Superstar Sleeze

Ric Flair & Lex Luger vs Ronnie & Jimmy Garvin - World Championship Wrestling 6/27/87 The Network describes this as a dream match. I mean it is a very good match dont get me wrong, but I dont think anyone ever had sweet dreams of seeing the Garvin teams up against Flair & Luger. Jimmy Garvin is SO weird as a babyface. He is such a scummy scuzzball heel that I just cant accept him as a babyface. He does not seem to know how to adapt. I have a morbid curiosity to watch Flair vs Jimmy Garvin matches because what formula would he use. Jimmy Jam is too big for the Koko Ware/Ricky Morton formula. He is not good enough for the Steamboat formula. He does not hit hard enough for the Ron Garvin/Wahoo formula. If he uses the Nikita/Hawk/Musclehead formula that would be hilarious and I bet he would. Anyways, this is awesome because it is Ric Flair and Ronnie Garvin just beating the ever loving shit out of each other. Ronnie Garvin hits Flair so hard that he causes Flair's chest to bleed. What is interesting about this match is there not much in the way of a traditional face in peril. It is very even all the way. The babyfaces have the advantage for the most part. It is really the Ron and Ric show early. Jimmy Garvin relies on side headlock. Luger looks good. Luger comes in and hits a powerslam on Ronnie Garvin. Luger actually took to wrestling very fast. He was already very good by 1987. Ronnie Garvin BITES Lex Luger's nose. Ronnie Garvin would be over in my Dad's family. Ronnie suplexes Flair back in. Ronnie Garvin is pugnacious as heel. He is reminding me of Kevin Von Erich. We get back from commercial. Luger holds Ronnie for Flair and Flair absolutely RIFLES Ronnie with a chest. Wow! Ronnie comes back and just grabs his beak and beats the shit out of him. Flair Flip! They just blast each other on the floor. I mean watching Ronnie Garvin vs Ric Flair is like the best thing on Earth. It is funny they were using Jimmy Garvin & Precious as a short term feud to build to a Ronnie Garvin title run. Flair being obsessed with a woman is a pretty plausible storyline. 1987 Crockett is so weird with Jimmy & Ronnie Garvin as the top faces because Dusty and Nikita were played out as challengers for Flair. I think they should have turned Flair babyface and went with a Flair vs Blanchard program as an outside the box idea. There is a weird Luger leapfrog botch. Ronnie Garvin tenaciously tries to roll up Luger. Luger gets kinda pissed and says get over here pipsqueek and hooks in a headlock and bullies him into the corner. Flair hits a kneecrusher and figure-4! Jimmy Garvin saves. Luger and Flair beat on Ron Garvin on the outside. There is no heat segments at all as Ronnie tags out. The Horsemen finally do have a semblance of control as both Garvins seem tuckered out. Backbreaker by the Total Package for two. Flair misses the elbow drop and here comes Ronnie Garvin. HOLY SHIT! Those chops by Rugged Ronnie! WOW! Nails Luger! Melees ensues. Flair goes after Precious randomly. JJ tries to go all Caveman and hoists Precious on his shoulder. Dusty & Nikit save. The Horsemen beat up the ref and throw him out the ring. Ronnie Garvin press slams Flair off the top. Ronnie KOs Luger with Hands of Stone and Jimmy Garvin hits the BrainBuster as Ronnie Garvin counts three. This will set up all Flair vs Jimmy Garvin title defenses on the Great American Bash tour. Jimmy Garvin as a babyface is just so wrong. Flair vs Ronnie Garvin is gold! Really interesting layout no face in peril, no hot tag. It felt like a brawl that was just even. It was NOT my turn, your turn. It was just a fight. ***1/2

NWA US Champion Magnum TA vs Ole Anderson - World Championship Wrestling 12/28/85 Very much in the vein of a Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin slugfest. I love how unclassical this match is. There's no shine or heat segment. It is just a barroom brawl. I think Magnum's first wrestling move of the match is a dropkick 15 minutes in. He spent the first 15 minutes just punching. His right is sweet. I have seen this match and others of his before, but I never really thought of him as an all-time great puncher, but I would have loved to have seen him in Mempho because he was that good. His selling of exhaustion is also really damn good, but to me Ole Anderson is the star of this match. Ole was hitting all the right notes in this match. In a straight stand up slugfest he got overwhelmed every single time. He was great at choosing between staying up, taking a knee or taking a bump. When he did take a bump did that crowd go crazy. Ole's only respite was to got to the eyes. Every time, it looked like Magnum was going to run away with the match he would go for the eyes. Sometimes he would really claw at those eyes to stop Magnum from knocking his jaw off. Ole on top was a mean sumbitch. He was using the ropes and crossfaces to brutalize Magnum. He threw his own mean punch. I was surprised all over again that Ole never really went after the arm. This was a stand up slugfest through and through. The barroom brawl fight was more and more apparent as the match progressed because how desperate men got. Ole was yanking the trunks to send Magnum crashing to the floor or how he would clinch him to avoid any more punches. Magnum would just throw punches with reckless abandon. I loved them trading blows from their knees late into the match. Another favorite spot was Magnum was driving the shoulder into Ole's stomach and on the third one Ole just pulled up his knee sending Magnum down to the canvas. That was this match. It was gritty war of attrition. There was nothing pretty about it and you could probably count the number of wrestling moves on one hand, but it was very gripping and compelling. The twenty minute time limit expires as Magnum pins Ole, but Jim Crockett comes out to say there must be a winner. Arn trips Mags so Dusty drops Arn. Ole gets distracted and Magnum pins him. I think the Belly to Belly would have been far more satisfying and there was no reason to protect Ole the singles wrestler, but whatever still a fine finish. What an episode of TV because the Flair vs Garvin barnburner is also on this show. It is amazing that this not even the best match on this show. Magnum & Ole put on a great organic barroom bar that felt like a real war of attrition by the way they sold it. ****

