Posted January 17, 201114 yr comment_5462164 Jimmy Garvin v. Baron Von Raschke Baron was so fucking over it's unreal. Garvin jumped him early and took control, but the Baron came back including a teased claw on Precious which was pretty awesome. Really bizarre moment on Garvin's comeback as the Baron is hanging upside down hooked in the ropes while Garvin put the boots to him. Nice distraction spot by Precious builds the heat some more and the Baron comes back with a kick to the face and then a pretty amusing and deliberate finger poke to the eye. Garvin is reeling and throws Raschke into the ref. Precious jumps on the apron, sprays hairspray in the Baron's eye and Garvin gets the roll up for the three. I actually liked this a lot but it was really short. Bob Backlund v. Larry Zbyszko Fun opening as Larry goes for his stalling shit and Backlund chases him around, then head fakes him on the floor and beats him back in the ring where he takes over with a headlock. Larry barely comes back and goes to punt Bob in the face but Backlund moves and Larry takes a big bump which Backlund follows up with some arm wringer throws and a boot rake to the eyes. Backlund goes to work on the arm, but Larry hits a suplex. Awkward sunset flip spot, followed by an awkward cradle spot. Backlund gets his face bashed on the ringside table which he sells really well. Larry keeps him at bay on the floor and there is a hilariously awesome spot with Backlund getting punched and bumping onto Resnick knocking him over in the process. Backlund ends up hitting a huge delayed atomic drop and a butterfly suplex and then locks on the crossface chicken wing, but Larry slugs the ref for the DQ. There was some damn fun stuff in this, but it was really "your turn, my turn" and the finish killed it for me. Still might be worth an EXTRA. Nick Bockwinkel/Terry Funk/Steve Regal v. Curt Hennig/High Flyers I watched this recently on Will's Funk comp. Really liked Bock's early punches to Gagne's guts and the opening pace. Funk almost flying over the ropes on a simple rope running spot was awesome. Regal eats some fun rapid fire offense from the babyfaces and Funk comes back in and goes right into a boxing stance which I mark for every time. The Funk v. Brunzell segment was a lot of fun as Brunzell beat the shit out of Funk, who was busy being Funk. Gagne comes in after they announce that two minutes is left and misses a dropkick with Bock locking on a tight sleeper. Gagne escapes with a sleeper of his own and locked on a sleeper of his own with a minute left. The thirty second call hits and all hell breaks loose with Funk flying to the floor and fisticuffs breaking out as the bell rings. This was short as well, but the pace was so break neck that you didn't feel cheated. Jim Brunzell v. Masked Superstar Man Brunzell's forearms look stiff as fuck here and Superstar really doesn't appear to mind eating them full tilt. Brunzell gets bumped to the floor off of a lateral press and Superstar takes over. Brunzell ends up suckering him in and posting him and then all hell breaks loose with the Sheik and Gagne hitting the ring. Good while it lasted. Fabulous Ones/Baron von Raschke v. Road Warriors/Paul Ellering Keirn ends up FIP here, getting bearhugged by Animal, backbroken multiple times, et. Ellering comes in and fucks with him which triggers a mini-comeback but the Warriors cut if off. Say what you want about the Warriors offense here, but Keirn did a good job on the teaser spots and I thought Hawk was really good at being in position for the cutoffs. Animal misses an elbow and the Baron gets the hot tag. Baron locks on the claw but all hell breaks loose and Hawk gets spike piledriven. Baron is doing a Funk twitch and gets pinned while the Fabs swing chairs around wildly. This was fun, but doesn't feel like a nomination. Sgt. Slaughter v. Mr. Saito Sarge with an awesome and utterly crazy over the ropes bump to the floor. Slaughter is on the floor trying to get back in the ring and Saito punches him hard as fuck, then while the ref is looking away Adnan punches him in the face multiple times. Sarge finally gets back in and is PISSED and hits one of the best back body drops I've ever seen in my life. Seriously it actually looked like a legit move and not totally choreographed. Saito takes an insane bump high up in the corner to the point where it looks like he bounced off the fucking top of the post. Sarge