Superstar Sleeze

Well I can only speak on this from a hindsight perspective, I think you can definitely say that Bret Hart was going to be a big player in the wrestling industry all the way back in 1986. Between the ropes, he had all the tools. To reiterate my earlier point (which I think may have been buried in my reviews), Bret is one of those special wrestlers (like a Flair) that can have a complete match unto himself. He has enough signature bumps that he can just plug and play with any wrestler. Now I realize there are many people on this board that don't like that. However, if you are the boss, I think you are looking for efficiency and reliability, not a custom artist. That is what these kind of wrestlers could provide a promoter. Night in and night out, you could pair them with just about anybody and you know because Bret was in the match he would be able to construct a solid, if not excellent match because the Bret match is solid unto itself. If you are looking from Flair's perspective, when you have to face Dusty, Lawler, Kerry, Harley and Jumbo (five incredibly different wrestlers in five very different parts of the world) over the course of a couple months, you think you are going to strain yourself to come up with 5 completely different matches that is customized for each wrestler especially when you know that TV is totally regional at this point. It is nonsense. Am I saying that all Flair matches are the same, of course not (I happen to think Flair is the greatest of all-time). To me saying Flair or Bret matches are all the same is like saying every song that follows verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus is the same. Flair, clearly, allowed his opponent to have their signature spots, but if Flair has to go 45, 60 minutes with a guy, it is not like he has to stretch his mind on how he will fill his time. He already has a template that allows him to deliver on the business end for promoters by crafting matches that will draw in perpetuity due to excitement that his spots elicit from the crowd. This allows him to take some time to focus on other facets of the business and getting laid. To me it is like when I was applying for jobs. I don't have a custom letter for the over 500 companies I had applied to. I have a template and I insert 2-3 sentences specific to that company. In Flair and Bret's defense, they offer a lot more variety than that, but I think you get my point. What you can see from 80s Bret matches are not these spectacular matches per se, but a spectacular ring general. It is foolish to say that Vince didn't notice this pretty early on. In Vince's mind, at worst, he had the Tito Santana of the 90s and that aint too friggin' shabby at all. Best case scenario was pretty much getting the Bret we saw in the 90s. When you are a promoter, I think such extraordinary ring generalship is something you don't keep on the undercard. Every match from the 80s with Bret I have watched is a Bret match through and through, even the match with Steamboat. Now add that Bret has displayed, he can stooge and stall with best of them as a heel and that he has some of the best offense in North America, in my opinion. It is always crisp and as far as WWF wrestlers he has quite the arsenal. To me, this is actually way easier to see Bret's rise to the top than either Austin or Rock. Austin always struck me as the Stunning Steve character as a decent mid-card act or low-drawing main event act. When The Rock starting speaking in the 3rd person you knew he was a fuckin cash cow, no doubt. I think you could actually see Bret's value in between the ropes a lot earlier than either of those guys. khawk, I only have the benefit of the hindsight, I agree with you that from what I seen Bret's destiny to be a major player would have taken a serious injury to derail this. But I feel like "coming out party" maybe a little too strong. I don't think it is until the Bret/Savage match from SNME that you truly get the feeling that Vince was giving Bret his "Show me what you got, kid" moment and Bret delivered in spades. I want to go back and watch that match because I think it is Bret's best match from the 80s, but moreso, because I remember it more for Savage's selling of the knee. Lets face it, when Savage is selling his knee, every single wrestler takes a backseat because Savage rules the school at that. What is interesting about that, is that up until that point Bret has been the dominant force in his matches. All his matches run through him. For his "coming out party", not to have him be the lynchpin would be an interesting wrinkle to say the least. But I first I do want to maintain order and watch the Strike Force tags.

So I normally listen to these, when I am watching some puro or lucha or occasionally, I will sync up and watch the match you guys are talking about from youtube. I just like to listen to people's thoughts on matches and psychology, but I appreciate that you guys don't keep it dry and do talk some smack. I think lends itself to a really fun atmosphere. The reason I don't post more is because it takes me a while to write reviews and am pretty busy writing about WWF tag wrestling from the 80s now. So I just dont have time to chime in, but I will say Jumbo/Martel & Bock/Hennig #1 are my favorites so far from the first 5 podcasts (granted I have not seen everything). I will probably write some stuff up on them in the Microscope when I get a chance. I use the AWA, especially, to break up the monotony of WWF tag wrestling (I don't mean that as a completely damning praise, but I have never been a person to watch one specific style ad nauseum). Thanks for the podcast, I really do dig it, but the reason, I am breaking my silence is because DAVE MUSGRAVE IS THE FUCKIN MAN!!! Not only is the guy hilarious, but he hates Rush. Holy shit, ever since Rush got into the Hall Of Fame it has turned my classic rock & classic metal radio stations in my area into non-stop prog borefests. I marked out pretty hard when he said that. Give me Styx any day of the week over Rush. Overall, badass podcast, look forward to keep on plugging away with you guys. Maybe one day, I will save up enough money to buy these sets, so I can actually participate properly.

Hart Foundation vs Islanders 11/86 Maple Leaf Gardens Best match from the Hart Foundation I have seen so far and it was really good for a WWF Tag. The Islanders, hot damn, I had never seen them before and they were perfect babyfaces for the WWF in the way Rougeaus never could be. They kinda got fucked with the elevation of Strike Force as number one babyface. It doesn't strike me that they would be very good as heels, but we shall see. I have dug Martel and Tito a lot, but the they have a lot of ground to cover to match the sheer energy The Islanders brought to this match. As for this match, Bret does a little bit more stalling than we are used to seeing, but when it comes to bump him and Anvil are ready to make Islanders shine. The Islanders could have been the ethnic response to your RnR Express clones with more WWF-oriented offense (read: Big Ass Spots). My favorite spot of the shine sequence: Haku's causal thrust kick to Bret while he is on the apron that had me going crazy. Bret chooses to do the blind knee as his transition spot du jour. Demolition Decapitation transitions into an Anvil chinlock. Then in a spot of the whole friggin match, Bret runs Tama down the ramp and fuckin throws him down the steps. Holy shit! You didn't see that from the WWF at that time. Bret picks up him to take him back, but for good measure first rams his head into the ramp. Bret can bring the violence when he wants. Some good, quality low-down heel offense follows usually involving ramming Tama's head into stuff. Bret even takes a swing at Haku, payback, muthafucka. Bret sure loves the false babyface tag immediately followed by heel miscommunication I think he could milk it more. Haku comes in double noggin knocker, paint brushes Bret, and it is a double diving headbutt from the Islanders. Tama hits the high cross-body, but in the fracas Nedihart crotches Tama on the ropes and Bret steals one. Are there things these could have done a bit better with more times, I am sure of it. But as it stands, I think this is my favorite Hart Foundation because it felt like the Islanders added something to the Bret show. Plus, there were more cheapshots and violence. I would definitely recommend someone checking this out. WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs The Islanders - 3/87 Philly I'll be honest a bit of a let down. I thought with 10 extra minutes they could really piece together something for the age, but they spend the first five minutes stalling. I thought the shine was definitely the bets part of this with Haku knocking Bret's block off with a thrust kick off a criss cross. Tama making both Bret and Anvil look foolish on separate occasions. Islanders do some armwork on Anvil before, the blind knee WAIT Tama sees the blind knee and is pointing how smart he is only to have Anvil sledge him in the back. I dug the twist. It was very good face in peril, but I was a bit spoiled by the throw off the ramp bump. They replaced it with Tama flinging himself into the railing once and onto the floor. They did a better job conveying a sense of struggle here, and the violence on the part of Hart Foundation was as ratcheted up with biting, choking and clawing. At this point of the match, I was still saying it could very much exceed expectations. But the finish was really lackluster, they get the hot tag finally after a well done, heat segment and they do a short Haku house a fire and Tama comes flying halfway across the ring to nail Bret with a cross-body only for Danny Davis to put Bret on top in the fracas. I just hated how short it was. I really wanted to see Haku clean house and get some nearfalls before all was said and done. Alas, a fine match for what it was. WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs Tito Santana & Danny Spivey - SNME 1987 After finishing up his feud with the Macho Man in mid-86, it seems like Vince had his heart set on retooling Tito as a tag team guy, which I think was a smart move. I am looking forward to watching Strike Force. I don't know much about Spivey. I know he had one-off match with Luger that is considered pretty good. He looks like a bigger version of Stunning Steve Austin and seems like the type of guy Vince would have loved to keep. I have no idea why he is wearing the French flag as his trunks. This is your run of the mill, sleepwalk Hart Foundation match. The big spot is Anvil doing the Martel slingshot splash being assisted by Bret. Spivey had to do the FIP b/c they needed Tito for the hot tag and he sucked pretty hard at selling. Tito was sweet off the hot tag with Flying Burritos for everyone. He slaps on the figure-4 on Bret, but Davis comes in and hits him with the megaphone in the chaos. Voila! You have your Wrestlemania III six-man tag match.

