Larry Zbyszko promo talking about dropping the title to Sarge.

 

Baron Von Raschke promo

 

Little Tokyo/Lord Littlebrook v. Little Coco/Cowboy Lange

 

Midget knee lifts look unusually vicious. This is due in part to the selling, but also these guys appear to really be laying it in. You expect comedy with midget matches so I was fairly shocked by the stiffness of the shots. Little Coco getting the hot tag and destroying people with headbutts and leaping butt bumps was pretty great. Amusing spot with Little Coco headbutting Littlebrooks knee that Tokyo was trying to whip him into which of course resulted in Littlebrook's knee being hurt since Coco is a black midget. Tokyo rope humps both Lange and Coco and then accidentally does it to his own partner when the faces turn the tables. Lange's delayed vertical on Tokyo was pretty swank and I liked there leapfrog, into arm smash spot. Cowboy Lange with an awesome running sit down splash and then Tokyo sells the fuck out of an atomic drop leaping about five feet in the air off of it. They do a bizarre running battery ram spot with the ref getting squashed in the process. The teased dissension spots with Littlebrook and Tokyo are all lots of fun and really made great by Littlebrooks bombs away selling of strikes. Coco with an airplane spin for a nearfall and then a second with the faces pinning both heels for the finish. This was a sweet combination of schtick, comedy, spots, stiffness and racial stereotypes.

 

Curt Hennig v. Mr. Saito

 

The early going of this is strange as they go back and fourth working basic holds. On the surface that's not bad and it does result in a good escape from Saito, but Hennig working a bearhug on Saito was a stretch. They do a good sleeper spot and Hennig hits a crossbody for a nearfall off the break. Hennig ends up eating a good side Saito suplex and bitches when this doesn't get a three leading to another good nearfall on a roll up. Hennig takes a huge bump off of a kick to the face on a corner charge. Saito's follow up offense is strong and well executed. Both Saito and Hennig can really sell a simple punch or thrust well and that makes the transition spots really cool. Hennig with a fucking crazy twisting bump off of a double shoulderblock spot. Saito ends up going back to the sleeper which I thought was a sound touch of psych as he had nearly won the mach with it earlier. They end up going to a silly ref bump finish from here but the body of this was pretty strong. I didn't think this was a home run, but this was good enough to have others take a look at.

 

Fabulous Ones promo

 

Baron Von Raschke v. Rene Goulet

 

JIP. This is another one of the "classic" matches. Uneventful and uninteresting.

 

Steve Regal promo

 

Steve Regal v. Buddy Lane

 

Early basic mat exchanges are all respectable and build up to Regal hitting a sharp elbow as Lane comes off the ropes. Lots of heeling spots from Regal but his working of the World's longest and least interesting headlock is not doing him any favors. Lane's comeback was pretty hot and included a really cool spinning, leaping, elbow. Lane ends up bumping on his crotch on the ropes and getting rolled up. Needless long match, with only a few interesting minutes.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. ?

 

Didn't catch the jobbers name. Think it is something Santo. Irrelevant really as this is a squash. Bock does a couple of cool things.

 

Larry Hennig/Baron promo

 

Buck Zumhofe v. Steve Regal

 

Really tedious draw. I just could not stand this. Wasn't that the work was bad but it was a whole lot of nothing with neither guy doing anything interesting.

 

Freebirds Promo

 

Fabulous Freebirds v. Baron Von Raschke/Larry Hennig/Crusher

 

The best part about this is Hayes and his interactions with the faces. Hennig mock moonwalking was really funny. I also enjoyed the concept of Freebirds battling against claw expert again, though had more theoretical appeal than actual appeal.

This starts with Zbyszko cutting a promo about losing his Americas title to Sarge and a promo by Raschke.

 

Cowboy Lang & Little Coco vs. Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook (7/18/85)

 

This was as good of a midgets match in North America as you were going to see at this time as not only did you have the normal midgets schtick and comedy but these guys were laying in the shots and the selling of said shots was really solid. I'm not a fan of the midgets normally but this was really good and should move forward.

 

Curt Hennig vs. Mr. Saito (12/27/84)

 

Slow start to this as they work some holds but it picks up after Saito gets pissed about Hennig using a bearhug on him and starts beating his ass before putting a sleeper on him. Curt does a good job of selling this and runs Saito into the turnbuckle to break free then hits a cross body block for a nearfall then keeps up the pressure until he eats a Saito Suplex for a nearfall as Hennig gets his foot on the rope. Saito whines to the ref and allows Hennig to get an O'Connor Roll for a nearfall before he goes to a boston crab. Hennig would throw Saito into the corner but would meet feet to the face giving Saito the advantage and he would work over Curt really good which is made better by Hennig's great selling of the pain. Curt gets some hope spots including a nearfall off a sunset flip over the apron back into the ring until he eats a shoulder by Saito that he does a twisting bump for which looked good. Saito goes for the sleeper but Hennig fights back until he misses a dropkick but Saito would go up top allowing Hennig to come back and throw him off the top. Saito would drop down as Hennig ran the ropes and he would hit the referee knocking him down. Both men then knocked down the referee and Saito threw salt in Curt's eyes before locking on the sasorigatame which by this time the referee called for the bell and DQed both men. This was good but low-end at best.

 

Next we get a promo by the Fabs about their upcoming 6-man with Crusher against the LOD.

 

Then we get clips of a Raschke/Goulet match from the past.

 

"Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal vs. Buddy Lane (12/27/84)

 

This went on way too long.

 

Nick Bockwinkel vs. Drew Tossel (7/17/85)

 

Squash.

 

Next we get a promo by Larry Hennig & Raschke about the Freebirds.

 

Steve Regal vs. "Rock n Roll" Buck Zumhofe (12/11/80)

 

This wasn't much of anything as both men just did a bunch of nothing for a 15:00 draw.

 

Then we get a promo by the Freebirds about Crusher, Hennig, & Raschke.

 

The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy, Michael Hayes, & Buddy Roberts) vs. Da Crusher, Larry "The Axe" Hennig, & Baron Von Raschke (7/18/85)

 

Blackjack Lanza was on commentary here and his voice can put you to sleep as he was quite monotone. The Birds were fun here selling for the faces and Hayes had great facials but even with that and the fans being into this the match wasn't that good as the faces didn't do much of anything but Larry Hennig trying to moonwalk was great.