Found Footage Friday: STEAMBOAT~! ORTON~! PIPER~! ORNDORFF~! HARTS~! BEES~!

Ricky Steamboat vs. Bob Orton Jr. WWF 3/6/86

MD: We've got a trio of matches from Richard Land's patreon that weren't in ready circulation here. It's worth checking out. There's a well known Steamboat vs Orton match from Landover in 85 and this is a good partner to that.

They go fairly long here (I thought it was headed to a draw actually, especially after Orton survived the flying body press), and it's relatively back and forth thought with fairly lengthy stretches of momentum. Orton's a bump machine here, flipping into the corner and flying all over the place for Steamboat's shots.

Likewise, Steamboat sells like you'd expect him to. After the first minute or so, you can tell that they were going long, but it really picks up in the back half. Steamboat gets a win out of nowhere but then Orton pile drives him after the bell and hits the ref, getting himself suspended immediately (got to put over the PA commission).

Roddy Piper vs. Paul Orndorff WWF 3/6/86

MD: Even Monsoon said this feud had been going on for a while at this point, but they get in and out and get the job done here. Great hot start. Piper's one of the best at throwing fists to start like this, making sure to lose and get knocked out of the ring, only to throw a drink right into Orndorff's face.

Orndorff spends most of the rest of the match selling the eye, and Piper uses to to full advantage anytime Orndorff starts to get over on him, including one great fall away (in the basketball sense, not the wrestling sense) eyepoke. Just when Orndorff finally has Piper on the ropes (or in a Crab as it is), Orton rushes in to cause the DQ. The feud was a little worn out at this point, maybe, but they covered a lot of ground with high energy in just a few minutes here.

Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees WWF 3/17/86

MD: We come in slightly JIP here, but this was really good. Anvil takes the first chunk of it, getting clowned by the Bees. Brunzell has a great drop toehold, but more of a trip with his arms and there are some good rope running spots. Hart sneaks in on commentary to complain about the (legal) doubleteaming.

Harts take over on Blair and they keep it moving and interesting. Brunzell's hotheaded and draws the ref repeatedly giving this a real southern tag feel. Choking with the ring rope. Double teams (including a modified decapitation). Illegal switches. Some really good hope spots in there as well. Brunzell comes in hot after the (very earned) tag and hits the dropkick for a nearfall. The Bees pick up the surprising (to me at least) win after another bit of miscommunication. Honestly one of the best heel Hart Foundation matches I can think of.

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Found Footage Friday: WWF IN MLG~! HULK~! HAKU~! HENNIG~! RUDE~! BRUNZELL~! BOSS MAN~! SHARPE~!

MD: This last week there were a bunch of new MLG House Shows that showed up on Peacock, with never released matches on them. We plan on going through them now and again over the next several weeks/months.

ER: Would it have been too much to ask for Ted Dibiase/Koko B. Ware? Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be happier that we got Iron Mike Sharpe/Tommy Angel, but that one match is very conspicuous by its absence. 

WWF House Show Maple Leaf Gardens 9/18/88

Mr. Perfect vs. Jim Brunzell

MD: Hennig still had some remnants of Cool Curt here. No real holds. No real offense outside of punching, kicking, stomping, clotheslines, but there was a nice methodological way he went about things and he was definitely working the crowd. He also played king of the mountain a bit which is the most AWA thing ever. Brunzell is always competent but even Gorilla was ragging on him for not getting fiery enough soon enough. Hennig survived the dropkick by ending up in the ropes. Solid opener though Hennig wasn't quite established yet and no one bought Brunzell as a singles.

ER: Maybe I'm easy, but I thought this kicked ass. I love Cool Curt, and I thought this was a...well, Perfect...blend of late AWA Cool Curt and big bumping heel Mr. Perfect. It had a nice methodical build where Curt would just walk slowly, cockily around the ring, like someone with a back injury who couldn't bend down, or like someone holding something up their butt. This was barely 20 matches into Curt's Mr. Perfect run, and I love seeing early versions of famous characters, seeing what they were working on and what direction they were testing out, see what offense they were using that you know they wouldn't be using a couple years later. The build on this was strong, starting slow (slow enough to actually get a few Boring chants, in 1988 Toronto!) and leading to a great section of Hennig keeping Brunzell on the floor while he corncobbed around the ring, kicking Jim off the apron, punching him in the jaw, a long build with a great payoff of Brunzell fighting his way back into the ring and tossing Hennig to the floor (one of only "Hennig" bumps of the match). By the end of the match both guys were throwing legit potato shots to the face. I mean both guys were flat out slugging each other down the home stretch, and the Maple Leaf Gardens cameras give it this awesome "in the ring" feel where you could really see how hard these punches were landing. I don't think of Brunzell as a guy who punches people in the face, but he and Hennig had loaded fists that were cracking jaws in ways I wasn't expecting. Just look at how hard Brunzell was hitting Hennig with mounted punches, and how Hennig paid him back. No way you would expect that. 

Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Tommy Angel

ER: Canada's Greatest Athlete gets to pose and flex for his adoring countrymen, and I like this Sharpe/Angel pairing because it's a cool look at a mainstay WWF undercarder vs. someone who I think of as a perennial WCW job guy. Tommy Angel looks like the Cars' touring keyboard player and it takes Sharpe at least 3 or 4 minutes to finally lock up with him, and the more Sharpe goes for rope breaks and teases knuckle locks while WHOA WHOA WHOAing, the louder the fans get. It's house show beauty. This is all of the Sharpe greatest hits, and they all work. Everyone knows he's going to cheat when he backs up and begs off into a corner, the way he sells strikes verbally while mostly ignoring them physically, and they react when he runs headlong into arm drags. Sharpe is a big guy and a heavy bumper, and it's impressive that while he stalls a ton he can also be good at taking a big heavy bump and feeding quickly into another one. I think my very favorite piece of commitment from Sharpe is when he gets tied up in the top and middle rope like Andre, and after he manages to fend off Angel with a boot to the stomach he still demands the ref help get him untied. 

The commitment to do a silly spot like get tied up in the ropes and wailed on only works if it looks like you cannot actually get yourself untied from the ropes, and Sharpe understands that the bit doesn't really work if you just walk away after kicking your opponent off. No, this goofball who can't take a step without making noise understands that he is STUCK in those ropes, and him kicking Angel away only gives the referee time to help him finally do his job. Commitment to the bit is 90% of Sharpe's gag, so I always love seeing moments where he could have skipped a step but didn't. He's good at making Angel's nearfalls look like actual nearfalls, too: when Angel got a late match sunset flip there was a 50-50 shot that was going to be enough to walk away with a win, and Sharpe reacted like he knew those odds. For a guy who was mostly bullshit, Sharpe clearly understand what made that bullshit work, and how to pay that bullshit off. 

