NWA On Demand

[shoe]

This is the 2 ring 6 man tag match gimmick. At 1st this was hard to follow. Then we got the hard camera straight ahead. I really focused on the ring with Duggan/Sweetan vs Tito/Apollo. I got to say Sweetan and Duggan made a real effective team and worked over Tito really good. I felt those 3 really carried this to a fun match. They sort of ignored the one ring and let 2 guys go at it with a little cross over. The key ring was the blue one and they told a real effective story. 3*

[goc]

With all the matches I haven't seen yet, I can't explain why I decided to re-watch Tully vs. El Bracero. But man that might be one of the most fun matches I have ever seen. Some young wrestler out there really needs to watch that match and completely steal El Bracero's act because I think it could get over big today.

[goc]

With all the matches I haven't seen yet, I can't explain why I decided to re-watch Tully vs. El Bracero. But man that might be one of the most fun matches I have ever seen. Some young wrestler out there really needs to watch that match and completely steal El Bracero's act because I think it could get over big today.

 

 

[Matt D]

I say watch Mil vs Duggan and Dusty vs Patera. I need to look at the broader list.

[shoe]

Funk-Lewin is a must, Gordy-Doc txdm, Lothario/Conway Jr vs Mr. Hito/Sakurada, the Tully/Mil brawl , Slater vs Reed Bounty Match, and tons of other stuff you need to see Goc.

[goc]

Thanks for the recommendations. I saw the Gordy/Doc match the last time I had a sub but everything else is on my watch list. Good to know that the Lothario/Conway tag match is something you liked because it was something that stood out to me when I was surfing around the site to see all the stuff that's been uploaded over the past 4-5 months.

[Matt D]

Lothario everything, basically. The Slater/Stomper match was really cool. Did we mention that yet?

[goc]

Lothario everything, basically. The Slater/Stomper match was really cool. Did we mention that yet?

I'm gonna watch everything Jose Lothario related that I haven't seen yet because it's Jose

Trust me, I'm the last person you need to sell on watching Lothario matches. The man finished in my top 75 for GWE. I just wish we had some stuff of him from like the early 70s. He's so good as an obviously past his physical prime old guy that I'd love to see what he was like when he still had all his tools.

[Matt D]

You'll get a kick out of the Boesch matches.

 

Oh, add Brisco vs Spoiler to the list too.

[shoe]

I loved Harley vs El Halocon. Butch Reed vs Slater bounty match.

[BruceTharpe]

Surprise! We have another JOSE LOTHARIO match as he teams up with two Mexican heels! It's ANYTHING GOES with Mexico vs. Japan as JOSE LOTHARIO / BULL RAMOS and GRAN MARKUS face PROF. TANAKA / HITO and SAKURADA - managed by James J. Dillion in Two out of Three Falls!

[shoe]

On the Booker T interview by JBL he mentions he was so excited to do a contract signing angle because of his memories of Superstar Billy Graham turning the table on Jose Lohario in 78. I thought that was a neat bit.

[goc]

Lothario/H.Guerrero vs Kruschev/Ito

 

 

 

 

Jose Lothario has been a favorite of mine on the Houston footage. He's a guy who was considered a big deal in Texas. Finally we're getting footage of him and understanding why.

 

This is JIP about 5 minutes in.The match is more of a backdrop for the Guerrero heel turn. We see a little shine from Lothario and Guerrero. At one point Lothario delivers an amazing looking knee drop. So we Lothario as FIP. It's set up by a rope run into an Ito knee into the back. This results in some back work . Eventually Lothario is busted open. Their is some work on the cut, but they don't want to take away from the story which is the turn. Lothario picks Khruschev up for a slam and nails Hector. Fast forward a bit and Lothario trys to tag Guerrero in, but he walks off. This leaves Lothario to get pinned. Hopefully we get more Lothario/Guerrero action on the horizon.We get a post match Lothario promo. 2 1/2*

I watched this because it had 3 guys I really like (and Darsow) but it didn't do a whole lot for me. Thought the thing with Jose picking up Khruschev for a bodyslam and hitting Hector looked pretty weak .