Bret Hart is quite the firebrand on this site over the past couple months. I definitely fall on the pro-Bret side of things. That doesn't mean I think he is the greatest of all time, mind you, but I do think he is a great wrestler. Besides the touring champs (Harley, Flair & Bockwinkel), he seems like one of the few wrestlers that ever could have a complete match unto themselves. He has as many stock bumps that as he has stock moves and this allows him to go out have a wrestling match with any opponent. When you have a talent like that, I think it is impossible for him to be held down. If McMahon continued with his large-man fetish (imagine no steroid trials and Warrior catches on), then I think Bret would have been the WCW World Champion in no time. That is too valuable a talent to be wasted on the mid-card (sorry, Arn, I don't know what happened to you). I do not understand people that say wrestlers like Flair and Bret have the same matches night in and night out. They have repetitive spots, but not repetitive matches. I know that people have been down on the Hart Foundation tag team work, but I feel that Bret was a victim of circumstance in these hyper-compressed, face-oriented, spot-focused matches. Even then, I have yet to see a time in any Hart Foundation match when he is not the absolute, definitive best wrestler in the ring. He is clearly the general in everyone of his matches. He executes his moves the best. He bumps the best. He is at least always selling as well as the babyfaces (I will admit there are a couple babyfaces, a bit better at that). The Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - 2/86 MSG The one thing I never got about the Killer Bees is how they were supposed to be faces with the Masked Confusion gimmick. Anyways, this starts off with the Bees doing some token leg work on Anvil (think Rockers, but not as exciting), which culminates in a figure-4 that Bret breaks up. Jimmy Hart, clearly 20 years ahead of his time, gets mocked for shopping at a Thrift Shop. Bret slips on the second rope while going for a second rope elbow (a rare sighting of this Bret bump). Brunzell is a house with a small stovetop fire, dangerous, but easily quenched by a blind knee in the back (the ultimate Hart Foundation transition spot). Usual Hart Foundation heat segment: bodyslam on concrete, Demolition Decapitation, and the irish whip sling shot move. I remember this being a little too front facelock-y. Brunzell hits his sweeeeeeet dropkick (Bulldog's is still more impactful), but cant capitalize. The Hart Foundation Irish whip sling shot misses this time around. Blair is a house afire: punches, small package, bodyslams and atomic drops (Bret bumps into Anvil). After the Hart Foundation collision, Brunzell hits his dropkick, but alas we hit the time limit draw. I thought this was on par with 9/85 Bulldogs match is a great match with good solid work. The Hart Foundation/Bulldogs would eventually exceed this match in 1987, but for now it is on par with that. Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - 3/86 This seemed like a solid match and one of the better WWF Steamboat that doesn't have Savage involved. Steamboat just never seemed to fit in the WWF something about just seemed so wrong. Bret Hart pearl harbors him early. The standard Bret turnbuckle bump leads to Steamboat's arm work, which is solid, but uninspiring. Bret transitions with a swinging neckbreaker, a little bit too much of a babyface transition. Bret does one of his favorite 80s sequences: goes for a backbreaker, opponent reverses into a bodyslam, but the wrinkle here is Bret gets the knees up on the splash. Excellent, excellent sequence as you get the hope spot, Steamboat desperately trying to capitalize, but in his overzealousness he over reaches and the Hitman is able to one-up him. Bret follows up with his bodyslam on the parquet floor and successfully gets the backbreaker. Bret misses second-rope elbow and here comes the Steamer. Bret gets a visual pin off a ref bump if I do recall correctly, but the finish ultimately is Steamboat rolling through a Bret cross-body for the win. I know I have been down on Steamboat lately and this is a perfectly good match, but I think Bret is once again the better wrestler in this match and his fingerprints are all over it. Bret can have some borefests, but he did get better at structuring his matches, though that maybe a consequence of McMahon giving him more than 10 minutes at a time. Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - SNME 11/86 This is not as good as their MSG match due to time constraints and the focus on getting over gimmicks, but it was a decent match. Bret ate a high knee early from Brunzell, which surprised me. Hart Foundation take over with the blind knee (somebody fucked up and ran the ropes towards the middle and Bret had to leap and slide to bury the knee in his back). Demolition Decapitation and then Anvil hits a freakin dropkick. Brunzell hits his dropkick, but cant capitalize that is a pretty good hope spot having seen it twice now. Both Bees end up on the outside: MASKED CONFUSION~! Blair with an atomic drop on Hart sending him into Brunzell and now Anvil irish whipped into Bret. It is pandemonium in there, baby. Blair with the sleeper on Anvil, but Brunzell lets Bret hit a double axe-handle from the top that way he can switch with Blair while the ref is admonishing Bret. Bret gets the tag and eats the small package. It was a decent match structured to get over the Masked Confusion gimmick, which went nowhere because the Bulldogs were firmly positioned as the lead face team until Strike Force took over.

Yes it is the Wrestlemania match. What I meant by Wrestlemania-type match is big arena match with lots of big spots designed for audible crowd interaction and not very nuanced. I didn't realize how bad Dynamite fucked up his back until I saw they were using JYD as his replacement (Dog connection I s'pose). Personally, I would have rather seen Tito/Harley at Wrestlemania as they have a good match at some house show. Harley takes a crazy bump down the ringsteps breaking the only rule in the Sleeze Household: No Fighting On The Stairs. I forget if I reviewed that match. Damn, I meant to. Took a bit of a break from the WWF tag scene because it just wasn't doing it for me and was in the mood to listening to someone talk about wrestling so I listened to the Wrestling Party podcasts for the AWA matches. I had seen most of the matches already, but man was that a grand ole time. You guys had me laughing the whole time. During one of the matches, which isn't posted on youtube, I watched Blackwell/Bravo from 1980 and I can't believe it didn't make the set given some of the reviews for the matches. Plus Blackwell works friggin holds, so even it has novelty. I have seen two matches from Bravo and have liked both of them so far. Anyways back to the Bulldogs... WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs The British Bulldogs - SNME 2 Out of 3 Falls 5/87 I got to put over Jimmy Hart huge early as Matlida fuckin shoots on him and actually bites him in the leg. Then there is an awesome shot of Matilda with the megaphone in her mouth. Matilda is my fuckin bitch, now. (Get it? I totally slay me) Seriously, Matilda seems ridiculously lame (to me at least), but her entire tenure was validated in that one minute. It is an SNME match, so you know what that means: SPRINT! Davey Boy starts off per usual. Wows us with the Stampede reversal out of the wristlock, then does his standard show of strength by picking up Bret while in a knucklelock, some quick armwork before a Bret knee lift as usual sends right into FIP. No meandering here as Anvil and Bret are following up everything quickly and crisply. But in their haste, Smith gets his knees up in the corner. Hot tag, Dynamite is ready to go to town: Bret takes his turnbuckle bump, hair pick up, hooking clothesline, snap suplex, diving headbutt. Anvil looks to make a save and throws Davey Boy out to the floor, where Davis takes advantage of him. Tito chases Davis while the Hart Foundation double teams Dynamite and they do not heed the ref's admonishments leading to the DQ. Second fall, they continue to work on Dynamite and do Demolition Decapitation. While some choking goes on, we do a chase sequence and when we comeback, we get Bret's favorite transition: hang Dynamite in ropes only to cross body block the ropes. Hot tag! HOLY SHIT! Davey Boy hits two MASSIVE dropkicks on the Hart Foundation. Brunzell's are prettier, but these dropkicks actually look like they got some mustard on them. A delayed vertical suplex gets two, but Anvil gets in some forearms before clobbering Bret on the apron. Tito hits the Flying Burrito on Davis to a huge pop. Bulldog gorilla press slams Dynamite onto Anvil and the place erupts. Alas, the title can't change hands on a DQ. That is some grade-A bullshit right there. After a drought of fun Bulldogs' matches, this one comes on like a monsoon of non-stop action. Everyone is hitting their stuff crisply and the transitions are really well-done. Transitions are important to me and I think Bret setup each one nicely and the match felt like a contest between a couple offensive juggernauts. Nowhere near the best with stuff with the Dream Team, but I would put around the 9/85 match with the Hart Foundation in terms of quality. WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs - MSG 7/87 If I am not mistaken, this is the last major match these two teams would have together. They went out with a bang. Definitely my choice for the best match these two teams have ever had with each other. Three Hart Foundation/Bulldogs matches have made WWE DVDs I cant believe this one has not. To me this is finally the match that rivals the stuff with the Bulldogs were having with the Dream Team. The Hart Foundation finally learns and attacks the Bulldogs during the Matilda routine. They isolate Davey Boy, while Dynamite gets Matilda out of harm's way. It is all for naught as Bret runs into Anvil on a criss-cross. It actually comes off as a really well done spot. Someone pissed in Dynamite's corn flakes that day because he is ripshit the whole match. Just tearing into people and snapping at the ref to get into position better and this makes for a way better match. After a hooking clotheslines, Bret rolls away and Dynamite follows him and just starts rifling elbows at him. Bret in desperation eyerakes, but Dynamite still controls to get Davey Boy in there and do a double headbutt. This has been what is missing in this series. That feeling of a real contest and urgency. The Bulldogs are hungry and the Hart Foundation are cheating like muthafuckas. None of this, let me you ragdoll for 5 minutes, now you be my ragdoll. Everyone is trying to cut each other off and there is a real sense of struggle. When I started online, I always heard Dynamite get these rave reviews, but Davey Boy Smith is way more fun to watch in my opinion. He is both the better FIP and hot tag. Davey Boy's hot tag dropkick can't fuckin be beat. That thing is disgusting. But I digress, fisherman's suplex by Davey Boy gets two. Here is a bit of weak transition as Bret punches Dynamite and is able to tag Anvil. I say it is weak because I do not think a heel should gain the upper hand in that fashion especially in the WWF where closed fists are commonplace. In Japan, a closed fist is one of the ultimate dick moves. In WWF, it just feels like another move. I would have rather seen something more heelish end the shine. Anvil is feeling into tonight with manical laugh and sledges before sending Dynamite out to be slammed into the rial by Bret. Back in now Anvil is biting him, this is the point when I was like "Ok, finally these two teams are really bringing it". Demolition Decapitation, which always looks nasty, gets two. Dynamite dazes Bret with a headbutt and falls on top on a slam attempt. Now Anvil tries to headbutt Dynamite. Bad idea and Anvil knocks himself out. I love it. Smith gets in prematurely, but Anvil ends up forcing Bret to take his trunbuckle bump and Anvil is back body dropped to the outside. HOT TAG! No dropkick, booooo. Makes up for it by busting out the monkey flip, which he has not done yet. Then falls that up with 2nd rope kneedrop, another move Smith has not done. Davey Boy rules. Now his more conventional offense: delayed vertical and running powerslam both get two. Bret grabs a sleeper only for Dynamite to headbutt him. In one of my favorite spots, Davey Boy goes to gorilla press slam Bret, but "loses control" and drops Bret crotch first on the ring ropes. That one is a always a Sleeze Pleezer. They do a common finish, where Anvil from the outside trips Smith on a suplex attempt and Bret falls on top for the win. Excellent, excellent match. Zero down-time, felt like a struggle with a real sense of urgency from both teams. If someone had to pick the representative match for this series, I would pick this one because it is just that much better than the rest. The title change, unfortunately due to the mitigating circumstances of Dynamite's injury, is just a 3 minute match. Then all the other matches feel of equal historical importance, so I would just pick the best one and that is this one in my opinion.

WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation/Danny Davis vs The British Bulldogs/Tito Santana I watched the title change, which was a short match because of Dynamite's injury. Davis was busy with checking on Dynamite's well-being after being knocked out with Hart's megaphone while Davey Boy was kicking ass and taking names, Davis missed a Bulldog pinfall. Hart Foundation double DDT -> Hart Attack -> Fast count -> New World Tag Champs and a newly minted molten heel in the form of Danny Davis. This match is wicked fun until the finish. Tito has been such a joy to watch even if he was dragged down by Adrian Adonis and Don Muraco on occasions. The babyface shine segment gets you amped. The heat segment is pretty decent on Dynamite, nothing particularly inspiring until Danny Davis comes in. He is a fuckin awful wrestler. Worst ever? He couldn't even post properly for Bulldog's delayed vertical suplex, unless this was him taking gimmick so far that he couldn't wrestle. Like I understand playing it up you suck at offense, but there is no reason to suck at bumping. What is impressive is the amount of heat he got. If they gave this gimmick to anyone worth a damn, it could have easily been a big upper midcard heel act for a couple years and probably would have gotten a Hogan program. People were going nuts for Tito and Davey Boy's offense (TOMBSTONE~!). I am a sucker for weasel heel takes a bunch of big moves. The finish pretty much sucks because Davis goes over due to nefarious tactics. It makes sense because they were probably planning to push Davis based on the heat he was getting until they realized he was fuckin atrocious. Still a fun Wrestlemania type match that I had actually never seen before.

The one where Dynamite comes off the second rope is pretty gnarly. WWF World Tag Champions British Bulldogs vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff - 12/86 Primetime Wrestling This was set up by a pretty decent short spotfest between Smith/Sheik when Sheik &Volkoff beat up Smith and Dynamite made the save. Volkoff busts out a cartwheel, which is both impressive and heelish, so double points. I may have been selling Volkoff short. Boring babyface shine consisted of arm work on Volkoff. Dynamite takes a knee to the back while he is running the ropes. Which is usually a Hart Foundation spot, but maybe the Bulldogs liked it. Volkoff has a pretty impressive bearhug when he does the squat and lay the opponent's shoulder's down, but the ref catches him using the Sheik for leverage. Sheik gets in his favorite spots in pretty smart fashion. He begins with the ab stretch and Dynamite hiptosses out, but Dynamite whiffs on an elbow. It was a simple sequence but delivered a hope spot and smartly led to the gutwrench suplex (a favorite of mine) and the Camel Clutch, which Smith breaks up because he is fed up. Sheik goes for his suplex and Dynamite hits his snap suplex. That sequence was really smartly done. Davey Boy is a house afire, but on each cover Volkoff comes in, a grand total of 5 times. Volkoff actually is able to hit an atomic drop and a monster backbreaker, but now Dynamite breaks it up. Volkoff goes for another backbreaker, but Dynamite dropkicks Bulldog on top of Volkoff. Overall, it was a smartly booked big man vs little man match and much better than their SNME affair, but still nothing to write home about. The Bulldogs just didn't match up well with this team because their offense seemed restricted. The finish with the Bulldogs double-teaming after the constant Volkoff saving was ok. The match was simply ok. WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation 11/1/86 Last time we saw these teams face off was about a year ago. The Bulldogs have wrested the titles off the Dream Team in a fantastic and defended the title against the teams ye likes of Sheik & Volkoff. While the Hart Foundation matured as a team against the Killer Bees in some fun matches. The Hart Foundation trap Dynamite in the corner, but the fights out, which is one of my favorite early shine spots. Now we do Davey Boy vs Anvil, but Bulldog can't budge the Anvil and ends up taking a powerslam. This begins the heat segment a little bit earlier than I was prepared for. The heat segment is a Best Of Hart Foundation spots collection. They are all there for your enjoyment: Anvil slingshotting Bret over the ropes, Demolition Decapitation, the blind knee to the back, Bret's bodyslam on the concrete, Bret irish whipping Anvil into his opponent. I like the Hart Foundation offense just fine, but have three major qualms. First, it made the match totally about the Hart Foundation. It felt like the Bulldogs were just any opponents taking the Hart Foundation's offense. It could have been the Killer Bees, Islanders or Rockers. I like when matches utilize the differences to make a unique match that only these two teams could have. Bret just seemed like he wanted to do "plug and play" in this match. Second, Davey Boy is no Ricky Morton. This could have been Bret eating him up, but some of the onus has to be on him to perform hope spots and make people notice him and not just be a rag doll out there. The first two points culminate in my last point, I hate how this match had no sense of struggle. When wrestling matches become exhibitions, they lose their gravitas. Exhibitions are useful in wrestling for getting over offense or gimmicks, but in title matches against established opponents I expect a sense of struggle towards victory, not neatly defined "my segment, your segment". That is what the Dream Team matches so much better is that there was a sense of struggle in the Wrestlemania and 2 Out of 3 Falls match with both teams working hard to overcome the other. Bulldog is able to pick up Bret and crotch him on the ropes. Dynamite comes in and supplies the Bulldog offense for the match: hooking clothesline, snap suplex and diving headbutt. I loved the Bulldogs' arsenal against the Dream Team and think it was criminal that they didn't get to show it off here. Anvil wipes out the ref and tries to cheat to get Bret to win with lots of dramatic two counts. Before Davey Boy rolls up Anvil for the pinfall after an exaggerated count. I actually dug the finish and I thought it added a lot of drama to a match that lacked heat because it was the Hart Foundation show in the middle. Bret had all the MOVEZ~! in 1986, but he had not quite figured out how to put them altogether yet.

I always thought it was Standard Operating Procedure to use a heel transitional champ (Koloff, Stasiak, Graham). Face vs Face matches always ended up in inconclusive finishes because if done wrong it could lead to an alienation of a portion of fanbase. Theoretically (practically in the 80s), having heels job/look bad does not lead to alienation of any segment of the fanbase. Hogan over Sheik is a guaranteed 100% pop. Hogan over Backlund you cant be sure. So why risk it. Plus I don't know what the plans for Backlund were in a Hulkamania world. I know a heel turn was in order and have heard that it bandy around that it included a dye job, but I don't think was much value to Backlund passing the torch to Hogan and I think that is fleshed out by how much of a cash cow the Hulkamania era was. There was no point in damaging babyface Backlund.