knees Saito in the throat, then hits a sick looking gutbuster. Saito fires back with stiff chops and is choking the fuck out of Sarge. Saito starts chopping him again and Sarge fires up and tags Saito with some stiff chops. Sarge hits a clothesline coming off the ropes and locks on the Cobra Clutch but Adnan gets on the apron so Saito drops the hold and locks it on Adnan. Superstar hits the ring and attacks Slaughter for the bell. Post-match Slaughter clears the ring with some nice punches on Superstar. For criminally short matches on this disc, this takes the cake so far. Curt Hennig/Baron Von Raschke v. Road Warriors Infamous match with Curt caught throatfirst in the ropes. We have this already. Jimmy Garvin v. Rick Martel JIP. What is shown is awesome with some sweet momentum change, a hot crowd, et. Finish was ridiculous with a huge lady helping Martel win. Not enough shown to nominate. Jimmy Garvin promo. Really fun as Garvin calls the lady from the previous match a drag queen, then shits on the Baron who shows up and cuts a promo on him. Sgt. Slaughter v. Kamala Sarge is not going to stand for any of this Pan-African, anti-imperial nonsense and hits the ring and beats the shit out of Kamala with punches to the face. Edit that appears to have been pretty substantial. Kamala briefly takes over with a back body drop and some chops but Sarge comes back. Sarge locks on the Cobra Clutch but Billy Robinson runs in and charishots Slaughter and then beat him to shit. Post-match Kamala splashes Slaughter. Robinson beats the hell out of wrestlers who are trying to make the save, while fans throw shit into the ring. I wish this was available in full, but it seems like a good EXTRA. Sgt. Slaughter promo on Kamala. Good. Billy Robinson/Kamala v. Sgt. Slaughter JIP. Slaughter is fucking awesome in this as he is selling his ass off, taking a butt kicking and firing back every chance he gets. One of the only cool double head knocker spots I've ever seen. Slaughter ends up hitting one of the best double clotheslines I've ever seen on both of these guys, then dumps Kamala to the floor and hits a lariat on Robinson to take the fall. Post-match the heels attack Slaughter and the babyface locker room empties. What is shown is great, but not nearly enough to nominate. Another solid EXTRA candidate. Nick Bockwinkel v. Greg Gagne Pre-match Gagne gets Slaughter as his back up, since Bock has Stevens with him. Gagne locks on a really nice Indian Deathlock. Bock breaks the hold and eventually headbutts Gagne all the way to the floor. Bock is great here walking off his injury while Gagne gets battered back down to the floor every time he gets up to the apron. Greg comes back with some big shoulder blocks and a dropkick, but they end up doing a double knockout spot. Bock keeps going for the sleeper but Gagne keeps rolling out and locks on his own sleeper. Naturally this devolves into a brawl with Slaughter and Stevens, though Sarge slamming Stevens around and keeping hat on was pretty awesome. Kamala v. Rick Martel Zbyszko is Kamala's second. Kamala swings for the fences out of the gate wildly but Martel avoids it. Cool spot with Kamala hitting a leapfrog but ends up getting dropkicked to the mat which Verne (who is on commentary) sells like it is the greatest achievement in wrestling history. Kamala runs in for a corner charge but his knee hits the top turnbuckle so Martel takes over on the leg. Kamala comes back and locks on a double titty twister, literally picking Martel up his breasts. Martel sells the shit out of this and tries to come back with work on the legs, but gets held at bay and Kamala goes right back to the boob. Martel fights back and hits his slingshot splash for a nearfall. Kamala not knowing the rules gets DQ'ed for throwing Martel over the top. I was impressed by this one, but not enough to see it as something that would make the set. Jimmy Garvin v. Rick Martel JIP. This had a really great finishing run with Martel firing up like a mad man, hitting a sweet slingshot splash, and then just going batshit beating on Garvin in the corner. Precious passes a foreign object to Garvin and the Garvin decks Martel when he puts his head down for the phony title switch. We have this on a handheld though I'm not sure we had this much of the match. Watching it here it actually felt like the end of this was real good, but the road to get there wasn't all that great.
