Found Footage Friday: OMNI 2/5/84~!

GCW Omni 2/5/84

Jesse Barr vs. Johnny Rich 

MD: Usually these shows have one long match early, either a draw in the first or second match. This went long with the first two and it was done purposefully. The second match went to a draw, but the crowd was primed by the first ending in a pinfall when it felt like they were working towards a draw (at least that's what it felt like to me). We can't know for certain what a 1984 crowd thought, but given it was booked this way, the idea was almost certainly to introduce the idea that a match can end at any point to keep the interest strong for a second match worked long in Thornton vs Armstrong. As much as the crowd liked Rich, and they really liked Rich on this night, Armstrong was the one going for Thornton's Jr. Heavyweight title, and because they wanted to keep Brad strong, that's the one that had to go to a draw. Did it work? I think, as best as we can tell from crowd noise, it did.

The matches were fairly similar. Long holds worked in and out of. Barr vs Rich had more shtick and I probably liked it more accordingly. They did a great bit early on where Rich worked out of a headlock, Barr did a dropdown, and Sawyer elbow dropped him, only to invert the sequence a minute later but have Barr miss the elbow drop. They did another bit where Barr tried to press Rich's hands down in a double knucklelock so he could step on them only for Rich to move his hands and punch him. Or they'd escalate to rope running and Rich would get one on Barr and then when Barr tried it a few minutes later, Rich would drop to his knees and punch him instead. Then a couple of minutes later, they'd have Barr stop short and try a falling punch only for Sawyer to move. Crowd-pleasing stuff. Barr finally had enough and roughed Rich up a bit, but Brett came back big and Barr stooged all over the place for him. Finish had Barr try to toss Rich off the top but get rolled up. 

ER: When I fired up a new Omni show I was not especially seeking out a Young Boys style opener where Jesse Barr works side headlocks while Rich gets kickier the longer he's in them, building to shoulderblocks and knucklelocks. New Japan Young Boys have much better timing on rope running spots but Rich and Barr's timing gets better the longer they do the shtick and it starts to get actively good by the time they're pushing to the finishing stretch. Our Donald Sutherland coffee drinking swinger who is fast becoming the Straw Hat Guy of the Omni is not impressed, chewing his gum the whole time, but it gets good when Barr works the knucklelock into a hand stomp, but Rich is a beat ahead of him and punches him from his knees. Rich has a lot of good working punching from his knees, and things get even better when they work a great fistdrop sequence into it, where Rich lands a nice one after stopping short, and when Barr tries the same thing he punches mat. Barr draws real heat when the 10 minute mark is announced, with only 5 minutes remaining, and he starts picking Rich up at 2 counts, smiling to the crowd like he doesn't give a damn if they go to a draw. A heel not actually interested in winning is hilarious and the crowd rejects his indifference. I love the trick of announcing the 5 minutes remaining, announcing each remaining minute, setting things up for a clear time limit draw, before the babyface escapes with a quick roll through win. I started this too dog tired to turn it off, and wound up completely into what they were doing. 

Les Thornton vs. Brad Armstrong

Thornton vs. Armstrong had much more of Thornton leaning on Brad, especially with a headscissors. Brad would find his way out with headstands and all sorts of other techniques but Thornton would get him right back into it. Eventually, after beating on Brad in the corner a bit with European Uppercuts, Thornton ended up into a hammerlock and they switched to having Brad control that way for the next part of the match. Thornton got him out and started playing king of the mountain, and following up with a headlock as Brad got back in. Brad was able to turn it around and get him out, getting some revenge on the floor. Then as the time was ticking down they wrestled fairly even, both going for opportunities where they could get it and fighting towards the draw. Thornton vs. Brad was harder hitting with meaner holds and maybe tighter work, and still had the crowd going, but I had more fun with the shtick in Rich vs. Barr.

ER: I'm so tired of Good Hand Brad. It's 15+ years of documentation of a guy who refused to take anything to the next level. Act like it means something to you. It has to mean more than how well you can execute a hammerlock, right Brad? Does it ever interest you to take a ring posting in a cool, memorable way, instead of "the right way"? I was born into pro wrestling. My daddy is a legend, my brothers all wrestle. I want to be a better version of Tony Garea. That's my pro wrestling dream. Les Thornton throws a ringpost bump into the aftereffect of an atomic drop, so even among great physique guys who couldn't break out of the undercard, Brad wasn't front of the line. Thornton's butterfly and back suplexes looked like they were trying to actually get the match to a finish as time expired - nice aggression after taking nothing but scenic routes - and I wish they had committed to getting Thornton that inside cradle win at 19:30. 

Ron Garvin vs. King Kong Bundy

MD: Not a ton to say here. We come in JIP. and maybe lose the first ten minutes or so of it actually. We come in with Bundy leaning on Garvin but they build towards these great, great Garvin flurries, first in the center of the ring and then in the corner. Bundy's able to push Garvin away but he keeps coming at him. Just as Bundy really has him in the corner, Ellering comes out and Bundy chases him to the back so Garvin wins it. I assume this was mid-turn for Bundy and Garvin was just sort of there as a babyface to fight along the way. The good stuff here was good but we didn't get quite enough of it.

ER: I was hoping for a big slug out as the only remaining footage, but we get instead a fun build to Garvin throwing punches, working his way closer to Krang with eye pokes and foot stomps and frustrated the largest man in town, before triumphantly teeing off on him. Bundy takes punches like he's being swarmed with bees, and what's even better is he gets his hands on Garvin instantly and beats the shit out of him. Paul Ellering is contractually obligated to appear in 75% of the matches so Bundy just chases him off after beating Garvin's ass. We deserve to see this as a real match. 

Jake Roberts vs. Jerry Brisco

MD: As always, 83-84 Jake is the Jake we were promised: a slinking, long-limbed psychological master. This doesn't go nearly long enough. Brisco outwrestles Jake early causing Jake to slither around the ring trying to escape. Jake uses his reach advantage to cut him off and control. Brisco starts outwrestling him again on the comeback. Jake takes a great corner bump as he runs in and gets tripped. As he's going for the figure-four, Ellering gets on the apron. Jake then gets the ref between them so he can hit a cheapshot and hit the DDT. It was stylistically different than the rest of the card but I would have liked a bit more. What we did get here was very good.

