Superstar Sleeze

Yeah, a deadhead going after another music genre and their fashion is real rich. The eyeblack under the eyes is a tribute to Nikki Sixx's eyeblack from the early Crue days, which comes from Peter Criss' eyeblack in KISS. If I was ever to be a wrestler, I would actually dress very similar to Ziggler so I really want to like him, but God does he wrestle exactly the opposite of the way I think someone should.

WCW US Champion Rick Rude vs Dustin Rhodes - WCW Worldwide 5/30/92 Really fun rookie underdog vs veteran champion match that made Dustin look like a million bucks, but kept Rude strong. These matches are invaluable because heels can get the wins they need and the babyfaces look strong just by contending. Dustin works a nice hammerlock on Rude who elbows out in the corner and Dustin explodes out of the corner with a clothesline and the crowd is rocking. Dustin hits Rude with a suplex and Rude is just the best at selling the back. Dustin goes to work on the back eventually settling into the chinlock. Dustin mocking Rude hip swivel was pretty funny as was Jesse's quip that Madusa should get up on the apron and show a little leg because a youngster like Dustin would lose it for a mature, sexy woman. Rude of course eventually is able to reverse and get the knees up. Rude works the balls with inverted atomic drop and then works his own chinlock. The crowd is really behind Dustin. Rude hits an ok clothesline, but Dustin does a great sell. Dustin is working hard, Rude is reeling and Rude hits a low blow that horribly times because the ref looks right at it. Rude comes crashing down off the top, but can only get two. Dustin goes flying over the top rope, but is right back up gets a sunset flip. Big clothesline for 2! Madusa is up and BULLDOG ON RUDE! No ref! The guy in the zubaz in the front row loses his shit! Dustin goes to confront the situation, but Rude blasts him with the belt and hits the Rude Awakening to win the match. They worked too fast at the end, but the crowd was super into it and felt like a dramatic, high stakes match. ***3/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Curt Hennig - AWA TV 5/31/86 They run a hot angle with Hansen/Blackwell to set up that money feud. Blackwell says he is still injured and Hansen calls him a coward then attacks him with the belt. Hennig saves with red hot energy, great punches and an awesome dropkick. Hansen bumps to the outside. Hennig keeps up pressure, but Hansen sends him into post. Hansen takes this opportunity to attack Blackwell's injured ankle with a chair. Hansen throws Hennig in the ring. They have a badass sprint where they just go balls to wall with each other. Hennig looks great fighting fire with fire with Hansen. The transitions are a bit haphazard, but everything is so quick it fits with their sprint mentality, the sense of urgency and the fifteen minute time limit. Hennig is aware of the time limit and that's why he is keeping pace with Hansen. Hennig's punches look great and very credible. Hennig fighting Hansen in the corner and boot to throat. He is really going all out. Hansen is getting his licks in, but this is all Hennig so far. Hennig takes the Bret Bump and he starts crowding Hennig with some nasty knee smashes. I love Hansen's offense. Hennig blocks turnbuckle shot and sends Hansen into the steel buckle. HENNIG BODYSLAMS HANSEN INTO THE RING! Splash only 2! Hansen dumps Hennig on some chairs outside the ring. Hansen looks to grab Hennig by hair and Hennig unloads with some huge rights and rakes boots on eyes. Nice right! Hansen headbutts low on Hennig and back suplex. Finally it looks like Hansen may have quelled Hennig's fire. Hansen is great at selling as he looks fatigued and he is moving his jaw around after all those punches. Hansen piledriver, but too close to the ropes. Hennig backdrops out of the piledriver. Monkey slip seems so out of place, but it is enjoyable. Hansen fighting from his back and trying to preserve his reign. Hennig commits the cardinal sin trying the same move twice as Hansen hooks ropes. Hansen misses elbow and small package by Hennig, but too close to ropes. Hansen is doing great selling for Hennig and making him look like a credible opponent. Hansen is really giving a lot of this to Hennig and Hennig is playing the tenacious white meat babyface well. HENNIG CROSSBODY 2! Weak finish to the draw. This was just getting good! High octane match. Great performance from Hansen a very selfless and giving performance. He feels like a huge mountain to climb because he was always fighting back, but he was almost never successful so it made Hennig feel like a huge star. Really great TV match from both men. ****1/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Curt Hennig - AWA TV 2/1/86 Finally, it is time for some Curt Hennig in the AWA. I have seen the big match, which I am saving as a Thanksgiving treat for myself, but never seen any of the Hansen matches. Hennig is one half of the AWA tag champs. The beard helps a lot to hide his babyface youth, which I noticed when I watched the AWA way back when. He is a strong white meat babyface in this. He definitely not the overbumping Mr. Perfect. He has fine offense, but he definitely makes his money selling. Hansen has not been successful bumrushing his opponents in America. It usually backfires and leads directly to the shine, which is a nice way to start the match off hot. Hennig works a similar strategy as Leon White with a very strong headlock. This is a headlock reminiscent of Butch Reed and I was impressed with how tightly Hennig had it on. Hansen is great struggling against the headlock. The announcers left us know Hennig is coming into this match with a bad back. I love the speed Hansen takes Hennig up in a bodyslam. It is like he had no opportunity to fight it. Hennig is able to get him over the second try with a sunset flip and he unloads some nice punches. The transition is Hansen dumping Hennig balls-first onto the top rope in a very nasty spot. Hansen works over the stomach well with slams, stomach claw and the Boston Crab (he won the championship with this move). Hennig's head gets caught up in the ropes and Scott Hall saves before Hansen can do any really damage. Hall is able to run Hansen off! I know that's basic psychology. I was just surprised Hall was big enough to do that. Larry Nelson is obnoxious post-match, Hennig sounds like a whiny chump and Hall is actually pretty good on the mic, but a little shouty. I thought he was the best of the three. Good TV match to set up matches down the road. ***

I think the AWA has an unfair advantage over these other territories because Prince is the menu music on all of them! Gotta love that Minneapolis Sound! Not going to let the elevator bring us down UH OH Let's Go Crazy!

