Found Footage Friday: ABBY~! KIMALA II~! MVC~! PUTSKI~! REX~! LAWLER~! DEAN(SIMON)~!

Ivan Putski vs. Moondog Rex WWF in Kuwait 1984

MD: We sort of have to watch all of this Kuwait stuff, just for the novelty. Thankfully q8wrestling reposted the Piper/Orton tag from Kuwait that's been offline for a few years and that we covered all the way back on October 26, 2018. Yes, 2018. We're a couple of weeks away from 5 straight years of doing this weekly, without missing a single week. More on that at the end of the month. 

Here, it's Putski and Rex, which is admittedly not as exciting, but did the Kuwait crowd ever love Putski. It made for some really beautiful minimalist stuff to start. A lock up and push off by Putski would pop the crowd huge. Putski slowly powering his arms down out of a full nelson as Rex's expression goes from confidence to terror to agony (as somehow Putski has was trapping and squeezing his hands under his armpits) made them elated, with the Putski chant starting after Rex made it to the ropes. The rest of the match goes how you'd think. Whenever Rex tries for a hold, Putski powers out. The most motion in the match is him scurrying out of the ring to regroup. He gets over with a cheapshot but never for long. If Rex gets a pin attempt, Putski pushes him off so that he goes flying (to a pop, of course). Putski comes back quickly to the crowd's delight and plants Rex in the end with the Hammer. It's simple and straightforward stuff, but with the body language of guys who really knew how to connect with a crowd, and when they have an appreciative crowd, it's an enjoyable way to spend ten minutes. 

ER: This is so great. This is why we write about this dumb shit. Ivan Putski getting a superstar reaction in Kuwait, every single man in attendance (there are only men allowed to attend WWF Kuwait tour wrestling, sooo...) reacting to Putski like he was Hogan, and every one of them fully bought into Putski's strength. This man was treated like a mythological character and Moondog Rex knew how to play into all of it perfectly. I loved all of this. I have zero clue what the Kuwaiti peoples' relationship with WWF or pro wrestling would have been in 1982. I don't know if they were getting WWF TV, I don't know what kind of pro wrestling they were consuming, I don't know their relationship with combat sports, I know nothing. But they had a special connection to Ivan Putski, and I thought it made this match incredible. 

As importantly, Randy Colley made this match incredible. The Moondogs' WWF run is one of the more neglected runs in WWF history, based on what's been written about it after the fact. The WWF DVDVR 80s set was the first one of those 80s sets that we did, and every subsequent version of those sets (Memphis, Mid-South, New Japan, WCCW, AWA, etc.) had a much more vast and comprehensive selection process for what was included as the true best of their respective territories. The WWF set was the only one that was not comprehensive. There was no Terry Funk, not enough Andre, not enough Valentine, etc. There were zero Moondogs matches and since those sets, every time I've seen Larry Latham and Randy Colley I thought they were both among the best workers on the roster of their specific era. This match is a great illustration of that. As Moondog Rex, Colley sells Putski's strength so realistically and so believably that he perfectly feeds into the Kuwaiti frenzy surrounding this short and absolutely JACKED Polish man. It goes beyond Rex getting thrown far across the ring on every lock-up, and goes all the way into Rex selling everything Putski did as if he was facing the strongest man in pro wrestling history. 

We got an incredible full nelson escape, where Putski slowly broke the hold while the crowd swelled, ending when Putski clamped Rex's arms down to his sides, trapping the poor panicking Moondog in a dick to ass position, Rex running in place because of his hurt arms pinned to Putski's side by his World's Strongest Arms, causing only more friction between his dick and Putski's ass. Every single man in Kuwait BELIEVES in Polish Power and so every single slow squeeze knucklelock gets a huge slow burn reaction until people are losing their minds when Putski is squeezing Rex's shoulder. Rex sells his shoulder like it got run over by a truck tire, and if this was broadcast across the country in any way, every child watching would fully buy into Putski as the strongest God, all due to Rex's impeccable selling of every single show of strength.  

