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!
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