ER: I don't even need to write much about it, I just love the way Jake Roberts moves. This 1984 Omni has given us the slinkiest dirtbag Jake Roberts. He looks and moves like a giant spider version of my cool Little League coach Tom Menghini, who coached us to a title in 1991, smoked, and often wore no shirt. This is six minutes of Jake movement from what might have been his best year of moving. Jake moves so compellingly that Gerald Brisco may as well have been Les Thornton or Brad Armstrong. He could have drawn believable stories with near upsets with any of those men. His powers were larger than life. His is one of our great necessary wrestler looks, a nightmare drunk fan sitting in the cheap upper deck Candlestick seats. His sprawling upside down out of nowhere corner bump isn't enough to rouse a single emotion from our emotional black hole Ordinary People Omni front row regulars, but the cheap seats thunder. I love how Jake sells his annoyance at Brisco's tenaciousness with his entire body. Jake could have been John Tatum if he didn't look so dangerous and so cool. The dismissive way he shoves the ref into Brisco, kicking Brisco in the balls as he does it, is done with the precision of a prison hitman. We've seen a career of Jake giving long limbed perfect DDTs, and we may have just found the purest one. This is how it looks, how it moves. 

Mr. R (Tommy Rich) vs. the Spoiler

MD: Chaos from the get go. More often than not, when we get a new Spoiler match, it doesn't disappoint. He was well into his 40s here but he still moved incredibly well for his size. Very fluid and active. They brawled to start including, Spoiler tossing in the little wooden ring steps and then Rich threatening him while he was on the top. Spoiler was incessant, using the claw, pulling at the mask, teeter tottering Rich in the ropes. When Rich would come back, Spoiler would go high and come down upon him, including just casually walking up the ropes in the middle of the ring to hammer down. He took a huge bump in the corner as Rich got out of the way allowing Rich to come back and work the mask himself. That would happen a few times honestly. Spoiler must have taken three bumps in the corner. This had a crazy feel as they fought around ringside, with Spoiler going for the bell only for the ref to stop him. Towards the end Ellering ran in and Rich was about to tear him apart until Spoiler nailed him with a chair. Babyfaces made the save. Just a great high energy brawl with perfect chemistry. 

ER: We are so over the moon for The Spoiler. Where were we, as a blog, before we wrote about Spoiler matches? He's such an Our Guy kind of guy, a real weirdo, who wrestled as a man inspired by nobody. Tommy Rich is also Our Guy but this isn't a Mr. R match, this is a Spoiler match. Every second of this is a Spoiler match. Even when he's doing something you've seen before, he's doing it in a way that is truly his own. Jardine's rope work is an incredible trick. Nobody else was walking on the ropes like that. Why is such a large man climbing and walking around on the ropes like that, and how does he make it look so easy. He'll use the ropes like he's cornered in a cage, and exploiting a loophole by climbing the cage and still attacking from the top of the cage, as if he's thinking of the ring as a bowl shape and the top rope around the ring as the top of the bowl. But while his rope walking is a cool trick - leading Tommy around by the head as he takes way bigger strides than you'd think possible - I love it even more when he is standing still up there. There's a moment where he knocks Rich to the floor and quickly scales the turnbuckles, then just stands there on the top, lording over Rich on the floor, looking like he was primed to plancha to his death, but just keeps standing. The visual is so odd, he's facing away from the ring but leaning his weight back towards it, defying physics with no respect before leaping off with an elbow. 

He cheats in fun ways that must have been a joy to see live. I loved him throwing the wooden ring steps into the ring before the match even starts, felt like something Terry Funk would do on a northeast indy show in the 90s, just to get the crowd buzzing while he stalks the ringside. My favorite bit was also before the bell, when he pretended to adjust a weapon in his tights just to piss off one small corner of the arena, a small magic trick only meant to be seen by some. His bumping was so dangerous for an old man (one year younger than I am). The way he got hung up by the knee missing a corner charge was something that Chris Hamrick stole and used with a much smaller frame, but I gotta know...is Don Jardine our first flying ringpost bumper? The Great Ringpost Bump has been a thing for ages with several ways to do it, but is Jardine the first guy to fly through the turnbuckles and nail the ringpost? I've seen him do it earlier than here, but it wouldn't surprise me if Spoiler was the one to invent the Cassandro/Super Dragon wrap around ringpost bump. The man had a gift for taking something you thought you'd seen and presenting it in a whole new light. This is a 1984 Omni show so naturally Paul Ellering was required for the finish, but that doesn't take away from this gem of a performance. 

Road Warriors vs. Sweet Brown Sugar/Pez Whatley

MD: Fun first few minutes here as the Roadies stooged and bumped all over the place in a way that would have seemed ridiculous two years later. I enjoy seeing them early on because they feel so different but this was obviously the genesis of what would make them into what they were. Once the extended heat started, the match sort of slowed to a crawl. We've seen this crowd go up huge for Pez but it wasn't happening on this night and they weren't really going up for Young either. It wasn't the most compelling heat in the history of the world but usually that didn't matter so much. Not sure what was going on. Maybe they were just ready to get on to the next program. Sugar and Pez had gotten close with a double headbutt but Hawk broke up the pin and the ref had to toss the match out as it devolved into chaos. But the crowd got to go home happy as Sawyer and Bundy came in to clear house post-match. 

ER: This was worked completely differently than I was expecting and was so much fun in the way it defied expectations, until it just became very boring and lost all energy. This did not go the way you expected it to go on paper, in three different ways: You wouldn't expect Pez and Sugar to control for as long as they did, you wouldn't expect the Road Warriors to be so boring when they went in control, and you wouldn't expect Pez or Sugar to be so boring working from underneath. What an odd match. It's weird (but very fun!) when Pez is in control and Hawk is bumping around for him, and then it's as if everyone forgets how to work a crowd. Suddenly there is no underneath fire from Pez or Sugar, and there is no energy from Hawk or Animal. Some of the loud reactions for Pez in this Omni footage have been revelatory, but here it's like everyone forgot who he was. However, for several minutes, we got to see Pez Whatley smothering Hawk and not let him get any offense in, and that's hilarious. Hawk looks as intimidating as ever, and he just can't get anything going against Pistol Pez...until he does, and opts to do nothing. Such is life. This is the ONE match on this card where Don't Look Now Donald Sutherland fan in. a sad Ordinary People marriage had the correct, bored reaction. 

