Here are the SC contributions to the failed Wattstoberfest project. WE SHALL RETURN
12. "Gentleman" Chris Adams vs. Terry Taylor 5/3/87-EricR
Nice guys really do finish last. Terry Taylor spent this whole set using bland babyface offense and getting cheered by ladies and then losing. Like a loser. So he knew what he had to do.
This match was really well done and hit all of its intended goals: This was Terry Taylor's heel turn, and they had a 20 minute match to get it over. Taylor does a very nice job of subtley becoming an asshole over those 20 minutes, and it's a real treat to watch. He really starts at the lowest point and builds and slowly incorporates more heel tactics. Taylor basically started working as Flair in this match, right down to the kneedrop out of the corner. The cheating, the begging, the bumping. Real fun stuff.
It started off like most other Taylor matches: some opening matwork that appeared to be going nowhere fast, with Adams getting the duke. But here Taylor starts the subtle shift, showing real disgust and frustration after every break, when Adams keeps 1-upping him with headlock takeovers.
Over the course of the match, Taylor starts to transition to offense off of clean corner breaks. Adams breaks clean, Taylor knees him in the stomach and clubs the back of his neck. Carl Fergie breaks the two in the corner, and Taylor does a GREAT uppercut right to Adams neck.
At this point Taylor is audibly getting booed from the dudes, but still getting cheered by the ladies. I'm not going to do a Meltzer style John Cena boo/cheer percentage, but I thought it was cool that guys in the crowd were slowly like "Wait a minute, Taylor is using underhanded tactics" while the ladies were still chanting "Go Terry, Go!"
The match goes on and once the nearfalls start it gets really good. My favorite spot was when Adams going for a headlock takeover (which he had been hitting all match), and Taylor physically strains his neck forward in the headlock, holds his base, and deadlifts Adams back into an awesome backdrop. It looked really nasty with Taylor looking like he forcibly stopped his body from going over with the takedown, then just snapping Adams backwards. Later in the match Adams does a nasty deadlift backdrop of his own.
The match threatens to fall apart right at the end when Fergie does a strange ref bump/dive combo, essentially doing a face first flop in the middle of the ring. But, Adams conks heads with Fergie and rolls to the outside rattled, and at this point Taylor's facials looking around and seeing his chance was great. Similar situation to their previous match, which Taylor lost by countout. With Fergie still down Taylor goes out and just blasts Adams with a piledriver, then rolls in for the countout win.
By this point the fans are mostly against Taylor, and his tremendous post-match interview seals it. Taylor just acts like a complete unwitting deuche, with Ross and Magnum playing off him really well. "You don't think that was a cheap win?" And Taylor with just a great aloof expression on his face "No! Why would it be?" Then Eddie Gilbert comes out in his amazing acid wash jeans and OP button-up with suspenders, and I thought Magnum was gonna legit beat the shit out of Terry when he said something along the lines of "That wreck really messed you up".
Very well done match and angle.
13. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd 6/8/84-Lee Benaka
Cornette is a heat-magnet from the get-go, grabbing the mic to introduce his team to lots of boos from the Houston crowd. Ernie Ladd, thankfully not dressed for a Republican Party golfing fund-raiser is is the norm for his streetfights, is ready to start with Duggan, but the Express counsel him to leave, so it ends up being Morton and Eaton. Morton gets the best of two exchanges, sending Bobby back to hug Dennis, which inspires some homophobic mockery by Gibson. Dennis comes in and is promptly triple-teamed in the face corner. Eaton's cowardly attempts to save are amusing. Dennis tags in Ladd to work over Morton, and the ladies in the crowd squeal. Ladd lifts him up really high in the air by is hair twice and throws him down. Morton fails to knock down the big man but uses his quickness to get a drop kick in. Morton also gets some quick arm drags on Ladd after Ladd misses a punch. Ladd's subtle cautionary selling is fun to watch also. Morton continues to have his way with dropkicks until Ladd finally kicks him to set Morton up for the DEADLY DOUBLE LEG DROP OF DOOM. Ladd adds a slam and then tags in Eaton. Eaton quickly loses Morton, who tags in Duggan. So you have a tease of a Morton-in-peril segment, dramatic foreshadowing for the crazed beatdown to come. Duggan and Eaton have some eachanges before Duggan KILLS Eaton with a clothesline from the corner. Eaton tags Condrey soon, but Dennis doesn't want to get in the ring. The Express take turns trying to pin Duggan, and then try at the same time, a fun spot, while Ladd is covering his ears on the apron. Ladd unenthusiastically tags in from Condrey. Ladd eats a huge backdrop and can't slam Duggan's head into the corner, even with Condrey's help. Ladd goes to the tights and punches Duggan in the gut with something; the crowd is livid. Two more punches to Duggan's throat. Dennis distracts the ref so Bobby can hit Duggan with the racquet. Duggan hulks up a little too soon and tags Gibson. More tags, and Dennis throws Morton over the top rope, and Eaton hits him in the head with a chair, and we're on. In the ring, Dennis bites the cut. Amazing quadruple teaming with Morton over the bottom rope, with the racket over his neck, Ladd's leg on top of him, Eaton holding his legs out, and Dennis kicking him in the gut. Morton is a bloody mess, and Ladd raises Morton's head off the mat so it rubs against the bottom rope. Ladd delivers another double leg drop and bites the cut. GOOD GOD, another double leg-drop. And this is my one quibble with the match; Morton should be dead now and should not be getting up at all, because Ladd's leg drops are just plain devastating. Condrey does some more biting after Eaton tages in and distracts the ref Dennis does a nice job tripping up Morton as he tries to make a tag. More biting from Condrey. Morton finally gets a hot tag but the ref misses it, leading to more triple teams before all six wrestlers are in the ring. Fans start throwing stuff. Cornette runs in with spray (ether in a can?), but Morton gets it and sprays Eaton in the face for the pin. Cornette runs in with ether-soaked rag and downs Morton, then kicks at him. Eaton works over Gibson with raquest, ref goes down, Condrey chokes Morton's motionsless obdy. Cornette gets in some vicious raquest strikes on Gibson and Duggan while they are held. Finally help arrives, and the heels run off. Magnum TA attends to the faces amid popcorn and other debris. And I am exhausted, sweaty, and bloody. Or at least feel like it. This is an awesome match.
15. Dick Murdoch v.. Ted DiBiase NO DQ, 12/31/85-EricR
S.L.L. did a pretty great job talking about what made their 12/27/85 match great, and I had both of them in my top 10. I had this one higher (maybe even #2 overall?), but I would be pretty hard-pressed to tell you NOW why I had one higher than the other. This one just felt a little tighter, a little stiffer, it had Murdoch constantly working Dibiase's neck to set up for the brainbuster (that Ted nicely reversed out of at the end), it had blood, it had Joel Watts putting over the technical merits of both of them while one of them is biting the other's head.....it had fucking EVERYthing.
In one of the Flair/Taylor threads, someone stated something ridiculous like "This match is HATE personified". That made no sense to me, especially when there are matches like THIS on the set. Loosely applied neverending headlocks.......or guys punching each other in the face and fistdropping each others' noses? THIS is HATE.
BUT, as all three of the Flair/Taylor series popped up in this here top 30, I guess it's more contentious than I would've guessed.
But THIS. This is great brawling. I love how much they throw behind everything, hit or miss. All the punches hit hard, but the misses are just as hard. Watch Murdoch drive his elbow completely straight into the mat on a missed elbowdrop, watch Dibiase go knuckle first HARD on a missed fistdrop. But the hits! My God! Murdoch punting Dibiase in the throat, Murdoch kicking the shit out of Dibiase's head while Teddy was getting in the ring, Murdoch braining Ted with chairshots, Dibiase knocking the wind out of Dick with a nasty powerslam. This was constant intensity, not a dull moment. There are likely many moments I'm forgetting.
But moments don't make a match, and thankfully we had Murdoch guiding this one. I love Dibiase, but this match was the Capt. Redneck show. He takes a nasty stiff brawl, and adds neat stuff and uses everything in the arena to craft a match. He integrates weapons really nicely (dumping Ted on the ring barricade, blasting him with chairshots, slamming Ted into a table), and almost most impressively, does the best job of everybody on the set of incorporating Tommy Gilbert into the match.
