DVD #1: Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood vs Sgt Slaughter & Don Kernodle

[Loss]

Talk about it here when you get it.

[Dylan Waco]

Holy shit this match is great. I think it was Loss who said this is the best tag match he's ever seen from the States, and while I would definately have to think about that long and hard to be sure, it definately has a strong, strong case.

 

Everyone knows by now, that I am a huge fan of Slaughter, but really Kernodle is the guy that really stands out to me in this as the guy who is going above and beyond the call. The first fifteen minutes of this match is Kernodle working Heel In Peril, primarily around the faces keeping him down in headlocks, but he is so so good in that role. They establish very early that the heels are going for the homerun, as Kernodle almost immediately tries to bash Steamers head into the steel, and goes for a high cross body off of a criss cross that he airballs. The way this is setup is really interesting because you know when someone finally taste the steel it is going to be big, and it is also neat to see the faces content to grind it out.

 

Not sure of the exact time on this match, but Slaughter doesn't even make his way in, until nearly half way through the bout and immediately gets brought in for the big Sarge bumps that he does so well. He also runs a great spot where he is using all his energy to get Youngbloods face into the cage and Jay just has enough to break loose. Once again this match does a better job putting over the brutality of the cage then pretty much any other cage match you'll ever see. When Slaughter finally gets Youngblood into the steel off of another criss cross spot it looks and feels like the most dangerous thing you've ever seen.

 

The run of comebacks and mini-comebacks at the end of the bout is really awesome also. I was a big fan of the "Sarge sneaking in for the Cobra Clutch, only to get met with two feet to the face" spot. There is also really good false finish spot that is kinda screwed up by Sandy Scott, but other than that it is great.

 

So yeah, the match is great, but I don't think this project is entirely about guys doing straight reviews of stuff, so I do want to mention really quick that a big facet in this match being so awesome is David Crockett. People shit on him as being this aloof mark and they may be right but I don't really care. The reason I like guys like him and Piper and Don West on commentary is that they really seem to care about what is going on in the ring to the point where it is the most important thing in their lives at that very moment. Piper during the Virgil/Dibase feud and buildup is really the apex of WWE announcing to me and Crockett in this match might be the apex of non-Jim Ross NWA/territorial announcing. He does a great job putting over the nastiness of Kernodles cut ("oh god that is bad"), a great sell off of the initial Youngblood bump into the steel, and when Slaughter goes to the top of the cage and comes off, barely missing Steamboat, Crocketts setup and reaction to that are just awesome (NOOOOOO

 

Really this is a great match and would have been no matter who was commentating, but I thank god David Crockett was in the booth for this match.

[Loss]

Great summary, Dylan. There are other good and great matches on this set, but this is the match I'm expecting to be the head turner. For my money, it's the best match on the DVD. I'll talk a little more about it after some other people post about it as well.

[sek69]

All I have to say is Don Kernodle's 80s-homemade-style shirt might be the greatest thing on the whole DVD. We need more of that in wrestling. Makes me wonder why he seemingly fell off the face of the planet after 1986 or so.

[JHawk]

Outside of Slaughter doing one of the five most obvious blade jobs in history, that was ten kinds of awesome. Kernodle's a few minutes later might make the top ten.

 

Brilliant spot you never see today that needs to be stolen: Steamboat diving toward Kernodle and Slaughter tackling Kernodle to force Steamboat to miss his target and hit the cage.

 

Snuka missing the dive against Backlund in 1982 might have gotten all the publicity, but Slaughter's dive might have been the best timed missed cage dive spot ever. And yes, David Crockett's reaction sold it perfectly. I never though I'd say that.

 

Loss might be right calling it the greatest tag match in U.S. history. I'm tempted to call it the best cage match ever. It's that good.

 

The only thing keeping me from giving it ***** is Sandy Scott, as instead of counting the fall, he shoves Slaughter back to the corner. Uncalled for behavior from a ref in a no DQ match. Do the reversal while Slaughter's trying to turn him around and it works just as well.