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FOUND FOOTAGE FRIDAY: OMNI 2/26/84

 

Jesse Barr vs. Pez Whatley

ER: A match made completely worthwhile by the finish. Up until the finishing stretch I was prepared to write "Yep this sure is some undercard wrestling. Well Barr did work his chin lock fairly effectively and I appreciate that" and be done with it. But then we go on an excellent one minute run to finish on a perfect high note: Barr throws Whatley through the ropes to the floor, fast, and the cameras pan to Whatley and what appears to be a ringside security guard facing away from the ring while eating popcorn and literally reading a fucking magazine. When Whatley tries to get back in the ring he's greeted by Barr's legitimately great kneelift - the best piece of offense all match - and I love how Whatley's reaction is to get obliterated by the kneelift and desperately try to roll back to the floor before being dragged back in. All of that is made worth it by Barr taking one of the greatest banana peel bumps I've seen when Whatley sweeps his leg. Barr made it look like he had no idea the football was being pulled. 

MD: Nice way to get acclimated to 1984 here. The ref, especially does a great job in both checking Barr before the match (showing Barr that if he doesn't agree, then he'll declare Pez the winner) and then catching the hairpull on the top wristlock cutoffs the second or third time Barr does it. Barr was maybe 25 here and you had to wonder what his ceiling might have been at this point. He looked good, high energy especially on a kneelift catching Pez on the way in and then bumping big for Pez's finishing stuff, and Pez, of course, knew exactly what he was doing and played to the crowd well between it. Ok opening match but I'm glad they didn't decide it needed to be a time limit draw. 

TKG: Fuck all that, this ruled and was ridiculously hot for an opener. Pez Whatley backdrop driver may be the most impressive suplex on a show with great throws. Just holds Barr up in impressive lift before perfectly dropping him. Whatley just looks like a hoss throughout this dominating on mat. Why wasn’t Whatley in the Varsity Club? Why didn’t he get a Triple Crown title challenge. You watch that suplex and shocking that it wasn’t finisher. Barr actually hits a desperation knee to get straight back on offense. And really the high knee lift is Barr’s only move. Was Barr doing a loaded knee pad gimmick? Barr refuses to let ref Scrappy McGowan check his kneepads before the match until Scrappy threatens him with DQ, all of his offense and comebacks and signature bump built around knee lift. Hits a knee lift for control and then slaps on a chinlock. Whatley wins with this high neck yolk move (instead of a bulldog from behind he yolks opponent down from the front), Whatley goes for it several times and never quite gets it till the win. First time, I thought it was a crossbody that he got too much height with, second time I thought it was a Mil style in ring tope and when he finally hits it clean, clear that is what he was going for and match is over. The moves based match structure had a real first round of a early 2000’s Super Eight feel to it, and you could totally see Ketner booking a Billy Fives, Scoot Andrews, Barr, Pez 4 way dance for the next month.

The Spoiler vs. Johnny Rich

ER: Spoiler standing on the top rope looks like a magic trick. It looks like an illusion. He's standing so still, like he's not even standing on anything at all. Don Jardine is a man the same age as me and twice my size, yet he stands effortlessly on the ropes with the grace of El Hijo del Santo. Watch him. Watch his entire body. At one point he appears to be only standing on one leg, right leg on one set of ropes, left leg on another, until one of the legs lifts...and the rest of his body doesn't move. His entire body is still, no part of him looks like he is countering weight to maintain balance. He looks like he is standing on solid ground. He looks incredible. You've never seen anyone walk the ropes like Spoiler. Fenix, Komander, Elix Skipper, any name, none are comparable to what Spoiler does. 

I could go on and on about the unreality of his rope work - if this wasn't a full card and only this match, I would write several paragraphs on him standing on the ropes - but maybe the greatest thing about it is how he uses his rope work for heel heat. I don't think there has ever been a heel who has used "look how well I balance on the top rope" as the basis for his heel heat, but there is Spoiler on the top rope, striking and holding a pose like a large buccaneer, showing off his balance to a bunch of husbands and wives out on a Sunday. The Spoiler draws heat from standing still on a very high point, and the crowd starts coming alive for Rich's comeback because of it. Johnny Rich does this thing where his punches keep looking better the deeper into the match we go, and it makes the crowd louder and more responsive. And then my man hits the blade for Spoiler's claw, and we get this incredible, violent, wrenched in claw that Spoiler made look like he was breaking Rich's entire upper torso. The shot of Rich, still standing, body being contorted while held in the claw, blood covering his face quick, made me go from "Man Spoiler matches always deliver" to "oh wow they did something special in just 6 minutes". 

MD: Great look at the Spoiler and I'm glad people will see him that are unaware. Hot start to this as he clubbers right away in the corner only for Rich to fire back. But then the size advantage takes over as he just hefts him up and then tosses him into the corner. The rope walk elbow drop is just super striking because he does it with ease and without hesitation and he followed it up by draping Rich in the ropes and kicking the ropes and they made it look great and painful. Someone needs to steal that. 

Rich eventually rolls in (and to the other side of the ring so he can recover) and fires back with jabs, but pressing Spoiler into the corner is no good. He'll just grab your head and use it to steady himself as he walks the ropes. From there, he started utilizing the claw, getting Rich out of the ring with it and then immediately catching him on the way back in, leaving him a bloody mess. I'm happy people will get introduced to Spoiler this way (And Rich was perfectly fine in his role with fiery but futile comebacks).

TKG: The Spoiler putting Rich in a cat’s cradle is the greatest yo-yo trick ever done with a wrestling ring..

Ted Dibiase vs. Mr. R

ER: This was not designed to be a great match, but instead was worked like the first six minutes of a bigger match, all basic Mr. R side headlocks floated over into Dibiase pin attempts and then back again. I had never seen any of the Mr. R angle and my favorite part of this was Rich avoiding Jesse Barr and Spoiler's attacks as he rolled out of the ring and jumped the rail. The fans were into this and all they did was headlock shoulderblock stuff, showed how over the full angle was. 

MD: We had maybe 25 seconds of this previously. I imagine those might have been the 25 seconds we needed but we have so little actual Mr. R footage, this is still interesting. They worked the first five minutes of a very conventional match with the usual chain wrestling. Dibiase was very into it and this was fine, but it's interesting just how normal and conventional it was. After about five minutes, Dibiase calls his cronies in and the heels all try to get Mr. R's mask, but he darts out of the ring like a trickster and hops the rail and wins by DQ. The energy at the end with the angle bit was very good but this was really all just a tease.

TKG: There was some cool fighting for top wristlock stuff here but this reminded me of a lot of the Mid South Dibiase technical fussbudgeting with no direction killing time before the loaded glove finish. I kind of need to feel like you are stealing a win for me to get mad at a DQ.

