[1984-03-11-AWA] Harley Race & Nick Bockwinkel vs The Blackjacks

[War is Raw]

This would have been somewhat of a Dream Match in the 1970s if we had double world champs vs tag team champs. In 1984, Bobby Heenan is managing Bockwinkel and Race vs his old team- the babyface Blackjacks (Mulligan and Lanza).

Mulligan gets the shine to start but had to earn it from the heels. As soon as he tags out to Lanza, the villains put the heat on him and cut the ring off. So immediately I knew this would be a hot tag match- the only question is what happens when Lanza finally makes it.

But before then, we are treated to a good, old fashioned beat down by Nick and Harley. Both men are underrated tag team experts, so the two of them destroy Lanza- who I always considered the way inferior Blackjack anyway. Nick used finance and Harley used brawn. Great offense and strategy to keep Lanza in the corner and the ref distracted. Nice, long heat sequence to build up that pressure for the hot tag.

Hope spot occurred when Lanza ducked, so Harley hit Nick off the apron and finally made the hot tag. Blackjack Mulligan was on fire but after besting Nick, the momentum kinda went back to 50/50 when Race was tagged in. After restarting the momentum, Mulligan caught Race's falling headbutt with the face claw but he eventually escaped. Chaos ensued and there was a donnybrook. The Blackjacks accidentally mistimed so were peeking over their shoulders to pull off a double throw across the ring so Race and Bockwinkel collide. But they were winning and the fans were happy.

Finish came when Heenan grabbed Lanza's ankles by the ropes while Lanza was suplexing Nick in from the apron, similar to the famous Rick Rude-Ultimate Warrior WrestleMania I-C title win. Blackjacks went after Heenan and all three heels got out of dodge, so the fans were still happy, but obviously the heels won.

Conclusion: The 13+ minute match had a lot of action and surprises. Harley and Nick were still fantastic in 1984 but the Blackjacks seemed long in the tooth. Mulligan was mostly punching at this point but had a huge unstoppable babyface presence,  similar to 1980s Jim Duggan. Harley and Nick could have been in their with anyone- they carried the match and used their cleverness like how younger fans remember Anderson + Blanchard. Blackjacks work better as heels, and the match kinda lost momentum after the hot tag did not result in immediate babyface win. So any experienced fan ought to have seen the ending coming with the heels going over or maybe a double DQ.