Brutus Beefcake vs. Ron Bass

MD: It's a new match and I thought maybe, just maybe, there might be some heat to it since it was after the X'ed out angle. Plus, Bass is more than solid all the way from 77 to 85 in at least a few territories. My professional review of this is that Beefcake maybe had one minute worth of viable stuff and then I literally fell asleep while watching it. We tend to find value in most wrestlers somewhere or another and Beefcake was over as a viable star with a connection to the crowd, but this was bad, at least the parts I can remember.

ER: Beefcake did look mostly bad on offense, and I'm pretty sure every single punch he threw landed somewhere past Bass's head. Whatever match there was, was made by Bass occasionally cutting Brutus off. Bass had a nice big kneelift and I liked how he popped Brutus in the eye with the handle of ol Betsy. Gorilla was already setting up the lawn trimmers vs. spurs hair vs. hair match that was still 4 months away, so that was kind of cool. It feels like we should have had more interesting Ron Bass matches from his WWF run.  

Powers of Pain vs. Bolsheviks

MD: It's always weirdly fascinating to see the Powers of Pain as a babyface act. The best part of it is always Barbarian doing sort of a primal scream with his arms out as part of a comeback or demolishing guys. They tried to make a real match out of this, which was a mistake. Barbarian let Warlord work most of it, not tagging even when you'd expect him to. Bolsheviks' only credible offense was shots off the second rope from behind as the ref was distraction. Part of me thinks that Barbarian could have had a singles babyface run but this wasn't quite meshing and it makes sense they do the double turn so soon after.

ER: Haters piled onto Gorilla Monsoon's commentary, but I think Monsoon spending 5+ minutes talking about the haircut choices of all the wrestlers in this match was perhaps the only thing that made this worth watching. It all started with Monsoon considering adopting Warlord's haircut as his own, since he "doesn't have much on top to work with any longer" and humoring Mooney's requests to also get a tattoo. "And Nikolai over there can't seem to decide whether he wants hair or wants to be completely bald," just really going through the benefits of a pronounced horseshoe vs. keeping two days of growth up there. It's bizarre to work this match in such a bland "these teams are equal" style, and more bizarre to have Warlord in there for the bulk of the match. The fans only really came alive during PoP's entrance and the match finishing Warlord powerslam/Barbarian diving headbutt (and Barbarian really flew 2/3 of the way across the ring on that headbutt), but the best parts of this were probably Zhukov's excellently timed axe handle into Volkoff's head, and Volkoff's fun bump over the top onto the ring announcer's table at the finish. Beyond that, enjoy marveling at how bad Warlord's kicks and stomps look. 


Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude

MD: Sometimes it comes down to what they're trying to accomplish. Here, they wanted their cake and to eat it too and it wasn't nearly as good as if they just stuck to the path of least resistance. Rude was excellent here, every reaction just great. More than solid at leaning on Jake. He ducked the short arm clothesline early and took over for most of the match. The underlying story was that he'd pull down his normal tights for the Cheryl Roberts ones when Jake wasn't able to see, so you figure they're building to Jake finally seeing and then going nuts for a comeback right? Well that doesn't happen. They work it towards a more conventional comeback, then a ridiculous ref bump (he somehow got squashed *under* the DDT). A Rude Awakening got Rude a phantom pin while the ref was out, and then a quick roll up Roberts finish. It's only after the match when Rude doesn't care anymore that Jake sees the tights and rushes back in with Damien (the ref gets the snake in the chaos instead). By that point, Jake had already won, so while it's great for Rude to get menaced by the snake and all for the insult, everything would have been so much tighter and more visceral if they kept it within the confines of the match. Hell, have Jake lose it from seeing the tights, come back, get DQed for not letting up on Rude, and THEN bring the snake out to get over on both Rude and the ref. While the match was going on, there was a real sense of anticipation and build over a guy's tights of all things, so it's too bad that it didn't come to fruition. 

ER: Matt is spot on about this match and the one thing I want to add is more emphasis on just HOW stupid that DDT ref bump was. The referee just DOVE underneath the DDT before Jake executed it, and there is just zero reason for any person to do what the referee did in that scenario. I have never seen this done, and after seeing it here there's good reason for that. Jake grabs for the DDT, referee literally dives onto his stomach in between Rude and Roberts, Rude takes the DDT onto the ref. The physics of it don't even begin to make sense, the referee's motivation doesn't make sense, it just looked like a man who was actively trying to get another man to land on him. This referee was clearly a pervert who would see a woman readying herself to sit down on a chair, and then slip underneath real quick just so she would briefly sit on his lap. Derelict behavior. 

Big Bossman vs. Jim Powers

MD: This was for International Challenge so we might have had it before but it's found, if not new. It was very good too, with Bossman really asserting himself, and Powers trying to get shots in but getting cut off. Bossman had a ton of presence, jawing with his opponent and the crowd, shrugging off Powers' stuff, giving him just enough to keep up hope. Finally, Powers was able to knock Bossman back, stagger him, finally dropkick him into the ropes. When he went to finally knock him down, Bossman caught him in the slam and dropped him. This was balanced just right for what it was trying to do. Another point: yes, Monsoon spent a lot of the match giving Powers grief for trying too much power stuff against a massive opponent, but what he accomplished by doing so was making Bossman look big and forboding and unstoppable or at least very difficult to stop. He didn't make Powers look great, but Powers wasn't supposed to look great; Bossman was. He tore apart Powers' strategy but not the reality of what we were watching. It was because of that reality that he was tearing it apart. Just something to think about as we deal with grumpy announcers who manage to bury just about everything but themselves these days. Monsoon, believe it or not, was better than that here.

ER: Boss Man was so good. He really didn't have to give Powers a single thing here, and while he didn't give him anything big, he still treated literally every strike as something that he actually felt, something that at minimum moved him. Boss Man is so much larger than Powers, but I love how much offense he set up by being the one in motion. Powers wasn't sticking and moving so much as just moving, avoiding various Boss Man advances and sneaking in a punch. Boss Man would charge in and get punched in the face, and was so good at selling that a Jim Powers punch to the face would hurt even a gigantic man. Boss Man's timing and speed were so impressive, that when you combine that with high end physical selling it really makes a super worker. Not many were better at just putting the palm of his hand against their teeth and showing pain. Powers never had a chance in this match, but Boss Man made him look like someone who could at least leave a mark, and he did it while also making the middle rope nearly touch the apron when he threw all his weight over it and Powers. That finish run Boss Man Slam timing is the stuff of legend. 

Hulk Hogan vs. Haku

MD: Hogan was between his series of matches with Dibiase and with Bossman here. Haku had recently enough been made King. This was "War Bonnet" Hogan and Heenan was at ringside. It was a one off but it's a fairly unique house show match up. It's been a while since I saw the 88 Hogan act. It has a lot going for it: the reverberation at the start of Real American to get the crowd buzzing, the ridiculousness of the helmet but it also working as a prop to keep things different, and maybe some overall freedom since Hogan didn't need to be in title matches.