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff - JCP 8/11/85 "The Road To Moscow Will Be Paved In Gold" In the Summer of 1985, Ric Flair was in feud with the Russian Nightmare for the World Championship down in Mid-Atlantic. It is weird to think of Ric Flair as the patriotic babyface going up against the foreign menace. However, when you think about who is a better representation of Capitalism than the OG himself, The Nature Boy. Ric Flair as the babyface against a monster heel is a great pairing and he really makes it work here. They are clearly building to a steel cage match as Tony brings it up many times and the match ends in a double countout. That steel cage match would be the famous one where the Horsemen unite for the first time and Flair turns heel and they break Dusty's leg as the set up for Starrcade 1985. As for this match, it is fun for the novelty of seeing Ric Flair as a babyface and he has some good spots. I really liked how Nikita threw Flair off hard on the lock up twice. On the third time, Flair pulled away early and Koloff did a face plant. Flair did his strut and Wooo! Very fun moment. I thought Koloff's heat segment was pretty pedestrian. I liked the idea of Flair doing a move to Nikita and collapsing but he did too early on. He had taken three shoulder tackles and one bodyslam. I think he went into oversell mode too fast. Still cant fault someone for trying to make it interesting. It made more sense later on in the match when he did it again. Koloff stuck to the bearhug and bodyslam. Nikita was at his best biting, choking and clawing at Flair. Flair ended up getting busted on a post. One thing I like about Flair matches is that it is almost never shine-heat-comeback-finish. He usually breaks things up. So we get a mini Flair comeback where he comes flying off the top and then gets the Figure-4, but Nikita rakes the eyes. Flair now really cranks it up. Beautiful suplex and the kneedrop but this gets a big kickout. Koloff hits a weak Russian sickle. The crowd does not really react nor does it react to the kickout. I cant tell if it was a fuck up or if they were trying to protect the finish. Koloff goes for the real deal when Flair is on the ropes and ends up going careening over the ropes in an impressive bump. Flair rams Koloff into the post. The finish is lukewarm. They do Flair's crossbody where they both tumble over the ropes for a double countout. Tony says the ring cant contain them we need a cage to keep it in the ring. Perfectly fine match, plenty of Flair electricity to keep you entertained but you are missing anything if you never seen it. ***1/4

Superpowers (Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff) vs Horsemen (Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard) Crockett Cup 1987 Finals Does this match exist in full? It is JIP at the ten minute mark and we only get to see the heat segment and the finish. But what a heat segment it is. The next time someone (*cough* Meltzer *cough*) says Lex Luger cant work I am going to tell them to watch this and then tweet me in the eye and say they he cant work because brutha Lex Luger can fucking work. Nikita was wrestling with neck brace. He sickles Tully over the top rope. On the outside, JJ rips the neck brace off and Luger goes to town. Elbows to the neck and driving the neck into the railing and the top rope. He steps on the throat. There is a bandage left around the neck that Luger uses to choke Nikita. He is urgent. Diving for pinfalls and cutting Nikita off from Dusty. This is really the Lex Luger show as he is just dominating this heat segment and showing get urgency, passion and drive. I would be remiss not to mention how good Nikita is at selling all this. We get a shoe shot from JJ on the outside. The heat segment ends when Nikit catches Tully coming off the turnbuckles. Here comes The American Dream with Bionic Elbows for everyone including JJ! Melee ensues. Dusty throws The Total Package into the post, Blanchard hits JJ with the shoe, however Blanchard is going to try to break Nikita’s neck with a piledriver but Dusty comes off the top with a cross body. I cant really rate this match since I only watched half the match, but this is really great. I could see if we had the whole thing that is a contender for one of the best tag team matches of the 80s because of how damn good the heat segment was and we get a clean, feel-good finish. As is, this is totally worth it to watch Lex Luger and Nikita Koloff work a clinic of a heat segment and for the raucous, feel good finish!

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Dusty Rhodes & Ronnie Garvin - Worldwide 2/22/86 I remember Austin raving about this match way back when because of Dusty giving Baby Doll a kiss and then saying what the hell and giving Garvin a kiss. He thought it was the funniest and damndest thing he ever did see. In the moment watching it in action, I was popping as much as the crowd. WHAT A CROWD! Talk about sustained heat. They were not in the ring for a long time, but they sure as hell had a good time! Anytime, Flair and Garvin are lighting it up, it is a helluva time. I loved Flair flopping about sixty seconds into this as he is going for the tag, missing the tag, Garvin yanking him back up by the trunks just to chop him down. Dusty hits the double bionic elbow on the Horsemen and that leads to the kissing spot. Flair finally makes a tag to Arn after two Flair Flops and a whole lot of bumping. Garvin hits the sleeper on Arn, but he backs into the Horsemen corner. There is not much of a heat segment as Flair cannot contain Garvin for long and takes a back drop. Dusty yanks him into the corner and wraps his leg around the post as revenge for the leg breaking angle. This does not lead to much. The finish is pretty nuts. Dusty goes for the figure-4 and Arn saves. This brings Garvin in and in the fracas he nails Flair with the Hands of Stone and Dusty pins the World Champion in a tag match. The Risky Bidness Boys celebrate like Dusty has actually won the World Championship. Great booking as the crowd popped huge, Dusty gets a pinfall on Flair and Garvin looks like a big time star as it was his right hand that put Flair down. So now when Flair vs Garvin goes around the horn people will believe that Garvin has a puncher's chance. Tons of fun, definitely watch for Dusty & Flair's antics, but also some amazing booking. ***1/4

I dont know what it is, but I I get close to finishing a project in this case, WWF 1988-1992, and just cant close it out and I get a hankering to watch something different. I have learned to go with my instincts otherwise I stop enjoying what I am watching. The Horsemen (Ric Flair, Ole & Arn Anderson) vs Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA & Manny Fernandez - Worldwide 12/21/85 The height of the Original Horsemen as this is post-leg breaking angle and Starrcade 1985. I dont know if they are officially the Horsemen yet but Flair & Blanchard do a spot promo for Philly where Flair says Dusty puts his leg on the line when he goes out there against him. Dusty was twerking before twerking was cool, daddy. Lots of gyrations & vibrations from the American Dream early on. Flair vs Dusty in the ring is just electric. The match itself is a ton of fun and chicken soup for the pro wrestling fan soul. Arn is a bumping and stooging master. Great shine. Arn & Manny are so energetic. Dusty is so charismatic. Flair eats some offense from Dusty and then a press slam from Magnum. Back from break, Magnum is getting beat up and Flair busts out the double stomp. Why did he stop doing that? Thats such a great move. Manny gets the tag and again Arn is bumping for him. Arn pulls Manny's trunks so that he falls into the Horsemen corner. That's smart tag team wrestling. Pretty good heat segment on Manny. Flair hits a nice vertical suplex and then spits at Dusty. Great spot. A really good hope spot is Manny back dropping Flair but he back drops him into the Horsemen corner so that Arn is able to get the tag and cut Manny off from making the tag. Great use of tag team psychology there. Nice interesting wrinkle in this match as there is no hot tag! Manny hits a flying burrito goes for the cover and this triggers the melee. In the fracas, Arn wallops Manny with a steel chair and Ole pins him to win the match while Dusty has Flair in the figure-4. The Horsemen jump Dusty and look to break his leg again with a chair, but Magnum makes the save. A really fun Crockett six-man tag team match with a ton of heat. Just six great characters going out cutting loose. I really liked the chaotic finish and how there was no hot tag. ***3/4

Really glad you like it! I have loved that match forever. lol don't read too much into it I just sometimes forget that WWE continued into the 2010s lol. I'll get around to that eventually.

