[1988-03-27-NWA-Clash of the Champions I] Midnight Express vs The Fantastics

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA US Tag Team Champions Midnight Express vs Fantastics - Clash of the Champions I

 

FUCKING AWESOME! Have loved this match for years nothing has changed, it is fucking incredible! If it was not for the Dusty Finish, this would be my choice for the greatest US tag team match of all time. I don't understand why it never gets *****, probably due to the finish who care they fucking deserve it! I almost feel like I don't need to write a review because everyone and their mother knows about this match and its sheer awesomeness. The energy and urgency is unreal. This is pro wrestling! This is what it gets me going! I will tell you what really added to this viewing watching the Pro match from the night before (3/26/88) which is a standard Southern tag with a big upset by the Fantastics in their debut. It really adds to that opening brawl. What a brawl! I was remarking on twitter the art of brawling is lost. I implore young talents to watch this, It is RAUCOUS MAYHEM! Then once it settles into a tag the party don't stop! Eaton is great taking that stooge bump. THE HOLY SHIT TRANSITION! Blind tag -> Total Elimination! Midnight Express are Gods and we are just mortals. I remember during the drop toehold and elbow sequence saying out loud "Bobby Eaton is fucking great!". Stan Lane's kicks looked awesome. Lane got mean in this too. Raking the eyes during the heat segment. Love that spot where Cornette holds up the table and they bash Roger's head into it. Fulton is great in trying to help Rogers, but hindering him at the same time. I forgot to mention there is a point in the opening brawl where Fulton hits such an awesome right to Eaton. Eaton punishing Rogers on the outside with bodyslam and bulldog on table was awesome. Rogers makes the tag but ref does not see it. I cant believe I forgot to mention Greensboro was MOLTEN for this throughout the match. Fulton is being impeded by the ref. Cornette is bashing Rogers with the racquet. Fulton basically says FUCK YOU AND TOSSES THE REF!!! CROWD LOSES THEIR SHIT! Cornette blitzes Eaton by accident with racket and Fulton clobbers Corny. ROCKET LAUNCHER~! TOMMY YOUNG 1-2-3!!!!!! Dusty Finish! BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Awesome post-match brawl with MX kicking some Fantastics ass DOUBLE FLAPJACK and then they WHIP HIM LIKE THE DOG HE IS! Corny likes it! He really likes it! Rogers saves with chair.

 

INSANE!!! The heat from the crowd and from the wrestlers just WOW! Everyone was turned to fucking 11! Love that brawl and what a heat segment. JUST WOW! Loved Fulton's reaction to the ref, the Rocket Launcher! It was important for MX to get some heat after losing the upset and then the visual Rocket Launcher loss so kicking ass at the end really adds heat to the rematch!!! Everybody stop being so damn stingy with your snowflakes! Writing this review, I actually think this is the greatest US tag match in history. *****

 

Cue the response, this was not even the best tag team match on the show. I will deal with you when I get to Luger/Windham vs Horsemen soon. Lol.

[KB8]

This match-up never fails to deliver. I don't even know how many MX/Fans matches I've seen by now, but from Texas to Oklahoma to North Carolina it's pretty much always money. If this isn't their best match together there's a decent chance it's their wildest. That first little stretch of chaos is so good, tables and chairs and tennis rackets all over the place, like some kind of alternate universe ECW that ran out of a flea market in Greensboro. Cornette was a sensational little irritant, swinging that racket and running for his life, at one point flinging a chair at Bobby Fulton's face, only for Fulton to catch it and send Cornette bolting so fast you expected his jacket to fly off. The heat segment on Rogers might be the best MX beatdown of them all and boy does that cover some major ground. The transition comes when Lane makes the blind tag and they catch him with an awesome chop block/leaping clothesline Total Elimination style, then from there they just run through all sorts of killer offence. Lane's karate was landing with a little extra mustard, Eaton was hitting body slams and a bulldog across a folded table, they rolled out the drop toe hold/running elbow double team, Cornette got involved again by holding up that table as a target for Tommy's head, it all ruled. You know you're onto something special when Eaton's blowing out his arse after running through his bag of tricks and Lane keeps tagging him back in anyway. The Dusty Finish had probably been run into the ground as a concept by this point, but Fulton was going apeshit on the apron the entire time Rogers was being mugged so you can certainly buy that missed hot tag being his tipping point. Extra points for the post-match whipping and this whole thing was the bomb. One of the best US tag matches ever.
 

[PhilTLL]

All of the matches in the 1988 part of this feud are great, and this is the wildest one with the craziest spots, befitting its place on the Mania-facing Clash 1. I like the Worldwide match from May more, but this is excellent and the heat is off the meter. You know you're watching all of Clash 1 anyway--it's one of the best shows of all time--but get extra hyped for this, because it's quite possibly MOTN.

[cactus]

This is a textbook example on how you do tag team wrestling right! They all time their transitions perfectly and the crowd are molten hot whenever The Fantastics are able to make a comeback. Cornette was a treat to watch at ringside. Him mouthing off to the camera after he realised that he's been caught assisting The Midnights with a table spot was gold. I can take or leave the Dusty Finish, but I did wonder why the referee didn't disqualify any of the times for using weapons at the start of the match.

★★★★