The High Flyers v. Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera

 

This is from Japanese tv though the match appears to be from somewhere in the U.S. JIP and it is hard to tell how much of this is clipped. Faces in control is basically where this starts and they do a lot of fun stuff with both of the heels bumping around big. Especially loved Blackwell's head whiplashing at every shot shot he took once he came into the ring. My big problem with this was that the Gagne FIP seemed really flat. Not bad by any means but nothing exciting and it seemed like there wasn't any real payoff. Blackwell spinning around on the sleeper was cool though.

 

Cool interview segment with Lance Russell introducing the RnR's who he then has watch a pre-tape promo from the Sheiks setting up their tag title match. Then they go to clips of the match from the Mid-South Coliseum.

 

Interviews from Lawler and The Sheiks setting up clip highlights from MSC with Idol/Lawler v. Sheiks. Cool footage but too clipped to mean much, though the finish with Blackwell squashing the ref to save the title was awesome.

 

Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera v. Jerry Lawler/Blackjack Mulligan

 

Another one from Japanese tv but took place in the U.S. Lawler does some cool rapid fire punch spots early. Really liked the Blackjack/Blackwell exchange that ended with Jerry doing a delayed collapse and then Patera reluctantly tagging in. God damn the close ups of Lawler's punches on Patera really shock you with how great they are. Lawler ends up stumbling into the heel corner with the end result being a Blackwell avalanche, but Blackwell misses the follow up splash. Lawler fires back but misses a diving legdrop of all things and ends up taking a Samoan Drop. Lawler FIP was fun as the heels worked the back and Lawler did some nice selling making a bearhug look interesting among other things. Damn Lawler's selling of the Blackwell falling headbutt was really great now that I think about it. A rare double punchout spot with Patera/Lawler with both guys punching/selling it great. Blackwell misses a second falling headbutt and the faces comeback. Holy shit the double fisted Lawler punching attack is awesome. Blackwell is just great as the heel getting his ass kicked in this and actually makes Blackjack's lariat look good. The finish sucked and I didn't like the flow to this as it felt really unnatural at times, but overall this was good stuff.

 

Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera v. Greg Gagne/Crusher

 

This was a pretty decent little match but nothing that really sets it apart from others.

 

Jerry Blackwell/Sheik Adnan v. Crusher/Greg Gagne (Cage Match)

 

This was a wild brawl, that seemed to slip back and fourth between lots of fun and too unfocused to keep me interested. By far the best guy in this was Blackwell who took a couple of crazy back body drops into the cage, missed a splash, et. The finish with Gagne diving off the cage with a knee to Adnan's broken arm was pretty awesome as well, but I don't think there was enough holding this together to call it a truly good match.

 

Finish to Baron/Crusher v. Ventura/Saito is shown with Blackwell running in and costing the faces the match.

 

Jerry Blackwell v. Blackjack Mulligan

 

JIP. This was really strange as they pace it like it is going longish and the finish ends up being a fairly uneventful lariat from Mulligan after about five minutes.

 

Jerry Lawler v. Jerry Blackwell

 

Is this the 81 match from the Memphis set? Good match and I'm guessing it is.

 

Crusher v. Jerry Blackwell (No DQ)

 

Crusher gets in the licks first and they end up going to the floor where Crusher bashes him with a gigantic bench shaped table. Blackwell tries to come back with a series of chairshots but Crusher ain't selling shit. Blackwell ends up avalanching the ringpost when Crusher moved which was a cool spot. Terrible finish in this and overall it was merely an okay match.

 

Mad Dog Vachon/Jim Brunzell v. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie/Jerry Blackwell

 

JIP. What was shown was okay, but it was only about four minutes of a match and nothing really worth going out of your way to see.

The High Flyers v. Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera

 

This is from Japanese tv though the match appears to be from somewhere in the U.S.

Pretty sure this is their bout from Green Bay, WI in early March of 1984. Japanese cameras were following around Jumbo as he defended the AWA title in Chicago, Green Bay, and Salt Lake City. They taped other bouts from the card as well and showed them.