I am actually pretty shocked at how mediocre, lackluster, and milquetoast this show was given how great RAW has been this past month. The best RAW of the year happened about 4 weeks ago and the past two weeks have featured good to great matches up an down the card. There was nothing on this card that would even come close to the quality on RAW recently. Xavier Woods' hair was the most memorable thing. Selfishly, I am going to TLC next month and I am wicked pumped my favorite wrestler, Sheamus will be headlining. My personal dream scenario is Sheamus vs Roman at TLC and Brock vs Sheamus at Rumble. That would be the two top dream Sleeze matches that have. I also understand Sheamus as a character sucks and has absolutely no heat. That is a pretty lame way to end the PPV. Still, I am happy Sheamus did not fail as he would be permanently fucked. Given the booking, there was no good way to have him cash in MITB. He did not have the heat Rollins had last year. I wish he ran through the roster this summer to set this up. I predict his booking will be shit, but that wont change the fact that his matches are going to rock!

Rick Martel vs Harley Race - AWA Wrestlerock '86 4/20/86 This felt like a modern day WWE RAW match. Just willy-nilly transitions, kinda tepid, but at the same time lots of stuff happening so it is fun eye candy, but there is no real meat to sink your teeth into. Martel has such nice armdrags and Harley really is able to whip himself over quickly. Martel uses the arm as a base. Harley hits a high knee that looks great and Harley starts dropping the knee. Martel gets a crossbody after a top wristlock test of strength back to armbar. Harley uses headbutts instead of breaking cleanly. Harley goes from using his knees to using headbutts. Oklahoma slam by Harley. Harley suplex, but no Martel counters into sleeper. Harley drives Martel into turnbuckle and then swinging neckbreaker. Martel presslams Harley off top. This feels like Cena/Owens with each taking turns hitting moves on the other. Slugfest in the middle of the ring, I really like Martel's punches. Race misses his falling headbutt. Martel backbreaker into his launching splash and ONLY TWO!!! They are even kicking out of finishes! Is it 2015? Harley piledriver. This match is a ll over the place. Harley falling headbutt. They each have kicked out of finishers. Martel misses reverse crossbody. They are building some heat on Martel, wahooooo. Martel here comes with some blows. Harley takes his big bump over the corner where he hooks the rope, which is always a good looking bump. Martel suplexes him back in, but misses elbow. Nobody can gain any momentum. It is two moves for one guy then two moves for the other guy. They knock heads and Harley takes a tremendous bump over the top rope. Harley comes back is right back on offense of course. Martel back drops out of piledriver. Martel is not even as energized as usual. That's sad. Martel picks him up for a bodyslam, but they both tumble over the top rope for the double countout finish. People who like Cena/Owens will love this, it is fun for what it was. ***1/2

