[1984-05-11-Houston Wrestling] Rock & Roll Express vs Midnight Express

[shoe]

This is a non title match. The 1st match between the 2 legendary teams in Houston. This is coming off the huge match between Midnight Express vs Bill Watts and Stagger Lee that drew a 102,000 house. Here they drew a 60,000 house which is around 8,000 people.

 

This match was awesome and deserving of their legend of the teams. The crowd is super hot. Both teams get incredible reactions just by high fiving their partners. A lot of wrestlers in today's era would pay their salary to get a reaction like that. The 1st few minutes is both teams playing to the crowd. Establishing a dynamic with them. Taking their time. We see both Gibson and Morton do rope running spots by using a headlock and hair pull. I'm a sucker for that spot. In a rope running spot Eaton nails Morton in the back with the racquet to set up the heat. What a heat segment it is. Condrey stomps the back and follows up with posting his back. Eaton sledgehammers the back and follows up with a back breaker. The back work goes on with quick tags. This is all awesome stuff. They toss Morton over the top rope. They distract the ref and toss him over the other side of the ring. Not to dismiss him, but Cornette is working hard here. On the floor Eaton nails Morton with a chair. In ring Eaton nails a nasty power slam. Morton getting close to the tag. Eaton runs across the ring and nails Gibson before he can make the tag. Gibson has had enough and runs over and hip tosses Morton to his side. I hate that spot but the crowd ate it up. Gibson is in and on fire. Eaton pulls the rope again and Gibson bumps to the floor. It looks like Gibson is going to play FIP too, but it's all a miss direction. In a nice payback Morton trips up one of the MX which allows Gibson to score the pin. The heels try to convince the ref that the Rock n Roll used a chain, but it's a lie. The crowd calls them out on their bull shit. Great match and hopefully we have more to come of this feud 4 1/4*

[Tim Cooke]

Not much to say that shoe didn't already cover. And just think, we have 2 more regular tags between these teams and then their scaffold match in Houston (which I forget if it is the DVDVR set one or new).

 

Morton's headscissors/lucha arm drag combination popped the crowd huge, both teams were so over that just high fives showdown at the beginning of the match garnered more heat than most modern matches. Just fantastic.

[Johnny Sorrow]

That fucking ref stunk.

[Makai Club #1]

The atmosphere was off the charts for this match. Clear faces and heels in this match; girls screaming for R'n'R Express (and I do mean screaming) and everyone booing MNX when they do even the slightest thing. It's pretty incredible. You don't see this these days. The chemistry between the two was apparent. They bounced off each other, they knew what they could do to get the best from each other. Rock and Roll selling the entire match with Midnight Express cutting off the ring, attacking the arm, constantly using the rules to their advantage, cheating along the way. But that hot tag was pretty damn hot, loved how they teased Midnight Express getting control back when Gibson came in as well. Just a lovely touch I thought. ****1/4

[Superstar Sleeze]

Mid-South Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Midnight Express - Houston 5/11/84

Rock N Roll is King! Some of the best hair pulling psychology you will ever see. I marked out for Bobby Eaton crossing his heart that he was telling the truth that Gibson had been pulling his hair even though he was obviously lying. The crowd and I were eating this all up with a spoon. This is the Midnight Express at their best doing elaborate comedy routines that no one else could ever pull off nor ever have the thought process to flesh out so well. I liked the two second highspot after all this hair pulling where Morton kept kicking Eaton's hand away from tagging in. So Eaton gets fed up and charges in and Morton does his headscissors/headlock takeover. Eaton says "Fuck you" and nails him with the racquet as he is running the ropes. I really liked the beginning of the heat segment. Lots of work on the back and then they throw Morton over the top rope behind the ref's back. I love all this playing to the crowd saying he they did or did not do it throughout the match. Then they settle into working the hammerlock and the arm. I find that many Ricky Morton heat segments go longer than they need to. Again, I thought this got a little long in the tooth. The MX did a great job with frequent tags and either keeping Morton away or knocking Gibson off the ring. Gibson gets fed up and nails both MX and then hiptoses Morton into their corner. Well thats one way to get the hot tag! The crowd POPS HUGE! Gibson decks everything, Typical to the RNR formula the hot tag is ended abruptly when the MX throws Gibson out. I thought for sure they were going to have Morton tag back in. So many times Morton ends up being his own hot tag. Instead Eaton comes crashing down on Morton as he is checking on Gibson. The MX try to use a chain, but Morton trips them both up and Gibson hits a cross body. 1-2-3! RNRs retain but wait the MX claim that Gibson had used the chain! Wow I love it! Messing with the ref's mind to end. I think it is very important and great that RNRs came back cleared the MX and had their hands raised in victory. It shows without a doubt they won the match. Today, too many times no one holds the heels accountable for their lies so it is good there is no ambiguity that the good guys won and overcame the cheating. I think the highlight of this match that makes it very different from so many other pro wrestling matches is how involved the ref is and how the psychology is really about messing with the ref's mind. I wouldnt want to see it in every match, but it makes this match standout and unique so I dug it. Like I said Morton's heat segment lasted a little too long, but thats my only complaint, this is another great Midnight Express vs Rock N Roll Express match! ****

[Suplex-12]

The definition of a Southern Tag. This match has such a hot crowd that are into everything from the high five showdown before the brilliant shine that is a classic Rock N Roll vs. Midnight Express shine ending with Ricky Morton doing that brilliant headscissors/headlock highspot. The transition to Face In Peril is brilliant with Eaton using the racket to whack Morton's back, I also think that this was maybe a bit too long of selling for Morton but that damn hot tag transition for Gibson was awesome with the hip toss and the tease that the Midnight might regain control with the use of a chain before Morton trips Eaton and Robert hits the crossbody on Dennis Condrey to win the match. The aftermath involving Cornette and the Midnight claiming that the Rock N Roll Express had used the chain before the Rock N Roll show they didn't use the chain and they won fair and square is the cherry on top. As I said this is a classic example of the Southern Tag formula being used to perfection combined with such an engaged crowd.

****1/4