When Rex is in control, he has to believably muscle around the World's Strongest Man, who is also the World's Most Inflexible Man. He throws great full arm extension punches with his good arm, incredible aim for such a long release point, knocking Putski down to a knee in the corner. Ivan Putski takes a snapmare even worse than Scott Putski, and until know I thought Scott Putski took a snapmare worse than any man I'd seen. Ivan Putski's body is so rigid taking a snapmare, that it looked like Rex accidentally knocked down an expensive vase at a museum and was trying to slow its landing. Rex has to do all the lifting on a back breaker, and just the act of maneuvering Putski into a neckbreaker looked like Rex had to move an extremely large, cumbersome rolled up rug all by himself, up stairs. Moondog Rex went to Kuwait and moved mountains. For the finish, he made Putski's punches look actually good, better than they really were, bouncing and recoiling off the ropes into them. He runs into the Polish Hammer and gets stopped dead by it, making it really look like a guy getting hit in the chest with a big hammer. As Matt said, we've been finding and writing about unseen matches for 5 years now, and 5 years in we're still getting surprised by everything that exists. Randy Colley went to Kuwait and helped a man become a local legend. That's a sentence we get to write now. 

Abdullah the Butcher/Giant Kimala II vs. Steve Williams/Terry Gordy AJPW RWTL 11/20/90

MD: You never knew that you wanted face-in-peril Abby having the ring cut off on him, with these amazing king-sized hope spots (neckbreaker drop, all time block and throat shot, etc.), and the fans chanting "Butch-ahh." That's what we get, followed up by hot tag Richard Morton Giant Kimala II hitting a World's Strongest Slam. When you look at how Baba dealt with the loss of Tenryu (and Yatsu and Kabuki and Takano and Fuyuki and), everyone thinks about the pillars, and yeah, they got there. Before that, however, we had the 1990 superheavyweight division around the Triple Crown and the Tag Titles. Doc, Gordy, and Hansen ruled the roost during the back half of 1990 and you got your share of larger than life matches. That was true with this RWTL too, where you had teams of Baba/Andre, Hansen/Spivey, and Jumbo/Taue on top of these two. 

The first few minutes of this were exactly that, with Gordy and Doc being super giving and stooging big for Abby. That meant Gordy falling all over the place for repeated throat shots or Doc selling his own head after headbutting Abby. It all lead to a huge Doc no-sell of one of Abby's headbutts to a huge Road Warrior Hawk style pop as he just stared him down. All great stuff. until Doc leaned into the illegal double-teaming and they were able to isolate Abby on the outside and clobber him. That's when the full on southern style face-in-peril stuff started. After a lot of clobbering, some woundwork, and a couple of unlikely hope spots, cutoffs, and a beautiful almost-tag, they veered towards the finishing stretch. Even though Kimala came in strong, Abby was hurt and MVC knew how to press the numbers advantage. While we didn't get the stampede, we did get a huge power slam and Doc and Gordy racking up a few more points on their way to topping the rankings. Post match? An awesome brawl as fans run around in a panic and I Love It Loud plays over the speakers. Wrestling perfection right there.

ER: We wrote about an incredible match from this same show, and Andre/Baba vs. JumboTaue tag that was one of the truly wondrous 1990s Andre performances. It's the biggest bumping 90s Andre match I have seen and we would have no idea had some man not gone to Nagoya that day and made sure he had enough camcorder battery. This match is not as great as the Andre/Baba match, but it's its own very important documentation of something else entirely, which is the absolute longest face in peril Abdullah performance I've ever seen. Now, before the match began I could have told you Kimala II would be the one getting pinned. That doesn't take an All Japan expert to figure out. But I would have never guessed how they actually got to that pinfall, because I don't think "Doc and Gordy getting 6 minutes of heat on Abby" would have made a lot of sense as an answer. 

It took a bit to get there, as Abby got to wreck Doc and Gordy with throat thrusts. Terry Gordy sold those hits to the throat as well as any selling I've seen, and Abby made them look really easy to sell (because they all looked violent). Every shot to the throat would send Gordy into a big hair whip recoil, and he's got that virgin never-been-dyed-in-his-life hair that just flows differently when whipped. Terry Gordy - somehow not yet 30 - has the hair of a 16 year old, and his full arm swing into Abdullah's neck is just a wicked clothesline. Doc staggering himself with his own headbutt was beautiful, and the no sell that followed was even better. I loved their face off, their stare down, revealing that Abdullah the Butcher and Dr. Death are the literal exact same height without a centimeter of difference, and when Doc decides to run off the ropes to collide, Abby throws a railroad spike of a thrust into his throat that bumps Doc like Psicosis. The heat on Abby comes when they drag him to the floor and start wailing on him, and Terry Gordy throws a dozen of the most perfectly aimed boot soles directly into Abby's bleeding forehead. I loved hearing the crowd chant for Kee-Ma-La to make the save, and I love the way they built this heat around Abby. 

