the match. When you’re going up against a Hogan & Andre team its hard for anyone else to stand out. Andre is incredible here. Hogan is not far behind. Every single heel is working their ass off. I can’t believe I haven’t watched this like 100 times in my life. As good as pro-wrestling gets. Bobby Heenan vs Rick Martel (AWA – 12/25/82) JIP with Rick working over Heenan’s leg. Heenan rakes the eyes though and Martel sells it like absolute death. Martel sells like hes actually blind and Heenan keeps going after the eyes. Martel makes a brief comeback going after Heenan’s leg but Henan is relentless going after the eyes. Great knees & stomps to the back from Heenan & great selling from Martel. Martel has really gained a reputation among fans like us as an all time seller and he absolutely deserves it. BEAUIFUL cross body from Martel starts his comeback. But its not to be as he misses another attempt and spills out to the floor. Heenan continues to beat on Martel not letting him get back in the ring. Martel eventually does turn the tides and his comeback is great. Bobby takes his great bumps . Great shit. Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura vs Hulk Hogan & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell (AWA – 3/13/83) This is one of my favorite matches ever. Great schtick and action. Amazing crowd. Distinct characters with different styles and approaches all blending together to craft a fantastic match. Just beautiful pro-wrestling. Simple but well executed. Heenan is a little bit of a stooge and a little bit of a vicious heel. He takes some amazing bumps and is his usual incredible self. I’m going to be the high vote on Heenan by a long shot I think. Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel vs Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza (AWA – 3/15/84) The Blackjacks fire each other up by chopping each other in the chest. Wow. Then the match starts and they like settle into collar & elbow tie ups. Ok that’s pretty funny. Bock works most of the way as you’d imagine but Heenan is great working the apron getting the crowd involved and they build some great spots around Heenan on the apron especially a huge punch that has him running all over the place. Heenan gets some great bumps in even without ever tagging in. And he’s constantly getting involved and working the crowd. Great performance from the apron. Great finish with Heenan finally ending up in the ring but getting caught and put away basically immediately. Bobby Heenan vs Blackjack Mulligan (AWA – 3/22/84) 2 minutes of clips. Bobby Heenan & Billy Robinson vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW – 6/5/84) JIP lots of Jumbo and Billy mat work. Heenan comes in, throws some forearms and immediately takes a huge bump in the corner. Tenryu plants him with a big atomic drop and then Robinson tags back in. Robinson does some mat wok around Ternyu and brings Bobby back in. Bobby getting offense in and Tenryu selling it is pretty funny all things considered. Bobby takes another huge bump in the corner and then a Thesz press for the finish. Fine stuff. Bobby looks good while he’s in but its only for brief flurries. Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel & Masa Saito vs Fabulous Ones & Blackjack Lanza (AWA – 9/9/84) Super start to this match. Crowd is crazy hot for the opening babyface shine and Heenan is at the top of his game avoiding tagging into the match. When they get their first shots in on Heenan the crowd goes absolutely nuts and he turns it up to 11 in response. Just stumbling around taking huge shots from everyone. Eventually its Lanza in peril which isn’t exactly ideal, but in this setting against that heel team & in front of that crowd, its better than you’d expect. Hot tag leads to a really good Keirn shine before he’s eventually cut off when Heenan comes off the top behind the ref’s back. But its really just to get Heenan in the ring for the quick finish. Really fun match. Classic postmatch with the weasel suit. Bobby Heenan vs Salvatore Bellomo (WWF – 11/26/84) Good basic schtick early. Bobby throws closed fist punches with his back to the ref and then stooges off when Bellomo tries to comeback. Bobby swears he uses the open palm. Then Bellomo hits Bobby with an open palm and Bobby sells it huge. Big bump in the corner. Bobby has the MSG crowd hooked immediately. Fun basic start .Crowd goes absolutely insane for Bellomo’s punche, headscissors & drop kick as Heenan bumps around like an absolute maniac. Finally Bobby has had enough and he rakes the eyes and takes over with his great looking punches & kicks before settling into a chinlock. Smart work. Bobby isn’t a great wrestler (in kayfabe terms) but he knows how to take shortcuts and they’re effective. They set up the comeback beautifully. Heenan isn’t quite in position for a shoulderblock so he takes a big bump that gives Bellomo a chance to recover and make a comeback. This isn’t some all time classic, but its really smart & effective work. Heenan looks excellent here carrying Bellomo and keeping this interesting. Bobby Heenan vs SD Jones (WWF – 12/10/84) Stalling & schtick for Bobby to start and he attempts a sneak attack but it just gives Jones a hot opening. Bobby bumps & stooges around for Jones before taking over with the dreaded Heenan eye-rake. One of the most devastating moves of the era. Heenan’s offense looks sharp as usual. Its mostly just like punches, kicks and stomps but they always look great. Bobby works a chinlock again as base for Jones to work his comeback off of. Simple comeback from Jones. He blows a leapfrog which is something else and they go right to the finish. Fine stuff until the blown spot at the end. Bobby looks good. Bobby Heenan & Paul Orndorff vs Bruno Sammartino & David Sammartino (WWF – 2/16/85) No surprise this is a lot of fun. Crowd is just insane at the start when Heenan & Orndorff are stooging for the Sammartino’s. They control for much of the match before a David in peril section. Typical great stooging from Bobby and his offense is basic but sharp as usual. Heenan has definitely started to slow down in terms of his athleticism. He can do all his usual spots but he’s not quite at 10,000 mph. He’s still excellentand knows all the tricks, how to build a match and work a crowd. Fun stuff. David stinks. Bobby Heenan & Paul Orndorff vs Bruno Sammartino & David Sammartino (Lumberjack Match – WWF – 3/17/85) Another solid match that ebbs and flows in quality based on how much David is doing. When Bruno is in the ring either on offense or selling, he’s awesome. David’s terrible. But Heenan & Orndorff are good enough to make his segments watchable. It’s better when David’s selling. He’s such a weak offensive wrestler. Finish is kinda blah. Jesus put anyone else in the David spot and these matches are really good. Bobby Heenan & Adrian Adonis & Big John Studd vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda & George Steele (WWF – 6/21/85) Well. These are 6 men of varying degrees of talent. Man, I retract my prior statement about Heenan losing a step because when they set up Heenan tagging in to face Animal, Heenan hits that accelerator like its 1975 and he’s fucking flying outta there. Um there’s a FANTASTC Windham vs Big John Studd sequence that will blow your goddamn mind. This is lots of fun. All schtick with a crazy hot crowd. Wow. Wasn’t ready for this fun Big John Studd performance. We miss a big Heenan bump in the corner because of shitty camera work and as if he knew we missed it, Heenan follows it up with an even wilder bump over the top rope to the floor. Crowd is straight fire for this match. What the hell. Rotundo comes in and attempts to work a chain wresting sequence with Big John Studd. Idiot. Studd cuts him off and we get Rotunda in peril. Adonis looks good working him over. Gorilla calls a DDT a “piledriver.” Gene asks him “now what do you call that.” Gorilla takes a beat and says “well, it’s a reverse under the arm piledriver. And its catches you right on the forehead. If not your nose. Or your upper lip.” Crowd then starts chanting “USA USA” for match with 6 dudes from America. That’s Reagan’s America for ya. All 6 guys end up in the ring with Heenan getting his face bit by Steele. Steele goes crazy and gets his team DQ’d. Shockingly fun match. What the hell. Bobby Heenan vs David Sammartino (WWF – 6/29/85) This being a 21minute long video is not what I was hoping for. Crowd is going nuts chanting Weasel at first. Heenan takes his sweeeeeet time taking his jacket off, folding it, even getting in the ring. Lots of stalling to start. Heenan stepping out between the ropes avoiding contact. Offering a handshake. Heenan’s so great at body language. Promising not to pull the hair, punch or kick just wants a handshake. David refuses and you can see it immediately draws Heenan’s ire. They lock up and go into the ropes. Heenan breaks clean as if to prove a point. But with him we can never really trust him can we? They go into the ropes a 2nd time. Clean break. 