[1983-01-01-CWA-TV] Bill Dundee & Jacques Rougeau & King Cobra vs Adrian Street & Jesse Barr & Apocalypse

[Loss]

Usually, the best expiration-of-time matches don’t strike me as just filling time, even though that’s all they are doing even in kayfabe presentation. But this never really shifted gears past the usual and became a back-and-forth wrestling match. The action was fine – Jacques showed some athletic promise and Jesse Barr looks like a very good early 80s worker -- but they didn’t build much heat until over halfway into the match, and when they did, it didn’t last. It’s hard for me to get into 80s matches where the heel doesn’t get some real time to dominate the action and work the crowd into a frenzy. Barr works the lion’s share of the match for his team, but Adrian Street seems to be the booking focus based on Dundee chasing him and the announcers talking about him more than he’s there. Apocalypse has an awesomely camp-looking mask, which makes it a little disappointing when he works like an ordinary heel. Cornette is at ringside and Dundee helps him earn his pay by chasing him around the studio and keeping him involved in the match. Cornette is fine here, but he hadn’t fully hit his stride as a manager yet, as he was still picking up tricks of the trade. Overall, I’d say this is a perfectly decent match that reinforces some of the big feuds at the time (mainly Dundee-Street) and presents Rougeau and Barr as two guys with potentially bright futures, but beyond that, it’s pretty average, without a sharp layout to make it sing.