On the Third Day of Christmas, your true love gave to you, Pro Wrestling Love: The Memphis Edition because who the fuck wants Three French Hens! When I was a kid I rented a 1980s Memphis VHS from Video Horizon because "Macho Man" Randy Savage was on the cover. On that video, Savage piledrove Ricky Morton of the Rock 'n' Roll Express through a table and I remember thinking that was the most batshit insane thing I ever saw. Memphis Wrestling was hardcore blood & guts wrestling before ECW made you believe they invented the style in the 90s. Memphis Wrestling is a perfect microcosm of pro wrestling with its outrageous colorful gimmicks and it is reliance on bloody brawls. Inside you will find out about Randy Savage & Poffos' invasion of Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling, Lawler challenging for the World Championship against Curt Hennig & Rick Martel, hell even the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair makes a pit stop in Memphis to defend his version of the World Heavyweight Championship. All this and much, much more in Pro Wrestling Love vol. 23! https://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2018/12/pro-wrestling-love-vol-23-best-of.html

WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret "Hitman" Hart vs "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith - WWF Summerslam 1992 We talk about Ric Flair carrying broomsticks to great match, but in no match is the phrase "carrying a broomstick" more apropos than here where Bret Hart carries Davey Boy's mindless body to not just a great match but the best match to take place in the WWF in 1992. It is very clear that Bret is forced to work into a chinlock to call the next sequence and then return to the chinlock to do much the same. Bulldog was sloppy at times and I would imagine very dangerous to work with. Bret looked pissed in his usual understated manner. Some of those strikes coming off the ropes looked extra stiff. The boot in the corner looked brutal. Then the Bret plancha to the floor may have been the most dangerous Bret spot ever because Davey Boy was out of position and Bret just said "Fuck it" and then yanked him down by the neck. Bret basically was getting in his payback for Davey Boy being blowed up and forgetting the entire match. Since we are in full Bret Hart ring general mode, we get a superb NWA Champion touring match. Bret was the heir to Lou Thesz and should have led the NWA into the 1960s with his amazing penchant for thriving as a champion in babyface vs babyface matches as a subtle heel in hard fought contests. Things like being subtly outwrestled early and resorting to a hard back elbow to escape a hammerlock is so old school I love it. Nowadays thats a meanginless spot, but built right you can come off like King Prick. Of course, a lot is added that "NWA Champion" Bret Hart is taking on the Hometown Hero, British Bulldog in front of the rabid Wembley Stadium so it adds that NWA touring Champion feel of the match. I thought the shine was pretty good and I think Davey Boy was still coherent at the time. The shove that sends Bret spiraling out of control to the floor was superb. Bret sold it well and it really put over the British Bulldog as a force to be reckoned with. Bulldog working in and out of an armbar while going for early pinning combinations was a smart way to put him over as a challenger looking for a win. The Crucifix Pin is always over in my house. Like I said, Bret was very chippy in this match in contrast to Bulldog working holds & pinning combinations. The Brain posits that these two are on equal footing because neither man is too bright. He was resorting to hard back elbows and a stiff kneelift ala Nick Bockwinkel. It is these subtle touches that heels Bret in the match, but not in the long term once the match is over. The silver lining of Bulldog being a zombie was that Bret was forced to put himself in positions to overcome Bulldog's offense. Usually Bret would ragdoll his opponent but here he actually set Bulldog in motion and then would cut him off masterfully. Bret quashing the next Crucifix pin attempt was great. That boot in the corner was stiff as hell. I really liked Bret's bulldog. There's a great sequence where Bulldog press slams Bret off the top rope but then misses an ugly splash from the top rope. Bulldog ends up on the outside and thats where the crazy Bret plancha happens. Theres a very obvious moment where Bulldog is zonked out of his mind as he is just standing taking Bret's offense and Bret cant get him to bump until he hits a dropkick and Davey Boy's instincts kick in. Bret is so good at offense and just grinding out a match. He is in his element after the plancha cemented his advantage. Bret cant negotiate the pinfall after any of his Five Moves of Doom so he resorts to bieling Davey Boy by the hair and this draws the ire of the partisan British crowd. Great spot as Bret really puts Bulldog as the wronged babyface. Bret goes back to the chinlock to call a sleeper sequence. The "three arm" drop is such an epic moment in wrestling and signals the Bulldog comeback. Bulldogs blows a spot they have done a thousand times in Hart Foundation vs Bulldogs matches where Bulldog military presses Hart and falls back with him so that he crotches himself on the top rope. Like I said it was probably very dangerous for Bret to be working this match and I was surprised he let Bulldog press slam him again. Delayed Vertical and Running Powerslam only get two. Usually this would be the death knell for the hometown hero. Hit your finish and kickout means the heel is taking this. Bulldog hits a superplex for two. Bret is really calling for all the stops. One thing I noticed in this match was there was a lot of rushing. They were not really milking the moments as much as they could and I think it is because one was a zombie and the other was freaking out that he was in there with a zombie. Bret's Bridging German was a cool spot that you dont see often from him. Bulldogs kicks out and as they lied in a heap Bret applies the Sharpshooter! Honestly, if you didnt the finish but know the rhythm of pro wrestling with Bulldog blowing his wad (running powerslam) this should be the finish. I feel like Bret was working the smarts here in a good way. Bulldog makes to the ropes and then the iconic finish with Bulldog kneeling down on a sunset flip attempt for the win and a MASSIVE ROAR is let out from the British Faithful! Bret proves why he is one of the all-time great ring generals here as he works the touring NWA champion babyface vs babyface match against a Hometown Hero Zombie. There are too many chinlocks (that are more jarring in how they break the rhythm) and general sloppiness to say this contends as one of the best matches of all time. Still, even with no sliding scale this match is incredible. Bret is the king of the babyface vs babyface match playing the subtle heel to perfection here. The match is built perfectly I loved how Bret had to earn his heat segment in the middle match. So many cutoffs and it was the plancha really won him that control. The finish stretch was electric and I loved the Running Powerslam nearfall before the Sharpshooter. I think that really added to the drama. One of the best individual performances in the history of pro wrestling as Bret Hart proves why he is an all-time great in the business. ****1/2