Hogan gave Haku a ton here. He wiped out both Heenan and Haku with the helmet pre-match (with a great Heenan bump and him being disheveled for the next fifteen minutes), but then got swept under by a bunch of Haku shots. Having not seen 88 Hogan for a bit, he was excellent working from underneath early, constantly crawling and scrambling back as he recoiled from the shots, retreating so as to try to create some space. Then, when he came back later, it was with a lot of hair pulls and cheapshots. It's all what you'd expect someone like Buddy Rose to do in that situation, but Hogan was a face. For all the talk of whether he was a bully or not, his physical actions here were very "heel coded" but they were also incredibly over with the crowd. He had three or four little hulk ups/comebacks in this but was cut off due to either Haku getting a shot in or Heenan interfering. They went into deep chinlock/sleeper land but they worked in and out of it at least a little bit. The finish, which had Hogan getting the helmet from Heenan and hitting the legdrop with it on his head felt pretty iconic for the time. I'd say overall this felt relatively fresh due to the unique opponent and showed at least a little reinvention for Hogan.

ER: Hogan vs. Haku from the SNME a month after this match was actually the first Hulk Hogan match I ever saw, and also the first episode of SNME I ever saw. I have basically no original memories of that match, but it's cool seeing an earlier, much better version of that match here. Hogan working from underneath is a much more interesting Hogan. Heenan is great at spacing out the distractions to keep Haku's control rolling, from his opening side flip bump after getting nailed by the helmet, to getting knocked off the apron with a punch, to coming in right at the finish and getting punched into the ring trying to get the helmet to Haku. Heenan may have been the best ever at using the ropes to facilitate his bumping. Haku's strikes looked a lot better than Hogan's, and I loved all of his trust kicks and big swinging arm attacks. Hogan had some nice stuff too, and I really missed his elbowdrop when he mostly dropped that from his offense by '89. Dropping two nice elbows and starting a third, only to wave it off and just scrape his boot across Haku's bridge is a great spot (whether it's heel-coded or not). His running elbows and clotheslines look light as hell but Haku gave them a lot of heft with his bumps. I think the best part of Hogan working underneath was it forced him to use speed, and it was cool seeing him move around real quickly here. His little blocks and reversals were really good, like early on when he blocked a 1-2 combo and threw punches of his own, or when he went with a Mongolian chop (!) after blocking a Haku strike later. This is a fully fleshed out, much better version of their SNME match the next month, and it's kind of amazing how different that Hogan was from this Hogan. 

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New Footage Friday: Pro Wrestling USA 4/19/85

Larry Sharpe vs. Bobby Duncum

MD: Ok, so the best thing about this match was when Sharpe took a really dumb bump from the corner, just a real tortured thing where there's no way the angle should have worked. He ended up on a table, maybe the timekeeper's maybe not, and the guy swears at Sharpe to get off his table. This is very audible. Then, post match, you can hear, off camera, Sharpe yelling at him "Maybe you can talk to other guys like this but.." Amazing.

The match was disjointed, but fine, I guess? There was supposed to be another Samoan (Samula?) in there maybe? The local radio guy introducing seemed confused. Both of these guys were heels. Duncum was a bit over the hill and past his prime but moved well enough. I did not love his neck jabs. Sharpe had some good flurries and stooged well, but was presented as a poor man's Buddy Rose, which was problematic in its own right. This went home right when it should have with a pretty neat bulldogging elbow drive by Duncum. Sharpe couldn't get out there to yell at the guy quickly enough.

Wild Samoans vs. Tom Zenk/Steve O

MD: This was a completely one-sided match. The crowd wanted to see the Samoans kill Zenk and Steve O and that's what happened. Zenk didn't show a ton but Steve O was a vet by this point and knew what he was there to do. He had a span of a minute or two towards the beginning where he busted his own elbow on a Samoan head, and then tried to slam their heads together, etc. Later on he bumped all over the place including huge on a back body drop. The Samoans really knew how to play the crowd, including a big set up for the Samoan drop. Steve O should have had a job for life, but by design, this wasn't much.

Kendo Nagasaki vs. Jim Duggan

MD: I'm not really sure what to make of this card so far. In a lot of the ones they've posted from this era, every match is competitive. We've seen three squashes so far, basically. Larry Sharpe is the guy who got the most offense in on a losing effort. Duggan's no selling of Nagasaki's stuff was fun, I guess? The whips were weirdly uncooperative. Dusty had been advertised in this spot (not sure where he was, but it wasn't Lenoir, NC with the rest of JCP) and I guess if you're going to sub him out for Duggan, you want to put the babyface over big? Another nothing match.

Baron Von Raschke vs. Jimmy Garvin

MD: We've seen pretty good Baron matches and pretty good Garvin matches in the last month or two and this was neither. The best part was probably Precious' heatseeking. She was so good at riling people and getting pre-match heat just by putting herself in harm's way and daring the babyface to get her. It's a good act but I think it had limited shelf life. What killed this one dead was an extended chinlock/seated chinlock hold by Garvin. A guy like that, with that much heat, can definitely get away with an endless chinlock, but only if both wrestlers are working the thing. Here they weren't, so it didn't work either, especially in front of this crowd of jerks. That they still came back up for the comeback and finish is probably a testament to Garvin/Precious and the claw.

Freebirds vs. High Flyers/Tonga Kid

MD: This was a unique match up, at least. This was a pretty weird Pro Wrestling USA. Instead of JCP, you get the Samoans and the proto-Islanders and Backlund. It makes sense for the Meadowlands, I guess? This was the footage shown in Highlander, by the way, and you get a zooming camera over the top of the action sometimes. More on the overall camera work later.

This was a fun novelty, but I don't think ever really reached any level of greatness. Tonga was legitimately over and his initial exchange with Hayes, with them trading moonwalks, was memorable. Brunzell looked like a world-beater in the shine (thanks mainly to Gordy's basing). Maybe they went heel-in-peril a little bit long, but all the faces had to get a moment and the Freebirds were great stooges.

They had a little heat segment on Brunzell and a longer one on Gagne. The crowd wanted Tonga back in but that didn't 100% translate to getting behind Gagne. I thought camera angle from ringside sort of hurt this. Gagne already wrestles at odd angles, but now we were seeing things from odd angles as well. Usually that doesn't bug me but here it took me out of the match. It was the usual elaborate High Flyers build to a hot tag, but maybe they could have removed a wrinkle, even if Gordy's side slam and especially Budro's bulldog looked great. The crowd came unglued for Tonga but then the ref threw it all out a minute too early and it was a lot less satisfying than if he had just waited for the chairs to come in or if it was worked towards a twenty minute draw since that's exactly as long as it went anyway.

PAS: This had a bunch of fun moments, but never really came together as a great match. I really enjoyed Tonga Kid, he had some flash which as much as I like the High Flyers, they clearly lack.  His pop and lock response to Micheal Hayes's moonwalk was the highlight of the match. I think Gagne is a good wrestler, but he clearly didn't connect to a Jersey crowd which hadn't been following his family for years. I thought the Freebirds were cool, but this wasn't one of their most energetic performances, finish really was terrible, this match was too long to build to a lame cop-out like that.