Bob Backlund vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - MSG 4/23/84 A lot of people say this is the least of their series, I am the polar opposite, I think it is the best match of their series. I pretty much love all Backlund/Valentine matches and I do need to rewatch the draw so it definitively, but I really, really love this match. This is my third time watching it and it has not lost any of its luster. Where it succeeds where so many matches fail is the natural transitions between limb work through the match and the sustain selling in and out of segments by both men. The commentators are going on that Backlund may have to hang it up if he loses this one. I think Backlund had no place in Vince's WWF and that commentary shows it, but I wish he stayed wrestling elsewhere full time because he was so damn good. The early part of the match is fun with Backlund doing single leg pickups to show up The Hammer and they have some fun amateur exchanges. Backlund gets into a forearm exchange with Valentine, which is a bad idea. Backlund has a lingering arm injury from when he lost the belt to Sheiky Baby and Valentine focuses his attack on it. It is very compelling arm work and it is nice to see Backlund on the defensive. Backlund does his bridging spots, but Valentine stays on the arm. Backlund cant backslide because of the bad arm. Huge clubbing blows to the arm. Valentine misses a second rope leg drop. Meaning his leg is susceptible to work and Backlund jumps on it. It becomes a massive struggle to see if Valentine can re-establish arm control or if Backlund can gain a foothold in the match by working the leg. Backlund does a great job selling the arm as he ties Valentine up. He can do a crossface. but he is able to use a deathlock to at least by himself time and then he picks Valentine up and throws him down. Valentine escapes to outside. He trips Backlund up and wrenches Backlun'ds leg against post and then throws a chair at it. AWESOME! Valentine was desperate he grabbed whatever limb he could get and it also sets up for figure-4. The Hammer keeps selling his own leg as he works Backlund's leg. Backlund is fighting from his back to attack Valentine's injured leg. This is so awesome. Valentine tries figure-4 multiple times, does get Boston Crab on onre, but Backlund powers out because he is a stud. Valentine is frustrated that he tried the figure-4 three times and no success. BACKLUNDZIGUIRI!!!! Valentine is dazed and pissed. He recovers and ties Backlund up. He wants the damn figure-4. He misses a second rope elbow. Backlund's knee gives out on an atomic drop. FIGURE-4!!!! Valentine is finally going to one over his archrival. Valentine uses ropes for leverage and ref breaks it up. Backlund O'Connor Roll for the win. As is his MO, Valentine is a sore loser. He decks the ref and puts Bob in the figure-4. Awesome match! Incredibly compelling loved the selling, the work and the transitions from body part to body part. I thought the finish was a little anti-climatic. I guess they were not exactly ready to put Bob out to pasture yet. ****3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jushin "Thunder" Liger - NJPW 2/24/94 Notice on how Liger did not wear a top for this match to show off his muscles to make it more believable he could go toe to toe with Hashimoto. Respect size and everything matters more. This match is a perfect example of how by respecting size differentials match drama can be greatly enhanced. Early on Liger tries to do his routine moves like the surfboard and Ligerbomb, but cant because Hashimoto is just too big. On the flips side, Hashimoto can chuck Liger around like wicked snap belly to belly and his thrunderdous suplex slam. You really feel bad for Liger going up against this asskicker, but at the same time Liger is such a great wrestler you believe he has it in him. Hashimoto kicks his ass in the beginning. Liger realizes if he does not start fighting back he is going to get killed. So he unleashes a fury of palm strikes and a couple kappo kicks. He tries to speed up tempo, but eats a huge Hashimoto dropkick. Hashimoto destroys Liger's arm with wristlocks and then kicks the fucking hell out of it. My biggest complaint of the match is that Liger does not sell it long term, but still a great match. Liger uses speed and hits a basement dropkick. After those stinging kicks, I would be looking to fuck up his legs too. Liger proves he is not one to be manhandled and slaps the fuck out of Hashimoto in an inverted deathlock. Hashimoto is a great bully and I love how Liger is not backing down. It becomes an arm vs leg psychology. Liger wins out hits a missile dropkick on the knee and then applies figure-4. You see from Hashimoto's selling that it hurts, but does not hurt as much because Liger cant apply as much pressure. Then Liger just rattles off HUGE SPOT AFTER HUGE SPOT! OMG LIGERBOMB~! TOP ROPE BRAINBUSTER~! TOP ROPE FRANKENSTEINER~! GERMAN!!! That top rope brainbuster was scary. Hashimoto lets him have his fun before trying to kick a hole in his body. Those were fierce kicks. When Liger tries a palm strike, Hashimoto wipes him the fuck out with a leg sweep from hell. Kicks his fucking head off and then BRAINBUSTER~! Awesome David vs Goliath match where this time you knew Goliath was going to win and it is cool because it is rockstar badass Goliath, but David put up one helluva fight. ****1/2

Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW G-1 Climax '95 I periodically search for this match because of the glowing reviews on here and finally saw it up. The opening ground-based work was very effective and told a logical story.The stretch run was very dramatic and led to an exhilarating climax. Overall, I did think the match was uneven and disjointed. Mutoh is someone who always runs hot and cold with me. I thought he gave a very cold performance. He was motivated and executing fine. His selling was just not there for me. He was not in pain nor was he fighting through pain. His register was weird and his fire ups did not feel organic. I thought Hashimoto was his usual rockstar self. They basically switched gears half way through the match so I will not belabor the opening work even though it was fantastic. I really liked how Hashimoto grabbed Mutoh's foot on a kick to the head and had him ready for the anklelock, but Mutoh got the ropes. So Hashimoto puts his hands up to draw Mutoh's attention away from the leg, but his eyes told the story that he wanted the leg, Mutoh read that situation was able to catch the kick and turn it into a dragon leg screw. Awesome! Hashimoto eventually powdered and on his return tries to kick Mutoh's arm off, but Mutoh smartly kept going back to the leg. I really liked the double limb psychology, but they dropped it. If you go JIP about halfway in this match you never know about the double limb psychology and on top of that the transition was just Hashimoto deciding I am just going to chop Mutoh really hard. I am not too pissed because Hasimoto is a great asskicker. The second half of the match is a great escalating bombfest. Hashimoto ramps up to the Brainbuster, but Mutoh gets a crossarmbreaker. Mutoh hits his series of moves to get to the moonsault, but Hashimoto moves, he lands on his feet, but Hash sweeps the leg. Now Hash really kicks some ass, nearly takes his head off with a kick, HUGE DDT that bsust him open. He wants the brainbuster, but Mutoh starts wriggling and they are both jarred. In a strange move, Hash goes for the top rope splash and misses. Then Mutoh misses the moonsault. It is tit for tat. They are both down. You can really feel the drama. Whoever hits the next move wins basically. They are both on their feet. Hash moves forward and Mutoh hits a snap, flash Frankensteiner! That made me pop! Lightning moonsault! Kick out. Races back up and another snap moonsault to win the G-1 Climax. Match layout was not perfect, I did not love Mutoh's selling and there was some laying around in holds. That run up to the finish was picture perfect. It is a flawed match, but still a very entertaining one. ****1/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Terry Gordy - AWA 1985 OUI OUI, RICKY MARTEL!!! Gary Michael Capetta is the announcer and Dick Whirly is the ref so I am guessing this is in Philly, which you definitely dont think of as an AWA town. This went to a draw just when it was getting good. I thought this was a great championship bout. They did some fun nearfalls at the start to establish that both men were looking for the win, get the fans invested and put over both men's athleticism. Martel worked a strong headlock base. He was really wrenching at times ala Bob Backlund, getting himself over in a WWF stronghold. In fact, this reminds me very much of a Backlund WWF championship defense with Martel taking a lot of this and being generally superior in wrestling, strength and agility with Gordy bumping and selling well. I loved the headscissors work. Gordy would get bits of offense in, but nothing sustained with Martel finding different ways to get back to the headlock. They went for tit for tat on crossbodies. Gordy mistimed his reverse one, which Bock covered for expertly on commentary stating if Gordy hit it that way it would have been lights out for Ricky Martel. Bock was very good on commentary as expected. Every exchange leads Martel back into headlock. Gordy finally counters definitively with a big backdrop driver! Gordy starts throwing Martel around at will and using the chinlock to recover and sap Martel's energy. I thought this was a very effective heat segment. Trongard informs us there is one minute left and Martel flips out of a suplex and begins his comeback. OUI OUI, IT'S RICKY MARTEL TIME~! He was highstepping his way to victory with his usual awesome comeback. Unfortunately the bell rings. Martel clears the ring of the Freebirds. The best Gordy singles match I have seen in a long time. Ultimately feels incomplete, but a really cool watch. I wish we got a rematch that went longer and felt more climatic. ****1/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Nick Bockwinkel - AWA Wrestlerock '86 4/20/86 Nick Bockwinkel with the bullwhip is just the most awesome thing ever. He is pretty over at the Metrodome. Hansen bowls over Larry Nelson and kicks when he is down. New most awesome thing ever! I love Hansen charging around the ring during the ring introduction and Bock keeping him at bay with the bullwhip. Bockwinkel establishes early that he is not going to be bullied by Hansen. His fight fire with fire strategy is badass. Neither man gives an inch to the other and they just wail on each other the whole time. Hansen goes after the bullwhip at the outset, they tussle over it and Bock is able to start on top. Neither man really sells in this match, but it is ok because this match feels like a fight. Bock starts throwing really heavy blows at Hansen's body and arm almost in an attempt to force him to sell. Bock is a pretty snug wrestler, but he is punching Hansen pretty damn hard. Hansen would bully him, but Bock would always use some quickness or leverage to take him back down. He would keep him at bay in a hold and then unleashes some heavy blows onto the arm and body. There is one moment it feel like Bock loses his mind and just starts going to town on Hansen's arm. Hansen does not feel human. He is this crazed monster always moving forward. Bock is trying to use his superior wrestling to launch new offensives, but Hansen looks invulnerable. They are both yanking hair and clawing each other's face. BOCKWINKEL SLEEPER!!! This is Nick's best chance, but they both fall to the outside. It is during this match that realize how big Bockwinkel is. He is almost the size of Hansen. He throws Hansen around in a bodyslam that is pretty damn cool. Unfortunately this bumps the ref. He hits a crossbody and piledriver! But there is no ref! He actually looks like he may have phased the monster. By the time the ref gets up, Hansen dumps Bock over the top rope for the DQ. This was a great war, that felt closer to a shoot than work given how each guy would just randomly throw the other around and how they were clawing at each other. There were some times I did wish there was more selling and the transition did feel a little capricious. Overall, I think it added to the nature how they borderline uncooperative with each other. The finish was pretty damn lame. I really dug this. ****1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Magnum TA - AWA Superclash 9/28/85 The definitive Flair/Magnum match actually comes in the AWA as Flair goes on tour, but instead of facing the local hero he brings along the Carolina's hero. I am glad this exists because there is a really good TV match between the two, but due to the injury there was never a long house show match between the two that made the tape. As much as I like Flair (which is a lot) and I have thought about his character and working style a lot, I am not sure when the Flair formula match was developed, refined and applied. Around this time, Flair was working with Nikita Koloff, which leads me to believe that Flair was getting more accustomed to developing a layout that would entertain the crowd and allow him to treat his opponents as interchangeable parts. That being said, there are plenty of instances after this point where Flair has badass matches, I just think it comes more prevalent. I say all this because this is the Flair broomstick match. I think what Magnum brings to this match is great punches and good babyface charisma, but this is not much different from the Sting match. The biggest deviation is how well Flair works the arm so it is Flair himself that is causing the biggest departure. They do the standard Flair chain wrestling with Mags getting the best of him. Magnum hits a dropkick and press slams Flair. Flair begs off and gets some rabbit punches in to break up an armbar. He throws Magnum out and he storms back in pissed about the rabbit punches. He rifles Flair with punches to face. He goes for a dropkick, but he misses. Flair is at his offensive best here. He really kicked some ass: kneedrop, butterfly suplex and ab stretch. Flair misses second kneedrop, which actually sets up the Magnum figure-4. I really like that Flair cant win the subsequent suplex struggle because of knee. Flair gouges the eye and rams Mags shoulder first into the post. Some really nice Flair arm work in this segment that feels really different. Magnum uses a sleeper as a hope spot. Flair gets worried at this sign of life and Flair hits a kneecrusher and applies the figure-4. Magnum is able to reverse the pressure. Time for Flair to get his ass kicked. Flair flip and face smashed into post. Flair blades to add some drama. Flair goes into full frenzy mode, but cant get anything going. Magnum hit belly 2 belly, but the ref gets bumped and only counts for two. They do an O'Connor Roll reversal and Flair gets the trunks. It is a very entertaining and strong Flair-based match. Flair gave a really strong performance. This made Magnum just look there. Flair fans will love this. Flair detractors probably will not. Does feel routine. ****

