Superstar Sleeze

WWF has a history of not giving a fuck what other promotions do. They took Backlund out of relative obscurity and turned him into their second longest reigning champion. I don't think WWF was thinking well Georgia treated him like a mid-carder so we would look bad for pushing him to the top. WWF did as they please. They saw money in the Sheik and gave him a big run with Slaughter. Muraco was on the downside big time. He has two peaks '81 against Backlund and '83 against Backlund & Snuka. Once he dropped the IC Title to Tito, Muraco was never a major player in the WWF. He did some funny vignettes with Fuji, sure, but he gone for huge periods of time. He is a pretty bad example. Piper, I will definitely buy as someone, who was always well-protected by McMahon. Piper eclipsed Sheik by 1985, but in 1984 they were still establishing Piper. Sheik was still being fed jobbers in early 84 after his title loss. I do not think he was in the right place, right time. I believe he was chosen for the reasons I outline above. I do not recall it being treated as upset, but I have not watched that match in a while. When Sheik & Volkoff were going against Slaughter & JYD (#2 & #3 heels) they treated as a threat. The title change was done because of Wrestlemania, but it is not like Vince chose another heel tag team. He chose Sheik & Volkoff because he believed they were his best heel tag team. I agree with your overarching point that Iron Sheik had a very small peak as a main player, roughly late 1983-85. We would scoff at such a small run when other wrestlers have been able to stand the test of time, but Sheik has stood the test of time in a different way. He is a well-known character from the WWF Golden Age. That is something to be heralded for. I just think you went way OVERBOARD declaring that Sheik's run against Brunzell in Mid-Atlantic somehow is more important than the Sheik/Slaughter feud. I really, really dont think your career trajectory can be broadly described when there were such boundaries between the territories. There are going to be a lot more discrete, transient spikes in the early 80s then you will see in the National era, which have more broad, steady-state behavior.

Stan Stasiak was the expected retort, but I hardly think Sheik was just the next scheduled challenger. Backlund fought Don Muraco, Ivan Koloff, the Samoans, Sgt. Slaughter, the Masked Superstar and the Iron Sheik in 1983. There is no doubt Vince Jr was looking to get the belt off Backlund onto someone with more marketability. Vince Jr was looking to go national. He did not want a demographic champion that only appealed to a small segment of the American population. He wanted the ultimate American Hero that would appeal to a wide swath of America. His title victory had to be against a figure that all Americans would revile. Don Muraco, the beach bum is not going to be that iconic moment for the Vince's greatest creation. Vince has kind of gotten way from this over the years, but the reason I think he was such a brilliant promoter was he distilled wrestling into singular moments that are easily disgestible. Other promotions focused on angles. Other focus on matches. Vince focuses on moments. 1980s Vince is so calculating as a promoter there is no way Iron Sheik was just another challenger. He was the transitional champion that Vince needed to create that iconic moment. America triumphs over its Enemies! Vince made the decision that Iron Sheik was the best foreign heel in America at that point. Vince in the 80s was so good at down cycling wrestlers, but still getting so much out of them. He would use the IC and Tag division to keep big stars interesting fresh, but Hogan was an immovable object on top. The more 80s WWF I watch, it is not the angles or wrestling that I find brilliant. It is Vince's booking and his way of capturing and extracting moments out of wrestling. Sheik was a beneficiary of this. Hogan was the top dog, but Sheik was still in very important angles against Slaughter and the US Express over the course of two years.

We are having this thread and NO ONE cares to argue that someone thinks the Iron Sheik's top run was in Mid-Atlantic in 1980. Seriously? The guy was chosen to be a heel transitional champ in the WWF that is a huge badge of honor. In a babyface territory like the WWF to be selected to be champ indicates how good he McMahons thought you were a heel. Sheik was WWF's top heel in 1984 by far. He had Hogan's best matches in 1984, a really good bloody one in Philly (April or May I believe). Sheik/Slaughter was the number one feud in the WWF. Hogan was the top attraction, but he was not involved in the top feud he was taking on an assortment of characters: Studd, Valentine, Dr. D, Orndorff and Sheik. The Slaughter/Sheik angle was the blood feud of that year and a big draw. The Sheik/Slaughter Bootcamp Match outdrew the Brawl To End It All, which was the only think I would consider maybe a bigger angle (Cyndi Lauper was huge). In addition, he was getting singles matches with Backlund, Tito and Andre. When he was not wrestling jobbers, he was wrestling the top 5 babyfaces in the promotion and usually as the main drawing match. Then the dismissal of the Sheik/Volkoff tag team like it was just some random occurrence that they won the titles. They were the number one heel tag team from late 1984 when they faced off against Slaughter/JYD and until the rise of the Dream Team. The Sheik&Volkoff vs Slaughter/JYD did some big business and kept the Slaughter/Sheik feud fresh. Adonis/Murdoch were being phased out in favor of Sheik and Volkoff and thats why the won the titles. Sheik&Volkoff vs US Express was the number one tag feud for the majority of the year. At this point, the Dream Team assumes the mantle of number one heel tag team. It is the 80s, no heels ever win. Judging things by wins and losses versus major babyfaces is foolish. However, 1984 results does indicate the Sheik was being protected because the amount of jabronis he was still being fed. If he was facing major babyfaces, he would either be getting beaten or having clusterfuck finishes. By 1985, you see that happening with matches against Blackjack Mulligan and Junkyard Dog. Did Sheik have the run on top that some the territory stars? No, not at all. Are there more deserving candidates if we took a non-WWF-centric view, of course. However, I was watching ESPN back during college basketball season. Who got name-dropped Sgt Slaughter and Iron Sheik. Iron Sheik is a relatively big name in the wrestling community because he played such a great classic wrestler. When people think of wrestlers it is people like Sheik who pop in their head because of how he looked and was presented. Add in that he is a WWF guy that puts him over a bunch of candidates. I just did think you are severely understating his runs 1984 and 1985 where he was a huge part of the WWF promotion.

Demolition as babyfaces sort of dreading this, but also intrigued. WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji - 11/88 Boston One of the first matches of this feud proper as Fuji turned his back on Demolition and joined the Warlord & Barbarian. Demolition clears the ring and they tease getting Fuji, but POP makes the save. Demos doing double-team forearm sledges and crowd seems to be behind Demolition. Smash tries to chinlock Barbarian and Barbarian gives him an uppercut as to say I am not going to be your heel in peril, bitch. Warlord is useless. Ax gets hit with the cane when he gets too close to Fuji. Boring heat segment as not surprisingly these two teams cant put together there. Barbarian could have salvaged it, but he settled for the Vulcan nerve pinch. It breaks loose in Tulsa as Smash comes in and Barbarian does a cartwheel out of the ring to a big pop and best bump of the match. Smash is better than Brunzell at being a hot tag I will give him that. Fuji just sort of wanders in the ring. He looks lost to be honest. Ref just throws the match out and Ax chases them off with the cane. An inauspicious start to Demolition's babyface run, but we could chock that up to Warlord sucking. ----------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji - 12/88 MSG NO DQ Holy shit! Barbarian speaks! Decent promo by him. Fuji may be the most useless manager save for Albano. This match outright sucks. If it is NO DQ give me a brawl, I know it is late 80s WWF. I dont need blood, just some wild out of control brawl. Instead it is boring, shitty match. At least it was short. Ax was movin and shakin tonight. I have not seen him move so well since watching Demolition and actually took a pretty bump off Fuji's cane. Barbarian did his best with a nice flying shoulderblock, a shoulderbreaker and missing a top rope diving headbutt. He is the best worker of the 4. Ax and Barbarian could have had a decent singles match. Smash has no idea how to be a babyface. He just slaps on restholds. Ax understands he needs to keep things moving. Warlord is a candidate for worst wrestler ever. Finish is a countout victory for the Powers of Pain as Ax/Barbarian brawl on the outside. Only one more match.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji - Wrestlemania V The best match of the series as Barbarian brought some nice moves during the heat segment and it climaxed appropriately with Fuji getting his comeuppance. I dont mind the double clubbering from Demolition it is the chinlocks on the POP that are boring. Warlord is so awkward taking the Demos offense. Barbarian uppercuts and works his usual moves: flying shoulderblock as Fuji gets his licks in. Fuji gets cocky and misses a top rope leg drop. Smash in with some bodyslams and they drop Warlord throat first across the top rope. POP breaks it up. Fuji with salt in Warlord's eyes. Leaving Fuji alone to take Demolition Decapitation. The first time I have actually seen Demolition hit that move. The match has better executed heat segment and Fuji eating Decapitation was a fitting climax. It is only up from here.