Kamala vs. Sgt. Slaughter - Ugandan Death Match

MD: I enjoyed this a lot. The lack of rules really benefited Kamala. In a match where he could attack the throat and choke freely and there were no breaks, he legitimately seemed more dangerous and unleashed. I like how much he gave at the get go, really putting over how big a star Sarge was. Like always, when it was time for Sarge to sell and bump, he was great at it. His corner bump out was picture perfect, a thousand times better than Sharpe's in the first match. The hope spots worked with the crowd but were so slight, just a kick or a slam attempt, before he finally punched his way back and actually locked the Cobra Clutch on Kamala. The finish was pretty serious BS especially because it set up a Slaughter vs Billy Robinson match that we never got, though it did at least set up a Boot Camp Cage match that we might get eventually (I think that Meadowlands show has a new Martel vs Bockwinkel match plus Freebirds vs Duggan/Gagne/Hennig, so I hope we do get it). They barely used the actual death match rules. This probably would have been better suited as a Ugandan no holds barred match ending with a countout or some such. Slaughter killing everyone with the stretcher he was supposed to be taken out on was a great visual though.

PAS: It was fun to watch a pair of huge bumping big guys take big in ring bumps. Slaughter had great babyface timing and it was awesome to watch him fire back at Kamala. This was a match that was desperate for blood, a gore soaked Slaughter firing back and Kamala would have been really memorable. I am not sure Kamala's beating was big enough with out it. Man the AWA had terrible finishes though, you can see why the fans eventually soured on them.

Bob Backlund vs. Larry Zbyszko

MD: This is definitely a Matt D match: wrestled title style with compelling matwork and chain wrestling to start, full of emotional selling (from Zbyszko who almost didn't stall enough to create the proper payoffs in the early going, but that was 100% on in every moment of the match), a good heel control segment (including a mini-King of the Mountain where Larry just crushed Backlund's head on the apron with a knee and well-worked, if not at all over, heel headlocks), and some callback spots in the comeback (both a revenge pile driver and face splitter/twister). It could have used some more compelling transitions, a babyface that the fans actually wanted to get behind (though most of the stuff Backlund actually did was spot on), and a finish which wasn't so damn AWA. It never wore out its welcome and it was a good Zbyzsko showcase. You watch this and you wonder, once again, at the idea that Backlund was WWWF champ for so long. Even when he's good, which is often, he comes off as such a goof. I will say this, no other combination in the world could have delivered an atomic drop quite as good as these two.

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More 80s Christmas AWA! On Heenan! On Martel! On Blackwell and Gagne!

Rick Martel vs. Bobby Heenan AWA 12/25/82

ER: Network puts up new hunky Rick Martel, Rachel is going to be interested in seeing new hunky Rick Martel. Every time we see some early 80s Martel she just exclaims "He's such a good babyface!" This is, I believe, the only wrestler she has said this about. I don't even think she's seen much of The Model era, or how she would even handle heel Rick Martel. Oddly, I think she's seen the '91 Rumble, but Martel lasts so long that it's basically like a babyface Rumble performance, working against the odds. But it is undeniably true that Martel is a fantastic babyface, super expressive and knows how to make things feel like a big deal. Heenan here really comes off like a big deal. He's practically Fit Finlay in how well every single shot lands, and how nicely he takes every Martel shot. He even moves similarly to Fit. Heenan comes off like a total badass, just look how he kicks at Martel from the apron to keep him on the floor or throws winging double chops off Irish whips. Heenan was so good here that it's crazy to me he was only a part timer a couple years later.  Heenan blinds Martel early in the match and Martel is weirdly a guy who is really great at dramatically selling blindness. It's an odd thing to be good at but something everybody clearly knew or they wouldn't have had him still working it into matches a decade later. Martel is great on the defensive in this, but also great on offense. He fired back blindly against Heenan, tossing him with backdrops when Heenan would get close, firing back with great punches (that knock Heenan into the ropes Andre style), kicking at his legs in the ropes (nasty kicks to inner leg), and broke out a textbook sunset flip. The finish was awesome as Heenan gets dropkicked in the back and flies chest first into the middle turnbuckle, made the bump look real violent and worthy of a finish.

Rick Martel vs. Superstar Billy Graham AWA 12/25/83

ER: This was really fun, just a bunch of simple knucklelock exchanges and a nicely worked bearhug by Graham, which is more than enough to frame a nice babyface Martel performance. I like a good bearhug and post-WWF Superstar can still squeeze. I thought he was good at cutting off Martel, especially with a nicely timed throat thrust (a "tae kwon do chop") when Martel was starting to fire back. Maybe Graham's stuff wouldn't have looked as good without someone as expressive as Martel selling it, but the combo worked. Finish is at least a good bullshit finish, as Martel starts making strides and Graham just decides to launch him over the top to the floor for the DQ. Martel took the match finishing bump like a champ.

Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera/Mr. Saito/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie vs. Greg Gagne/Jim Brunzell/Ray Stevens/Baron von Raschke AWA 12/25/83

ER: Hell yes, inject this kind of classic multi man action right between my toes. It's JIP 5 minutes but that still gives us 11 minutes of party. The heels all cut off Gagne from his boys, showing how effectively a simple formula can work 35 years later. The heels all took turns distracting the ref to keep Gagne from getting to hot tags and allow double teams, Saito sneaking in with leaping elbows off the middle rope, Patera coming in with a nice cut off shot while Blackwell is busying the good guys, Adnan sneaking in shots, Blackwell hitting a nice falling elbow and later missing a splash, all simple but effective stuff. The whole babyface side is excellent on the apron, keeping everything fired up, Stevens running in to try and do justice, Baron getting to goose step around to thunderous cheers on the hot tag, but Gagne again had an excellent babyface performance and even got to hit this ridiculous double stomp off the middle rope right off Blackwell's belly. This kind of match is like tasty popcorn in a movie, just can't stop eating it.

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New Footage Friday: Hogan, Bockwinkle, High Flyers, Blackwell, Hennig, Tito

The Network delivered a tidal wave of AWA this week, with a lot of new stuff, including a real gem.

High Flyers vs. Jerry Blackwell/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie AWA 12/25/81

MD: This was basic and straightforward but just so well executed. Shine/Heat/Comeback/cheating heel finish. It's JIP so we lose some of the shine. If there was double heat on this, that'd probably where it would have been. It's hard to say. You get a complete picture here though. It's striking just how much stuff Gagne has a ton of stuff. If you need someone to control a heel's arm (even one as big as Blackwell), Greg's the guy to go with. Brunzell is more fiery than you'd think working the apron. The Flyers do feel like a big deal here, but that's not surprising. They always somehow do. All of this felt iconic, pure, distilled AWA.