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Leon White - AWA 3/13/86 The first time I actually watched this match was in my dorm freshman year on ESPN Classic and for some reason, two or three dudes were watching with me. I remember describing Stan Hansen as such a sourpuss and how to watch because he will fucking hit the shit out of Vader (Leon White is Vader before he was Vader, it is just easier for me to type "Vader"). Much like the lone douche screaming "boring" they were not interested until the middle of the match and man did they all get behind Vader by the end of it. It was a pretty cool moment. I do disagree with my friends on one thing is that the whole match was awesome from beginning to end. The whole bout is dripping with struggle. They lock up with such force. Vader takes most of the beginning with a nice side headlock. They do some fun "in and out" spots from headlock base like Vader cartwheeling over a Hansen drop down back into headlock. Hansen is always struggling in the headlock, nice crossface and dropping some nasty knees. They start laying into each other and Hansen really rears back and hits him hard forearm. Hansen takes him down with an armbar and then he starts manipulating fingers. Vader is hollering. Some really nice selling from Vader. Hansen destroys the hand, stomps on it, snapping fingers and smashing hand against hard objects. The fight on the outside was wicked. Vader punches Hansen in the throat and some great selling. They tease double countout. Vader has a really nice offensive stretch late with tackles and body splashes. He charges into the turnbuckle hard and then Hansen TAKES HIS HEAD OFF WITH A LARIAT!!! AWESOME FINISH! Great, great veteran champion versus young, upcoming rookie. Perfect layout with strong execution, lots of struggle, brutal and the finish was badass. Great, great TV! ****1/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Sgt Slaughter - AWA 3/9/86 Bunkhouse Match If only this went on for like 5-10 more minutes, they were kicking some major league ass. Definitely one of the best 5-6 minute sprint brawls of all time. This was a rip-roaring slobberknocker. Slaughter was kicking so much ass at the beginning. I loved Hansen having his chaps on for like half the match. Slaughter was throwing and raking Hansen's face into every hard object he could find. Hansen had to use an eye gouge to get a respite and they he pulled out tape block put them on his fists and let Sarge have it. Slaughter nearly punted his head off. I really like Slaughter loading his boot before stomping on Hansen's balls. Hansen tries to whip him with a belt, but Slaughter ends up choking him. I like the finish is Hansen going over the top rope when he going for the bullrope killshot after all the Slaughter Canons gone awry. Slaughter takes advantage to pull his boot off. Hansen bullrushes him and gets control of the boot, but misses. SLAUGHTER CANON! Sarge has the boot! Slaughter blasts him with the boot and wins via countout! Awesome brawl, just too short! ****

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Sgt Slaughter - AWA 2/23/86 Slaughter's hair was really Bozo-ing out, dude, needs to get that in check. Alright, here we go Stan the Man, this is more what I was expecting. A really nice brawl for the AWA World Championship in front of a packed house. Hansen and Slaughter fight on the floor. Slaughter gets the best of it. Hansen feeds and bumps for Slaughter well. In AWA at least, Hansen is controlling more on the mat than I remember from his work in Japan. Hansen bounces Slaughter's head off the turnbuckle. On second attempt Slaughter blocks and retaliates, but Hansen goes after leg. Hansen goes a really good job grounding the heated Slaughter with leg work then escalating and really kicking it at the leg and wrenching against the post. Slaughter does a Hulk Up and the Bozoing out really happens. Wind up! Big punch! Hansen is able to use his weight to mess up Sarge's knee. The collide heads. Slaughter follows up with backbreakers so much for his knee. Slaughter actually has a pretty fun offensive sequence leading up to the Cobra Clutch ramming Hansen into the turnbuckles, dropping elbows and knees on a prone Hansen on the apron. Hansen is selling well for Slaughter. Cobra Clutch and a pretty big pop from the crowd, which I think was chanting "We Want Blood" earlier. Hansen makes ropes but charges into corner and goes flying on outside. Slaughter gives him no quarter and beats him up outside. He throws him back in and signalling for the Canon. Again, Hansen ducks sending Slaughter careening to the outside. The brawl really gets heated on the floor. Hansen swings chair into the post. The ref calls for a double countout. Hansen bails before Slaughter can hit, but then he comes back for more and Slaughter obliges by kicking his ass. They tussle over the chair and Slaughter nails him. Really fun, entertaining brawl. ****

Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito vs The Fabulous Ones - AWA 9/30/84 So I am bitching & moaning in the Rock N Roll Express matches that they are too long, well guess what this was way too short. Wow! This was a humdinger of a tag team match. I was absolutely loving every minute of this and did not want it to end. These four were just being absolute dicks to each other. This felt very Japanese. Yes, it was double face in peril with the Fabs playing FIP, Fabs were double teaming and being pricks right with Bock & Saito. Plus there was constant nonstop run ins from the partners and just a general sense of competition and struggle. I really enjoyed it. Bock jumpstarts the match and sets the tone by dragging Keirn over to their corner and they immediately start double teaming and choking Keirn. It was just nonstop asshole tactics. You can hear Lane shout to the ref to restore some order. He had his hands full with these four. Lane bites his tongue for a bit. Bock & Saito are looking for the win early by applying the sleeper repeatedly. Keirn keeps fighting back, but has really been double teamed hard. He has to fight his way over to Lane. Lane kicks some serious ass. Lots of karate and dropkicks. A hot tag that does not end in 30 seconds!!! Thank The Lord! I think the face shine after a short heat segment is a really great idea. I think that's my major malfunction with the RnR matches is the heat segment right into another heat segment it becomes like 80% heat segment. The Fabs just throw everything back in Bock's face in glorious fashion. There is choking, double teaming, teeing off on him and just steeping on his face. Bock is such a champ at selling all this. When Bock makes the ropes, Lane yanks him by the hair and then he puts on the SLEEPER! They paid him back in every way. Saito chop Lane on the sleeper so Keirn yanks Bock back over to their corner. Saito blasts Lane. Bock is able to crawl to get a cover for 2. He then drives his thumb into the throat so Saito can get tag in. Saito promptly goes for the Scorpion Deathlock so Keirn comes over and blasts him! This is fucking awesome! BACKDROP DRIVER! Saito back for the Scorpion Deathlock and Bock pushes on Saito's head and Keirn is exhorting Lane. Lane powers out. Lane tries to crawl over and Bock is right on it with figure-4. Keirn drops the elbow. That means he is not there for the tag! Saito double judo chop and Bock punches him in the gut. One angry women wonders where the ref who she calls a "fat fucker" got his license after that count. They continue to double team Lane in the corner. Lane ab stretch on Bock. Saito baits Keirn in, goes back and then comes crashing down on Lane with a chop. That was a bitchin sequence! They knock heads and Keirn pulls Lane out for the old switcheroo and small packages Bock for the win. The story of the match is The Fabs went toe to toe with Bock & Saito at their own game and beat them with those underhanded tactics. Sometimes you just got to fight fire with fire. I seriously believe with 5, maybe 10 more minutes this would be contender for best American straight (no gimmicks) tag match of all time. Incredible. I cant go much higher than ****1/2, but cant praise or recommend this enough.

I think there are two Flair matches one made the Mid-South and one from Houston that Flair fans might point to. I have not seen them. Also there is a Flair/Wahoo match from one of the Battle of the Belts cards in Florida, which I have also never seen. Nothing else springs to mind as a candidate, but I could be missing something obvious.

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Wahoo McDaniel - AWA 8/28/83 I am so glad we have this on tape. There is no commentary and I dont know why we do, but it is so awesome. It was really cool to see Bockwinkel in this stiff, violent brawl. I have gotten to see very little, but what little I have seen, I liked a lot and am so grateful that we have a classic like this on tape. Bock ain't playing around, he has his fists taped up, but Wahoo is here to kick some ass. He targets the leg and and throws some tomahawk chops. The crowd seems pretty pro-Wahoo. Bock retreats to the outside where he grabs a chair and clobbers Wahoo. HOLY SHIT! He sends Wahoo into the post and then drives his head into a steel pole that holds up the ropes near the fans. Wahoo is bleeding, but comes firing back with chops. You can hear the crowd fine, but there are no sound effects so we are robbed of the dulcet cacophony of flesh on flesh. Wahoo is delivering a deliberate and measured ass kicking. Bock is the best at this kind of split-legged dazed selling or falling to his knees and rocking back and forth after every chop to the head. Bock rakes the eyes and throws Wahoo to the outside, but Wahoo meets him at the apron to chop him in the head and Bock falls on his ass in some great selling. Bock relentlessly tries to grab his famed Oriental Sleeper, not once, not twice, but three times and his head driven into the turnbuckles. Wahoo gets some payback on the outside cracking Bock's head off hard objects. Bock and Wahoo crack heads and Bock ricochets outside the ring. The finish sees Wahoo trying to go through the ropes to get Bock and is nailed with the chair. My one complaint that keeps this from being an all-time classic is that I did not feel like they were earning every inch. I thought Bock was complacent in selling and bumping, but Wahoo and not fighting back enough. It is a small complaint, but one that kept me from marking out to the fullest extent. Still Wahoo vs Bock lives up to the hype as one of the best violent brawls of the 80s. ****1/2

I am glad I am not alone in thinking the rematch is better (pretty slightly better, but better). I hope to the get review up by the end of the week.

