[1988-04-23-NWA-World Championship Wrestling] Lex Luger & Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Tag Team Champions Lex Luger & Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - NWA World Championship Wrestling 4/23/88

 

Great tag team wrestling from these four. They did a great job emphasizing how important tagging is. Loved the heel in peril at the beginning Tully is so great at making faces look like a million bucks and Luger & Windham were so energetic. Loved how they would taunt the Horsemen by letting Tully getting close then dragging him away. Also fun was turning the "ref didn't see it" tag on its head by having him miss Tully's tag and forcing Arn to the apron. Tully used eye rake to break free and get tag, which is good heeling. Thought heel transition was weak cant remember what was even just all of sudden Windham started selling. Windham is such a great seller and so great at using his right as a hope spot. Hot tag to Luger who racks Blanchard almost immediately love that heat. AA attacks leg. Back from break, AA cements this with DDT and Spinebuster. Luger was TREMENDOUS in this! Selling his ass off. Luger had such a star presence. Love the way he was kicking out and the way he was moving around really making the Horsemen beatdown look so good. Tully applies a figure-4, which is a great chance for Luger to sell as the Horsemen are pouring it on. Love Tully being so cocky with his strut and Arn with his facial expression during the knucklelock. Great hope spot with Luger crawling and Arn holding the foot and Tully cutting off with elbow. Luger reverses suplex with his own! Luger is going the wrong way! Tully collides with Luger pushing him into Windham. Luger makes the hot tag to WIndham, but on the outside Luger gets his head smashed in by Blanchard on the post and he is busted open. Windham kicks some ass, but as Windham is kicking Arn's ass, Tully low blows him! Windham is looking for a tag and JoJo Dillon is pointing out that "He is not here just like I told you.". A bloody Luger crawls to apron and Windham tags him in all pissy and then bodyslams him?!?!?!? Windham LARIATS Luger and Horsemen win the tag team belts back! Windham leaves with Dillon and gives the 4 fingers.

 

In the backstage arena, Dusty as the Midnight Rider (fallout from the assault on Jim Crockett) wants answers from BW (a member of the family because he is the son of Blackjack) and jumps on Horsemen and Flair jumps on him. Sullivan & Varsity Club and MX are there and they seemingly unmask Dusty, which could lead to a one year suspension. I like how the heel turn does not exist in a vacuum! Other wrestlers have reactions to it and it affects other storylines! Sullivan's promo is awesome talking about how Dusty's weakness is his heart and Dillon orchestrated this all to hit him where it really hurts and lure him into this trap to expose himself as the Midnight Rider. This is all really good. I think they did a good job covering for the heel turn happening at the end of the match. The most annoying thing is when a heel turn happens at end of a match and not at the beginning. You know why go through the motions. Dillon saying "He is not there, just like I told you." shows Dillon is in his mind and now is germinating that seed of doubt. I think a rational person who have realized that his partner was bleeding and cut him some slack. They also probably should have done some more foreshadowing maybe with Windham getting annoyed that Luger was starting to focus more on singles aspirations and Flair. Then this all coming to a head. The most important thing is this cant be a decision made before the match otherwise it is nonsense. It has to be a decision Windham makes part way through the match and I think they do an adequate job. It could be better and I know they wanted shock and foreshadowing takes away from shock. I think heel turn was totally the right call that heel side needed some bolstering and Windham was going to be a number four behind Luger, Sting and Dusty and this moves him to number two heel, which is a huge upgrade for him. I think this helps move the Midnight Rider stuff along, sets up the feud with Dusty and moves Luger to Flair where he needs to be. I would give this heel turn an A-, just a few things I changed, but overall a good decision that leads to lots of interesting possibilities.

 

Match itself bordered on great but was really a backdrop for the angle. Thought the shine and Luger heat segment were the best parts, just did not have any memorable spots or a real hook until the big heel turn finish. Luger's selling was really friggin good though. Recommended for historical significance though. ***3/4

[Loss]

Have you seen the Windham-Tully match from January? They foreshadowed Barry's turn then actually, with the Horsemen beating down Luger and Flair offering him a spot with the group before Windham helped fight them off. That was when the Luger-Windham partnership was solidified. *That* was to play off of Luger's debut from the year before, where Windham tried to talk him out of joining the Horsemen and he spit in his face. For months in early '88, Flair would casually mention in his own promos that they were considering all options for the fourth Horseman and that he wished it could be Barry Windham, but he had to be the one to make the leap. After the turn, JJ did a long promo explaining that for months, he had been talking to Barry privately to try to convince him, but that Barry kept blowing him off. Take this all the way to Chi-Town Rumble where Luger won the U.S. title, and this all plays out as a two-year saga that started the moment Lex walked in the door.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I have. Loved it and gave it 4.5 stars. Yes in post-match Horsemen gave Windham the chance to haul off and hit Luger but he attacked Horsemen instead and I was aware of their history with Windham telling Luger not to join Horsemen from the beginning. Yeah I didn't watch Dillon's promo afterwards because I'm watching one TV a month. That's totally reasonable that Dillons has been in negotiations with him. My issue would have been it had already decided by Windham to join the Horsemen. There was an intra-match trigger that caused him to turn. I guess a little more friction between Luger and Windham would have been nice because it still felt a little abrupt. Like I said awesome but not perfect heel turn.