I do not think there is a tag team more suited for the hyper-compressed, spot-oriented style of WWF wrestling moreso than the British Bulldogs. Even the fast-paced Rockers weren't so reliant on spots and moreso on traditional babyface shine and heel heat segments. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, were designed to be crowd-popping machines. Every move seems like a highlight reel moment to amaze the crowd. Selling and bumping get in the way of the next crowd pop and are only to be done if necessary to advance the story that is being foisted on them. Heel heat segments in Bulldog matches are like dance breakdowns functionally necessary, but they stand between you and the hook. As opposed to a Rock N Roll Express, where heel heat segments are the hook that bridge to the climax. Both matches get you to the same place, but they take different paths. Those paths are not always equal. Dynamite and Davey, especially Davey, don't strike me as a couple MENSA members. Dynamite was in there because he is a violent muthafucka and seemed like when he was in the ring he was addicted to speed. Davey seemed like he was physically capable to do absolutely anything in the ring, but had no fucking clue how to structure a match. He is like a way more athletic Sting. Quite frankly, you could at least excuse Davey on grounds of ignorance, (though you think someone would have taught him). Is Bret the one that claims Flair never taught Sting and Luger psychology or is that Steiner? Clearly, Bret didn't teach Davey Boy psychology. Dynamite didn't give a fuck. He just wanted to do another snap suplex or headbutt. I feel like I maybe oversimplfying, but that is how I feel Bulldog matches would go unless some like Valentine or Bret reigns them in. They are the WWF equivalent of the Steiner Brothers (so their time periods dont overlap), but I think the comparison is valid. I don't think the Bulldogs should win any greatest of all time awards, but just like blockbuster action movies they have their place in wrestling. You don't have to overthink Bulldogs matches. They just are fun. The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation - 7/85 MSG One of my favorite Bret spots is his leverage spot which results in someone taking a dive out to the floor. What I like about it most is that either Bret or his opponent could take it, which makes it one of the versatile spots in wrestling. Bret is definitely a big fan of the kneelift to set up his heat segments during this time period. Everything does even back in 1985 just looks so crisp. I know Bret prides himself on this, but I still cant help but compliment him on his ability to execute moves without being stiff. I like stiff wrestling as much as the next wrestling fan, but I think it is pretty nifty that Bret can make everything he do look so good without being stiff. Bret gives Davey a backbreaker so Anvil can deliver Demolition Decapitation. Wait, I thought this was the Bulldogs thread. Just on cue, here come Dynamite to bring the offense to this match with his nasty hooking clothesline and Davey Boy comes back in with a running powerslam. Now he takes the leverage move to the outside. After trading a couple Boston Crabs, they are just killing time to the curfew finish. This was an ok first match from these two "vaunted" teams of the golden era of the tag division. It was definitely action-packed, but it felt oddly directionless and unheated for a match involving Bret Hart. I always feel like Bret is more likely to have a boring match than a directionless match. At the same time, the Bulldogs seemed to keep things moving, but didn't bust out their big guns for the match. Recommended only if you are a completist, but arent all we . Dynamite Kid vs Bret "The Hitman" Hart - 9/85 Great opening sequence sees a quick criss cross sequence end with Bret Hart taking a catapult into the turnbuckle and bumping to the floor. Hart takes an atomic drop hard and then a snap suplex. Dynamite, oddly, goes for a chinlock, but Bret reverses into a hammerlock and Bret takes his own leverage bump to the floor. I see the chinlock was needed to get Bret to do his bump, I hate those sequences. They do the Stampede reverse of the wristlock, but Bret goes to do it: he just kips up and punches Dynamite. I liked that a lot. Bret hits the knee lift to start his heat segment. Everything Bret hits just looks so crisp. He was a big fan of the bodyslam on the concrete during his heat segments. Bret is actually pretty decent at working the crowd at this point, it just seems like no one cares because they just see him a newbie. Dynamite and Davey Boy are perfectly capable of selling they just seem unwilling to do it like it is nuisance. Whereas, Bret actually takes the time to sell one of his own headbutts. The sunset flip by Dynamite gets a decent pop so maybe I spoke too soon. No one bites on the backslide. Bret does the attempted backbreaker/opponent flips/opponent hits backbreaker or bodyslam spot, which looks good. One of the reasons, Bret and Flair set themselves apart is because they already have whole matches developed unto themselves. They have multiple spots for their opponents to do to them, which takes the onus off less talented wrestlers. Bret is up first and ties Dynamite up only to take his throw himself in the ropes bump. Dynamite up with his hooking clothesline, hair pull/throwdown (Bret did it earlier) and Bret takes his patented bump chest first into buckle bump. Wicked sweet back suplex by Dynamite only get two follows that up with a second-rope kneedrop and only gets two. On a criss cross sequence, Dynamite trips over Bret and takes a header into the ropes. I have seen plenty of Bret matches and I dont recognize that as one of his spots. Is it a Dynamite spot? If so, it is a really good one. Dynamite takes the Bret leverage bump and while we are on replay we almost miss Dynamite winning with a reverse cradle. This was a helluva sprint for 11 minutes. You could already tell Bret was main event material in the way that this was the total Bret show. Almost every spot was a Bret concoction that he would learn to craft into fantastic 30 minute affairs. Dynamite is a great offensive dynamo and holds up his end on selling. It isn't anywhere near the best Bret match, but it is an important match to show how many tools Bret already had in his arsenal in 1985. The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation - 9/85 Great match! This one had the better shine than the July affair. The Hart Foundation really milks it and the Bulldogs are bringing their A game offense with Dynamite's catapult, Davey Boy's powerslam and victory roll. Bret does his knee lift to seemingly set up Davey Boy for a heat segment, but it is a pysch out as Dynamite comes in. Only this time, for Dynamite to run the ropes and take a blind knee to the back (a Hart Foundation staple). Dyanmite really throws himself into the bumps thats the good thing, but apparently thinks selling just consists of laying motionless. Bret hits his bodyslam on the outside. Bret and Davey Boy do a good chase sequence, which breaks up the heat segment nicely. The transition is the same as the previous match with Bret tying up Dynamite in the ropes and Bret eating ropes. I would be remiss to mention that they botch the Bret backbreaker->DK flip out->DK backbreaker spot, but thankfully they don't redo the spot. Davey Boy comes in and cant stop Irish Whipping people. The Hart Foundation love having their opponents Irish Whip Bret into Anvil or vice versa. That's the first time I have brought up the Anvil that just seems wrong because he has been entertaining, but I guess nothing noteworthy so far. Davey Boy hits his gorilla press slam, but the Hart Foundation counters into Demolition Decapitation and then a top rope version of the Hart Attack. However, while the ref was distracted Dynamite comes flying off with a diving headbutt and rolls Davey Boy on top. So, I actually watched this match a couple days ago (I am behind on my writing of reviews), but watched the Hart/DK match just now, which is why that one is so much more comprehensive. I am going based off some notes I took at like 2 am, but I do remember thinking that this match was great. I wouldn't say as good as the Dream Team/Bulldogs 2 out of Three Falls, but still very entertaining. I feel like the Hart Foundation are eating up the Bulldogs a bit too much and this match definitely felt more like the Bret show. I think Valentine was able to play to the Bulldogs strengths better. WWF World Tag Champs The British Bulldogs vs Heenan's Family (Studd/Bundy) - 5/7/86 Smart big man vs small man match that only lasts 5 or so minutes. The Bulldogs can only gain the advantage momentarily with quickness or with a double dropkick (I prefer their double dropkick to the RnRs or the Rockers). Bundy is more agile than Studd and is more entertaining to watch. I actually got King Kong Bundy's autograph when I was a kid when he did a local New England Indy (NWA New England, I believe). He is one big dude. Studd looks massive compared to the Bulldogs. Dynamite comes in illegally to put Studd in a sleeper and Studd tosses a ref for a DQ. Bundy tries to Irish Whip Studd into Smith, but he eats turnbuckles causing dissension in the Heenan Family. Was Studd supposed to turn babyface? If so, why, there is nothing, about Studd that makes him seem like a decent babyface. WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs Sheik/Volkoff - SNME 5/86 2 Out Of 3 Falls What a weird match. We find out in the 3rd fall that Dynamite was injured as up until the final minute Davey Boy wrestled the whole match. First fall sees Volkoff wrangling Smith and dropping him throat first across the ropes. Sheiky Baby comes in with a wicked back suplex and makes him humble old country way. McMahon goes overboard with how gallant Davey Boy is while wondering why Smith hasn't tagged out. The whole fall is Smith taking heat from the Iranian and Soviet. Sheik hits his sweet gutwrench suplex and Volkoff busts out a nice rolling armbar into a pin, seriously that was the coolest thing I have ever seen Volkoff do. However, "that idiot thinks he won the match" and Bulldog rolls him up from behind to win the second fall. The third fall sees Davey Boy continue to make his comeback by hitting a running powerslam, but can't negotiate a pinfall. He tags in Dynamite who is immediately bearhugged to death while McMahon says they will go after the legs (someone didn't get a memo). Gutwrench suplex and Sheik is ready to break his back and make him humble, but Davey Boy thwarts him and rolls him up for the victory no tag. I would say the past couple matches have defied my hypothesis that the Bulldogs are offensive dynamos and dont take heat often, but I think those matches are anomalies of TV wrestling having a different purpose than house show wrestling. In Studd/Bundy, the goal was to put over the size of the Heenan Family versus the quickness of the Bulldogs. This match was to put over how the Bulldogs were fighting champs and gallant. Though that match suffered from the hypercompression of SNME. I may try another Sheik/Volkoff match (I am really digging the Iron Sheik lately) or skip ahead to the late '86 feud against the Hart Foundation.