Les Thornton vs. Tommy Rogers

ER: My God Les Thornton is a little tank. Tommy Rogers had a real credible side headlock and he really cranked it in a few times, especially on one spot where Thornton tried to push off, but just when I thought I knew what snug was, Thornton made me say "whoa" aloud (in the bathroom at work where I was watching this) at how violent his reversal to headscissors was. Thornton pulled off the headscissor with such speed and force, in a way I haven't seen. Rogers couldn't have stopped this if he wanted to. Made me want to see a Thornton/Finlay match. Every headscissor looked great and Rogers sold his frustration in them so well. His hair pulls are done with such a quick snap that it made me smile when Rogers finally broke a headscissors with a knee straight to the head. Rogers has a clean sunset flip that looks like an actual pin, and Thornton really thunderclaps his ears with his legs to break. Love the bounce Rogers got on Thornton's butterfly suplex and how both men made every headlock exchange look like actual struggle and applied pressure. The finish had a couple things that didn't quite work. Thornton has a way of taking Rogers dropkicks that makes Tommy look like a chump, and Rogers tried a back suplex that saw him dropping Thornton's full weight onto himself. Thornton's pin reversal win looked like it didn't even have half the leverage of any of the headlock/headscissor exchanges. Basically I loved the first 13 a lot more than the last 2.   

MD: I thought this was going to be wrestled straight but as it went on Thorton leaned heel. There was a lot of ref interaction early. I liked him the first match but he got a little too involved here turning holds over, kicking the arms off when they were holding the ropes, etc. They did some really neat things with headscissors right after pins including a transition into a takeover from Rogers i'm not sure I'd ever seen.

The match opens up midway as Thorton starts to introduce heel tactics. It leads to a really big extended comeback by Rogers where Thorton keeps trying to cut him off but can't. That played more to Rogers' strengths so it was better than if this was just wrestled clean. The fans were pretty into it by the end and when Thornton holds onto the tights to win, they are very much not happy with him.

TKG: Meltzer wrote about Malenko v Benoit from Road Wild that it would be a great match with a different audience and I was like “fuck that, they would have worked it differently for different crowd”,,,the best part of that match is how hostile the work was making the crowd. I was joking with Phil the other day about a Les Thorton v Scott Mcghee match which the WWF had booked to kill heat and send crowd to concessions. I assume Vince Sr was getting percentage of concessions and built into his card formula were these log technical draws that were intended to get a hostile crowd response and send people to concession stands and my memory of Thorton v Mcghee was that crowd started “boring” chants from moment they came to ring but actually never left their seats for concessions, transfixed; just couldn’t take eyes of one guy has a headlock which other guy counters with a leg scissors and just got more and more hostile about the idea that it was holding their attention. Match had a bunch of same elements while that one was built around egging on hostility while this is built around the pops for the face and encouraging the cheers. We don’t build matches to kill crowds anymore and kind of miss it as an art….but this was really cool too

Wahoo McDaniel vs. Nikolai Volkoff

MD: Basically a slugfest. Volkoff had big over the top punches. Wahoo had straight shots and chops. Volkoff did do this one shot to the face that I thought was amazing and Wahoo, as he was firing back, did a chop where he just ran through Volkoff in a way that I hadn't seen him do too many times before. Volkoff did get one bearhug in there but it was functional and led to a wild clap escape by Wahoo. He hit both of his backbreaker variations (including the press slam one). Things got wild on the floor with Wahoo dodging a chairshot. This was one of those matches where it was just interesting to see how they made the noise for their strikes. Not stomps so much as recoil jumps, things like that. Eventually the ref, who had been all over the show as noted, tried to get in the way of a Wahoo choke and both guys ultimately tossed him for the no contest. Wahoo tried a bunch of elbowdrops to crush Volkoff but he kept on rolling to safety.

TKG: Crap, was Nikolai Volkoff always this bad? It is Wahoo, you can hit him. He won’t cry. Volkoff’s lift before backbreaker is always impressive but c’mon. Wahoo keeps on leaning into strikes and Volkoff pulls them even more. Aways a joy to see Wahoo tee off on someone but Volkoff is a shitty guy for him to be stuck against.

ER: Damn, was Nikolai Volkoff always this good? Do I like Nikolai Volkoff now? Wahoo is Wahoo and the chops (more than one to the face!) are great and his comeback had the heaviest shots of the match, but has Volkoff been good this whole time and I just haven't sought out any of it? Is the Don Muraco Eastern Championship Wrestling Title match good? Is the '94 WWF run good? Volkoff was a big weird guy here and I loved the way he kept awkwardly kicking at Wahoo's forehead like he was Bad Taue. Imagine how great Volkoff could have been had he just been Bad Taue? He throws his kicks up with the same awkwardness of Taue, but with normal body proportions so his legs aren't as long. He does two great backbreakers to Wahoo. Well, one good back backbreaker and one incredible backbreaker. Volkoff is one of our few wrestlers to make gear a part of his backbreaker. It must be so humiliating to not only have your back broken, but to have your singlet or trunks stretched and wedged and rearranged during the lift. Volkoff kept lifting higher and Wahoo's singlet kept stretching further, an insult I think worse than mussing someone's hair. He bumped bigger than I expected when Wahoo started firing back, getting upended by a running chop and pinballing all the way across the ring for Wahoo's excellent shoulder shrug to the jaw. 

Jake Roberts vs. Ron Garvin

MD: Just an exceptional match. With these GCW Omnis, we see the Jake Roberts that we were always promised, the master of psychology, of bringing the crowds up and down and using every dirty trick. He was good later on but was too much a babyface and without the room to breathe like he had here. His ribs were taped coming in so we had his reach and leverage and dirty tricks and Ellering at ringside against the promise that at some point in the match, Garvin would get free and use the hands of stone to punch those ribs. 

They built it and built it and built it, Roberts leaning hard on the ref disallowing punches and utilizing every hairpull, tights pull, piece of rope to choke, distraction from Ellering, everything he can manage. At one point he goads Garvin into the corner (with Garvin having the advantage) only for Ellering to pull the leg out. So much of the match is just a seated armbar, but they work it so well, with hope spots like Garvin pulling Roberts' shirt up to expose the taped ribs, just that. It's so good. He gets him once but Roberts' escapes, and then when he finally gets him and ties him up in the ropes, laying in shot after shot, the place comes unglued. The ref takes a great bump and while Garvin's able to stop Ellering from using the chair, Jake blindsides him and DDTs him on the chair. When the ref comes too he hits a couple of insult to injury elbow drops for the pin, keeping the program going and getting huge heat. Just a brilliant match, maybe even a perfect one for what they were trying to accomplish.

