Thursday, November 9, 2017
Partial MSG WWF House Show 3/16/86
1st Bout Sivi Avib vs Moondog Spot I scoured the interwebs trying to find this bout and I failed! So god is clearly on my side for this blog/review!
2. Hercules vs George Wells The match only went 4:o7 to begin with and I could only find 2:51 of it! Again God's mercy! The most impressive move of this bout was Wells catching Hercules in mid air with a backbreaker as a counter to Hercules trying a flying bodypress! Then Wells quickly proved himself to be a moron when he badly mistimed a football tackle in the corner as Herc ducked low and George go BOOM!!! Hercules hit him with a short forearm drop and got the again horribly timed pin! Wells could have easily draped his leg over the bottom rope, but nope logic and Mr. Wells were not on speaking terms. So he decides to kick out right after three making the whole thing look clunky and dumb!
3. Bull Nakano & Dump Matsumoto vs Linda Gonzalez and Velvet Mclntyre this match was a huge spectacle and a even bigger mess! The Garden crowd wad no idea what to make of what they were seeing at all! Matsumoto comes out in full samurai warrior gear with kendo sticks. While Nakano wore a punk hairstyle and carried nunchucks! I'm guessing there was a big language barrier between the teams because these a 4 good to great workers, but the timing was bad and the match was flat! The two best parts of the match were the Heel ring entrance, and Gorilla Monsoon burying the ref on commentary! Stating that "he has no clue how to referee a tag match" that the ref is "just standing there like a goof" and that he should have his license revoked"! Matsumoto pinned Gonzalez after an airplane spin!
4. Pedro Morales vs "Cowboy" Bob Orton Couldn't find video of this match! I highly doubt we are missing a wrestling clinic!
5. Don Muraco vs King Tonga(Haku) Faint praise I guess, but easily the best thing on the card I've seen thus far. Tonga and Muraco could both go! this match was simple, too short(at just under ten minutes) but pretty good! Tonga hit Muraco with a pinpoint dropkick to the face that was a thing of beauty! It blooded Muraco's nose! Don got the heat by raking the eyes and hitting a Samoan drop. He kept the advantage until he rammed Tonga's head into the turnbuckle. This of course would never hurt a island wrestler so Tonga makes his comeback. He backs Muraco in the corner and flat blisters him with chops! He scoops Don and slams him. Then backs into the corner and hits his running headbutt to the sternum. Mr. Fuji, Muraco's manager jumps up on the apron, Tonga grabs him by his jacket. Fuji slides his cane into Don. Tonga turns around takes the cane to the throat and Muraco drapes an arm over him and the devious duo steal a victory! Solid stuff here!
6. Leilani Kai and Penny Mitchell vs the Crush Gals This was a much better bout than the 1st Ladies tag match on the card as the crowd really liked the Crush Gals! As there aerial tactics got huge pops! Again the match was barley ten minutes! Two biggest spots of the bout a Giant Swing on Penny Mitchell that had the crowd ohhing and ahing! Also the flying crossbody off the top rope finish! this was rushed but good!
7.King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim This match was positioned to make Bundy look strong before his upcoming World Title bout in a cage, in the Main event of Wreslemania2 on 4/7. Jim got a quick early advantage but Bundy got the heat be putting a knee in the midsection of the corner charging Hillbilly. He battered Jim until he charged inta a corner and met a Hillbilly boot upside his noggin! So the heat and the comeback were started with almost the same move minutes apart! (the agent for the match must have said screw it your both big it will work)! Bundy ends up reversing another corner whip(getting dizzy and bored). He hits his big avalanche(corner splash and a big splash for the pin! Not bad, not good just kinda there!
8. Ricky Steamboat vs Mr. Fuji (nope that is not a typo they had one of the best workers on earth wrestling a old out of shape manager(who was not a good worker in his prime which was years before this!) on a show in the Garden) Very quick bout Fuji got the heat right away and went to his godforsaken nerve hold! Steamboat fought out and won with a simple crossbody block out of a criss cross! I cant fathom why they had this match! Although for whatever reason the crowd popped for the finish! I'm very confused!
9. Jake Roberts vs Lanny Poffo A very entertaining match! I was Jake's 1st Garden appearance! This match was in it one of the scariest botches I've ever seen! Roberts is on the floor and Poffo leaps up on the middle of the top rope, I think he was gonna backflip back in the ring. But his feet slipped and he fell on his head and face on the floor! Jake goes down too(as a way to check on Poffo! The 2 men get back in the ring, where Roberts quickly grabs Poffo by the trunks and sends him outside again. He then goes to the floor picks Lanny up and gives him a hip toss/beal throw on the concrete! What a splat! A sick bump! Roberts puts Poffo back in the ring and hits a stiff looking DDT! After the pin the Garden gets their 1st gander at Damien! The crowd is stunned as in the last 3 minutes they have seen more violence than in the rest of the show combined!
10 IC Title bout Randy Savage defends against Tito Santana This thing was a wild brawl from the jump! Santana wouldn't Savage in the ring to begin with. Savage keeps rolling in and out of the ring to break the count! Tito starts chasing him around ringside. He catches him and just waffles him for several minutes! This crowd is hot for this! Santana goes for the ten punches in the corner and Savage gets the heat via an eye rake and a nice reverse atomic drop! Randy hits his patented hook n' ladder clothesline and his double axehandle from the top to the floor! Santana however makes his comeback when he avoids Savages top rope elbow! Santana gets his figurefour locked in center ring! Savage sensing the end was near grabs the ref, while still in the hold, by the belt loops and throws him headlong into Santana! Thus getting DQ'd but retaining the title! This was great the best bout of the show!
Sadly I couldn't find the last two matches on the card. A midget bout(that's what there called PC Police!) Plus a 6-man The British Bulldogs & Captain Lou Albano vs The Dream Team and Johnny V! Nobody will lose sleep over this I'm sure!
This show was all over the place from great to alright to dreadful!
2. Hercules vs George Wells The match only went 4:o7 to begin with and I could only find 2:51 of it! Again God's mercy! The most impressive move of this bout was Wells catching Hercules in mid air with a backbreaker as a counter to Hercules trying a flying bodypress! Then Wells quickly proved himself to be a moron when he badly mistimed a football tackle in the corner as Herc ducked low and George go BOOM!!! Hercules hit him with a short forearm drop and got the again horribly timed pin! Wells could have easily draped his leg over the bottom rope, but nope logic and Mr. Wells were not on speaking terms. So he decides to kick out right after three making the whole thing look clunky and dumb!
3. Bull Nakano & Dump Matsumoto vs Linda Gonzalez and Velvet Mclntyre this match was a huge spectacle and a even bigger mess! The Garden crowd wad no idea what to make of what they were seeing at all! Matsumoto comes out in full samurai warrior gear with kendo sticks. While Nakano wore a punk hairstyle and carried nunchucks! I'm guessing there was a big language barrier between the teams because these a 4 good to great workers, but the timing was bad and the match was flat! The two best parts of the match were the Heel ring entrance, and Gorilla Monsoon burying the ref on commentary! Stating that "he has no clue how to referee a tag match" that the ref is "just standing there like a goof" and that he should have his license revoked"! Matsumoto pinned Gonzalez after an airplane spin!
4. Pedro Morales vs "Cowboy" Bob Orton Couldn't find video of this match! I highly doubt we are missing a wrestling clinic!
5. Don Muraco vs King Tonga(Haku) Faint praise I guess, but easily the best thing on the card I've seen thus far. Tonga and Muraco could both go! this match was simple, too short(at just under ten minutes) but pretty good! Tonga hit Muraco with a pinpoint dropkick to the face that was a thing of beauty! It blooded Muraco's nose! Don got the heat by raking the eyes and hitting a Samoan drop. He kept the advantage until he rammed Tonga's head into the turnbuckle. This of course would never hurt a island wrestler so Tonga makes his comeback. He backs Muraco in the corner and flat blisters him with chops! He scoops Don and slams him. Then backs into the corner and hits his running headbutt to the sternum. Mr. Fuji, Muraco's manager jumps up on the apron, Tonga grabs him by his jacket. Fuji slides his cane into Don. Tonga turns around takes the cane to the throat and Muraco drapes an arm over him and the devious duo steal a victory! Solid stuff here!
6. Leilani Kai and Penny Mitchell vs the Crush Gals This was a much better bout than the 1st Ladies tag match on the card as the crowd really liked the Crush Gals! As there aerial tactics got huge pops! Again the match was barley ten minutes! Two biggest spots of the bout a Giant Swing on Penny Mitchell that had the crowd ohhing and ahing! Also the flying crossbody off the top rope finish! this was rushed but good!
7.King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim This match was positioned to make Bundy look strong before his upcoming World Title bout in a cage, in the Main event of Wreslemania2 on 4/7. Jim got a quick early advantage but Bundy got the heat be putting a knee in the midsection of the corner charging Hillbilly. He battered Jim until he charged inta a corner and met a Hillbilly boot upside his noggin! So the heat and the comeback were started with almost the same move minutes apart! (the agent for the match must have said screw it your both big it will work)! Bundy ends up reversing another corner whip(getting dizzy and bored). He hits his big avalanche(corner splash and a big splash for the pin! Not bad, not good just kinda there!
8. Ricky Steamboat vs Mr. Fuji (nope that is not a typo they had one of the best workers on earth wrestling a old out of shape manager(who was not a good worker in his prime which was years before this!) on a show in the Garden) Very quick bout Fuji got the heat right away and went to his godforsaken nerve hold! Steamboat fought out and won with a simple crossbody block out of a criss cross! I cant fathom why they had this match! Although for whatever reason the crowd popped for the finish! I'm very confused!
9. Jake Roberts vs Lanny Poffo A very entertaining match! I was Jake's 1st Garden appearance! This match was in it one of the scariest botches I've ever seen! Roberts is on the floor and Poffo leaps up on the middle of the top rope, I think he was gonna backflip back in the ring. But his feet slipped and he fell on his head and face on the floor! Jake goes down too(as a way to check on Poffo! The 2 men get back in the ring, where Roberts quickly grabs Poffo by the trunks and sends him outside again. He then goes to the floor picks Lanny up and gives him a hip toss/beal throw on the concrete! What a splat! A sick bump! Roberts puts Poffo back in the ring and hits a stiff looking DDT! After the pin the Garden gets their 1st gander at Damien! The crowd is stunned as in the last 3 minutes they have seen more violence than in the rest of the show combined!
10 IC Title bout Randy Savage defends against Tito Santana This thing was a wild brawl from the jump! Santana wouldn't Savage in the ring to begin with. Savage keeps rolling in and out of the ring to break the count! Tito starts chasing him around ringside. He catches him and just waffles him for several minutes! This crowd is hot for this! Santana goes for the ten punches in the corner and Savage gets the heat via an eye rake and a nice reverse atomic drop! Randy hits his patented hook n' ladder clothesline and his double axehandle from the top to the floor! Santana however makes his comeback when he avoids Savages top rope elbow! Santana gets his figurefour locked in center ring! Savage sensing the end was near grabs the ref, while still in the hold, by the belt loops and throws him headlong into Santana! Thus getting DQ'd but retaining the title! This was great the best bout of the show!
Sadly I couldn't find the last two matches on the card. A midget bout(that's what there called PC Police!) Plus a 6-man The British Bulldogs & Captain Lou Albano vs The Dream Team and Johnny V! Nobody will lose sleep over this I'm sure!
This show was all over the place from great to alright to dreadful!
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Memphis, UWF and NWA tv reviews from 3-15-86
After a long absence(due to my undying love of MLB) My week by week review of 1986 in Pro wrestling returns! Forgive the small font size of the opening sentence! I have not done this in a long while! HA!
Memphis TV 3/15-86 The highlights of this show were two great promo's! One by Jerry Lawler on tape, explaining that due to prior commitments he could not be in the studio for today's show. He promised to beat Dundee and Landell to a bloody pulp in his upcoming tag bouts with them and his partner Dutch Mantell. As payback for what that twosome had done to the Jarett's last week on tv! On of the best and most memorable angles in Memphis history!
Dundee/Landell did a great rebuttal promo saying that the week prior a returning Lawler had had something on his hand and had attempted to take Dundee's eye out! The duo had photo proof of Dundee's eye being swollen shut and a nasty huge purple lump under the eye. They threatened to beat up Lawler, his family, Jarrett's family and promoter Eddie Marlin and his family run them all out of town and take over the company! This was great! The interview was also on tape as the Late(that makes me sad) great Lance Russell refused to interview them, because he did not wanna hear it!
A couple notable in-ring things Dundee/Landell won a squash match as Job guy Jim Jamesion took one of the best old school country ass kick-ins I have ever seen! By the end he was Bleeding from the mouth and looked unconscious! In other action from the Mid-South Coliseum Abdul Kadaffi defeated Rick Casey to win the International Heavyweight Title! Casey got his head trapped between the top and middle rope and was pinned shortly after that! They said he had hurt his neck and was going to be out several months! Is that the end of Casey in Memphis? Time will tell! Also Mantell, The Fantastics and the Mod Squad all won squash matches!
UWF tv 3-15-86 Show begins with several big announcements. Bill Watts says that Dick Slater(who was the holder of both the TV Championship and the North American title at the time(must pay out of his own pocket for a new tv title medal(instead of a belt) by next week or he would be stripped of both titles! This was the last week of Mid-South Wrestling as the next week it would be renamed the UWF(Universal Wrestling Federation) They hyped the coming name change. Also the Jim Crockett SR. Memorial Cup Coming in late April to the Superdome in New Orleans!
Biggest in-ring action of the show took place between "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer. Duggan. After A Duggan squash, Sawyer came to ringside got on the house mic and challenged Duggan to a match. Duggan of course accepted. We go to break when we return the bout is in progress. Duggan quickly pins Sawyer clean as a sheet to win the match. Duggan leaves as he does Sawyer again grabs the house mic and I guess insults Duggan's Girlfriend and challenges Duggan to a "Dog Collar" bout. (I said I guess due to the fact that the house mic audio was awful!) So two ref's come out to hook up the dog collar's. While both refs work on "Hacksaw" Sawyer takes off his collar and hooks it the top rope!(I know what they were trying was to make Buzz look conniving and devious, but it just made the ref's look stupid! Two of them missed this shit!) Anyway they don't notice and Duggan grabs a headlock, Sawyer shoots him off into the ropes and Duggan gets yanked off his feet by the chain! Sawyer laughing like a loon, knocks both ref's down and proceeds to whip a prone Duggan in his back/ribs with the chain! Wrestlers hit the ring from the back and Sawyer escapes smiling and giggling! The best part of this was Sawyer seemed legit bonkers(he probably was at this point in his career)! The only other big thing happened to close the show as the NZ Sheepherders were in a match, The Mid-South tag champs Ted Dibiase and Steve Williams came to ringside waving a US Flag! After the match the two teams got into a brawl and the heels were driven from the ring! On next weeks show we will see a tv tile bout and a World tag title match to celebrate the name change!
NWA National Heavyweight Title Match. Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Tully Blanchard This was a tremendous bout! We join the bout in progress as Dusty is working on Blanchard's ankle. Flair is at ringside doing commentary with Tony & David. Rhodes follows Tully into a corner Where Blanchard crouches down and kicks the "Dream" in his ankle. Dusty falls to the mat like a shot and rolls outside writhing in agony. Tully continues his assault on the floor. Blanchard then rolls him back in the ring and works on the ankle for several minutes. Including the use of a spinning toe hold into a figure four! Rhodes manages to reverse this and Tully breaks the hold. But, then as Dusty goes for a slam his ankle gives way. Then Blanchard hits his signature slingshot suplex, which Rhodes kicks out of at 2(HUGE POP for the kickout! Nobody kicked out of that move at the time it was way over!) Rhodes puts Tully in the sleeper hold. At this point Blanchard's Manager JJ Dillon jumps up on the apron. Dusty releases Blanchard and puts the sleeper on Dillon. JJ reaches in his pocket and flings a pair of brass knucks backwards into the ring for Tully. Dusty lets go of JJ and turns around back to Tully.Who swings wildly. Rhodes ducks backdropping Blanchard over the top rope to the floor! Flair gets up from the table and puts the Knucks back on Tully's hand. Dusty comes over and when he attempts to back suplex him back into the ring, Tully punches "Dream" in the forehead Dusty crumples in a heap and Blanchard coves him to become the new National Heavyweight Champion! After the match Flair and Blanchard are celebrating, BabyDoll(Rhodes valet) runs into the ring and starts slapping Flair! JJ comes up behind her and throws her down to the mat by her hair. Tully and JJ then hold her down while Flair Climbs the top rope to apparently come down on her! The faces run in and save the day just in time and the heels take their leave! The heat for this was something that must be seen to be believed! INCREDIBLE!!!
NWA TBS Saturday Night Show 3/15/86! The only big angle happened when Baby Doll came out during a Arn/Tully/JJ promo and challenged Dillon to a fight in the ring. JJ in very comic over the top fashion takes of his jacket, tie. watch and rolls up his sleeves. He and the Horsemen go up to the ring and get on the apron. As they do this America's team(Rhodes and Magnum TA) jump them from behind (like I dunno they were the "Heels" or something)! They throw them in the ring and the brawl begins! During this Arn takes a belly-to-belly from Magnum. While he is laid out Ta holds onto his foot and Rhodes comes off the second rope with a big stomp on AA's ankle! The heels after being hammered collect themselves and beat a beaten hasty retreat back to the dressing room! Before the end of the show the Horsemen reappear and say that Rhodes and TA didn't get the job done! that the horsemen were still here with all the gold!
