On Brand Segunda Caida: Ken Lucas Punks the Road Warriors! Nick Patrick Takes the Nightmares!

Road Warriors vs. Ken Lucas/Zulu AWA 12/12/84

ER: I always save matches in a giant links draft, and often forget to leave notes if there was a specific reason why I planned to watch/write a match (like if it was specifically recommended by someone). So I forget why I set this one aside, but it was probably because it had a whole uncomfortable vibe throughout, far more uncomfortable than a typical squash match. Lucas is an old pro at the end of his career (literally just a few more matches before a car accident injury forced him to retire), and he clearly didn't like the idea of putting over the Road Warriors. He and Hawk are not at ALL on the same page from go and I kept waiting for Lucas to either get decked by Hawk, or continue treating him the way Regal treated Goldberg. Lucas kept intentionally crossing Hawk up, which seems like such an absurd thing to do. Lucas would bump for Hawk, while also not really giving Hawk any satisfying moves? He keeps throwing Hawk's rhythm off and it's great, like seeing some guy punk the Steiners. Hawk even tries to punch Lucas at one point and Lucas awkwardly forces him into a headlock, then punches him. It's weird, and makes Lucas look like this legendary man with a death wish. Animal and Zulu stink up the joint, Animal looking like a guy with maybe two weeks of training, no ring presence, a worse size guy than any bad size guy people complained about in WCW. It's almost stunning how much of a "size only" guy Animal was here, looking like a guy who was going to wash out like every other bodybuilder. This match is amazing, as the Road Warriors are absolute murderers and they look like a couple of dumb jock klutzes here. Lucas trolls the Road Warriors into wrestling like their boots are tied together, and even their match finishing clothesline looks like absolute shit. It rules. Both guys flub their post-match promos too, I mean total amateur hour out here. Ken Lucas really exposed this pair of Chase Tatums, and it ruled. Never heard of these two jabrones again. 

Nick Patrick/Brickhouse Brown vs. The Nightmares Continental 8/26/85

ER: There isn't a ton of Nick Patrick just floating around out there on the free and accessible internet, so I'll review any I can find. Now, this match wasn't really about Patrick, but it was fun nonetheless. It was amusing, as we start with a full music video for the Nightmares (I assume the music was originally "On the Dark Side" by John Cafferty, because they show a clip of Michael Pare in Eddie & the Cruisers), and then the Nightmares let Brown and Patrick take most of the match. Patrick isn't in this much until the finish, as it's mostly Brickhouse running wild on Wayne and Davis. I dug how Brown would use punches and Irish whips to set up his great dropkick on both of them, which leads nicely to the Nightmares taking over by dodging one of the dropkicks. Patrick is set up for the hot tag, and it's good! Patrick is green but filled with potential, good size, good energy, and nice punches. His enthusiasm makes up for some of the execution, and the Nightmares could have done him a favor by taking his flying back elbow a little more dynamically. The finish was good, with Patrick getting a sunset flip but getting axe handled off the top by the other Nightmare. I want some more Patrick! There is too little out there.