Tommy Gilbert got a lot of criticism for his reffing on this set, as most felt he was too hands-on and it got in the way of some matches. Some of those complaints were valid. Here, I think it made the match better, and it was all because of how expertly Murdoch played off him. In the beginning Dick is kinda smug and almost laughs off Gilbert, understanding that he's the ref and just doing his job, even though it's No DQ...and every single altercation between the two of them gets slightly escalated, until Murdoch is just shoving Tommy out of the way to continue tearing Dibiase apart. Murdoch works spots so well with Tommy that it makes every other worker on the set look like a doofus for LETTING Tommy get in the way of their matches. Dick just rightfully makes him a part of the match, and by working off Tommy this way it builds even more sympathy for Dibiase when Murdoch is shoving past him to stomp Ted some more.
This match was great, and I'm glad it ranked as high as it did.
16. Terry Taylor vs. Ric Flair 6/1/85-Tomk
Flair’s a guy who gets criticized a lot these days for being a formula worker. And so it’s interesting to me that the Flair v Taylor match that placed the highest in the voting is the most formulaic of these. Lesson is formula works.
The Houston match has the neat arm work and the subtlest of Flair heel work, and probably the best of the Taylor selling. OKC match has the really full on heel asshole Flair and the most violent leg work. Taylor comes off really tough in that match and of the three Flair v Taylor matches, maybe the one Taylor contribute the most to. This on the other hand may be the one he contributes the least to. As this really is Flair working the Flair match against an opponent who often seems lost and blown up.
For most of Midsouth I've preferred brawling Taylor to technical Taylor. But that has been with Taylor taking huge bumps and brawling back from below against monsters like Kamala. Against Flair I way prefer technical Taylor as Taylor isn't as good brawling from above. This is the match which positions Taylor most as guy from above.
They work it similar to the Flair v Reed No DQ match I wrote about earlier: Taylor controlling with front chancery into brawling exchange into fatigued near fall exchange. Butch Reed had a really nasty tight headlock. Taylor on the other hand has a rather loose headlock. Loose enough that at times it looks like you could squeeze an extra two heads in there (did Sweetser turn in a Mid-south ballot?). And the Taylor as brawler section has some nice full swinging chops from Taylor but again Taylor as brawler just isn't as good as Reed as brawler.
And we move into the fatigued near fall section. In the Reed match this was all about make or miss stuff. Here its all about both guys being so tired they fall into opponents stuff with Taylor getting several backslide nearfalls. Taylor appears to be legit blown up and really Flair has to constantly adjust to put himself into leg scissors, backslide himself put himself into small package etc. Flair selling fatigued guy getting caught in stuff from shoot fatigued guy and making it work is impressive. My favorite spot in this section is where Taylor goes for a big chop into a headlock and Flair catches him with a side suplex. Taylor really has nothing in his chops at this point in the match and his lack of wind actually makes this spot even cooler. It’s almost a Pirata Morgan v Brazo De Oro Tercera Caida in slow motion sell.
Taylor also does his signature insane over the top rope “fuck did he hit the rail” bump. But pretty much this is Flair by the numbers O’Connor roll reversal into tights for the finish. If you’ve seen lots of Flair this is less interesting than some of the other matchups, but possible that Flair at his most formulaic is the most rewarding.
18. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase 7/6/84-SLL
I think the biggest discovery of this set might have been Magnum TA. I think we knew Reed was good, we just didn't know how good. Duggan was a guy who had a reputation for Mid-South greatness, it's just that a lot of people hadn't seen it. DiBiase, Murdoch, Roberts, Gilbert, Slater, and the Guerreros were all guys who had strong reputations already that got bolstered further by this set. Flair, Gordy, Williams, the R'n'Rs, the Midnights, and the Fans had strong reputations that didn't really need any bolstering from this set, although they got it. And certainly, there were other guys like JYD, Olympia, Roop, Hayes, Tatum, and even Bill Watts himself who had a poor reputation or no reputation at all that came out of this looking much better than they had going in, but of that bunch, none shone as brightly as Magnum. Magnum goes into this set with a reputation as a guy who had a good look and nothing else. Hired by Mid-Atlantic on the basis of that, he gets pushed to the moon, gets booked mostly in squash matches to cover up his otherwise glaring weaknesses, lucks into a classic "I quit" cage match with Tully Blanchard, and then plows his Corvette under a truck, sparing us from his inevitable NWA World Title run.