Savage/Warrior is a masterpiece, very few matches will ever touch it. Garvin/Savage's cage match still is not as good as the Tito No DQ match, Steamboat (Toronto & Wrestlemania) or Savage/Adonis vs Bruno/Tito in a cage. Unless there is magical unearthing of Valentine's Mid-Atlantic work, I will associate Valentine with WWF. WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - 2 Out of Three Falls SNME 10/86 One impressive thing about this series so far has been that these teams have really gone out and had different matches each time. This match saw the Dream Team in control of majority of the match. Hell, Brutus Beefcake looked shockingly competent. Valentine gets a hold of Dynamite's knee early, but Davey Boy comes in and the Dream Team overwhelm him bringing the injured Dynamite back in. I got to give the man some credit, but the Beefer worked Dynamite's knee pretty well, before Valentine was able to wrangle him into a figure 4 and garner the first fall. They continue to work over Dynamite's leg at the beginning of the second fall. But Valentine goes for the always tempting second-rope elbow and misses allowing for Davey Boy to come in like the proverbial house afire. Bulldog hits his dropkick, delayed vertical suplex and running powerslam on Valentine before re-doing that wicked bitchin finish from the non-title match with Dynamite leaping off Beefcake and doing a headbutt on Valentine for the second fall. Towards the beginning of the 3rd fall, there is a strike exchange, which makes me wish there was a Dynamite vs Greg Valentine match. Snap suplex by Dynamite, but he misses the standing headbutt. Valentine is back on the leg, but Dynamite pushes him off on the figure-4 attempt and tags out to Davey Boy. Beefcake gets the tag simultaneously and cuts off Davey Boy (I always want to write Bulldog, but have to stop myself). Valentine hits a suplex and Brutus connects with a high knee, but Dynamite saves. Brutus goes in for a high knee in the corner, but Davey Boy side-steps and picks up the win with a fisherman's suplex. I would say it is close with the Wrestlemania II, but this is the my favorite match that I have seen between these teams. The match runs through the heels more, which is something I prefer. Hell, Beefcake came through in the clutch and proved me wrong in this match. Valentine was his usually violently awesome self. It is not like the Dream Team ate up the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs got in all of their offense and looked both resilient and impressive in their match. I actually think the other matches were too lop-sided in the favor of the Bulldogs that it actually made the Dream Team look like chumps. This match actually made the Bulldogs look more badass for overcoming the Dream Team in a way that just being on offensive never would. Dynamite sold really well throughout the match and Davey Boy is a really good hot tag. I would say this is my pick for best WWF 80s tag match I have seen so far.

Actually isn't his WWF work a fair representation by default. He worked WWF against Backlund in '79 and '81. He worked full-time for the WWF from 1984-1991. Seven years of prime Valentine is hard to ignore as the definig representation of Valentine as a worker. Outside of the Dog collar match with Piper, does he have any notable matches outside of the WWF? I acknowldge that Valentine was clearly a Crockett-style worker working for the WWF, which lends his matches in the WWF a different atmosphere to them, but that doesn't stop the fact that at the end of the day Valentine was a WWF performer for the majority of his career. If WWE Hall Of Fame required to pick your hat like the Baseball Hall Of Fame, then there is no doubt that Valentine would choose a WWF hat because of the success and length of his WWF run.

Greg Valentine vs Davey Boy Smith - 10/20/86 MSG I was pretty pumped when I found out this match exists, but it never reaches unheralded classic status I hoped it would. If Davey Boy bothered selling, maybe things could have been different, but as the match is it is just a plain 'ol good match between two very good wrestlers. What sets Valentine apart from the rest of WWF at this point is just how stiff he lays in his shots. It really gives his matches a special feel. They trade bearhugs, which is actually a unique way for Davey Boy to show off his power. Valentine really starts to lay into Davey Boy with forearms and then his shoulderbreaker. I am not against the shoulderbreaker, I think it is a move that should be utilized more frequently, but I don't really get why "Master of the Figure 4" Greg Valentine would be using it. Valentine begins working on the leg, but that ends up being no sold as Davey Boy slaps on the Sharpshooter of all things. Had Bret even debuted the Sharpshooter at this point? So much for that leg work as Davey Boy does a delayed vertical suplex and his powerslam. Valentine does his cat and mouse game trick. Does anyone really believe Valentine could outrun Davey Boy? Davey Boy was struggling to go slow enough to not overtake Valentine, maybe if he sold the leg it wouldn't look so phony. Valentine with some stomps and here comes the figure-4, but Davey Boy gets to the ropes. Davey Boy immediately hits a dropkick. What is selling? Weird finish as Valentine pretty much out of nowhere double legs Davey Boy and hold onto the ropes to pick up the victory. This match suffered from the 80s WWF hyper-compression issues. Did any WWF match from '84-86 ever go over 25 minutes? The finish didn't make sense because the Bulldogs were about to be programmed with the Harts and the Dream Team shunted down the card. Plus it felt like they just cut the match off prematurely. There is good stuff here and there is no reason to believe that these two could not have delivered an all-time classic, but I just dont think Hulkamania era WWF was the right setting for these two to deliver that.

Well there is no shortage of Bulldogs/Dream Team online that is for sure. Thanks! I watch a shit ton of wrestling so I figure I might as well start documenting my reactions. Plus I think any and all writing helps one's writing/communication skills so I have have deluded myself into think that this is improving myself. So how do you guys put your prolific wrestling writing output on your resumes? WWF World Tag Champs Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II Beefcake's total amount of time in this match is literally one minute. Thank God. At one point, Gorilla says Valentine has been in there a while and whilst the Hammer conferring with Luscious Johnny V remarks he can't believe Johnny V wouldn't advise a tag out. All I have to say is Gorilla have you seen Beefcake wrestle? Of course, Beefcake's one big move is actually a nice hammerlock slam that was perfectly fed to him by Davey Boy and perfectly setup by Valentine's arm work, but it doesn't stop Gene and Gorilla from going gaga over the Beefer's one move. Give me Dino Bravo every day over that chump. This begins as less of an offensive showcase for the Bulldogs. They still get in their assortment of suplexes (Davey Boy- delayed vertical and Dynamite's snap) and Davey Boy does a gorilla press slam, but Valentine is able to get in a few forearms edgewise throughout. I wouldn't go so far to call spot monkeys like the Steiners (who I love, even though I know most people around these parts arent too fond of), but you do get the feeling that don't really give much of a fuck about structure. Case in point, Dynamite forces Valentine to do the TIMBAHHH bump twice, when he could have done a better job to maximize its effectiveness. Valentine irks me as he randomly just picks up Dynamite at one point and gives him what can be best described as a reverse tombstone piledriver. It just annoys because it felt so much like "Ok now it is my turn" rather him even doing an eye rake to set that up. That does setup Valentine doing his best Flair impersonation, crotching himself and then taking the gorilla press slam. The Bulldogs go for the rocket launcher diving headbutt, but Valentine does some cat and mouse is able to the knee the fuck out of Dynamite (those were pretty vicious). Davey Boy comes in only for his shoulder to eat steel setting up the face in peril segment. Valentine shoulder-breaker and usual hammerlock related offense including Beefcake's sole contribution to the match, I mentioned above. Valentine makes the cardinal mistake of overconfident heels and picks up Davey Boy after the shoulderbreaker. Davey Boy throws Valentine off who collides with Dynamite head first standing on the turnbuckle. Dynamite takes a wicked bump off-camera and the Bulldogs win the titles. I actually like that finish as a callback to the SNME finish. This match was an outstanding one man effort by Valentine as he was bumping and selling for the Bulldogs better because he made this into more his style match as a brutal strike based match. However, he still let the Bulldogs get their spots in. As evidenced by Beefcake's inability to take Dynamite's hooking clothesline in the last match, he clearly was not the man to do that. I have watched the Funks vs Tito/JYD recently, while that is good. This match is still my pick for the best match at the woeful Wrestlemania II card.

