[1981-11-18-MACW-TV] Jake Roberts & Ricky Steamboat vs Super Destroyer & The Grappler

[KB8]

I thought this was an awesome little match. You know how these studio tags tend to go. Usually they'll be way more frantic than they'd be in an arena, less about milking the big spots and payoffs, more about working sharp and heated in the closer environment. Sometimes that'll mean the structure takes a hit because they'll only have four or five minutes to work with, but this had double that, none of the individual segments felt rushed, they built heat with a short and effective babyface workover, everything they did looked snug, etc. It was just really good stuff all the way through. Jake and Steamboat are such a fun unit and I'm not sure I've seen them pair up before. They were clearly the two young studs of the territory at this point and they worked like it. The early exchanges were great, the way everybody worked in and out of quick headlocks, lots of quick leg trips, how each team tried to make the quick tag and maintain the advantage before the other team could make their own tag. Jake's headlock on the Grappler was one of the best I've seen in ages and what made it better was how Grappler put up a struggle to get out of it. He managed to almost shift around onto his stomach and reverse it, so Jake bridged up to his feet in one motion and used his height to leverage Grappler back to the mat. It was an awesome spot, one I think I've seen Jake do before, but this felt properly organic and came off smooth as butter. He eventually takes a turn in peril and Grappler and Super D throw a bunch of tight forearms and elbows, nasty ones to the midsection, a couple right on top of the head, really cutting the ring off and working in tandem to keep him isolated. This also might be the first time Jake busted out the DDT on TV as even Caudle was taken aback by it (he referred to it as a "front bulldog of sorts"). Non-finish isn't surprising, but it leads to a nice heated brawl afterwards with Steamboat and Piper. Hard to ask for much more.