 

Still, an easy ****1/2 and the best cage match I've ever seen.

[Loss]

Mid Atlantic had a problem anytime they tried to put a special referee in a spot. Look what Kiniski did to Flair/Race at Starrcade '83.

[anarchistxx]

I loved this match when I saw it on one of those old NWA DVD's.

 

Plenty of hate and cool bumps into the cage, and they kept a great pace up for the duration. may have to revisit it.

 

My main issue with it the first time was the fact that they repeated quite a few spots; understandable due to the length, but still. And also how Steamboat, as the face, went back to the armlock about 20 minutes in; I know it was vastly different back then, but I couldn't get used to it.

 

Still, great match.

[Dylan Waco]

Most of the repeated spots were based on the broader concepts..namely the early part where the faces were grinding it out and the heels going for nasty shots into the cage and what not.

 

Also Kiniski sucked horribly in the Flair/Race match, but Sandy Scott, while not quite as bad, is less forgiveable. Scott's bread and butter was Mid-Atlantic tag wrestling. He should have had a much better clue of how to work that match as a ref.

[Resident Evil]

This was very, very good. For some reason, I just knew the Sarge would be the one to come off the top of the cage.

[Jingus]

Slaughter goes to the top of the cage and comes off

Whoa jesus. How come nobody ever, ever talks about that? I've never even heard of it before, and I mark for guys jumping off cages harder than just about anyone else. (I really gotta join this club if I can scrape up the money.)

[anarchistxx]

The spot wasn't really built to or teased, or talked about much by the announcers, so when it happened, it didn't have as big an impact as you'd expect.

 

That maybe why it doesn't get talked about, plus...

 

A. Not that many people have seen the match anyway.

 

B. The heat was molten throughout the whole match, so there wasn't just a huge pop for the dive.

[Dylan Waco]

Pop for the dive was solid, but you wouldn't know because Crockett is so awesome on commentary, about to have a stroke because the evil Slaughter is trying to kill Steamboat that he literally drowns out everything else with his hysterical shrieking. Awesome.

[shoe]

This was a great match, The crowd was hot for the whole 35+ minutes. Kernodle was one of those guys that was really underated at what he brought to the table. I thought everything made sense. Both Steamer, and Youngblood were fantastic in their role. Sarge was fantastic as well. Everybody brought their A game. It's a shame their really isn't a lot of footage of them as a team. Everything I've seen has been good except that Brody/Hansen tag where they got the Summerslam DDP/Kanyon treatment . I remember when the match resurfaced; and in the Observer Dave was saying that Arn Anderson thought this was the greatest tag match he had ever seen and this point. Personally, I would easily put it in a top 5 tags in the U.S. I just loved how it just built and built. Not only was this a sucess in the ring, but business wise it spawned the idea for Starcade. It's also neat to see Steamer bring a lot of the spots he uses with Jay and 9-10 years later use them with Shane Douglas.

[MikeCampbell]

Anyone who points to Joe/Punk II as an example of how to work a headlock and make a match interesting needs to see Steamboat and Youngblood in this match. They're never lazy about it, and always find creative ways to either apply it, or work back to it. I loved the spot early on when Kernodle almost made the tag and Steamer just yanked him back and grabbed the headlock.

 

There were a bunch of other nice touches as well, Slaughter saving Kernodle from the charging Steamboat (?) and having him go face first into the cage. Steamboat and Youngblood had a nice blind tag. And Crockett's reaction to Slaughter coming off the top was priceless.

 

I do agree about the ref pushing Sarge back to the corner though, it really wasn't warranted at all. It'd work if the heels had been pushing him or something, but all Sarge did was just alert him to the pin going on.

[tim]

I requested this match and was in no way disappointed. I'm just now discovering how great Slaughter is and want to see some other high end matches of his other than his and the Boot Camp match. The first ram into the cage was such a huge move because of all the building to it, and Slaughter tackling Kernodle so Steamboat jumps into the cage is one of the coolest spots I've seen in some time. Definitely my favorite cage match ever and probably my favorite US tag.