The only really good match on the show was AA vs great worker/job guy Mike Jackson! The highlight of the match was early on Jackson forces Arn to the outside for a rest and a large section of the front row(mostly kids) get up and chant in unison "YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVE" over and over! Of course AA went on to win but it was a fun moment!
Memphis TV 3/15-86 The highlights of this show were two great promo's! One by Jerry Lawler on tape, explaining that due to prior commitments he could not be in the studio for today's show. He promised to beat Dundee and Landell to a bloody pulp in his upcoming tag bouts with them and his partner Dutch Mantell. As payback for what that twosome had done to the Jarett's last week on tv! On of the best and most memorable angles in Memphis history!
Dundee/Landell did a great rebuttal promo saying that the week prior a returning Lawler had had something on his hand and had attempted to take Dundee's eye out! The duo had photo proof of Dundee's eye being swollen shut and a nasty huge purple lump under the eye. They threatened to beat up Lawler, his family, Jarrett's family and promoter Eddie Marlin and his family run them all out of town and take over the company! This was great! The interview was also on tape as the Late(that makes me sad) great Lance Russell refused to interview them, because he did not wanna hear it!
A couple notable in-ring things Dundee/Landell won a squash match as Job guy Jim Jamesion took one of the best old school country ass kick-ins I have ever seen! By the end he was Bleeding from the mouth and looked unconscious! In other action from the Mid-South Coliseum Abdul Kadaffi defeated Rick Casey to win the International Heavyweight Title! Casey got his head trapped between the top and middle rope and was pinned shortly after that! They said he had hurt his neck and was going to be out several months! Is that the end of Casey in Memphis? Time will tell! Also Mantell, The Fantastics and the Mod Squad all won squash matches!
UWF tv 3-15-86 Show begins with several big announcements. Bill Watts says that Dick Slater(who was the holder of both the TV Championship and the North American title at the time(must pay out of his own pocket for a new tv title medal(instead of a belt) by next week or he would be stripped of both titles! This was the last week of Mid-South Wrestling as the next week it would be renamed the UWF(Universal Wrestling Federation) They hyped the coming name change. Also the Jim Crockett SR. Memorial Cup Coming in late April to the Superdome in New Orleans!
Biggest in-ring action of the show took place between "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer. Duggan. After A Duggan squash, Sawyer came to ringside got on the house mic and challenged Duggan to a match. Duggan of course accepted. We go to break when we return the bout is in progress. Duggan quickly pins Sawyer clean as a sheet to win the match. Duggan leaves as he does Sawyer again grabs the house mic and I guess insults Duggan's Girlfriend and challenges Duggan to a "Dog Collar" bout. (I said I guess due to the fact that the house mic audio was awful!) So two ref's come out to hook up the dog collar's. While both refs work on "Hacksaw" Sawyer takes off his collar and hooks it the top rope!(I know what they were trying was to make Buzz look conniving and devious, but it just made the ref's look stupid! Two of them missed this shit!) Anyway they don't notice and Duggan grabs a headlock, Sawyer shoots him off into the ropes and Duggan gets yanked off his feet by the chain! Sawyer laughing like a loon, knocks both ref's down and proceeds to whip a prone Duggan in his back/ribs with the chain! Wrestlers hit the ring from the back and Sawyer escapes smiling and giggling! The best part of this was Sawyer seemed legit bonkers(he probably was at this point in his career)! The only other big thing happened to close the show as the NZ Sheepherders were in a match, The Mid-South tag champs Ted Dibiase and Steve Williams came to ringside waving a US Flag! After the match the two teams got into a brawl and the heels were driven from the ring! On next weeks show we will see a tv tile bout and a World tag title match to celebrate the name change!
NWA National Heavyweight Title Match. Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Tully Blanchard This was a tremendous bout! We join the bout in progress as Dusty is working on Blanchard's ankle. Flair is at ringside doing commentary with Tony & David. Rhodes follows Tully into a corner Where Blanchard crouches down and kicks the "Dream" in his ankle. Dusty falls to the mat like a shot and rolls outside writhing in agony. Tully continues his assault on the floor. Blanchard then rolls him back in the ring and works on the ankle for several minutes. Including the use of a spinning toe hold into a figure four! Rhodes manages to reverse this and Tully breaks the hold. But, then as Dusty goes for a slam his ankle gives way. Then Blanchard hits his signature slingshot suplex, which Rhodes kicks out of at 2(HUGE POP for the kickout! Nobody kicked out of that move at the time it was way over!) Rhodes puts Tully in the sleeper hold. At this point Blanchard's Manager JJ Dillon jumps up on the apron. Dusty releases Blanchard and puts the sleeper on Dillon. JJ reaches in his pocket and flings a pair of brass knucks backwards into the ring for Tully. Dusty lets go of JJ and turns around back to Tully.Who swings wildly. Rhodes ducks backdropping Blanchard over the top rope to the floor! Flair gets up from the table and puts the Knucks back on Tully's hand. Dusty comes over and when he attempts to back suplex him back into the ring, Tully punches "Dream" in the forehead Dusty crumples in a heap and Blanchard coves him to become the new National Heavyweight Champion! After the match Flair and Blanchard are celebrating, BabyDoll(Rhodes valet) runs into the ring and starts slapping Flair! JJ comes up behind her and throws her down to the mat by her hair. Tully and JJ then hold her down while Flair Climbs the top rope to apparently come down on her! The faces run in and save the day just in time and the heels take their leave! The heat for this was something that must be seen to be believed! INCREDIBLE!!!
NWA TBS Saturday Night Show 3/15/86! The only big angle happened when Baby Doll came out during a Arn/Tully/JJ promo and challenged Dillon to a fight in the ring. JJ in very comic over the top fashion takes of his jacket, tie. watch and rolls up his sleeves. He and the Horsemen go up to the ring and get on the apron. As they do this America's team(Rhodes and Magnum TA) jump them from behind (like I dunno they were the "Heels" or something)! They throw them in the ring and the brawl begins! During this Arn takes a belly-to-belly from Magnum. While he is laid out Ta holds onto his foot and Rhodes comes off the second rope with a big stomp on AA's ankle! The heels after being hammered collect themselves and beat a beaten hasty retreat back to the dressing room! Before the end of the show the Horsemen reappear and say that Rhodes and TA didn't get the job done! that the horsemen were still here with all the gold!
The only really good match on the show was AA vs great worker/job guy Mike Jackson! The highlight of the match was early on Jackson forces Arn to the outside for a rest and a large section of the front row(mostly kids) get up and chant in unison "YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVE" over and over! Of course AA went on to win but it was a fun moment!
Sunday, April 9, 2017
AJPW 3/13/86
All Japan Pro Wrestling 3/13/86 Match #1 Tiger Mask vs Riki Choshu You may never see a better twelve minute match in your life than this! Match begins by Choshu hitting a shoulderbutt and knocking Tiger to the canvas. He delivers a snap mare and hooks on his figurefour headscissors. Tiger manages to turn on his stomach and come up out of the hold while hanging onto Choshu's leg and forcing him to his back. Tiger kicks at the hamstring and ties his leg around that of Choshu's and falls back with it maintaining the hold. Tiger stands back up and goes for a Boston crab. He quickly turns it into a single leg crab. Choshu turns on his back. Tiger takes the opportunity to try the figurefour. Choshu blocks it by holding up Tiger's leg therefore preventing the pressure from being properly applied. Tiger eventually gets the hold locked on. Choshu manages to fight up out of it and attempt to turn into his scorpion death lock. Tiger blocks the turn and Choshu falls down into a leglock. Tiger grabs one of his own and both men end up rolling with the hold under the bottom rope which forces a break. When they stand Tiger hits a fast leg drive and clamps on a inside leglock. Choushu counters by pulling back on the neck and once again makes the ropes so we go back to a lockup position. As they tie up Choshu overpowers Tiger sends him into the ropes and hits an elbow smash. He then nails a crunching "Oklahoma Stampede" powerslam, and goes again for the Scorpion. Tiger reaches the ropes, Choshu picks him up and fires him into the turnbuckle. He hits a elbow then goes for a backdrop, But Tiger lands on his feet and hits two spinning leg lariat's knocking "the Boss" to the canvas. Tiger goes for the pin gets a two count and goes into the side headlock. Choshu counters ultra quick with two high stiff looking backdrop suplexes(to use the Japanese term). Choshu signals for his Lariat, however Tiger ducks the attempt after hitting the ropes and comes back with a flying bodypress. He hits a cradle suplex, a German suplex, and a dropkick off the top all for very close near falls!(this sequence was breathtaking) Choshu took advantage by holding onto the ropes for a Tiger Mask flying dropkick attempt. This time he sunk in the Scorpion tight. Tiger manages to roll thru once and escape, But Choshu knowing his man is weakened. Chinches the hold back in! Tiger is superb here trying over and over to will himself out of the hold. With the veteran Choshu able to hold on every time. Riki drops the maneuver and as Tiger struggles to his feet. Choshu hits the ropes and pops him with a lariat hard enough to loosen his fillings and gets the three count! Great work here!
Match #2 Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Takashi Ishikawa Joined in Progress As we join the match Kobayashi has a side headlock applied. Ishikawa gets to a vertical base and hits a shinbreaker. He slaps on the every popular inside leglock/grapevine and falls back with it. He turns that into a leg bar. Kobayashi counters with his own and the referee calls a stalemate and breaks the holds. When they come up Ishikawa whips him in and hits his sumo style shoulder tackle and a backdrop suplex before climbing to the top. Kobayashi tries to cut him off and hit a superplex. Ishikawa knocks Kobayashi of the turnbuckles grabs him puts a knee in his back a rides him down face first to the canvas. He gets a two count. Kobayashi comes back up and hits a boot to the mid-section. He hits a cradle suplex for a close two count. (the crowd popped big when Ishikawa kicked out!) Kobayashi with a bodyslam and then puts on the figurefour headscissors. Ishikawa comes out of the hold and hits his shouldertackle again when he goes for it a second time Kobayashi sidesteps him and he goes flying thru the ropes. Kobayashi follows him out slams his head into the post. Throws Ishikawa back in hits a spinning leg lariat and one from the turnbuckle. He gets a near fall. Kobayashi tries a German Suplex Ishikawa holds on the ropes for dear life. Ishikawa hits a switch and Kobayashi uses the middle rope to tumble both competitors to the floor, Kobayashi drops a quick leg and climbs back in the ring. He tries twice to suplex Ishikawa back in. Ishikawa counters with a suplex that sends them both hard back outside. The match ends in a double countout as both men lay on the mats outside spent! I hate this finish but this match was good!
Match #3 Tiger Jeet Singh/One Man Gang vs Jerry Blackwell/Harley Race Gang and Blackwell did your standard big man vs big man spots. They each tried to slam the other with no success. The did the nobody budges on the shouldertackle spot. The hit each other with lariat's at the same time. They both went for splashes and missed. While this was all "old hat" it was done well and got over big. Race got the tag to a big reaction and bodyslammed Gang. Who tagged in Jeet Singh, then the brawl was on! They went in the ring two minutes when Jeet Singh got out his foreign object Race got it away from him. Hit him with it. Race landed a vertical suplex and got a two count. Then the match went to the floor and never made it back to the ring! A double countout and chaos was all that was left!
Match #4 Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi Match kicked off before the bell rung as Hamaguchi bum rushed Tsuruta from behind with a dropkick putting him face first into the turnbuckle. Then he hit an elbow after a Irish whip one on the mat. Then Hamaguchi put on a figurefour headlock with Jumbo's arm trapped in it as well. Tsuruta managed to roll with the hold all the way outside. On the floor Hamaguchi slammed Tsuruta's head into a table over the guardrail. After clearing the cobwebs Jumbo got back in the ring where he was put in a reverse chinlock, he did not stay down long however. As he got to his feet and sent Animal into the ropes as he came off Jumbo hit his flying knee. Animal was sent to the outside when Tsuruta nailed a headkick. When Hamaguchi reentered the ring Tsuruta took him to the mat with a jumping arm bar. Then went for a three quarter nelson pinning combination. Animal spun out of that got a hammerlock and quickly turned that into a cross armbreaker to regain control. Jumbo fought out of that and tried for a Boston Crab, before he could turn it Hamagucchi got to the bottom rope constituting a break. Hamaguchi hit a knee on the break against the ropes then an elbow to the neck. He connected on a dropkick, Then grabbed Tsuruta leg and put on a leg lace hold. Tsuruta stands up and stomps Hamaguchi in the chest to break the hold. Then picks him up and fires him to the floor. He slams Hamaguchi shoulder first into the post. As Animal struggles to get back in. Jumbo helps him in and hits a beauty of a textbook double arm suplex. Tsuruta then lands a piledriver(while he has Animal turned upside down he turns 360 degrees in a tight circle impressive strength display!) Hamaguchi regains the upper hand quickly by hitting a backdrop suplex counter then his own piledriver. Tsuruta shoves him off a side headlock Animal hits the shoulder tackle, but when he comes back off the ropes Tsuruta simply sidesteps him and shoves him in the back. Hamaguchi goes flying over the tope rope. Jumbo goes to the floor where they trade stiff chops. Hamaguchi grabs a side headlock Jumbo sends him to the post and climbs back in the ring. Jumbo suplexes his man back in. His elbow attempt gets countered has Hamaguchi ducks it and hits a hook n ladder lariat(or neckbreaker drop in Japanese parlance.) Jumbo hits a high stiff looking backdrop suplex and goes for a cover and pulls Hamaguchi up at the two count.(I don't think I have ever seen A Japanese wrestler do that!) He then goes for a lariat in the corner Animal moves and gets a near fall with a schoolboy. Hamaguchi hits a neckbreaker drop lariat from the top rope. Then a Samoan drop he gets a two count both times. He goes for a piledriver Jumbo counters with a backdrop that sends Hamaguchi out over the top to the floor. Tsuruta goes outside and executes a piledriver. As a dazed Hamaguchi stumbles his way back in. Tsuruta hits a lariat, his flying knee off the top rope and a Lou Thez press for the pin. This was a tremendous series of moves for the finish.
Author's note their were several more bouts on this show, some very good I left them out of the written review for 1 of 2 reasons too short or double coutouts dq's or time limit draws! If you want to see them they are on the archive!
Match #2 Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Takashi Ishikawa Joined in Progress As we join the match Kobayashi has a side headlock applied. Ishikawa gets to a vertical base and hits a shinbreaker. He slaps on the every popular inside leglock/grapevine and falls back with it. He turns that into a leg bar. Kobayashi counters with his own and the referee calls a stalemate and breaks the holds. When they come up Ishikawa whips him in and hits his sumo style shoulder tackle and a backdrop suplex before climbing to the top. Kobayashi tries to cut him off and hit a superplex. Ishikawa knocks Kobayashi of the turnbuckles grabs him puts a knee in his back a rides him down face first to the canvas. He gets a two count. Kobayashi comes back up and hits a boot to the mid-section. He hits a cradle suplex for a close two count. (the crowd popped big when Ishikawa kicked out!) Kobayashi with a bodyslam and then puts on the figurefour headscissors. Ishikawa comes out of the hold and hits his shouldertackle again when he goes for it a second time Kobayashi sidesteps him and he goes flying thru the ropes. Kobayashi follows him out slams his head into the post. Throws Ishikawa back in hits a spinning leg lariat and one from the turnbuckle. He gets a near fall. Kobayashi tries a German Suplex Ishikawa holds on the ropes for dear life. Ishikawa hits a switch and Kobayashi uses the middle rope to tumble both competitors to the floor, Kobayashi drops a quick leg and climbs back in the ring. He tries twice to suplex Ishikawa back in. Ishikawa counters with a suplex that sends them both hard back outside. The match ends in a double countout as both men lay on the mats outside spent! I hate this finish but this match was good!
Match #3 Tiger Jeet Singh/One Man Gang vs Jerry Blackwell/Harley Race Gang and Blackwell did your standard big man vs big man spots. They each tried to slam the other with no success. The did the nobody budges on the shouldertackle spot. The hit each other with lariat's at the same time. They both went for splashes and missed. While this was all "old hat" it was done well and got over big. Race got the tag to a big reaction and bodyslammed Gang. Who tagged in Jeet Singh, then the brawl was on! They went in the ring two minutes when Jeet Singh got out his foreign object Race got it away from him. Hit him with it. Race landed a vertical suplex and got a two count. Then the match went to the floor and never made it back to the ring! A double countout and chaos was all that was left!