I would say he would be very much regarded in the same light as Dynamite Kid, wonderful "technical" worker in WWF's "Golden Age" Tag division. Since he did have a couple good to great singles matches under his belt such as the Savage SNME match, Perfect & DiBiase matches there might be some clamor for "What could have been", but nothing at the level of a Magnum TA that you dont see with Dynamite. Of course, I think he is way better than Dynamite as a worker in all their matches, but to the untrained eye I could see the comparisons being made.

WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88 This is a battle between the two best in-ring generals of the WWF Tag Division: Ax & Bret. However, Bret proves that his will is indomitable and this is most definitely a Hart Foundation match, but surprisingly it is their best match I have seen so far. Demolition's trademarks of their opponents needing to double up, their early strength advantage, aimless beatdowns are nowhere to be found. Instead they are replaced by Bret and Anvil having their way with Demolition until Bret runs his shoulder into the post giving Demolition a focused attack. The beginning of the match is only interesting insofar that it sets the mood that the Hart Foundation is in control and the Demolition have no strength advantage. Anvil eats a knee while running the ropes ala the heel Hart Foundation. That is a short heat segment, before Bret's shoulder eats the post. Bret is a great sympathetic face in peril as the Demolition is relentless on his shoulder. This is the best Demolition control segment so far because their focused attack and being very active in it. Bret gets a clothesline for the false hot tag and then a boot to the face on a charge. Anvil is hot tonight! He dropkicks and slams Demolition at will clearing them from the ring. In my favorite spot of the match, Bret slingshots Anvil over the top rope onto Demolition on the floor. Anvil gets a running powerslam for 2. They do the Anvil slingshot into the corner and that only gets 2. A Bret backbreaker gets 2 and Ax saves. Fuji is on the apron and takes about 7 Anvil blows without flinching until Ax can finally hit Bret with Hart's megaphone. Way to make Anvil look like a chump, Fuji. Besides Fuji no-selling all of Anvil's punches, this was way better than I expected because I always thought Summerslam '90 match kinda sucked. The beginning could have been helped by using some of Eadie's touches. However, the heat segment and the stretch were all very entertaining and worked well. So far this was the Anvil's best performance. I did not see Jimmy Hart's turn on the Hart Foundation. Whats the deal? Who dumped who? Jimmy Hart was not managing the Rougeaus yet so it was not exactly a double turn. Also seems weird that Hart Foundation were totally non-existent between Wrestlemania IV and Summerslam '88, but I guess the best way to turn someone face back then was give them a layoff so people could forget all the dastardly things you had done. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji vs Hart Foundation - 10/88 SNME This match is more of a backdrop to really kickstart Rougeaus/Hart Foundation feud in earnest around the horn while Demolition works against the Powers of Pain. It is very similar to Summerslam match only in low gear and a generic heat segment. Anvil controls early with a vertical suplex after some double teaming from Demolition. Bret does well for himself for about minute before he falls prey to the awesome might of Demolition. Bret is the best babyface worker that Demolition has faced in terms of selling and Bret gets the Demolition offense over that way. Hot tag to the Anvil, who is as I expected a pretty good hot tag besides the low-flying dropkicks just stick to power moves. He hits his running powerslam, but it gets broken up. Fuji & Hart on the ring apron while the Rougeaus sneak out. Fuji gets decked by Bret and sells. Anvil has Jimmy by the collar, but one of the Rougeaus tosses the meagphone to Ax who nails Anvil for the win in the confusion. Not a match to go out your way to see, but it does kickstart the number 3 tag team feud with Rockers/Busters and Demolition/Powers Of Pain at 2 and 1. Finally the tag team division looks healthy again after a pretty dismal 1988.