 

 

Jose Lothario vs Hector Guerrero

 

This was just a hate filled brawl. Both guys bleeding. Lothario's punches were so on point. Hector bumping big for them. Hector's punches were pretty great too. We got nasty chair shots. The crowd was going crazy here. These guys were so awesome. The brawling was so intense. I totally bought into the finish. 4 1/4*

This made up for the disappointment of the tag match. This is the first singles match between these 2 after the turn in the tag match and they don't waste any time getting right into the hate. Just an awesome brawl and it can't be said enough just how good Jose's punches are. The enforcement of the rules is a little wonky with Jose getting away with 2 chairshots inside the ring in full view of the referee but it doesn't really take away from the match. A really nice set up for the Mexican Death Match.

[shoe]

JOSE LOTHARIO / BULL RAMOS and GRAN MARKUS face PROF. TANAKA / HITO and SAKURADA

 

Holy crap this was awesome. I don't think their was one wrestling hold used. It was just a bunch of punches. I was really impressed with Bull Ramos here.

 

The 1st fall we get an early shine with Lothario and Ramos just punching everyone in sight. I enjoyed how the heels went after Ramos arm. Which as we learned on commentary he's a former golden glove champ. So the heels are trying to take away his biggest weapon. Marcus gets in and the heels just swarm him with rabbit punches into the kidney's.. He fights them off and tags out to Ramos and he's just kicking ass and finishes off the heels with a running splash.

 

Fall 2 and they just get heat on Marcus .He's fighting back showing great fire. Eventually they finish them off.

 

Fall 3 and it's on. Just a wild out of control brawling.I really liked how the heels went back to working over Marcus' back. While all of this brawling was going on Lothario hits bombs away from the top rope for the win.

 

Their were moments of slopiness, but man I enjoyed the pace, and it felt hate filled. 4 1/4*

[goc]

Watched the Jack Brisco vs. Spoiler match this morning and liked it a bunch. Both those guys are really good at working holds and keeping things interesting. The only thing I didn't like is how little Gary Hart sold for Jack Brisco but that's just Gary Hart's usual shit. This might actually be the first full non-clipped singles match I've ever seen Jack Brisco in and I really want to see more. Really good at working from underneath, having a ton of fire and a great seller.

[shoe]

They mentioned in the Observer that the Wrestling Gold guys are going to be doing a Houston DVD. I'm assuming they are working some deal out with Bruce. It just seems that news broke, that we haven't gotten an upload.

[Johnny Sorrow]

The Wrestling Gold guys? 😀

[shoe]

The actual bit from the Observer.

 

Kit Parker, who produced the Wrestling Gold DVD's that I announced with Jim Cornette in the 90s, is releasing "Houston Wrestling Spectacular," which will be DVD releases of some of the best matches from the Sam Houston Coliseum in the 70s and early 80s. Scott Williams was instrumental in picking out the best matches from the era for the DVD, which will include the much-talked about Johnny Valentine vs. Wild Bull Curry match which looks almost like an MMA fight due to the amazing work of Valentine, before a gimmicked pro wrestling finish.

[goc]

RICKY MORTON and KEN LUCAS vs. TULLY BLANCHARD and GINO HERNANDEZ!

 

 

This was a really good tag match. What the guys do with 14 minutes is pretty impressive. We get a brawl to start.This pisses the faces off and they toss the heels over the top rope. The next 2 falls were just a great southern tag. Ken Lucas was great at providing the glue. While Morton was working at a clip ahead of his time. He even uses a rana. While Gino and Tully had swagger and were both great at stooging and at getting heat. The crowd was with the match the entire time.3 3/4*

I liked this a lot too. I liked the way they got the first fall out of the way really quick by having Lucas & Morton get disqualified for tossing Tully & Gino over the top rope. This had a kind of unique structure because it was mostly the heel team that was in trouble during the whole match with the FIP section being pretty short. I liked the finish too because it put over that even when Gino & Tully were outmatched by their opponents they could still figure out a way to cheat themselves to a victory. I thought Ricky Morton looked really good here too so it was nice to see that he had already kind of reached his peak a year before the Rock N Roll Express even formed.

[goc]

Just watched JYD/Duggan vs. Neidhart/Big John Studd and although it was a pretty basic match there was still enough there to keep me entertained. I knew there would be better matches on the site but I just couldn't resist seeing Duggan & JYD team up.

