WWF 305 Live: 1987 Survivor Series Main Event

Andre the Giant/One Man Gang/King Kong Bundy/Butch Reed/Rick Rude vs. Bam Bam Bigelow/Hulk Hogan/Don Muraco/Ken Patera/Paul Orndorff WWF Survivor Series 11/26/87 - EPIC

ER: Great main event to the inaugural Survivor Series, a match that really felt like a big show main event for 25 minutes. Also, they were smart enough to have the final five survivors be the five largest men in the match. They knew exactly what they were selling. This was filled with superstars, down to the least important man. Ken Patera looks like a real force here, maybe the strongest he looked in WWF post-jail. He was like a great dancing babyface, hitting a three kick combo with a finishing punch, quick takedowns, still getting big reactions. Don Muraco looked massive and brought huge energy, standing out like an Incredible Hulk in the ring with some hulking dudes. Orndorff got the biggest non-Hogan reaction of the match, a real testament to how huge his star was in 86/87. He and Rude had some memorable stuff during their early match stretches, with Rude being the real workhorse stooging heel for a solid 10 minutes. Rude got spun around by punches from every single member of Hogan's team, gets run over with lariats, obviously gets backdropped and atomic dropped, but also gets a sly school boy on Orndorff for a surprise momentum swing. 

The final 10 minutes were total big man bliss, a final five that stacks up with the highest average weight per participant in company history. All the big men had great moments, but I was most impressed by Bundy. He was great at running distraction to get Hogan counted out and out of the way, and kept dropping these cool kneedrops and crushing elbowdrops, and missing them even harder! But it was really special how they built to Bam Bam Bigelow alone in the ring against three monsters. You could argue that it was the the biggest moment of his career and he felt like an all timer in the moment. The fans responded to him huge as he was dispatching Bundy and Gang in tough battles (including a great slingshot splash to eliminate Gang), and Bam Bam is really good at selling big man offense (like heavy kneelifts) as a big man should sell them (while also doing a full flip off a big Gang lariat). 

Gang takes a couple of big spills (including a wild fall off the apron) and the Bigelow/Andre final showdown is awesome. Bigelow has a bunch of cool somersaults to try to outpace Andre, and I like how Andre put him down decisively with a butterfly suplex after Bigelow had gone through two men who were already improbably larger than he was. Andre was mostly presence in this match, but it was incredible presence. He loomed on the apron the entire match, stood large in the center of the ring to confront Hogan, and had an awesome standing exchange of punches and chops in a tough Hogan lock-up as the centerpiece of the match. This was an exciting long main event that felt like a huge deal, the main event of a very good show with nothing but long matches. This main event really cemented this match as a super successful concept in the right hands. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE

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RIP Butch Reed

Butch Reed vs. Junkyard Dog Mid-South 7/29/83

SR: Really epic, insanely heated match and a total battle of superstars, like a blue collar working mans version of Rock/Hogan if that was an actually great match. If you ask me, US wrestling never got better than two guys just trading great punch combos with the heel bumping all over the place. Junkyard Dog opens this match coming forward like an offensive truck, hitting a bunch of great punches (yup). Loved how he made a basic hip toss exciting by immediately following up with a punch in the face. Butch Reed is just perfect in that section, trying to fire back but being overwhelmed, really great escalating bumping from him. Reeds comeback looks really violent as he basically just punches JYD in the throat and then follows up with knees and boots to the throat. Instead of a standard heat segment/comeback they do this great battle of attrition segment with Reed going for a choke and JYD coming back punching him in the face from mount and gouging his eye. Normally chokes are pretty trite in wrestling matches but these two make it look like two men really trying to strangle each other to death. 5 minutes in and this feels like an epic battle. I didn’t even have a problem with the chinlock, as it didn’t go long, and JYD had seemingly punched himself out setting up another Butch Reed comeback. Down the stretch we get JYD headbutting Reeds bandage off, bloodying him, more great punch exchanges and another barfight attempted strangulation which lead to both guys trading punches from their knees. The finish was great as the referee gets bumped, initially it didn’t seem to affect the match as they just continue beating on each other, but then another ref bump happens. King Kong Bundy comes in but JYD takes him out (because JYD was god that night), only to get caught with a beautiful Reed dropkick to the back of the head. Reed then lands a clothesline off the tope (were top rope moves illegal at this time?) for the 3 count. Really a way cooler finish than some serious of crazy death moves and a great way to cap off a great great match.

