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This is for the NWA Title in the pre-Corgan NWA era, and Colt Cabana is the special referee. Colt vs. Pearce was the main storyline they were heading in for the title at this point. It is a very young Willie Mack, but you can already see his charisma and in his mannerisms that he can get the crowd behind him. They are clearly going for a Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes vibe here, even down to the early flip flop and fly elbow from Mack and there’s lots of babyface shine from the challenger early on. Pearce is very good as the old school stooging, stalling heel, but if we are all honest, pretty boring on offence. I do appreciate the way he carries himself in his 80s throwback style, but he was never the most thrilling or dynamic of wrestlers. The match is therefore at its best when Pearce is selling for Mack’s explosive offence, and given his limited experience, Mack is very good here. Cabana threatens to award the title to Mack when Pearce is threatening to get counted out but ends up getting taken out when on the outside. He manages to recover to stop Pearce using the title and gives Mack a nearfall, before he then accidentally takes Willie out when going for Pearce. From there the match breaks down into more of an angle for a Pearce vs. Cabana match, but I guess a schmoz ending is a fitting tribute to an 80s style title match. I enjoyed the old school presentation – something I’m a sucker for, and before the ending we were trending to (***) but settled on (** ¾)

This is for Peter Avalon’s Hollywood Heritage Title, and in contrast to the current AEW version of Avalon, he is the hometown babyface champion. I like that Myers – as the ex WWE superstar – goes in over cocky and underestimating Avalon, so we get lots of fun underdog babyface shine at the beginning, before Myers has to cheat to get the advantage. Classic wrestling storytelling 101. Myers offence is basic and there’s a few too many chinlocks, but its good for building heat in a ‘small room’ environment and this is not a setting where a crowd are begging for a super workrate PWG style match. Avalon has good fire, and I like that as he is outgunned, his nearfalls come from sequences of moves making it more believable on his bigger, more experienced opponent. Thought the finish came out of nowhere and that a better option would’ve been a pin off Myers missing a spear for more of a pop. Myers is far from the most exciting or dynamic performer, but he’s a decent pro (as his current gimmick in Impact says) who does the basics well. The match told a simple storyline of the plucky face and the cocky, over-confident heel that gets caught out, which is all that wrestling needs to be sometimes. (***)