goodhelmet Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 OK, our countdown to the finish line continues. Only a couple of more shows but they will be action packed. I need to see how long the match portion of Disc 11 is. It may have to be split into two shows. Anyway, going to start off tonight with my old reliables... Kris and Johnny Sorrow. Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (12/27/87) Original Midnight Express vs. Midnight Rockers (12/27/87) Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Midnight Rockers (January 1988) Badd Company vs. Midnight Rockers (2/19/88) Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (2/19/88) Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (3/19/88) The Nasty Boys vs. Rock n Roll Express (4/16/88) Jerry Lawler & Greg Gagne vs. Riki Choshu & Mr. Saito (5/14/88) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 How about going back and doing disc 1 since you started on disc 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 Maybe... Depends on who wants to actually go back and revisit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted April 27, 2013 Report Share Posted April 27, 2013 This first half of the disc was a bitch to rank. I thought every match was good to great, but so many shitty finishes in a row was rough. I normally don't give a shit about so called "bad finishes". It's Pro Wrestling, shit finishes are part of the deal, and I'll never understand where this whole "They used to have clean finishes" deal that people bitch about nowadays comes from. BUT, watching this many in a row...different story. 1. Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Midnight Rockers 2. Jerry Lawler & Greg Gagne vs. Riki Choshu & Mr. Saito 3.Original Midnight Express vs. Midnight Rockers 4. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig 5. Badd Company vs. Midnight Rockers 6. Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (12/27/87) 7. The Nasty Boys vs. Rock n Roll Express 8. Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (3/19/88) Honestly, I could change everything except my number one and two here in a blink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2013 I agree with Johnny. Once I get to my home comp, I'll post my rankings but with the exception of the Orton/Adonis tag, all of them were very good but those finishes got old real quick. Keep in mind, when we watch and nominate matches, we don't watch them by year. We watch a ton of bad matches with good matches sprinkled in so it is easy to nominate matches without seeing a pattern like a bunch of bad finishes in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted May 7, 2013 Report Share Posted May 7, 2013 Good tag team action on this set of matches but it really does feel like we are in the doldrums of AWA now. Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (12/27/87) - My favorite match between these two. Curt was bumping like crazy and the work he did on top was very good. Original Midnight Express vs. Midnight Rockers (12/27/87) - OMX between this run and their NWA stuff are not far behind Rose/Somers on my short tag team list. This was really good tag work with fun schtick and good balance of working on top and behind for the Rockers. Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Midnight Rockers (January 1988) - Holy crap a great match that I didn't expect from the huge as shit Adonis. Bob was also kingsized in this. Top 25. Badd Company vs. Midnight Rockers (2/19/88) - Disappointing match. Disjointed and to short to be anything special. Jerry Lawler vs. Curt Hennig (2/19/88) - Felt like this was setting up to be a great match then ended. disappointing finish but still around 75 overall. Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (3/19/88) - Ending of their feud. I have all of their matches besides 12/27 kind of lumped together. Again, while I did enjoy the feud I do think Curt could have been utilized better against someone else. The Nasty Boys vs. Rock n Roll Express (4/16/88) - Good sloppy fun but a little short. nasties offense looked well nasty. Jerry Lawler & Greg Gagne vs. Riki Choshu & Mr. Saito (5/14/88) - Choshu in AWA in 1988 brings a smile to my face. Lawler vs. Choshu singles would have been nice. Good mid range match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 The finish line is in sight. Agree with Johnny that W.C. Fields should be considered Basic Cultural Knowledge, even for the youth of today. Wahoo vs. Cool Curt And man does he look cool. Hennig is not happy about the idea of Wahoo chopping his throat. Wahoo would make a great stereotypical American cop eating donuts in a 50s musical. He has the perfect face for that. Some Mr. Perfect-style bumping now. I don't care what anyone says, I prefer Hennig as a heel. Pace of this is quite slow. Hennig tries to target Wahoo's leg, he responses with stiff chops before getting posted. He gets colour before long. A boy in the crowd is bored by Hennig's headlock. Hennig is aggressive now with a flurry of forearms and strikes. Eats a suplex. This match is a little meandering for my tastes, no