PAS: Really solid main event tag team match. Blackwell and Adnan are a bruiser tag team, Kasie almost seems like too much of a bad ass to work as a heel manager. Blackwell has fists like hams, and a demolishing fat guy elbow. Greg was a great in this, I loved his wild punch combos to Blackwells body to make space for the hot tag, and he had some nice looking offense, including some nasty shots to the Shiek's knee. I totally buy a sneaky Blackwell splash ending anyone, that is a fat dude right there.

ER: I love Blackwell so much. He's the fattest version of Haley Joel Osment and is a guy I'll watch in anything. It feels like we've gotten a ton of fresh Blackwell in the past couple years, from Japan handhelds to stuff like this. And it's all great, I love how he moves, you get to see awesome elbowdrops and big fat guy bumps and painful avalanches and great missed splats on splashes, and after the match he lands an absolute curb stomp of a running stomp. Guy comes off like a total killer. Greg Gagne is a guy I like that really got a bum rap for years. He's a great babyface and always brings good determination, his blow up fired up punches are great and he's a good face in peril. I now get excited when new Greg Gagne footage shows up. Brunzell is a durable guy with a fantastic dropkick who can hang with bigger guys, and Adnan does amusing older guy heel stomps and reactions and backrakes. Plus we get some great regional folksiness on commentary, my favorite being "Greg Gagne just folded like a carpenter's rule." You picture James Stewart saying something like that in "Fools' Parade" and it sounds right. This is the kind of pro wrestling I like to watch.

Tito Santana/Hulk Hogan vs. Bobby Duncum/Ken Patera AWA 12/25/82

MD: There's a lot to really enjoy here. Hogan is an absolute bully, going out of his ways to poke Patera in the eyes when he doesn't have to, all of that. The fans love it. Santana works as rudo as I've ever seen him, faking the tags and cheating left and right. Tito Santana! Hogan's a bad influence. Patera really shines in this one. There's just real star power there. Everything he does has extra oomph and energy. It's patently ridiculous that this ends not in a double DQ but in Hogan getting DQ'd because he was getting in the way of the heels cheating. It might have been to set up Patera/Duncum as contenders but it just felt like punishing the fans for no reason.

PAS: Really fun to watch the two babyface icons of my early wrestling fandom team up. Hogan and Tito have barrels of charisma and I really enjoyed all of the babyface scheming early. Tito is a really good face in peril, and Hogan is an all time hot tag. Tito breaks out a Gibson leglock and takes a great semi flip bump on Duncum's lariat. I loved we got a couple of big Heenan bumps and didn't mind the double DQ as it had the kind of Katie Bar the Door finish you got a ton of in the 80s. This was a nostalgic match, so I dug the nostalgic finish.

Nick Bockwinkel vs. Mad Dog Vachon AWA 12/25/83

MD: Just watch Bockwinkel rush in for the attack. Always a game plan. Always a purpose. Mad Dog wasn't going to do any topes in 1983, but his stuff looked nasty and credible. He'd bite your nose off if you weren't careful. Or, in this case, he'd fishhook your mouth and all but suplex you with it. Bockwinkel stooges and feeds and makes this feel like a right and proper main event for an end of the year show. This had a pretty goofy Dusty finish but the pop on Mad Dog getting the apparent win is huge. It's a testament both to the AWA crowds and to Bockwinkel that you could put almost anyone up and down the roster in there, from Brunzell to Rheinghans to the Baron to Robinson and the crowd completely believed that the title change could happen and that they might witness history.

PAS: I really enjoyed this, classic wrestling trope of over as fuck babyface taking out a sneaky heel champ. The Crusher is accompanying Vachon as a counter to Heenan, and has an unlit cigar in his mouth and another two in his pocket. Vachon tears Bockwinkle up, bumping him all over the ring, with Bockwinkle only getting brief moments of offense, when he can sneak in a cheap shot. Vachon really comes off as a vicious tough guy and Bockwinkle sells his ass off. The ending was super dumb as the ref just stops counting to DQ Bockwinkle before Heenan does anything. We do get some fun postmatch with Heenan taking a classic insane Heenan bump to the floor, but I can see why this kind of booking BS eventually doomed the fed.

Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig AWA 12/25/84

MD: Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig is one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history. Maybe before I'd say it was one of the greatest feuds of the 80s. Before we didn't have this match. It slots in so perfectly and it's one of those things that I don't know how we, as wrestling fans, ever lived without.

This was during the period where Martel, not Bockwinkel, was champion, where Hennig was coming into his own as a singles mid-carder and occasional contender. Remember, just two years earlier he was reffing the Christmas show. It would still be a couple of years, and the tag run where he was to make Scott Hall a star, before they'd feud in earnest. This match was full of sparks that would ignite years later.

People praise Bockwinkel for a lot of things, for his promos, for his matwork, for his bumps, for his presentation as the perfect heel champion, and I love all of those things. What I love the most, however, is that he is always absolutely in the moment. He is entirely in to every moment, not as a performer hitting spots, but as a method actor who's completely dropped into what he's doing. It's the little things. There's a moment early on after he took over with an unclean lock up off the ropes where Hennig bumps out of the corner, selling. Bockwinkel does this tiny, enthused pump of his arm. It's the smallest thing but there's not another wrestler out of a hundred that would have chosen to show that emotion in that moment and it is absolutely everything when it comes to immersion. Bockwinkel believes. You believe.

This shifts to a great King of the Mountain and subsequent revenge from a fiery Hennig after that (the transition being wholly logical and warranted as Bockwinkel decided to play to the crowd and mime having the belt once more; everything always makes sense with Nick Bockwinkel). From here it's back and forth with Bockwinkel able to bully his way to advantages and Hennig selling the damage tremendously. Ultimately, after a second sunset flip hope spot (one that Bockwinkel struggled on much more than the first), Nick goes after the leg, locking in a string of figure-fours until the Hennig, toughing it out, somehow rolls him up for the pin and the win. Post-match, Bockwinkel is behind himself and beats Hennig to a pulp, coming back in again and again with no one able to stop him. You can't watch this and not think about what would happen two years later when a frustrated Hennig would turn heel on Bockwinkel. This was great on its own it's all part of an even greater whole and it's a whole that we've got an clearer picture of today.

PAS: Getting a new Bockwinkel vs. Hennig is like getting a new Santo vs. Casas or Dundee vs. Lawler, another chance to see a legendary match up, with all time greats who are always going to give something different. It was neat to see this version of the rivalry with Bockwinkle so dominant and Hennig still a young boy. Bockwinkle is so vicious and dismissive, tossing Hennig to the floor,  and really kicking the shit out of him when Hennig tries to get back in, it is the ultimate in dismissiveness. This kid doesn't even belong in the ring with me, and I refuse to treat him like an equal. It is what makes the reversal of fortune so satisfying, with Hennig constantly knocking Bock to the floor. The figure fours looked great, and I loved how Bock snapped after Hennig gets the sneak pin. Brutal onslaught, and Bockwinkle does really come off unhinged, like he can see all of his glory slipping away and was going to hold on tight with both hands.