TKG: I think of Garvin as a guy who is relentless on offense, and less of as a guy who is really great at selling but he is…he isn’t bumping for strikes but somehow by standing tall and selling the toughness of not going down, he makes the strikes look far more legit. Also I am so used to TOUGH manager Paul Ellering, that exasperated throwing hands in the air freaking out Ellering was super fun.

ER: 1984 t-shirt Jake is such an amazing era of Jake Roberts. He never looked more like the most dangerous Molly Hatchet roadie. The load out guy who everyone fears but everyone knows is the guy who can get you crank...and beyond. He did not look like a wrestler or move like a wrestler and it's what made him one of the most compelling wrestlers. He did not throw his uppercut like a wrestler. When he throws five downward punches at Garvin's face when Garvin has him by the leg, he punches like a carny. When the throws cross chops at Garvin's throat they're...maybe the best non-punch strike you've seen. Jake is wearing a t-shirt to cover up his taped ribs, and this might be the only Garvin match I've seen based around him throwing body shots. Once he starts teeing off on Jake's ribs, even tying him up in the ropes like Andre, the crows loses their mind. The whole thing is incredible. Roberts stifles Garvin for so long and escapes at the right moments, and it all burns down as Roberts is finally getting his ribs battered while he sells it like he's doing kabuki, bent at the waist on tip toes. The finish is dynamite, with Garvin being spiked right on Ellering's chair with a DDT. You can't fake the way Garvin takes this DDT, that's a man going vertebrae first onto that chair. The best past is Jake doesn't pin him after that. He rouses the ref by shoving him the way a big brother would shove his little brother after calling him numb nuts, then when the ref is watching he falls onto Garvin with an elbowdrop. He grabs at his ribs on impact, totally worth it. Had this been on one of the DVDVR 80s sets, we would have called it one of the greatest Jake matches. Now we can. 

The Road Warriors vs. Stan Hansen/King Kong Bundy

PAS: In my mind this is an insane Kaiju battle, a tag version of Andre vs. Hansen. It wasn't that, much more of a traditional tag match, but it was delightful. I am going to leave Eric and Matt to rhapsodize about the initial lock up, but man was that beautiful stuff. We don't have a ton of Road Warriors stooging and bumping, and they do a great job of that early, I can't remember seeing Stan Hansen working face in peril, and we get a nice spoonful at once, I have definitely not seen hot tag Bundy, and hot tag Bundy was incredible. I wanted a bit more of an explosion at the end, it felt like this was a match setting up a huge gimmick blowoff, which never happened, but man what a treat.

MD: Finish or no finish, the fans got their money's worth on this one. It was, in some ways, very weird in the entire history of wrestling. GCW Roadies were still raw, were very willing to stooge and show ass in a way that they really wouldn't later. Bundy was a big towering babyface, and Hansen played face-in-peril. We don't have a ton of performances like this out of him. 

When they did finally take over on him, it was by focusing on the arm, the old Hansen standard, but his hope spots were great and rousing, just big booming attempts to fire back, with the fans getting behind him, before he'd get cut off. There were only so many teams in the world that could believably keep him down like this but the Road Warriors in 84 were on that list and they really made it work. Bundy coming in at the end was like a wrecking ball and yes, this broke down with Ellering grabbing Bundy's leg and all four guys firing off until the ref called it. It's great that the Road Warriors became what they did, but I do wonder what I would have looked like if they stayed on this road instead. Just a tremendous Hansen performance overall and a new piece of a puzzle that was already feeling complete. 

TKG: This was way more a standard tag than I was picturing but a pretty great standard tag. I assume most of this will be covered by everyone else but I really loved all the Hansen face in peril trying to make sure that he still was getting blood flow to his fingers while the Road Warriors working over his arm.

Ric Flair vs. Brad Armstrong

MD: This went how you'd expect it to go except for that maybe it stayed clean (though with Flair still strutting when he did well) for quite a while. I loved Brad's energy on his hope spots/comebacks. The bit where he climbs the bottom rope to start firing back on Flair was great and I want to see Daniel Garcia implement that as part of his act ASAP. Just super, balanced pro wrestling with a little something for everyone who might be watching in 1984. More of this please, and soon.

ER: I want to know more about the Donald Sutherland/Kurt Vonnegut led couple who left at the same time with the cool younger leather jacket couple. Leather jacket guy had his hand on his girl's inner thigh and they had just found out this Brad Armstrong headlock had hit the 10 minute mark. They made a look before both getting up at the exact same time and I didn't see a single solitary second the rest of the show where it looked like they even know they were there. A bunch of kids take their place and the 13 year old on the end is wearing a sleeveless Union Jack and has his arms crossed the entire time. He's the fucking coolest 13 year old I have ever seen at a wrestling show. 

TKG: The weird thing about the “traditional long slow build Flair main event” is how fucking fast paced it is. Like this is the fastest paced match on show. In theory Flair is trying to slow it down but it never slows and just builds. I also really like the way it feels like 2/3 falls match where it has parts, an initial technical fall section, a brawling section and a quick running exchange section that feel like they build off each other. At one point Flair does his first set of chops during the technical section to regain control and those are completely different than the type of chops he does during the actual brawling section.

TKG: Referee Scrappy McGowan worked this entire show solo and it is a real impressive performance. HE is neither a tough ref who is completely in control nor a ref in over his head struggling to assert himself but instead just a perfect medium. Guy who gets manipulated by heels but also stops heels from cheating. Of the Georgia refs, he isn’t one that I think of as getting talked up but he was really great throughout this show.

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New Footage Friday: SANTO! CASAS! ANDRE! SPOILER! RUDE! HASE! LIGER! B. BRIAN BLAIR?

Andre The Giant vs. The Spoiler Houston Wrestling 6/29/79

MD: This is one that was NOT on the NWA Houston channel. I had pushed Sharpe to find it but he never did. Thankfully, it's been out there anyway, just rare. Pretty fascinating match to watch because of the size differentials. Spoiler is a guy that would use his size and the ring as a weapon and just crush smaller guys and most guys were smaller. Here, it was his chisel to pick at the giant and I thought those moments were very effective. He was a big man but one that could and really would move around for Andre, so maybe the usual disdain Andre had for other giants didn't shine through. You really can't do a match between these two (or Mulligan and Andre, for instance, where it worked better) where the claw doesn't come into play as the great equalizer, and as much as that stuff seems larger than life, the bearhug bit here went on a bit long. This was especially true in a match where Spoiler was divebombing him all over the place, and because the finish was going to be Andre catching him hesitant on one of those attempts and tossing him off the top. Still, this was novel, a great look at both Andre working from underneath and the Spoiler having to chop down a bigger foe.

