October 1986

Tito Santana vs Harley Race - Boston 10/4/86 I knew I had seen this before because I still remember Harley Race taking that bump down the steps at the Boston Garden. It has been four years but still that's a damn great bump, brutha. Tito has entered mid-card purgatory after finish up with the Macho Man in the summer of 86. Going around the horn with midcard acts like Cowboy Bob Orton, Harley, tagging with Pedro and a long program with Butch Reed. He would be rejuvenated in the summer of 87 with the formation of Strike Force. In the meantime, he did have a great match with Ron Bass of all people and hell pulled out the only good match of Butch Reed's WWF career. This m…

WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - 2 Out of Three Falls SNME 10/86 One impressive thing about this series so far has been that these teams have really gone out and had different matches each time. This match saw the Dream Team in control of majority of the match. Hell, Brutus Beefcake looked shockingly competent. Valentine gets a hold of Dynamite's knee early, but Davey Boy comes in and the Dream Team overwhelm him bringing the injured Dynamite back in. I got to give the man some credit, but the Beefer worked Dynamite's knee pretty well, before Valentine was able to wrangle him into a figure 4 and garner the first fall. The…

Ricky Steamboat vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts - SNME 10/4/86 Snakepit Match Man, Jake The Snake should only be allowed to wrestle Steamboat. I usually find the Snakeman to be completely devoid of energy and his matches to be plodding borefests, but I have loved these Steamboat matches. It is not just The Dragon either. Roberts actually looks motivated! He is bumping and running! WHAT!?!? The shine is great loved Steamboat ducking Roberts punches and chopping him. Great bumps by Roberts throughout the shine. Just lots of energy. Steamboat is on fire. He looks to end it early with a big splash from the top, but Roberts gets the knees up. Great heat segment ensues not just…

This is a "Pirate Fight" - a chain match where the goal is to climb the opponent's turnbuckle and remove his flag. For my money it's the best match from germany on tape, and a real contender for the best euro match ever. The battle is pure stylistic weirdness as it's a chain match that goes nearly 40 minutes, filmed like a documentary style handheld, worked like a PWFG bout. Lots of grappling, elaborate chain tricks. It seems absurd but it totally works thanks to the great filming and both guys doing a fantastic job in their roles. Taylor is the grimacing heel laying a huge beating on Van Buyten, who is an incomparable babyface here. It really is the camerawork that p…

The Holy Grail JIP. Good match for what it was and considering Magee's level of experience. Hart was great playing to what little strengths Megaman had (or would ever have) and the crowd was totally engaged. It really was a master class in broomstick work. The preceding doc was great Now give me the Monsel's powder angle

One of my favorite "Different Style" matches and probably one of my favorite matches of all time too. Maeda and Nielsen both worked very hard to make this an exciting match and the hot crowd carried it to the next level. The story here is that Maeda is more dangerous when he can get Nielsen to the canvas, but Nielsen outclasses Maeda whenever they engage in a traditional striking contest as Nielsen is a good-to-very-good kickboxer who is at the peak of his prowess here. Nielsen's reach gets him out of most situations and seems to be heading to a victory until Maeda gets him with a very well-timed takedown that he quickly turns into a single-leg Boston crab. Excellent stuf…

It's the day one of the trial version of Wrestling 365, so here we go. This starts off with a super intense collar and elbow tie up which I always love. The focus for Ole is the ribs with punches, knees, etc.. Ricky kept trying to fight him off, but Ole was focused.The crowd was super crazy too. What does Ricky do to counter, he goes after Ole's ribs! Yes we have a rib battle with no Abdullah in sight. They have a commercial and they come back and Ole is in charge. Never a fan of that, I like seeing the transitions. Although back from break Ole is going after the nose they broke on Ricky over the summer. Ole's tossing of Ricky into the turnbuckle nose first a…

UWF Heavyweight Champion Terry Gordy vs Dr. Death - UWF TV 9/28/86 I liked how all three matches told different stories, This is the valiant comeback from a pre-match injury match that I am a total sucker for. Hacksaw challenges the winner, but gives Gordy the thumbs down, which riles up the Freebirds triggering a massive brawl where One Man Gang and Skandor Akbar also come down. Hayes crashes down with all his weight on the outstretched arm of Dr. Death held in place by Gordy. It seems like Doc wont be able to make it out, but he is going to fight through the pain. For the next twelve minutes, Steve WIlliams gives his best non-All Japan performance of his life. He is…

Bulldogs vs The Dream Team in a nontitle match. Taped 9/16/86, Aired on WWF Superstars 10/11/86