[World's Worst Man]

I really didn't dig this much overall. The main story point of the match didn't come off that well, because the heels weren't stooging enough, the face comebacks weren't teased well enough and there weren't enough spots I could point to as being super dramatic. There were however, a few minor spots I did like. Kernoodle trying to go through the ropes to the outside only to be met with the cage was pretty clever, since he had been on the receiving end of about 10 minutes of offense. Typical heel move that was foiled by the cage stipulation. Sarge tackling Kernoodle to avoid Steamboat's charge was another nifty spot that really added a nice touch to the match. Sarge's cage-top dive was pretty great, and it was probably the most dramatic part of the match.

 

Sarge was the standout performer, as everything he does really fits his stooge heel character perfectly. From the body language, mannerisms and even bumping, he just screams out as being a big goofball, stooge heel. Steamboat and Youngblood were both solid with their selling during the FIP portions, but I didn't think their comebacks were anything special. They just didn't come off as being very spirited when they were supposed to be charging back into the match. Although part of the problem may have been that I didn't feel like they were ever in serious danger, other than when perhaps Slaughter hit the late-match lariat (right before the finish). I think there were a lot of little things that made this match really good, but the general theme wasn't done well enough to make this an elite match in my eyes.

[gordi]

All I have to say is Don Kernodle's 80s-homemade-style shirt might be the greatest thing on the whole DVD. We need more of that in wrestling. Makes me wonder why he seemingly fell off the face of the planet after 1986 or so.

 

I actually thought that the lead guitarist from the Bad Street Band had a better shirt. I can hardly wait for the day that yellow tiger-striped print extra-short-sleeved shirts come back in fashion.

 

... and this match was a beauty. Good guys doin good guy things, bad guys doing bad guy things, and the crowd loving Ace and Gary and hating the ugly old rednecks... those were the days.

 

Unlike Dylan (whose taste in wrestling announcers is pretty much the exact opposite of my own) I found that David C excitedly pointing out again and again that "anything goes" was the only negative part of the experience of watching this match. If "anything goes" then why does Slaughter keep going back to his corner when the ref tells him to? Small complaint, though... and I've got years of experience just gritting my teeth and ignoring brother David's stupidity.

 

Yet another match on the DVD that reminds me why I'll probably never be able to just walk away from my pro wrestling fandom.

[S.L.L.]

Most of what I feel about this match has been said already, so I just want to say that watching this match makes me think that of all the things Vince McMahon did wrong from a booking standpoint, the worst might be his failure to protect the cage match. This was a great match, really only tarnished for me by Sandy Scott's reffing, but it could never happen today.

[CodySave]

The opening angle is exactly what we need more of in wrestling - wrestlers dressed in suits (the heels with a lawyer) signing contracts in a professional boardroom. Makes the whole match feel like a deadly serious confrontation and that wrestling is serious business.

 

Honestly, for example, John Cena and Randy Orton in suits in a situation like this wouldn't look awkward at all, in my opinion. It would have really played up how serious Cena is at getting back for the attacks on his Dad - especially if an extra "title vs ..." stip was thrown in. Cena's pretty much given up the "thug life" already, so he could easily transfer from the baggy shorts to a nice suit.

 

As mentioned above, Kernodle's t-shirt is awesome and, yet, so simple. Actually, I think this is the first Kernodle match I've ever seen, and I'm impressed. Is this another case of lack of footage = lack of more discussion? Based on the little that I've seen, I'd think he'd be hyped more. The previous sentences apply to Jay Youngblood as well, and it's a shame he died young.

 

The headlock work is fantastic in this match, and what really struck me is the "heel in peril" section with Kernodle in so long at the beginning of the match. Can't say I've seen that very much.

 

Slaughter really can move remarkably well for a guy his size.

 

This is just a fantastic match all around - from the opening angle, to the "Rocky" entrance for the heels, to the commentary, to the crowd, to the selling, to the headlocks and chops...even the cage is very smartly used. Every time someone is thrown into it, it means something.