After watching all these WWF tag matches, I was being to think all this heel in peril stuff was a bit overstated, but then Demos/Bees and Rockers/Busters worked lengthy heel in peril segments. The Rockers vs The Brainbusters - 1/89 MSG This match is all about the Busters putting over the Rockers as the hot, new WWF tag team. Double A slaps Michaels and Michaels returns the favor showing he wont back down. Another fun spot is Tully tries to tag out while in a wristlock by having Arn tag his foot, but ref wont allow it. In an excellent sequence. Both the Busters put top wristlocks on Marty, Marty skins the cat; dropkicks the both of them; slams Arn and gives Tully a double superkick. The Rockers are rolling. Tully, sensing things are getting out of hand, feigns extending an olive branch only to kick Marty. Jannetty gets an atomic drop onto Tully, but when Shawn enters the match in the confusion he misses a dropkick, but Shawn is able to get a hurricanrana on Arn and a double dropkick re-establish the Rockers on top. Shawn gives chase to Tully and Arn is lying in wait and Shawn eats a clothesline. The Busters double team and choke Michaels, but they are not zeroing in one body part. Shawn's punches look so much better here than in the 00s. The Busters are not doing much in the way of spots but they are following up on their advantage. Tully/Shawn do to the bridge into backslide sequence that I have always liked. Shawn must have been over the moon working with Tully and especially doing that sequence. Shawn does the leap for the tag, but Tully catches him and gives him a reverse atomic drop. AA follows up with a spinebuster for 2. AA does his knucklelock sequence and Shawn gets his knees up. They both tag out. Tully is hilarious begging off for Marty. The Rockers get the rocket launcher, but Arn saves. As Marty goes to suplex Tully, Arn grabs Marty leg out from under him and holds down his tassel as Tully gets the pin. That would also be the finish for Rude/ Warrior Wrestlemania V match. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs The Brainbusters - 3/89 Boston This is the definitely worst match of the lot. Marty may be stoned out of his mind as he works in slow motion during this match and is also working the face in peril. The Rockers work a really deliberate pace, which surprises Tony Schiavone, always weird to hear him commentate on WWF matches and is quite boring. The beginning stuff with Shawn and Tully is pretty good as Tully amuses me. Tully armdrags Shawn and struts over to Arn to celebrate. Shawn armdrags Tully and he crawls to Marty's corner and bitches out. Arn comes in and they do some slugging both looking good. The Rockers do some synchronized dropkicks and Marty barley makes contact. They double hiptoss and double dropkick Arn and he needs up on his ass calling for a timeout. Funny stuff. Arn ends up hitting the post with his shoulder, which results in a long and boring heel in peril segment on Arn's arm. This Boston crowd is nothing like New York and is dead, but I dont blame them. I know Marty blew two spots, but I cant seem to recall what they were. They work Tully's arm and it just goes one. Synchronized figure-4s wake up the crowd and the heels break up with eye-rakes. This time Marty goes for headscissors only have his neck dropped across the rope. Tully hotshots him for go measure and there is plenty of choking to take away Marty's wind. At some point, AA thrusted his hips at Shawn, somebody missed Naitch a lot. All the focus is on Marty's neck. Arn does his knucklelock sequence, but this time he catches himself and parlays it into catapulting Marty into Tully's forearm. Marty does the leap for the tag spot. Marty starts piling on the hope spots with a flying bodypress for 2 and a sunste flip for 2. Jannetty even gets a vertical suplex so Tully punches Shawn, which distracts the ref and Arn dumps Marty over the top rope. Shawn gets the hot tag after Marty gets in some more punches. Shawn is not as good as Marty at the house of fire stuff. Shawn and AA end up outside brawling, but Rockers get back in hit the Rocket Launcher and just like MSG AA pulls out the ref for the DQ. This is the least of the matches as Marty was blowing spots and looked awful. Shawn looked pretty good, but was not as good as Marty as the hot tag. The Busters were a bit more focused in their heat segments and their antics were great, but were dragged down by that interminable heel in peril segment. I think the Rockers will end up being the best WWF Tag Team, but everyone can lay an egg. We will see how the SNME matches hold up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs The Brainbusters w/Bobby The Brain Heenan - 3/89 SNME What a sprint! I am out of breath just having watched this. This is the match I was really looking for from these guys. Busters blindside early. Tully goes for the kill with his slingshot suplex and Marty counters, but Tully counters into a rollup only for Shawn to cross body block Tully while in the rollup. Busters try to whip the Rockers into each other they do a little do-see-do and knock the Busters out. Crazy good opening sequence as Busters powder. Shawn press slams Arn off the top and it ends up with the Busters taking synchronized superkicks. Shawn hits a nice headscissors on Tully. Arn gets one shoulderblock on Shawn, but Shawn gets a drop toehold on the next one. Heenan pulls down the top rope, which gets him ejected of course he hems and haw to great crowd heat. Marty actually starts the next segment and Marty goes for the atomic drop, but while hoisted up Tully tags Arn. Arn comes in and smashes Marty. Marty bumps great for that. Marty playing a much more active face in peril. Arn dumps Marty over the top onto the floor. I love when Arn desperately tries to grasp for the ropes on a sunset flip attempt by Jannetty. Tully/Jannetty get to do the bridge/backslide/leap for tag/reverse atomic drop sequence that always looks good. Arn in with a wicked spinebuster and Shawn makes the save. Arn attempts a Vaderbomb attempt and eats knees. Both teams tag. Tully bitches out for Shawn, who does a much better job on this hot tag as the crowd is rocking. Shawn attempts a suplex on Arn, only for Tully to sunset flip Shawn and Arn to blast Shawn. Marty retaliates by diving on Tully. They end up on the floor where they back body drop Tully onto Arn. The result is a double countout. The Rockers get back in the ring and give both Busters a double dropkick for the symbolic victory. This was such a great sprint as it was bell-to-bell action that got over both tag teams to a national audience. The Rockers played a great high-energy tag team that could not be stopped until the Busters started using underhanded tactics. The Busters worked a tough, rugged style, but worked hard to put over the Rockers. They worked some very intricate sequences for the 80s and they came off great. My favorite match of theirs by far and one of the best 80s tag matches from the WWF. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rockers vs The Brainbusters w/Bobby The Brain Heenan - 11/89 SNME 2 out of 3 Falls This is a pretty good match in the Rockers series. I would put it below the January MSG match and the barnburner 3/89 SNME match. There is dissension in the Heenan Family due to the Busters' loss of the tag belts and whether Heenan is meaningful to the success of the team. Marty gets wrist control and Tully tries to use some hair to get the advantage, but Marty keeps kipping up. Marty attempts a sunset flip, but Tully holds onto Arn and Shawn comes crashing down on Tully's back. The Rockers go up 1-0 quickly and Heenan is irate and berates the Busters. Heenan shoves Tully and realizes his mistake and powders. Rockers hit synchronized superkicks to start second fall and Heenan deserts his own tag team. Well soon he will fashion a new one out of his current clients in the form of the Colossal Connection. I am actually intrigued to watch some Colossal Connection matches. Rockers were really hit and miss with their double dropkick they did not always connect together, They were really good at the double kip-up. Lots of double teaming from the Rockers before Shawn gets dropped over the top rope on a headscissors. I like that transition spot so I dont mind seeing it 3 times, now. Tully gets pin to even it up. Marty tries to guard Shawn as he is gasping for breath. They clear Marty out and AA gets a wicked spinebuster for 2, but Marty saves. Arn does his knucklelock sequence and ends with Shawn being catapulted into Tully. Tully throws Shawn over the top rope onto the floor. Shawn is on jelly legs, but manages blocking being sent into the post on the apron. He hits a cross body block off the top for two. Arn in and he hits Marty to prevent tag. Marty punches Arn and his head rocks back and collides with Shawn's. That was a pretty well-done execution of that spot. Marty tags in after Shawn crawls under AA's legs. Marty is a house of fire, but gets caught by being outnumbered. Arn sets Marty up for the spike piledriver, but Shawn knocks Tully off the top and hits a cross body block off the top to win the match. This is the Brainbusters farewell as they finally put the Rockers over clean as fresh laundry. It was a fitting ending and pretty good much for the time allotted to it just under 10 minutes. I will say 2 out of 3 falls matches on SNME are a pet peeve of mine because multiple falls do not normally occur inside 10 minutes unless it is under these rules. It is the Rockers/Busters it is still a pretty good match.