Abby took a bump in such a weird Specifically Abdullah way that I am positive I've never seen anyone take it. It starts off super silly but then gets super cool, with Doc doing a low dropkick to roll Abby out of the ring. Well, the dropkick doesn't totally hit and Abby is positioned over halfway across the ring from where he's actually rolling out, so Doc kinda hits him and then Abby steamrolls his way all the way out to the floor. Silly. But when he gets to the floor, he does this trust fall bump backwards into the guardrail, his body rigid, and it ends with him falling into the rail like someone tipped a table on its end. Abby looked like Homer getting punched over the fire hydrant, just falling back diagonally into the railing. Abdullah's flash nearfall on his diving clothesline was excellent, like a real version of a Fast & Furious spot where Vin Diesel flies through the air to catch someone into a windshield. His Almost Tag out is legendary, perfectly timed and perfectly executed, with Doc baaaaarely grabbing Abby by the hooked boot, just in time to swing him around inches away from the reaching tag of Kimala. I wish we got more from Kimala's hot tag. It felt like he went down really easily, and it didn't need to go down that way. However, Doc's powerslam on Kimala was incredible. No cheapie in any way whatsoever, getting him up overhead really really high and actually controlling his weight on the way down! Who has the strength to control Kimala II's weight on a full rotation powerslam!?

Jerry Lawler vs. Simon Dean NEW 3/25/2006

MD:  Pre-match promos (sort of a necessity for a Lawler indy match) are here. I sort of wish there had been a throwaway Lawler vs Nova match in the late 90s. That would have been more conceptually interesting with Lawler having to constrain a guy who thought his path to the top was having a section on his website about all of the moves he created. By this point, Dean had already gone through the phase of deciding his path to the big time was by working on his body instead, followed by realizing that his limit was going to be as a stooging heel. Of course Lawler can work with a stooging heel and Dean wasn't afraid to stooge here, throwing his head back for punches, running out of the ring, slamming his hands on the apron, kicking the steps and then selling it, etc. In 2023, it'd probably be pretty refreshing. In 2006, it felt a little rote and by the books maybe. On second thought, even though Dean was committed to the act, it came off as a guy playing a character as opposed to something more natural and organic. They went through the right steps (wrestling as a balanced equation; Dean armdragging Lawler and slamming him leads to Lawler one upping him by doing the same, etc), but the immersion wasn't quite there. I'd love to know what the best Lawler stunner ever was, because it always ends up looking terrible, an amazing fact for a move almost entirely dependent on the guy taking it. The finish (a missed fistdrop but Dean walking right into the pile driver) worked for me, but the rest topped out at fun.

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WWF 305 Live: Moondog Rex! Andre! Earthquake! Braun! Booger!

Andre the Giant vs. Moondog Rex WWF 8/1/81 - VERY GOOD

ER: The match opening graphic says "Rex Moondog" and it made me laugh so hard that it made an incredible on paper match up even better. They would have given me a heart attack if the graphic had then said  "Andre Giant", and now I only want to think of these two as Rex Moondog and Andre Giant. And THEN Dick Graham and Kal Rudman just keep on calling him Rex Moondog for the duration of the (far too short) match and it's perfect. Sadly, this is yet another big man WWF match that goes under 2 minutes, and at this point especially seems to be something that plagues Moondog and Samoan singles matches. When allowed to stretch out I think Rex P. Moondog has had some great singles matches, but WWF seemed more intently focused on letting him get run over by bigger singles stars. 