ER: Loved this. Minimalist, sure, but Andre is a guy who knows how important every little movement can be and he's someone I can't help but engage with. This is Spoiler's claw vs. Andre's bearhug, and we get a couple of great moments before we dive into that part of the match (with my favorite being Andre's armdrag takeover, holy cow!), but I dug how Spoiler decided early that the Claw was his only chance and he was going to play that record until the needle skipped. Spoiler grinds in the claw and the first time we see an Andre bearhug it's actually out of desperation. The Andre desperation bearhug is a fun treat, it's a giant wounded boar from the forest trying to use his strength, and it makes Spoiler come off like a legend that he had Andre desperate. Andre fights to his feet, Spoiler bets on the claw, and the eventual visual of Andre's buckling and going down, Spoiler essentially riding him down to the mat, Claw besting Bearhug, were wrestling movements I've not seen before. The visuals in any Andre match always seem to defy reality, in the ways he's able to appear both larger and smaller than he actually was, in the way he recoils into the ropes or moves in a way that nobody else has ever moved. I'm watching him here, driven down to one knee by Spoiler's claw, and Andre appears to be as large on one knee as Spoiler is standing over him. I know it's not true, but in feels that way, and in every Andre match you glimpse at least one visual angle that just seems impossible. I like the way the strategy and the attempts play out, like when Andre knew a claw attempt was coming so ducked under the arm to perfectly settle into a bodyslam; or Andre looking to pop Spoiler's head off his neck with a great headscissors to reverse out of another claw. We even get Andre "flattening the head" of Spoiler with a seated piledriver as Spoiler tried to get out of that headscissors. The finish is a great play on the match story, as Spoiler went right back to the claw, climbing the ropes to gain more leverage on the hold (a frequent Spoiler trick), but he gets too high chasing that Claw victory, and Andre simply slams him off the top. The simplicity of the match played to the strengths of both men, and I was hooked the whole way through. 

PAS: Really nifty match, I loved the dying animal aspect of Andre falling slowly to the claw, one of the cooler wrestling sells I can remember seeing. Andre was amazing at portraying invulnerability and vulnerability in the same match. Spoiler is one of the guys I want to see more of, he has been in some real classics, and has this unique style. He is one of the densest high flyers ever, all of his attacks land with so much thump and thud, Andre is a great landing platform too.

Hiroshi Hase/Jushin Liger vs Rick Rude/Brian Blair NJPW 3/20/94

MD: As a sharp wrestling analyst, I'd like to point out that this match is all about Rude being pretty racist in his pre-match promo, about Liger, Hase, and then, at the end, Liger AND Hase together, doing Rude's pose back at him, and then Hase mocking him on the mic post match. I guess there's also B. Brian Blair doing all the bee mannerisms in 1994. That's commitment.

I mean the wrestling was good too, but let's keep things in perspective. So, as long as he didn't try to overachieve, which didn't happen often, Blair looked sharp and crisp in most things he did. He could have still had a useful run somewhere at this point (like SMW, maybe?). You got the sense that Hase loved how riled Rude got the crowd because he ate it up, both in tossing people around, but also just in standing on the top rope and basking in it, or launching a 20+ rotation giant swing before stumbling about and doing Rude's pose. Rude was just completely iconic. I think my favorite moment in this might have been him hitting a top rope axe handle and then getting caught on the second one. You knew it was coming. Everyone knew it was coming. But Rude's timing and presence were just perfect. There's probably no one in wrestling history that was better at getting "caught" in that manner than Rude.

Really, the only thing that would have made this one more enjoyably over the top was if Liger had a mustache too.

ER: Rude bookends our match with some casual as hell racism, which undoubtedly leads to a hot crowd and some playful personality that we don't always get to see from Hase. Liger doesn't always need much coaxing to be playful so it was a treat to see Hase really rub in all of his comebacks, and Hase/Liger each doing a few variations on Rude's hip swivel is the kind of taunt that kept getting the crowd louder. I really liked the Rude/Blair team, and came away missing the kind of in-ring professionalism both of them brought Blair had the awesome bald spot ponytail, buzzed his wings like a bee during rope runs, hit a fantastic standing lariat, works fast juniors spots with Liger (with a real fast bump to the floor to cap it off), and was great on the apron. Watch Blair's reactions during Hase's long giant swing as he is unable to get in there to save Rude. Rude was heel perfection, and my favorite thing from him might have come early, as he locks in an insanely tight looking headlock on Liger, then gives him two punches to the kidneys as he's tagging in Blair. Sure, his overall meathead antics are what gave everything heat, and that spectacular top rope knee is the best, and I guess what I'm trying to say is that Rick Rude was too real to be real, a guy whose stock rises nearly every time I see him. Seeing the kind of work that he was putting out on house shows really cements him.

El Hijo Del Santo vs. Negro Casas CMLL Japan 2/6/97

MD: This has been out there but clipped on a commercial tape, apparently. Here we have it in full. We're into Santo's rudo phase, but not too deep into it, in front of an audience that only seemed half aware. This isn't a huge crowd. They're quiet for the most part. Midway through, Casas works to engage them and they sort of split the chants. This sort of felt like an abbreviated title match, or maybe one on fast-forward. Memorable was some really good matwork to start which led to the escalation into rope running and a crazy flipping senton through the ropes by Santo. Santo wasn't over the top with his rudo-ness. He oversold heavily a Scorpion Deathlock attempt (not even the hold) by Casas but that was to lure him in. He also threw a really nasty chairshot towards the finish, but ultimately missed a top rope splash and lost to the Casita. It was a good digest, with the right sort of intensity at times, and these two can do no wrong, ever, but would have been better in a different environment.

PAS: Really cool to watch these guys a 10 minute version of their match. It was a 97 Santo versus Casas match too, not just an exhibition of cool spots (although there was some very cool spots) but a nice capsulation of the brutality that these guys could and did bring on a regular basis. We get pretty spinning headscissors and dives to the floor, but some really cool struggling mat work and Santo kicking Casas directly to the back of his head.  I loved the early counter work out of the headscissors and I loved Santo smashing Casas with a chair, we really get everything we love about this feud boiled down to it's marrow.  Great, great stuff.

