[1980-09-12-Houston Wrestling] Gino Hernandez vs Mark Lewin

[shoe]

This was just one hellacious fight. Gary Hart worked his ass off here too. Lewin is much better as a walking tall face. The first fall was high energy. Hart sets up the heat by posting Lewin 2 or 3 times on the outside. Eventually Lewin turns the table and posts Hart. Now the comeback here is great with both heels feeding him. The 2nd fall is great with Gino bumping and eating all Lewin's offense.. Gino slows the pace down to get some heat. Then we build to the finish. The 3rd fall is all chaos, but quick. At the end Gary Hart's jacket is ripped up. This was a great Gary Hart performance, Lewin played his role spot on, and Gino was great with all the little stuff. 3 1/2

[SAMS]

1980-09-12
Houston Wrestling
Gino Hernandez (c) vs. Mark Lewin
NWA American Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA
Card
★

This was everything I feared going in. Gino was with Gary Hart, and while I’ll give him props for being active, I found it mildly infuriating how easy it was for him to interfere, as at times it seemed like the referee was wilfully ignoring him.
Mark Lewin was undeniably over like gangbusters and the crowd were primed and ready to explode when he won the first fall early, however my issue is that it was literally only a few chops to the head and Gino was out for the count, not even a token leg twitch when he ate the pin. The second fall had Gino on top, but utilising a nerve hold instead of anything actually interesting. This went on for about five minutes and after another Gary Hart distraction Gino came off the top with a very blah looking forearm and Lewin was similarly out cold.
Lewin had his hands full dealing with both Gino in the ring and Hart outside of it, and I appreciated that they were consistent with this narrative thread throughout. Lewin ended up chasing Hart, tearing his jacket and choking him with it against the turnbuckle pillar. Unsurprisingly, Lewin was so distracted that he forgot that the referee was counting and ended up losing due to the countout, while a basically unconscious Gino (having been taken out by the Shanghai Sleeper earlier) won on a mere technicality. I get that this is the point, Gino picking up the cheap win, but it was more due to Lewin’s absent mindedness than anything Gino did. An argument could be made that Hart’s constant annoyance was the catalyst for Lewin’s actions, but it certainly wasn't enough of a reason to justify it for me.