Mid-South North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Butch Reed - Mid-South 9/22/85 I would conjecture that this was to give Reed more practice in the classic NWA World Championship style as he already had one match against Flair and would have a couple more. It would establish Reed as the lead championship material babyface whereas Duggan was the brawling, blue collar babyface. Reed is able to convey not only brute strength in this match, but a great amount of technique, stamina and also some great verbal selling. On the flip side, there is always talk that Murdoch would have been NWA World Championship if it had not been his propensity for comedy and lightheartedness in his match. This series with Reed gives us an inkling of what it would have been like if Captain Redneck was The Man.What a great reign it would have been! I had watched a good amount of Murdoch before this and liked him, but this match totally sold me on him. He is an absolute torture master. Then when it comes to selling he is just so spot on. I don't know how to explain it, but it is exactly what I think you should do. It is the perfect blend of entertainment and conveying pain. This is nominally face vs face at the beginning, but Murdoch will be playing de facto heel. They do tit for tat armdrags to establish face vs face. We get the long Reed side headlock, which is custom for Reed in his matches with Flair. Murdoch is right there with Ole & Arn for best at working the arm just incredible at making everything look painful (wristlock while stomping on head and ribs) and takes his time. Reed uses power tries for pin and then goes right back to the headlock. We get that sequence for a bit and it is very logical and very entertaining. I think it was great to have Reed creating the movement. The match is getting more and more heated with them both working hard. It crescendos to both men cocking their fists and the ref intervening to stop this classical match from getting out of hand. Perfect tease. Reed takes a powder from all the arm work and he psyches himself up, which is a really cool spot. The ref tries to cool him down. I love we get a collar and elbow tie up this late into the match. It is a nice reset without forgetting the past. He levels Murdoch with a forearm and classic Murdoch face down selling. Perfect. Murdoch elbows the top of head to get to a hammerlock bearhug with nasty punches to the ribs. Murdoch throws out classical wrestling and just starts throwing nasty strikes to Reed that causes him to slump into the ring. In a criss cross sequence, Reed finally clock Murdoch and Capn Redneck is reeling. Murdoch drags him to the outside and slams him on the concrete. They tease the countout finish. Piledriver, knee drop, Murdoch is pouring it on, but only gets two after each. The selling in this match is amazing. With each men selling this war of attrition and trying to fight through the pain. Reed was great at selling the face, being doubled over and then fighting through all that finally kicks some ass in a great comeback. Murdoch does his great job selling with his weak windmill punches. Murdoch tries to fight from his ass, awesome! Reed just starts to choke him. It is breaking loose in Tulsa! I hope it is Tulsa! They start trading punches and atomic drops and Reed's final atomic drop was a DOUBLE HOT nearfall! Dicky Murdoch rolls to the outside. Reed is exhausted and they both collapse from all this fighting! Reed applies the figure-4, hey now you cant say Flair made him do that spot! Murdoch is in the ropes and Reed is relentless and the ref is trying to get Butch to back off. Of course, this causes Reed to eat a boot. Now Reed is fighting from his back and punching the bad knee. Wow! Murdoch tries a bodyslam, but his knee is so fucked they both topple over the top rope. Double countout. Badass classical American title match. Reed shoves ref as he is trying to give Murdoch the belt. I smell rematch. He punches Murdoch and throws him into the belt. He decks ref. It gets scrappy and they finally break it up. Butch promo and this becomes a wicked brawl. I loved this match. Awesome selling, really built well to Reed's comeback and Murdoch is excellent at all facets of wrestling. ****3/4

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Hulk Hogan - AWA 4/24/83 Watching the six man match from like a month prior to this, you could see Hulkamania in full force. Oddly enough, I did not think Hogan was as over here, he was over, but not HULKAMANIA over. I think it is because he was not running wild and unbridled. The Hogan of like 1984-1987 has just incredible amount of effusive energy that is irresistible. He is almost subdued against Bockwinkel. Bockwinkel gives a great bumping heel performance, but he is supplying a lot of the energy, but he is not that over as a heel. I just thought of this right now, but I think he is most over of the two combatants should be the wrestler supplying the energy. Bock was pinballing off Hogan to establish Hogan's strength game. I liked the tit for tat with Bock repeatedly kneeing Hogan in the ropes only for Hogan to turn around on Bock. That was Bock's great equalizer using short strikes to the ribs like he did against Martel. Overall, he got very little offense in and this was mostly Hogan kicking ass or missing a move. He did have more offensive range in this match, but ti goes to show you it is not how many moves you know, but how you do them. The Hulk Up was definitely not down pat and things just did feel HUGE like you would expect this title match to feel. I actually liked the finish run quite a bit with Bock desperately trying the sleeper three times and the first two times Lord James Blears is wiped out only for the third time Hogan to hurl the champion over the top rope, bring him back in and hit the legdrop for the win and the AWA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP! As one would know, Bock has the belt returned to him on the technicality of the ref being bumped. It was a fine match and I was actually impressed with some of Hogan's moves like his Oklahoma Slam and his clothesline, but it was missing that spark. Bock was fun as a heel, but would have been nicely he was a bigger mountain to climb in this match. ***

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Nick Bockwinkel - AWA, Winnipeg 1/17/86 I would imagine that Bockwinkel was disappointed in this match and honestly so am I. It is a great and enjoyable match, but Flair is not very interested in working anything but his match. In his defense, he was in Winnipeg, a place that had never or rarely seen him so all his spots would be incredibly fresh. That being said he was going up against NICK FUCKING BOCKWINKEL!!! Not Rufus in the parking lot of a used car dealership in Bumblefuck, KS. We are joined in progress and miss about the first ten minutes. One of the first things we see is a beautiful, masterful drop toe hold into a leg lace. I am a mark for a good drop toe hold and Bockwinkel has the best. Flair is great at verbal selling. The entire leg work on Flair is the best part because it feels different and Flair is selling it so well. Bock thinks figure-4, but opts for the figure-4. I should mention Scott Hall is on commentary and he is actually pretty good. Bockwinkel goes for a splash and eats knees. Flair gets a double stomp in before his delayed vertical into the figure-4. The crowd is chanting Nick! Nick! Nick! Was there one specific angle where Nick Bockwinkel went from number one heel in the promotion to respected veteran? Nick reverses the pressure on Flair. Flair throws Bock out and is able to grab a sleeper. At some point, Bock even joins the "press slam Flair off the top rope" list. They go the tit for tat route with Bockwinkel using the figure-4, sleeper and throwing Flair out. Flair does sell the figure-4 for a while and it allows Bock to win a suplex struggle. Flair is not mailing this in at all. He is selling every single hold and he is bringing all his usual energy. It is just he is not trying anything outside his routine. They both tumble over the top rope and it is a double countout. Both men were clearly trying and putting out a lot of energy, but it felt like an exhibition. There was selling and good offense, but it just felt like fun. I am very glad it exists. ***1/2

