[1985-07-06-NWA-Great American Bash '85] Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes (Lights Out Cage)

[El-P]

Pro-wrestling is goofy. So, this is a lights out match. It is announced before the match : this is not sanctioned by the NWA. Ok. So why is Tommy Young in the ring, checking for foreign objects and all ? How can it officially be a TV title match ? Doesn't make a lick of sense.

 

Pro-wrestling has always been crass. "This match is for the TV title and Baby Doll". Wait, what ? So, a woman is officially the same thing as a piece of luggage. They could have said "Dusty gets the services of Baby Doll for 30 days." Nope. "Baby Doll is his." Women as property. Ah, the good old days.

 

As far as the match goes, it's okay. Let's be honest now. Dusty is just not very good. He shows glimpse of goodness, but he's not bumping very well, his stuff looks sloppy most of the time, and you can give so many elbows before it gets boring. He's also not very good as building a match at all. People dump on "Your turn My turn" as if it was a workrate invention. This match is pretty much all "My turn Your turn". Dusty never sells for long enough to build a meaningful comeback. He sells, then simply goes back on offense whenever he sees fit. Ok, it's a brawl. Not a particulary intense one because Dusty is just moving at a snail pace and not selling very well. No drama, no sense of building toward a finish. It ends when Dusty simply wins. Blanchard is very good here. Dusty is ok at best. Since Dusty is basically doing what he wants, the match is ok.

 

On the same show, big log Nikita Koloff showed a much better sense of selling and putting over the offense of Flair, along with the cumulative damage.

[paul sosnowski]

Available on the WWE DVD "American Dream, The Dusty Rhodes Story'

 

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard - NWA Great American Bash 1985 Light Out Cage Match

Baby Doll & Tully stole the Championship from the American Dream when Baby Doll threw a foreign object into the ring. Tully Blanchard says he has dealt with the dealer. To ensure himself of that, he used Abdullah The Butcher to attack the Dream. In a tag team match, Baby Doll handed Tully some flash paper and he threw a FIREBALL  in Dusty's face. I am a staunch believer that wrestling needs more Fireballs. Dusty was left singing the Hard Time Blues. Kinda outta nowhere it seemed in the build he wanted to have a Barbed Wire Match. Tully starts dressing up like a cowboy mocking Dusty but it is set a Barbed Wire Match as the inaugural Great American Bash. I think the match is actually a Lights Out Cage Match meaning you win by knockout, I think. Also on the line is some money vs Baby Doll for thirty days. It is one thing for heel creep Ric Flair to win a date with Precious and then get coldcocked by Ronnie Garvin for being a sleaze it is another for babyface All-American Dusty to think he can control a woman for thirty days. 

I hope we have this is in full...here we go...the ref is checking for foreign objects and there is a fan hollering to check his elbow pad which is just great. Bionic Elbow to start sends Tully reeling. Tully struts out of hitting the cage. We get a little Dusty strut and booty shaking. Dusty bodyslam on Tully. Tully is a great stooge. Tully fights out of a toehold and uses the tights to throw Dusty into the cage. Dusty taps a gusher. Tully works the cut. Tully chinlock while Dusty bleeds. Dusty misses an elbow drop as Tully gets his. Tully bars the arm. Dusty punches out of the arm bar. Bionic elbow. Repeated. Dusty gets the crowd more involved. Hurls Tully into the cage and bashes Tully's head into the cage repeatedly. Big baseball swinging double axe-handle. Double Juice! Dusty grates his bloody face across the steel. This is not as good as later Tully vs Dusty matches. Not much zip/heat to their wrestling. Dusty is great at selling headbutts on jelly welly legs. Tully throws off the ref and as he attacks the cut while Dusty is slumped in the corner. Big chop by Dusty. Bionic Elbow. Tully wants to escape out the door, but it is locked there is no refuge from this danger. Big clothesline from Dusty as the crowd roars, gets a two count. This match might just need a three count to win. Figure-4 by Dusty! Tully reverses the Pressure and it keeps on for quite a bit of time. Tully lunges at the leg. Dusty responds with a Bionic Elbow. Dusty backdrops out of a piledriver. Baby Doll hands Tully a foreign object over the cage, but Tully never has a chance to use it. Dusty nails for a piledriver for the three count and a massive pop. 

It is Dusty I am not expecting a workrate classic, but this fell kind of flat for me. I think their 1986/7 matches were much more energetic, heated, charismatic whatever word you wan to use. This had its moments but it just didnt string them together. Still enjoyable. ***