Mike Miller & Dizzy Hogan vs. Brett Sawyer & Tommy Rogers (2/3 falls) (5/22/82)

[goodhelmet]

Mike Miller & Dizzy Hogan vs. Brett Sawyer & Tommy Rogers (2/3 falls) (5/22/82)

Disc 4

[garretta]

First fall: ​Hack and Rogers are meant to be the attraction here, as Miller and Beefcake (which is what I'll call him throughout this post) are portrayed as a couple of big lugs who just can't seem to get it together as a team. There are at least two major miscommunication spots where one guy hits the other by accident, and at least one occasion where Miller ignores Beefcake's call to come in and doubleteam Hack.

 

The faces take advantage of a Miller distraction of Sandy to gain the fall, as they hit a double dropkick on Beefcake to get the pin and go up one fall to none with about thirteen minutes of disc time remaining.

 

To be perfectly honest, I spent a lot of the fall wondering what it would be like if it was the Fantastics in the ring with Valentine and Beefcake. Not that this match was exactly boring, but as I said above Miller and Beefcake are clearly not on any kind of equal or close terms with Tommy and Hack, who are quicker, smarter, and more skilled. I guess that's the point of this particular match, but I'd rather have seen them in a more competitive bout with the likes of the Army.

 

Frank completely ignores Hack's earlier singles match, which I guess is because of the syndicated show where both matches may not appear. Hack doesn't seem overly tired either, although he plays FIP when the situation calls for it.

 

I don't get why Beefcake has such a bad reputation as a worker. He certainly knows the basics here, and he never set out to be a technical genius regardless of what gimmick he used. Did he pale in comparison to Valentine when they were together? You bet he did. So did Johnny Valiant; I've said for years that Greg did the work of all three guys, both verbally and physically, when the Dream Team was together. But put with a guy like Miller who was closer to his own skill set, Beefcake did his part and did it well.

 

My favorite spot of the fall was when Beefcake wanted to tag Miller, but couldn't because he and Tommy (I think) were squashing him in the corner, thus keeping him in the ring. I haven't seen that spot very often at all, which is too bad, as it both looked good and made sense.

 

Frank's puzzlement over the cheers that came when Buddy's return was announced seemed a bit naïve, but I guess he wanted to get across the idea that Buddy was still supposed to be a heel, no matter how loudly some may have cheered him at a given time.

 

No mention yet of Dizzy Hogan's brother Hulk, although that could change during the next two falls.

 

​Second fall: ​The heels get it together a bit during this fall, trapping Hack in the ring. There's a bit of a four-way slugfest on the floor that comes to nothing, and Beefcake eventually gets the pin on a worn-down Hack with a nice-looking powerslam to even the bout at a fall apiece with about five and a half minutes of disc time remaining.

 

The main thing that stood out during this fall was a rather strange rules interpretation from Sandy. Miller and Beefcake made a seemingly illegal switch early in the fall, only for Sandy to let it stand because, even though they didn't tag, he believed that they were in a position where they could ​have.

 

Okay, so now we've established that there's really no such thing as an illegal tag in Portland. I'll remember that the next time Sandy disallows a babyface's obviously legal tag just because he didn't happen to see it. Seriously, I'm wondering if Frank may have been covering for a mistake on Sandy's part, because a ruling like this kills the purpose of tag team matches. Why not just have all four guys in the ring at the same time if the tag rules mean nothing?

 

I'm not saying as much about the match as I usually do because there's no standout work here. Even though it's a TV main event, it's the very definition of a competent but unspectacular midcard tag match. I doubt it would have even made the set if it hadn't featured Beefcake in an earlier incarnation.

 

I wonder what was so embarrassing about Frank's part in the Marv Tonkin Ford commercial that was shown between falls.

 

​Third fall: ​Hack continues as the FIP here for most of this fall, as the heels target his lower back, particularly with bearhugs. But Hack eventually fights back and tags Tommy, then whips Miller (the legal man for the heels) to the ropes. Tommy catches him on the rebound with a picture-perfect Thesz press (called a "vertical bodypress" by Frank) and scores the winning fall, much to the heels' chagrin.

 

I wonder how Ed Leslie's life would have been different if he'd been allowed to be Dizzy Hogan in the WWF. I guess Vince didn't want anyone to share Hulk's spotlight, and the Beefcake gimmick in its original form probably did more for Leslie than Dizzy Hogan would have: he got a tag team title run with Valentine, plus at least two televised matches (Philadelphia and Landover, Maryland) with his "brother" that he wouldn't have had otherwise, at least until the inevitable heel turn.

 

Tommy and Hack looked good enough here to be a full-time team, but Hack was probably best used in Portland as a singles star. As late as early 1984, his return for a brief tour is given equal billing with a similar return by Piper, and that's pretty heady company for Portland. I can't wait to see his other match with Flair that's on this disc, plus his matches with Buddy from earlier in the decade.