PAS: This was an all time legendary feud, which the late lamented NWA Classics services allowed us to finally see matches of. Both of these guys were just huge, Reed's chest looked like a dinner table and JYD was a slab of granite. JYD had some of the heaviest hands in wrestling history every shot he landed has such heft to it, and he bounced Reed around the ring early. Reed had great looking shots too, and there were some incredible looking exchanges, which with the rabid crowd, felt like Ron Lyle vs. George Foreman. I love how powerful all of the Dog's kickouts were, he presses Reed off like a powerlifter throwing off a bench press. JYD blooding up Reed was great, as was the interference finish. The couple of glimpses we have of both guys, this feels like one of the great pairings in wrestling history.

Butch Reed/One Man Gang vs. Don Muraco/Bam Bam Bigelow WWF 3/12/88

PAS: Six man tag team match with a lot of big WWF characters. This was the odd period where Oliver Humperdink was a babyface manager (can't believe anyone saw that freak and thought he would be sympathetic or relatable), and he was seconding Bam Bam along with Superstar Billy Graham while the Doctor of Style Slick was managing the heel team. The opening punch out section was pretty fun stuff, although the match bogged down a bit during the Muraco in peril section, with two long chinlocks in a 12 minute match (Muraco was about as lazy as it gets). Bigelow takes a pretty big bump to the floor and Reed takes a big bump into the ropes for the banana peel finish. Loud colorful stuff.

Butch Reed/Barbarian vs. Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham WCW 9/2/92 

PAS: This was during the Ron Simmons title run when Cactus Jack was compiling a gang to take Simmons on. Rhodes and Windham were an all time great tag team, and Reed and Barbarian were a fun pair of heel powerhouses as opposition. Dustin starts his face in peril role by taking an absolutely insane Psicosis shoulder post bump, he must fly 10 feet on the floor. Reed and Barbarian clubber him around a bit, before Windham makes the hot tag, which includes Barbarian taking a superplex and Butch getting Flair pressed off of the top rope. Some legal man confusion however, leads to Barbarian hit the kick of fear on Windham and getting the relatively clean pin. 1992 WCW was an all-timer year and this brief Reed return was fun stuff. 

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New Footage Friday: Kerry, Race, Murdoch, Gino

Harley Race vs. Dick Murdoch Tri-State 4/2/77

MD: I'm glad we got this, especially for the post-match turn and the start of the years' long Akbar vs Murdoch feud, as well as for Murdoch's awesome leg selling and the Harley headbutts and what have you, but it's a shame we didn't get a whole match here. Murdoch was so present, just completely in the moment at all times, making everything he did seem so believable despite being heightened and unreal in a way other wrestlers of the era may have avoided in an NWA title match. I have to admit I was a little confused by things, because Murdoch was working like a local hero against the visiting champ despite Akbar being out there for him. It all made sense in retrospect with the turn. Anytime we pick up a classic territory angle like this (especially one I barely knew existed), it's a gem. Here at SC, we're always hoping for the full match though.

PAS: This was more of an angle then a match (at least what we got), but the last couple of minutes of the match were great stuff with Race and Murdoch really teeing off on each other with some especially nasty stomps by Murdoch, and great Harley headbutts. Akbar and Dr. X beating down Murdoch post match was pretty great, I especially loved the carniness of them cutting away to basically a green screen while the action got described because of the brutality (and Murdoch did seemed to have opened one up)

Kerry Von Erich vs. Gino Hernandez Houston Wrestling 2/22/85

Previously we just had the last few minutes. All the cool stuff is at the beginning so I'm glad we got this. It's pure Houston, just six or seven years later, with Gino returning and Kerry challenging. Gino as the reviled hometown villain was great. Dibiase as his inexplicable second was great. Gino's the greatest rat pack member that never was. Taylor was just sort of there seconding Kerry. This ended up as a good TV title match where everyone knew the BS was coming. I don't think this set up a Dibiase/Gino vs Kerry/Taylor match but if it did, I would have wanted to watch it.