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Ragin & Ravishin (Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude) - WCW TV 12/6/86 I am going to sound like a broken record, but again I thought this heat segment on Morton was too long. I don't really think they needed to go 30 minutes in this match. They established their point and manufactured the drama, but prolonging the agony on Morton's arm only served to lessen the impact of the finish. I thought all three RnR matches I have seen are at about the same level and with the same issue. I would probably put this middle of the pack, but I think they are very close to each other. I liked the shine of this one a lot and probably the most of three. I thought they did a great job dazzling them with speed early. Rude & Fernandez were great at selling that. I have seen limited Manny Fernandez, but he was very athletic and very impressive in how he moved in the ring. He was definitely the workhorse of the team, but I thought Rude carried his end. Fernandez missed an impressive second rope elbow drop and they went to work on the arm. They establish the red herring of Morton favoring his injured, taped arm from Starrcade after every arm drag. You expect that to be the transition into the heat segment. The kids chanting "Break It!" when Gibson had Manny in the arm stretcher was funny. It turns out ti was not Morton's arm that needed to be worried about but Gibson's injured leg, which Manny kicked and promptly tagged out. Rude cut him off and held him down for Manny to come off the top rope with a knee crashing down on Gibson injured knee. They worked the leg with deathlock and they wrenched. We got the standard Gibson crawling to the wrong corner drama. Rude takes a HUGE back body drop and thats enough for Gibson to roll through to make the tag, Like many RnR matches, the first hot tag is short lived and the Ragin Bull wails away on Morton's bad arm. Like in the Gibson heat segment, one of the first moves is Fernandez crashing down from the turnbuckles onto Morton arm. They do the good heel work of pulling the bandage off and even use the Anderson hammerlock slam. There is a lot of arm holds, but they are being wrenched and some good double teams. I wish the RNR Express member on the apron would assert himself more. Morton getting rammed into the steel post, Paul Jones getting a lick in and Rude coming crashing down off the apron was a nice mix-up, but again it was back to the arm bar. Inverted atomic drop on Rude, which is not as awesome as an atomic drop on Rude. FINALLY HOT TAG! Again quick finish, which was the general norm, but I feel like RNR Crockett matches have quicker finishes than WWF even. Morton injures himself on a dropkick. Gibson goes for the O'Connor Roll, Rude decks him so Manny ends up on top for the win and NEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! This was a great limb-based double FIP tag team match that was very enjoyable. ****1/4

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs The Andersons - Starrcade 1986 Steel Cage Match NOW GET READY TO BOOGIE! It is the consummate babyface tag team against the consummate heel tag team, so you can bet your ass this is pretty damn spectacular. I really enjoyed early on Arn tries to bully Robert Gibson into the cage only to be rammed into it and then in his dazed wandering over to Morton and getting nailed. The early portion of the match feels like a great tag team match that just so happens to take place in a cage. Morton is teeing off on Ole. I love in the 80s how quick the tags were in the early going. Gibson charges after Ole and his knee rams the top turnbuckle. Now we go to school! Andersons working over a limb is like chicken soup for the pro wrestling fan's soul. Gibson kicks off in a toehold sending Arn into the cage and love his presence of mind to tag Ole and stop Gibson from moving. Gibson trying to crawl away from Ole sends up the Rock N Roll chants! The Andersons are so great at ring awareness and ring positioning. These little details are so overlooked in today's pro wrestling. ENZIGUIRI! Morton's hot tag is very short lived as he sent crashing into the cage repeatedly by Ole and of course Morton is wearing the crimson mask in no time. The Andersons are wrestling a perfect tag team constantly keep themselves between Morton and Gibson and maintaining control in their corner so every hope spot can countered with a quick tag. Arn rakes Morton's face in the cage and the shreiks of the girls are amazing in this. They are working the cut and the arm of Morton. They are just dissecting Morton's arm with laser precision. In the Russians match, we did not get to see Morton in all his glory. This is Ricky Morton at his absolute best with a totally captivating performance. Morton catches Arn off the ropes and nails a DDT, but cant capitalize. Ole is quick to come in and attack launching him in the cage. Gibson needs to assert himself! I mean that both in a kayfabe sense and a entertainment sense. Watching the Andersons kick ass is great, but everything has diminishing returns. I think just like in the Russians match, the heat segment goes too long. I think a stronger Gibson presence would have added some dynamism. I really like the spinning wristlock by Ole. Morton on his knees with the crimson mask teeing off on Ole was a great act of defiance. HUGE SPINBUSTER~! ARN IS FUCKING PUMPED! Knee by Ole from top rope onto the arm. This is such a severe ass kicking. Ole cuts off with a brutal knee and Morton just wont stop fighting. Arn saves and finally Gibson runs over Arn. Gibson proves himself useful by dropkicking Morton on top of Ole for the win! Huge pop! Like I mentioned a similar issue with the Russian match that the heat segment seemed interminable. Well it turned out it was because there was no hot tag. I actually like that wrinkle, but I think there were ways to build to a more climatic finish. The Andersons are much more enjoyable to watch on offense so it was better than the Russians match. It just could have used more variety. A great master's class in tag team wrestling by four of the best. ****1/4