I am not able to put my finger on why just yet, but the proof is in the pudding. Bret Hart is a way better singles wrestler than he is a tag wrestler. All his tag matches have left me feeling underwhelmed. The following two matches from early '89 against DiBiase and Hennig demonstrate Bret was ready for Primetime in 1989. It is for the best Vince waited to give Bret the proper push he deserved in 1991 rather than be allowed to wallow in the WWF midcard mire from 1989-91. It is that level of patience that is missing from Vince nowadays. On the same token, he no longer uses the tag division effectively so that he can afford to be patient. However, it was this uncertainity that really hurt Bret from 1988-1990. The Hart Foundation was positioned behind Demolition and the Rockers as the number 3 babyface tag team and this start-stop hurt his match output I feel. Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiasie - 3/89 Wrestling Challenge This felt like a NWA Touring title defense. However, DiBiase did not give as much to Bret early as Flair would, of course Ted did not have 30+ minutes to work this match. Instead it gave this match the feel that Bret was more of a plucky challenger and Ted the dominant champ rather than equals. Bret starts off hot and is looking to get DiBiase off balance early. He goes for a lot of big moves early thinking that this was his best chance to beat DiBiase was to catch him unawares early with Russian Legsweep, atomic drop, crossbody, small package. DiBiase, visibly flustered, takes a powder twice to collect himself and break Bret's momentum. Eventually DiBiase moves out the way and Bret does his crossbody of the ropes spot that always looks nasty and Bret milks it for all its worth. DiBiase work his heat segment well pressing his advantage and showing his confident demeanor as the Million Dollar Champion. DiBiase even hit a elbow off the second rope that is more rare than a Flair success off the top rope. Ted delivers a fist drop and a vertical suplex gets 2. Bret gets his own vertical suplex, which is a good hope spot. DiBiase hits a belly to back suplex to quash that. A DiBiase backbreaker gets two; Bret grabs a small package for two again. It feels like DiBiase is in control, but Bret is not going away. DiBiase gets another fist drop and he works an active chinlock. Double clothesline sends both men to the mat. Bret gets a press slam off the top. I feel at home, now. Bret executes his backbreaker/elbow combo for 2. Bret high knees the turnbuckle. Thus DiBiase goes to work over it with the Spinning Toehold inevitable he gets kicked off to the outside so Bret follows him out with a plancha. Slugfest ensues and a double countout results. Bret actually gets the better of Ted in the post-match antics, which indicates that Vince definitely had confidence in him. I am hard pressed to think of a better DiBiase match in the WWF. There was some really great action here and an excellent story told by both men. Each man played their parts well as DiBiase looked so self-assured and Bret plays such a great, plucky face in peril. The finish sequence was beautiful as everything logically connected. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - 4/89 MSG This felt like a Nick Bockwinkel AWA title defense with Perfect letting Hart get more offense in than DiBiase and making them appear as equals. Perfect worked a more rugged style than he usually did in the WWF and also added the King of the Mountain segment for maximum effect. Bret once again played such a great face, but this time did not feel as plucky rather as confident challenger. I really liked the opening shine segment. Bret has a such great offensive arsenal and he always puts it on display in singles matches. One of my favorite spots was Perfect missing a drop toe hold. It was a nice touch and I wished there were more spots like that sprinkled into matches. Bret goes for a lot of pinfall attempts early. I like always trying to win mentality. He even busts out his crucifix pins. They do a bodyslam->kickoff symmetry sequence. My absolute favorite spot of the match is Bret trips Perfect and pushes him down and Perfect falls flat on his face with authority. It was such an excellent spot. Hennig, much like DiBiase, takes a walk to collect himself and break Bret's momentum. Perfect gets back in and when the opportunity presented itself in the corner, Perfect clocked Bret with a straight right. Perfect gets a big kneelift and a wicked chop sending Bret to floor. They play King of the Mountain as Perfect wont let Bret back in. This climaxes with Bret taking his bump off the apron onto the railing. Perfect only gets two of it. He hits a standing dropkick sending him back to the floor. Perfect decides to use the spinning toe hold. I thought they could have set this up better like in the DiBiase match where Bret injured his knee first. Bret kicks off Hennig into the post and he sells it well perfectly. Bret is relentless on the arm and his offense looked great. He was really capitalizing on his newfound advantage. However, he commits the cardinal sin of wrestling by going for another crucifix pin and Perfect dumps him hard onto mat. Perfect is still selling the arm and cant press his advantage. Perfect uses the hair to stop Bret's abdominal stretch. Bret pushes Perfect out of the ring on a rollup attempt and follows up with a plancha. Here comes the big Bret comeback: Perfect spins out on an atomic drop, vertical suplex, backbreaker and elbow, but time limit expires. I, much like, Lord Alfred totally forgot about the time limit and was totally engrossed in the action. Bret wants five more minutes, but Perfect blindsides him. Bret ends up getting the better of him and sends him packing. That is twice that Bret was allowed to get the symbolical victory over two top heels. This was a great action-packed match. I would say the heat segment dragged a little bit more in the Perfect match, but I thought work through King of the Mountain and the Bret's comeback were done excellently. I would give this match the nod over the DiBiase, but it is close. In any event, both are great showcases of all three men and prove that Bret was ready to be a major singles player as early as 1989.

It's back! It was only a matter of time that I felt comfortable having watched enough Demolition to at least start commenting in this thread. I will say on an aesthetic point of view when silver is not the most prominent color of their face paint they definitely look the more intimidating. I know someone said the makeup kinda looked like KISS, but I beg to differ they were definitely inspired by everyone's favorite Satanic Heavy Metal Star, King Diamond of Mercyful Fate. Hail Satan! On a more serious note, I want to discuss some of the points made in this thread. I don't think I truly understood what Matt D meant by "trends". I have to come realize it is the inter-match storytelling and how Demolition adjust to their opponents. Now, if I wanted inter-match storytelling I would just watch All Japan, but Demolition does adapt to their opponents better than most WWF tag teams. Structure does not necessarily beget great work. What is a great plan without great execution? I have seen Demolition have matches that I consider. Their most impressive mauling match was against the Islanders because Tama bumped like a maniac for them. They did not just rely on their stomps and bearhugs to tell the story. In my opinion they had the best pure heel in peril tag match against Killer Bees and what I consider the best Killer Bees match I have ever seen. They worked hard to tell the story of the Bees overcoming the power of Demolition with smart work by targeting Ax's knee. However, too often Demolition settles for the bare minimum. They know they have an easy story to tell because they much larger than most their opponents and more often than not they will just phone in performances. I was so high on Strike Force until I saw them wrestle Demolition. Massive kudos to Demolition they were the preeminent tag team in WWF from 1988-90. There is no tag in the post-1984 WWF/E that can claim that reign of dominance. They had a gimmick that fit the time period well, played the characters well and delivered in the ring enough so that fans were willing to buy them as the top team. Yes, they laid their matches out well, but great structure is not great work unto itself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Demolition vs Killer Bees - 9/87 Houston 2 Out Of 3 Falls Before I rave about this match (just the first two falls), Pete Doherty is the fuckin worst commentator ever. This is the greatest Killer Bees match I have ever seen and I have watched way too many Killer Bees matches. This may be Demolition's best match as well, but it is still to early to tell and I hope they have better matches. On top of all this, I think the first fall is greatest heel in peril tag I have ever seen. I think it is a bit overstated that WWF tag matches were done in a heel-in-peril style. They usually had a normal babyface shine and any babyface limb work was perfunctory and short-lived. It is not the crux of the match and the face in peril is usually as long if not longer than the babyface shine. This match is heel in peril through and through and really well-done. The hook of the match is that Bees have managed to injure Ax's knee finally exposing a weakness to the seemingly indomitable Demolition. As Ax is struggling to tag Smash, you are happy to see Demolition finally writhe pain. The match begins as most Demolition matches do with concept that Bees have no chance on their own against Demolition. They have to manage to get a member of Demolition in their corner so they can do frequent tags and double teams. They are leveraging their speed advantage into double team moves. Demolition use a lot of cheating to parlay that into power moves. There is a real sense of struggle from the beginning. One team is not dominating the other rather they are jockeying for position. Ax keeps grabbing a front facelock and Blair keeps relentlessly pounding away at his knee. Finally Ax's knee gives out and the Bees just go to town on Ax's knee with all sorts of double teams, stretches and holds. Ax is desperately trying to get to Smash, but there is no sympathy to be had for these brutes. Blair goes for coup d'grace: figure-4. Smash sensing the end is nigh makes the save. In the confusion, Blair eats knees on a splash attempt and Demolition go up 1-0 in a great first fall. Ax tries to avoid starting the next fall even though he won the previous fall so Brunzell brings him in the hard way. Ax is able to tag out, but as Smash comes in he performs an atomic drop on Blair, who tags Brunzell while being hoisted up. Blair collides with Ax and Brunzell dropkicks Smash to win the second fall. It is all knotted up. Brunzell goes after Ax's leg again forcing him to tag out. This has really rendered Demolition into a one person team. Smash is able to get his boot up so that Blair wipes out. This sets up the Blair heat segment. This is great illustration of Demolition doing their bare minimum. The heat segment mainly consists of Demolition doing frequent tags to slap on the vulcan nerve pinch. It is not like they are using this hold to contain Blair. They should be pressing the advantage more instead it feels like killing time. Smash takes the Bret Bump into the turnbuckles and Ax misses an elbow. Has Bill Eadie ever hit an elbow? Brunzell is a small campfire as he only gets two with his dropkick. As he is running the ropes, Ax hits Jumpin Jim with Fuji's cane and that's all she wrote. If the match just ended after the first fall it would go down as one of lost classics. The second fall was actually perfect as the Bees deserved to win the first fall and got it all knotted up. The third fall was a bore and just dragged. As Meatloaf says Two Outta Three Aint Bad. Demolition vs Billy Jack Haynes & Ken Patera - 11/87 Boston This is definitely nothing for you to go out of your way to see as the Pride of Oregon & Richard Simmons Clone do battle with Mr. Fuji's Demolition. Patera really should have stuck with the bleach blonde hair. The key difference in this match from other Demos matches is that like the Powers of Pain match where these two strongmen do not need to double up their moves to gain advantage over Demolition. In fact, during Haynes' hot tag you see him dominating both members of Demolition. Part of me thinks this pretty foolish as Patera and Haynes were just mid-carders (Heenan & Patera angle may have been hot I am not too familiar with it.) whereas the Powers of Pain were being pushed as the Demolition's arch rivals. There were two heat segments. The first one on Haynes was nothing much. Patera showed very little in the way of offense. Demolition went after segment. Haynes has some decent power moves, he could be better in a different setting I have watched none of his Portland work. Billy Jack struggles to get on his dreaded full nelson and then all four men end up in the ring. The referee calls it a no contest. Ax goes to town on Patera's arm with cane. Haynes managed to grab the cane and fend off the Demolition sending them packing. Pretty run of the mill, blase match. Demolition just working the midcard teams before their eventual ascension to the No. 1 Tag Team spot at Wrestlemania IV. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ax vs Ken Patera - 2/88 MSG The Pro Wrestling Only Dream Match - 6 years after its expiration date. I was pleasantly surprised by this match. They cut a very good pace and it was well-worked. It was not spectacular, but it definitely was not a snoozefest. I felt Ax bumped better here than he had in most of his Demolition matches. Patera started off hot and really never let up. Patera was pretty good working Ax's arm early. Fuji played "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" with his case eventually this incensed Patera enough for to follow onto the floor. I thought this was going to be the transition spot, but curveball Patera runs Ax into the post and railing. The real one was Patera running into Ax's boot and then Ax going after Patera's cast arm. Fuji helped out with a couple cane shots. Patera locked in the full nelson, but Fuji distracted and Patera decked him. Here comes Smash! Walking Disaster! Ax blindsides Patera for the win. JYD makes the save. It is weird that Patera was feuding with Heenan, but wrestling Demolition. Patera's stock was clearly falling. The wrestling landscape had changed so much and he just could not really adapt. Demolition was on the upswing and about to become the No. 1 Tag Team in the WWF from 1988-1990. It was no brainer for Ax to pick up the duke. This was a solid match from two pros.