Match #4 Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi Match kicked off before the bell rung as Hamaguchi bum rushed Tsuruta from behind with a dropkick putting him face first into the turnbuckle. Then he hit an elbow after a Irish whip one on the mat. Then Hamaguchi put on a figurefour headlock with Jumbo's arm trapped in it as well. Tsuruta managed to roll with the hold all the way outside. On the floor Hamaguchi slammed Tsuruta's head into a table over the guardrail. After clearing the cobwebs Jumbo got back in the ring where he was put in a reverse chinlock, he did not stay down long however. As he got to his feet and sent Animal into the ropes as he came off Jumbo hit his flying knee. Animal was sent to the outside when Tsuruta nailed a headkick. When Hamaguchi reentered the ring Tsuruta took him to the mat with a jumping arm bar. Then went for a three quarter nelson pinning combination. Animal spun out of that got a hammerlock and quickly turned that into a cross armbreaker to regain control. Jumbo fought out of that and tried for a Boston Crab, before he could turn it Hamagucchi got to the bottom rope constituting a break. Hamaguchi hit a knee on the break against the ropes then an elbow to the neck. He connected on a dropkick, Then grabbed Tsuruta leg and put on a leg lace hold. Tsuruta stands up and stomps Hamaguchi in the chest to break the hold. Then picks him up and fires him to the floor. He slams Hamaguchi shoulder first into the post. As Animal struggles to get back in. Jumbo helps him in and hits a beauty of a textbook double arm suplex. Tsuruta then lands a piledriver(while he has Animal turned upside down he turns 360 degrees in a tight circle impressive strength display!) Hamaguchi regains the upper hand quickly by hitting a backdrop suplex counter then his own piledriver. Tsuruta shoves him off a side headlock Animal hits the shoulder tackle, but when he comes back off the ropes Tsuruta simply sidesteps him and shoves him in the back. Hamaguchi goes flying over the tope rope. Jumbo goes to the floor where they trade stiff chops. Hamaguchi grabs a side headlock Jumbo sends him to the post and climbs back in the ring. Jumbo suplexes his man back in. His elbow attempt gets countered has Hamaguchi ducks it and hits a hook n ladder lariat(or neckbreaker drop in Japanese parlance.) Jumbo hits a high stiff looking backdrop suplex and goes for a cover and pulls Hamaguchi up at the two count.(I don't think I have ever seen A Japanese wrestler do that!) He then goes for a lariat in the corner Animal moves and gets a near fall with a schoolboy. Hamaguchi hits a neckbreaker drop lariat from the top rope. Then a Samoan drop he gets a two count both times. He goes for a piledriver Jumbo counters with a backdrop that sends Hamaguchi out over the top to the floor. Tsuruta goes outside and executes a piledriver. As a dazed Hamaguchi stumbles his way back in. Tsuruta hits a lariat, his flying knee off the top rope and a Lou Thez press for the pin. This was a tremendous series of moves for the finish.
Author's note their were several more bouts on this show, some very good I left them out of the written review for 1 of 2 reasons too short or double coutouts dq's or time limit draws! If you want to see them they are on the archive!
Monday, April 3, 2017
AWA 3/9-3/13/86
AWA 3/9/86- 3/13/86 Bruiser Brody vs Brad Rheingans Another angle to build to WresleRock 86. Apparently it was supposed to be Brody's manager Sheik Adnon in the match but he claimed injury. So a big fella in a red mask hit the ring to wrestle/help the sheik beat up Rheingans. So they boot him and throw him over the top rope. They post him outside, the mauling is continuing until Greg Gagne runs in and starts battling the masked man. He pulls off the mask(with a lot of help from the guy wearing it)and be still my ticker it's Bruiser Brody under there! They continue to brawl until Brody hits a huge jumping piledriver on Gagne. Who comes down to save Greg.....Why his father Verne of course. At a buck wild age of 61! He puts Brody in a sleeper hits him twice with chair shots and runs Brody and Sheik Adnon to the back! Verne had every reason to be a God in the Twin Cities, for very good reason, but nobody bought this shit did they???
3-9-86 Stan Hansen defends the AWA World Title against SGT Slaughter in a Boot Camp Match. This as you might expect was just a big damn fight! Seven minutes of mayhem! Punching kicking eye rakes combat/cowboy boots to the head you get the point! Japanese commentary for this clip(shows what a megastar Hansen was). Sarge hit Hansen with a boot shot, Hansen went flying over the top rope and landed flat on his back on a table at ringside! Slaughter falls back down in the ring but beats the referee's ten count and makes it back to his feat. I believe he is declared the winner. I'm very confused 1st question A Bootcamp match, that has no rules can end on a countout? Question 2 Why are Slaughter and Hansen both subject to the same count if one is outside and the other is inside? Hansen should be allowed to get in before a legal/fair count starts! 3 was this a title match could Sarge have pinned Hansen and won the belt,if so why the hell didn't he? Plus if a ten count wins the match shouldn't that be a title change? #4 if it was non-title why the hell have a dangerous probable feud ender be non-title in the 1st place?
AWA Champioship Wrestling 3/11/86 Lot a stuff packed in an hour here. Shawn Michaels beat Doug Summers in a good match to kick the show off. Next Marty Jannetty/Curt Henning took on Boris Zuhkof/ Nord the Barbarian. Solid match but, but much to it as the heel team's manager Sheik Adnon jumped up on the Apron Scott Hall(a co-holder of the AWA Tag Titles with Henning, why was he not in the match? Their is that solid AWA booking again!!!) comes out and chases Sheik around ringside. While this is going on the heels are double teaming Marty in the ring. They dump him out over the top rope and lose this odd bout by DQ! Then we have Larry Z's interview segment. When his co-host Larry Nelson informs Larry that this weeks guest is Verne Gagne Larry says Gagne helped get him suspended and he storms off. Verne comes out like it's 1972 and talks about many things(all of which are to boring to write down) Next up Larry Z vs Leon "Bull Power" White (a very young green stiff as hell VADER for those who may not know) Larry takes a hell of an ass whippin in this 10 minute match. He gets forearmed powerslammed pressslammed and splashed in the corner. The big Z ends up winning the bout by countout when the two were on the floor he rakes Leon's eyes and crawls back in the ring. The big rookie has to sell this like he's blind and cant find the ring in time(this looked very silly. After the bout Leon gets back in and slams Larry one more time, before the Pitsburger hightails it to the dressing room. Main event Stan Hansen defends his AWA World Title against the Challenge of David Sammartino. I remember this match vividly from this show! I was 7! I loved Hansen then as I do now(although his interviews scared me to death for some reason I cannot explain) Curt Henning was at ringside doing guest commentary as well. Sammartino the younger was not a great worker by any measure(including those with eyesight) but Hansen made him seem like a threat. David did slams and armdrags and armbars. Hansen took the fight outside once and got into a shouting match with fans! As the bout wore on Sammartino got a near fall with a schoolboy rollup. Hansen countered a backdrop with a stiff kick to the solar plexus. He then nailed a flying dropkick and followed that up with his Lariat for the pin! Hansen did a post match interview where he told his kids he was gonna by them both new shoes because he won this match!
3/13/86 Stan Hansen AWA title defense vs Leon White (yes a very early Hansen/Vader matchup.) A very basic by the numbers bout but you got flashes of the huge star Vader would become. White used a headlock early and went back to it several times after quick bursts of offense by Hansen. Hansen got control and went to work on the fingers of White biting them spreading them apart. Slamming them on the apron and the steps. Then the fight went outside and it looked like it was gonna be a double countout. Both men managed to make it back in the ring before the 10 count (the referee had to stop counting and begin again because they were halfway up the aisle). They got back in and Leon hit a big splash into the turnbuckle. He went for it a 2nd time and Stan moved and hit the Lariat as Leon was going down and got the pin! Not great but you could tell they had chemistry no doubt!
3-9-86 Stan Hansen defends the AWA World Title against SGT Slaughter in a Boot Camp Match. This as you might expect was just a big damn fight! Seven minutes of mayhem! Punching kicking eye rakes combat/cowboy boots to the head you get the point! Japanese commentary for this clip(shows what a megastar Hansen was). Sarge hit Hansen with a boot shot, Hansen went flying over the top rope and landed flat on his back on a table at ringside! Slaughter falls back down in the ring but beats the referee's ten count and makes it back to his feat. I believe he is declared the winner. I'm very confused 1st question A Bootcamp match, that has no rules can end on a countout? Question 2 Why are Slaughter and Hansen both subject to the same count if one is outside and the other is inside? Hansen should be allowed to get in before a legal/fair count starts! 3 was this a title match could Sarge have pinned Hansen and won the belt,if so why the hell didn't he? Plus if a ten count wins the match shouldn't that be a title change? #4 if it was non-title why the hell have a dangerous probable feud ender be non-title in the 1st place?
AWA Champioship Wrestling 3/11/86 Lot a stuff packed in an hour here. Shawn Michaels beat Doug Summers in a good match to kick the show off. Next Marty Jannetty/Curt Henning took on Boris Zuhkof/ Nord the Barbarian. Solid match but, but much to it as the heel team's manager Sheik Adnon jumped up on the Apron Scott Hall(a co-holder of the AWA Tag Titles with Henning, why was he not in the match? Their is that solid AWA booking again!!!) comes out and chases Sheik around ringside. While this is going on the heels are double teaming Marty in the ring. They dump him out over the top rope and lose this odd bout by DQ! Then we have Larry Z's interview segment. When his co-host Larry Nelson informs Larry that this weeks guest is Verne Gagne Larry says Gagne helped get him suspended and he storms off. Verne comes out like it's 1972 and talks about many things(all of which are to boring to write down) Next up Larry Z vs Leon "Bull Power" White (a very young green stiff as hell VADER for those who may not know) Larry takes a hell of an ass whippin in this 10 minute match. He gets forearmed powerslammed pressslammed and splashed in the corner. The big Z ends up winning the bout by countout when the two were on the floor he rakes Leon's eyes and crawls back in the ring. The big rookie has to sell this like he's blind and cant find the ring in time(this looked very silly. After the bout Leon gets back in and slams Larry one more time, before the Pitsburger hightails it to the dressing room. Main event Stan Hansen defends his AWA World Title against the Challenge of David Sammartino. I remember this match vividly from this show! I was 7! I loved Hansen then as I do now(although his interviews scared me to death for some reason I cannot explain) Curt Henning was at ringside doing guest commentary as well. Sammartino the younger was not a great worker by any measure(including those with eyesight) but Hansen made him seem like a threat. David did slams and armdrags and armbars. Hansen took the fight outside once and got into a shouting match with fans! As the bout wore on Sammartino got a near fall with a schoolboy rollup. Hansen countered a backdrop with a stiff kick to the solar plexus. He then nailed a flying dropkick and followed that up with his Lariat for the pin! Hansen did a post match interview where he told his kids he was gonna by them both new shoes because he won this match!
3/13/86 Stan Hansen AWA title defense vs Leon White (yes a very early Hansen/Vader matchup.) A very basic by the numbers bout but you got flashes of the huge star Vader would become. White used a headlock early and went back to it several times after quick bursts of offense by Hansen. Hansen got control and went to work on the fingers of White biting them spreading them apart. Slamming them on the apron and the steps. Then the fight went outside and it looked like it was gonna be a double countout. Both men managed to make it back in the ring before the 10 count (the referee had to stop counting and begin again because they were halfway up the aisle). They got back in and Leon hit a big splash into the turnbuckle. He went for it a 2nd time and Stan moved and hit the Lariat as Leon was going down and got the pin! Not great but you could tell they had chemistry no doubt!
Friday, March 31, 2017
WWF Boston Garden House Show 3/8/86 review
WWF Boston Garden House show 3/8/86 Match #1 Rene Goulet vs Sivi Afi They did all their standard stuff during the bout. Again almost move for move as a the match they had at MSG three weeks earlier. Goulet's top rope comedy spot early. He got control with a knee to the midsection. He put on his "Scorpio" claw hold. Afi made his comeback and hit his top rope flying bodypress for the win. I hope this is the last time I have to see this match.
Match #2 Jose Luis Rivera vs Jake Roberts(This is Jake's WWF Tv debut(for this review blog anyway). This was a very good match for its place on the card. As Rivera started to work on Jake's arm and wrist right off the bat. Jake missed with two elbow drops in succession and Rivera went right back to work on it. Roberts got the upperhand using a stomach breaker. He went to work utilizing a reverse chinlock as his primary rest hold. "Snake" did hit a beauty of a running knee lift as well. Rivera made his comeback and nailed Roberts with a good clothesline(Jake sold this tremendously by getting up and stumbling back through the ropes to the apron). Rivera got him back in and hit a backdrop. Roberts went slithering out under the bottom rope. Rivera went after him, Roberts rolls back in the ring and catches Jose Luis Rivera with a second kneelift as he is coming thru the ropes. Jake then gives the signal for the DDT and slaps it on! (The crowd OOOOOOD for this) After the match Roberts went to retrieve Damien from the bag, but for whatever reason the referee stopped him! A good win for Roberts here!
Match #3 The Crush Gals(Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka) vs Judy Martin and Donna Christianello The crowd had no clue what to make of the Japanese team(perhaps the most popular ladies duo in the history of that country). The match was mostly the heel Americans having the advantage with the undersized babyfaces showing flashes of hope such as kip ups toe holds and drop kicks. The match had no real flow or crowd heat to speak off. It was good but just felt "off" somehow. The end came when the gals hit a double dropkick on Martin. Then the Lioness hit Christiantello with the longest giant swing I have seen in years and got the pin!
Match #4 Jim Neidhart vs Scott McGee Basic match but serviceable McGee got two very near falls early with a schoolboy rollup and a sunsetflip. Anvil took over when he and McGee were on the floor and he dropped Scotty over the wooden barricade throat 1st. McGee made his comeback by hitting a vertical suplex after blocking Neidhart's attempts at the suplex. Neidhart won when he reversed a whip into the turnbuckle and as McGee came out Anvil scooped him up held him like a small child and pivoted into a jarring powerslam to get his hand raised.
Match #5 Ricky Steamboat vs Bret Hart(the original Mania 2 plan by the way, according to Whatculture Wrestling little know facts about WrestleMania series. They do great work if you have never seen their youtube content well worth your time!) Hart jumped Steamboat from behind as the bell rung. He punched and pummeled him until Ricky reversed a whip into the turnbuckle, and Hart took it face first(a trademark move from him in coming years. Steamboat went to work on the arm hard with knees and armbars and chops. There was a simple but neat spot here as Hart went for an atomic drop Steamboat flipped out of it. He landed on his feet and hit Brett with a back kick to the face. Hart countered a backdrop with a neckbreaker to take over. Dragon knocked Hart down and went for a big splash but Hart got his knees up(Steamboat takes that bump beautifully every time!) Hart hit a bodyslam on the floor then a running powerslam in the ring to get a near fall. Steamboat started his comeback by Moving out of the way of a "hitman" elbow off the middle turnbuckle. The finishing sequence was a thing of beauty as the Ref got bumped after a double reverse and the official was smashed into the turnbuckle. Steamboat went to check on the referee when he turned back around Hart hit a great hook and ladder clothesline. He had the pin for at least ten seconds, but there was no referee to make the count. Steamboat grabs hart whips him in the ropes Hart ducks the chop and comes back with a crossbody, but Steamboat rolls thru and gets the three count as the referee comes back around! This is great booking as Steamboat won clean, but Hart has a legit gripe and can claim victory. This was stellar work by everybody!
Match #6 Randy Savage vs Tito Santana IC title match Savage does the stall job of the century to start off as he takes his sweet time getting his robe off walking around outside yelling at the Referee(Danny Davis this match forshadow's his heel ref into wrestler turn over the next year.) When Savage finally gets in the ring after the bell rings he keeps running to the floor when Santana goes to lock up. Santana grows tired of this and attacks Savage outside throwing him over the wooden barricade. Savage turns the tables by grabbing Santana by the front of his trunks and hurling him to the floor. Santana regains the momentum by nailing Savage in the gut as he comes off the turnbuckles with a double axehandle. Santana then goes nuts everytime Savage tries to escape Tito's figurefour leg lock. Santana tries to grab his tights to prevent the escape.(Davis is trying to make Tito backup because Savage is partially out of the ring.) This happens several times until Tito pushes referee Davis down who calls for the bell and the DQ. Both Santana and Davis are hot yelling at the other. A very subtle nod to the coming heel turn.
Match #7 Dump Masamoto and Bull Nakano vs Velvet Mclntyre and Dawn Marie If the crowd was confused by the Crush Gals them they might have been mortified by "the Devils of Japan"! At least the crowd knew right off the bat to boo them. The heels controlled 95% of the match with Power spots and rule breaking eye gouging and biting! Dump Masamoto was the undeniable star of the match from her ring attire, she came to the ring in full samurai gear! While on the apron she would standup on the turnbuckle screaming at the crowd while giving every rude gesture in the book. When she was in the ring on offense she would knock her opponent down and stomp around the ring like Godzilla looking for tourists. She was something! Not a great match but i'd bet nobody there ever forgot it! All that being said Velvet pinned Nakano with a victory roll out of nowhere!
Match #8 "Iron" Mike Sharpe vs Corporal Kirchner Iron Mike is one of the most underrated workers ever! He carried the Corp to a passible match. Match began with Kirchner hitting three dropkicks in succession sending Sharpe to the floor where he knocked over the wooden barricade and laid there dead for several seconds. They did the test of strength spot where Sharpe got his fingers stomped on. Sharpe got the edge and threw the Corp into the barricade. Kirchner got the comeback via several close near falls. Sharpe held onto the ropes for a dropkick attempt by the Corp. He then began to load his black armband. When he threw Kirchner in the ropes for the clothesline, Corp blocked it kicked Sharpe in the stomach and hit Sharpe in the head with his own arm and got the pin!
Match #9 Ted Arcedi vs Barry O (I'm in hell I have to be. This has to be a punishment for falsifying that book report in 6th grade) Thank God that was very short. Arcedi won with a bearhug! (Now to put on my MIB sunglasses........ That Mike Sharpe had some talent huh???...........