 

The sequence where Neidhart did a headlock takeover and JYD countered into a head scissors was a big "whoa did that just happen??" moment for me. Duggan doing a sunset flip was also kind of mind boggling. The finish was pretty good with a lot of Studd & Neidhart stumbling into each other leading to Studd shoving Neidhart around after the match. Seemed like they were setting up a Studd face turn and a match against Neidhart but I didn't look at results for the shows following this match so I'm not sure if that actually happened.

[grapplin' apple]

I don't know if anyone mentioned Spoiler vs. Wahoo, but that's a must watch.

 

All of the Midnights vs. TA/Wrestling 2 matches are amazing as well.

 

This isn't a great match, but the Duggan vs. Volkoff cage match has as much heat as any wrestling match I've ever seen.

[goc]

Texas Tornado match.

 

This is a Texas Tornado match. Right when Another One Bites the Dust plays the crowd goes crazy. This is super heated. We get a super fun spot to start. Then the rest is kick punch and it works. These guys though come across that they hate each other. That's the key. It's all in the drama. Post match Butch Reed joins the Russians and the heat turns into an inferno. We get trash thrown into the ring. Tito Santana out to even the odds. Post match promos from the faces to boot. 3 1/4*

This match was fucking king-sized. A lot of times a Texas Tornado match just feels like chaos but this had a lot of structure to it, and I liked how they kept kind of resetting to Duggan & JYD standing back to back in the early part of the match. The finish and the post match are wild, especially Dr. Death's bumps for Butch Reed's shoulder tackle and the way Darsow just TOSSED little Pee Wee Anderson in the air. This might be the most pissed off I've ever seen Houston crowd as they were throwing trash in the ring like it was a 1996 nWo segment. Tito running out to make the save really popped the crowd and man everything about this match ruled.

 

It's too bad the follow up 6 man wasn't very good because they set the table really well here.

 

[goc]

 

Wahoo vs Tully

This is an Indian Strap match. We haven't had an upload n a bit, and then bam!!!! This was great. They're strapped up and it's on. At one point they're on the floor. Tully tugs on the strap and Wahoo goes right into the corner. This shakes the whole ring. Tully does it again, and again the ring shakes. At this point Wahoo is busted open. Tully is all over the cut just destroying Wahoo. Another nasty spot was Tully giving the knee to Wahoo's back and takes a huge bump to the floor. Wahoo sells great here. When he makes his comeback it's huge. Tully is busted open and Wahoo makes him pay. Man this match was violent and stiff. 3 1/2*

 

I liked this a lot, maybe my 2nd favorite strap match after the legendary Carlos Colon vs Stan Hansen match. They do a good job of using the unique stipulations and I really liked that they didn't do the usual "both guys touch the corners and fight over who gets the fourth one" finish. I like my 80s stipulation matches to be hate filled and bloody and this delivered.

[Phil Schneider]

The actual bit from the Observer.

 

Kit Parker, who produced the Wrestling Gold DVD's that I announced with Jim Cornette in the 90s, is releasing "Houston Wrestling Spectacular," which will be DVD releases of some of the best matches from the Sam Houston Coliseum in the 70s and early 80s. Scott Williams was instrumental in picking out the best matches from the era for the DVD, which will include the much-talked about Johnny Valentine vs. Wild Bull Curry match which looks almost like an MMA fight due to the amazing work of Valentine, before a gimmicked pro wrestling finish.

 

Johnny Valentine v. Bully Curry is fucking awesome, but that match looks nothing like a MMA fight, I really have no idea what Meltzer is talking about

[goc]

Thornton vs Diamond

 

I really loved this match.They meshed the British style with the southern style seamlessly. Thornton brought this real rugged technical style that really generated heat with the crowd. Diamond sold really well.When Diamond was on offense he didn't look smooth, but it was focused. I loved the finish to the 3rd fall, and it was a match that made both guys. Watching Thornton work over Diamond was a real joy. 4*

I decided to watch this because I remembered both Matt and shoe talking about how good this was and yea go ahead and count me in. There's nothing fancy about this match but everything is done really well with good selling and a nice sense of escalation. I really want to see more from Thornton after this match because I know Don Diamond probably isn't as good as Thornton made him look in this one. One thing to say for Don Diamond is that he is definitely in the top 5 for best curly fros of the 80s.