This is one of favorite wrestling comedy segments of all time. Just fuckin hilarious. One of the very few wrestling vignettes I show to my friends because everyone finds this funny. Sunny could have been a top heel manager instead of in the dead tag division.

Hart Foundation vs Fabulous Rougeaus Brothers - 9/88 Meadowlands Lord Alfred Hayes loses his shit when the crowd throws frogs at the Quebecois. This is one weird match. If you did not know any better from the outset of the match you would think the Harts were the heels and the Rougeaus faces. I would hazard that Bret's defense of the blatant cheating and arrogance was that they were still in transition to being babyface therefore it did not make sense to go full bore. Anyways, in the match you have to decide if you want to cheer for the pricks (Hart Foundation) who choke, pull hair, let a fallen crawl over to his tag partner only slap his hand away or the cowards (Rougeaus). Eventually Bret lets Raymond make the tag. Jacques is entertaining in his mannerisms, but his work always leaves something to be desired. Bret is such a great face in peril. He is just a natural. The Rougeaus just have no spots at all to offer this match. Anvil gets tagged in and he is pretty decent as a hot tag, I feel like he will get better. He has all the traits to be a great hot tag. Bret irish whips Anvil into Raymond and then nails him with a piledriver. The ref is distracted Jacques off the top hits a prone Bret and the Rougeaus win. I'm a bit surprised since Demolition currently heel were the tag champs and with the Bulldogs sliding down the card, I thought Harts would take the win. From a storyline standpoint, I know the Rougueas had turned heel at this time with their tiny American flags, but had the Hart Foundation turned face? There seems to be a long layoff for the Hart Foundation between WM IV and Sumemrslam '88 was that to ease the transition. I feel like I read somewhere that at some point Jimmy Hart betrays Hart Foundation to go with the Rougeaus, but I did not see him out there. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hart Foundation vs Fabulous Rougeaus - Boston 10/88 Brother Love as Special Guest Ref Now this is more like it: a nice little fun match. Brother Love rambles on for 4 minutes. I don't know much about Brother Love's history. I know he was the Undertaker's original manager, but was he ever given anyone else? It is actually a brilliant gimmick for a manager and something I think that would work today. The beginning of this match is really good and really establishes the stipulation of the match something that modern wrestling does not always do. Jacques pulls Bret's hair in order to get him to the ground and Brother Love lets it go. Bret pulls Jacques hair in a similar fashion and Brother Love makes him break his headlock. Bret gets a pinfall attempt Brother Love gives an exaggerated slow count. Jacques grabs a rollup while Bret is arguing and gets an egregious fast count. At this point, the heat is already nuclear in the Boston Garden with everyone throwing trash. Bret is so fed up he tags in the Anvil. The Rougeaus immediately point out that Bret is not holding the tag rope, Brother Love goes over to investigate and admonish him while the Rougeaus double team the Anvil. The Anvil FIP kills the match dead. The Rougeaus just have no spots, just choking, stomping and chinlocks. Brother Love lays the badmouth on the Anvil and also denies him a hot tag on grounds that Bret was not holding the tag rope. Bret eventually does come in and hits a bunch of his standard spots, which look amazing next to the Rougeaus' lame arsenal. Hart Foundation fed up with Brother Love dump his ass outside and hit the Hart Attack and Dave Hebner counts the three. The Rougeaus were pretty bland as babyfaces and the heel turn has not helped. The Quebecers were so good, but yet the Fabulous Rougeaus are so lame in the ring. The Hart Foundation have not found their groove yet as a babyface team, but you can tall Bret is being groomed to be a singles star, which I feel is hurting the standing of the team. Finally, Brother Love seems like a great gimmick to me would have been a great addition to the cast of Heenan, Hart and Fuji.

O, The Barbarian, what an awful finisher you had when I was growing up: a boot to the chest. Not a big boot to the head, but just the chest. As a kid, I actually liked the Faces of Fear quite a bit and was psyched for their feud in 1998. Then I became a smart mark and thought people like Barbie suck. Well I have come full circle and Barbarian is totally bitchin'. One question that has been bugging me, is his name Barbarian or The Barbarian. WWF World Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain - Philly 7/88 This is before the Demos face turn so the Powers of Pain are actually babyfaces here. The double turn was a smart move as the Powers of Pain were not that charismatic to be babyfaces and the Demos were already getting face pops. Weird start to this match as Demolition is announced 3 times and takes 3 minutes before their music hits. Crowd gets a little restless. The one thing I really like about this match is that in every Demolition match so far, the babyface team has to double up their moves to gain the advantage on Demolition. In this match, Demolition has to double their moves to overwhelm the Powers of Pain. Other than that, it did not totally suck, which was a plus. Outside of Barbie nearly wiping out on a second rope elbow, he was by far the best wrestler in the match. Each time Demolition would do their stomping attacks, POP would counter that with their own power moves. Barbie hit a sweet clothesline. The Artist Formerly Known As The Masked Superstar hit a swinging neckbreaker on Barbarian. Barbarian was surprisingly effective in the FIP role, I mean you don't have much choice when you partner is the Personification of Suck, The Warlord. Barbarian starts to mount a comeback and the crowd actually responds, but he charges and his shoulder meets the post. Smash in an incredibly awkward move decides to stretch the other arm. Dude all you had to was take the injured shoulder and slam it against the post. Some chinlokcery follows and Smash runs into the Big Boot of the Barbarian. If this was WCW circa 1998, this match would be over, but it is not. It is 1988 WWF and He's Hardcore! Smash's heart don't pump kool-aid. But he is disoriented enough for Barbie to make the tag and lamest hot tag ever follows. Crowd does not give a shit about the Warlord and his awkward offense. They brawl to the outside and everyone gets counted out. Powers of Pain get their heat back by Irish Whipping Ax and Smash into each other. Demolition needed to use double teams to overwhelm the POP, which was about the only interesting nuance. The match did not suck, but it is nothing I will ever watch again. I do think this matchup of teams will be better once the double turn happens.