Match #10 Main event the Funks vs JYD/Hulk Hogan This was in large part a comedy match. With Terry fighting the barricade and getting knocked silly on headbutts. He got his feet tangled in the cables outside and fell down. They finally got the heat on Hogan by hitting him across the back with a chair and in the ribs with the branding iron. Dog got the tag and missed a headbutt right away. So they beat on him for a few minutes until Hogan got the tag. Dog came in to break up a double team by the Funks. The turned the tables on JYD and began to hang him on the apron with a long rope. The referee (Danny Davis again) is distracted by Jimmy Hart. Terry has the rope and gets in the ring with the other half still around JYD's neck. Hogan comes in and clotheslines Terry and covers him for three. This was a big damn mess,but my god the crowd loved it and went home happy! In that way a positive Main Event!
Match #2 Jose Luis Rivera vs Jake Roberts(This is Jake's WWF Tv debut(for this review blog anyway). This was a very good match for its place on the card. As Rivera started to work on Jake's arm and wrist right off the bat. Jake missed with two elbow drops in succession and Rivera went right back to work on it. Roberts got the upperhand using a stomach breaker. He went to work utilizing a reverse chinlock as his primary rest hold. "Snake" did hit a beauty of a running knee lift as well. Rivera made his comeback and nailed Roberts with a good clothesline(Jake sold this tremendously by getting up and stumbling back through the ropes to the apron). Rivera got him back in and hit a backdrop. Roberts went slithering out under the bottom rope. Rivera went after him, Roberts rolls back in the ring and catches Jose Luis Rivera with a second kneelift as he is coming thru the ropes. Jake then gives the signal for the DDT and slaps it on! (The crowd OOOOOOD for this) After the match Roberts went to retrieve Damien from the bag, but for whatever reason the referee stopped him! A good win for Roberts here!
Match #3 The Crush Gals(Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka) vs Judy Martin and Donna Christianello The crowd had no clue what to make of the Japanese team(perhaps the most popular ladies duo in the history of that country). The match was mostly the heel Americans having the advantage with the undersized babyfaces showing flashes of hope such as kip ups toe holds and drop kicks. The match had no real flow or crowd heat to speak off. It was good but just felt "off" somehow. The end came when the gals hit a double dropkick on Martin. Then the Lioness hit Christiantello with the longest giant swing I have seen in years and got the pin!
Match #4 Jim Neidhart vs Scott McGee Basic match but serviceable McGee got two very near falls early with a schoolboy rollup and a sunsetflip. Anvil took over when he and McGee were on the floor and he dropped Scotty over the wooden barricade throat 1st. McGee made his comeback by hitting a vertical suplex after blocking Neidhart's attempts at the suplex. Neidhart won when he reversed a whip into the turnbuckle and as McGee came out Anvil scooped him up held him like a small child and pivoted into a jarring powerslam to get his hand raised.
Match #5 Ricky Steamboat vs Bret Hart(the original Mania 2 plan by the way, according to Whatculture Wrestling little know facts about WrestleMania series. They do great work if you have never seen their youtube content well worth your time!) Hart jumped Steamboat from behind as the bell rung. He punched and pummeled him until Ricky reversed a whip into the turnbuckle, and Hart took it face first(a trademark move from him in coming years. Steamboat went to work on the arm hard with knees and armbars and chops. There was a simple but neat spot here as Hart went for an atomic drop Steamboat flipped out of it. He landed on his feet and hit Brett with a back kick to the face. Hart countered a backdrop with a neckbreaker to take over. Dragon knocked Hart down and went for a big splash but Hart got his knees up(Steamboat takes that bump beautifully every time!) Hart hit a bodyslam on the floor then a running powerslam in the ring to get a near fall. Steamboat started his comeback by Moving out of the way of a "hitman" elbow off the middle turnbuckle. The finishing sequence was a thing of beauty as the Ref got bumped after a double reverse and the official was smashed into the turnbuckle. Steamboat went to check on the referee when he turned back around Hart hit a great hook and ladder clothesline. He had the pin for at least ten seconds, but there was no referee to make the count. Steamboat grabs hart whips him in the ropes Hart ducks the chop and comes back with a crossbody, but Steamboat rolls thru and gets the three count as the referee comes back around! This is great booking as Steamboat won clean, but Hart has a legit gripe and can claim victory. This was stellar work by everybody!
Match #6 Randy Savage vs Tito Santana IC title match Savage does the stall job of the century to start off as he takes his sweet time getting his robe off walking around outside yelling at the Referee(Danny Davis this match forshadow's his heel ref into wrestler turn over the next year.) When Savage finally gets in the ring after the bell rings he keeps running to the floor when Santana goes to lock up. Santana grows tired of this and attacks Savage outside throwing him over the wooden barricade. Savage turns the tables by grabbing Santana by the front of his trunks and hurling him to the floor. Santana regains the momentum by nailing Savage in the gut as he comes off the turnbuckles with a double axehandle. Santana then goes nuts everytime Savage tries to escape Tito's figurefour leg lock. Santana tries to grab his tights to prevent the escape.(Davis is trying to make Tito backup because Savage is partially out of the ring.) This happens several times until Tito pushes referee Davis down who calls for the bell and the DQ. Both Santana and Davis are hot yelling at the other. A very subtle nod to the coming heel turn.
Match #7 Dump Masamoto and Bull Nakano vs Velvet Mclntyre and Dawn Marie If the crowd was confused by the Crush Gals them they might have been mortified by "the Devils of Japan"! At least the crowd knew right off the bat to boo them. The heels controlled 95% of the match with Power spots and rule breaking eye gouging and biting! Dump Masamoto was the undeniable star of the match from her ring attire, she came to the ring in full samurai gear! While on the apron she would standup on the turnbuckle screaming at the crowd while giving every rude gesture in the book. When she was in the ring on offense she would knock her opponent down and stomp around the ring like Godzilla looking for tourists. She was something! Not a great match but i'd bet nobody there ever forgot it! All that being said Velvet pinned Nakano with a victory roll out of nowhere!
Match #8 "Iron" Mike Sharpe vs Corporal Kirchner Iron Mike is one of the most underrated workers ever! He carried the Corp to a passible match. Match began with Kirchner hitting three dropkicks in succession sending Sharpe to the floor where he knocked over the wooden barricade and laid there dead for several seconds. They did the test of strength spot where Sharpe got his fingers stomped on. Sharpe got the edge and threw the Corp into the barricade. Kirchner got the comeback via several close near falls. Sharpe held onto the ropes for a dropkick attempt by the Corp. He then began to load his black armband. When he threw Kirchner in the ropes for the clothesline, Corp blocked it kicked Sharpe in the stomach and hit Sharpe in the head with his own arm and got the pin!
Match #9 Ted Arcedi vs Barry O (I'm in hell I have to be. This has to be a punishment for falsifying that book report in 6th grade) Thank God that was very short. Arcedi won with a bearhug! (Now to put on my MIB sunglasses........ That Mike Sharpe had some talent huh???...........
Match #10 Main event the Funks vs JYD/Hulk Hogan This was in large part a comedy match. With Terry fighting the barricade and getting knocked silly on headbutts. He got his feet tangled in the cables outside and fell down. They finally got the heat on Hogan by hitting him across the back with a chair and in the ribs with the branding iron. Dog got the tag and missed a headbutt right away. So they beat on him for a few minutes until Hogan got the tag. Dog came in to break up a double team by the Funks. The turned the tables on JYD and began to hang him on the apron with a long rope. The referee (Danny Davis again) is distracted by Jimmy Hart. Terry has the rope and gets in the ring with the other half still around JYD's neck. Hogan comes in and clotheslines Terry and covers him for three. This was a big damn mess,but my god the crowd loved it and went home happy! In that way a positive Main Event!
Thursday, March 30, 2017
TV Reviews Memphis and NWA 605 Saturday night show 3/8/86
Memphis TV 3/8/86 Simply put one of the best/most memorable/biggest money angles in the long history of Memphis on this show. I remembered everything about it and I was 7 when it took place. Jeff Jarrett made his TV debut as a referee just out of high school. He was the referee for a Bill Dundee/Buddy Landell squash match. The heel duo was taking liberties the whole match. Not breaking chokes on 5 counts pulling hair/tights. Slamming the poor job guys on the floor hard. Taking clear advantage of the rookie referee. After the match the beating continued has Landell went for his figurefour young Jarrett tried to stop him and Buddy slaps him and knocks him flat. Jerry Jarrett(Jeff's father and the booker) flies out and attacks Dundee. Bill and Buddy double team the Elder Jarrett. They get him down and start digging at his only good eye!(If you recall the Promo Jerry Jarrett had done several weeks prior where he announced his active in ring retirement sighting his partial blindness.) This angle was ultra realistic the announcers started screaming when they were going after Jarrett's eye. They both got up and ran to the ring yelling and begging Bill and Buddy to stop. At this point Jeff comes back around sees what is being done to his dad and tackles Dundee. I think Lance gets the elder Jarrett out of the ring. So it's now 2-on-1, the heels punch and kick Jeff until Dutch Mantell comes out and chases them off. Eddie Marlin(Jeff's grandfather, Jerry's father-in-law and the on air promoter also comes out to help as Mantell scoops up a lifeless Jeff Jarrett and carries him to the back! That's only half the story folks. When they come back from break The announcers are still highly shaken-up and pissed off. The Fantastics come out for their squash. During that match Jerry Jarrett comes out bleeding and crying saying "I don't know what to do!!!" Lance takes him to the back saying "Jerry you did the best you could you don't need to be out here yet!" (Legit tears folks)! Soon after Eddie Marlin comes out and says he has never seen Jerry like this and that Jarrett may not know what to do but he does. He is gonna call Jerry Lawler(who had lost a loser-leave-town match to Dundee the last week of 85, and was supposed to be gone 6 months(Lasted 6 weeks! Marlin Mantell and Russell talk to Lawler on speaker phone(hunched down with their backs to the camera. Lawler Says Dundee/Landell crossed a line today. He Says he and the Jarretts have been close for years and Dundee and Landell can sue if they want,but the "King" and "Dirty Dutch are gonna beat their brains out! This was compelling believable fantastic Pro Wrestling storytelling here. In other action Dutch Mantell did a taped interview with Eddie Marlin talking about his history with Dundee and his distain for Landell) The piece closes with Mantell playing "the Wildwood Flower on guitar! Mantell, Dirty Rhodes, the Fantastics and the Debuting Mod Squad all have squash wins! What a show!
NWA 605 Saturday night show 3/8/86 I have no idea why but the 1st half hour is a "best of"from Feb 7th 86 skip it I did! They showed a clip of Tully Blanchard winning the National Heavyweight Title from Dusty Rhodes. The match took place on an episode of Worldwide Wrestling I will cover in the next week. (I have no idea why that show is after this one,but I'd rather cover the match in full context so I will wait.) The only other major thing on this show was the Rock N Roll Express attacking the Midnight Express when the heels were beating the squash match victims after the bell. Ricky and Robert knocked both midnights outside. Their manager James E Cornette charged at Ricky Morton with his tennis Racket who ducked and hit a back drop on the "Louisville Lip" before he and Robert hit a double dropkick sending Cornette crashing over the top rope! The Midnighters collected their manager and scurried to the dressing room. Besides that squashes and great promo's (normal NWA in other words!)
NWA 605 Saturday night show 3/8/86 I have no idea why but the 1st half hour is a "best of"from Feb 7th 86 skip it I did! They showed a clip of Tully Blanchard winning the National Heavyweight Title from Dusty Rhodes. The match took place on an episode of Worldwide Wrestling I will cover in the next week. (I have no idea why that show is after this one,but I'd rather cover the match in full context so I will wait.) The only other major thing on this show was the Rock N Roll Express attacking the Midnight Express when the heels were beating the squash match victims after the bell. Ricky and Robert knocked both midnights outside. Their manager James E Cornette charged at Ricky Morton with his tennis Racket who ducked and hit a back drop on the "Louisville Lip" before he and Robert hit a double dropkick sending Cornette crashing over the top rope! The Midnighters collected their manager and scurried to the dressing room. Besides that squashes and great promo's (normal NWA in other words!)
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
TV Revuews AWA Championship Wrestling 3/4/86 WWF Philly Spectrum house show (partial)3/7/86
AWA Championship Wrestling 3/4/86 Main event was Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukoff(yay???) Blackwell won with his big splash after ole Boris missed the worst looking headbutt off the ropes I've ever seen! Biggest news coming out of the match was somewhere in the middle of the bout Blackwell got his damn nose broken! it was purple bleeding and misshapen! Blackwell was a great promo he did one post match of the flag waving variety! Basically "AMERICA WE'LL BEAT ALL YOU FOREIGEN A-HOLES! Elsewhere on the show Scott Hall defeated Doug Summers in a competitive bout with a powerslam. Shawn Michaels won a long squash bout(every AWA squash takes a long time.) Plus Larry Z had his interview segment with a piece of wood that looked like Marty Jannetty!
Philly Spectrum WWF house show(partial) 3/7/86 Match #1 Bob Orton"Cowboy" if you like vs Ricky Steamboat! This should be great. Match started super fast as Orton attacked Steamboat while he was turned around talking to fans at ringside. Steamboat quickly reversed the advantage by getting Orton hung upside down in the corner by countering a whip into said corner. Eventually knocking Orton over the top rope to the floor. The Dragon did not keep the momentum long as Orton reversed a whip into the turnbuckle and nailed Steamboat coming out with a nice clothesline. Orton hooked Steamboat in a neck cravat and turned it into(I swear this happened) a RKO/Diamond Cutter! Orton sunk in a reverse chin lock. Then they went to two great near fall spots. The 1st was very simple Steamboat went for a desperation bodyslam but couldn't hold it and Orton landed on top for a close two count. Second one was classic Steamboat as he was whipped into the ropes he slid thru Orton's legs twice came up and in one fluid motion threw Orton in and hit a bodypress, Orton rolled thru pulling the tights and got another near fall!(the crowd thought this was 100% the finish)! Orton then scooped him up and hit a beauty of a running over-the-shoulder powerslam! Orton then goes up top and flies down into a chop from the canvas by Steamboat. Soon after Ricky goes for a splash but Orton gets up his knees. Orton puts Steamboat in the corner for a running shoulder block This time Steamboat gets his knee up and Orton slams into it! The do several quick near falls including Orton barley kicking out of Steamboat's Flying Bodypress from the top rope. Orton manages to hit a Presslam into a backbreaker. The referee makes the three count, before the last count comes down Steamboat drapes hit foot over the bottom rope. The official sees this and waves off the pin, but Orton does not and Steamboat cradles him up from behind for the victory.(playing into and calling back to the sneak attack to start the bout.) Orton to get his heat back, hits the Dragon with jackhammer right hands to the face and executes a piledriver. Steamboat has to be helped up by the ref, who Orton also punched in the head! This was fantastic 2 all-time mat techs here!
Match #2 George Steele vs Adrian Adonis(why God Why Again???)! Not gonna waste much space on this match,if you have seen it once that's one time to many! Adrian won when he distracted animal by ripping up a picture of Elizabeth, George tried to pick up the pieces and Adonis hit him with a knee to the neck and hit a top rope splash to get his hand raised. The crowd loved this dumb shit! Just so you know even at eight years old I thought/knew this was dumb shit!
Match #3 Roddy Piper vs Paul Orndorff This was a quick fast moving crazy brawl! This went to the floor almost right away. Piper got his face bounced off a ringside table. Orndorff got back in the ring and was fighting with Roddy on his hands and knees. Piper still outside grabbed a drink off the table and threw it into Orndorff's face. Paul sold this like he had been hit with a fireball!(Why you ask?....because it's wrestling and we say so!) This continues for a few minutes. Until Paul hooks in a boston crab. At that point " ACE Cowboy" Bob Orton(Piper's bodyguard runs in and gloms Paul with a chair to the back causing a DQ! Orndorff fights both men off until Orton sneaks back in with a chair. The heels prepare to hit Paul in the throat, off the top rope with the chair when Tony Atlas and Corp Kirchner(really???)make the save. The heels hightail it out of the area.
Match #4 Main event Randy Savage IC Title defense against former champ Tito Santana! This match only went about 12-15 minutes, but it was good for the time they had! Match began before the bell rang. Santana hit his flying forearm finish(type that 5 times fast! HA!) the referee wouldn't count the pin because the match was not officially underway. Savage got the advantage by using Santana's trunks to whip him outside. After several minutes of taking a brisk beating Savage grabbed a side-headlock Tito countered in a millisecond with the shinbreaker and then went from there to his figurefour. Savage struggled and used the referees pant leg to hold on to and drag himself to the bottom rope. Hold was broken Savage slipped outside to the floor. Santana was close behind a brawl began as did the count! A double coutout sadly was the outcome, but the match was action packed and entertaining to be sure!