Incidentally, enough I was just about to rave about The Hammer's forearm exchange. Just gotta love when everyone is on the same wavelength. Tabling the Rougeaus for now, but the New Dream Team got me reinterested in Valentine. I never was able to find the cage match with Tito in full. I am skipping to the first SNME match with the Bulldogs. Seems like the Dream Team only feuded with the Bulldogs during their reign. WWF World Tag Champs Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - SNME 3/1/86 They show a clip of the Bulldogs beating the Dream Team non-title and the finish was sweet for any time period. Davey Boy did his running power slam on Beefcake and then hoisted up Valentine fireman's carry style and then Dynamite jumped on Valentine while he was on Davey Boy and hit his diving headbutt to win. I marked out. This was an offensive showcase for all the Bulldogs' high tech offense, plain and simple. Matches like these will never be rated among the greatest, but at the same time I never complain about them especially when a team like the Bulldogs is being showcased because they are so good at offense. It never feels like heel in peril because there are literally no holds. It just slam bang spots from the Bulldogs. The only problem is that it is Valentine and Beefcake taking them. I like Valentine a good bit, but this match isn't exactly his forte. He is much better in even, long-ish brutal or scientific matches. These matches pretty show he has his one "TIMBAHHHH" bump and other than that he doesn't do a great job putting over the Bulldogs. It is serviceable, but not great. Beefcake sucks. I forgot how truly shitty he is. The best parts of the matches were the Hammer's forearm exchanges with each of the Bulldogs. On the first one, Bulldog answered with a dropkick, but in a nice touch he really sold Valentine's offense (maybe he didnt have to ). Then second exchange with Dynamite led to the very brief face in peril segment where the Hammer actually hit his second rope elbow. Dynamite pushes him off on the figure-4 attempt; Valentine takes the Flair gorilla press slam bump off the top. Just as the Bulldogs seem like they are closing in on the titles, Dynamite and Valentine collide on a criss-cross and Valentine falls on top. If I ever wanted to show somebody the Best Hits of the Bulldogs, so to speak this would be the match. I actually think that was a good finish because the story of the match was how much the Bulldogs dominated, but fell short due to unfortunate circumstances. It makes you want to see the Wrestlemania II match. It is an effective and fun match.

The "Not Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus vs The New Dream Team - 9/87 MSG "Luscious" Johnny V has to rank among the most worthless managers in history. He is doing the Buddy Roberts wig gimmick since Beefcake chopped off his hair, but way lamer. The three members of the Dream Team do a lot of hugging. In 2012, hugging gets you babyface heat, o society how far you have fallen. Bravo and Valentine even do a heel miscommunication spot early and hug afterwards warming my cockles of my heart. So Bravo strikes me as an energetic, yet less smooth version of Don Muraco. He isn't half-bad. Valentine does his "TIMBAAHHHH" bump 4 times, but is like "Fuck you, if you expect me to do any other bumps or sell". The heat segment is better than expected even though the Raymond is quite boring as a face in peril because Valentine and Bravo have so much stuff. I guess that is what happens when both your heels used to be singles wrestlers. Jacques gets the hot tag and he is house afire, but his offense isn't impactful. Johnny V gets his wig knocked off, but it takes way from the match rather than add to it because it happens outside the ring. Double bodyslam by Dream Team sets up a Valentine figure-4, but the time limit expires even though the Dream Team thought they had won. Weird finish as it made the Rougeaus look like they were lucky to even be hanging with the Dream Team. It was clear looking at the Rougeaus match listing that they weren't getting over as faces so maybe the finish stems from that. At that same time, I don't think the New Dream Team was going anywhere. Maybe it was just Vince throwing a curveball. This is a better match to showcase that Valentine/Bravo were actually a pretty decent team, better than Valentine's one man show with Beefcake. However, it is not a good showcase for the Quebecois. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Young Stallions 6/88 Rougeaus are finally fabulous. They do a really great insincere gimmick between the waving of the American flags and the constant hand-shaking. They come off as great pricks. The Young Stallions don't fuck anything up. The Rougeaus are clearly the superior in wrestlers in every single way. This is your basic tit for tat match with Rougeaus playing the subtle heel. They trade Boston Crabs when Raymond comes in and blasts Roma with a forearm from behind and the Rougeaus drop the facade make quick tags working over Roma's back. Jim Powers comes in and Jacques feeds him like a champ. Small package by Powers is turned over by Raymond behind ref's back and Rougeaus win. Rougeaus keep it entertaining, but nothing to write home about. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Killer Bees - 7/88 This is the match where the Rougeaus finally turn heel. The best part of this is Jesse covering for the Rougeaus mixing up Memorial Day and Independence Day. I love The Body. There is a couple drop toeholds in this match, which is one of my favorite moves. Jacques stick his hand out to Brunzell at one point and then blows him off. Brunzell comes back and sticks out his hand, blows him off and rubs his hair in a nice sequence. They do a basic tag match only the Rougeaus start to cheat culminating in Raymond delivering a top rope double axe-handle to Brunzell while he was hoisting Jacques up causing Jacques to fall on top for the pin. I am sure these teams have had better matches against each other, but I watched it for the angle. It was a really anti-climatic way to turn heel. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The British Bulldogs - Summerslam 88 This match was not as good as I remember, but it is a perfectly good wrestling match. This would be on the bubble if I were to make a Top 100 or 150 or what have you of 80s WWF matches. Things like Dynamite's offense, Davey Boy's selling and the Rougeau's heel work are tempered by long stretches of inactivity. At the beginning, the Rougeaus seem game to bump all around, but the Bulldogs seem content to armbar them. One funny moment was Raymond not wanting to take Dynamite's hooking clothesline full-on so he side-stepped it a bit, but still sold it. I like Jacques' attempt at an USA chant. One thing I hate about WWF tag wrestling is segments where they do prolonged leg work, which just amounts to twisting the guy's leg. You cant at least do a spinning toehold. The Rougeaus mix it up a bit more than that, but still that they spend most of the time doing that. Dynamite comes in and unleashes a volley of suplexes. Davey Boy back in with his running powerslam but Jacques makes the save. Dynamite back in but takes a back suplex off the turnbuckle from Jacques. This heat segment is my other pet peeve of WWF tag wrestling non-focused, non-descript work. Jacques & Raymond just alternate between the abdominal stretch and reverse chinlock. That amused me greatly. Also, what didnt amuse me is Gorilla and Superstar Graham, holy shit was a sucky announce team. They really couldnt come up with a better tagline than "Its a happening" for the first Summeslam. Dynamite gets a small package on Jacques while the ref's back is turned and MSG is standing. I notice while the crowd has really been into this match. There is one good sequence when Jacques has Dynamite in the ab stretch and he yells "Hey, ref" broadly gestures for the tag and Raymond comes in does a weird strut and kicks Dynamite in the abs. Dynamite recovers by headbutting Jacques in the gut and gives him a knife-edge. Davey Boy comes in and misses a dropkick, but is able to dump Jacques crotch first on the top rope. There is a big brouhaha and Davey Boy gorilla press slams Dynamite on Jacques, but the time limit expires. I feel like I sounded too harsh on this match because there was a lot of good work and the pace was quite good. The heat segments just weren't as good as they could have been. I actually thought Bulldogs looked really good for a team that I figured wasn't going to give a fuck since they were on their way out. The Rougeaus are definitely better suited as heels. Jacques had great energy for a hot tag, but didnt have the offense. Raymond is a sound wrestler, but isn't good at getting face heat. As heels, Raymond can wrestle and it much is easier for him to get heat just by doing things like a weird strut or hugging his brother. Jacques is clearly a great antagonist and his ability to show ass and bump make him much better heel. Next up we have the Rougeaus two most famous feuds against The Hart Foundations (after they adopt Jimmy Hart as their manager) and the Rockers. I will probably do two matches from each series and call it good on the Fabulous Rougeaus.