ER: No big deal, just the two GOATs working a hot Nitro lucha sprint lightning match in front of a largely apathetic Japanese crowd. CMLL Japan crowds tend to be small from what I've seen, but they are usually hot and appreciative. This match oddly came with the atmosphere of people sitting through a lucha show to get a free 2 week timeshare rental. But it's a perfect 10 minute synopsis on what was going on with these two in 1997. It was a highlights match (as much as any match with these two, as obviously they are highlight reel machines) with something to say, a match where the biggest spots shone just as brightly as their transitions. The big spills play well, like Santo surprising Casas with his gorgeous rolling tope senton too the floor. I've grown so used to Santo hitting that rolling senton in ring as a lead up to his tope past the turnbuckle, that seeing him take the opportunity to hit it to the floor - in a way that didn't seem like part of the plan or even something that had been fully thought through - made the moment even bigger. But the small moments played as big for me, like the way Santo held on to a waistlock as Casas tried to violently shake him, or the way Santo lost the camel clutch but gave up one of Negro's arms to yank his head back by the hair as a way to salvage things.

All of the scrambling was real snug, and honest. If they didn't fully have the other, nobody was pretending they were stuck. They rolled with the exchanges and reevaluated where the other was during the brief periods of pause, and I got the sense that they could have woven their way through similar sequences and ended up somewhere different entirely (and no doubt, they have done exactly this during their careers). Santo has the best stomps in wrestling history, just give me a match where Santo only stomps at Negro's body and cerebellum. Show me someone in wrestling who has a better boot to the back of the head/neck, and I'll show you someone who wrecked brain cells. Santo's stomps feel perfectly worked, for maximum visual. The knee work was all cool, Santo kicking at Negro's thigh and Negro going down hard for a fast dropkick to his patella. Everything felt like it happened because of something else they had done earlier. Were Santo's shots to Negro's knee meaner because earlier Santo had gone for a knucklelock and Casas just opted to lurch in and punch Santo in the face? It felt like that to me.  I loved the mean ways they kept the distant crowd guesses, like when Casas gets booed for ripping at Santo's mask, then eats an insane fast head over heels bump to the floor off a Santo dropkick. After getting the loudest heat of the match with that mask rip, Santo follows him to the floor and pastes him with a chairshot, not caring that they had booed Casas for something less severe, more concerned with wrecking Casas. These two give me life force whenever I watch them, and this was no different.

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New Footage Friday: Spoiler, Jose Lothario, El Halcon, Mark Lewin, Baba, Robley, Kawada, Misawa, Hase, Sasaki

Spoiler/Mark Lewin vs. El Halcon/Jose Lothario Houston Wrestling 6/1/79

ER: A decent minimalist punch and kick affair that is short, but takes awhile to get rolling, and ends with a bunch of great mayhem. The low point comes fairly early as Halcon does just about the world's slowest hot tag somersault I've ever seen to get to Lothario. It was a comically slow somersault. When Ricky Morton eventually hot tag somersaults into the grave, it will be faster than this one. I'm sure Phil has seen his kid do a faster somersault at baby gymnastics. I think he may have been doing it purposely slow because someone may have been out of position...but the effect was not great. The match never ramps up to high from there, but it chugs along nicely. Spoiler and Lewin both acted afraid of hot babyface Lothario, who bleeds and punches away to loud reaction. There's a great moment where Spoiler keeps running into fists from Lothario while Lothario is on the apron. Spoiler feels like one of the great stooges, which is amusing due to his size. But he and Lewin are a fun sneaky punch tag team, and the finish is a blast as Lewin starts twisting the turnbuckle loose on the top rope, freeing it to use as a weapon, leading to the top rope going limp as more bodies flood the ring.

PAS: I was excited to see Halcon, who is a lucha legend we don't have much footage on, but this wasn't much of a showcase for him. This was really Lothario doing his awesome Lothario thing, he comes in with a pressure bandage on his head which is alway exciting to see, and he takes a big time walloping from Lewin and Spoiler. I love Lewin's overhand chops to the head, he looks like he is breaking boards in a Tae Kwon Do class, and Spoiler has really cool forearms. We get to see Lothario, sell, bleed and fire back and he is great at all of it. Finish was a lot of fun with Lewin unscrewing the top rope and trying to use the buckle bolt, but Halcon getting it from him and swinging it like a club. This never hit the levels of the all time great Lothario matches, but it was a good showcase of what he does well.

MD: In 2018, every new Houston match is a treasure. Every new Lothario match is a treasure. Look, we have context with this. This was the night Gran Markus came in to be Gino's heater. We have these matches. We have the two of them breaking up. We have some of the Americas Tag Title matches before and after this. This isn't just some random throwaway minimalist match, it's one more piece of a puzzle where NWAonDemand had already given us parts of it.

The match itself was generally good. I thought Halcon was a step slow, which only matters because he was doing things that you can't be a step slow for. Spoiler is always amazing, twenty years before his time, the mix of size and just sheer oppression off the second ropes. Lewin serves his purpose (woundwork is down his alley) and Jose is that center of gravity, bleeding and building up glorious anticipation for when his fist will hit someone's skull. I agree that this doesn't hit the peaks of certain other matches, but watch the crowd at the end. They'd disagree with us, certainly.

So thanks to Roy Lucier for posting these best of Houston Wrestling episodes. RIGHT after this match is an amazing PSA by Boesch about what to do if someone is following you on the highway. It's so great. Roy, I have no way of contacting you otherwise, so hopefully someone tosses this your way. It's nice you're uploading the NWAonDemand stuff now, but most of that is already elsewhere on youtube between a couple of accounts. Out of the 8-9 Best of Houston Wrestling shows you posted we came out with 2-3 new matches that we didn't get on the service, some older clipped footage, some promos, some commercials, some great Paul Boesch moments. All of that is way more valuable to the community than reposting the NWAonDemand matches again. If you have more of these episodes, please go back to posting them instead. Even if we come out with just a few more Houston matches we didn't have before, that's a boon. Thanks.