Philly Spectrum WWF house show(partial) 3/7/86 Match #1 Bob Orton"Cowboy" if you like vs Ricky Steamboat! This should be great. Match started super fast as Orton attacked Steamboat while he was turned around talking to fans at ringside. Steamboat quickly reversed the advantage by getting Orton hung upside down in the corner by countering a whip into said corner. Eventually knocking Orton over the top rope to the floor. The Dragon did not keep the momentum long as Orton reversed a whip into the turnbuckle and nailed Steamboat coming out with a nice clothesline. Orton hooked Steamboat in a neck cravat and turned it into(I swear this happened) a RKO/Diamond Cutter! Orton sunk in a reverse chin lock. Then they went to two great near fall spots. The 1st was very simple Steamboat went for a desperation bodyslam but couldn't hold it and Orton landed on top for a close two count. Second one was classic Steamboat as he was whipped into the ropes he slid thru Orton's legs twice came up and in one fluid motion threw Orton in and hit a bodypress, Orton rolled thru pulling the tights and got another near fall!(the crowd thought this was 100% the finish)! Orton then scooped him up and hit a beauty of a running over-the-shoulder powerslam! Orton then goes up top and flies down into a chop from the canvas by Steamboat. Soon after Ricky goes for a splash but Orton gets up his knees. Orton puts Steamboat in the corner for a running shoulder block This time Steamboat gets his knee up and Orton slams into it! The do several quick near falls including Orton barley kicking out of Steamboat's Flying Bodypress from the top rope. Orton manages to hit a Presslam into a backbreaker. The referee makes the three count, before the last count comes down Steamboat drapes hit foot over the bottom rope. The official sees this and waves off the pin, but Orton does not and Steamboat cradles him up from behind for the victory.(playing into and calling back to the sneak attack to start the bout.) Orton to get his heat back, hits the Dragon with jackhammer right hands to the face and executes a piledriver. Steamboat has to be helped up by the ref, who Orton also punched in the head! This was fantastic 2 all-time mat techs here!
Match #2 George Steele vs Adrian Adonis(why God Why Again???)! Not gonna waste much space on this match,if you have seen it once that's one time to many! Adrian won when he distracted animal by ripping up a picture of Elizabeth, George tried to pick up the pieces and Adonis hit him with a knee to the neck and hit a top rope splash to get his hand raised. The crowd loved this dumb shit! Just so you know even at eight years old I thought/knew this was dumb shit!
Match #3 Roddy Piper vs Paul Orndorff This was a quick fast moving crazy brawl! This went to the floor almost right away. Piper got his face bounced off a ringside table. Orndorff got back in the ring and was fighting with Roddy on his hands and knees. Piper still outside grabbed a drink off the table and threw it into Orndorff's face. Paul sold this like he had been hit with a fireball!(Why you ask?....because it's wrestling and we say so!) This continues for a few minutes. Until Paul hooks in a boston crab. At that point " ACE Cowboy" Bob Orton(Piper's bodyguard runs in and gloms Paul with a chair to the back causing a DQ! Orndorff fights both men off until Orton sneaks back in with a chair. The heels prepare to hit Paul in the throat, off the top rope with the chair when Tony Atlas and Corp Kirchner(really???)make the save. The heels hightail it out of the area.
Match #4 Main event Randy Savage IC Title defense against former champ Tito Santana! This match only went about 12-15 minutes, but it was good for the time they had! Match began before the bell rang. Santana hit his flying forearm finish(type that 5 times fast! HA!) the referee wouldn't count the pin because the match was not officially underway. Savage got the advantage by using Santana's trunks to whip him outside. After several minutes of taking a brisk beating Savage grabbed a side-headlock Tito countered in a millisecond with the shinbreaker and then went from there to his figurefour. Savage struggled and used the referees pant leg to hold on to and drag himself to the bottom rope. Hold was broken Savage slipped outside to the floor. Santana was close behind a brawl began as did the count! A double coutout sadly was the outcome, but the match was action packed and entertaining to be sure!
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
All Japan Pro Wrestling 3/4 and 3/10 1986
AJPW 3/4/86 Tiger Mask vs The Great Kabuki Tiger took fast control as he hit a dropkick at the opening bell. Rammed Kabuki's head into the turnbuckle, hit a nice vertical suplex went for a cover got a two count then clamped on a reverse chinlock. This was taken from the weekly tv show, so they went to break. When they come back Kabuki has taken over hitting his trademark uppercut punches. He then puts tiger on the mat and hooks in a short-arm scissors. Tiger rolls thru the hold they get tangled in the ropes and the referee forces a break. Tiger starts to kick Kabuki but the mist maker hits a kick to the side of Tiger's head then one to the chest knocking him down. Then Kabuki puts on a armbar. After several minutes tiger manages to counter the armbar with a fireman's carry into an airplane spin. Then he nails a beauty of a hook N' ladder lariat. He hits a spinning leg lariat, fails to get the pin and goes back to the reverse chinlock. Tiger hits a dropkick that sends Kabuki flying thru the ropes to the floor! Kabuki comes back in and when Tiger whips him into the Turnbuckle Kabuki sprints out and hits a hard lariat on the oncoming Tiger Mask. Kabuki's attempt at a back suplex gets countered by Tiger who hits one of his own. Both men are down center ring! (this is the best singles bout I've seen these two compete in)! Tiger gets to his feet 1st and hits a great Missile dropkick off the top. He smashes Kabuki with another dropkick sending him outside once again. Tiger hits a backsuplex to bring Kabuki back in the hard way. He sprints up and hits a baseball slide to force Kabuki back to the floor. However when Tiger Mask tries for the plancha over the ropes Kabuki hits him in the face with the mist and there's your DQ!!! This match was so well worked i'm not even that upset about the finish!
Match #2 NWA International Tag Title bout Champions Yoshiaki Yatsu/Riki Choshu vs Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta. (Fair Warning there is a huge rant coming! I worked on my review of this bout for almost an hour! I love doing this blog! I look forward to it every day! So I started and stopped this match numerous times to get every nuance and sequence perfectly and after all that this great match ends in a double countout "FUCK Finish! This bout was stellar with near falls and crowd heat! My fault for not watching the match 1st I guess! But I didn't want the great wrestling fans who share my passion for wrestling to get invested as I did in a match with that for a finish! I truly am thankful for every single one of you that take time to read this and I value your readership! I must be honest I deleted all that I had written and decided to vent! Will not happen again lesson learned! back to the match tremendous but the ending made me lose it!!!
AJPW 3/10/86 NWA International title bout Terry Gordy vs Champion Jumbo Tsuruta As we join the bout early on I assume, Gordy Takes Tsuruta over in a side headlock and grinds it out for several minutes. Until Tsuruta backs him into the ropes forcing a break. They exchange chops and punches on the break and both circle each other mid-ring fists raised. They do the strike exchange once again(they were laying them in folks make no mistake). Jumbo grabs a side headlock of his own, but very quickly drops that. Instead dropping two elbows to the back of Gordy's neck. Then he begins to chop, elbow, and Euro uppercut Gordy from one side of the ring to the other. Tsuruta whips Terry into the corner and tries to hit his high knee. Gordy moves Jumbo goes into the buckle knee first. Gordy very quickly slaps on a figurefour. After some struggle Tsuruta manages to undo Gordy's legs from the hold and stand up reigning down stomps on Gordy. Jumbo hooks in a reverse chin lock(throwing in a couple site forearms for good measure until Gordy stand up Jumbo transitions to a headlock and Terry counters that with a hard back suplex! Gordy hits a legdrop then after sending Tsuruta into the ropes hooks on a sleeper hold. Jumbo eventually spins into the hold and counters out of it with a hammerlock he then turns into a three quarter nelson pining combination. Gordy gets the advantage again by countering a sunsetflip attempt with a punch to the head. Then hits a piledriver Tsuruta kicks out of the pin and Gordy goes back to the reverse chinlock Jumbo counters once more into a hammerlock and slides that into a standing armbar. Gordy escapes via blatant forearm to underside of ballsack(that moment when you realize what you just wrote!) Both men are down. Tsuruta gets to his feet and hits his flying knee off a whip. But when he tries it in the corner Gordy meets him with a hard lariat. Gordy hits a flying bodypress and gets two. He sends Tsuruta in for a second lariat, Jumbo ducks and hits his own flying bodypress. Gordy somehow manages to catch him, but both go tumbling over the top rope to the outside. Jumbo delivers a back suplex on the floor! As Gordy shakily gets back in the ring Tsuruta is poised on the top rope. He hits his flying knee and gets the pin!!! A solid title bout!
Match #2 NWA International Tag Title bout Champions Yoshiaki Yatsu/Riki Choshu vs Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta. (Fair Warning there is a huge rant coming! I worked on my review of this bout for almost an hour! I love doing this blog! I look forward to it every day! So I started and stopped this match numerous times to get every nuance and sequence perfectly and after all that this great match ends in a double countout "FUCK Finish! This bout was stellar with near falls and crowd heat! My fault for not watching the match 1st I guess! But I didn't want the great wrestling fans who share my passion for wrestling to get invested as I did in a match with that for a finish! I truly am thankful for every single one of you that take time to read this and I value your readership! I must be honest I deleted all that I had written and decided to vent! Will not happen again lesson learned! back to the match tremendous but the ending made me lose it!!!
AJPW 3/10/86 NWA International title bout Terry Gordy vs Champion Jumbo Tsuruta As we join the bout early on I assume, Gordy Takes Tsuruta over in a side headlock and grinds it out for several minutes. Until Tsuruta backs him into the ropes forcing a break. They exchange chops and punches on the break and both circle each other mid-ring fists raised. They do the strike exchange once again(they were laying them in folks make no mistake). Jumbo grabs a side headlock of his own, but very quickly drops that. Instead dropping two elbows to the back of Gordy's neck. Then he begins to chop, elbow, and Euro uppercut Gordy from one side of the ring to the other. Tsuruta whips Terry into the corner and tries to hit his high knee. Gordy moves Jumbo goes into the buckle knee first. Gordy very quickly slaps on a figurefour. After some struggle Tsuruta manages to undo Gordy's legs from the hold and stand up reigning down stomps on Gordy. Jumbo hooks in a reverse chin lock(throwing in a couple site forearms for good measure until Gordy stand up Jumbo transitions to a headlock and Terry counters that with a hard back suplex! Gordy hits a legdrop then after sending Tsuruta into the ropes hooks on a sleeper hold. Jumbo eventually spins into the hold and counters out of it with a hammerlock he then turns into a three quarter nelson pining combination. Gordy gets the advantage again by countering a sunsetflip attempt with a punch to the head. Then hits a piledriver Tsuruta kicks out of the pin and Gordy goes back to the reverse chinlock Jumbo counters once more into a hammerlock and slides that into a standing armbar. Gordy escapes via blatant forearm to underside of ballsack(that moment when you realize what you just wrote!) Both men are down. Tsuruta gets to his feet and hits his flying knee off a whip. But when he tries it in the corner Gordy meets him with a hard lariat. Gordy hits a flying bodypress and gets two. He sends Tsuruta in for a second lariat, Jumbo ducks and hits his own flying bodypress. Gordy somehow manages to catch him, but both go tumbling over the top rope to the outside. Jumbo delivers a back suplex on the floor! As Gordy shakily gets back in the ring Tsuruta is poised on the top rope. He hits his flying knee and gets the pin!!! A solid title bout!
Saturday, March 25, 2017
WWF All-Star/Maple Leaf Wrestling, Baltimore Arena house show and two bouts from Saturday Nights Main Event 3-1-86
WWF All-Star Wrestling/Maple Leaf Wrestling(same show two different names) All tag squash bouts with a different set of in-set interviews/promos for a Sacramento show and a Toronto show(a much better show it seems by the card rundown!) If you love one-sided tag matches this is your show!
WWF Baltimore Arena House Show 3/1/86 Match #1 Jim Powers vs Barry O. Better match than you might think! Powers had control early with the side headlock. It is sort of amazing Barry O was not badly injured. When Powers snapped the hiplock over several times to take the side-headlock to the mat, Barry O came very close to landing straight on his head and neck! Barry O hit a nice Backbreaker to counter a flying bodypress attempt by Powers. Jim hit a dropkick to take the advantage back quickly. The big momentum change happened when Barry O Sidestepped Powers and grabbed him by the hair and threw him over the top rope! Powers went sailing over the rope and hit his back hard an the apron(the bump made me wince).The crowd popped a bit as well. Powers got back in after several thwarted attempts by Barry O via a sunset flip and near fall. Barry O hit a nice powerslam after whipping Jim into the turnbuckles for a two count. Powers won the match with a small package out of nowhere following the powerslam spot! Crowd reacted I think due to the suddenness of the pinfall.
Match #2 Jose Luis Rivera vs George Wells. Wells did his always(mostly) spot on flying head scissors early. Always works for crowd response when he pulls it off as he did here! Best spot of the short match was when, Wells caught Rivera on a backwards crossbody attempt and by pure strength turned it into a reverse atomic drop! Wells went for a splash off the middle turnbuckle and Rivera got his knees up. The went to the finish right after this. Rivera hit a shoulder tackle came of the ropes again Wells leapfrogged his man and hit his flying shoulder tackle for the victory.
Match #3 Ron Shaw vs Danny Spivey. Spivey took over with armdrags to start the bout. He was very quick for a big man when he was young. Shaw hit a running knee to the midsection to gain momentary control. Spivey took over once again and tried to slingshot him self from the apron of the ring over the top rope and splash Shaw. Who as luck would have it got his knees up. Spivey countered a backdrop with a kick to the sternum. Followed that up with a clothesline in the corner and hit his big bulldog for the pin! (camera angle was great for the finish here.)
Match #4 Rene Goulet vs Sivi Afi. Afi used the headlock and his tremendous leaping(sorry Lanny)ability early. Goulet got the upperhand with a knee to the gut(popular move on this card). He applied his "Scorpio" claw hold twice during the contest. Afi hit a splash, and a flying crossbody and couldn't get the pin, but he landed a flying crossbody from the top and secured the victory! The crowd turned on this match early with boring chants and utter disinterest!
Match #5 Junkyard Dog vs AJ Peturzzi This match took no time, JYD hit his "all fours" headbutts a clothesline and his powerslam and it was over! On one hand the crowd paid money to see this, but on the bright side didn't have to suffer through a long JYD match!!! After the bout JYD got some kids and a security guard to "Juke"with him in the ring! At least he was entertaining!
Match #6 Tony Atlas vs Iron Mike Sharpe This was a solid back and forth affair. With arm drags and punches to the gut, and heads in turnbuckles. However the finish caught me so unaware that I have forgotten most of the bout I just saw! This may be one of the most shocking wrestling sentences you ever see/I ever write. Tony Atlas won this match with a FLYING HEADSCISSORS! (Let that sink in). Atlas sent Sharpe into the ropes leapfrogged him and as he came back hit a head scissors cradled the near leg and got the pin! My jaw is on the floor!
Main Event (I guess) Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff vs CPL Kirchner and George "The Animal" Steele. (Get your VCR's ready folks....... to burn and throw away!) My favorite thing about this match happened before it began. Volkoff is singing the Russian national anthem and amidst all the crowd booing and jeers their is one fan at ringside with an American flag shirt on standing ramrod straight at attention while giving a military salute! (I love pro wrestling)! Their wasn't much to the match itself(thank Allah) Sheik blindsided Corp before the bell. They beat on him for awhile. Steele made the tag he got the same treatment. Sheik put him in the Camel Clutch, Corp ran in and broke it up. Steele makes the tag a brawl begins. While the referee is tied up getting Animal back to the corner, Kirchner hits a fireman's carry drop on Volkoff, Sheik loads up his boot and kicks ole Corp in the head. He puts Volkoff on top(the official clearly sees this)and in his shinning intellect counts the pin anyway! This show was fairly entertaining mid-card madness!
SNME 3/1/86(taped 2/15/86) #1 Bob Orton vs Mr. T Boxing match. They both did pre-match interviews. Piper showed a newspaper clipping of a photo T had taken with Boy George and said "This is what the youth of America is supposed to look up to?" T said that unlike the movie "Rocky III" he was not gonna take a dive! (He does know that we know that was a movie right???) He said he was gonna beat him up and knock him out. By the way, if you think ole Vinnie Mac was a sub par wrestling announcer wait till you hear him do "Boxing"! Rd 1(god this whole thing is dumb as hell!) Orton gets warned about an eye poke, the "doctor" wants to stop it but T won't let them(I thought the Doctor's verdict was law, but how dare I use logic in a fake boxing match!) As the bell sounds to end the rd, Orton hits T with a punch while the ref is between them and both the referee and T go down! Rd 2 Orton is showing off and takes a big punch that staggers him. Piper distracts the official and Orton lands a knee on T. Then Orton holds him while Piper throws a punch. T ducks Orton goes flying gets up and T knocks him over the top rope. Piper fails to get Orton back in the ring before the 10 count. You're official winner Mr. T. Piper then climbs in the ring to challenge T to a boxing match. T moves the referee out of the way. Piper Gets T's back turned then Orton runs in with a knee to the back of T! The heel twosome take out T's corner men. Then Piper takes of his belt while "Cowboy holds T's Arms and Piper lashes him with the belt. On commentary Ventura says "It's like ROOTS 2! He said thin on network TV! T gets up and the heels hit the road! T does a post match promo where he vows to get even with Roddy(setting up their boxing match at Mania 2 oh Joy)
Match #2 The Dream Team(Valentine/Beefcake Champions) vs The British Bulldogs The Bulldogs controlled this match in every way possible besides getting their hands raised! Valentine and Beefcake were headbutted and suplexed by the Brits back to the stone age! Valentine managed to hit Dynamite Kid with a reverse atomic drop and tag Beefcake who had the advantage for a few seconds before Captain Lou Albano and Johnny V the respective managers almost came to blows on the floor. All four men jumped outside and threatened to go at it. That's when the commercial break came along! They come back from break and Valentine and Dynamite are standing just beating each other to death with forearms and chops! Hammer hits an elbow drop off the middle rope for a near fall! He eventually gets shoved off a sideheadlock and he and the Bulldog both go down, but Valentine lands with his leg on top of Davey (I think) and gets the "Lucky fluke" three count for the win! This of course sets up the Bulldogs rematch at Mania 2! PS The 1986 Slammy awards were broadcast on this night on MTV! I didn't cover them because No actual wrestling took place and therefore I could care less! You wanna watch that you do it! I refuse(old man voice!)