I agree with this save for one thing. I skimmed this thread and given the response to this match and I exhorted my brother into watching RAW last night because of the gauntlet. I thought the Bryan/Cesaro got a helluva lot better after the commercial break, but it never reached that MOTYC class for me. I did not think the strikes looked that weak so I am not taking point off for that. I just felt like this was a mish mash of Bryan spots, Cesaro spots and then they added some strike exchanges ala Puro/ROH. It never really felt coherent to me. It was a good match and a very good angle. It just was not MOTYC. For point of reference, I have Cena/Punk, Bryan/Ryback, Bryan/Orton (Street Fight), Del Rio/Ziggler (last week) ahead of that match. Brad Maddox doing the "No!" at the end of his segment was hilarious and had my brother and I rolling. He is pretty good. Del Rio is like clockwork. If he put in a good week last week, you know he is going to shit the bed the next week. He looked so apathetic and it was a lackluster performance. Maybe, he could not attack the bruise because you know it actually would hurt like a muthafucka. Sheamus is Sheamus at this point. Even in cruise control, Sheamus is one of my favorite WWE wrestlers to watch and when he is really on, he is my definite favorite. My brother was remarking how he feels bad for Sheamus because he gets quite vocal chorus of boos and does not seem to handle it as well as Cena especially last week. I think it is just because he is a fuckin awful promo and they have given him a stupid character. Titus/Christian was great. Those two Titus O'Neil spots when he sent Christian flying were bitchin. We are huge O'Neil marks due to his bark. That bark is going to be the next big thing. Ziggler is proving me wrong about not being able to work face. He worked a truly inspired performance against Del Rio last week. This week he stuck to Savage babyface formula, but he really made Darren Young look like a million bucks, who I think is just an awful wrestler. Ziggler is really good at timing hope spots. "My heart don't pump Kool-Aid" - Mark Henry. My brother and I lost out shit for that one. Cena, Bryan, Kane, Orton, Ryback can't beat The Shield, but the Usos can run them off. lol. CM Punk before the Heyman interruption was on fire after it was just there. Still this is a really strong angle. I like Jack Swagger, there I said it. I have always liked him. He is huge, has an amateur background and moves like a cat. He has some great spots and will actually chain wrestle for a bit from time to time. I feel like Eddie/Swagger would have been an excellent match. It was great how much heat he was getting from being from Oklahoma. If only all his matches could be wrestler in OK and TX. It was a pretty ok match. The Ryback/Bryan match was really fun. It was not as good as their previous RAW encounter, but I enjoy Ryback a lot more than most people. Honestly, if they are serious about Ryback, he needs to win the World Title either from Del Rio or someone else yesterday. Bryan would keep coming at Ryback and Ryback would shrug him off. Ryback would bully him and here comes Bryan. Now Bryan gets a little more offensive then Ryback shrug him off. They kept repeating until Bryan was in control It was like two bulls neither one would give an inch. The only thing that did Bryan in was that he was just smaller and Ryback caught him with a powerbomb to the outside, which was a sick, sick spot. I enjoyed the Ryback/Bryan portion of the gauntlet more than Cesaro/Bryan portion. I really hope this Cryback angle was short-lived because is one of the best things they have going now.

WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs The British Bulldogs - Wrestlefest 1988 There was one key difference in this match and the other Demos matches I have seen. Bulldogs did not need to double up on their moves in order to gain the advantage on Demolition. Now Davey Boy is pretty much as big as Demolition and you just cant stop Dynamite from coming so this feels more like a Bulldogs match. However, I liked the Bulldogs better when they were spot machines. It seems like ever since Dynamite's injury in late 86/early 87 they were never the same. This match starts with Smith trading power with Smash and doing the Stampede roll to get wrist control. Dynamite gets dragged to Demos corner and Ax pounds away, but Dynamite fires back ultimately Ax over powers Dynamite. I like more definitive heel transition spots as I think they should be the hook of the match. The Demos are at their best when they are focused and with no limb they just stomp aimlessly. I did like Smash coming out of Dynamite small package attempt by popping Davey Boy. It was just reaffirming that Demolition was still in control and you cant do anything about it. Dynamite hits a reverse elbow out of the corner and tags Davey Boy. No dropkicks, no suplexes, where's the Davey Boy I used to know? In very uncharacteristic fashion for Demolition, Davey Boy is able to beat up both members at once by himself including an awful back body drop on Ax. He tags in Dynamite and hits one of my favorite double team moves: Davey Boy press slams Dynamite so he can headbutt his opponent. This one looked awesome and the dead crowd finally woke up. Thats the Bulldogs I used to know. Ax saves, Fuji on the apron and it is the cane shot we all know that is coming. Demolition let their guard down and let the Bulldogs work their match, but a 1988 Bulldogs match sucks for the most part. It is usually a tame shine segment, a lame Dynamite FIP and a not so game Davey Boy comeback. I do not like Demolition's offense especially when it is unfocused and that is the only part of thsi match that resembled the normal Demos match. I know the MSG match is well-liked so I will give that a shot.

Finally getting to the Rockers!!! Callooh! Callay! I was reading through this and the Demolition thread and I have gathered that the 10/88 had a bit of a rep as a great match. I just watched and I would say that I still prefer the Strike Force/Islanders & Bulldogs/Dream Team a bit more, but this was very, very good for a WWF Tag. I think Rockers/Powers Of Pain is quite a good deal better than '88 Rockers/Demos match. Since there is two reviews above me on the same match, I will keep it brief. WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs The Rockers MSG 10/88 This is the compressed version of the RnRs vs the Russians (well without the babyface title change) as this is one of the better speed vs power tag matches, but it is not just that. Demolition being outquicked is only one part of their match formula. The other is that the babyface always have to double up their moves. I love Smash barking "Stay in one place!" to Marty. It might be the most Darsow has ever added to any of his tag matches. I do like the wrinkle of Demolition matches where it does seem like from the outset that all the babyface teams will overwhelmed immediately only for face teams to find an initial way around it. In this case, it was the rapid arm work as they trapped Smash in their corner. They really made sure to move as quickly as possible. The crowd was really going bonkers for this and this was just a month before Demolition's babyface turn, which really shows how fast the Rockers got over. Marty does a quick FIP, but the real fireworks start when Shawn crashes and burns to the floor when Ax holds down the top rope. Demolition demonstrates a real singular purpose in attacking Shawn's lower back with the Boston Crab, sledges and bearhugs. This is the part of the match, which was psychologically sound, but I agree with Soup was missing that extra something to put this in the all-time classic canon. What is so great about the Rockers is that their is not a huge gulf in talent between the partners. Shawn's FIP is as good as Marty's hot tag. Now we see that Rockers are not only keeping Demos outbalance with quick work, but lots of doubling up of their moves: double dropkicks, double slams, double clothesline. Rockers look like they are going to get the pin, but Ax breaks it up. Ref detains Michaels and Smash carries Marty over to be punched in the face by Ax for the pin. This has all the usual Demolition motifs: babyfaces initially overwhelmed, they use their speed & double team moves; heel transition spot; Demos beatdown; go home. This is definitely the best Demolition match because the Rockers are best suited for this role even though Tama outbumped both the Rockers in his match. Demolition is just there on offense. It makes sense, but it does nothing for me. The Rockers being on offense was definitely the more entertaining parts of the match. Demolition as babyfaces just seem like it is going to be weird.