This was an awesome, compact brawl. It felt like an abridged version of MS-1 vs Sangre Chicana as far as the match layout, with Hansen overwhelming Colon right away and immediately establishing the violent nature of the match, only for Colon to get a comeback before Hansen caught him with a loaded lariat. I also really liked how Hansen kept the violence in check because it helped the structure. In the beginning, he accidentally (??) slugged the ref when the match was at its most heated, then surrendered to his authority and begged him not to disqualify later in the match. I know Hansen more at this point, so he stood out more than Colon, but I am excited about continuing …

Ted is out with the UWF title. Hayes and Dibiase are whipping each other good. Ted's fistdrop is a thing of beauty. Hayes is so great in his selling in this style of match. Teddy eats the cage and is busted open. Hayes is working the cut. He's rolling the whip up in his fist to inflict more damage. Everytime Hayes went for the belt Ted had an answer. Ted pins him after a big punch. 3 1/2* Promos Dibiase building a rmatch on Halloween night. Gordy this is pretty awesome. Love how he does it with the ice pack.

I was there for this. My 14th Birthday. It's funny in St. Louis it was hockey games. 85,86,88,89 was wrestling.They're brawling right from jump street. Gordy focusing on the back. Dibiase throwing bombs. Gordy makes Ted taste the cage. I loved Gordy tossing Ted neck into the corner buckle. The impact looks nasty. Gordy is busted open and Ted is after that cut. He's punching it, fist dropping it, biting it, and drops the knee on it. Big punch from Gordy turns the tide. Big neckbreaker as a call back to the neck work. Belly to back causes more damage. Again the neck into the turnbuckle followed up by a nasty lariat. Gordy hurts the leg on an Atomic drop spot. Ted goes for t…

I was at this show back in the day. This was interesting. Taylor is the champ, but Roberts is on the bike stalling out the time like he was. They have a solid match. They build to a really hot last minute. 2 1/2*

Includes Alexis Smirnoff ,Alex Knight ,Buddy Rose, Col. DeBeers , Curt Hennig, Earthquake Ferris, Jimmy Snuka , Ken Timbs Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Steve O and Yuri Gordienko

Ted DiBiase & Terry Taylor vs. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts -UWF TV 10/12/86 Country Whipping Match Bill Watts was clearly one of those people, who have never listened to the lyrics of Born In The USA. Was it every babyface's entrance theme? I am a total sucker for matches like this and this did not disappoint at all. I loved the energy, chaos and violence of this. I thought this was another badass DIBiase performance. His stock is starting to go up in my book. I thought all four men did a great job blending crowd pleasing spots with the violence. I liked the babyfaces railroading Buddy Roberts and isolating him from Hayes. Hayes then not wanting to be t…

Available on the Network, Vault, Old School, 1986. Sam Houston Coliseum 1986. Starts at 40:20 Includes the Hart Foundation, Studd & Bundy, The Islanders, the British Bulldogs, Moondogs, Sheik & Volkoff, The Rougeaus, and the team of Mike Rotunda & SD Jones, Chief Jay Strongbow & Steve Gatorwolf, The Killer Bees, Big & Super Machine, and the Dream Team (Valentine & Beefcake)

Hulk Hogan defends the WWF World Heavyweight Championship Available on the Network, Vault, Old School 1986, Sam Houston Coliseum 10/19/86. Starts at 28:55

This turned into an epic bloody war. Great match. I'd probably have it around ****1/2. They start this off with some brutal striking, and by the end they're both bloody and slugging it out. Pro Wrestling!

Ric Flair & Andersons vs Dusty Rhodes & Rock N Roll Express - JCP 12/9/86 Just a really fun, chaotic cage match felt like a precursor to Wargames with plenty of blood and mayhem. Ole bumps around for Morton then Arn for Dusty in some really fun spots. Dusty has a huge cast on his arm. Then Flair gets beat up by everyone. It is fun for everyone. Flair is able to isolate Gibson and bully him. Gibson and Flair do an amateur riding sequence and just when Flair thinks he wrangles him Gibson rolls away to Morton. I love Flair getting right up in Morton's face before he has even crossed the ropes and Morton kicking Flair away. The Andersons had done a number on Morto…

I love both of these guys. I thought it was going to be more hate filled. Still this had some great punches in it. I liked Gilbert's arm work, but Tatum's was even nastier. I loved the post match brawl with Missy and Journey super heated. Then Missing Link is out, but OMG comes out and lays him out. This post match was awesome.

At this point in time, Rick Steiner is way above Sting as a worker. They do a a real good job of hiding Sting here. It looks like Taylor's job is to coach these guys. I love Taylor coming out in a mask and the crowd pops when he takes it off. Gilbert sells the reveal big. I thought the shine was good solid stuff. I thought Rick Steiner looked agressive as hell. With real sniff strikes. He did a version of a Steiner Line that looked great. Sting would get his spots here and there. Here he looks like he almost breaks Taylor's ribs on a Stinger Splash. I loved the Eddie Gilbert involved finish. Taylor really was a ring general here. 2 1/2*