3rd time and Heenan just fucking slaps him and bails out. Crowd is about to lose their shit. This is really good stuff and Heenan is just a master controlling the crowd. Heenan slowly gets back in. Into the ropes again and David gets a big slap and takes over. Heenan bumps like a maniac all over the place for David’s limited offense. Heenan takes his patented side/backflip bump where he lands on his shoulder and bails out. Heenan begs off and really tries to slow it down. Heenan is selling like crazy. Heenan turns his back in the corner and David walks over and kicks him in the butt. Sammartino starts in on some arm work and its fine. Really all he’s got is knee drops to the arm and an armbar. But at least the knee drops look ok. Heenan takes another big ump this one through the ropes and towards the ringpost. David continues to dominate and its fine. Some stomps and punches. Heenan actually threw a headbutt to get himself some space so he could go for a foreign object. He manages to stab David in the throat. Heenan plays hide the foreign object and I’m a big fan of that sort of schtick so I have no problem with it. Heenan is as good as anyone other than Lawler at hide the foreign object. The crowd is furious. It allows Heenan an offensive base and allows David to maintain what credibility he does have. My only complaint is David’s selling isn’t particularly exciting. He’s just kinda there. But its really nitpicking. This is probably David’s best match right? OH SHIT HEENAN WITH A DDT. WTF. Heenan continues to stab David in the neck and face. I dunno why the fuck Sammartino isn’t bleeding buckets of blood. Because Heenan keeps stabbing his face. You can hear the angriest fan ever screaming death to Heenan as David starts to make his comeback. David gets the foreign object and just starts stabbing Heenan repeatedly in the face. Heenan eventually bails out of the ring and just runs away because David was stabbing him repeatedly in the face. Um, this is kind of awesome. What in the holy fuck. Bobby Heenan & King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Andre the Giant & Hillbilly Jim & Lou Albano (WWF – 11/25/85) Mostly a Bundy & Studd vs Andre & Hillbilly Jim match and mostly Andre in peril. Eventually they get Hillbilly Jim in peril and Heenan is able to come in for a few shots. Andre gets a tag and Heenan stooges out but Andre grabs him and drags him over to the corner to tag Lou in. Fun Heenan vs Captain Lou the crowd goes nuts for. Quick run to the finish. This was a pretty fun giant man spectacle. Heenan looks god wen he’s in and has some great interactions with Andre. Fun stuff. Bobby Heenan & King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Big Machine & Super Machine & Lou Albano (WWF – 8/28/86) Fun match. Bundy especially looks sharp. Machines look good. Heenan is Heenan. He comes in with a Machine already down and selling to get some good shots in. He bails back out quickly. Fun enormous man slugfest eventually leads to Heenan & Albano facing off. Its basic stuff but fun and heated. Match falls apart and gets thrown out but this is a total blast. Terrific stuff. Heenan keeps getting thrown back into face Heenan. Terrific. Bobby Heenan & King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Hulk Machine & Big Machine & Super Machine (WWF – 9/16/86) God just tons of fun. Heenan is hiding out on the outside most of the way until he comes in for a few shot on Big Machine before immediately bumping over the top to the floor. Fantastic. Studd takes 3 body slams and successfully comes off the top ropes. What the hell is happening. Crazy heat. Good work. These matches are lots of fun. Bobby Heenan & King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Hulk Machine & Big Machine & Super Machine (WWF – 9/22/86) Typical fun match. Great spot where Heenan finally comes in to face a beaten up Big Machine and for some reason Heenan throws a headbutt and staggers himself opening the door for a tag to Hulk Machine. Hulk’s hot tag always rules so he’s really good. Fun match as usual. Bobby Heenan & King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Piper Machine & Super Machine & Giant Machine (WWF – 10/4/86) Very much not the usual match because instead of Bundy & Studd vs the usual Machines, we get Piper working most of the match and deciding for everyone that its gonna be fucking awesome. Piper is just a mad man here running around punching people in the face, sunset flipping John Studd, chasing Heenan and then selling like a champ. Just amazing. Eventually settles back down into usual Machines vs Studd & Bundy but its good and Piper & Heenan keep things interesting from the corners. Terrific stuff. Just a fucking awesome match. Heenan looks good as usual here, but Piper just steals the show. Bobby Heenan & The Islanders vs The British Bulldogs & Koko B Ware (WWF WrestleMania IV – 3/27/88) Ok tag match. Bobby barely for most of the match. He comes in and gets his usual few shots in when they have an opponent down. He throws his amazing kicks & punches as usual. His dog bite prevention suite is hilarious. Finish with Matlida is what it is. Fine match. Some flubs by Davey Boy and overall blah environment. Bobby Heenan vs Koko B Ware (WWF 5/11/88) Missed this and watched the 5/22 match first. Fun match pretty much the exact same as the 5/22 match. Koko puts the bird on Heenan at the end. Funny stuff. Bobby Heenan vs Koko B Ware (WWF – 5/22/88) Short fun match. Lots of schtick & stalling early. Some cheating from Heenan and some huge bumps as well. Fun stuff. Bobby Heenan & The Islanders vs Koko B Ware & The British Bulldogs (WWF – 5/27/88) Weirdly Bobby starts this vs Koko. They do an exact sequence they did earlier in the week on the 5/22 show ending with a big Heenan bump. Heenan tags out and this settles into a really good Islanders vs Bulldogs & Koko match. Bobby is great reacting on the corner. They even do a little picture in picture close up of him. Both teams look sharp here and this is a terrific match. Bobby Heenan vs Ultimate Warrior (Weasel Suit Match – WWF – 6/25/88) Warrior is up on the ropes playing to the crowd and Heenan tries to sneak up on him and attack him from behind. It goes poorly as you’d imagine and Heenan books it out of there. Bobby runs and runs which sets up a great spot where Warrior has to hide & catches Heenan & tosses him back in the ring. Heenan goes for a foreign object immediately and stabs Warrior in the throat. OH! OK! We get Heenan the Butcher for a while as he stabs Warrior in the throat again and then the kidney’s and throat again. Jesus. Warrior eventually stops Heenan kicks his ass. Heenan takes his huge bumps. Warrior poses and shakes the ropes looks generally awesome and imposing. Warrior gets the sleeper and puts out Heenan for the weasel suit. HEY! This was pretty fun! Short about 6 minutes but Heenan takes some huge bumps and stabs Ultimate Warrior in the face. Post match rules as you’d imagine. Bobby Heenan vs Ultimate Warrior (Weasel Suit Match – WWF – 7/15/88) HEY! Different start! They don’t do the pearl harbor spot. This time Heenan is stooging outside and Warrior catches him between the ring post and slams Heenan into it. Great stuff. More stooging Heenan now he’s selling the shoulder big time. Now we get the Warrior hiding spot from the previous match. It’s a great spot so no complaints. Warrior kicks Heenan’s ass for a wile including shoving the Weasel suit into his face. Heenan jabs Warrior with the foreign object but continues to sell. Same transition with Warrior catching the foreign object. Couple of big Heenan bumps Warrior gets the sleeper, puts out Heenan & then the Weasel suit. Fun post match with Heenan in the suit as always. Bobby Heenan vs Ultimate Warrior (Weasel Suit Match – WWF – 7/31/88) Ring post spot to open. Heenan runs away. Warrior hiding spot. Heenan bumps around. Sleeper. Weasel suit post match. Bobby Heenan & Andre the Giant & Haku & Arn Anderson vs Ultimate Warrior & Jim Neidhart & The Rockers (WWF Survivor Series – 11/23/89) Super match of course. Heenan plays his typica role in a match like this. Mostly avoids coming in. Gets some good shots in when the heels are in a weakened state. Otherwise bumps & stooges. Great spot where he refuses to tag in and Arn yells at him. Warrior vs Heenan is fun an Heenan bumps around & stooges. Terrific fun. A match that wouldn’t’ be possible without Heenan. Bobby Heenan vs Big Boss Man (Ball & Chain Match – WWF – 1/8/91) Bossman beats up Heenan for like 2 minutes and then Mr Perfect runs in. Damn. Heenan vs Boss Man would’ve ben a great matchup.

You're building a promotion from scratch and you can pick any 3 wrestlers to build around. Who are you picking for: 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 2025 Feel free to pick whatever years you like honestly .

It absolutely boggles the mind that there isn't more love/respect for Idol. Much of this stuff existed on tape and eve made it on the Memphis set. No disrespect to Dutch, but its wild that folks left that set more excited about Dutch Mantell than Idol. I'd honestly put Idol above Dutch, Rich, and even the great Bill Dundee at this point. A psychologically sound, stooging, bumping, uber charismatic character is really just all I could hope for out of a wrestler at this point in my life. I actually sort of left the best of the best off of the WP list becuase I know how our friend Grimmas feels about watching Jerry Lawler. More stuff to check out that didn't make the Watch Party: Austin Idol & Harley Race vs Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras (AJPW – 9/5/80) Austin Idol vs Mil Mascaras (AJPW – 9/9/80) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Bruiser Brothers (CWA – 7/11/83) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Jimmy Valiant vs The Assassins & Ken Patera (CWA – 8/22/83) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Stan Hansen & Jesse Ventura (CWA – 9/25/83) Austin Idol vs Stan Hansen (Bunkhouse Match – CWA – 10/10/83) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs The Moondogs & Man Mountain Link (Falls Count Anywhere - CWA – 11/7/83) Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (No DQ – CWA – 1984) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs The Road Warriors (CWA – 6/25/84) Austin Idol vs Jos LeDuc (CWA – 4/23/85) Austin Idol vs Jimmy Golden (SECW – 6/15/85) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (CWA – 8/5/85) Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (Badstreet Match – CWA – 8/12/85) Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow (Texas Death Match - CWA – 3/23/87) Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (Chain Match – CWA – 4/20/87) Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (Hair vs Hair Steel Cage Match – CWA – 4/27/87) Austin Idol vs Paul Orndorff (TWA – 3/31/90) Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (TWA – 9/9/90) Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (USWA Title Finals – USWA – 10/8/90)

Don't forget, Austin Idol Watch Party tomorrow at 3pm EST. Some really cool matches. Hot crowds, oodles of charisma, great stooging and schtick and a fucking killer punch.