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You Won't Believe What Doctors Don't Want You to Know About Berzerker

33. Berzerker vs. British Bulldog - MSG 12/29/91

Here we have the match that would a few months later get cut for time off WrestleMania VIII, and it's a shame as I really liked it. I liked Berzerker far more than Davey Boy in this one. They exchange some decent shoulderblocks and some of that crazy stamina, as Berzerker and Davey Boy run the ropes a bunch and criss-cross. It feels like Berzerker is purposely trying to get his opponents to gas out sometimes. Then Davey dropkicks him which Berzerker kind of no sells, so Davey just clotheslines him to the floor. Berzerker would take two big bumps to the floor in this match; that one off the clothesline, and a later one to establish his aggression, where he ties Davey in the ropes, kicks him a couple times, then charges into a huge backdrop bump to the floor. Ancient Berserker warriors were said to be relentless, as if fighting in a trance like state. And Nord really captures that idea in all his matches, even though it's never really properly put over on commentary as such. But this whole match really highlights the character's relentless high stamina style. He bumps to the floor and immediately rolls back in and starts punching. He wasn't the type of heel to roll to the floor, pound the apron in frustration, get consoled by his manager, have the ref back his opponent off, then get back in. He was a man who kept charging back into battle with wild eyes and Huss aplenty. Berzerker takes most of this match, throwing a bunch of nice stomps to the back of Davey's head, his cool missile shoulderblock, a bunch of nice kicks to the ribs, a really good world's strongest slam for a couple nice pinfalls. He even gets a visual pin with his feet on the ropes, leading to Davey narrowly getting the win with a schoolboy. This would have been better than all but a couple of the matches at WrestleMania VIII.

34. Berzerker/Shawn Michaels vs. Kendo Nagasaki/Kenichi Oya - SWS 1/6/92

Nothing will ever beat the Straight and Strong SWS T-Tex logo. It's so stupid and so brilliant. And look at THAT tag team and try to explain it to me. I could be wrong but I don't think Michaels had even turned on Jannetty yet. Berzerker amusingly whips at both men with his belt as they enter the ring. IMPORTANT: Berzerker strips off his tunic and wrestles in trunks and fur boots for the first time ever. Possibly trying to evoke Brody to the Japanese fans, even moreso than usual? But who cares, because this is really fun. Michaels busts his ass and does work as a heel, which is really satisfying. He was kind of a punky Dynamite Kid type here, bumping big but also hitting sneak shots and nasty stomps. Oddly enough, the crowd could not care less about Berzerker. They don't react to ANYTHING that he does. He has a sequence with Nagasaki where he takes several bumps, including a big one to the floor, and it's just silence. Then Michaels tags in, does a very normal armdrag on Oya, and it gets cheers and applause. It's like they rejected Berzerker outright, on appearance. He kept trying hard, piledriving Nagasaki on the floor, huge chest bump into the ringpost, does the splits bump, yelling at the crowd, nothing. No reaction. I wanted him to just break down and yell "It's just a damn popularity contest with you kids!" but he just kept plugging away. Michaels was at peak form here, working fast spots, landing a low crossbody with a thud, huge flip bump in the corner, brawling into the crowd with Nagasaki (including get tossed over a table into the chairs), and I got way into this match. Very by the numbers tag, but satisfying because of it. Berzerker pins Oya with his falling slam. Michaels and Berzerker cutting off the ring to work over Oya was a real highlight, super fun match.

35. Berzerker vs. Fumihiro Niikura - SWS 1/8/92

A pretty dominant Berzerker win. Niikura is a guy I like but a name pretty much forgotten. He was not flashy, but I liked what he brought. My favorite Berzerker competitive matches tend to be ones where he's the aggressor who starts missing moves. This one was worked more 50/50, but in that style where one guy takes his 50 up front, the other guy gets his 50, then the first guy wins. That's a common match format, but almost always unsatisfying. It would be interesting to figure out a couple of good matches that use that format as I'm sure there out there, maybe right under my nose, but I imagine it would take some creativity to make it work. As I think about it I'm sure there are several Fujiwara and Ishikawa matches that would techincally fall into that match structure. Here Berzerker dominates to start, Niikura comes back with a cool punch combo and a nice DDT that really plants Berzerker, but Berzerker wins fairly easily with his falling slam, and then destroys a turnbuckle pad after the match in tribute to George "the Animal" Steele, 25 years into the future. (Sadly, the only online link I could find, was heavily clipped)


"Nobody beats my Berzerker in the Royal Rumble!" ~Mr Fuji

"This is the Berzerker's match! You take 29 other guys and throw 'em over the top rope! And whether you like it or not, you're going to have a new World Wrestling Federation CHAMPION! Huss! Huss!" ~Berzerker

36. The Royal Rumble - 1/19/92

Sadly, their words were not prophetic. Somebody DID beat the Berzerker in the Royal Rumble, and it did NOT end up being the Berzerker's match. More has been written online about this Rumble than probably every other Rumble combined, so I'm not going to waste too much time recapping this thing. If you like the Royal Rumble, odds are you've gone out of your way to watch this one. It had tons of kayfabe major stars in it, and Flair won the title in an awesome performance that saw him take a dozen big bumps. Even right from his first lock up as the 3rd participant he was bumping like crazy, and that really didn't stop as the match went on. It's a great Rumble, lots of neat one on one match up between guys who match up well, the eliminations were handled smart, it really holds up. The whole thing plays nicely on past histories, with stuff like Kerry Von Erich going right at Flair, Valentine going after him, etc. Flair has history with tons of the guys in the match, which made the layout of it make even more sense. Flair's performance overshadows Piper's really great performance. He's not in for as long as Flair, but Piper is such a great battle royal worker, knowing when to pour on the energy and when to hold back. Berzerker sadly doesn't get much of a run at all. He comes in fairly late at 22, and Heenan generously puts him over as a major threat. "What's his specialty!!?? How does he win matches!?" Which, yeah, the guy literally wins matches by tossing guys over the top rope. THIS IS HIS MATCH TO LOSE!! He gets saddled with Duggan and IRS which stinks, as Flair, Piper and Undertaker are all in the ring and all infinitely more interesting opposition. He does get to stomp Savage a bit, and in a moment I had forgotten Berzerker, IRS and Undertaker all work over Virgil. Guys...you may have overestimated how much manpower you would need to combat Virgil. Berzerker keeps getting sucked into the Duggan vortex, although really that makes tons of story sense as Duggan pinned him at Survivor Series. So I don't love it, but I appreciate the layout. Berzerker does get some nice moments spearheading a group attack on Hogan, holding him for Undertaker and IRS. Hogan then clotheslines Taker over, and sadly, Berzerker charges at Hogan and takes a great backdrop bump to the floor. He lasted a little over 10 minutes. BUT as long as we're sticking with kayfabe, Berzerker getting eliminated also makes the most sense, as he takes more bumps over the top to the floor than anybody else in the fed. He's high risk/high reward, like early Randy Johnson, tons of strikeouts and tons of walks. He's great at throwing guys out, and highly susceptible to being thrown out. The inscrutable Berzerker, everybody.

