[1986-04-18-JCP-Philadelphia, PA] Midnight Express vs Road Warriors

[KB8]

The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey) with Jim Cornette, defend the NWA World Tag Team Titles

 

I can't tell you how much I loved this. My tastes have changed in some fairly substantial ways over the years, but I think your tried and true southern tag worked in front of a hot crowd will be one type of wrestling match I'll never tire of. It doesn't need to be complicated. A solid babyface shine, a solid heat segment, a nice little run to the finish...even that, the most basic play on the formula, will usually be enough to keep me halfway engaged. From a layout standpoint this was as simple as you could get. It had two actual transitions the entire match and it was barely ten minutes long and it was balls to the wall great. The crowd are batshit nuclear and the Road Warriors are just stupid over. They're one of those acts that basically anybody could get behind, that sort of larger-than-life presence that can mesmerize you, completely badass, yet talking about growing up on the streets of Chicago and having to fight for everything in life keeps them grounded just enough to be somewhat relatable.

About eight tenths of this landed absolutely perfectly. I'm a sucker for wrestlers who are built like the side of a fire engine doing unexpected athletic shit and if Animal's leapfrog never had me on the floor then his fucking dropkick surely did. Condrey and Eaton's stooging during the shine was something to behold. They did all of the overt stuff to perfection - the temper tantrum by Condrey where he threatened to walk out, every one of Eaton's bumps - but the subtle stuff is what puts them on that GOAT pedestal. Eaton trying to point out that Hawk is behind Condrey without giving the game away, how Cornette confers with them to change strategy, how they position themselves in the ring as if they're actually trying to create separation between both Road Warriors, it's all awesome. There was one amazing sequence where Eaton tried to basically run away only to be gorilla press slammed - from the floor - over the top rope and back into the ring, just to get smashed back out and clotheslined on the concrete, while Condrey was busy getting knocked around inside the ring by Hawk. Hebner pretty clearly sees Cornette walloping Animal with the tennis racket for the big transition, but you forgive that seconds later when Hawk chases Cornette around and through the ring. This jacked up monster of a guy being mere centimeters from grabbing Cornette's coat as he escapes out the other side was like something from a horror movie (though in this movie you want the monster to actually succeed). Nobody drags referees and wrestlers out of position during a heat segment like the Midnights and Condrey's mean mugging to draw Hawk in was phenomenal. Everybody knows he has no chance if Hawk actually gets a hold of him, just like the Midnights have no chance to win if the match stays on the level, but Condrey's banking on wee Earl Hebner to play meat shield long enough for Cornette to jab Animal in the throat with that racket. You totally buy Hawk as the kind of lunatic who can't help but bite on everything as well. At one point he cleared the top rope and I'm not sure Condrey expected him to move quite like that. Someone in the crowd got so enraged they even threatened to throw a table!

If I could've asked for one thing it would've been another Animal hope spot before the hot tag, but that hot tag was blistering all the same and Hawk annihilating folk was outstanding. I also don't think I've seen a crowd so annoyed by a Dusty Finish. This was before everybody and their granny expected it, so the jeers and outrage were directed at the Midnights escaping with the belts rather than whoever booked another finish like that. I need to see every match these teams ever had together.