This Saturday, March 5th from 3pm-5pm we're doing an Austin Idol Watch Party. https://cytu.be/r/GWE_WP No need go signup to use the service and you can find all the other Watch Parties we've done as well. So there's a real treasure trove of awesome stuff!

The Bundy & Rude vs Lawler & Savage matches and the singles match with Lawler are 3 of my favorite matches ever. Bundy is awesome

That is one of my favorite matches and Honky is awesome in it. Its the reason I asked. I'm excited to check out the Dr X match that Matt reviewed in 2014.

What's the best Honky Tonk Man match? Is there one folks would call good?

Wanted to do the various questions for Austin Idol because he fucking rules. Like what the hell. He should be on everyone's radar as a candidate. The only drawback is the footage but goddamn what a great wrestler. Here is my deep dive in the Microscope: https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/54477-the-universal-heartthrob-austin-idol/ 1. What kind of candidate is this wrestler (Peak vs Longevity,Peak+ Longevity, Big Match Wrestler, Week to Week Performer etc) and what range would you consider ranking them? We can’t really call Idol a longevity candidate because we really only have 1979-1990 of his career. We can look at the little bit of GCW TV footage we have and get a general idea of him as a week to week TV performer and he looks really good especially as a heel. He injects a ton of character into those TV matches and always makes his opponents look great. He has a wide variety of good looking offense & schtick that he can use so there’s a lot of variety in his TV matches. He’s not just doing the same thing over and over. He is incredible in big matches. Give him a feud and give us the footage and we’ll see that he delivers. His best feud (vs Lawler in 87) is possibly the best men’s wrestling feud of the 80s. Idol is a great brawler but is more versatile than you’d expect. He’s really great stooging heel but he can also get across viciousness, he can be a firey beloved babyface, he can do comedy, he can get over being a powerhouse, he can get over being an overwhelmed powerhouse, he’s better than you’d think in a clean match but he’ really excels in over the top spectacles. Great singles match worker and great tag worker. He understands how to play all roles in a tag match. When he’s on the apron he’s always doing something to stay engaged with the match.. I’m shocked at how impressive he was. I could definitely see him in my top 50 when it comes time to vote. He’s just my kind of wrestler. 2. What is your elevator pitch for this wrestler to be a Top 100 Wrestler? (Sum up their case in a short paragraph). Southern fried Hulk Hogan with more versatility. Great brawler with incredible charisma who could do more than you’d expect. Could play heel or face. Extremely giving worker as he’d bump and stooge his way through a match while still maintain a tough & vicious side. Best matches are some of the best of all time. 3. Were they ever the best wrestler in the world? Were they ever the best wrestler in their country? Were they ever the best wrestler in their promotion? Who were some of their competitors for the best wrestler in the world, country, and promotion? The footage availability makes this really tricky. He looks amazing in the footage we have from 81-87 but we don’t have nearly enough of a complete picture in any year to properly rank him. Idol is one of those wrestlers where you just have to look at the totality of his case. There are so many clips you have to wade through and not enough complete matches. Based one what we have from 1984 he looks amazing and like one of the best wrestlers on the planet. But its just not enough footage isolated in that one year to really fairly rate him. The most fruitful stretch we have is probably 1/87-6/87 and Idol looks like one of the best men’s wrestler on the planet. One of the defining heel runs of all time. If we had more complete matches of his run from 79-87, I think we could find he spent time as the best wrestler in his company or even country. He’s really that good. 4. How many years were they a top worker (top worker being a candidate for top 10 wrestler in the world)? Who were some of the other top workers of this era? Again its hard to say based on the footage. It looks like Idol could have been a contender any year from 1979-1987 but we don’t really have the footage to truly say for any individual year. I would say for that cumulative stretch of time 1979-1987, Idol would be a candidate for the top 10 men’s wrestler in the world. I wouldn’t put him #1 and almost certainly not in the top 5. In the end he might end up 15th or 16th or 20th, but I would have to think about him for the top 10. Folks like Terry Funk, Stan Hansen, Tatsuji Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Buddy Rose, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Nick Bockwinklel, Michael Hayes, would be his main competition for a place as a top 10 mens wrestler from 1979-1987. 5. Were they a great worker before their prime? Were they a great worker after their prime? How great were they (were they a best in the world, country, promotion candidate while before their prime/after their prime) Based on the footage we have, its impossible to say whether or not Idol was a great worker before his prime. If we say Idol’s prime is 79-87, the only real good look at Idol we have post prime is 1990 and he looks excellent in the few matches we have. 6. Did they have the opportunities to produce a large body of excellent matches? Yes. Idol was always a pushed & featured performer. The only drawback is footage availability. IF YES 6a Do they have a large body of excellent matches? Idol has a fair amount of excellent matches considering how limited the footage is. When we are fortunate enough to have complete matches, they tend to show Idol delivering in excellent matches, oftentimes as the standout performer. 6b Do they have a large body of excellent matches against a variety of opponents? A fair amount given the limited footage. We can point to excellent singles matches with Jack Brisco, Tommy Rich, Stan Hansen, Jerry Lawler, Randy Savage & Paul Orndorff. When we include tags you can add Bill Dundee, Jesse Ventura, The Moondogs, Man Mountain Link, The Road Warriors, Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, The Snowman, Soul Train Jones, Bam Bam Bigelow, 6c Do they have a large body of excellent matches in a variety of settings? (for example singles, tags, gimmicks, no gimmicks, brawls, technical, short matches, long matches etc) Idol has an excellent technical match with Jack Brisco, excellent brawls with Stan Hansen, excellent emotional storytelling matches with Jerry Lawler, matches tags matches and crazy gimmick matches. Idol excels in a variety of different settings even with extremely limited footage. 6d How much of those excellent matches were a direct result of their performance? Oh goodness yes. In fact, Idol was the more impressive performer in practically every match he’s in and that includes when he’s in there with other world class performers. 7. Do they work in a way that is consistent with the way they're booked & presented? Yes. You can always tell within seconds whether or not Idol is working as a heel or face. He works differently with jobbers than he does top stars. He knows how to get across major high stakes moments, when to be vicious and when its ok to clown around. 9. What are their standout traits? (For example, selling, psychology, offense, character work etc) All of the above? He’s great at stumbling around selling perfected by people like Sangre Chicana & Invader I. Idol is an amazing stooging stumbling seller. He has good offense. Fantastic punch, nice body slam, backbreaker a 2nd rope elbow drop, a jumping knee a great running knee, he whips out a fucking tombstone once. His character work & psychology are strong points. His matches always tell a story. He’s incredibly charismatic and has a natural dramatic flair. He’s just a natural performer. 10. Did they make the people and workers around them better? Definitely. Idol is an amazing stooge and is more than willing to bump and give hope spots to jobbers in short TV matches. Idol was always willing to stooge and make himself look foolish or get his comeuppance to the benefit of the match and his opponent. Idol’s best feud, was also the best thing Tommy Rich, Bam Bam Bigelow & Jerry freaking Lawler ever did. 11. Is there any reason to believe that this wrestler was better or worse than they appeared? Apparently Idol has a bad reputation among his peers as someone who was a great talker but not good in the ring. The footage tells a completely different story to me. But if you’re someone who values what other wrestlers thought of a wrestler, Idol might not seem as good. But he’s pretty clearly the star of almost every match he’s in. I can’t imagine watching the footage and coming to a different conclusion. For me the only drawback to his candidacy is lack of footage compared to some of his contemporaries. 12. If you had to pick 5-10 matches (Or more) to sell someone on this wrestler what would they be? (Not necessarily the best matches but ones that are best representative of the wrestlers’ GWE case). 