37. Berzerker vs. Big Boss Man - Prime Time Wrestling 2/17/92

Well this was an awesome 3 minutes. I hadn't realized any of their house show matches were actually taped so this is a treat, and it easily gets the full WorldWide point. It's fast paced and they make the most of their short runtime, doing a big punch exchange to start and then going into some stiff shoulderblocks. Berzerker suckers Bossman into a shoulderblock and hits a big boot, and from there we get Bossman taking some big bumps for him. Berzerker does a spot we haven't seen him do, draping Bossman over the middle rope and standing on his shoulders, holding onto the top rope and riding him like Chris Elliott riding the strong swimmer in Cabin Boy. After he hops off, Fuji blasts him in the throat with the cane. Great spot. Berzerker hits a nice kneedrop, and then misses a big one off the middle rope, Bossman comes back with a lariat that takes both men to the floor, and then they brawl to the inevitable count out. After the count out Berzerker flips out undoes all the mats at ringside, and slams Bossman on the concrete.

38. Berzerker vs. Randy Savage - Battle of the Superstars 2/18/92

A smarter worked version of Savage's formula match from a few years later, where he would sell for 3 minutes, hit a guy with a bodyslam and win with the elbow. Berzerker bullies him around, with Savage bumping like crazy to the floor three different times. This was all about Berzerker being aggressive, and Macho Man trying to weather the storm. Berzerker would grab him, throw him to the floor, then drag him back inside. It didn't have a ton of trademark Berzerker offense, no falling powerslams, no big boots. Just grabs Savage, throws him to the floor. Savage takes a couple great bumps to the floor, one big one over the top. Berzerker chases, clears the ringside mats, and bodyslams Savage on the concrete. Savage dodges a huge kneedrop back inside, rushes towards Berzerker and eats a big boot. We see our first ref bump (they really weren't common back then) when Savage eats a bodyslam and his boots hit the ref. With the ref down, Savage manages to get Fuji's cane, delivers a cane shot off the top, then hits the elbow. Savage had certainly slimmed down at this point, and looked so small next to Berzerker, but they found a solid way to work in the size difference.

39. Berzerker vs. Jim Brunzell - MSG 2/23/92

Well this wasn't exactly what I was expecting. First, I was surprised that Brunzell was in WWF this late (turns out he worked there through early '93, mainly filling out house shows) and second, I would not have expected him to take 75% of a match against Berzerker. That's really weird, right? We get Brunzell taking almost all of the match, before Berzerker eventually hits a big boot and then catches a Brunzell crossbody and wins with the world's strongest slam. Up until then it was allllll Jumpin' Jim.  But we don't get a lot of wild Berzerker bumps because Brunzell isn't usually a guy who gets a whole lot of offense in matches, so you get Berzerker bumping off dropkicks, stomping around, that kind of thing. He does do his awesome splits bump, and Brunzell is kind of a hilarious guy to do that bump against. For what it's worth, Brunzell looked really good and could clearly still go in '92, this just wasn't the kind of match I was hoping for.

40. 20 Man Battle Royal - MSG 2/23/92

To run through the entrants of this little treat: Berzerker, first one introduced!! He is the immediate top pick of Heenan. British Bulldog, Rick Martel, Hercules, The Bushwhackers, Skinner, Repo Man, Warlord, Chris Walker, Kato, Jim Brunzell, Roddy Piper, Nasty Boys, Undertaker, Big Boss Man, Sid Justice, Ric Flair, & Hulk Hogan. Berzerker was so great during all of the introductions. Remember he was the first one introduced, and everybody got individual entrances. So he had literally 10 minutes in the ring before the match even starts. That's a lot of time to occupy yourself, and he does it with aplomb. He barks at British Bulldog from the aisle way as Bulldog comes out, stomps around the ring, at one point sneaks up behind Finkel and HUSSes right into his ear, startling him. And this battle royal is bullshit because Berzerker is the second guy eliminated. Fucking Chris Walker and Luke Williams were still in there! So many potential match-ups wasted. And this battle royal is filled with a lot of weird match-ups. Every time I got a glimpse of Luke Williams, he was throwing jabs at the Warlord. Just tossing right hands, for like 4 minutes. Hogan was a very good royal worker here, having a contest with Taker to see who could throw better uppercuts at Berzerker's beard, getting into a chop battle with Flair, selling for random attacks by guys like Skinner. But no excuse for Berzerker going out before Kato or Jim Brunzell. BUT, within kayfabe, I have pointed out that Berzerker is high risk high reward in battle royals. Dude is aggressive and dangerous, but his aggression also makes him vulnerable. So, he runs at Hogan with a big boot, misses, and gets tossed over the top. Before Hercules and Skinner. But even with the absurdly quick Berzerker elimination, this was a pretty fun battle royal, if you like battle royals (and I do). Piper had a great showing, his energy is essential in something like this. Martel took a wild elimination bump, Piper did a double clothesline to eliminate Flair AND Repo Man, Sid threw a bunch of knees and leaned 2 feet away from Hogan's punches, which looked terrible. This was a fun battle royal, if you like battle royals. I would have been way into this if I was there live, no matter if I was 11 or 36.

41. Berzerker vs. Don Richter - Prime Time Wrestling 2/24/92

Richter looks like Nick Turturro after he chubbed out, but for a guy I've never heard of he is AWESOME. He likely concusses himself taking super fast back bumps, making Berzerker's pump kick look like a gunshot, taking a chokeslam onto his shoulders, and taking two falling slams and making his leg spasm like Terry Funk while on the mat selling. No clue who he was, but he got murdered here. In fact, here's the obituary for a man named Don Richter, a man who proudly served his country in the Korean War, operated a dairy farm for over 50 years, had 31 (!) grandchildren, and is decidedly not the Don Richter who got murdered by Berzerker. No, this Don Richter died of old age, having lived a love-filled life.

"American fans, look at my Berzerker. He's my software. That's right, he's like a computer: When I push different buttons, he reacts! When I tell him to put a lot of pain and pressure HE DOES to allll his American opponents hahaha" ~Mr Fuji

"Every morning of me and Fuji's life, we say we're gonna mess someone up REAL REAL BAD today, and we ALWAYS DO, EVERY STINKIN' TIME! Well in the World Wrestling Federation, my opponents drop one by one, every stinkin' time!" ~Berzerker


More Berzerker Tomorrow!!


COMPLETE & ACCURATE BERZERKER!

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SLL's All-Request Friday Night, Phaze One

Well, I promised this would be back on the 8th, but somewhat unsurprisingly, it's not back in full. Yeah, was not expecting to be as sick as I was today. I did consider reviewing the Edwards/Richards match anyway, if only to induce vomiting, but thought better of it. Still, I promised an All-Request Friday Night, so here's a little something to get you started while my head clears and I sort out the rest. You're probably used to this by now, anyway.