Giant Baba vs. Buck Robley AJPW 3/19/82

ER: I LOVED THIS!! This is the most WCW Saturday Night match in the history of King's Road. Buck Robley showing up in Japan and facing Giant Baba on his first day in town is like Bull Pain showing up on a taping facing Lex Luger on a sunny afternoon in front of vacationing Florida families wearing No Fear shirts, Big Johnson shirts, fanny packs, elastic waist band shorts, and square frame glasses. It is an indisputably perfect 150 seconds of professional wrestling and there's literally no argument you can make against that fact. Nobody within shouting distance of Korakuen thought Buck Robley had a snowball's chance against Baba that night, but Robley comes out of this whole thing looking like a total badass who beat the shit out of Baba before losing. Baba gives up offense to Robley as if Robley were Hansen, and Robley hits I think every part of Baba's head and neck with a strike: downward strike elbow to the head, chop to the Adam's apple, elbow to the cheekbone, punch to the underside of the chin, Robley was just putting a strike clinic on Baba's long dome. Baba was the best here, I fucking love fired up Baba, love him putting some mustard on his Baba chops, raining down on Robley's head and chest, and I thought it was cool how we got a show of Baba strength with his Irish whips. Robley was good at properly bumping for Baba, not overdoing it on the chops but stooging around great for all of them. Baba's Russian leg sweep looked like an impossible tangle of limbs, and Baba executes it really fast, then really slugs Buck with that big Baba boot. I would always love when Flair would show up on Worldwide and have a competitive match with Joey Maggs, and this felt like the best version of that.

PAS: This was a hell of a sprint, Robley came out knowing he had four minutes and was going to make it count. He comes in with his awesome "Nobody Calls Me Yellow" shirt looking like a backwoods hillbilly trying to gut someone with a rusty can lid. He unloads on Baba with these big forearm smashes to the head and neck, Baba looks simultaneously powerful and fragile, Robley's shots look like they are going to smash his bones and every Baba shot propels Robley back. That big boot feels like a finish and the post match Brody run in was appropriately chaotic (Brody is at his best in chaotic run-ins, then you don't have to watch him wrestle.)

MD: Robley in the states is always sort of hit or miss for me. In Japan, there's something outlandish and out of place to him that really works. Baba doesn't get nearly enough credit for how much he gives. I don't think he gets enough credit in general. He's Andre-like in that his very touch can destroy an opponent but also incredible capable of garnering sympathy, almost from his appearance alone. He could easily swallow the entirety of the space in any match he was in like an Inoki or Verne often does, but instead he understands how to reach the hearts of his audience, even while submerged in an environment where there's a real risk/fear to selling.

He gave Robley space to shine and Robley used it to the fullest, coming at him like an ornery honey badger. I've been watching a ton of these 1982 matches, but the image of Baba hanging upside down between the ropes and Robley battering him is going to stay with me even among all the noise. I bet it stayed with that crowd for a long time too.

Genichiro Tenryu/Hiroshi Hase vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Kensuke Sasaki AJPW 1/28/01

PAS: This is from the 2001 AJPW Dome show, and was only recently available outside of clips. AJPW post Misawa and pre-Muto was basically WAR, and this was a WAR style slugfest. It was four big stars beating the bricks off of each other, Sasaki blistering chests with chops, Tenryu punching people square in the jaw and toe kicking folks in the eye, Kawada throwing thick thudding kicks to the chest and Hase hitting as hard as I have ever seen him hit. It feels a little like a super violent exhibition then a match with a ton of build and story. We never really had anyone take an extended beating or a super progression to the end, but man it is hard not to enjoy Kawada and Tenryu trying to cave each others face in, or Sasaki slapping his good buddy Hase hard directly in the ear.

MD: We all have the things we go for. While I can meet certain matches half way, this wasn't for me. There's a period in the middle where Kawada and Sasaki have an extended period of control on Hase. I'd call it a real peril or heat segment, though there wasn't really that sort of face/heel divide. Hase's comeback attempts mainly consist of attempting the same sort of strike exchanges that litter the match, but losing each one because he's increasingly hurt and beat down. I thought the way he portrayed that, with increasing desperation and pride, but also decreasing levels of success, was actually pretty excellent and easily the best part of this match. Otherwise, this was just guys beating on each other without rhyme or reason. I'm a lot happier watching that for ten minutes than twenty-five.

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1979 Match of the Year

The Spoiler vs. Wahoo McDaniel NWA Houston 4/21/79

PAS: This match is a big reason I am totally in love with the NWA Classics service. One of the cool things about being a wrestling fan is that you can still discover hidden classics 30 years later. There is no hidden 70s Scorcese movie or unreleased classic Joy Division album, but here is The Spoiler v. Wahoo McDaniel from 1979 and it is unbelievable.

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

ER: Things get off on a great note during the Wahoo/Boesch pre-match interview, when Wahoo says he wants to win the title because his people "like shiny things". Boesch almost completely no sells it so Wahoo makes sure to repeat it to make sure it lands. Clearly not Boesch forcing Native American stereotypes on Wahoo, just Wahoo awesomely going "hey you know how much we love beads and shiny things and getting drunk a 9 AM on a Tuesday!" while Boesch just moves on. And this is pretty much my favorite Wahoo match ever, and Spoiler seems like a guy whose every second of available footage needs to be soaked up, by me. They gel perfectly and what's maybe most impressive is they really aren't stiffing the hell out of each other. I love a crazy violent brawl with dudes clonking each other in the nose and forehead, but something like this is equally impressive. Look at Spoiler's stomps and all of his kicks at Wahoo's face as Wahoo is yanking him to the floor. Those are worked stomps, and they look amazing! You can tell Wahoo isn't just getting kicked directly in the eye. Spoiler is no Kurisu, Spoiler throws all sorts of great worked stomps and still comes off violent. I love loaded mask spots and Spoiler seems like a guy with a lot of great shtick around loaded masks, and seems like a guy who could work great schtick around tons of things. After he busts open Wahoo with the mask (and Wahoo blades for all of the people in the back to see) he does a killer job going after that cut, with Wahoo clawing at Spoiler's mask to stop it. All the attempted mask removals look really violent, as mask removals always look nasty. Here Spoiler's mask keeps getting hung up around his upper jaw and Wahoo yanks it around in super painful ways. Wahoo and his big ol face take a mean post shot, Spoiler takes a bunch of silly dramatic bumps off chops, and Wahoo's falling chops to the face look like they'd leave Jardine cross eyed, and this was all great.

ALL TIME MOTY LIST

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Digging in the Crates Podcast #3

It is an all Segunda Caida show as I am joined by Eric to discusses some matches for a future Schneider Comp.

Digging in the Crates #3

Here are links to the matches

Spoiler v. Wahoo McDaniels NWA Houston 4/21/79


Bradshaw/Terry Funk/Dustin Runnels v. Too Much/Jerry Lawler 7/25/98

Giant Baba v. Killer Karl Kox 3/81

Carlos Colon v. Stan Hansen 2/87

Also check out

Shock Cinema Magazine 

The Mynabirds

And stay listening past the theme song for a post credit scene!! Marvel style!

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NWA Price Tag Reviews #6

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

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

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

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

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

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