The Rockers vs Rougeaus - 10/89 London, England This is pro wrestling. I know pro wrestling can be a lot of things, but this really captures the fun, light-hearted aspect of wrestling that develops into a dramatic story: can Shawn Michaels make the tag? It is such a simple hook. I often feel compelled to dig deeper to prove that this is a more impressive match. In this match, it is beauty is how shallow it is. It is two pricks trying to show up the good guys. The good guys goofing on the bad guys and having fun at their expense. The crowd is laughing along right with them. This level of entertainment and fun is what is missing from most WWF face control segments. Until the pricks can grab a handful of hair, then it becomes a dramatic effort from Michaels to get the hot tag to escape an incredible onslaught from the dastardly, underhanded bad guys. The amount of offense Michaels takes and his selling is the drama that most their WWF heat segments are missing. The go home stretch calls back to the opening with the good guys using the bad guys own dirty tactics against them to pick up the victory. Who are these guys and what did they do with the Rougeaus? The Rougeaus have been the most underwhelming tag team that I have seen in my viewing. Their heat segments tend to be borefests and Raymond seems devoid of any charisma. In this match, the Rougeaus look like the best WWF heel tag team ever in this one match. They stooge and bitch out like the Busters and they have the offense of the Midnight Express in this match. I understand the beginning can be tedious for some, but I like bullshit. You will see that Marty does want to lock up twice, but each time Jacques calls him a chicken and goads him into doing the relatively easy feat of athleticism. I am a sucker for heels that congratulate themselves over simple feats. However, now the Rockers get the idea how they can really show up the Rougeaus with Shawn's moonsault and shaking the ropes for Jacques. How much Jacques throws his head being rammed into the top turnbuckle is awesome. I laughed again (only thing I laugh at each time). I love how Jacques scurries away into the protective embrace of Raymond. The MX used Cornette to bitch out for them, but here the Rougeaus do it themselves. The leg work is incredible and the best Rockers control segment with all the switches without tags. Jacques, the ref and crowd just make this segment so great and another stretch where I can not stop smiling. Then while Jacques is arguing, Marty will let Raymond to get to the corner, but Jacques wont be there. Then when Jacques makes a mad dash for the corner, Marty yanks him away. I just love that stuff. Hell, even Raymond is great for all his work within this hold and constantly keeping it moving. Eventually, Jacques grabs Shawn's hair and Raymond rams a pretty nice knee into Shawn's back transforming this match from light-hearted to a dramatic affair. Already, you can tell Rougeaus are game for what I consider the best heat segment in WWF 80s tag wrestling. Shawn takes his Flair Flip bump into the turnbuckle and bumps huge off a double chop. The stars are just aligned in this match as Shawn is having his best FIP and the Rougeaus are just fucking on. Raymond's savate kick sends Shawn tumbling over the top rope and they start working on Shawn's back. They do the Boston Crab/knee combo and then Raymond throws Shawn onto Jacques' knee. Seriously, where the hell have these Rougeaus been. "We are really seeing the Rougeaus at their absolute best." - Tony. Tony always knows what's up. Jacques does a fake clap for a tag and the crowd boos the shit out of him. I love this crowd! Raymond busts out the rolling short arm scissors into a pin combination and Shawn reverses. I love this match! Jacques knees Raymond by accident and lets out a nice, hearty "Fuck!". Here comes Marty doing his best Rick Martel. Hands above his head, so energized just hitting anything in blue and yellow including the Mouth of the South. Raymond trips him from the outside allowing Jacques to get a piledriver. Now the Rougeaus go for the coup d'grace the Megaphone, but Shawn is able to get it and hit Jacques for Marty to get the pin. Once again, the Rockers give the Rougeaus a taste of their own medicine. I love the MX/RNR Wrestlewar '90 match and I really don't think this is far off of it. This is my pick for the best WWF tag team match of all time (Austin/HHH vs Benoit/Jericho is close). It has the best control and heat segments with an actual, logical finish with a really good transition that bridges light-hearted with dramatic. The criticism I know is that there is a lot of bs in the beginning, but I enjoyed it and it played into the control segment well with the Rockers still fucking around with the Rougeaus and it sort of fuels the Rougeaus fire to really kick their ass even though they were the ones that instigated it. Shawn is really off the charts selling and bumping for the Rougeaus. I liked this finish stretch even more than the Paris match because it is not trading piledrivers. It is actually using the Megaphone against the Rougeaus. It is really fighting fire with fire. From showing up Rogeaus at the outset to using their Megaphone against them and everything in between, the Rockers proved they could beat the Rougeaus at their own game. ****1/2

RIP Crossface Chickenwing The Rockers vs Fabulous Rougeaus - Paris 10/13/89 I love the London match but I have never seen the Paris match. They cut out a lot of the bullshit from the beginning of the London match and get right down to brass tacks. This is a total gaga-fest. It is all character-driven camp that I just lap up with a spoon. It is fun personified. Sorry, I have been unfortunately listening to a lot of Gorilla recently. There was a funny bit where Gorilla & Lord Al were talking about wrestling Paris twenty years ago and how the shady promoter had since died and Gorilla said good riddance. I popped. Like I said earlier, very campy with lots of bullshit and gaga. The Rockers clear house. Jacques really loves to Woo-Hoo! He was going great bumping and stooging. I loved how he crawled back to the corner after taking his licks and then held his older brother's hand. Hug to a chorus of boos. I love this Parisian crowd. The Rockers trap Raymond in a toehold but they switch out with a tag and this gets Jacques red hot. It is all very funny to watch. Jacques is great to watch. Then they start letting Raymond get close to the corner but Jacques would abandon the corner to complain. Then by the time Jacques would get back they would yank Raymond back to the center of the ring. I really liked all this. Jacques pulls Shawn's hair on a criss cross he turns around and Raymond nails him in the back with a wicked high knee. Now the Rougeaus act like they are King Shit. Jacques gets on his back just to kip up. The hug in the center complete with butt slaps is amazing. That got some real heat That cracked me up. Tons of cheating. Tag rope choking. Double teaming. Switching without tagging. I loved the Camel Clutch but instead of a chinlock it is just a hair pull. Very entertaining heat segment. We get the false hot tag. This really had all the trappings of good tag wrestling. Miscommunication spot leads to the hot tag. The Parisian crowd was giving Marty Hogan-esque sound effects for his punches! Wow! Jacques takes a wicked bump off a kneelift and then Marty beats up Jimmy Hart. Marty gets a backslide but no ref and it is a clear 3. I am loving this. Every trick in the book. The finish is great. Jacques uses the hair to reverse the Irish Whip, Raymond trips Marty this enables the Jacques piledriver, quite a bit of cheating was needed to get there. The ref goes over to admonish Raymond so Shawn comes in and throws it back in the Rougeaus faces by piledriving Jacques and putting Marty on top. I love how this was like a big dick-waving contest. Who could out-taunt each other? Who could out-cheat each other? The Rockers ended up beating the Rougeaus by making them taste their own medicine. I highly recommend this. ****1/4

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage vs Shawn Michaels - WWF Munich 4/14/92 I have always meant to watch this match and somehow it slipped through the cracks. After the first five minutes, I was thinking to myself how is this not talked about more. They did a Savage formula comeback which means setup move->Elbow Drop-> Finish. It feels abrupt and abridged at the end thus I can see why this is not considered a Match of the Year contender, but it was definitely on its way to being just that from the shine. Savage is putting on a selling clinic before the match even starts as he is selling the injury from Mania VIII. Michaels must be over the moon as this is his first big break as a heel. The Savage/Sherri dynamic is great. The shine may be the greatest shine I have ever seen. Tons of leg dives from the Heartbreak Kid. Savage is avoiding them like the plague. Even Sherri is swiping at the leg from ringside. It really puts over how the deck is stacked against the Macho Man. I love how desperate Savage is to keep his leg away from Michaels. He quite literally is willing to claw at Michaels to keep him away as he rakes his eyes at one point, great verbal selling from Michaels. I love how Savage throws a chair in the ring to buy himself time and how he is hitting one-legged punches and clothesline. The double axe handle spot is great. The way he sells before and the after is just excellent. The spot where Michaels runs into Sherri on the apron is a great way to climax the shine. Michaels finally gets a hold of Savage and hits a kneecrusher. Michaels is really quite good at working over the leg. All the favorites...I thought he was a little too reliant on the figure-4. I would have liked to see him attempt his finish (a back suplex at the time) just to make it feel like he was trying to win the match. Savage pushes him off on the 3rd figure-4 and then hits a one-legged clothesline and Top Rope Elbow Drop. The shine was a ***** shine and the heat segment was damn solid with Michaels showing he can control a match and Savage working so well underneath. If the finish was not so abrupt, this would be rated much higher, but still I highly recommend watching this. ****