It makes no sense to me, as he's someone who actually looked credible fighting back against Hogan and Andre, but I guess they only wanted him looking credible for 90-120 seconds. I like how he takes Andre's offense but I like the way he hits Andre even more. It's futile of course, and it's a shame that Andre treats him like he would treat any of the jobbers in a 3 on 1 handicap match. Rex has these great comical bumps, like his back bump after being thrown into the buckles, or a great moment where Andre deadlifts Rex off the mat by his waistband (with Rex later getting some shots in on Andre while holding HIS trunks). Andre pays him back with a cool standing splash. 1980s WWF never seemed to grasp the value of an 8 minute match. They were either having Tony Garea go out there working a 20 minute draw or they were having a Moondog lose in under 2 minutes. As always, what we get is fun, but even ONE more minute would have made this so much more worthwhile. 

Earthquake vs. Bastion Booger WWF Superstars 3/12/94 - FUN

ER: Not a ton to this one, sadly, other than the probable combined weight of these two. And yet, just seeing the bulging bellies on them is more than enough for me. We need more bulging bellies held in by shaping singlets, and more bulging bellies tucked deeply into hiked up trunks. Earthquake hits his big dropkick, but a lot of this was Booger hitting so-so clubbing forearm shots until Earthquake stops messing around. That moment comes after Booger hits an avalanche and then does his little dance - while Johnny Polo plays the theme to the Odd Couple over it, perfectly in time, for reasons I couldn't possibly know. And yes, I mean that Polo actually played the theme, he had it cued up and ready. It was not him singing it. Earthquake hits a powerslam followed by an excellent big man elbowdrop, before dropping his big ass  on him. A good enough example of the high floor a fat guy match has. 

Braun Strowman vs. Keith Lee WWE Raw 10/19/20 - FUN

ER: This was three cool minutes of a match that should have been at least nine. Strowman punches Lee in the stomach and headbutts him, then runs into him with an avalanche, clotheslines him to the floor, and gets a head of steam before shoulderblocking him into the apron. They add a cool wrinkle when Braun pulls a muscle in his ribs while trying to powerslam the massive Lee, and Lee immediately goes after the ribs. He punches Braun in the ribs and kidneys, hits a big splash, and we have what's shaping up to be a great big man war. 

The problem is, is that it ends right after it establishes itself. This felt like 3 cool minutes of a full main event. But instead, Braun lifts the back of his head into Lee's balls when Lee goes for a powerbomb, then Braun just kicks him to the mat for the win. In a vacuum this was all great, hard hitting big man stuff. But there's no reason to be tossing this match out there in the main event slot and then cutting the legs off it. This would play better if these were two mid-carders having it out an hour into Smackdown, but in a main event slot from two guys who have been occupying main event roles, they should really be aspiring to something higher than a cool Albert/Rhyno match. What we got was great, but it easily could have and should have been much more.  

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WWF 305 Live: Yokozuna! Crush! Hogan! Moondog Rex!!

Hulk Hogan vs. Moondog Rex WWF 8/29/84 - FUN

ER: This started out a little rough, with some sketchy striking. Hogan did these weird jabs where he threw with his left hand to the left side of Rex's face, but wasn't really throwing to connect with anything. Later, Rex went for a kneedrop and the camera angle showed a lot of light between that knee and Hogan's head (which, sure, probably best to not crush the money machine's eyeball with a kneedrop). But with Moondog bumping around for Hogan and then getting a couple big moves, this got good. Moondog is a nice heavy bumper, made Hogan's offense feel powerful. Hogan was aggressive and went after Moondog on the floor, and Moondog hit a nice backbreaker and an awesome powerslam. I dug his punches as Hogan made his comeback, and Hogan saved his best punches for his big comeback, which I liked. His finishing offense was much more interesting than boot/legdrop, as instead he hits a strong axe bomber before flying in with an excellent elbowdrop, then scraped his boot across Moondog's face! The legdrop was a good one, and Rex sold it strong, moving his body up so it really looked like he was getting neck damage from it.

Yokozuna vs. Crush WWF Raw 7/12/93 - EPIC

ER: This kicked a ton of ass. I've been watching a lot of 1993 WWF this past year, because I had fond nostalgia memories and have also been seeking the best WWF Lex Luger match. I journeyed out into 1993, seeking Luger, and I've come away loving babyface Crush. I have really been enjoying Kona Crush, and in hindsight I think Crush could have been a bigger star in 1993 than Luger if they only gave him a real shot. The fans really, REALLY wanted to get behind Crush, and there was no reason to keep the Doink feud going as long as it did. I'd really love to see an alternate timeline of Crush getting the push to Summerslam. This match was great, simple psychology, taped July 5th with a Manhattan Center crowd more than ready to will a big American boy to a title victory. Yokozuna bumped more in this match than any WWF match of his so far, with Crush getting an early jump on him and finishing off a run with a big boot, sending Yokozuna crashing out through the ropes to the floor like King Hippo. 

