WWE 24/7 SHORTIES -Phil and Lee Benaka

Shorties

Ron Garvin v. Big Bubba Rogers

PAS: This was easily the best match we watched on our day of ON DEMAND. Ronnie Garvin is one of my favorites, and really works best in a street fight setting where all he is required to do is throw his great punches. Even green as goose shit Bubba Rogers isn't afraid to take huge fat man bumps, like getting bealed off the top rope and flying outside the ring. Also we had some nice blood, including the visual of a spreading bloodstain on Bubba's dress shirt from Ronnie Garvin's open wound.

LB:  Bubba's weight looked more evenly distributed than his fatter-looking days as the Big Bossman.  However, if Ray Traylor were still alive today and flying from town to town for indie shows, he probably would be charged for two seats owning to his condition as a "man of size."  The opening sequence with Garvin tagging Bubba with quick punches was great.  Bubba's selling and frustration (along with that of boyish Jim Cornette) was enchanting.  I never did quite understand the rules of the Louisville Street Fight, other than it allowed managers to gratuitously interfere with tennis rackets for cheap endings.  The blood was great, and this match went on for a while but was always fun due to Garvin's manly offense.

Sweet Brown Sugar/Dizzy Hogan v. Jobber Black Bart/Ken Timbs

PAS: Short meaningless enhancement tag from Mid-Atlantic, placed on the show for the fact that Dizzy Hogan went on to be Brutus Beefcake and Sweet Brown Sugar wrestled as Koko B. Ware. Of course the Sweet Brown Sugar who wrestled in this match went on to be Skip Young, but I suppose that WWE on Demand editors have cross racial identification problems.

LB:  Phil and I had great fun as the night went on mistakenly identifying various African-American jobbers as future WWE superstars, including the future Bobby Lashley and Booker T.  Ken Timbs was the most enjoyable participant in this match in that he really seemed to care about making most every move mean something.  Jobber Black Bart didn't look much different than the James J. Dillon third-rate heel stable Black Bart who appeared on the 1985 WCW show that we watched later this night.  Was this the match that looked like it was filmed in front of two rows of spectators?  Aww, those early 1980s territory TV matches were the best.

Lord Al Hayes v. Bobby Heenan

PAS: This was a battle of the managers from AWA, and was a blast. Lord Al Hayes has a bunch of fun british escapes which work real well to frustrate Heenan. Heenan doesn't really bump big or bleed alot, but he does have surprisingly nice punches.

LB:  This match was another winner.  I actually had never seen His Lordship wrestle, although I have fond memories of seeing him manage the Super Destroyer Mark something-or-other in the Central States wrestling I grew up on.  Hayes was quite dickish with the boot grinding into the head and slaps.  Heenans hide-and-seek with the foreign object down his trunks was done pretty well.  I was surprised that Heenan was able to get his heat back so completely at the end of the match when he clocked Hayes and the referee with a chair.  And the ref got to his feet first, but I suppose His Lordship absorbed most of the impact.  It might have been better to have had Nick Bockwinkel help Heenan rough up Hayes at the end, but it's nice to see Bobby take care of himself.