Hate to deny you brutha, but I do that on purpose because I hate when people skip the review and just go to the bottom for the star rating. How do I know this happens because I am guilty of it. It became too cumbersome to re-write reviews for this so I just copy & paste them from PWO so you can just go find the rating from the original post. Sorry for the inconvenience. Happy Boxing Day! There is no complaining when you are talking Pro Wrestling Love especially when you are discussing the treasure trove that is the WWF between 1984-1987. The top of the list is pretty boring, full of usual suspects. I mean Savage vs Steamboat basically ushered in the modern era of workrate and Slaughter vs Sheik is one of the greatest brawls of all time so there's a reason there are boring choices. However, that back half has some really interesting choices: Bob Backlund & Bruno Sammartino making the Top Six in 1984 & 1986 that's pretty wild. I bet I got your attention so click the link and find what the hell those ol' fuddy duddies did to get a place on the most prestigious list of them all, Pro Wrestling Love's Top Six Best Matches of WWF from 1984-1987! All this and much, much more! https://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2018/12/pro-wrestling-love-vol-22-best-of-wwf.html

WWE Raw Women's Champ Ronda Rousey vs Natalya Neidhart - RAW 12/24/18 I thought this was really unique and cool on multiple levels. They played up the friendship aspect really well and how hard it can be to go against your best friend. As I have said many times the name of the game is to pin your opponent for three not to hurt them. Notice Ronda's offensive choices early on they are all takedowns and jntense pins. Nothing that will hurt Nattie. It will win her the match without injuring her. Here's the big thing I want to key in is the amount of physical contact time in this match. No Irish Whips, no bullshit rope running. Flesh on flesh and real deal chain wrestling. Rousey put on a fucking clinic. Lots of cool takedowns. I liked Nattie going for the Sharpshooter early as she was getting blown out and takes a nasty spill to the outside. When Nattie does take control she is showing her killer instinct while Rousey is conflicted. You can see how that inner turmoil was affecting Ronda and messing with her mind. I liked the slapped to midsection a lot. I would have liked Nattie to have channeled her Uncle Bret the king of the face vs face match more and play a subtle heel with some cheating. The finish stretch was well-executed. Rousey finally starts throwing punches and strikes but stops short of the armbar. This affords Nattie the opportunity to lock in the Sharpshooter but Rousey wakes the fuck up and finally applies the armbar. Note how fast she releases the armbar almost before Nattie taps because she wants to let go as soon as possible. Excellent unique psychology, loved how lo-fi this was. So much contact time. Really worth checking out. ****

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Bret Hart -WWF 10/12/92 Imagine being a random adult or kid attending this show Sasakatoon and seeing Bret Hart win the World Championship they must have been in total shock. I am still unclear on why the WWF moved so suddenly to Bret as a champion. Flair does leave in January so I'm sure that is something to do with it. The Bret singles push had been in the works since 1988 and they went full bore with it in 1991. The fact he Main evented Summerslam is a clue that's the direction Vince wanted. What confuses me isn't the choice of Bret but rather the suddenness. How there was no formal build is what smacks me as strange. Flair is a great opponent for Bret because it forces Bret out of his comfort zone. Bret has to fight through Flair offense to win his holds even small things like Flair applying an armwringer and Bret countering it into his own or Bret getting an armbar from a lockup in the corner matter because it is not just Bret ragdolling his opponent. Great arm work and Flair is at his hollering best. Flair adds a lot of energy with his motion and bumping. The heat segment transition is weird it is just a simple Flair kick to the midsection as Bret is drawn into the corner. False one I should have known. See that's I mean Bret had to overcome being thrown to the floor and some strikes to get a sunset flip and expose Flair's ass. Good pop. Bret hammers him with clotheslines. Flair Flop! Flair thumbs the eyes. A couple Bret Bumps later & Flair is in control. Kneecrusher...Bret sells this exceedingly well. Bret turns it around on Flair and attacks his knee and applies the Figure-4. Definitely a Flair match thus far. Bret goes for a sleeper after some struggle but Flair hits the back Suplex. Flair runs through his offense: butterfly Suplex and knee drop and chop. Flair gets another kneecrusher when Bret shows signs of life and applies the Figure-4. I like how much struggle and even this is. Flair definitely feels more like his 80s self less cheating and bump 'n' run. He is more in control of the match and he is more intense. He grinds down on the knee until Bret starts firing up with punches and then the press slam. Flair runs through his back body drop before we hit the Five Moves of Doom. Flair makes Bret Hart become the "Total Package" Bret Hart. Bret does the no sell and pulls the straps down. Bret is not as good at no selling as Luger or Hogan that's for sure. A good no sell is an art. Sharpshooter and Flair submits! Wow! I remembered a roll up for some reason. Flair went out and submitted to Hart thats a pretty big deal. Definitely a Flair match with how it was structured and worked. I am sure Flair was calling the majority of the match. This match harkened back to the Flair title defenses of the mid-80s thought build up to the Sharpshooter was a little too routine. The surprise submission popped me! ****

WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vs Bret Hart - WWF Summerslam 1991 Having seen their 1989 matches more recently, it is amazing that after two years this match is still so similar to those matches. I grew up really liking this match and it was a definite favorite when I got the Bret Hart DVD set. Then I rewatched it back in 2011-2012 timeframe and it did not do much for me. Watching it for the first time in like 5 years, I really enjoyed this again. There are a couple of Bret-isms that still bother me, but overall this is an enjoyable package and a great moment. The shine is pretty much a carbon copy from their 1989 match series. Perfect takes the crazy spin out bump. They do all that hair pulling stuff that I eat up with a spoon. What I like about Perfect he makes Bret earn his offense. It is not just Bret grinding his opponent down. It is Perfect hitting a bodyslam but Bret mule kicking and hitting his own bodyslam. Or Bret having to make his way back in the ring and retake control. I forgot how much of this match Perfect takes and this is surprising for somebody who really does not have much offense. I loved the ode to the AWA with the King of the Mountain especially Bret's bump into the railing. What bothered me as usual from Bret is that he never makes a heel work for his offense. He is just always selling would it kill him to throw a punch of two and then Perfect could rake the eyes. Yes, Bret threw in some hope spots, but there he could have made Perfect work harder for it. I thought Perfect looked great on top probably the best of his WWF career. Bret is such a great sympathetic babyface, but I just thought it could have been more. I am not a huge fan of the kick out of the finish then immediately make the comeback by punching. Yes, the heel hitting his finish and kick out is the perfect time for a transition, but I think it should have been due to an egregious mistake by Perfect. It was funny Heenan going crazy about no one ever kicking out of the Perfectplex next to Piper when two nights ago I watched Piper kick out of the Perfectplex. The Five Moves of Doom looked great. Perfect sold and bumped for everything like a million bucks. I liked that they still threw in some more false finishes for Perfect to throw in a wrinkle of doubt. The kick to the middle rope while Bret Hart had it straddled was the perfect last gasp for Mr. Perfect. I really liked how Bret came up with an interesting way to apply the Sharpshooter from his back. It was definitely an iconic moment for Bret Hart. It was a pretty standard shine-heat-comeback match but I thought what put it over was how much effort Mr. Perfect put it into this match both on offense and bumping. Everything was well-timed and paced well, they could just added more struggle and grit to the match. Bret overcoming the ballshot at the end and ultimately applying the Sharpshooter was a really great finish. I still prefer their King of the Ring 1993 match, but this has definitely moved back into the great category for me. ****