The fans are so behind Crush here, and it's really great, really entertaining to see a truly loved babyface go up against a truly hated heel. After getting knocked to the floor, Yoko comes back in with a total restart, standing his ground as champ, but Crush keeps taking the fight to him and hits a nice avalanche. I loved how Yokozuna didn't just try to use his size, but kept knocking Crush down with gross cross chops right to the throat. Whenever Yokozuna wanted a breather he went for the throat, also dropping Crush throat first over the top rope. Yokozuna throws great punches, too, and Crush is good at taking big bumps to the apron and floor to put over Yoko's striking power. They both make good use of missed offense, and the fans get a real thrill when Crush dodges what would have surely been a match ending avalanche. Crush's comeback is so GOOD, absolutely smashing Yokozuna with a clothesline to knock him down again, then flattening him with a shoulderblock dive off the top. He goes up again and takes a mean flipping bump to the apron and the floor after Fuji knocks him off, and from there it's just Yokozuna crushing American fans' dreams. He bodyslams Crush on the floor, hits a huge belly to belly back in the ring, drops the leg, then hits two banzai drops. After the bell he hits two more, Joey Maggs is running out to try to save Crush, it's total madness. All through the rest of Raw they talk about how long Crush might be on the shelf after Yokozuna made an example of him. This was a really fantastic segment to lead off an episode of Raw, total big man gem. 

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WWF 305 Live: SIR MO! DIESEL! MOONDOGS! BLACKJACK!

Blackjack Mulligan vs. Moondog Rex WWF 11/10/84 - FUN

ER: I like this kind of quick no nonsense mid 80s WWF brawl. They weren't going to draw blood but you know they'd throw a couple heavy hands and take a couple big thuds on bumps, then go home early. Moondog is throwing hands, which is exactly what should happen when you don the frayed denims of a Moondog. Blackjack really uses his size in an impressive overpowering way, without actually working as a Stan Hansen. He definitely never works as stiff, but his movements read big and that contributes to the visuals. I like how Moondog misses an elbow, and I like how he really starts throwing his stiffest punches when Blackjack is on the apron, making Blackjack fight to get back in the ring and really earn it. Blackjack's flying back elbow is a cool big guy finisher for the era, and I'd be into seeing a feud of these two.


Diesel vs. Sir Mo WWF Raw 8/6/95 - GREAT

ER: I was absurdly excited for this one, for multiple reasons. First, this is one of only three Mo singles matches we get during his ENTIRE three year WWF run. That's kind of incredible in retrospect. He had a match against Owen the year before, this match, and a match against Undertaker later in the year. That's weird! But I also love hierarchy booking and the booking of this match and segment was so easy that by the end of the 10 minutes I was hyped for Mabel/Diesel at Summerslam, Lawler/Michaels at next week's Raw, and potential future Mabel/Michaels and MOM vs. Michaels/Diesel matches. It's such an easy formula to have the second banana tag partner of the upcoming PPV title challenger, challenge the champ a couple weeks before the PPV. So you get Mo trying to derail and soften up Diesel before the PPV, Mabel gets to come out, Michaels gets to come out to balance things, Lawler yells at Michaels, just an uncluttered way to focus on several programs and matches at once. Today it feels like they can't even focus on the one pushed program, let alone set up matches for future weeks. Is it because they no longer trust people have the attention span to focus on more than one program? I don't know, but I loved this. Mo is such a great lower totem pole guy who will still talk trash. The opening show quickie head to head promo of his was so funny, and he made a line like Big Daddy Fool actually work where others would have crashed and burned.