Mid-South 11/11/85

Bruise Brothers vs. Steve Williams/El Corsario

MD: Not every upload is a winner. This was one of the matches I was most looking forward to. Williams was young and game and eager to bump. Who doesn't like seeing the Bruise Brothers? Especially over babyface Bruise Brothers? This lasted seconds though, and a match can be fun when it lasts seconds but there's not much to write about it.

Jake the Snake Roberts vs. Humongous

MD: In a way, Jake did it to himself. He's so outspoken about his method that you examine him more harshly than you would other people. Sometimes he lives up to the (his own) hype, sometimes he doesn't. I think he's done pretty well with the new footage we've gotten though. Here, he's just tremendous in the opening minutes. I love thought experiment wrestling, namely "how will wrestling X deal with situation Y" and here Situation Y is Humongous being a monster who will clubber Jake whenever he gets a hold on. Him trying to chop the tree down from the top down and facing that struggle is really good wrestling. Likewise, the transition (namely Humongous hitting one big legdrop after setting it up by missing earlier on) worked for me, as did the start of the head (those falling headbutts with the hockey mask are really good). It all ended up being too long with the bearhugs and what not, and then had the most late 80s WWF style finish ever with Jake leaving the pin for absolutely no reason. They went pretty heavy on the heel dominance between this and the tag match that followed (which we already had).

Dick Slater vs. Butch Reed

MD: This felt like a trial balloon for the eventual Slater title win that would come a month or two later. It was a bounty match but also a title match and while the post-match was wild and fun, the match itself was worked far more towards that title end than the bounty end. That made sense given the main event, just like the first tag made sense being so short given the long tag title match later in the show, but it wasn't really what I wanted from this. We also lost the first many minutes, which is not something you want to lose in any title match really.

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Digging in the Crates Podcast #4

Will returns for a special all NWA Classics 24/7 episode of the show.

Digging in the Crates #4


We talk about Andre v. Harley, Fantastics v. Midnight Express, Jose Lothario v. Hecto Guerrero and JYD v. Butch Reed chain match. If you haven't subscribed to NWA Classics, what are you waiting for???

NWA CLASSICS 24/7

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NWA Price Tag Reviews #6

Still totally in love with this service, my favorite thing in wrestling right now, by far. One of the cool things about being a wrestling fan is that you can still discover hidden classics 30 years later. There is no hidden 70s Scorcese movie or unreleased classic Joy Division Album, but here is The Spoiler v. Wahoo McDaniel from 1979 and it is unbelievable.

Spoiler v. Wahoo McDaniel 4/21/79 $4.00

Awesome 2 out 3 falls war. Very cool match structure which actually reminded me of MS1 v. Sangre Chicana (aka the greatest wrestling match ever). Spoiler blitzes Wahoo from the start, just beating on him from pillar to post, with nasty elbows to the head and neck and a big headbutt which splits Wahoo open. Nothing fancy here, but every stomp,elbow and slam was just brutal. Spoiler isn't a fancy highflyer, but he is really agile, and gets to the top with tremendous ease, really the first time I have seen the Spoiler and gotten the hype, he was so good here. Wahoo doesn't hit an offensive move for the first five minutes or so, but turns the tide with a huge chop to the head, you totally buy Wahoo as a guy who has one shot power like that.. After Wahoo gets on track it is back and forth brutality for 3 falls. We get a great BS finish with Wahoo countering the claw hold by turning around the Spoiler's mask, and the blind Spoiler claws Gary Hart and then the ref before getting DQed. Loved the idea of the blind bear just mauling everyone. Such a great match, and a hell of a discovery.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan/Butch Reed v. Ted DiBiase/Steve Williams 11/23/84 $1.00

Really fun big hoss brawl. Crowd is going nuts and the announcer needs to ask the crowd to move back. Pretty much punches and football tackles but these are great guys to watch throw punches and football tackles. Duggan has such great energy in these kind of matches, and DiBiase does a good job flopping around. Finish has everyone in football helmets smashing into each other. 

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