WWF Tag Champs Dream Team vs Killer Bees - Boston 12/85 Holy shit! It is Jim Brunzell with a beard! "He must got tired of looking 16." - Jesse The Body Valentine is one of the best 80s WWF workers by far and away. He is always great to watch when he is in the ring. He works a great chain sequence with Blair similar to the '87 match. He takes a bunch of suplexes from the Bees He sells well for both Bees as they work over his legs. Of course, he works in TIMBAAAAAAAAH! Blair gets caught trying to put the figure 4 on Valentine. Beefcake comes in. He stomps around and makes a lot of noise but doesnt do much. Valentine forsakes grappling and earns the moniker "The Hammer" with his sledges from the tough. Blair is able to maneuver away from Beefcake to tag in Brunzell. Jim and all his nefwound masculinity overwhelm the Dream Team. His new look does not affect his dropkick, but it does affect his awareness as he gets hit from behind while applying the sleeper to Beefcake. That is the finish. It was a decent match, but demonstrates what could have been with The Hammer.

I have really grown to enjoy Sgt Slaughter's work from my limited viewing of his matches. His matches with Sheik are all they are cracked up to be. Plus I liked his WWF heel runs in '81 & '83. Even his Desert Storm match with Hogan in '91 is wicked good. Since my interest has been piqued in Nikolai Volkoff, I remembered I gave a cursory glance at a tag match with JYD against Sheiky & 'Ol Nik in the Spectrum No Holds Barred. Sgt. Slaughter & Junkyard Dog vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff - Philly 11/84 The babyface shine seemed so weak and stilted. JYD looks like a broken down man at this point and is having a lot of trouble moving. All his offense looks awful. EVen Slaughter is hitting the foreigners with some weak weapon shots. I want to feel the hate, but they are giving it to me. It was not even close to the quality of the Slaughter/Sheik stuff even though the Philly crowd was nuclear for the whole match. Sheik & Slaughter were so over everywhere that can not be surprising. McMahon was fuckin loaded in 1984. The match picks up with heat segment as Sheik & Volkoff isolate JYD and then play King of the Mountain with Slaughter. Sarge must have tried to enter the ring a half dozen times and was denied entry each time by the Big Russian. Eventually Sheik & Volkoff do a Double Camel Clutch. Slaughter finally gets on the apron and lets loose on Volkoff. Then I saw something I never thought I see, the babyface collide on a cross-ring collision. Sheik & Volkoff isolate Slaughter this time whipping with a belt while JYD is on the outside. DOUBLE SLAUGHTER CANNON~! Philly loses their shit over this. Slaughter puts on the Cobra Clutch. Volkoff threatens with a chair, but JYD cuts him off at the pass. Sheik has no alternative, but submit to the Might of Americana! This was a pretty disappointing match because I was just expecting Slaughter/Sheik bloodbaths just with the additional awesomeness of Volkoff. It was a decent patriotic match that popped the crowd, but left me wanting more especially when I know the participants could have a lot better matches.

I read the above post before I watched the following match and did not know notice him sweating profusely compared to Barry Windham in fact it looks like Shieky Baby is quite the sweaty one. Then again the video quality was not that good. WWF World Tag Champs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/"Classy" Freddie Blassie vs US Express (Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham) w/ Capt. Lou Albano They would stick Albano with just any tag team whether he fit the demeanor of the tag team or not. Albano with the All-American boys is just weird. Sheik/Rotundo do a good amateur sequence with Rotundo getting the better of Sheik. Sheik does a great begging off for both Windham & Rotundo and really makes them look good. It always takes me by surprise when Sheik busts out his somersault and misses it. I just never expect to see him do it. Volkoff comes in and gets his arm worked over with a series of quick tags. Volkoff hooks the ropes and Windham crashes and burns on a dropkick. Volkoff is not as good as I was expecting. Sheik is hilarious as he attempts to put on one of the most awkward abdominal stretches given that Windham has like 8 inches on him. Between this and Zuhkov ab stretch, Volkoff matches are the place to go to see poorly executed ab stretches. Sheik hits his gutwrench for 2. WIndham is able to hit a vertical suplex to get the hot tag. Even Rotundo is inspired by this molten MSG crowd and is fired up to deliver some dropkicks. In the fracas, WIndham rams Sheik's head into the steel posts busting him wide open. The US Express realizing how useless Rotundo is actually has him give the hot tag to Windham (literally like a minute after the last hot tag), Windham starts unloading rights on the Sheik's cut. This is brilliant. Windham is playing face in peril and the hot tag in the same match how did Ricky Morton not think of that! Windham hits a bulldog and Volkoff sensing the end is nigh makes the save. Rotundo jumps him and it devolves into a donnybrook and a double countout. I liked this match a good deal. It was very energetic and moved along briskly. Windham and Rotundo played babyfaces really well and Shekik & Volkoff are such classic heels you could not go wrong. I would have enjoyed a little more work from Sheik & Volkoff who have impressed me in other matches. I did not think anyone stood out or anything stood out, but it is just good classic wrestling.

Per usual, I am a week behind in my RAW watching, but I just watched Del Rio vs Ziggler from last week and was really impressed. I was totally buying what everyone was saying about Ziggler's ability to perform as a babyface, but I thought he put in one helluva performances. What I really loved about the layout was that it was not back and forth at all. It was Del Rio in control and Ziggler was hanging on by a thread, but would make you believe he could pull it out with all his hope spots. I have not seen hope spots better timed this year from my recollection. He worked his wicked bumps in such a way to induce sympathy rather than be stooging, comedy spot. My dad totally nailed that his repeated elbow drops would go over huge with live audiences so that they could count along with him. Outside of Cena/Punk, Bryan/Ryback and Bryan/Orton, I have this as my Free TV MOTY with only Cena/Punk really outdistancing it. On a more general note, I cant remember a time period when WWE TV from a wrestling standpoint was this good consistently. There is usually at least one really good match a week now on RAW.