The match was simple, part of a larger and more important segment, a match that would stand on its own but was far more interesting with all of the moving pieces. Early on Mo ducked through the ropes to back Diesel up, but then smacked him right in the eye the second the ref wasn't looking. Diesel laced into him with nice back elbows and even better kneelifts, Mo attacked with downward strike elbows and clubbing shots to the back. The camera catches a great angle of Mabel lurking down the aisle in the background, and his presence-as-distraction keeps giving Mo little advantages. Diesel takes a nice big tumbling bump over the top to the floor, and when Mabel creeps over that's when Michaels comes out to even things out. But that allows Mo to bum rush Diesel in the ringpost. It's all so easy but it's also possible that it comes off easy due to each guy knowing exactly when to hit their notes. Mo drops nice elbows, but misses a nasty elbow off the top, really crashing right onto his hip and elbow point. Everyone knew that Mo was eating that Jackknife eventually, and of course he does. Mo really looked like he was the one exclusively doing the lifting, my dude looking like he had to do a full midair sit-up just to not get dropped on his head. The second Mo is pinned Mabel is already in the ring hitting a lariat and dropping the big leg on Diesel, we get the awesome breakdown where Michaels gets caught by Mabel on a pescado and then crushed into the ringpost, Diesel comes off the apron with an axe handle, Lawler mocks Michaels, it all made for an awesome, super effective segment.


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All Time MOTY List Head to Head: Hansen v. Andre V. Sailor White v. Otto Wanz

Sailor White v. Otto Wanz CWA 11/7/81

PAS: My kind of scrap. Two big fat mean looking dudes, throwing overhand forearm smashes with bad intentions. The thuds in the this match were something else, there were some slow parts as one might expect in a battle of porkers, but when it turned up it turned up. White kept attacking Wanz during the breaks and he looked like an out of control hobo who was about to be tazed by the police. Finish was a grim bit of violence, White takes a shoulder post bump comes up bleeding and Wanz just brutalizes him with running knees until White is lying on the canvas unconscious and covered in blood, such a vicious way for a local babyface to win a match. Great stuff

ER: This made me really want to find some Moondogs gems in 1980/81 WWF (seriously people, what WWF Moondogs do I need to watch?) as White was really great here bumping all around for Wanz. It's shocking to me that the median age of these two men in this match is the same as my own current age. They look like a couple of old fat guys getting into a heated argument at what has since been remembered as "The Worst Church 4th of July Picnic Ever". Which means that either I am now old, and/or these two look much older than their years. Nevermind the reminder of my own mortality, this was wonderful. It's my exact kind of match: Two big galoots throwing blows and splatting into each other. Icing on the cake is that the crowd is going nuts the whole time and responding to these two tubs like real heroes. The match moved in fits and spurts, with both crashing into each other and and clubbing wildly, then recovering while apart; it felt like a battle over territory in Grizzly Man. I loved the dueling bearhug spot, with both big dudes impressively hoisting the other up. But I went nuts for White bumping for Wanz, bumping on his hip in ring, getting tossed over the top, and that brutal post bump at the end. That finishing was a real shock and a tremendous exclamation point to the match.


Andre v. Hansen review


Verdict:

PAS: I love a violent fatty battle as much as anyone, but Andre v. Hansen is an all timer and will be very difficult to beat. Still go watch the CWA match, it's the goods.

ER: This was two big wild beasts having a mean clash, and that's always going to rank high with me. This feels like a match I would be the high vote for on the 80s project. But Andre/Hansen is the ultimate Clash of Titans. That's going to be near impossible to dethrone. But that shouldn't take away anything from worthy challengers.

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WWE 24/7 Thoughts MAPLE LEAF GARDENS 10/84

Maple Leaf Wrestling 10/22/84

Nick DeCarlo v. Rene Goulet

PAS: Wow was this bad. I have really liked the little Goulet I have seen, but this was a stinker. DeCarlo has the worst shoulder block I have ever seen and continues to go back to it again and again. I did like Goulet’s incubatory Shining Wizard as he attempted a headscissors and kneed him in the head.

TKG: The one time he actually hit the headscissor take down it was a nice one. Goulet has a fingerless weight lifting glove hidden under the sequined glove he wears to the ring. Those were unbelievably bad shoulder blocks. I talk a lot about WWF style guys controlling their own bumps, and the bumps which had nothing to do with the moves applied in 84 make Ed Leslie bumps look great. Pretty unwatchable.