The "Not-Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus vs The New US Express 12/86 Boston I did not know Rotundo was around this late in the WWF. I have never really watched Spivey. No usual Rougeau BS early on, which I miss, but I presume that is due to it being face vs face. Gorilla notes the fan dont know who to root for in this match. Which is weird because they seem awfully of this guy named "Boring". So I am a bit higher on the work than the crowd, but I do see where they are coming from. The Rougeaus seem more game as this is close to their WWF debut whereas the US Express is on their way out. Spivey works an armbar in vanilla fashion why Jacques tries to get him to do anything. Rotundo is a little bit more willing and the Rougeaus work over the knee and Jacques slaps on a Figure-4 on the proper leg and is really working it. Spivey comes in with some brutish offense and tempers are starting to flare. Raymond busts out the rolling short arm scissors, which is always a treat. The finish is each team saves the other once. Finally the weakest Pier Six Brawl breaks out, I mean Katie slept through this and the door was wide open. Double DQ. Meh match, but the Rougeaus seem fun. WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation w/Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis vs The "Not-Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus 3/87 Boston The Hart Foundation are fresh off the screwjob of the Bulldogs so this match will at least have heat. I would say this maybe the best Hart Foundation match ever. We start off with a little Rougeau bullshit to get everyone revved up and Bret is at his slimy best. I really this is a great performance from him. He heels it up to 11 with the combination of "Look at me, Mom!" and cowardice. He milks a Rougeau slap for all its worth. Even the Anvil takes a nice bump for Raymond. They work over Bret's leg in an entertaining fashion, before they trap Raymond in the heel corner. The Harts worked this segment well varying Anvil's power with Bret's smarm and general douchebaggery. Raymond times his hope spots (backslide, sunset flip) well and Jacques was an excellent cheerleader. Once Jacques gets the hot tag, this place goes nuts! Some general fun like whipping the Harts into each other and such. Jacques, I believe, had Bret small packaged, but that Dastardly Danny Davis reversed it behind the ref's back. A very fun match, I would even say on par with Rockers/Busters match from early. I know there are a lot of people down on Bret's tag work, but I think this is a pretty good display of the Hart Foundation as an effective heel team in garnering heat until the place exploded for the freaking Rougeaus. This is the same crowd that was chanting "Boring" at the Rougeaus nary three months early. Rougeaus are team with good psychology and maybe I am wrong, but I dont think they were ever presented as an elite team, but they wrestled huge in this match and the Hart Foundation made them look great. Finally, the WWF missed striking alliteration gold and truing Danny Davis into the next elite heel for the Hulk Machine if they just called him "Dastardly" Danny Davis. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase vs Jacques Rougeau 10/87 Solid TV match, where Jacques may have added more than Ted. Jacques always brought great energy to the match. Ted pulls the hair three times, before Jacques drops the grappling and resorts to fisticuffs. He crashes and burns on a cross body block. Ted with standard heel offense. Jacques is dazed sitting on the middle rope and Virgil pulls him out and drops him to the floor in the spot of the match. Dibiase takes his usual punch to the gut front flip spot before. Jacques goes on a run before some Virgil-traction leads to a schoolboy. Lame finish to a pretty ho-hum match. Bret "Hitman" Hart vs Raymond Rougeau 10/86 MSG A bit better than the match above, but that is only because I am a big fan of Bret's offense and stooging. I always thought Bret had one of the more impressive offensive arsenals in North America. Bret missed his true calling as a cowardly heel as he is quite entertaining in this role. He freaks out over his sunglasses getting destroyed is a nice touch. Raymond does a monkey flip. Bret tries one, but telegraphs and Raymond just stomps on his face, great sequence. Bret grinds the match to a halt with a chinlock. Raymond makes him comeback, but is missing Jacques' spark. They sure did toss piledrivers like candy in the 80s as Raymond cant get the three. Bret bumps well off an atomic drop before he double legs Raymond (ref distraction) and puts his feet on the ropes for the win. Seems like the only major feud the Rougeaus had as babyfaces was with the New Dream Team. I have never watched Dino Bravo before so I will at least check out one of their matches. In short, only the title match with the Hart Foundation in Boston is worth seeing.

The Rockers vs The Brainbusters 3/89 MSG With these four in 1989, the question was how far above great could they get. I have watched this match a couple times and I enjoyed it the most this go around. The Rockers maybe the best babyface shine team in history as they know how to work a really fun opening ten minutes. Not to be out done, few bump, stooge and show ass as well as Arn & Tully. The Rockers do a great sequence of in sync spots with dropkicks and dives to the floor. I loved the transition of Shawn going for a headscissors and then being dropped on his head. You cant really beat Marty as a hot tag and Shawn as a babyface in peril in 1989 as both guys just have their act down. While Tully & Arn are at their best taking all sorts of shortcuts and working over Shawn slingshotting him into Tully's forearm or into the bottom rope throat-first. Marty gets the hot tag and explodes. This leads to a rocket launcher by Shawn before Arn pulls out the ref causing the DQ. The Rockers should have went over unless it was due to the fact they wanted to build Busters to get the belts. This is an excellent popcorn match that the Rockers excel. It felt more like a Rockers match than the typical Anderson tag match (hyperfocused limb work and extended heat segment). It was a real testament to the Rockers' ability at this time that AA would let them run their match.

Not to make anyone feel old, but I was 8 years old in 1997 when I started watching wrestling. I was a much bigger fan of WCW than the WWF due to the nWo and the luchadores. My parents still watch wrestling with me from time to time, but the height of their watching was in the late 90s when I was a child. Besides "Conspiracy Victim" Chris Jericho, there was no character my parents thought was more hilarious than Raven's Flock character. To this day, if one of us children starts to ask for something trivial. they will hit us with a "What about me? What about Raven?" as to mock our "whining" (Godamnit, $25 for the Steel Panther concert isnt that much! ). My mom especially was a huge Flock fan and became oddly attached to Lodi and his signs. My mom was also a big Glacier fan. I don't get it. So last year when I got Lodi to wish her Happy Birthday via Twitter, it ranked up there as one of her favorite present. So I thought this year I would get Raven to do it. Of course, Raven has to tweet how he gangbanged my mom with the Flock. All I wanted was a "Happy Birthday" from the shithead. I am a sucker for Raven's promos and angles in ECW and WCW. I always thought they were interesting. His stuff with Cactus when Cactus turned is probably the most well-done cebereal wrestling angle I have ever seen. The Pitbulls Dog Collar is a fun clusterfuck. He seems like a funny prick, but just don't ask him to wish your mom a Happy Birthday. I guess I was asking for it.

Holy shit, what an incredible match from Cena/Punk. I agree with Dylan this totally should have been the Wrestlemania. In a lot of ways, I feel this was the best 80s WWF match, only it happened in 2013. Punk did not really work a focused heat segment instead he was working on containing the awesome might of Cena. I dont know how many of you watched via Youtube, but you get what happened during the commercial breaks that way and the transition to Punk's dominance was an overhand right, which is such an 80s transition that Cena sold really well as a cheapshot. What I liked from Cena was every time he did break free from Punk, he would collect himself and pounce thus affirming Punk's fears of Cena's power. Punk was really good at capitalizing on his "big" little moves like a heel kick by immediately pinning Cena and then gaining head control. It displayed how much Punk wanted it. What I loved the most about this match was it the story of Cena earning every single thing. My the biggest complaints of Cena that I know is how he just goes through the motions of his comeback and it is academic. This match was all about him overcoming that Punk knew it was coming. He missed the first flying tackle to the outside, which led to a Punk dive. Then he did the flying tackle. Milestone unlocked. Then he tried the Proto-Bomb, but countered into the Anaconda Vice. Finally wrangles it. Milestone unlocked. But Punk kicks him in the face on the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Eventually, he overcomes more Punk offense to hit it, but Punk counters the FU. So he busts a powerbomb. He has to work heard to get the top rope rocker dropper by doing a test of strength on the the top rope. Then he hits the FU, but still not enough. I have to say along the way Cena's facial expression had been great conveying worry, exhaustion and stupor (especially after one of Punk's high-knees in the corner). I liked the use of the teased countout finish, G2S and then Punk busting out the piledriver after Cena's comeback because of how it made seemed like Cena's arsenal was tapped and now Punk was peaking at the right time. Before Cena pulls the out the mother of unforeseen moves: the Frankensteiner to setup the FU. The Frankensteiner was necessary to catch Punk unawares because Punk had been countering all his moves up to that point. In a non-kayfabe sense, they had built the match to such a fever pitch there was no way just a series of FU would feel satisfying. Cena's extended comeback was one of the best in WWE history. Punk following each of his offensive moves/strikes gave that match its urgent feel. Most importantly, this match was the story of Cena earning every inch of this match to go to Wrestlemania. The Royal Rumble just felt ho-hum like "O Cena Won." This match Cena had to claw for everything and win this match. If his opponent was anyone but a gassed Rock, I would say I am amped for Wrestlemania, but now it will feel like a letdown knowing it will damn near impossible to top this spectacle. I am going to say and will argue for it, Match of the Year Candidate.