The Rockers vs Orient Express - Royal Rumble 1991 I believe this is the most famous Rockers match because it happens on a PPV and it is actually given a serious amount of time. PPVs were much easier to get a hold of then a random MSG card so this has gone down in lore as THE ROCKERS match. I respectfully disagree, but I do think this is a wicked fun match and it was great that they were given this much time on a PPV especially to open. The crowd was right there with them. What this match does so well is make the Rockers look like world-beaters. The OX definitely were working this in the vein of the Midnight Express, not quite as good, but they were very selfless. Many of their spots to gain control were double teams. Why? Because they simply as good as the Rockers so they have to cheat gain the upper hand. However, the Rockers are so good they outfox them and it backfires on the OX. There are two good examples of the OX using the apron member to interfere, but then on the resulting criss cross the OX ends up running into each other in very entertaining fashion. Another example is at the outset of the match, they jumpstart the match by pushing Marty Jannetty off the top rope while he is posing for his entrance. He ends up dropkicking Tanaka and superkicking Paul Diamond. Then they do the stereo dives to the outside that wipe out both of the OX that is such an iconic spot. Another great sequence sees Michaels overcome both OX members with a moonsault and then was punctuated with stereo dives from each corner to the floor. Here is where I am going to deviate from those who truly love this match. Note what am I loving about the match: the spots. I thought the connective tissue was pretty boring. Lots of chinlocks and the such that did not lead anywhere. To me this is one of the first spotfests. I love a good spotfest and this is a damn good spotfest. To me this match was not about getting over the story as much as it was to get to the next spot. Now I think they did this better than most spotfests because the babyfaces were the ones doing the awesome highspots and the heels were being thwarted at every pass. So I will say for a spotfest they kept true to babyface/heel dynamics which makes this better than the average 21st century spotfest. Spotfest does not have to be a dirty word. If I was booking, I'd almost always have a big, dumb spotfest open my show that required almost no thinking. They are fun. They use the old Brainbuster heel transition spot of the assisted hotshot on the top rope. Tanaka gets an AMAZING LEGSWEEP! Oh shit I marked out for that. There is a long nerve hold at some point. Another great spot is Shawn does a Flair Flip as he is on the apron Tanaka hits a superkick to send him back in the ring. The transition to the hot tag is another great sequence as OX looks to clothesline Shawn with their ribbon belt but Shawn dives on it to make them collide. Hot tag to Marty! Goddamn he reminds me so much of Ricky Martel the way he is fired. Marty Jannetty is a lot sloppier than I remember in rewatching these matches. The hot tag is full of piss and vinegar. The actual finish is great as the OX goes for another catapult, but Shawn doubles over Tanaka with a punch so that when Marty is catapulted he sunset flips Tanaka for the win. It is a great spotfest that sees the Rockers overcoming one after another OX double team and allows them to show off a ton of really cool, innovative offense. ****

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Sgt. Slaughter - MSG 6/3/91 Desert Storm Match U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! ALL THE WAY! Hogan's entrance should be shown every Independence Day! Hogan looks badass in the camo & American flag doo-rag. They do really exemplify this is war by doing a war of attrition style match. Most of Hogan's matches are uptempo, quick bursts of energy. This turned down and you really watching a war unfold. Slaughter was amazing in this. His selling throughout really put over the damage he had taken. Tipping over with the chair or falling off the top rope all came off great. Hogan too, gone was his Hulk Up and all that jazz. A major toll had be taken on his body and he was selling the exhaustion. I liked that Hogan absolutely kicked ass at the beginning. He threw all of Slaughter's dirty tricks back in his face quite literally with the "tear gas" (jeez Gorilla). Lots of choking and slamming Slaughter's head into hard, metal objects. Sarge of course is busted open. I am surprised Hogan did not blade. I wish Slaughter made Hogan earn his shine. Hogan definitely should be on offense, but a little more life from Slaughter would have been nice. Slaughter was great on top going for the eyes and the throat. The Camel Clutch was a great nearfall for Sarge and signaled the time for Hogan to take charge. He throws Sarge off the top rope. FIREBALL~! I forgot about the Fireball again, damn marked out again! I love that it was Fireball vs. The Boot. Who could pull the trigger first? Fireballs wins everytime. There really needs to be more fireballs in wrestling. Hogan uses the Boot against Sarge! Then in the ultimate Fuck You, Hogan makes General Adnan unconditionally surrender for Slaughter in the Camel Clutch! Hogan just used all of Slaughter's tactics to beat Sarge at his own game. This is a great down-tempo, war of attrition. It is not personal favorite style, BUT they do it extraordinarily well especially Sarge. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH! ****1/4

Merry Christmas, bruthas! I am really excited about this volume of Pro Wrestling Love because it covers the first half of the Hulkamania Era 1984-1987. The year 1984 is basically 1AD in pro wrestling history. The WWF was an all star promotion at this time with so many great wrestlers making pit stops in New York City. That it is a treasure trove of great wrestling that is criminally underrated. There are the stud workhorses we know and love with Tito Santana, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage but there are others contributing like Harley Race, Brutus Beefcake and Jake Roberts. Hell the WWF was such a big tent promotion at the time you even got crazy awesome things like Glamour Girls vs Jumping Bomb Angels. There are plenty of honorable mentions to sift through and I implore you to check them all out. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2018/12/pro-wrestling-love-vol-21-best-of-wwf.html?m=1

Lol! I popped for that one! I think I may actually get to that before New Years. We will see!