Jim Brunzell vs. Bret Hart (WWF, 5/4/1986)
Requested by Lacelle

Apropos of something, there's a discussion going on on ProWrestlingOnly about the viability of 80's WWF in general, and of the commentary stylings of one Gorilla Monsoon in particular. Personally, I'm pretty fond of Gorilla, but I grew up with early 90's WWF, and watching his stuff now, it's very clear to me that nostalgia is the only reason I like him. Granted, nostalgia protected his standing with me far better than it did, say, The Ultimate Warrior, which I guess says something positive about him. But damned if I know what, and certainly, had I been following other promotions as a child, I doubt I'd have much tolerance for some of his bullshit. I'm mentioning all of this because one of the things that really stood out to me about this match was that Gorilla's call of it (ably assisted by Bobby Heenan) was actually quite good, and may be indicative of why some of us remember him fondly...even people like me who should know better. It probably helps that Bret is in the match. Bret is, of course, the one guy who Gorilla really had a hand in getting over on commentary - even if just in a small way - by coining the "Excellence of Execution" nickname for him. He doesn't actually drop that title in this match, though he gets the same point across ("He is devastating in everything that he does, because he does the moves to perfection") and otherwise puts him over strong (citing him as the obvious most improved wrestler of '86). He stays on top of the match, and any sidetracks are relevant. He doesn't try to put himself over. He doesn't bury the heels (quite the opposite with Bret), merely acknowledging their heelishness (which is legitimate), pointing out how annoying Jimmy Hart is (which is the whole point of his character), and calling Heenan on his bullshit (which is both obvious and funny). In fact, he's pretty even-handed in this regard. Brunzell is working the match with a taped left forearm and hand, and while he does note that it probably would have been approved for use in the match ahead of time, he doesn't dispute Heenan when he points out something fishy about natural righty Brunzell throwing a flying left forearm late in the match, and after winning the match by DQ when Bret crotches him on the top rope, notes that Brunzell could very well have been DQ'd himself earlier in the match for the taped forearm shot. Beyond that, it's Gorilla and the Brain, and for whatever other faults Gorilla had as an announcer, I still find his interplay with Heenan to be priceless. It's not an all-time great call of a match or anything. I just thought it was interesting to see an example of Gorilla firing on all cylinders.

As far as the match itself goes, it's pretty darn good. Jumping Jim isn't really bringing a whole lot to the table tonight. He sells and bumps OK, but it's nothing special, and his offense all looks really tame. Fortunately, Bret works for two here. His early dominance had a lot of great looking punches, elbows, and even a nice headbutt for good measure. Then Brunzell takes over for a little while, working over Bret's leg, and Bret sells it well enough to make Jim's middling offense look convincing. Bret goes to the eyes during a figure-four attempt, and has a nice offensive run that takes us through most of the rest of the match, including a fun headlock segment. Jimmy Hart is appropriately cheesy throughout.

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WWF 24/7 THOUGHTS - MEADOWLANDS 9/11/88

This was a shockingly good show with only Hogan v. Brown out right sucking, and a lot of stuff being actively good.

Jumping Jim Brunzell v. Mr. Perfect Curt Henning

PAS: This is really early in Henning's run, so he is working a competitive opening match with Jim Brunzell. Were these guys in the AWA in the same time? I ask because they work really well together, with Brunzell doing some nice simple leg work, and Henning getting in all of his crazy oversell bumps. This was early in Henning’s run so Brunzell takes 70% of the match, and Henning wins with a flash powerslam. Henning had really great punches, which is something I don't remember at all, he has a hook and an uppercut as well as a straight right and they all look great. He was just off a run working Lawler in the AWA and for at least a little while he had picked something up.

Don "The Rock" Muraco v. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

PAS: This takes a while to get going, but it ends up being pretty fun. Muraco is avenging the crippling of Superstar Billy Graham (which means he really should be working Zahorian) who is doing color at ringside. It starts pretty slow for a blood feud, and Muraco doesn't really do a ton here. Valentine is awesome though, everything he does looks really nasty and tight, almost like Finlay without the bumps. Forearm shivers, elbows to the throat, clubs to the back of the neck. He just beats you down, there was a little too much mishigos with the shin guard, and after the WWF 80's set I never wanted to see another 20 minute draw, but I am getting really excited for Greg Valentine month in September.

Junkyard Dog v. Hercules

PAS: This wasn't as awful as it looks on paper. It was basically worked as a slugfest, with two big guys pounding on each other. Problem was that neither guy hit particular hard, especially after watching Valentine pound on someone. If they had laid it in a little more this actually would have been good.

Hulk Hogan v. Bad News Brown

PAS: During the 80's set I watched a ton of Hogan, some of it was good (Backlund, Bossman) some mediocre (Volkoff, MSG Savage) and some of it stunk (Wrestlemania Savage, Muraco). This was pretty stinky, neither guy could really bump at all and all of their offense looked like shit. Plus Hogan was carrying around that ridiculous helmet, which led to the cheap finish. Outside of his Timothy Flowers cage match I have been pretty disappointed with all the Bad News I have seen in the last couple of years. I need to get his hard head feud with Fujiwara or something, as my youthful illusions are being crushed.

Barry Horowitz v. Blue Blazer

PAS: These guys had a really fun match on the 80’s set, this wasn’t as good as that, but still was really fun. Horowitz looked really great here as he has a ton of fun offense, I especially liked his superkick. Watching this match, you get the sense Horowitz would have been a really great New Japan junior gaijin in the early 90’s as this was a really NJ Juniors style match. Blazers superfly splash finish looked kind of crappy, but otherwise this was solid.

Ted DiBiase v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

PAS: Man alive was this a blast. I thought this could go both ways, these guys have worked each other a ton, but both kind of dogged it in the WWF. This could have easily been a main event a big Mid-South Superdome show. This was worked like a sprint Watts main event. Lots of great punch exchanges by both guys and they were both bumping around the ring. Great timing on everything. Really just paced at a million miles an hour. I can’t wait to see their matches up on the Watts 80’s set.

Hart Foundation v. Rougeau Brothers

PAS: I liked this a lot too, I actually think the Harts work better as faces then heels. Bret is a pretty decent face in peril and Neidhart is a really fun hot tag. The opening had the Harts just destroy the Rougeau’s, it was a fun one sided beating with Raymond starting a stillborn “Let’s go Jaques” chant. You had the Rougeau’s take over, and they have a bunch of fun heel stuff. Bret breaks out his great piledriver which he never wins with.

Jake Roberts v. Rick Rude

PAS: This is during the Cheryl Roberts feud and she is at ringside. She really doesn’t have the meth teeth one might imagine a Jake Roberts wife would have. This was good, Roberts isn’t as good as a face as he is as a heel, but Rude is amazing. He smashes away on Jake’s shoulder, including two great top rope fistdrops on the shoulder. He also does his awesome eat of a backdrop on his tailbone. Out of all the dead folks on this show, I have no idea how Roberts is still breathing, I bet no one would have bet on that horse.

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