That's what I was told, anyway. The reality that this set presents us with is quite different the the established Magnum story, however. I had this match at #7, making it the highest ranked Magnum match on my ballot. This is in spite of the fact that Magnum - who we're told needed to be booked in short squashes to keep from sucking - spends most of this 15-minute match selling a DiBiase beatdown. Yes, DiBiase delivers a great beatdown, slamming him on the concrete and working over his back for the first half of the match before getting pissed at a hope spot and posting him, and then just focusing on beating the shit out of him like you want Ted DiBiase to do in his matches. But the fact remains that dominant-squash-monster-by-necessity Magnum TA is not only capable of playing the underdog fighting from behind, he's actually better at it, to the point that you wonder not only why you would think he would need to avoid this role in Mid-Atlantic, but why anyone would even choose to have him avoid this role. His strength is obviously as a fired-up babyface who sells a beatdown, bleeds a whole bunch, but sticks it out until he can find his opening and make his comeback with some well-placed punches (better than DiBiase's, which is saying something) and regain control so he can hit the belly-to-belly. That's your classic wrestling babyface formula, and Magnum does it about as well as anyone.
This match probably stands out in a lot of people's minds because of one of the top turnbuckles falling off near the end. Both guys work well with it. DiBiase grabs it and tries to use it as a weapon, but Magnum snatches it away and bonks DiBiase on the head instead. Then Magnum ends up running the bottom two ropes like he was Rey Mysterio, presumably because it was part of the planned finish, but I'd prefer to think he just did it to show everyone he could.
21. Dick Murdoch vs. Dr. Death 6/13/87-SLL
This is a #1 Contender's match for Big Bubba Rogers' UWF Title. Williams is going into this match with a broken arm, and if he strikes Murdoch with the cast, he will be disqualified.
Watching this set, it certainly becomes apparent how much of Paul Heyman's methods were jacked from Watts, and how much better Watts did them than Heyman. One of the newer additions to the big book of wrestling accomplishments that Heyman can allegedly take credit for is discovering that wrestlers can be treated as disposable commodities. Putting aside the question of whether or not Heyman really took this approach any more or less than any other American wrestling promoter ever, it does become apparent that after a couple of years, he was struggling to find and market wrestlers that were as interesting and entertaining the the ones he had previously disposed of. Contrast 1987 UWF. With less than a year of life left in it, and with JYD, Reed, Duggan, DiBiase, and a whole host of other former stars long gone, they could still have a great show with Steve Williams slotted as the top babyface, opposed by a returning Dick Murdoch and a surging Eddie Gilbert, and The Freebirds, Chris Adams, The Lightning Express, a rising Sting, and Terry Taylor in the one and perhaps only time in his career that he was actually kinda useful elsewhere on the card. This match is a great example of what Watts' promotion could still do even this close to the end.
Match is built around Murdoch going after Williams' injured arm and Williams trying to give Murdoch a taste of his own medicine by going after his arm. The work is based on Murdoch trying to push his obvious advantage as far as he can until Williams has no way to come back from it. The first half is all tactical escalation. Murdoch tries to strike Williams' arm, but Williams avoids, Murdoch stooges humorously, and Williams counter-attacks. Murdoch gains the advantage and starts stomping on the arm, but Williams comes back and wraps Murdoch's arm around the post, etc., etc. Turning point comes when Murdoch exploits the other big advantage he has over Williams - Eddie Gilbert in his corner - allowing him to hit Williams in the arm with a mic stand and the biggest honking ringbell I've ever seen. The only things Williams has to counter that are his superhuman willpower and a cast he's not allowed to use as a weapon, so it becomes a question of whether or not he can tough it out long enough for Murdoch to get worn out or to get an opportunity to hit him with the cast, the latter of which he ends up getting. This is one of those matches where you get to see that Dick Murdoch was really one of those wrestlers who seemed to be great at everything. Guy you often think of primarily as a badass, but also a great stooge in the first half of this match, and a great sneaky, veteran heel in the second half. Similarly, Doc is a guy you always think of as a straightforward asskicker, but he plays clever, skilled babyface really well in the first half of this match and gutsy underdog in the second, showing a bit more range than you usually think of him having. The result is a great match that serves as a fine look at what probably would have been the big UWF feud of '87 if they hadn't have gone under.
23. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) OKC 5/27/84-SLL
This is the match where it becomes obvious that....
A. The whole "If Ted DiBiase was so great, why doesn't he have any great matches?" talking point was bullshit.
B. The conventional wisdom that Magnum TA was a muscular stiff who couldn't actually do anything in the ring was bullshit.
This and the rematch from the same day in Tulsa are wild brawls fought at a blistering pace. These two guys just blast each other with punches (and yes, I'll say it again, Magnum TA threw better punches than Ted freakin' DiBiase), toss each other about outside the ring, and otherwise punish each other in spectacular fashion. Magnum hits a hell of a gusher, which just gives Ted even more incentive to punch him in the dome, only occasionally taking time out to mock him or load up the dreaded black glove, before Magnum comes back with a dropkick that sends Ted careening over the top rope, and then manages to score the belly-to-belly to finish him off. Functionally the same as the Tulsa match but marred somewhat by the intrusive Jim Ross commentary that cuts out the crowd noise, this was still a crazy fight from beginning to end, and more than worthy of it's spot on the list.
24. Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed 8/10/85-Tomk
Weird.
I really don’t get this match doing as poorly as it did.
I think this was my highest ranked Flair match.
Your standard rube criticism of Flair is that he made all his opponents work the same match and everyone was forced to do powerslams even if that wasn’t part of their normal offense. Butch Reed is a guy with a great powerslam who builds his matches around powerslams and flying tackle spots. Reed really is the ideal power wrestler-brawler opponent for Flair. At the end of watching this set, I was left thinking that it was a real shame that Reed wasn’t able to tour this match outside of Mid-South. I wish Reed had gotten the opportunities that Luger got. Reed’s a guy with great looking dominant power offense. Guy with a really really nasty grinding headlock, neat powerslam variations, and bad ass shoulder tackles. He’s also a guy who sells a ton and is a bump freak. He’s an ideal opponent for Flair.
The formula for a long Flair match involves Flair getting dominated for most of the match. Normally you leave the match with the kayfabe message of Flair is weaker but wily, smartly willing to cheat to eak out a win (or at least to hold onto the belt). You walk away from this match going “Holy shit Flair is a tough motherfucker”.
I love the Flair trying to escape the tight headlock with a suplex spot. Instead of using suplex as something to throw out in front or end of match, Flair will sometimes use a suplex as an escape or transition (ie. opponent running at him and he catches with a desperation suplex). Rarely do you see that against a power wrestler like Reed, but he does it in a couple of the Reed matches and it makes it look even more bad ass. It’s a no DQ match so Flair can’t hold onto through DQ (throwing opponent over top rope, getting self thrown over top rope, posting etc). So you have both guys getting hurled over the top rope to floor multiple times and the match continuing.
Long Flair matches are stories of Flair surviving. Normally they are stories of Flair surviving by his smarts. This was one where he survived by sheer toughness.
26. The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (Mexican Death Match) 1/24/86-Lee Benaka
This match is a clinic in spite and disdain by the Fabulous Ones. One of the revelations of the Watts set to me was the effectiveness of the Fabs as heels. Looking back on this match, one could argue that the Fabs didn’t even care about trying to win, they just wanted to seriously injure someone. Expectations are seriously raised here that this feud between the Guerreros and the Fabs would be settled once and for all. I mean, it’s a MEXICAN Death Match. The ref has to stay outside the ring, except to count falls. No DQ. This should indeed be a “feud-settler,” to quote one of the announcers. But it just raises this feud up to another hateful level in the end. So here’s 10 ways to be a great heel in wrestling:
1. Flip off the crowd and your opponents a few times.
2. Mockingly dance to your opponents’ entrance music, and then hold your nose as they approach the ring.
3. Grab the mic from the safety of the ring floor and shout, “I never heard of this kind of stupid Mexican match…you make all the Mexican rules you want, we’re gonna kick your butts.”