The Rockers vs Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji - MSG 1/90 This could be my favorite match of all time. It is such a perfect David vs Goliath match. Marty Jannetty gives one of the greatest performances of all time. This one has been pimped in the 1990 yearbook and very rightfully so. This is the Rockers' David vs Goliath masterpiece. They have the incredible sprint against the Brainbusters, a dramatic "face vs face" tag match with the Hart Foundation, a wicked entertaining light-hearted match with Rougeaus, a speed vs power Championship match with Demolition, bloodbath against Rose & Somers and an ultra-hot PPV opener against the Orient Express. (Yes, I mention this all to build to upcoming post on why the Rockers are worthy to be in the discussion with the Rock n Rolls). This takes on a different dynamic than the Demolition. The Demolition match reminded me how the RnRs wrestled the Russians it was speed versus power, but not necessarily size. In those matches, the heel teams use their power to attack specific body parts and work holds. This match worked more like a David vs Goliath spotfest (I mean that in a good way). The Powers of Pain are just throwing out all these badass bombs to defeat the Rockers. The Rockers are attempting to overcome pure power and are treated more like smaller wrestlers in this match. Out of all their classic matches, this has to be the most surprising because Powers of Pain really did suck. Look, Barbarian has the raw talent, but did not seem to pull altogether into one solid match until this match where he looked like the next big power heel in the WWF. Hell, the fuckin' Warlord looked great in this match. Jesus, if that is not an achievement I do not what is. Barbie chucks Shawn around early to establish the power advantage. Marty crossbody blocks Shawn on top of Barbie to demonstrate that the Rockers will need to use teamwork and tricks to overcome this power advantage. The Rockers clear the ring with a series of double teams done continuing the theme of teamwork including a Marty dropkick to help Shawn over on a rana and they tabletop Warlord. When they cleared the ring with the double dropkicks and double superkicks. The crowd went nuts. Such a hot moment. I really loved the dropkick/tabletop combo. That was my favorite spot of the shine. Warlord catches Marty with a wicked powerbomb eventually the Rockers were going to get caught and POP made them pay. Let the shit kicking commence. HOLY SHIT! The height that Marty takes on that back body drop needs to be seen. I marked out so hard for that again. I totally forgot about that. Holy shit now they just throw Marty up in the air and let him land hard on the canvas. It should be noted that Marty's ribs are taped so this gives the POP something to focus on while they beat the ever loving shit out of him. Barb hits a wicked headbutt on Marty's back. KICK OF FEAR sends Marty to the outside to take a cane shot from Fuji and Barbie rams him back first into the post. Marty shows his dogged determination by throwing ineffectual punches at Warlord's chest. Marty is starting build a little momentum but keeps getting quashed. He really needs to tag. BARBARIAN HITS A MASSIVE POWERSLAM AFTER CATCHING MARTY! This match rules! This onslaught ends when Barb missed second rope elbow. Shawn sunset flips Warlord, but Marty clothesline him, it is all about teamwork! In all the chaos, Shawn gets tripped by Fuji's cane and as he is getting up Barbie stops him in his tracks with an elbow for the win. Shawn in a fit of rage (Shawn temper tantrum? No way, right?) dropkicks Fuji, but Powers of Pain take control and beat the ever-loving shit out of Marty with the cane and a Hart Attack. I love this match in a string of great Rockers performances this one stands out for how concentrated they were on telling the teamwork story and how great Marty was at eating all the POP offense. For one match, Barbarian took all this athletic spots finally lived to his potential with some great work throughout the heat segment into the finish. Killer match right up there with Rockers best stuff and a contender for best Hulkamania Era WWF tag team match. Easily the WWF Match of the Year of 1990. ****1/4

WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vs Roddy Piper - MSG 12/18/90 Been meaning to watch this for years because it is such an interesting match on paper. You never hear any talk about the Perfect vs Piper feud or any of their matches. Then when you do a little digging you find a lot of people see this as the WWF Match of the Year for 1990 (a pretty weak year admittedly). The other reason I was curious is because neither one of these men are offensive dynamos so I was curious to see what a match between these two would look like. Well it is filled with shenanigans and gaga so I fucking loved it! I love a lot of hijinx and this match was chock full of that. It felt very Memphis. Piper spits and smacks Perfect in the face and just rag dolls him for the first five minutes or so. Perfect loves being thrown by his hair. This features a lot of hair pulling and hair biels. Perfect is bumping like a madman for Piper. Piper hits him with a chair and feigns a ball shot only to poke him in the eyes. This is really great. My favorite part is Piper blocks a ballshot by catching Perfect's arm mid-swing. This needs to be done more often. Perfect is so overwhelmed. He has the perfect face throughout just one of "what the hell did I get myself into" and I loved him his slumping back into the ropes. The double clothesline is a pretty trite way to level the playing field. Perfect cements his advantage by exposing the turnbuckle and slamming Piper's head into it. Yep a lot of gaga! Hennig jabs the chair into Piper's head. I love their flagrant disregard for the rules. We dont have any offense so we just use gimmicks liberally and I love it because it feels exciting and fresh. Perfect applies a long sleeper. Then we get a lot of nearfall trading which I actually didnt care for. I much rather them continue to basically do a Rat Boy vs Rat Boy match rather than a low-rent Misawa vs Kawada. The kneelift spot was weird. It looked like neither really connected. So did Perfect miss or did Piper no-sell and hit his own. Perfect hitting the Fisherman Suplex and Roddy kicking out is so Piper. The finish sucked. Piper shakes the ropes and Perfect gets crotched and counted out while on the top rope. Yes thats technically a countout, but I think a bump to the floor and then a ten count would have been better. They do some gaga post-match with belt with both men playing tugging of war and then Piper swinging it around. Piper wins this fight and leaves the belt with Perfect. Highly entertaining match back when pro wrestling was about entertaining via fun rather than MOVEZ! So you know I dug this. Piper was on fire and had that wild eye look. I loved his rulebreaking abuse of Perfect. Perfect sold and bumped his ass off. As a cheater vs cheater match this was great and people really should see it. Finish was too lackluster for me to call this great. ***3/4

Pro Wrestling Love is back! Yes, Pro Wrestling Love makes its triumphant return right before Christmas to give you plenty to enjoy on Christmas Day. This volume is basically a tribute to the creative genius that is Brock Lesnar as three of his matches make it. In addition, we have the classic Eddie Guerrero vs JBL bloodbath and in my opinion the ultimate feel good moment in WWE history as Eddie Guerrero wrestles Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. All this and much, much more in Pro Wrestling Love vol. 20! https://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2018/12/pro-wrestling-love-vol-20-best-of-wwe.html