We have a match that will give Tito/Muraco 1/84 a run for its money in suckitude in the form of Tito/Adonis 6/86. Adonis could clearly still work when wanted to see the killer steel cage match at MSG in July of 86 against Tito/Bruno with Savage. Holy shit was this dreadful. Incredibly boring for the first 10 minutes and then an absolute clusterfuck finish, which they actually have to redo the finish because they fucked it up the first time. Embarrassing match for two great workers.

jdw, I agree with all your points as you can see, I argued the beginning was pretty boring, but "hate" seems like a strong word for such a lame beginning. I did like the finish run a bit more than you it seemed as there were two really well-done comedy spots and the cool move was pretty nifty. A great five minutes doesn't make for a great match, but it salvaged that match to a degree. It does seem like Adonis & Murdoch were cashing in paychecks. I know the WWF set is being redone, but that doesn't stop the fact that the North-South vs Briscos was considered a Top 5 match in the original set. I have been watching Tito and Hogan matches, but I will get to it eventually. Man, I was heavy on hyperbole in my original review. Downgrade "wildly entertaining" to "entertaining" and the hypothetical North-South vs Slaughter/Backlund match to a hypothetically excellent WWF tag match.

Terry Funk vs Mr. Wrestling II - 11/25/85 MSG I have heard Dylan speak of this match; I know he likes the Poffo match (I liked it a good deal) more. I have never seen Mr. Wrestling II, but from my understanding he was as old as dirt in this match. So sorry, Mr. Wrestling II fans, this was The Funker show. Wrestling II was just there to supply some Dusty gyrations and knee lifts. So my question is how was doing the gyrations first: The American Dream or Mr. Wrestling II? Funk is on top of his game in this long match by WWF standards. He chases Mel Phillips around the ring in attempt to brand him. Wrestling II wrangles him. They dod a criss-cross sequence, but Funk continues after Wrestling II stops. I know I have seen that spot before, but it never gets old. Funk gets even more flustered and goes to kick to the turnbuckle, but hits the metal. OW! I have never seen that before. Funk seems to know how to work comedy better into his matches than Murdoch, who sometimes gets a little too Three Stooges. The Body seems a bit under the weather as he is not that energetic, maybe hung over? Jimmy Hart is at his most effective in terms of his WWF run here with the mega-phone. He is consulting and being an active participant. In the WWF, always felt he didnt do much with the Hart Foundation. I have not watched much Honky Tonk, though. Funk bodyslams and goes for an elbow misses. Misses another elbow. And another. Wrestling II up with a knee-lift and another great sequence and he shakes what his momma gave him to punctuate it. Funk hops over the guardrail and plans to leave through the fans and the police escort him back. Nuthin doin', Funker. Wrestling II backdrops Funk out of the ring and Hart and Funk struggle to get Funk back up. They do an excellent apron spot with Funk on the outside. Funk takes over on the outside. BIG chop by Funk! During a sleeper, Funk takes his elbow pad off and chokes Wrestling II. Never seen that either, great spot! Wrestling II chases the Mouth of South him under the ring and Funk is able to take over. Funk catches him with an knee as he bullrushes him in the corner and that's the finish. There were some dull stretches in there, but I chock that up to Wrestling II being old. He was moving in slow-motion on some of those sequences. I remember liking the Poffo match better, but this match maybe a better testament to Funk's ability.

Ok, that makes more sense in a context of mass appeal, but I know prefer elongated comeback. My all-time least favorite Hulk-Up is the one at Wrestlemania V because it is just so short and doesnt really do that angle justice. Then again I am still so terribly disappointed by that match given that the Mega Powers Explosion angle is my favorite WWF angle from any era. I watched Hogan's first two SNME matches against Orton (5/85) and Volkoff (10/85) neither one was worth writing home about so I am not going to dwell on either one, but will point that in both matches he does a faux-Hulk Up before the finish. Could his switch to one final Hulk-Up also be due to laziness? The Volkoff match was lame, but short. Volkoff has some really boring offense save for one really nice backbreaker. Hogan did his best to impart his energy to the match, but Volkoff was a blackhole. The Orton was more fun, but still nothing terribly exciting until the superplex tease, which got the fans on their feet. Hogan's arm work was decent before Orton took over with a dropkick/flying knees (didnt get full extension). This match didn't have the zaniness of the Funk match or Race's bump-o-rama. Hogan seems to always hold up his share, but it takes two tango. This match is a great example why people like Terry Funk and Harley Race are all-timers and Orton is a nice mid-card act.

Lets see how Bob does in a tag context... WWF World Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch vs Bob Backlund & B. Brian Blair - Philly 7/7/84 If you take the beginning of the Slaughter/Daniels and add to the last 5 minutes of this match, you have a classic tag match. The Terry Daniels babyface shine seemed much more effective because of how small Daniels was and how much effort Murdoch/Adonis put into putting him over. Adonis does the try for a tag but falls over the top rope spot again, which cracks me up again. Blair doesn't bring the spunk of Daniels and everything seems ho-hum. I remember the heat segment on Daniels not setting my world afire, but this was even more boring as Murdoch/Adonis seem content to working the arm in the most pedestrian fashion. Once Bob gets in, well business picks up for a lack of a better phrase. Backlund gets Adonis in the Crossface Chickenwing (Bret always said that legitmately hurt and I still figured that he was working us, but the way Bobby has it on Adrian seems like it is an uncomfortable move to take), but Tricky Dicky hits with an elbow smash from the top. We get a great Backlund heat segment where Murdoch/Adonis blatantly don't tag in and out something about the nonchalance of those two made me laugh. This climaxes with Bob going into amateur escape mode as he crawls in circles around the two before he wrangles Murdoch into an atomic drop. Hot tag to Blair! Well the hottest tag that Blair would ever experience. He sends Murdoch's head into Adonis's groin (Adonis was on the top turnbuckle). Adonis gets tangled into the ropes and Murdoch gets launched into him again. However, all this fun comes to an end when Murdoch is able to hoist Blair up while the ref detained Backlund and Adonis came off the top with a clothesline to pick up the pin. That is the second cool finish from North-South as they did Demolition Decapitation on Daniels in the Daniels/Slaughter defense. This is a wildly entertaining match once Backlund gets in there, but before that it is not much to write home about. Like I said North-South could have had a classic if you stick the first half of Daniels/Slaugher with the last half of Blair/Backlund. Of course, if they wrestled a Slaughter/Backlund super team with Backlund taking heat and Slaughter the hot tag then that could have been the greatest tag of all-time. I got to get around to watching the much vaunted North-South vs Briscos match.

Yeah bumping and selling are two horses of different colors. It is mutually inclusive proposition to be good at both. Hogan is a far better seller than he is a bumper, but his bumping is the drizzling shits. I have watched a lot of Hogan, but not a lot of recently, but when I was watching Harley it seemed to trigger memories of Hogan's very discrete selling. I prefer people that have a continuum of selling levels and modulate it for the point of the match or story. Hogan is either at 100% ready to kick ass or as soon as he gets punched to setup control, he is gasping for air whether it is a minute into the match or 10 minutes (well it is not like he was going 30 so on the relative scale that was his 20 minute mark). You would think almost by default then I would prefer Hogan's offense, but I think the fucker actually has a pretty good right hand and seeing the big lug get all worked up is still wicked fun. He busted the out the atomic drop, vertical suplex and his follow-up clothesline and they all look pretty good. He sometimes overdoes the babyface cheating to point where your scratching your head, but it was the 80s, baby! These are only recent conclusions and I dont find myself particularly tethered to them mostly because it is Hulk Hogan and I don't give too many fucks about him. I will re-evaluate as I watch more, but I standby that his offense looks good and I like long babyface shines so the fact he wrestles on top for a long time doesn't bother me especially since most of the heels he wrestled sucked. jdw, what do you mean that he had not perfected the Hulk-Up? I much prefer when the Hulk-Up leads to a cut-off before he ultimately polishes off his challenger. It adds dynamics and wrinkles to his matches. Were you being facetious? That is Misawa-level shit, baby! WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Dr. D - Massacre in Minneapolis 6/17/84 Hulk Hogan is returning to the Twin Cities with the REAL belt, brutha! I have not seen Dr. D before and I thought he was pretty mediocre. Dr. D takes over right away and there is Hogan's death selling right away. Schultz pulverizes Hogan with a chair and the blood flows. See Hogan could have made this selling look better by gradually building to the climax of bleeding. I will say once he is hit with the chair his selling looks as it should and is very well-done. Schultz hits his big move: second-rope elbow. HULK-UP~! Hogan hits him with a standing elbow and leg drop, but picks him up on each fall. I don't think I have ever seen a wrestler win after doing that. Hulk Hogan is above Wrestling Laws. The selling has been completely turned off as he begs for Schultz to get up after he rammed into the post. Schultz is able to clothesline him coming out of the corner and oversell is kicked back on. Schultz misses the big elbow and Hogan with a clothesline to win. Dr. D was pretty underwhelming. This was a pretty passe Hogan match, but illustrates Hogan's two levels of selling: off/on, when most wrestlers have many more.