November 1984

Rogers and Oates are a perfectly serviceable team, but Armstrong and Horner are on another level here, looking to be every bit as good of a babyface tag team as the Fantastics or Rock & Rolls. Saying they would have benefitted from better opposition here is overstating it, but I do wish they would have had a chance to work with the Dirty White Boys or MX around this time. Ron Garvin makes a save when the heels attempt a spike piledriver on Brad, and between that and Gordon Solie doing commentary with Lance, this is an odd collection of names not usually associated with Memphis. The match was fun TV fare, but there was a big talent gap between the two teams, and that u…

What this lacks in blood (seriously, wtf), it makes up for in TRASH. As in having the most amount of garbage thrown in and around a WWE ring I can ever remember. Sheik and Volkoff even get soda thrown at them early match. The match absolutely rules. It starts similar to the October match with shine but with no rules Slaughter and JYD can use all the helmets and nightsticks and loaded boot (whatever that actually is) they want while both being in the same ring. There are a ton of momentum shifts in this and it's easy to miss where some of this shit even comes from. I didn't see whether Sheik was wearing the strap he used, but I did see he and Volkoff had it tangled around …

The first 3 rounds were clipped, I wish we had the whole thing because this was really good. Finlay really knew how to get heat from the crowd, there was solid legwork from him on display, while Jones showed good fire and a bit of a hot head, despite not being flawless when dictating the pace; his best moments were going toe to toe with Finlay with snug strikes. Jones got a couple of great nearfalls towards the end, but the finish was very lame and you don't really want a DQ title change because the new champion was beaten down ***1/2

Not too memorable, but a solid studio match between two of my favorite guys.

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NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Ricky Steamboat - NWA Starrcade 1984 I watched a good chunk of the excellent 1984: Year of Transition series. By watching it, you understand that Tully and Steamboat were the biggest stars on the show week to week. Flair and Dusty would show up, but they had busy schedules. It was Tully and Steamboat that were the workhorses. The year began with Dick Slater as the top heel, but by the spring it was clear that Blanchard was the most hated man in Mid-Atlantic with his fingers in many different angles against top babyfaces including Mid-Atlantic legend Johnny Weaver. Steamboat took the US Championship off from Dicky Slater…

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We get some pre match interviews from both guys. This is one hell of a brawl. You believe the hatred right off the bat. This is one hell of a potato fest. They're fighting and slamming each other on the announce table. The sound from the brawl really adds to the chaos. Adams steals a win. Kevin nails Chris with a chair. Adams is bleeding big time. Still this was a believable hate filled brawl.A bit on the short side. 4*,

Terry Gordy vs Killer Khan - WCCW 11/22/84 Texas Death Match SGR: Kerry Von Erich World Class' Rocky IV moment that predates Rocky IV by a year as a Freebird and Von Erich shake hands at the end of this bout proving that there is hope for all of us to just get along. I can totally understand why this finished number one atop the Texas poll even if it will not finish there for me (Top 5, no doubt). This match epitomized everything Texas has been lacking hatred, violence and blood (notable exception the awesome Kerry/Hayes Cage match). Texas (non-NWA Championship matches) is characterized by insane crowd heat, big time babyface offense, lots of heel bumping and feel…

Holy shit...how did I miss this one? Well, I know it's a short match, but it is also JIP....argh. We start with Stan Hansen holding Nick Bockwinkel in a standing side headlock. Bock picks him up for a backdrop suplex for a one count. Bockwinkel tries for a front facelock, but Hansen hoists him up on his shoulders and carries him to his own corner and tags Brody. Hansen is still holding Bockwinkel, Brody goes to the top rope and hits a double axe handle. Brody slams Bockwinkel and drags him around, but too close to Harley Race in the corner. Race grabs Brody and holds him while Bock nails him with three hard elbows to the abdomen and a few shots to the head. …

So I'm watching this. I see a blond kid wearing a Members Only jacket walking on the arena floor. It's my brother who's not a fan anymore. I have no memory of going to this card. I give him a call and he went with his best friend and his family for a birthday. Just nuts. Well this is fun. Street and Ronnie West's interactions are Laugh out loud funny. We see a Dundee and Street skip off. Every time Dundee has an opportunity he goes after Linda. Dundee throws some great punches. Street is great playing to the crowd. Loved him going after Dundee's arm with some wicked arm locks. Of course we some great digit manipulation. Super fun stuff. 3*

What a fun match. The opening double football tackle spot is the coolest thing I've seen. What impact. The faces were awesome in the shine as walking tall babyfaces. Reed mocking Dibiase's small muscles was fantastic and I wish we all could see Parv's face when he sees it. Loved Doc using the helmet to set up the heat. Loved them working the cut. The finish was all caotic and sets up the next match. Duggan is a very sympathetic babyface. Great tag. 3 3/4*

Ladd is the champion here. This is such a smartly worked match. Ladd is such a smart wrestler here. He might be physically shot, but it's cool to see hom much mileage he could get out of using his mind. ROH Moose should be watching as much Ernie Ladd as humanely possible.You look at Magnum TA, and he really is the prototype babyface of the WWE attitude era from Steve Austin, Rock, HHH, and even Biker taker had a lot of the same qualities as Magnum TA. We start out with Ladd bumping, and flaying around getting over Magnum TA as a serious ass kicker. Ladd would also allow TA to show off by lifting him in a front facelock. So Ladd really did a nice job shining TA up. Wh…

The first of their two famous scaffold matches in Mid-South. The next one is Oklahoma City on December 2nd

WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana - WWF MSG 11/26/84 Is this the best of the Valentine vs Santana matches? I really love the June 84 MSG one and the title switch in the Cage in 85, but this is one is a doozy for sure. We were one Tito revenge figure-4 away from me marking out like nuts. Valentine has won the IC Championship after injuring Tito's leg in his vaunted figure-4. Tito is sporting a brace. I dont know if we are at the point in the story where Tito has learned the figure-4 to exact pay back from the Hammer. I would describe Tito as cautiously aggressive at the beginning of the match. Anybody who has watched a lot of Tito knows abou…

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs Tonga Kid - WWF MSG 11/26/84 Tonga Kid (aka Tama) is the biggest missed prospect of the 80s. He had oodles of charisma. He debuted as a part of the red hot Piper vs Snuka storyline. Snuka was making his return to the Garden after an extended absence due to Piper. Snuka was over like rover. Piper of course had his bodygaurd, Ace Cowboy Bob Orton. So much fun. Piper made the Kid look like a million bucks. Simple, but exciting from bell to bell. Fun shine. I loved Piper getting the smallest advantage, taunting Snuka and turning around and just eating it from the Kid. Heat segment was great. Why the hell cant heels wrestle like this anymore? Eyerak…