World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs Shawn Michaels - RAW 12/29/03 I promised a more fleshed out review of this classic and away we go, three years after the fact. I watched this match live in a hotel room in South Carolina and I will never forget that. Even at 14, I knew I saw something special. First 15 minutes: This is the best 80s NWA Touring Match to not take place in the 80s. It is Triple H doing his best Ric Flair impersonation (and I mean that with respect & admiration) against the literal hometown hero in Shawn Michaels (this takes place in San Antonio). Shawn Michaels outwrestles Triple H early. I am a mark for people holding onto their headlocks through a shove off. Shows struggle and grit. Nice job, Shawn. Triple H takes some big bumps for Shawn. HHH was very keen on throwing Shawn to the outside to reset and gain some space. However, on the first attempt this led to a skinning of the cat headscissors that brought Trips to the floor. Shawn hams it up with a Flair strut and the crowd is going wild. Flair gets pissed. Shawn decks him. Then it is an Asai reverse crossbody. It is cookin' San Antonio. Some other great spots in this red-hot shine are Triple H blocking a hiptoss so Shawn switches arms to the armdrag. That should be cribbed. It is shows resilience and the ability to think on your feet. Another spot that should be cribbed is Triple H is straddling the ropes and Shawn casually kicks the middle ropes into his balls. Triple H is pissed and Shawn wins another slugfest. This may not be Flair vs Garvin, but I like the frequency of the slugfests because it gives it a feel of struggle and it gives Shawn a bunch of mini-battles to win. Shawn takes a massive back drop over the top rope to floor to begin the heat segment as we go to commercial. Damn good heat segment. Lots of focus on the back, plenty of hope spots that make you believe Shawn is still in it and strong cutoffs. I like Shawn trying to punch his way out trouble because that had been working, but Triple H nails a backbreaker. Shawn is so tenacious. Triple H hurls him outside the ring and whips him hard into the steel steps. Both guys are playing their roles perfectly. Long abdominal stretch with Flair pulling on Triple H. They do that great Tommy Young spot where he breaks their clasp with a kick and Shawn hiptosses out. Triple H hits his massive high knee to cut off, but lands awkwardly. Great selling here from Triple H. It is just enough to clue you in that something is up, but not too much that it hurts the flow of the match. Shawn nails a kneecrusher and goes for the figure-4. It is really feels like 1986, baby! Flair rakes the eyes. Really great shine to open just chock full of fun spots. The heat segment was rock solid, but they added the wrinkle here with Triple H, the heel is the one with the injury. How will the back half of the match go? Back half: They built to an awesome crescendo in this. Like I said earlier I do like the frequency of the slugfests. It is action that means something rather being in a hold or just doing another highspot. They are mini-battles that advance the plot and show Shawn's pugnacious attitude. I really liked the testicular abuse that Triple H underwent. It is the perfect bit of 80s camp and lightheartedness that keeps the match entertaining. Today's pro wrestling is missing the gaga as Steve Austin would call it. Shawn accidentally falling and headbutting Triple H in the balls or the repeated inverted atomic drops were great. I love HHH Brody'ing Shawn on those. He did not take a bump instead he fed for the Flying Burrito to get the maximal effect out of that spot. Kudos to Triple H on a wise decision. Flying Elbow Drop! Tuning up the band and here is more gaga! We get a ref bump and the Championship belt shot...1-2-NO! Ref bump again! HHH exposes the turnbuckle but per Pro Wrestling #57 he who sets up the spot must take the spot means that HHH eats the unforgiving steel and is bleeding. Eric Bischoff, who I am 99% sure is a heel, comes out and counts 1-2-NO for the Hometown Kid! Shawn blocks the inverted atomic drop out of the corner, landing on his feet and decks The Game for 1-2-NO! Bischoff actually has a really good cadence and form. He is light years better than Hebner. HHH hits his facebuster for his nearfall. The finish see Michaels do the Flair Flip on the exposed turnbuckle, sell the back, BANG SWEET CHIN MUSIC! He falls into the cover and his shoulders are down to. 1-2-3! DRAW! Great Dusty Finish as San Antonio explodes as they think Shawn Michaels had won and Michaels sells the moment really well. Normally I hate Dusty Finishes, but this match was so 80s it just needed that Dusty Finish to make it feel extra nostalgic. , Michaels was the plucky Hometown hero firing away punches and going for broke. Triple H bumped and sold his ass off for Michaels. They really built to the finish well and there was a ton of gaga to hold you attention. Just the perfect 1980s NWA Touring match ****1/2

Strike Force vs The Islanders - 10/87 MSG 2 Out of 3 Falls I couldnt find this one either. Strike Force try to start off early, but the Islanders are wary of this and bail. Bock is on commentary again and does not know what to make of it when Gorilla posits that The Brain maybe in drag somewhere in the building. Neither do I, Bock. Was there an angle at the time? There is obviously the Weasel Suit, but I know nothing of drag. Anyways, Strike Force starts off hot with Strike Force controlling the action. They use a headlock as a base in this match. Tito hits a pretty sweet Thesz Press that only gets two. Haku catches Martel with a back suplex while in the headlock shades of Mr. Saito. Tama and Haku do some double teaming on Martel. Martel is a lot better than most WWF babyfaces in working underneath by mixing in hope spots. He tags in Tito who immediately goes in for the kill with the Figure-4. However, the Islanders break it up. Haku sends Tito crashing to the floor and as pay back attacks Tito's right knee. THIS AINT MEXICO, HAKU!!! Tama follows this up by stomping the left knee. This leads to a continuity problem the rest of the match as Tito & Haku are on the same page with the right knee psychology, but Tama works over the left knee. The knee psychology is sound and refreshing in this match up. Tito maybe a bit better at selling than Martel as he is really milking this injury. The Islanders are really relentless making this a very dramatic segment. Martel gets fed up with this, but inadvertently allows The Islanders to hit their double diving headbutt to pick up the first fall. There should be a short respite in between the falls, but the Islanders want to keep the full court press on Tito's knee. So Martel stands over the fallen, hurt Tito challenging to take both the Islanders on at the same time. It is just a great visiual and I am a total sucker for things like this as it is such great drama. The second fall is wicked short as they work on the knee briefly before Martel reverses a cradle attempt for Strike Force to even it up. THE CROWD ERUPTS!! The babyface cheating is justified by the Islanders being total assholes constantly blindsiding Tito and Martel throughout the build-up. They do same angle during the respite. Haku just slaps Tito around a bit to start. At this point, Gorilla notices the leg discontinuity, he claims that Haku is the one who fucked up by going after the right leg even though Tito had been selling the right leg. But like most Americans, he was accustomed to left side work so did not notice that Tito was selling the right leg. The Islanders go for the kill with the double headbutt, but Thou Shalt Not Hit The Same Spot In The Same Match In America. ITS RICKY MARTEL TIME, MUTHAFUCKAS~! THE GARDEN IS ROCKING!!! Backdrop, strikes, reverse crossbody. Haku thinks he has Martel, but YOU CANT HOLD DOWN RICK MARTEL and he moves out of the way causing Tama to send Haku crashing to the apron and Martel to get the reverse sunset flip victory. STRIKE FORCE WINS!!! Martel does his usual I just won the World Title celebration! I would say this is below the September tag match, which just had so much more action and really showed how much Strike Force wanted to pummel The Islanders. I liked the drama with Tito's knee, but it just felt a little too compressed. Plus I would have liked a little bit more definitive ending like a Boston Crab or cross body block to really put Strike Force over. That being said, they had the Garden with them every step of the way. This series has had incredible heat. This would be my WWF Feud of the Year and best Tag Feud I have seen from 80s WWF. This is just really classic stuff. ****1/4