WWF Baltimore Arena House Show 3/1/86 Match #1 Jim Powers vs Barry O. Better match than you might think! Powers had control early with the side headlock. It is sort of amazing Barry O was not badly injured. When Powers snapped the hiplock over several times to take the side-headlock to the mat, Barry O came very close to landing straight on his head and neck! Barry O hit a nice Backbreaker to counter a flying bodypress attempt by Powers. Jim hit a dropkick to take the advantage back quickly. The big momentum change happened when Barry O Sidestepped Powers and grabbed him by the hair and threw him over the top rope! Powers went sailing over the rope and hit his back hard an the apron(the bump made me wince).The crowd popped a bit as well. Powers got back in after several thwarted attempts by Barry O via a sunset flip and near fall. Barry O hit a nice powerslam after whipping Jim into the turnbuckles for a two count. Powers won the match with a small package out of nowhere following the powerslam spot! Crowd reacted I think due to the suddenness of the pinfall.
Match #2 Jose Luis Rivera vs George Wells. Wells did his always(mostly) spot on flying head scissors early. Always works for crowd response when he pulls it off as he did here! Best spot of the short match was when, Wells caught Rivera on a backwards crossbody attempt and by pure strength turned it into a reverse atomic drop! Wells went for a splash off the middle turnbuckle and Rivera got his knees up. The went to the finish right after this. Rivera hit a shoulder tackle came of the ropes again Wells leapfrogged his man and hit his flying shoulder tackle for the victory.
Match #3 Ron Shaw vs Danny Spivey. Spivey took over with armdrags to start the bout. He was very quick for a big man when he was young. Shaw hit a running knee to the midsection to gain momentary control. Spivey took over once again and tried to slingshot him self from the apron of the ring over the top rope and splash Shaw. Who as luck would have it got his knees up. Spivey countered a backdrop with a kick to the sternum. Followed that up with a clothesline in the corner and hit his big bulldog for the pin! (camera angle was great for the finish here.)
Match #4 Rene Goulet vs Sivi Afi. Afi used the headlock and his tremendous leaping(sorry Lanny)ability early. Goulet got the upperhand with a knee to the gut(popular move on this card). He applied his "Scorpio" claw hold twice during the contest. Afi hit a splash, and a flying crossbody and couldn't get the pin, but he landed a flying crossbody from the top and secured the victory! The crowd turned on this match early with boring chants and utter disinterest!
Match #5 Junkyard Dog vs AJ Peturzzi This match took no time, JYD hit his "all fours" headbutts a clothesline and his powerslam and it was over! On one hand the crowd paid money to see this, but on the bright side didn't have to suffer through a long JYD match!!! After the bout JYD got some kids and a security guard to "Juke"with him in the ring! At least he was entertaining!
Match #6 Tony Atlas vs Iron Mike Sharpe This was a solid back and forth affair. With arm drags and punches to the gut, and heads in turnbuckles. However the finish caught me so unaware that I have forgotten most of the bout I just saw! This may be one of the most shocking wrestling sentences you ever see/I ever write. Tony Atlas won this match with a FLYING HEADSCISSORS! (Let that sink in). Atlas sent Sharpe into the ropes leapfrogged him and as he came back hit a head scissors cradled the near leg and got the pin! My jaw is on the floor!
Main Event (I guess) Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff vs CPL Kirchner and George "The Animal" Steele. (Get your VCR's ready folks....... to burn and throw away!) My favorite thing about this match happened before it began. Volkoff is singing the Russian national anthem and amidst all the crowd booing and jeers their is one fan at ringside with an American flag shirt on standing ramrod straight at attention while giving a military salute! (I love pro wrestling)! Their wasn't much to the match itself(thank Allah) Sheik blindsided Corp before the bell. They beat on him for awhile. Steele made the tag he got the same treatment. Sheik put him in the Camel Clutch, Corp ran in and broke it up. Steele makes the tag a brawl begins. While the referee is tied up getting Animal back to the corner, Kirchner hits a fireman's carry drop on Volkoff, Sheik loads up his boot and kicks ole Corp in the head. He puts Volkoff on top(the official clearly sees this)and in his shinning intellect counts the pin anyway! This show was fairly entertaining mid-card madness!
SNME 3/1/86(taped 2/15/86) #1 Bob Orton vs Mr. T Boxing match. They both did pre-match interviews. Piper showed a newspaper clipping of a photo T had taken with Boy George and said "This is what the youth of America is supposed to look up to?" T said that unlike the movie "Rocky III" he was not gonna take a dive! (He does know that we know that was a movie right???) He said he was gonna beat him up and knock him out. By the way, if you think ole Vinnie Mac was a sub par wrestling announcer wait till you hear him do "Boxing"! Rd 1(god this whole thing is dumb as hell!) Orton gets warned about an eye poke, the "doctor" wants to stop it but T won't let them(I thought the Doctor's verdict was law, but how dare I use logic in a fake boxing match!) As the bell sounds to end the rd, Orton hits T with a punch while the ref is between them and both the referee and T go down! Rd 2 Orton is showing off and takes a big punch that staggers him. Piper distracts the official and Orton lands a knee on T. Then Orton holds him while Piper throws a punch. T ducks Orton goes flying gets up and T knocks him over the top rope. Piper fails to get Orton back in the ring before the 10 count. You're official winner Mr. T. Piper then climbs in the ring to challenge T to a boxing match. T moves the referee out of the way. Piper Gets T's back turned then Orton runs in with a knee to the back of T! The heel twosome take out T's corner men. Then Piper takes of his belt while "Cowboy holds T's Arms and Piper lashes him with the belt. On commentary Ventura says "It's like ROOTS 2! He said thin on network TV! T gets up and the heels hit the road! T does a post match promo where he vows to get even with Roddy(setting up their boxing match at Mania 2 oh Joy)
Match #2 The Dream Team(Valentine/Beefcake Champions) vs The British Bulldogs The Bulldogs controlled this match in every way possible besides getting their hands raised! Valentine and Beefcake were headbutted and suplexed by the Brits back to the stone age! Valentine managed to hit Dynamite Kid with a reverse atomic drop and tag Beefcake who had the advantage for a few seconds before Captain Lou Albano and Johnny V the respective managers almost came to blows on the floor. All four men jumped outside and threatened to go at it. That's when the commercial break came along! They come back from break and Valentine and Dynamite are standing just beating each other to death with forearms and chops! Hammer hits an elbow drop off the middle rope for a near fall! He eventually gets shoved off a sideheadlock and he and the Bulldog both go down, but Valentine lands with his leg on top of Davey (I think) and gets the "Lucky fluke" three count for the win! This of course sets up the Bulldogs rematch at Mania 2! PS The 1986 Slammy awards were broadcast on this night on MTV! I didn't cover them because No actual wrestling took place and therefore I could care less! You wanna watch that you do it! I refuse(old man voice!)
Thursday, March 23, 2017
All Japan Pro Wrestling 3-1-86 #1 Tiger Jeet Singh vs Jumbo Tsuruta Quick review eight minutes of utter mayhem! A huge crazy brawl(that is every Jeet Singh match ever!) I always found it somewhat confounding and interesting that in Japan they love hard strong style. Yet they have as much respect for crazy Memphis brawls! This match a prime example of the latter! Their are no moves to call. No Ring Psychology to get into! Very simple easy to grasp story, Jeet Singh was nuts and Jumbo fought hard not to get run threw with a sword! At one point they were fighting on the floor and Jumbo managed to get ole Tiger's lance(or whatever the hell you call it) beat him with it and get into the ring holding it aloft! That was a cool visual. Jeet Singh got the DQ when his manager held Tsuruta arms from outside the ring while Tiger pummeled him! Not that it matters nobody ever said after a Jeet Singh match "Hey who won"? you said Sweet God in Heaven that was nuts!"
Match #2 Tenryu vs Terry Gordy Gordy was accompanied to ringside by a mysterious ninja. This match was hot before the bell as Gordy took the ceremonial flowers presented to him and hurled them at Tenryu. Who threw them right back at Gordy's head. Match began with a stalemate for several minutes with Gordy "Wolfing/barking at Tenryu on breaks. Tenryu worked a side-headlock early holding it for some time. Gordy hit a lariat to gain the upperhand. Then put on a somewhat sloppy figurefour twice during the time when he had control. Both times Tenryu countered by unhooking Gordy's top leg from his! On the second attempt Gordy had to fight his way out of a Tenryu leglock counter with stiff punches. Gordy went to the top and hit a flying crossbody, Tenryu rolled thru(not the smoothest counter I ever saw by a long shot!) and got a two count! Tenryu hit his signature headkick. Went to the upstairs and hit a flying "Lou Thez" press. This time it was Terry's turn to do a sloppy roll thru and get a near fall. Doing this the rolled into and got tangled in the bottom rope. The referee separated them and Gordy hit a lariat that knocked Tenryu halfway thru the bottom rope and himself over the top rope! Tenryu falls outside as well and puts Gordy in a headlock who counters by delivering a backsuplex over the guard rail and dumping Tenryu on a table outside the barricade. This frustrates me like crazy but this tough bout ends in a groan inducing double countout! I understand why this was the finish from a logical "Nobody needs to look bad" standpoint but I don't have to like it!
Match #2 Tenryu vs Terry Gordy Gordy was accompanied to ringside by a mysterious ninja. This match was hot before the bell as Gordy took the ceremonial flowers presented to him and hurled them at Tenryu. Who threw them right back at Gordy's head. Match began with a stalemate for several minutes with Gordy "Wolfing/barking at Tenryu on breaks. Tenryu worked a side-headlock early holding it for some time. Gordy hit a lariat to gain the upperhand. Then put on a somewhat sloppy figurefour twice during the time when he had control. Both times Tenryu countered by unhooking Gordy's top leg from his! On the second attempt Gordy had to fight his way out of a Tenryu leglock counter with stiff punches. Gordy went to the top and hit a flying crossbody, Tenryu rolled thru(not the smoothest counter I ever saw by a long shot!) and got a two count! Tenryu hit his signature headkick. Went to the upstairs and hit a flying "Lou Thez" press. This time it was Terry's turn to do a sloppy roll thru and get a near fall. Doing this the rolled into and got tangled in the bottom rope. The referee separated them and Gordy hit a lariat that knocked Tenryu halfway thru the bottom rope and himself over the top rope! Tenryu falls outside as well and puts Gordy in a headlock who counters by delivering a backsuplex over the guard rail and dumping Tenryu on a table outside the barricade. This frustrates me like crazy but this tough bout ends in a groan inducing double countout! I understand why this was the finish from a logical "Nobody needs to look bad" standpoint but I don't have to like it!
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
TV Reviews 3/1/86 (Part One).......Memphis TV 3/1/86 Action show this time around. Show starts with Buddy Landell who was supposed to compete coming out and telling Lance Russell that he was too good to wrestle the jobber he was lined up against! "I won't even break a sweat"! Instead he shows a picture of himself with Ric Flair in the figurefour! He has another where he is holding up the NWA World Title. He Claims to be the uncrowned Champion. Then we get a taped interview with promoter Jerry Jarrett announcing his official retirement from wrestling do to age but mostly a condition he suffers from that has caused partial blindness. He says in the course of this interview that his young son Jeff Jarrett has decided to start training to become a pro wrestler and that he begins that process soon! They show a clip of a match where do Buddy Landell's interference Dutch Mantell loses a bout to Rick Casey. After the match Mantell and Landell get into a shouting match with Landell playing chicken shit heel and begging for forgiveness! Dundee runs out to play peacemaker, but when Dutch turns his back Landell makes like he's gonna nail him from behind. When Mantell turns back around Buddy quickly stops and starts begging again! Landell comes out and says Dutch is late again because he is probably laid up somewhere drunk! Dundee Says they have patched this up and everything is great! Dutch Comes in and Lance wants him to see the end of the tape we just saw where Landell was gonna nail him from behind! Dundee tries to mediate again but fails as Dutch and Buddy start to brawl. Dundee tries to pull Mantell off, so Dutch gets up and blasts him! Dundee goes bonkers and slams Mantell into the announce desk(blade job) they beat on him until Promoter Eddie Marlin runs them away with fine/getting fired threats. Mantell was supposed to wrestle Billy Travis next. Landell comes out and says since Dutch got beat up by him he'll take his place. Dutch runs out head wrapped still bloody and Runs Landell off with a chair! He says he wants a tag match he and Billy Travis vs Landell/Dundee! trademark Intense Memphis booking!
3/1/86 NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Nothing Happened solid work and interviews! Single wins by the regulars and a newcomer in Leo Burke!
NWA Worldwide Wrestling 3/1/86 Nothing much to report in ring, but several storyline points! During a interview with Dusty Rhodes they showed footage of the Horsemen trying it re-break Rhodes ankle after a cage match in the Omni in Atlanta! Dusty was in the figurefour and Flair came off the middle turnbuckle with Dusty's boot down across his ankle. Rhodes said they didn't get the job done, plus some Ultimate Warrior level mystical bullshit about standing on a riverbank a 4 am every morning! After several viewings Dusty must have been huffing paint in the back, this was real silly! Magnum said that he signed the contract to wrestle Nikita for the U.S. Title on tv, it was now up to the Kremlin(just picture a room full of stern looking men in three-piece suits and those cute furry hats. Going over line by line a contract for a secondary wrestling title in America......WRESTLING folks!) Paul Jones Army had a tag squash and doing a 5 minute promo during this bout was?......Of course Jimmy damn Valiant! The Barbarian reading the book of Revelations in Hebrew made more sense than this promo! He said something about knowing Jones Army was coming for him(why are the English Professors in real life?). Jimmy did another promo later where he came out with a wooden casket and said he was gonna be Jones Undertaker. Tony Looked Somehow bemused and horrified by this! Cornette did a interview bragging about his boys breaking Ricky Morton's arm. Robert Gibson had a singles match, due to Morton's injury and they said that Ricky was gonna have a cast put on and he would not be out of action long.(Odd thing is on the Mid-Atlantic show I just watched Ricky had the cast already on and wrestled in a match! These shows must have overlapped in many TV Markets! it was just weird!
NWA TBS 605 Saturday Night show 3/1/86 Arn Anderson defended the World's TV Title Against Ron Garvin. Good match with these two(what else is new!) Anderson got the shit beat out of him early! With fists and chops and headbutts. Not to mention Garvin stretching him in ways that would make Gumby squeal! Flair came to ringside to support his fellow horsemen and "cousin." Anderson got the upper hand and used a bearhug as the ware down hold! Being that this was a TV title bout their was a 10 minute time limit(most of them are 20 so you know how it ended! The dreaded Time Limit Draw. As the bell Rang Garvin had AA in an abdominal stretch. After the bell flair ran up and distracted Garvin, that gave AA time to plant a knee in the back and lay Ronnie out with his gourdbuster. In other action Flair won a rare squash match on television. Plus the Midnight Express destroyed two jobbers! Bobby Eaton came off the top four times during this bout. Dedicating each one beforehand to Ric Flair, Tony and David doing commentary, AA and The camera people! Beyond mere talent!
3/1/86 NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Nothing Happened solid work and interviews! Single wins by the regulars and a newcomer in Leo Burke!
NWA Worldwide Wrestling 3/1/86 Nothing much to report in ring, but several storyline points! During a interview with Dusty Rhodes they showed footage of the Horsemen trying it re-break Rhodes ankle after a cage match in the Omni in Atlanta! Dusty was in the figurefour and Flair came off the middle turnbuckle with Dusty's boot down across his ankle. Rhodes said they didn't get the job done, plus some Ultimate Warrior level mystical bullshit about standing on a riverbank a 4 am every morning! After several viewings Dusty must have been huffing paint in the back, this was real silly! Magnum said that he signed the contract to wrestle Nikita for the U.S. Title on tv, it was now up to the Kremlin(just picture a room full of stern looking men in three-piece suits and those cute furry hats. Going over line by line a contract for a secondary wrestling title in America......WRESTLING folks!) Paul Jones Army had a tag squash and doing a 5 minute promo during this bout was?......Of course Jimmy damn Valiant! The Barbarian reading the book of Revelations in Hebrew made more sense than this promo! He said something about knowing Jones Army was coming for him(why are the English Professors in real life?). Jimmy did another promo later where he came out with a wooden casket and said he was gonna be Jones Undertaker. Tony Looked Somehow bemused and horrified by this! Cornette did a interview bragging about his boys breaking Ricky Morton's arm. Robert Gibson had a singles match, due to Morton's injury and they said that Ricky was gonna have a cast put on and he would not be out of action long.(Odd thing is on the Mid-Atlantic show I just watched Ricky had the cast already on and wrestled in a match! These shows must have overlapped in many TV Markets! it was just weird!