real direction or flow. And slow on top of that. Hennig does some Arn-style drunk punch selling that doesn't really suit him. AWESOME suplex by Wahoo, sort of strange in that it seemed to hit side on. Snapmare. Insane bumps by Hennig off these chops now. The keynote of this match has been disjointed moments of excitement. INSANE Hennig bump from the slingshot over the top turnbuckle. The slug it out outside of the ring, obviously Curt comes off second best. He's been selling his ass off for Wahoo. Double count out. Think Wahoo was booked very very strongly here for an old guy, but what a perfromance from Hennig to make him look as good as that. Very wandering sort of match with a poor finish, so ... B- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Original Midnights vs. The Rockers Again, I'll make the point that for whatever reason, Randy Rose looks a lot less jobber-y here than he does in his NWA run. I think he lost a bit of weight in NWA and grew a disgusting mullet, and shaved his moustache off. HILARIOUS selling of an atomic drop by Condrey. Heyman is rubbing it now. LOL! Condrey is one of the best at this sort of shit. There's bit a lot of schtick and not a lot of action so far. A long shine sequence this and getting tedious. Jannetty looks good doing his flip from the arm wrench. Nice Condrey backbreaker on the outside on Shawn after a big bump. Suplex from Rose. Another Condrey backbreaker. Enjoying this control segment. Side slam from Rose. Neat little knee from Rose to cut off the hope spot. This is one of the better Randy Rose performances I've seen. I think easily Doug Somers > Randy Rose though. Condrey is in his element during this FIP sequence. Hot tag to Jannetty. Insade cradle! Thought that was it. No. Suplex by Condrey gets a ref bump. Confusing double pinfall sport. Rockers win! This was a very solidly worked match at a measured, steady pace. Should be top 50. B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Adonis and Orton vs. The Rockers If you squint your eyes a bit, Orton could pass for Hansen with that hat on. Adonis is very fat at this point. Strange that Orton would go to AWA from WWF. Another enjoyable FIP sequence with Shawn as Ricky Morton. Orton and Adonis have still got some goods in their offensive locker. Orton dishing out the suplexes and Adonis with a bulldog. I can hear a woman on commentary who gives 1988 ‘Pet of the Year’ Patty Mullen a run for her money. This is a pretty specific and obscure reference but she sounds A LOT like the digitized version of Mike McGuirk from the WWF Wrestlefest arcade game. SLINGSHOT INTO A CLOTHESLINE! Cool double shot Shit, Adonis dives stomach first onto Shawn's knees. Cool spot from Orton from the top. He's been great on offense in this match. Adonis with a running shoulder slam now. AWESOME neckbreaker by Orton. He's been amazing in this match. I recall really liking Orton at Starrcade 83 and he's a guy I'd love to see more of. I love great offensive workers. This was similar to the Original Midnights match only the heels had much cooler and more innovative offense, especially from Orton's end. This might be one of the real revelation matches of this set. Totally unexpectedly great, out of nowhere. Double count out doesn't detract too much. A- Wow, loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Will - if you or anyone else can find me the date of that Vegas Primetime show I'll upload it. Sounds awesome. Was Little Matt D actually khawk? He was one hardcore AWA fan. Badd Company vs. Rockers Must pause here to note that I am PUMPED for this, because The Orient Express vs. The Rockers were some of my favourite matches from WWF in the early 90s. I don't know what the consensus is on them now, but my memory of them is that they were legit great. I also love me some Pat Tanaka. God this crowd is thin. This starts out much slower than the match we've just seen, bit surprising considering who is involved. Disappointing for me. Very surprised at Badd Company getting a win here or winning the titles the next night. C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Jerry Lawler vs. The sauntering cool-as-fuck Curt Holy fuck what is Lawler wearing here? To keep my video game references going, he looks a bit like Wart from Mario 2. A lot of chickenshittery from Hennig to start here. Some great shots from Hennig into Lawler, who responds with a barrage of his own. Hennig bails again. He's done a lot of stalling now. Amazing guy in the crowd! This match needs to start now, enough of this stalling. Hennig thinks about a handshake. Collar-and-elbow tieup. Punch from Lawler. Fistdrop from the top. Left. Left. Right. Curt channels Bock with the King of the Mountain spot. Ridiculous Hennig bump now as he takes punch, walks across the ring and jumps OVER the top rope. Lawler gets posted. Double Countout? DQ. This match wasn't my scene at all. Some nice moments, but nothing to set my world on fire. C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Jerry, I am surprised you rated that Badd Company / Rockers match so low....I think both of their TV matches vs. Rockers in '88 were superb matches...really, not far down from their Rumble '91 match... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Maybe it suffered from coming right behind that great match with Adonis and Orton. Wahoo vs. Curt again Much shorter match and a dissappointing end to this series for me. Can't help but feel that Wahoo is a little long-in-the-tooth for a top of the card level feud like this. To make matters worse, Curt sells a chop that misses him by a country mile. C- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Adonis and Orton vs. The Rockers If you squint your eyes a bit, Orton could pass for Hansen with that hat on. Adonis is very fat at this point. Strange that Orton would go to AWA from WWF. Another enjoyable FIP sequence with Shawn as Ricky Morton. Orton and Adonis have still got some goods in their offensive locker. Orton dishing out the suplexes and Adonis with a bulldog. I can hear a woman on commentary who gives 1988 ‘Pet of the Year’ Patty Mullen a run for her money. This is a pretty specific and obscure reference but she sounds A LOT like the digitized version of Mike McGuirk from the WWF Wrestlefest arcade game. SLINGSHOT INTO A CLOTHESLINE! Cool double shot Shit, Adonis dives stomach first onto Shawn's knees. Cool spot from Orton from the top. He's been great on offense in this match. Adonis with a running shoulder slam now. AWESOME neckbreaker by Orton. He's been amazing in this match. I recall really liking Orton at Starrcade 83 and he's a guy I'd love to see more of. I love great offensive workers. This was similar to the Original Midnights match only the heels had much cooler and more innovative offense, especially from Orton's end. This might be one of the real revelation matches of this set. Totally unexpectedly great, out of nowhere. Double count out doesn't detract too much. A- Wow, loved it! Couldnt agree more with this...of everything I saw in '88...this was the best surprise of them all...I thought it would be good...but it was REAL good... Its a shame the AWA was where it was money wise and such...for a period in '87 into '88, their talent wasnt half bad...but I see the AWA with rose colored glasses as its what made me a HUGE fan.. Orton Adonis Hennig Slater Badd Company Gagne Wahoo DJ Peterson Soviets (Zuchov and Ustinov - I liked them) Lawler R 'N R (I know they didnt stay long, but could have if things were different) Nasty Boys Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski Madusa Not terrible in my opinion.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 I love the post WM 7 Primetime show with Koko showing Vince and Hennan how to do the bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 I agree with Jerry on that BC/Rockers match. Actually I think he's being to kind. I have yet to finish a ballot, but it's in my bottom five, if not bottom three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 Part of me feels like the Adonis tag is being somewhat overrated because of the flashy moves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 I agree with Jerry on that BC/Rockers match. Actually I think he's being to kind. I have yet to finish a ballot, but it's in my bottom five, if not bottom three. What didnt you like about it? Just curious... My love of this and all of it is really shaded as I LOVED the AWA growing up from 85-89 so most of it, even if most will consider not good, I will still love...just due to memories and fondness.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 To me it's at least partially a matter of expectations - that should have been a great match. Instead it felt like two teams going through the motions just waiting to get their pay day. In a sense I don't blame them given the condition of the AWA at the time, but there is literally nothing interesting or dynamic about the match at all. On the Adonis/Orton tag being overrated because of moves, I would argue that moves aren't innately bad and can help a match. This is an example of dynamic, interesting, violent looking offense helping a match. And again these two teams really had no incentive to work as hard as they did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 2, 2013 Report Share Posted August 2, 2013 Last two matches. Couldn't do my usual stream-of-consciousness because I was eating my dinner. The Nasty Boys vs. Rock n Roll Express Not a lot to write home about here, but this was marginally better than the Badd Company vs. Rockers match because 1. more going on, 2. some insane Morton bumps, 3. Saggs bleeding from mouth. C+ Jerry Lawler & Greg Gagne vs. Riki Choshu & Mr. Saito Combination of awesome cool combination and novelty factor, cool offense from the heels, the effectiveness of Lawler as FIP and the kickassery of Saito puts this ahead of most of the other matches in this grouping of 8. This is a very interesting time for the promotion. Clearly they are down and out and hanging on by a thread, but the weird combinations of guys is keeping this super fun. B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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