The Islanders (Haku & Sivi Afi) & Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs British Bulldogs & Koko B Ware - Philly 5/88 Wow, did this feud disappoint as this match was as much of a bore as the Bolsheviks match. The Heenan stuff with Koko at the beginning is what I wanted to see out of Heenan last match. Heenan cowering in the corner -> Koko lays down -> Heenan still apprehensive turns his back -> Koko catches him unawares and sends him into the opposite corner to take the Ray Stevens flip back-first bump. It was all down hill after that. Sivi Afi is a Superfly & High Chief Peter Maivia hybrid ripoff as he has Maivia's tats and Snuka's look. Afi is awkward and lumbering. It is no wonder he lasted for only a cup of coffee. The commentators believe that Sivi Afi is Haku and that Haku is Tama (Toma as it is pronounced). Then the commentators talk how the Bulldogs look like a like. O to be a wrestling commentator in the 80s or any era, actually. You never have to be proficient at your job. Sivi Afi sucked it up in the ring. Haku/Dynamite do their little forearm exchange into a Dynamite headlock into a Haku side suplex, which always looks good. Dynamite hits a hooking clothesline to regain advantage, which in my opinion wastes one of the best spots of the match. It gets very heel in peril at this point with chinlocks. Koko, who is the best worker in this match again, does the best move of the match: a sweet reverse cross body that would make Ricky Martel jealous. Haku for his part jumped into it making it look even better. Dynamite runs into a Haku clothesline and that is your weak, lazy transition to the heat segment where Sivi Afi is super awkward getting into position for anything. Dynamite took a dive to the outside got his head rammed into the railing by Haku and apron by Heenan. Haku hit a couple nice backbreakers while they worked over Dynamite's back and head. Heenan could be doing a lot more to get heat and to really the crowd excited to see him get his ass kicked...oh wait he does not. Dynamite does an excellent block of Haku's suplex attempt with a leg scissors. He hit his suplex. Davey Boy came in hit a back body drop and vertical suplex. He just does not give a fuck anymore. Koko came in and hit two stellar dropkicks that would make Jim Brunzell jealous. His second one was really one of the best I have ever seen. A clusterfuck erupts; Heenan blind tagged himself in and with knucks knocked out Koko for the win. What the fuck? I accidentally watched the Philly match instead of the MSG match, but the finish was the same according to History of the WWE site so I am not watching this borefest again. Bulldogs could not care less. Heenan was not really trying either. Haku was decent. Sivi was actively bad and Koko was pretty sweet. Bring on the Bulldogs/Demolition maybe a tag title shot will wake up the Bulldogs.

Thanks. Too Japanese is a great way to describe them to a fellow hardcore fan, but may lose its meaning with certain people. The British Bulldogs vs The Bolsheviks - 11/87 Primetime Wrestling The Bulldogs did not give one single fuck during this match. Outside of the Dynamite snap suplex on Boris, I do not think worked any sort of story or spots in their shine sequence. It does not help that Boris is a candidate for one of the worst wrestlers I have ever seen. I can't tell if Volkoff is good or if he is just good in comparison to Boris. But believe it or not, 'Ol Nik was the best worker in this match as he worked a great heat segment. He did his bearhug into a pin, he tussled with Dynamite over a suplex attempt that turned into a Dynamite small package and his overhead backbreaker. His headbutts and strikes were great. Boris on the other hand is such an awkward wrestler and put on one of the worst abdominal stretches ever. Gorilla had a field day with that one. Davey Boy came in and no spark. He did his delayed vertical suplex and running powerslam, but not the usual Davey Boy. The finish was Davey Boy hooking of the Bolsheviks' legs on a suplex attempt and Dynamite falling on top for the win. Why the hell are they protecting the Bolsheviks? Borefest and one of the worst matches I have seen. I abhor lazy wrestling. The only good thing to come out of this was it confirmed that Nikolai Volkoff maybe someone worth watching from his prime or at least with Sheiky Baby.

New Dream Team vs The Killer Bees 10/87 MSG I like Valentine enough that I thought this could be good. Actually before the shit finish, I liked the match quite a bit. Valentine did some really excellent wrestling with both the Bees working in a nice fireman's carry by Blair and grabbing a headscissors on Brunzell before tagging out. It was nice to see some actual grappling as a change of pace. Bravo was a little stiff in the ring, but he showed energy and even did a leapfrog. Brunzell played face in peril after Bravo threw him into the Valentine's elbow. I really felt that the Dream Team had the blueprint for how Demolition should work as Valentine has that similar rough and tumble style with a lot of elbows and general rough housing. He is just way more convincing than either of the Demolition, which look like a bunch of cartoon characters as they stomp on the ring. Valentine got kicked off on his figure-4 attempt. TIMBAAAAAAH! They throw Brunzell on the outside and it is Masked Confusion. It is not an inherently stupid gimmick. I think someone who played it off with a little comedic panache like Eddie Guerrero would have made it into a great gimmick. Instead these two white bread wrestlers just seem like dicks for doing this. This is a decent Valentine match, but it shows after a weak 1987 that 1988 does not look too much better for him. I believe he broke up with Bravo shortly after, but with the Hart Foundation & Demolition turning babyface in 1988 and the onset of the Rockers, I think they could have used a Valentine heel tag team to even the sides.

One of my favorite lines of Shawn's incredible late 1997 heel run was the night after the Screwjob, "Give me a break Sarge, I just beat a man who believes he is a legend in his own mind." Shawn was so good at getting under Bret's skin during that run. It always cracked me up as he talked circles around Bret and Bret could not doing anything about it well besides make middle school level homophobic jokes. Now, I just want watch Shawn slaughter Bret on the mic.

Demolition vs "Not Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus - Boston 3/88 This was touted as one of the better Demolition matches, but it did nothing for me. I would say the Islanders/Demos was a much better early Demolition match. At first it seems like Demolition will overwhelm the Quebecois, but miscommunication opens up some double teaming by the Rougeaus. Jacques is able to get a double wristlock on Smash. Raymond gets a high cross body to a dead crowd. Ax starts stomping Raymond. Ax grabs a front facelock and Raymond starts ironically chopping down Ax with some blows to the knee. His name is Ax. An attempted monkey flip cots Raymond and the heat segment begins earnest and it is a snoozer. Outside of a Fuji cane shot, it is just some cranking on Raymond's neck; it doesnt help that Raymond is the bland member of his team. Vertical suplex by Raymond and missed elbow by Smash gets Jacques in there, but at this point the crowd does not care about baby face Rougeaus. Jacques slaps on the Boston Crab in Boston and still no pop! How shameless can you get? Ax with a big boot and then a double clothesline gets the duke for the Demos. This was described as a mugging of the Rougeaus, but it felt like the usual tepid Demolition affair. I never felt any sympathy towards the Rougeaus and they demonstrated no pluckiness. The Demolition as lumbering giants just was not menacing at all. In the Islanders match, the Islanders made Demolition seem like monsters because of their urgency on offense and Tama's bumping. Demolition feels like a team that may only be as good as their opponents.

WWF World Tag Champs Demolition w/Mr. Fuji vs The British Bulldogs - SNME 4/88 Demolition is going to encrust Matilda in chrome and mount on their Winnebago when they drive to the Grand Canyon. Seriously, what the fuck? The Wyatts need to listen to some Barry Darsow to really get crazy down. This is a nothing match to re-establish the Bulldogs as the number one babyfaces as Martel was going to take a vacation and their go around the horn to establish the Demos is the Heel Ace of the tag division. The interesting part may be the foreshadowing that Bulldogs may break Demos from their mold Dynamite was going to force his will on the match. This felt like a real struggle with each team looking to give very little to their opponents. Dynamite was the face in peril and took a backbreaker before Davey Boy came in and showed he could match power with Demos. The story seemed like Dynamite would get in a bit over his head, but Davey Boy was the Demos equal in power. Endgame was Matilda chased Fuji to the back. They broke Fuji's cane leaving Jesse to lament the welfare of Fuji and they attacked the Demos with cane. The Bulldogs sure did have a temper. This is the second match where they have grabbed a manager's weapon and attacked their opponents. If they are going to win the titles back they are going to need to keep their composure under stress. I think they need Capt. Lou back to guide them to their second championship run. They never were the same without him. Thats what happens with two British hotheads cant keeps their act together. Heard the Demos/Bulldogs MSG is bitchin as all hell and really looking forward to a great Bulldogs match. Outside their work with the Dream Team, I dont feel like they have gotten there.