NWA TBS 605 Saturday Night show 3/1/86 Arn Anderson defended the World's TV Title Against Ron Garvin. Good match with these two(what else is new!) Anderson got the shit beat out of him early! With fists and chops and headbutts. Not to mention Garvin stretching him in ways that would make Gumby squeal! Flair came to ringside to support his fellow horsemen and "cousin." Anderson got the upper hand and used a bearhug as the ware down hold! Being that this was a TV title bout their was a 10 minute time limit(most of them are 20 so you know how it ended! The dreaded Time Limit Draw. As the bell Rang Garvin had AA in an abdominal stretch. After the bell flair ran up and distracted Garvin, that gave AA time to plant a knee in the back and lay Ronnie out with his gourdbuster. In other action Flair won a rare squash match on television. Plus the Midnight Express destroyed two jobbers! Bobby Eaton came off the top four times during this bout. Dedicating each one beforehand to Ric Flair, Tony and David doing commentary, AA and The camera people! Beyond mere talent!
Monday, March 13, 2017
TV Reviews 2/23/86
TV Reviews 2/23/86 Mid-South Wrestling Eddie Gilbert started the show off doing an in-ring interview with Jim Ross announcing his "retirement" from active wrestling! Saying he had money and a beautiful new girlfriend. He will now concentrate on managing. (his new big "Russian" debuts in the show a big guy with a bad haircut, furry boots and a Soviet flag.) Dr Death and Ted Dibiase defended the Mid-South Tag Belts against Masked Superstar and Dick Murdoch. Good match Doc ran wild early with football tackles. Murdoch stopped him by hitting him with an elbow to the jaw when Doc tried one to many! Williams made the tag to Dibiase who hits a nice powerslam on Murdoch and locks in his figurefour! Another masked man hits the ring(Ross and Joel Watts god help us) called him a "second Masked Superstar. The three heels lay out the babyfaces with the help of the second Superstar's loaded mask! The main event saw the RNR Express go up against the Fabs! Stan and Steve worked heel complaining to the referee and subtly cheating. Robert took the babyface in peril roll. Shortly after he made the tag to Morton the show ran out of time without showing the finish! KoKo Ware, The Sheepherders, Jim Duggan and the team of Bret Sawyer and DJ Peterson won squashes!
WWF All-American Wrestling 2/23/86 3 big things covered on this show #1 Hulk Hogan came on Piper's Pit and conned "Boxin" Bob Orton into signing a contract to have a boxing match against his good buddy MR T! #2 During a match between JYD and Terry Funk When Funk was tied up in the ropes and Dog was about to use his own branding iron on him. He was jumped from behind by Terry's older brother Dory Funk Jr(for some reason they called him Hoss for most of his WWF run! Beyond Dumb! They did call him Dory here!) While Dog was being held down by the Funks, Jimmy Hart jumped on him and scratched and punched him! By the way Dory hit JYD with his shoe, for some reason wrestlers sell this like they have been shot with a small caliber handgun! #3 They showed Savage beating Santana for the IC title(its been three damn weeks people)! There were a couple squashes matches thrown in!
WWF All-American Wrestling 2/23/86 3 big things covered on this show #1 Hulk Hogan came on Piper's Pit and conned "Boxin" Bob Orton into signing a contract to have a boxing match against his good buddy MR T! #2 During a match between JYD and Terry Funk When Funk was tied up in the ropes and Dog was about to use his own branding iron on him. He was jumped from behind by Terry's older brother Dory Funk Jr(for some reason they called him Hoss for most of his WWF run! Beyond Dumb! They did call him Dory here!) While Dog was being held down by the Funks, Jimmy Hart jumped on him and scratched and punched him! By the way Dory hit JYD with his shoe, for some reason wrestlers sell this like they have been shot with a small caliber handgun! #3 They showed Savage beating Santana for the IC title(its been three damn weeks people)! There were a couple squashes matches thrown in!
AWA Championship Wrestling 2/23/86 The big thing on this show was the Brody/Blackwell-Gagne brawl that I covered in a previous blog! A great angle for pure chaos! There were Squashes by Marty Jannetty, Nord the Barbarian/Boris Zhokoff and a shorter one by Scott Hall! AWA Squashes were infamous for going on for much to long as 2 of these did!
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Tv Reviews 2/22/86
Tv reviews 2/22/86 Memphis For once a rather eventful Memphis Show! Austin Idol was "late" to the studio. He was supposed to wrestle perpetual loser Tony Faulk. Idol comes out in street clothes and apologies for being late. He leaves to go get his gear on and Faulk comes out of the ring and says no time and no excuses he wants to go now! Idol obliges and beats Faulk (of course) with the "Las Vegas LegLock"(his version of the figurefour. While that is going on in ring Buddy Landell comes out and cuts a promo at the desk with Lance. Saying it's a figuefour not a Las Vegas leglock and that he is the master of the hold not Idol.Calls Idol washed up! Landell comes out later for his match and puts the figurefour on a jobber and refuses to let go of the hold. Idol =comes out gets in the ring and tells Landell to break the hold. Landell refuses and spits in Idol's face! That went over real well as Idol takes of his belt and whips Landell like he stole something! Dundee runs in and distracs Idol.Landell knees him in the back and puts him in the figurefour.While Dundee chokes him with his own belt. Dundee goes to the desk to brag to lance and dave. While he does Idol reverses the hold. Dundee sees this and runs back in with a chair and hits Idol with it! The faces come out the heels run away and Idol gets help to the back! Dutch Mantell and Bill Dundee have a match against BillyTravis and Frank Morell.The duo bloody up Travis with a chain and throw powder in the eyes of Morell! The Midnight Rider(guy in a black mask and white duster trench coat) comes out with a cattle prod and chases the heels away. Other things in the show the Mod Squad and Manager JD Costello sent in another taped interview. The fantastics and a horrible newcomer Ken Prince(have no memory of him at all) had squash bouts. Plus they had some taped promos about the "thunderdome(bunkhouse) matches coming to the area.A very solid hour !
NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 2/22/86 Big news of the show Jim Cornette's lawyers stopped his tennis racquet from being banned by the NWA. In a bout later in the show Cornette uses the racquet to injure Sam Houston as he and Nelson Royal were wrestling the Midnight express. In an interview with Dusty Rhodes and the Rock N' Roll express Rhodes gave them "Betty Lou" (a shark cage) to put Cornette in! The highlight of the show was a in-ring Promo by Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin! He said he was happy to be here in the NWA that Precious his valet, was the only "10" in the world(a baby doll reference) and that Magnum TA used to be a male dancer in San Fran! (this was a tremendous debut promo)! Ivan and Nikita were doing a promo when TA got in the ring on the house mic and challenged him to a match right now! Ivan held him back saying Magnum had not signed the contract yet. Nikita said that he was not dumb that TA' friends would attack him! Another fine program!
NWA Worldwide Wrestling 2/22/86 This was for all practical purposes a one match show, but my God what a Match! Ric Flair and Arn Anderson signed on to wrestle "The Risky Biness Boys"(I spelt it the way Dusty said it). Who turn out to be Dusty Rhodes and Ronnie Garvin! I have been watching Wrestling since I was 2(1980) and I have NEVER LET ME REPEAT THAT NEVER HEARD A CROWD REACTION LIKE THIS!!! These folks in Fayetteville NC lost their damn minds for every bump in this match! Their in no way to convey this properly thru words. If you have not seen it go watch it! I'm not even gonna go over the bout! You need to see this! If you love wrestling as I do it may raise the hairs on the back of your neck! Best thing I'll see all week!
NWA World Championship Wrestling (tbs 605 show 2/22/86 Best match on the show Arn Anderson Tv title defense against World Junior Champ Denny Brown! Flair was out to do commentary. So Dusty came out for a reason I guess!(it was never brought up) AA and Brown had a really good back and forth bout! With Flair putting both guys over strong to the home audience. He said just because Brown was smaller made no difference he was a World Champion and he deserved it!(I miss guys putting their rivals over as tough men to beat!) Denny put his head down on a backdrop attempt to soon and AA snatched him into a gourdbuster to get the win and retain the tv title! The heels acted like they were going to Jump Rhodes post match. Magnum TA hit the ring and they backed off! The RNR express attacked the Midnight express with tennis racquets of their own after a Midnights Squash match! Cornette Said he was not a criminal or a parakeet so he would not be getting in any cage above any ring! In other action Tully Blanchard and (my favorite jobber of all-time) The Alabama Jr Heavyweight Champion Mike Jackson had a good match. As Did the RNR Express vs Thunderfoot and Black Bart(dadgumit!!!) The closing angle was a tremendous pull apart brawl between Magnum and Nikita! The Russians did a promo while Magnum was in the ring. Saying he was a coward for not signing to wrestle Nikita on Television for the US Belt! After the TA Squash Ivan has to hold Nikita back from going in the ring. While this is going on Magnum jumps off the apron and hits Nikita from behind! Then the brawl was on folks! Every wrestler there it looked like spilled out of the dressing room to try and stop the fight! They would get them apart for a few seconds then boom right back at it! That's how the show went off the air! Good wrestling storylines continued well very fun show!
NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling 2/22/86 Big news of the show Jim Cornette's lawyers stopped his tennis racquet from being banned by the NWA. In a bout later in the show Cornette uses the racquet to injure Sam Houston as he and Nelson Royal were wrestling the Midnight express. In an interview with Dusty Rhodes and the Rock N' Roll express Rhodes gave them "Betty Lou" (a shark cage) to put Cornette in! The highlight of the show was a in-ring Promo by Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin! He said he was happy to be here in the NWA that Precious his valet, was the only "10" in the world(a baby doll reference) and that Magnum TA used to be a male dancer in San Fran! (this was a tremendous debut promo)! Ivan and Nikita were doing a promo when TA got in the ring on the house mic and challenged him to a match right now! Ivan held him back saying Magnum had not signed the contract yet. Nikita said that he was not dumb that TA' friends would attack him! Another fine program!
NWA Worldwide Wrestling 2/22/86 This was for all practical purposes a one match show, but my God what a Match! Ric Flair and Arn Anderson signed on to wrestle "The Risky Biness Boys"(I spelt it the way Dusty said it). Who turn out to be Dusty Rhodes and Ronnie Garvin! I have been watching Wrestling since I was 2(1980) and I have NEVER LET ME REPEAT THAT NEVER HEARD A CROWD REACTION LIKE THIS!!! These folks in Fayetteville NC lost their damn minds for every bump in this match! Their in no way to convey this properly thru words. If you have not seen it go watch it! I'm not even gonna go over the bout! You need to see this! If you love wrestling as I do it may raise the hairs on the back of your neck! Best thing I'll see all week!
NWA World Championship Wrestling (tbs 605 show 2/22/86 Best match on the show Arn Anderson Tv title defense against World Junior Champ Denny Brown! Flair was out to do commentary. So Dusty came out for a reason I guess!(it was never brought up) AA and Brown had a really good back and forth bout! With Flair putting both guys over strong to the home audience. He said just because Brown was smaller made no difference he was a World Champion and he deserved it!(I miss guys putting their rivals over as tough men to beat!) Denny put his head down on a backdrop attempt to soon and AA snatched him into a gourdbuster to get the win and retain the tv title! The heels acted like they were going to Jump Rhodes post match. Magnum TA hit the ring and they backed off! The RNR express attacked the Midnight express with tennis racquets of their own after a Midnights Squash match! Cornette Said he was not a criminal or a parakeet so he would not be getting in any cage above any ring! In other action Tully Blanchard and (my favorite jobber of all-time) The Alabama Jr Heavyweight Champion Mike Jackson had a good match. As Did the RNR Express vs Thunderfoot and Black Bart(dadgumit!!!) The closing angle was a tremendous pull apart brawl between Magnum and Nikita! The Russians did a promo while Magnum was in the ring. Saying he was a coward for not signing to wrestle Nikita on Television for the US Belt! After the TA Squash Ivan has to hold Nikita back from going in the ring. While this is going on Magnum jumps off the apron and hits Nikita from behind! Then the brawl was on folks! Every wrestler there it looked like spilled out of the dressing room to try and stop the fight! They would get them apart for a few seconds then boom right back at it! That's how the show went off the air! Good wrestling storylines continued well very fun show!
Saturday, March 11, 2017
AJPW 2/22/86
AJPW 2/22/86 Ashura Hara/Great Kabuki vs Mighty Inoue/Tiger Mask Kabuki/Tiger get into a pre-match shove-a-thon. No one is able to get and maintain an advantage for very long. Until Tiger starts to work on Hara's arm several minutes into the contest. Hara attempts to throw Tiger Mask between the ropes to break the armbar but Tiger holds on to the hold yanking Hara to the floor with him. The camera sadly did not pick this up very well, but I believe Hara landed on top of Tiger Mask! Tiger rams Hara into the ringpost and throws him back in the ring. Hara manages to land two solid headbuts to Tiger and tags Kabuki. He grabs a side headlock Tiger quickly pushes off and hits a beauty of a dropkick. Kabuki gets the momentum back as Tiger follows a whip into the corner and Kabuki meets him with a strong lariat! Tiger counters a back suplex with one of his own. Then climbs to the top and hits a missile drop kick. Kabuki hits a knee to the mid-section and gets a much needed tag to Hara. Tiger mask fights out of a chinlock and tags Inoue. Inoue immediately takes over on Hara with a flying shoulder tackle and a dropkick. Both Inoue and Tiger utilize single leg Boston crabs. Kabuki gets the tag but Inoue goes after the leg with an inside toe hold and then locks in a figure four! Kabuki manages to reverse the hold, but Inoue rolls thru and Kabuki must grab the ropes to break the hold. Tiger takes the tag and clamps on the same hold. Hara runs in and drops a leg across Tiger. Inoue tags back in and spins into an Indian Death Lock(Kabuki's leg is being slowly taken apart!) Tiger gets the tag and slaps on a Boston Crab. Hara runs in again for the save and shoulder blocks Tiger mask. Kabuki fires back with his uppercut blows and tags Hara! Hara takes back suplexes from both his foes! Inoue runs at Hara who sidesteps him and he flies over the top rope. Kabuki goes outside and whips Inoue into the guard rail, Tiger hits Kabuki with a great Plancha on the outside. Inoue sunset flips back in the ring Hara kicks out at two. Inoue attempts a O'Connor roll, Hara blocks by holding on to the rope. Inoue goes down when he comes up Hara hits him with a lariat and gets the pin! Meanwhile Kabuki and Tiger mask continue to brawl!
Match #2 Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell/Harley Race vs Isamu Teranishi/Killer Khan Joined in Progress The clip showed about 5 minutes of wrestling. Nothing really happened Killer Khan and Race were battling the referee tried to step in and Khan threw him down twice! The Official dq'd Khan so your winners Blackwell and Race!
Match#3 (This is a sentence I never thought I would see much less write) Tenryu vs One Man Gang. Gang coming to the ring looking like he did with that black skull and crossbones flag is a sight to behold! This match was 90% Gang as he just beat the Piss outta Tenryu. Throwing him outside and hitting him with what I think was the ring bell! Tenryu had one brief moment of a comeback when he hit his headkick and a staggered Gang stumbled to the corner. Gang quickly regained the upperhand and hit his 747 splash. He then attempted the same thing from the corner, Tenryu moves and uses the biggest small package ever seen for the win! Gang beat up all the young boys and threw chairs in the ring during his post match hissyfit!
Match #4 Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Takashi Ishikawa This was a wild crazy seven minute bout! With almost minute by minute momentum changes! It started by Yatsu being distracted by Tsuruta on the apron. Ishikawa attacked Yatsu threw him out of the ring. Jumbo grabs Yatsu around the waist and holds him up and out as Ishikawa comes off the apron with a huge kneedrop to the throat! Not gonna go move by move it would take twice as long to write as to watch! The finishing sequence saw Tsuruta and Choshu battling outside. Ishikawa hits Yatsu with a superplex in the ring, meanwhile Choshu takes Jumbo to the post. Riki climbs in the ring when Ishikawa gets up Choshu hits his lariat and gets a three count! Quite the show!
Match #2 Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell/Harley Race vs Isamu Teranishi/Killer Khan Joined in Progress The clip showed about 5 minutes of wrestling. Nothing really happened Killer Khan and Race were battling the referee tried to step in and Khan threw him down twice! The Official dq'd Khan so your winners Blackwell and Race!
Match#3 (This is a sentence I never thought I would see much less write) Tenryu vs One Man Gang. Gang coming to the ring looking like he did with that black skull and crossbones flag is a sight to behold! This match was 90% Gang as he just beat the Piss outta Tenryu. Throwing him outside and hitting him with what I think was the ring bell! Tenryu had one brief moment of a comeback when he hit his headkick and a staggered Gang stumbled to the corner. Gang quickly regained the upperhand and hit his 747 splash. He then attempted the same thing from the corner, Tenryu moves and uses the biggest small package ever seen for the win! Gang beat up all the young boys and threw chairs in the ring during his post match hissyfit!
Match #4 Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Takashi Ishikawa This was a wild crazy seven minute bout! With almost minute by minute momentum changes! It started by Yatsu being distracted by Tsuruta on the apron. Ishikawa attacked Yatsu threw him out of the ring. Jumbo grabs Yatsu around the waist and holds him up and out as Ishikawa comes off the apron with a huge kneedrop to the throat! Not gonna go move by move it would take twice as long to write as to watch! The finishing sequence saw Tsuruta and Choshu battling outside. Ishikawa hits Yatsu with a superplex in the ring, meanwhile Choshu takes Jumbo to the post. Riki climbs in the ring when Ishikawa gets up Choshu hits his lariat and gets a three count! Quite the show!