Moondog Rex v. David Bruno Sammartino

PAS: This was shockingly not bad. Sammartino had a bad reputation, but he looked pretty good here. He press slammed the 300 pound Rex, had really nice punches, and took a couple of biggish bunps. One impressive power spot and some bumps really should have been enough to have a big career in 80’s WWF. There were plenty of matches on the 80’s WWF set not as good as this.

TKG: I liked this a bunch. Rex bumps around nicely in beginning. Watching the 80s set I really got into Bruno’s kicks but wasn’t really impressed with his punches. His son’s jabs are better. The father may have had better bodyshots. Moondog works a bodypart, Sammartino bumps and is fun doing firey babyface on his knee demanding that the heel come at him some more stuff. Rex has some neat second rope moves. Well paced, bunch of cool stuff.

Dr. D David Shultz v. Rick “Quick Draw” McGraw

PAS: Exciting match on paper, but it was kind of a stinker. Shultz did some stalling, and then lots of holding down and pin attempts with cheating. McGraw had nice height on his dropkicks, but this was a nothing match.

TKG: So still in the afterglow of David Sammartino and was stoked to see these two matched up..” hmm maybe 84 was all about the roided juniors in WWE”, but no. lots of neat circling to heat up a match but match was a nothing.

S.D. Jones v. Greg Valentine

PAS: This was your big match S.D. Jones as this is for the Intercontinental Title. Jones does your basic 80’s Black Babyface offense, but he does have nice headbutts, and some headbutt variations, which is really all you can ask for your 80’s black babyface. Valentine bumps around a bit and then wins the match with a beautiful back suplex. Perfectly fine wrestling.

TKG: I don’t know you can hope for some high verticle leap spots and some shucking dancing. The announcers keep on talking about how much SD Jones likes to dance for the public. But he really doesn’t do much dancing…a shoulder lean and a Harlem shake but no fancy steps. That suplex at the end was pretty great. Match was perfectly fine.

Nikolai Volkoff v. Rocky Johnson

PAS: Rocky Johnson does a little more dancing then Jones, although his Jheri curl would really have made a face headbutt offense difficult. Activator in the eyes feels really heelish to me. This wasn’t very good.

TKG: Johnson has a nice vertical leap, some smoove dancing and nice footwork but this stunk. This started as awkward sloppy and then they slowed it down and it stayed ugly. Johnson has one impressive leaping roll up and some nice handspeed. Volkoff is about as bad as I remember him being and this went way too long.

Goldie Rogers/Bobby Bass vs. British Bulldogs

PAS: Who in the fuck is Bobby Bass? He is a guy I have never seen before and is just a total superstar. He looks like a less muscular Phil Hickerson and is a total bump freakHe has a really fun way of bumping where he takes everything kind of on his forehead. He takes a Flair flop as a dangerous headrop. He also does a missed top rope headbutt which was totally insane. Bulldogs are a fun spot team, kind of 80’s Briscoes. Dynamite takes a completely superfluous bump where he attempts to piledrive Rogers on the ramp and takes a back bump on the ramp, which in a meaningless match like this shows why he is in a wheelchair.

TKG: I’m guessing Bass has to be in a wheelchair too. Bass and Rogers are fun as bumping comedy jobbers with lots of comedy bumps and miscommunication spots. Crowd really gets into all the stuff, And just when you’re beginning to really dig them as comedy jobbers suddenly they get a fun run of offense. Rogers isn’t much on offense but fucking Bass is just on fire with his offense. His missed top rope headrop is insane, I mean Davey boy Smith picks him up for an irish whip and you don’t believe that Bass can get up. Basss then takes another head bump followed by eating a piledriver. BOBBY BASS~!!

Kimala v. Andre The Giant

PAS: This is a steel cage match, and starts pretty fun. Kimala has some nice chops and Andre bleeds a fair amount, but this goes too long. We do get our Andre cage match high spot as he hits a tope rope butt smash. It goes 13 minutes and would have been really good at 8 minutes

TKG: Odd escape the cage match as ref essentially holds door closed and the announcers put over the sharpness of the top of the fence. There really are no WWF cage near escapes as near falls. Instead you kind of have to have opponent beat before ref will open door. Kind of hurts the match as I was unclear what was going on.

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