4. Gesture to your opponent and the crowd to kiss your butt.
5. Repeatedly bite your opponent’s head, and then repeatedly headbutt the cut on your opponent’s head.
6. During the 30-second rest period after you’ve pinned your opponent, instead of letting him rest, kick him in the head a few times.
7. Run your opponent’s head into a chair.
8. After you pin your opponent, lounge around on the mat next to your opponent and do goofy leg stretches.
9. Grab the mic and taunt your opponents as your partner beats one of them down.
10. Grab your opponent’s legs as he lays prone on the mat while your partner hits him about 20 times in the chest with a chair, and drives the chair into this throat several times.
Bonus heel technique: Just leave the ring after beating your bloody opponent repeatedly with a chair, and don’t return to the ring after you are counted out. Obviously, I’m glad this match squeaked into the top 30.
27. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor 5/3/85-SLL
Phil promised to send me The Necro Butcher vs. 2 Cold Scorpio if I reviewed this for him, so I couldn't really say no. Besides, I think I hated these matches the least of everyone who is actually reviewing them, so I'm probably their best bet in that regard. I think what it comes down to is that while the Flair/Taylor matches are largely your by-the-numbers Flair vs. Broomstick matches, that's still something I find really entertaining. Yes, I'd rather watch the matches Flair had on this set against Reed or Wahoo or Jake Roberts or DiBiase or even the more fired up Taylor of their 6/1/85 match, but Ric doing his thing against someone who is neither going to hold him back nor be held back by the formula is probably going to be a fun watch for me. So is the case here, and Flair even spices things up a little by going after Taylor's arm after spending every other day of the year attacking his opponents' legs. Taylor, for his part, throws some good punches, gets over with the crowd, and otherwise doesn't fuck anything up. Does that merit a top 30 spot for this match? Probably not, no. But Flair's formula exists because it works, and I think this match bears that out.
28. Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (No DQ, Dark Journey In A Cage) 2/28/86-PHIL
For a guy who is primarily known as a heel, and who looks like a serial rapist, Jake Roberts is such an awesome babyface. The timing of everything he does is great, First part of match is Jake working the arm and constantly pointing to Dark Journey in the cage, like bitch you are next. Slater takes over by posting Jake and wrapping his arm in the ropes and smacking it with a chair. Jake takes a pounding, but times his comebacks perfectly smacking Slater with a boot. Jake goes down kind of easily though as Slater pops him with a top rope elbow, which is weird, as you rarely see a heel win clean in a grudge match like this. The abrupt ending hurts this a bit, great match but I think I liked the match Jake won the belt in better.
29. The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero 10/12/84-SLL
A lot of people seemed to come out of this set with a lower opinions of the Fantastics and a higher opinion of the Guerreros. My feelings on the tag teams on this set have already been documented elsewhere. I came out of this liking both teams just fine. Didn't like either as much as the Rock 'N' Roll Express, the Midnight Express, DiBiase and Williams, or Roberts and Barbarian, but that's hardly a knock. These were two great teams, and this was your classic tag match wrestled to near perfection. The early brawling before the ref steps in and manages to get some small semblance of order is great. From there you have your basic faces dominate the heels/heels isolate a face/face gets the tag and comeback formula, and they know how to do it well. This is your classic tag formula, but it's wrestled at a sprint pace. High energy and high-end offense circa 1984 abounds, and the finish, with Chavo hitting the tope de Cristo on Fulton's kidneys, was the perfect capper to it all. Bill Watts on commentary saying that the move "could even fell Andre the Giant", really got across the danger of the move, and by proxy, the danger of the match. I'm a guy who often complains about "M0VES~!" marks, but I'm not really anti-offense. I just think there's a right and wrong way to use it. This match shows you how it's done.
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