Friday, March 10, 2017
WWF MSG house show 2/17/86
WWF MSG House Show 2/17/86 Match #1 Rene Goulet vs Lanny Poffo Solid opener here! The hit each other very hard with chops and right fists! Goulet got the advantage early when Poffo went charging into the corner with a dropkick. Goulet moved and Poffo landed upside down on his head. Goulet and Poffo both utilized the headscissors during the bout. For a while it resembled an MMA contest with ground based hold counter hold. Poffo worked decidedly "heel" in the match. Blatantly choking the Frenchmen several times in clear view of the referee! Poffo picked up a hard fought victory with his signature one footed backflip off the top rope!
Match 2 Les Thornton vs King Tonga(Haku Meng) This was a matchup of two men who belonged to different era! When Men got in the ring and beat each other up! They mat wrestled early. Thornton got the advantage by getting Tonga down and smashing his leg down over the ring apron. Thornton clamped on a rear chin lock and smashed several hard crunching forearms down across Tonga's face. Tonga fought back with stiff knife edge chops in the corner(receipt for the crossface forearms? Thornton fought back against this onslaught with forearms and jarring euro uppercuts. Finish came when Tonga hit a spot on side kick to the face and then hit a flying headbutt off the turnbuckle for the win!
Match #3 The Hart Foundation vs The Killer Bees No need to spend a whole lotta time on this bout. It is almost beat for beat the match these two tremendous teams had in Boston nine days earlier. Except it was a time limit draw. With Brunszell hitting his perfect dropkick and getting a one count as time expired on Bret Hart! Let me be clear this is not a downgrade of the bout it is spectacular tag team work! a joy to watch!
Match #4 George Wells vs King Kong Bundy This was a very quick bout. It did however build Bundy up as a dangerous monster in preparation of him being the challenger for Hogan at Mania 2! He squashed Wells quite literally with his "Avalanche" and a big splash! Wells had to be helped to the back! (he was to big for the stretcher!
Match #5 Ricky Steamboat vs Don Muraco (Martial Arts Match.....my third time seeing it! Saw one from Landover MD And Boston Mass!) The only major difference being that King Tonga accompanied Steamboat to the ring. This again was the same match they ran around the circuit minus the finish. Witch was A referee bump Muraco has Steamboat in a small package, Mr. Fuji gets in the ring to revive the ref. As this is happening Tonga sneaks in on the blindside grabs Muraco's Judo jacket and pulls Steamboat on top. The official slowly counts the fall with Fuji still in the ring celebrating the victory(because you see heels are supposed to be stupid!) Fuji is shocked when Howard Finkel announces that Steamboat won the match. Post match Tonga goes after Fuji so Muraco attacks him from behind. He puts him in the scariest Tombstone piledriver I've ever seen! I cannot tell who botched the move, but Tonga was bent at a very odd angle and dropped on his head! He walked very slowly with Steamboat to the back.
Intermission time as Monsoon went to three different pre-taped interviews he had conducted earlier with George Steele, Sheik and Volkoff and Randy Savage.
Before the next match began Stu Hart was in ring and introduced to the crowd, it was his birthday!
Match #6 Tony Atlas vs Barry O Nothing to this glorified "Squash" Comedy spots with Barry posing. Atlas got sick of that and with a punch to the jaw, a headbutt and a press slam won the match!
Match #7 Adorable Adrian Adonis vs George "the Animal" Steele! (a sure fire mat classic here!) This was all about the pre-match as Adrian and Steele took ages to lock up! Steele screaming YOU and the entire Garden chatting a gay slur at Adonis! Steele kept biting Adrian. Jimmy Hart hit Steele's manager "Captain" Louis Albano in the back with his megaphone. Steele chased Hart around and into the ring where he dropped his megaphone. Adonis tried to use it on George who blocked it. Then he hit Adrian with it several times in the back. The ref saw this and Dq'd Steele giving Adonis the Win. I need to go gargle saltwater to get rid of this match or shower in a hazmat suit!
Match#8 The Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff vs Corp Kirchner/Danny Spivey Basic tag team bout here. Spivey and Kirchner looked very bad here missing spots and being in the wrong place at the wrong time! Tremendous crowd heat as always with Sheiky and Volkoff! Both Spivey and the Corp had to make "hot" tags in the match! Finish took to long to develop. Spivey was out of it facedown on the floor. Kirchner had Sheik up on his back, Sheik had to fight out of that, get down and "load" his boot. So Volkoff distracted Corp, Kirchner turned around and took the Sheik's boot to the gut. He did a full front flip(odd bump to take from a boot even a loaded one. Why not just go down?) Sheik covered him for the win! This bout should have been better!
Match #9 Ted Arcedi vs Terry Gibbs(oh Boy)! Nothing at all Bearhug submission by Arcedi! (How can anybody look that bad in a two minute bout where nothing happened?)
Main event(Thank God because the second half of this card has been dreadful!) WWF World title Lumberjack Match Champion Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage! This was good but too quick! They did however do an excellent job of building toward Mania 2! Very early Hogan went out on the heel side of the ring. As Muraco held his arms around the ringpost, Bundy gave him the avalanche twice to the back. The other heels stood guard so the faces could not help Hogan. Savage eventually hit his top rope elbow, Hulk Kicks out(of course) and "hulk's up". Savage rakes the eyes grabs a side headlock and the began a crisscross. I believe George Steele(the camera missed it) grabs Savage's ankle he goes down Hogan hits the big leg 123 and the crowd goes home happy! Savage faces Steele at Mania 2 so that gets more layers! 1st half of this was really good, then it fell of a cliff!
Match 2 Les Thornton vs King Tonga(Haku Meng) This was a matchup of two men who belonged to different era! When Men got in the ring and beat each other up! They mat wrestled early. Thornton got the advantage by getting Tonga down and smashing his leg down over the ring apron. Thornton clamped on a rear chin lock and smashed several hard crunching forearms down across Tonga's face. Tonga fought back with stiff knife edge chops in the corner(receipt for the crossface forearms? Thornton fought back against this onslaught with forearms and jarring euro uppercuts. Finish came when Tonga hit a spot on side kick to the face and then hit a flying headbutt off the turnbuckle for the win!
Match #3 The Hart Foundation vs The Killer Bees No need to spend a whole lotta time on this bout. It is almost beat for beat the match these two tremendous teams had in Boston nine days earlier. Except it was a time limit draw. With Brunszell hitting his perfect dropkick and getting a one count as time expired on Bret Hart! Let me be clear this is not a downgrade of the bout it is spectacular tag team work! a joy to watch!
Match #4 George Wells vs King Kong Bundy This was a very quick bout. It did however build Bundy up as a dangerous monster in preparation of him being the challenger for Hogan at Mania 2! He squashed Wells quite literally with his "Avalanche" and a big splash! Wells had to be helped to the back! (he was to big for the stretcher!
Match #5 Ricky Steamboat vs Don Muraco (Martial Arts Match.....my third time seeing it! Saw one from Landover MD And Boston Mass!) The only major difference being that King Tonga accompanied Steamboat to the ring. This again was the same match they ran around the circuit minus the finish. Witch was A referee bump Muraco has Steamboat in a small package, Mr. Fuji gets in the ring to revive the ref. As this is happening Tonga sneaks in on the blindside grabs Muraco's Judo jacket and pulls Steamboat on top. The official slowly counts the fall with Fuji still in the ring celebrating the victory(because you see heels are supposed to be stupid!) Fuji is shocked when Howard Finkel announces that Steamboat won the match. Post match Tonga goes after Fuji so Muraco attacks him from behind. He puts him in the scariest Tombstone piledriver I've ever seen! I cannot tell who botched the move, but Tonga was bent at a very odd angle and dropped on his head! He walked very slowly with Steamboat to the back.
Intermission time as Monsoon went to three different pre-taped interviews he had conducted earlier with George Steele, Sheik and Volkoff and Randy Savage.
Before the next match began Stu Hart was in ring and introduced to the crowd, it was his birthday!
Match #6 Tony Atlas vs Barry O Nothing to this glorified "Squash" Comedy spots with Barry posing. Atlas got sick of that and with a punch to the jaw, a headbutt and a press slam won the match!
Match #7 Adorable Adrian Adonis vs George "the Animal" Steele! (a sure fire mat classic here!) This was all about the pre-match as Adrian and Steele took ages to lock up! Steele screaming YOU and the entire Garden chatting a gay slur at Adonis! Steele kept biting Adrian. Jimmy Hart hit Steele's manager "Captain" Louis Albano in the back with his megaphone. Steele chased Hart around and into the ring where he dropped his megaphone. Adonis tried to use it on George who blocked it. Then he hit Adrian with it several times in the back. The ref saw this and Dq'd Steele giving Adonis the Win. I need to go gargle saltwater to get rid of this match or shower in a hazmat suit!
Match#8 The Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff vs Corp Kirchner/Danny Spivey Basic tag team bout here. Spivey and Kirchner looked very bad here missing spots and being in the wrong place at the wrong time! Tremendous crowd heat as always with Sheiky and Volkoff! Both Spivey and the Corp had to make "hot" tags in the match! Finish took to long to develop. Spivey was out of it facedown on the floor. Kirchner had Sheik up on his back, Sheik had to fight out of that, get down and "load" his boot. So Volkoff distracted Corp, Kirchner turned around and took the Sheik's boot to the gut. He did a full front flip(odd bump to take from a boot even a loaded one. Why not just go down?) Sheik covered him for the win! This bout should have been better!
Match #9 Ted Arcedi vs Terry Gibbs(oh Boy)! Nothing at all Bearhug submission by Arcedi! (How can anybody look that bad in a two minute bout where nothing happened?)
Main event(Thank God because the second half of this card has been dreadful!) WWF World title Lumberjack Match Champion Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage! This was good but too quick! They did however do an excellent job of building toward Mania 2! Very early Hogan went out on the heel side of the ring. As Muraco held his arms around the ringpost, Bundy gave him the avalanche twice to the back. The other heels stood guard so the faces could not help Hogan. Savage eventually hit his top rope elbow, Hulk Kicks out(of course) and "hulk's up". Savage rakes the eyes grabs a side headlock and the began a crisscross. I believe George Steele(the camera missed it) grabs Savage's ankle he goes down Hogan hits the big leg 123 and the crowd goes home happy! Savage faces Steele at Mania 2 so that gets more layers! 1st half of this was really good, then it fell of a cliff!
Thursday, March 9, 2017
WWF Prime Time Wrestling 2/17/86 review
WWF Prime Time Wrestling 2/17/86 Match #1 Pedro Morales vs Moondog Spot The moondog took much of the match! Pedro took a hard scary looking bump over the top rope! Spot suplexed him back in the ring. Pedro missed a dropkick as Spotty held onto the ropes. Getting a very close two count. Pedro won the match with an O'Connor roll. The crowd hated this match. They went from BORING chants to just simply not caring at all!
Match #2 Danny Spivey vs Rene Goulet A better more competitive bout than I expected. Comedy spots early Goulet got caught on the top rope backwards. He hooked his feet outside the top rope so Spivey dropped him face first to break the hold. Goulet Did a handstand to break a head scissors and Spivey got up went around Goulet(still in the handstand very impressive balance) and kicked Goulet in the mid-section! Goulet put his "Scorpio"Claw hold on Spivey three different times in the match.(by the end the crowd was with the match. Spivey took a hard bump between the ropes to the floor. Danny reversed a whip into the corner, Goulet hit face first. Spivey hooked on his Bulldog headlock and got his hand raised in victory! Crowd cheered loud when he won! Credit to those two for turning the crowd!
Match #3 "Iron" Mike Sharpe vs George Wells This match was great! These two beat the shit out of each other! I think they were told they were the Main Event, because boy they worked like it! Sharpe stalls early Wells hit him with two dynamite dropkicks! Sharpe hurls Wells outside rams him into a barricade head first! hits vicious open handed chops, he unties his signature black wrist protector and uses the laces to choke Wells! Sharpe even nails wells outside with a chair! George looks legit stunned. At one point Sharpe bends back wells on the apron and hits two forearms that rang through MSG. He rammed Wells into the announce desk. Wells fires up and begins to simply ball up his fist and beat up Sharpe! He gets the laces from Sharpe and chokes him almost out! Wells hits a crossbody after he ducked a Sharpe Clothesline. Sharpe kicks out and Wells is sent to the floor from the powerful Canadian's kickout. Sharpe goes to the floor and while the brawl continues the time limit expires! I may never get to but I want to see the rematch!
Match #4 from Feb of 1975 Manuel Soto and Pete Sanchez vs Johnny Rodz and Jack Evans. Not much to the match, minutes of punching and kicking. Match was joined in progress. Sanchez got the hot tag after Soto was eye raked and kicked and just mauled! Rodz came off the top rope with a stomp several times on Soto! Sanchez came in and hit two terrific dropkicks on Evans. Bodyslammed him and tagged in Soto who hit a sunset flip for the win!
Match #5 Tiger Chug Le vs Ted Arcedi (Why did this never main event a Pay-Per-View???.......Oh yeah because people can see!) Arcedi did power spots early,in the middle and at the end(that's all Arcedi could do he makes Stroman look like Dean Malenko!) every time Chung Le hit him he went down like a shot! He paid attention to the "Selling" unit in wrestling school! He put Chung Le in a bearhug and almost fell down! He managed by some utter miracle of physics to stay upright and win the bout via submission using the move!
Main event ( I use that term loosely) Terry Funk vs Scott McGee. Fair bout, Funk slapped McGee during referee instructions. McGee returned the favor and Funk wound up on his face! Funk went upside down in the corner and looked like he might have hurt his knee! They did the spot where Jimmy Hart tried to trip McGee, Scotty chased him around the ring. Jimmy ran into the ring and Funk hit a clothesline for a near fall. The finish sequence was flawless. Funk hit a sunset flip off the top rope(the fans liked that) McGee kicked out at two. Reversed the hold and stacked Funk on his shoulders for a near fall. Funk got up and clamped on a headlock. McGee countered with a quick back suplex. Went up top and jumped right into Funk's raised knee! Who rolled over and pinned McGee! Postmatch Funk used the branding iron on McGee and got chased out of the ring by Scotty with a chair! Couple very good bouts on this show!
Match #2 Danny Spivey vs Rene Goulet A better more competitive bout than I expected. Comedy spots early Goulet got caught on the top rope backwards. He hooked his feet outside the top rope so Spivey dropped him face first to break the hold. Goulet Did a handstand to break a head scissors and Spivey got up went around Goulet(still in the handstand very impressive balance) and kicked Goulet in the mid-section! Goulet put his "Scorpio"Claw hold on Spivey three different times in the match.(by the end the crowd was with the match. Spivey took a hard bump between the ropes to the floor. Danny reversed a whip into the corner, Goulet hit face first. Spivey hooked on his Bulldog headlock and got his hand raised in victory! Crowd cheered loud when he won! Credit to those two for turning the crowd!
Match #3 "Iron" Mike Sharpe vs George Wells This match was great! These two beat the shit out of each other! I think they were told they were the Main Event, because boy they worked like it! Sharpe stalls early Wells hit him with two dynamite dropkicks! Sharpe hurls Wells outside rams him into a barricade head first! hits vicious open handed chops, he unties his signature black wrist protector and uses the laces to choke Wells! Sharpe even nails wells outside with a chair! George looks legit stunned. At one point Sharpe bends back wells on the apron and hits two forearms that rang through MSG. He rammed Wells into the announce desk. Wells fires up and begins to simply ball up his fist and beat up Sharpe! He gets the laces from Sharpe and chokes him almost out! Wells hits a crossbody after he ducked a Sharpe Clothesline. Sharpe kicks out and Wells is sent to the floor from the powerful Canadian's kickout. Sharpe goes to the floor and while the brawl continues the time limit expires! I may never get to but I want to see the rematch!
Match #4 from Feb of 1975 Manuel Soto and Pete Sanchez vs Johnny Rodz and Jack Evans. Not much to the match, minutes of punching and kicking. Match was joined in progress. Sanchez got the hot tag after Soto was eye raked and kicked and just mauled! Rodz came off the top rope with a stomp several times on Soto! Sanchez came in and hit two terrific dropkicks on Evans. Bodyslammed him and tagged in Soto who hit a sunset flip for the win!
Match #5 Tiger Chug Le vs Ted Arcedi (Why did this never main event a Pay-Per-View???.......Oh yeah because people can see!) Arcedi did power spots early,in the middle and at the end(that's all Arcedi could do he makes Stroman look like Dean Malenko!) every time Chung Le hit him he went down like a shot! He paid attention to the "Selling" unit in wrestling school! He put Chung Le in a bearhug and almost fell down! He managed by some utter miracle of physics to stay upright and win the bout via submission using the move!
Main event ( I use that term loosely) Terry Funk vs Scott McGee. Fair bout, Funk slapped McGee during referee instructions. McGee returned the favor and Funk wound up on his face! Funk went upside down in the corner and looked like he might have hurt his knee! They did the spot where Jimmy Hart tried to trip McGee, Scotty chased him around the ring. Jimmy ran into the ring and Funk hit a clothesline for a near fall. The finish sequence was flawless. Funk hit a sunset flip off the top rope(the fans liked that) McGee kicked out at two. Reversed the hold and stacked Funk on his shoulders for a near fall. Funk got up and clamped on a headlock. McGee countered with a quick back suplex. Went up top and jumped right into Funk's raised knee! Who rolled over and pinned McGee! Postmatch Funk used the branding iron on McGee and got chased out of the ring by Scotty with a chair! Couple very good bouts on this show!
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