13. Feel free to recommend more matches here if you like! 14. Any final thoughts you’d like to share? I was pretty shocked at how great Austin Idol was. For what I really appreciate in wrestling: brawling, character work, psychology, and larger than life charisma, Idol is really the total package. He’s always working the crowd during his matches and just doing something to push the match forward. I really can’t tell you how shocked I was at the Idol footage. He’s so much fun. Jamre - What's the candidate's biggest weakness? Was he/she able to overcome it (or work around it) and how?" He was in a plane crash in 1975 that nearly ended his career and he still managed to become one of the most compelling and entertaining people of his generation because of his charisma and his understanding of psychology. I can only imagine how good he would’ve been without a life changing incident like that. Apparently it “tore the bottom of his feet down to the bone.” Which is disturbing imagery. Loss – Was he ever the best wrestler in the world? Was he ever one of the top five or top ten? How deep was the talent pool when he peaked as a worker? Was he ever the best wrestler in his country? How long did that last? How deep was the talent pool in his country when he peaked as a worker? Was he ever the best wrestler in the promotion? How long did that last? How deep was the talent pool in his promotion when he peaked as a worker? When was his peak as a wrestler? How long did it last and what did he accomplish within this time frame? Was he good before he reached his peak? Was he good after his peak ended? How does he compare to his peers in his era? Answered above. How does he compare to others who have taken on a similar role in different eras? I compared him to a southern fried Billy Graham and NWO Hulk Hogan. I did so because Idol is a muscley powerhouse with super charisma who stooges and puts over babyfaces. Idol is MUCH better than either of them at this role and I’m not sure I’ve seen a better version of a powerhouse stooge. As a face he’s again similar to a Hulk Hogan where he’s an uber charismatic powerhouse. I’m higher on Hogan than most but again Idol is a better performer in my mind. The southern style schtick heavy wrestling Idol perfected is pretty much as good as men’s pro wrestling gets for me and Idol is a true standout. Edit. I wrote this whole thing up and just remember Ken Patera as a powerhouse heel stooge would maybe be a good comparison but (and I really like Patera) I didn’t think of Patera because Idol is so much more charismatic. Austin Idol is like the southern Memphis version of Ken Patera with redneck Superstar Graham charisma. Boom. There you go. Only Idol is better than these other guys. Was he an effective babyface and an effective heel? Oh absolutely. He has great matches as a babyface and as a heel and he noticeably switches his style up. When he’s a babyface he’s more of a charismatic ass kicker who would mix in dominant comedy spots daring his cowardly heel opponents to try him. As a heel he can be a vicious dangerous asshole and he’s an excellent stooging stalling heel. Was he frequently tested as a worker? Could he make seemingly no-win situations work? He repeatedly crushed Lawler’s balls in Memphis and then in the blow off, beat Lawler again and shaved his head in the middle of the ring in the greatest US men’s wrestling match ever and didn’t get murdered. That’s as no win as it ever got. But really, I’m not sure we have the footage to accurately say. In what exists in full he tends to be a pushed figure with quality opposition. Although I will say on paper Austin Idol vs Mil Mascaras sounds like a disaster waiting to happen and it turned out pretty fun! Could he carry lesser wrestlers? Oh yes. He had a good understanding of psychology and was such a compelling performer that he could carry a match on schtick, stooging, punching etc and have a good match with anyone. His jobber matches are enjoyable because he’s a giving worker and willing stooge so he gives no name jobbers more than you’d expect which makes for more interesting matches. Could he have good and effective short matches? Could he have good and effective long matches? Yes and yes. He’s really fun in short jobber matches. He has great charisma, works the crowd, stooges and has a nice varied power offense that allows him to have enjoyable shorter matches. He’s good as a babyface or heel in this role. He’s also awesome in like short out of control all out brawls. His longest match is his greatest match. What are his best physical skills? Did he use those skills well? I don’t really think of Idol as a physical skill kind of wrestler. Like he’s not an amazing athlete who will wow you with moves. He’s all psychology and brains. I guess I would say his body language is his best physical skill because he was able to utilize his body language to tell stories and inject storytelling into is matches. He had a great body for the era, he’s not a Road Warrior but he could pull off a powerhouse wrestler character. This made his great stooging and selling more effective when he was a heel but when he was a babyface it enabled him to project a more badass aura. How would you describe his psychology? Was it effective? Does it hold up to scrutiny? Southern Stooging Powerhouse. It was extremely effective and I think it holds up to scrutiny. He looked awesome in the footage & psychology & storytelling really standout as strongpoints. How was his selling? Top notch. He was amazing at stooging stumbling around selling. He does the sort of stumbling around selling similar to Sangre Chicana or Invader 1. Only Idol turns the stooging aspect up of the stumbling up a notch. This particular style of selling really appeals to me and is one of the reasons I’m drawn to Idol as a performer. How was he at structuring matches? Did they typically have a strong beginning, middle and end? Fantastic. Idol’s matches always told a story and you could always follow the story from the start. As soon as the video begins you know if Idol is a heel or face and the level of his opponent. Did he take chances as a worker? Did he recover well when something unexpected happened? I can’t really remember any clear examples of this. Idol was pretty low tech in general and more of a Memphis style wrestler who did a lot of schtick and punching. Was he influential? Did anyone copy his style, and if so, was that copying a good or bad thing for wrestling? I don’t think anyone would cite Idol as an influence. How was he in tag matches and/or gimmick matches? Idol was awesome in tag matches. He could play any role in the ring and was really good especially working the apron keeping the crowd into the match. His best gimmick matches are some of the best matches of all time. Did he have a high number of good matches? Yes and no. Compared to people with tons and tons of footage, no. But based on the footage we have, Idol has a really high number of good matches. He almost always delivers when he has a chance to have a good match. Was he typically the driving force in his best matches? He was the star of practically every match he was in that we have on tape. I know that sounds like hyperbole but I feel its true. Idol is such a charismatic performer he can’t help but be the star of his matches. I hate to keep comparing him to Hogan because Hogan is literally the biggest star ever, but Idol really has that standout charisma. His opponent almost doesn’t even matter. Are there any unique factors that you think play into his career that may not apply to everyone else? He suffered a career altering injury before we ever got to see him work. So he was really never 100% physically at any point.

You didn't ask for it but you're getting it anyway! Austin Idol vs Jack Brisco (SECW – 7/7/79) Our very first look at Idol and he already looks like an excellent wrestler. This is basic stuff mostly worked out of a headlock but Idol is bringing all of the character & flair to the match with his stalling schtick & subtle heel work. Some things like strutting around, grabbing the tights on a roll up, pulling the hair, accusing Brisco of pulling the hair when Brisco clearly isn’t, begging off when Brisco goes to punch himt. All little things but when taken together paints a picture of Idol as a clear heel. He has a real flamboyance to him. I’ve compared him to a Southern Fried Billy Graham but he also reminds me of a Southern Style NWO Hogan with his stooging heel schtick. Anyway, I’m sort of rambling because I’m REALLY excited about this project and about Idol. I’ve been so impressed with what I’ve watched prior to this and for whatever reason just never dug deep. But holy shit this is just the first match and it fucking rules. Austin Idol baby! Austin Idol & Roger Howell vs Tommy Rich & Kevin Sullivan (GCW on WTBS – 12/29/79) Idol knees Rich in the back from the apron off an Irish whip & then comes in for a brief but awesome punch exchange with Rich but then he gets right out when Rich makes a comeback. Quick tease. Austin Idol vs Eddie Dyce (Big Time Wrestling – Unknown Date) Basic TV match. Idol is a heel and he looks good having an easy time with a jobber. Austin idol vs Tommy Rogers (Unknown Date) Short match just a few minutes but a great opening. Rogers hits a dropkick while Idol has his back to Rogers and bumps headfirst into the turnbuckle for a great nearfall. Rogers goes for a headlock but Idol kills him with an atomic drop and has an easy time putting him away. Usual great punches. A nice suplex and a beautiful 2nd rope kneedrop highlight this 3 minute match. Austin Idol & Roger Howell vs Tommy Rich & Kevin Sullivan (GCW on WTBS – 1/12/80) Replay of 12/29/79 match Austin Idol vs Mr Wrestling II (GCW – 1980) Super short TV match with all sorts of bullshit. Looks like they’d probably have an awesome match together if we got to see it. Austin Idol vs Kevin Sullivan (GCW – 1/80) About a minute of an angle. Fucking Georgia Austin Idol vs Glen Owen (GCW on WTBS – 1/12/80) Fun little TV match. Idol bumps, stooges & cheats his way through this jobber match. He gives Owen more than you’d expect. Austin Idol vs Steve Travis (GCW on WTBS – 1/12/80) Another fun TV match. Idol gives Travis almost the whole match and bumps & stooges his way through. Really wild that he puts this no name over so much before putting him away with the figure 4. Cool stuff. Austin Idol & Masked Superstar vs Kevin Sullivan & Mr Wrestling II (GCW on WTBS – 1/26/80) Sort of a brawling studio match. Short. But real fun. Idol is the