W2BTD Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 As I work my way back through 1988 & 1989 Clash's & PPV's (particularly the Clash's), the running theme is that The Fantastics are the best workers on nearly every show they appear on. I remembered them being really good, but they were really, REALLY good. And '88-'89 may not even be their peak. I'm a Midnight's fan but The Fantastics blow them away during the period. Anyway, I couldn't find a thread, so here it is. Let's talk about The Fantastics. Interested to see what people think, and i'll have more detailed thoughts later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 I am interested to hear people's thoughts on who thought they thought was better on the team. Outside of the Rockers, I cant think of a more even team. I know that a lot people say Rogers was better than Fulton and I can buy that from an athletic standpoint, but I thought Bobby had a very solid grasp on wrestling psychology. I have really only seen their Crockett stuff from '88-'89 and loved it. I prefer MX/Fans to MX/RnRs overall. I don't think I would go so far to say the Fantastics were better than the MX, but they are one of my favorite babyface tag teams. At work, I can expand some more later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Me and Parv generally agreed when watching them that when Bobby Fulton was on, he was really on and the best member of the team but he had a sharper decline once the fantastics started being "unhip" around 1989. I generally agree that they were better than the Midnights throughout most of 1988-1989. Midnights then have the incredible 1990 run though when rather justifiably or not, the Fantastics felt fairly played out in Crockett. They are a team that has a great period from 1984-1989 ish and then some fun stuff in the All Japan Days (even with the Fulton brothers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazeUSA Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 im currently watching the midsouth house show sets i have & there work there is awesome, lots of matches against Eddie Gilbert & others, great stuff to see as I had never saw any of that stuff before, I've also been re-visiting the wccw tape converts I got from Goodhelmet about a year ago & love there work in that territory as well, I would have liked to have seen how they matched up in the WWF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Cooke Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 The Fantastics are a great team and their matches with the Midnight Express were some of my favorite US tag matches of all time. But I don't think they were better than the Midnight Express and head to head against the Rock n Roll Express, the RnR are usually going to win out for me. And I don't think they are better than Eaton/Lane, none the less Eaton/Condrey. Tommy Rogers was the steady guy of the team, always great. Bobby Fulton, when he was on, was very good but if he was off, it wasn't fun. I would say that 1988 is their peak as a team but it's really a 3 months peak. Their debut in Norfolk on Pro from March 12, the WTBS studio brawl on March 19, Clash I on March 27, winning the tag titles on Worldwide in Chattanooga on April 26, and the straight jacket angle on WTBS *is* their 1988. The Great American Bash match is a major disappointment, as the Baltimore crowd doesn't buy their act and even though the FIP segment with Rogers features some of the best MX offense ever, it doesn't make up for the first part of the match that just doesn't connect with the crowd. I think the Gilbert/Simmons match from later on that year is okay but it makes me think the driving force behind the great 1988 matches was the Midnight Express. I'm not too high on the Fantastics Mid South/UWF matches. Their World Class matches against the MX are very good and on an old Barnett tape, he had the first five minutes of a Chris Adams/Gino Hernandez vs Fantastics match that looked tremendous but just cut off after 5-6 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 I've gone on record many times saying that I prefer The Fantastics over The RnR Express which isn't a slight to the RnR's but I think the Fants carried a harder edge than the RnR did. The Fants were modeled after the Fabs and they were almost as good as them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W2BTD Posted May 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 The Fantastics are a great team and their matches with the Midnight Express were some of my favorite US tag matches of all time. But I don't think they were better than the Midnight Express and head to head against the Rock n Roll Express, the RnR are usually going to win out for me. And I don't think they are better than Eaton/Lane, none the less Eaton/Condrey. Tommy Rogers was the steady guy of the team, always great. Bobby Fulton, when he was on, was very good but if he was off, it wasn't fun. I would say that 1988 is their peak as a team but it's really a 3 months peak. Their debut in Norfolk on Pro from March 12, the WTBS studio brawl on March 19, Clash I on March 27, winning the tag titles on Worldwide in Chattanooga on April 26, and the straight jacket angle on WTBS *is* their 1988. The Great American Bash match is a major disappointment, as the Baltimore crowd doesn't buy their act and even though the FIP segment with Rogers features some of the best MX offense ever, it doesn't make up for the first part of the match that just doesn't connect with the crowd. I think the Gilbert/Simmons match from later on that year is okay but it makes me think the driving force behind the great 1988 matches was the Midnight Express. I'm not too high on the Fantastics Mid South/UWF matches. Their World Class matches against the MX are very good and on an old Barnett tape, he had the first five minutes of a Chris Adams/Gino Hernandez vs Fantastics match that looked tremendous but just cut off after 5-6 minutes. Do you happen to know the date on that Barnett comp? He usually cataloged them by date, unless you ended up with some 5th gen copy where the date was lost along the way. I have a pile of Barnett comps laying around somewhere, some of which I never got around to watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Rogers' recovery during the Malenko/Kikuchi match after Kikuchi falls off the ropes is one of the smoothest things I've ever seen watching wrestling. The match itself is insane, both in the good way and the bad way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 One of my dream matches is to see The Nightmares wrestle The Fantastics anywhere between 86-88. The Fantastics definitely feel like a really under rated or "forgotten" team. I really had never even heard of them before the Mid-South set but I have to agree with people saying they were better against MX than RNR was. They had some really good matches with MX on the Mid-South set and I thought their match from the first Clash of the Champions was even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victory Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 I remember going to a WWF show in January 85 and before I left the house I watched the World Class show. They showed a MX vs. Fantastics match. I remember really digging it and becoming a fan of the Fantastics from that day forward. I always thought ring work wise they were better than the RNR like many have already mentioned. Although the RNR had a better gimmick, I enjoyed the Fantastics more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Cooke Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 American Classics #6 has the Fantastics vs Gino/Adams match Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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