1993 WWF Surprises: Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Virgil

Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Virgil WWF Mania 1/23/93

ER: I don't think we've written much about Iron Mike Sharpe on Segunda Caida, but this was an unexpectedly special match. A few loud adults in the Manhattan Center crowd get behind Sharpe and it somehow transitions into a Hometown Hero performance for him, and it's great. The kids in the crowd kept cheering Virgil while their parents - who grew up seeing Sharpe work 15 minute draws with Tony Garea - cheered louder. Adults vs. Kids crowd heat wasn't really a thing in 1993 and the spontaneity is welcome. Sharpe works heel but catches onto and gets into the role of hometown hero, soaking in his reaction and giving them a match with the most Mike Sharpe offense in 3 years. It was a nostalgia reaction when those weren't a common thing, and a pure version of that because it wasn't advertised or intentional nostalgia. Nobody in production knew Sharpe was going to get the first babyface reaction of his northeast run, and there was no attempt to capitalize on it. Although, you could say that just the fact Iron Mike Sharpe was one of the few guys on TV older than Hogan AND kept employed through 1994, that was its own reward. When he was brought back in the early 90s, Sharpe was frequently on TV but never to the level of showing up on Coliseum video or getting a 10 minute Bret Hart match. So, digging up a 1993 Iron Mike Sharpe gem is the best kind of unexpected treat. 

Virgil is no pushover and is still going to get his babyface reaction, and a match where two guys are getting loud cheers and chants turns into a real scrap of a fight. Mike Sharpe isn't a pretty wrestler. He is big and hunched and bumps sideways sometimes and executes familiar offense in weirdly rigid ways. But Sharpe works this match more stiff than any other Mike Sharpe match I've seen (does anyone have a link to his Backlund title challenge?), and Virgil never needs an excuse to add some stiff punches and a rude suplex into a match. Sharpe works his bullshit, his nice headlock punch, basic stuff like bodyslams and shoulderblocks, and then keeps upping things with a great heavy crossbody and these Vader like standing clotheslines to Virgil's head and neck. Virgil fights back and convincingly knocks the bigger man around the ring, and the ragged messy charm is absolutely undeniable. The crowd really begins to react like Sharpe might actually pull off a win, and it's a great moment when Sharpe gets verbal with the them to feed their response. Virgil never worked like a heel in this match, but he did work like a guy who wasn't going to be upstaged, while also giving Sharpe the longest match of his second WWF run. It made for some great nearfalls, with a close kickout after a Virgil clothesline a couple minutes in an early signal that this was something beyond typical. 

Mania was like an early version of Velocity: filled with good matches and unique pairings that only happened on that show. Mania was on episode three here, and had already presented us with two one-off gems in a great Bill Irwin match and a great Iron Mike Sharpe match. Mania is the kind of wrestling that reminds me of tuning in at 12:30 AM in 2003, hoping for a Paul London gem.