star of this as he just rules as a bumping stooging heel with a great right hand. Austin Idol vs Kevin Sullivan (GCW on WTBS – 2/2/80) Awesome 2 minute studio brawl to get you hyped for the big match the following night at the Omni. All high energy violent punches. Idol is in serious all business ass kicker mode instead of bumping & stooging. He beats the shit out of Sullivan and goes for a foreign object as soon as Sullivan shows signs of a comeback. Good stuff for a 2 minute match. Austin Idol vs Kevin Sullivan (Boston Street Fight – GCW Omni – 2/3/80) Brief clips. Looks amazing. GOddamnit. Austin Idol vs Tommy Rich (GCW on WTBS – 2/23/80) Short but fun TV match. Idol looks fucking awesome. Great offense & bumps & stooges well. Really enjoyed this. These two have amazing chemistry so no surprise this rules. Austin Idol vs Mark Lewin (GCW on WTBS – 5/80) Amazing 1 minute match. ARGH! Austin Idol vs Mark Lewin (GCW on WTBS – 6/28/80) Replay of the last match! ARGH! Austin Idol & Dutch Mantell vs Jerry Jarrett & Tojo Yamamoto (CWA – 8/11/80) Last few minutes. Crowd is NUTS Austin Idol & Harley Race vs Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras (AJPW – 9/5/80) OMFG what is this matchup? I didn’t expect to see Mil & Dos in this project. Early highlight is Mil holding Harley in a hold and Austin climbing to the top rope like he’s gonna come off and Dos starts shaking the top rope. Idol does the WHOA WHOA waving his arms losing his balance sell. Great stuff to add some character and flair to the early dry Mil & Harley mat work. Idol tags in against Mil and immediately goes for a big haymaker that Mil ducks & returns fire with a chop that Idol sells in a big over the top way. Idol vs Mil is fun because Idol is willing to go straight to schtick and make himself look foolish. He turns a simple drop toe-hold by Mil into a great comedic TIMBER spot. Extended test of leads to an Idol headbutt. Like I dunno what to do here. DO I just put him in the top 20 now? Dos comes in for a headlock sequence leading to a big Idol atomic drop. Idol tags out but gets another great punch in before he leaves. Dos vs Harley comes in and its pretty fun. Idol interferes from the side. Idol comes in and throws Dos in a great big bodyslam. Couple of punches & a knee to the head and Harley comes back in. Idol gives Dos a hope sequences before taking back over with a great knee breaker & figure 4 to take the first fall. Idol gives Dos the advantage back in the 2nd fall and the luchadores do some leg work on Idol. Idol does some big over the top selling from a Mil flying chop & whip into Dos’ boot. Big bump off a double drop kick and then a rope running sequence leading to another big Mil chop. Mil & Idol blow the roll up that leads to the finish but WTF this match has been too much fun up until now to really care. Mil works some fun wacky submisssions on idol before tagging out to Dos. Idol eats an atomic drop and spills out of the ring. Race comes in but Dos cuts him off. Harley is able to tie him up though and give Idol enough time to recover and come in. Big heel collision spot with Idol & Race looks amazing. Race comes in for the run to the finish and its great. Both luchadores hitting dives. Everyone brawling around. WTF was this match. This was a total blast. I had zero expectations this was gonna be good but Austin Idol really puts together an awesome heel performance and I had a blast watching this. Austin Idol vs Mil Mascaras (AJPW – 9/9/80) Slow start with cautious lockups. Idol pushes Mil back and flexes showcasing his power. The lock up again and Mil shoves off Idol and Idol acts shocked and claims Mil pulled the hair. Excellent. Mil goes for a drop toe hold and we get Idol desperately reaching for the ropes to try and avoid getting taken down. Nice stooging stuff. They then……go into a chain wrestling sequence? And its fucking fun! WHAT? Idol looks perfectly comfortable trading holds and counters. Cheating for slight advantages & stooging when he gets shown up. Idol does another cool atomic drop/backbreaker sort of move. But Mil just shrugs it off hahaha. Fuck Mil. Idol starts to escalate things a little. He throws some punches, a great bodyslam and an even better running knee drop into a chinlock. Mil lets Idol control him for a minute before reversing out of it. Great spot has Mil tied up in the ropes and Idol just throws a shoulder into Mils stomach over and over again until the both spill out of the ring. Idol follows it up with a backbreaker and a posting. Back in the ring and Idol sets up Mil’s comeback and sells in a big way. They end up back outside the ring again with Idol stumbling around the ring and posting Idol over and over. Interference ends the match but the post match is hot. WTF how was this good???? Austin Idol vs Charlie Fulton (GCW on WTBS – 9/27/80) Another fun GCW TV match. Idol bumps & stooges for another jobber before putting him away. Idol uses a 2nd rope elbow drop before putting Fulton away with the figure 4. So he’s basically Ric Flair and Bret Hart and Superstar Graham and NWO Hogan mixed up in a blender and chicken fried seasoned with Memphis flavorings. So basically the best ever. Austin Idol & Kevin Sullivan vs Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts (GCW Omni – 11/14/80) Few minutes of clips. Looks awesome. ARGH! Austin Idol & Dutch Mantell vs Jerry Jarrett & Tojo Yamamoto (CWA – 3/2/81) Short but fun match. Idol looks good dominating Jarrett and strutting around and then stooging for Tojo. The sound is messed up on this video but the crowd looks crazy. Austin Idol & Dutch Mantell vs Tommy Rich & Bill Dundee (CWA – 3/12/81) Idol was just born for Memphis and this is a great example of why. He’s such a great character and willing stooge. I mean he’s just flailing about in there to get over Tommy & Bill’s attacks. He has no problem looking silly. He’s also smart. And can get grimy as well & throws a heck of a punch. This is a terrific match. Dutch is a real workhorse and Idol brings an ton of character to this and mixes in his great looking offense & stooging. This is the sort of wrestling than I could watch for 60 minutes. Austin Idol vs Gypsy Joe (GCW on WTBS – 5/31/81) Idol has an easy time with Gypsy Joe. Stooges a little. About 3 minutes. Typical GCW TV match. Austin Idol vs Scott McGhee (JCP – 9/26/81) Quick tv match. Austin looks good as usual. A little power display, some stooging. Austin Idol vs Ric Thor (GCW on WTBS – 10/31/81) Another short TV match. Idol is great in these though and theres more character than Tommy Rich’s quick GCW matches. Idol will take any opportunity to pull hair. He’s got a nice variety of offense that he’ll switch up. Sometimes it’s a big body slam, sometimes a back breaker sometimes a sweet atomic drop, the 2nd rope elbow. This is just Idol destroying a jobber for 2 minutes but its fun. Idol works harder than he needs to. Austin Idol vs Tommy Rich (GCW – 11/4/81) Awesome match. Idol is stalling big time at the start riling the crowd up and stooging and bailing out of the ring quick when Tommy gets a few shots in or even comes close. Its not for everyone but I enjoy this kind of heel stalling schtick on display. Idol is great selling punches and kicks. Just great body control & timing. Its comedic and also gets over the intensify of Tommy’s blows. Great spot where Idol goes down from punches but is futzing with his pants. The crowd knows its not some weird Misawa quirk but Idol up to no good. Sure enough he turns the tables with a foreign object. Good basic stuff getting the crowd involved. Idol is great on top. Great punches good power moves. Cheats at every opportunity. The work to the finish is really good and all in all this is a really awesome old school match. Austin Idol & Terry Gordy vs David Sammartino & Keith Larsen (GCW – 11/21/81) Easy time with jobbers. Idol & Gordy do the backbreaker 2nd rope knee drop combo for the finish and it looks fucking incredible. Austin Idol vs Vinnie Valentino (GCW on WTBS – 12/12/81) Damn fun. Idol just fucking destroys Valentino for 4 minutes. Backbreakers, knees to the back, punches just easily dominates this jobber. Then Idol gives him a nearfall on a rollup out of nowhere. It takes Idol off guard and opens the door for Valentino to get a few punches in. Idol puts them over enormously before finally cutting Valentino off and putting him away. Fun stuff. Austin Idol vs Mike Davis (JCP – 1/13/82) Idol has an easy time putting away a jobber. Austin Idol vs Tommy Rich (GCW – 1/13/82) Same match as 11/4/81. ARGH! Austin Idol vs Terry Taylor & Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA – 2/20/83 Just a couple of minutes of the finish with Taylor and then the Lawler match isn’t really a match it’s a post match beatdown by Idol. Fun stuff with Idol really selling to put over Taylor and then getting vicious to take out Lawler. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA – 2/28/83) Last minute. Was probably awesome. Austin Idol vs Ric Flair (SECW – 3/83) Last few minutes. I was looking forward to seeing these two in a full match. Looks really good. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA – 3/7/83) Replay of the 2/28 match. Last minute. Was probably awesome. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Ken Patera & Man Mountain Link (CWA – 6/27/83) 2 ½ minutes of clips. Would love to see the Idol & Lawler team in a complete match. Clips look fun. An Idol vs Patera match would be amazing. Austin Idol & The Fabulous Ones vs The Moondogs & Bobby Eaton (Cage Match – CWA – 7/4/83) Argh. Last few minutes and mostly the post match angle. All the Fabs vs Moondogs matches are amazing and Austin Idol rules so I’m sure this kicked ass. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Bruiser Brothers (CWA – 7/11/83) This immediately starts with some awesome schtick that ends with Idol kicking one of the bruiser brothers in the butt. Crowd loves it and Idol starts playing to them immediately. Holy shit it gets better from there before Idol tags out to Lawler and struts to the outside. Idol then continues to work the crowd from the apron. I don’t know what to do with this. I was not expecting Austin Idol to become my favorite wrestler. This is just about everything I could hope for. This is really just like a simple old school tag. Some babyface shine to start, Lawler in peril and then the big comeback. But Idol is just relentlessly awesome as an individual performance. He spends almost every moment on screen doing something. When he’s not in the match he’s working the crowd. This is our first look at him as a babyface and he just immediately rules. Finish is tandem flying elbows from the 2nd rope from Idol & Lawler. WHAT IS HAPPENING? Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs The Assassins (CWA – 7/25/83) I’ve always enjoyed the Assassins and really just generic masked heels from the 80s overall. It’s a gimmick that works for me. Anyway, this is 2 minutes of clips I would love to see because it was probably terrific. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs The Assassins (CWA – 8/15/83) 4 minutes of clips of what appears to be a No DQ match. Looks amazing. Idol almost invents the people’s elbow. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Jimmy Valiant vs The Assassins & Ken Patera (CWA – 8/22/83) Idol & Valiant together are almost too charismatic. At least one person in the crowd peed their pants watching this. One clip but otherwise its an awesome quick 6 man brawl. Crowd is going nut. There are some good comedy spots and some really violent spots with chairs and microphone cords. Really fun match. Enjoyed this one. Glad we finally got an almost complete one. Austin Idol vs Stan Hansen (CWA – 9/12/83) 2 minutes of Clips. Hansen destroys Idol prematch and bloodies him. FUCK this would’ve been awesome to see. Austin Idol vs Stan Hansen (CWA – 9/19/83) 3 minutes of clips this time including the great postmatch. Idol gets some revenge for the last match but Hansen cheats pretty quick. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Stan Hansen & Jesse Ventura (CWA – 9/25/83) Lawler in peril to start though there’s a great moment where Hansen shoves Lawler over to Jesse in the corner and goes berserk after Idol taking him out. Lawler in peril is varying degrees of quality based on whether or not Jesse Ventura is out there. Lawler and Hansen are fun together though. Idol’s hot tag is good. We come back from a commercial break and its Idol in peril. Bearhug from Jesse. Bearhug from Stan. Not really ideal but Idol is good selling it. Good hope spots. Idol’s selling is great. Lawler’ hot tag rules. Just a fun old school tag match. Post match is awesome as usual in CWA matches. Austin Idol vs Mr Olympia (SECW – 10/83) Less than a minute. Argh! Austin Idol vs Stan Hansen (Bull Rope Match – CWA – 10/3/83) Hot start with Idol just destroying Hansen. Stan is great bumping around & eating all of Idol’s offense. Weird thing to highlight, but Hansen takes an amazing bump off a hip toss. If you’ve seen it you know its notable just for how smooth it is. Anyway eventually Hansen takes over by trying to blind Idol. Idol is great stumbling around the ring. Its kind of like a cross between Terry Funk’s spaghetti legs and Invader I/Sangre Chicana’s stumble selling. So its like made for me. Idol starts to make a slow Memphis style comeback and the crowd loves it. He’s just a bloody mess firing big right hands. Finish is sort of your usual bullrope match finish but its well done. This was better than I remembered. Austin Idol vs Stan Hansen (Bunkhouse Match – CWA – 10/10/83) This literally starts with Hansen blinding Idol by spitting in his eyes. So instant classic. Escalates from there and is just a nice back and forth brawl. Great stuff. Can’t go wrong with a Hansen brawl. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Roughhouse Fargo & Jimmy Valiant & The Fabulous Ones vs Jesse Ventura & Dennis Condrey & Norvell Austin & Buddy Landell & The Assassins (Elimination Match – CWA – 10/17/83) 6 minutes of clips. Looked as awesome as it sounds. Austin Idol & Dutch Mantell vs Bruise Brothers (CWA – 10/24/83) Short 5 minutes. Dutch is in most of the way. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs The Moondogs & Man Mountain Link (CWA – 10/31/83) Fun 6 man tag. Idol does some good schtick. Lawler & Dutch are in most of the way and its good stuff. Lawler in peril is great no surprise. Fun match all around but not much from our guy for once. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs The Moondogs & Man Mountain Link (Falls Count Anywhere - CWA – 11/7/83) Wild brawl. Fucking awesome. All 6 guys are just killing each other for about 7 minutes. Idol looks awesome. His great selling comes into play as well as his ability to punch with the best of them. Austin Idol vs Terry Taylor (CWA – 1984) Fun schtick early with Idol accusing Taylor of pulling the hair. Idol really good working schtick, stooging and putting Taylor over big time. Idol takes a huge bump off an atomic drop on the floor. Taylor controls with basic babyface stuff mostly out of an armbar. Idol cuts him off with a huge jumping knee. Great spot. Came outta nowhere, looks great and works as a nice transition. Idol takes over from there with basic stuff that looks good. Slamming Taylor’s head into the turnbuckle, throwing punches. Idol continues to sell the arm and shakes off his fist after hitting Taylor to show how hard he hit him. Great stuff. When Taylor bumps off a whip into the corner, Idol gloats and plays to the crowd. Idol is always doing something. Idol continues to dominate with GREAT punches. A nice suplex. A great running elbow drop. Idol’s elbows & knees are great. Idol talks with he ref a little and that gives Taylor the opening. As soon as Taylor makes his comeback Idol is flailing and stooging all over the place. Great stuff. BS to the finish but its fun.Short match about 8 minutes but a blast. SO much of what I love about Idol is on display here. Fun stuff!. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (No DQ – CWA – 1984) Awesome match. Big over the top Memphis brawl. Fun schtick & stooging from Idol. Typical awesome performance from Lawler. Idol looks top notch. Just a fucking awesome one. Bullshit finish but its still great. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Ken Patera & Crusher Blackwell (CWA – 1/24/84) Only 2 minutes of clips. Goddamnit. I bet this was amazing. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Road Warriors (CWA – 1/31/84) Fun match. Short. Lawler works most of the way. Lawler is dominated and then makes a comeback all by himself before Idol comes in. Work to the finish is fun. Enjoyable quick match. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs Pink Panther & Masked Marauder & Lou Winston (CWA – 2/4/84) Quick 2 minute match. Austin Idol vs Lou Winston (CWA – 2/11/84) Idol makes quick work of a jobber. Austin Idol & Dutch Mantell & Bugsy McGraw vs Destroyer & Pink Panther & Lou Winston (CWA – 2/18/84) Another quick jobber match. Idol throws some great punches and does his awesome running knee drop. He comes back in later when he & McGraw do the backbreaker/knee drop combo with Idol coming off the top rope. Idol shows off more good offense with a backbreaker of his own. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Zambouie Express (CWA – 2/20/84) 3 minutes of clips. Argh. Idol shows a great body slam and sells how difficult it was to slam his big opponent. Great small thing that gets over his power and the size of the guy he’s slamming. Good shit. But anyway. 3 minutes of clips. Wish was had the full match. Argh! Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Tommy Rich vs Zambouie Express & King Konga (CWA – 2/28/84) 3 minutes of clips. Argh! Austin Idol vs Jesse Owens (CWA – 3/17/84) Idol makes quick work of a jobber. Pretty clean, lots of holds and takedowns before the win with the figure 4. Then Rick Rude comes out for the post match. Cuts some of Idol’s hair! Oh shit! Austin Idol vs Pat Hutchinson (CWA – 3/24/84) Idol shows up with a hair cut. He’s mad so he fucking destroys this poor jobber. Cool to see Austin switch things up. Austin Idol vs Rick Rude (CWA – 4/2/84) Idol was obviously a big influence on Rude so I’m excited for this and goddamn its JIP with 4 ½ minutes of video. Ref bump like immediately and then Idol plants rude with a back suplex. Hart interferes and its basically just a 2 on 1 beatdown. Idol makes the big comeback and it rules. Turns out its just about 2 minutes. Godamnit! Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Pink Panther & Keith Roberson (CWA – 4/7/84) Short jobber match. Idol & Lawler have an easy time here. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Street Walkers (CWA – 4/14/84) The Street Walkers? Hahaha ok! We don’t get to see it as it turns out. Dang. Austin Idol vs Rick Rude (Cage Match – CWA – 4/16/84) One minute of clips. Killing me. Austin Idol vs Randy Savage (CWA – 4/21/84) Short but heated studio match. Savage is hyped up. Idol bumps for him and lets Savage just destroy him before reversing a big suplex and jost going off on Savage. Idol hits Savage with the 2nd rope elbow. Right as it looks like Idol is gonna take it we get a run in. Fun sprint. Austin Idol vs Randy Savage (CWA – 4/23/84) Savage just lays waste to Idol for 3 minutes. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Pink Panther & Black Panther (CWA – 4/28/84) Pink Panther looks like if Blue Panther was disguised as Villano III but not very good. Short jobber match with our babyfaces looking good and having an easy time with the Panthers. Austin Idol v Randy Savage (CWA – 4/30/84) 33 measly seconds. ARGHHH! Austin Idol vs Randy Savage (CWA – 5/7/84) Awesome match. These two are a perfect matchup for each other in a lot of ways. Interpromotional wrestling done right with lots of intensity and hatred. After an early Idol shine, Savage bloodies Idol and dominates much of the match. Great stuff because Idol is so great at selling & stooging and making people look great and Savage in this era is probably the most dynamic and exciting wrestlers in the US. Idol makes a great comeback and Savage is always willing to bump & stooge. Typical old school bs finish done well. Absolutely loved this one. Great old school match. Austin Idol vs Randy Savage (CWA – 5/14/84) Savage sneak attacks Idol before the match even starts and just dominates him. Savage looks unbelievable taking Idol apart and Idol’s bumping and selling are top notch as usual. I really love his selling style. Great nearfall/hopespot off a school boy before Savage continues to just destroy Idol. Idol won’t give up though and keeps struggling to his feet. Extended transition is really good. Starts with a big boot when Savage puts his head down early for a back drop. Then a shoulder block leads to a double knockdown. Savage continues to land punches but Idol starts shrugging them off and taking them a little better each time before completing the comeback. Awesome transition there. Fucking HUGE punches on the comeback for Idol. He doesn’t have the punch versatility of Lawler, but Idol throws a right hand as well as anybody. Savage is awesome bumping around. Finish is awesome with Idol getting the clean submission win with the figure 4. Amazing 7 minute match. Austin Idol vs Jim Neidhart (CWA – 6/11/84) Fun start with some schtick. Jimmy Hart gets involved. Idol bumps well for Neidhart taking some slams and a backdrop in between Anvil’s chinlock & bear hug. Idol makes a big comeback and is about to win before interference. Fun for what it was. Short. Austin Idol vs Masao Ito (CWA – 6/16/84) Quick match with Idol bumping & stooging like crazy before getting in some offense. His great punches and running knee and slam. As he goes for the figure 4 we get outside interference and Idol gets laid out. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs Plowboy Frazier & Keith Roberson & Nightmare #1 (CWA – 6/23/84) Typical TV studio match. Lots of babyface shine. Idol has a really nice press slam. He does some nice work. Lots of energy some good schtick. His interaction with Plowboy Frazier is really fun. Good stuff. About 10 minutes and nothing to write home about fun a fun match nonetheless. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs The Road Warriors (CWA – 6/25/84) JIP a about 5 minutes. Video starts with Idol trying to shouldblock Animal & Idol stooging backwards. Animal tags out to Hawk and they repeat the spot to put over the Road Warriors enormous size & power. Idol doesn’t get overpowered like this in Memphis. Idol takes a slam and sells it really big and gingerly tags out to Lawler and kinda gives him a be careful look. Amazing body language here. Lawler takes two big bumps off shoulderblock attempts on Animal. Big mistake. This is really good stuff early on. The top babyfaces are really putting the Warriors over as the monsters they are. Really smart logical work. The build finally to a big shoulderblock from Lawler where he takes Hawk down then a dropkick sends Hawk outside. Crowd goes nuts. Great shit. Idol comes in and eats some Shoulderblocks. Hawk throws Idol outside and goes for a big haymaker but Idol ducks and hits an atomic drop. Awesome spot. Crwod goes nuts as idol poses. Hawk leaps back into the ring and that was terrifying. Animal in and misses a charge into he corner & Idol tags out. Good stuff. Lawler gets caught though with a back breaker and it leads to Lawler in peril. Its really good because Lawler is one of the best ever at his peak here and the Road Warriors are such an imposing team. Idol is good working the apron. Lawler makes his comeback and Idol comes in and both babyfaces are really laying into the Road Warriors. Great brawl around ringside ends the match as the crowd goes nuts. Post match brawl is fucking fantastic. Great stuff. Austin Idol vs The Superstar (SECW – 7/21/84) Atrocious video quality makes this one impossible. Austin Idol vs Boris Zhukov (SECW – 8/25/84) Last 30 seconds or so and then run ins galore while Idol gets tied up in the ropes. Austin Idol vs Billy Spears (SECW – 9/84) Last minute or so. Austin Idol vs Jimmy Backlund (SECW – 9/15/84) Idol puts away a jobber with ease. Austin Idol vs Jimmy Golden (SECW – 12/22/84) Lasts about a minute before run ins galore. Argh! Austin Idol vs Jimmy Golden (Cage Match – SECW – 1/7/85) Final few seconds before post match shenanigans. Looked fun. Argh! Austin Idol vs Buddy Colt (CWA – 4/23/85) Quick but fun match. Can’t help but wish it was longer because the work was good. Basic stuff but fun schtick. Idol is a master of body language and crowd control. He’s good here as usual. He did a jumping knee strike which is one of my favorite moves. If he adds a foot stomp its over and I’m putting him at #1. Austin Idol vs Jos LeDuc (CWA – 4/23/85) Great schtick early. Double shoulder block and they both stumble. Idol hits the ropes and hands on and struts because he faked out LeDuc. So LeDuc repeats the spot but Idol nails him with a right hand and LeDuc goes over the top rope. Great shit. Idol gets too close and Jos absolutely crushes him with a right hand. Idol sells it like death. Idol eventually makes it to his feet and LeDuc CRUSHES him with another right and another sends Idol over the top. Great job getting over LeDuc’s power. Idol barely gets back in the ring & LeDuc continues to dominate him. The ref gets tossed and Idol makes a big comeback. Powering out of a choke and nailing LeDuc with right hands. This was short about 6 ½ minutes, super duper basic but smart and fun while it lasted. Good stuff. Austin Idol vs Jimmy Golden (SECW – 6/15/85) Fun match early. Lots of schtick from Idol. Some really good rope running sequences.He eats a spectacular jumping knee from Golden for the big transition. Really well done. Idol is really good selling underneath. Not just the big over the top stumbling around but really hurt and fucked up. Big superman comeback from Idol has the crowd going fucking bananas. Idol goes after the leg to set up the figure 4. Fun run to the finish with lots of roll up near falls. Super simple match but well structured and smartly worked. Austin Idol vs Jimmy Golden (CCW – 6/15/85) Same match as SECW match. Austin Idol vs Adrian Street (CCW – 7/29/85) Final few seconds. Argh! Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (CWA – 8/5/85) I have seen this before but it was years ago and years before Hayes & Idol had become two of my favorite wrestlers. So I was looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. Hot brawl to start settles into a more structured tag match but still really hard hitting and violent but with some great schtick mixed in. Pretty much exactly the match you want it to be. 3 of the best wrestlers of all time and Terry Gordy looks great here too. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (Badstreet Match – CWA – 8/12/85) Another awesome match. Intense brawl. Double face in peril section. Idol’s FIP section is spectacular as usual. Great hot tag as well. The brawl to the finish fucking rules. All around great shit. Austin Idol & Killer Brooks & Al Madril vs Shawn Michaels & Paul Diamond & David Patterson (Texas All Star - 12/28/85) Idol is back to being a posturing stooging heel and is right back to being awesome at it. All Schtick early with Idol carrying the match early. Big transition when Idol crushes Michaels with a big knee and levels him with great punches. Heels just destroy Michaels who looks great bumping around to no surprise. Just a quick old school 6 man tag with simple psychology. Idol is the star as usual. Austin Idol vs Tommy Montana (WCCW – 1/6/86) Fun match. Idol doesn’t really take this jobber seriously so it leads to some good stooging from Idol. He always adds such great character and flavor. He eventually takes over and starts to take it to Montana but he keeps giving the kid openings and Montana keeps taking them. Idol is a willing stooge and begs off and you honestly think the kid might pull off the upset. But Idol cuts him off with a beautiful jumping knee (well shit I guess that’s a regular spot now) and then ends the kids life with a goddamn tombstone piledriver. Awesome stuff. Really cool match. Austin Idol vs Tony Falk (CWA – 2/15/86) Austin destroys a jobber without breaking a sweat. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee & Buddy Landell (CWA – 5/13/86) Last couple of minutes over a minute of which was Lawler in a sleeper. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Giant Hillbilly vs MOD Squad & JD Costello (CWA – 6/9/86) About 3 minutes of clips. Looks like a fun match. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA – 1/11/87) Lawler throws a fireball at Rich earlier in the night and then Rich & Idol destroy Lawler’s balls later in the evening in one of the great angles ever to launch maybe the greatest mens feud of all time. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs The Snowman & Soul Train Jones (CWA – 2/9/87) Short but fantastic match. Crazy brawl that leads to Lawler making his big return and going after Idol. Fucking insane post match. Awesome. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Jerry Lawler & Nick Bockwinkel (CWA – 2/16/87) One of the biggest teases of all time. Its jus like 40 seconds of clips of what looks like a completely insane brawl. Argh! Austin Idol & Lord Humongous vs Jerry Lawler & Nick Bockwinkel (CWA – 2/23/87) 4 minutes of clips. Looks like a blast. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow (CWA – 3/9/87) 4 minutes of clips. Looks fucking amazing and considering they have two all time classics, I have no doubt this was a 3rd. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow (Double Jeopardy – CWA – 3/16/87) I voted this the 60th best match ever. Feels too low. Will likely be in my top 50 next time I make a list. Classic match. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow (Texas Death Match - CWA – 3/23/87) I voted this the 41st greatest match of all time and again too low. One of the all time great matches. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA – 4/13/87) Last couple of minutes of what is probably an awesome match. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (Chain Match – CWA – 4/20/87) Chain match Memphis style. Genius. Best 2 minute match ever. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (Hair vs Hair Steel Cage Match – CWA – 4/27/87) I voted this the 8th greatest match of all time. I voted this the best North American match of all time and the best men’s match of all time I feel no different about that whatsoever. Austin Idol vs Bill Dundee (CWA – 5/25/87) Last minute or so before Rich runs in and then Lawler. Probably an awesome match. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Billy Travis & Mark Starr (CWA – 6/8/87) Idol continues his magical year. Terrific little tag match with Idol bumping & stooging like a madman. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA – 6/8/87) 3 minutes. ARRGGGH! Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee (Scffold Match – 6/15/87) Almost 4 minutes ARGH! Austin Idol & Brickhouse Brown vs Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee (CWA – 6/22/87) Almost 4 minutes. Argh! Austin Idol & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask (AJPW – 8/28/87) Handheld match. Can’t say I expected to see Misawa during an Austin Idol deep dive. Hansen works most of the way. Fine match. Austin Idol & Stan Hansen vs Takashi Ishikawa & Hiroshi Wajima (AJPW – 8/29/87) Idol works a bit more today than in the previous match. Bumping & stooging. He’s not as over the top as he is in Memphis or Georgia but there’s still some flair to his work. Short brawling match. Fun no complaints. Austin Idol vs Motley Crew #1 (USA Championship Wrestling – 1988) Idol has an easy time putting away a jobber. Focuses on the leg the whole time and beats him with the figure 4. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Takashi Ishikawa (AJPW – 3/26/88) Fun midcard match. Idol looks good bumping & stooging. Again he’s not as over the top as he is in Memphis but still good. Enjoyable stuff. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich vs Great Kabuki & Tiger Mask II (AJPW – 3/27/88) Tentative feeling each other out start from everyone. Idol really unloads on Kabuki with punches. Kabuki in peril for a bit. Idol does a nice side Russian leg sweep. He doesn’t have a super high tech offense but Idol had a pretty nice well of offensive moves he could use. He gets a chinlocky on Kabuki but he’s got a knee shoved into his back to so it looks pretty brutal. But still kinda bleh. Rich comes in and its more heel dominance. Idol comes back for a little leg work & figure 4. Eventually Idol gives Kabuki an opening and we get a hot tag to Tiger Misawa. Nice atomic drop on Misawa from Idol. Rich comes in and tries for one but reverses and Misawa plants him with a great looking german suplex. Misawa reverses an Idol suplex with a nice rollup for the win. Ok little match. Nothing special or anything but not bad. Austin Idol vs Pat Rose (CWF – 2/4/89) Idol is back to being a babyface and looks good. Short & lots of fun schtick Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler vs The Hangman & Keith Robertson (CWA – 5/27/89) Idol & Lawler take apart a couple of jobbers in 2 minutes. Austin Idol vs Paul Orndorff (TWA – 3/31/90) Idol is back to being a heel here. Lots of really great stalling & stooging early on. Idol looks as great as ever putting Paul over. Idol gets frustrated & challenges Paul to an arm-wrestling match. Idol lays down in the center of the ring & baits Orndorff to get down there with him. Finally, Paul agrees an lays own to arm-wrestle. Idol almost has him beat but Paul makes the big comeback and right as Paul is about to win, Idol gouges his eyes. Fucking beautiful bullshit. From there this turns into a brawl with Idol really giving it to Paul with big punches. Heyman is at ringside interfering. This is really fun. Chinlock from Idol is the base they start Paul’s comeback from. Paul is crazy intense going after Idol with a vengeance. Idol of course is great bumping & selling, but its cut off due to Heyman’s distraction. Heyman ends up costing Idol the match leading to Idol turning on him post match and kicking his ass before Lawler runs in and goes after Idol. This was an awesome bit of wrestling and a terrific post match. Austin Idol & Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee vs Eddie Gilbert & Doug Gilbert & Dirty White Boy (Hair vs Hair, Cage Match – USWA – 8/20/90) Last few minutes. Looks awesome. Goddmanit. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (TWA – 9/9/90) Idol is playing the badass babyface in this one and Lawler the cowardly heel. Cool to see them matched up in different roles than their all time classics. Lots of schtick & stooging & working the crowd early. Really fun stuff. Idol does the famous ball crushing spot on the post but its worked as a babyface spot. That’s some fun long-term storytelling. It doesn’t put Lawler in the hospital this time so Lawler composes himself and we get a little Hide-the-Chain. They do a fantastic job logically setting up Lawler using the chain without the ref seeing. Its really masterful stuff. I love the hide the foreign object game with Lawler. He’s the best ever at it. And Idol is one of his greatest rivals so they know exactly how to work together. They end up brawling up into the bleachers with Lawler taking a bump down the bleacher. Idol does his classic stumble selling back towards the ring. Back inside and Idol is just annihilates Lawler with a couple of right hands. Ref bump leads to Lawler going for the chain but he ends up missing his big shot and dropping it. Idol gets his hands on the chain right as the ref comes to and gets DQ’d. Classic turn of events. Post match is awesome with Lawler getting his ass kicked and them working their way back into the bleachers. Fantastic. Not for everybody but if you like schtick and Memphis style wrestling this is for you. Its perfect for me. Great stuff. Austin Idol & Al Perez vs Chris Adams & Kevin Von Erich (TWA – 9/15/90) Just like that less than a week after the last match Idol is back as a heel. He’s talking trash with the crowd riling them up. He’s bumping & stooging. Its really awesome to see him flip the switch like this in less than a week. Idol is just fantastic bumping & selling for Adams & Kevin. Its pretty funny because Perez is like one of the defining solid but forgettable wrestlers. He’s perfectly fine here but as soon as Idol gets involved the match jumps up a level. Fun match overall with an exciting brawling finish. If this was someone other than Perez its probably a great match with everyone else doing exactly the same everything else. Perez holds this back a little bit by getting extra chinlocky but it’s a worthwhile match for sure. Austin Idol vs Gary Young (USWA Title Round 1 – USWA – 10/8/90) Idol is back to being a babyface. Lots of stalling & schtick in this short match. Idol has a pretty easy time with Young. Fun while it lasts if you like this sort of all schtick & punches style. Austin Idol vs John Tatum (USWA Title Round 2 – USWA – 10/8/90) Tatum jumps Idol before the match and they brawl all over the arena with Tatum just kicking Idol’s ass. Back to the ring & the beating continues but Tatum gets too cocky. Idol turns the tables with a huge low blow and then gets some payback by taking Tatum all over the arena and beating him up. Old school BS finish with Tatum going for a pin with his feet on the ropes but the ref seeing and then Idol returning the favor without the ref seeing for the win. Not gonna blow you away but logical wrestling. Austin Idol vs Eddie Gilbert (USWA Title Semifinals – USWA – 10/8/90) Gilbert offers Idol 10K to back out of the match and then attacks Idol with a briefcase and follows that up by trying to choke Idol out. Eddie really just destroys Idol for a few minutes before Idol summons that Memphis babyface comeback adrenaline. Idol just goes after Gilbert’s leg and puts him away. Really wish this went longer. Would have loved a match between them in like 1987. Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (USWA Title Finals – USWA – 10/8/90) Idol knows Lawler has been through hell so he promises a technical wrestling match “In honor of our friendship.” He even offers him a few minutes rest. Lawler offers his hand to shake and Idol takes it and then kicks hi in the gut and starts punching him in the face. AMAZING. Lawler is great putting over the exhaustion from the beating he took early and Idol is just awesome here taking it to Lawler & strutting around to really complete the heel turn. Just fantastic stuff. Lawler is great bumping & selling as always. He’s one of the greatest ever so he can do it all. Idol is just awesome as a piece of shit heel. Lots of good intensity & violence in addition to some great schtick. Lawler with a comeback for the ages and Idol is obviously right at home selling & stooging for Lawler. Ref bump leads to Eddie Gilbert & Terry Funk running out to help destroy Lawler. I know its “bullshit” but its hard for me to complain about Terry Funk & eddie Gilbert showing up. Jeff Jarrett runs out to defend Lawler and this has really broken down into a crazy scene. Gilbert & Funk work together to murder Jeff Jarrett as Idol keeps working over Lawler. Fantastic scene. Austin Idol & Eddie Gilbert vs Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow (USWA – 12/26/90) About 5 minutes of clips. Looks awesome as usual.