January 18, 201114 yr comment_5462248 Jimmy Garvin v. Rick Martel JIP. What is shown is awesome with some sweet momentum change, a hot crowd, et. Finish was ridiculous with a huge lady helping Martel win. Not enough shown to nominate. The lady is "Bertha" Von Raschke, there to counter Precious's interfering in previous matches. There is a complete version of this match from Winnipeg available that I suspect is almost identical (especially the finish), so if this one doesn't surface more complete, that one will probably suffice if you want to nominate it, once you see it. Billy Robinson/Kamala v. Sgt. Slaughter JIP. Slaughter is fucking awesome in this as he is selling his ass off, taking a butt kicking and firing back every chance he gets. One of the only cool double head knocker spots I've ever seen. Slaughter ends up hitting one of the best double clotheslines I've ever seen on both of these guys, then dumps Kamala to the floor and hits a lariat on Robinson to take the fall. Post-match the heels attack Slaughter and the babyface locker room empties. What is shown is great, but not nearly enough to nominate. Another solid EXTRA candidate. I think this is the ending of the big Pro Wrestling USA tag team battleroyal from the Meadowlands, from their first show there under the PWUSA Banner. Slaughter has no partner as Jerry Blackwell is injured and can't wrestle (I think his BP was too high and the Athletic commission didn't allow him to wrestle...possibly checked due to a complaint put in by Vince McMahon). He needed to eliminate both members of the final team by over-the-top-rope throw or pinfall. The Meadowlands battleroyal is out there as I recall so once you see that you'll know if it's the same.
May 22, 201114 yr comment_5471604 "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin vs. Baron Von Raschke (2/1/85) Baron was very over here like Dylan said and this crowd hated Garvin. Baron dominates on offense early before Garvin would get a little offense in but Baron would fight back quickly and had Garvin reeling until he was thrown into referee Eddie Sharkey. Precious used this as a chance to spray Baron's eyes and Garvin would get the win. Nice little match. Americas Heavyweight Title: Larry Zbyszko © vs. Bob Backlund (2/1/85) Backlund won't let Larry stall here as he chases him and locks on a headlock then keeps him in some holds. There is a noticeable clip as Bob is in control and then it goes to Larry starting his control section. Backlund would sneak in an inside cradle but Zbyszko would kick him to the floor where he would bash his head into the announce table. Larry would then kick Bob off the apron and onto Ken Resnick at the table which was a cool spot. Backlund would come back into the ring where he would get Larry in a huge atomic drop before hitting a butterfly suplex leading to the reverse chicken wing. Larry would deck Eddie Sharkey as the hold was applied so he called for the DQ in a shitty finish with Backlund celebrating like a goof afterwards holding the title until it gets taken away. Fun but I would've liked a longer match with a better finish. Nick Bockwinkel, Terry Funk, & "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal vs. Curt Hennig & The Hi-Flyers ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne) (2/1/85) Funk in PWUSA was an odd match. Bock & Funk are great early on bumping and selling for Gagne before Hennig & Regal comes in and they work at a fast pace before Brunzell comes in and works on Regal's arm before we get another clip in the action as Brunzell ends up in the corner with Funk as the legal man. There is three minutes left in the match so Bock & Gagne work a sleeper exchange section before it breaks down for a second leading to a double collision with Gagne & Bock and then it breaks down again. Time would run out as Gagne had Bock in an inside cradle as Funk is going crazy bumping all over the ring for Brunzell. The clip hurt this as we didn't get the full match so I'm going no on a nomination. "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell vs. Masked Superstar (2/1/85) Greg & Adnan are at ringside to counter each other. Brunzell jumps Superstar right at the bell and pounds on him before he retreats to the floor. Superstar would catch Brunzell in the face with a knee as he charged him in the corner and that started Superstar's control section. The action would go to the floor where Superstar continued to work on Brunzell until Jim pulled his legs out from under him and wrapped the left one around the ringpost. Jim would come back in and locked on the figure-four which brought in Adnan & Greg for a DDQ. Fun while it lasted. The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane) & Baron Von Raschke vs. The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) & Paul Ellering (January 1985) Fabs come out to PARTY TRAIN which is great. The faces get some offense in between Roadies offense but not a lot and Keirn is caught as the FIP. Keirn takes a beating from everyone until Ellering comes in and it looks like there he might be able to get the hot tag but the Roadies cut him off. Baron would finally get the hot tag and got the iron claw as the 6-way brawl starts which leads to Baron getting spike piledriven then Keirn coming in swinging a steel chair on Animal as the referee makes the count of 3. Eddie Sharkey never even looked at the chair being used. Baron sells the piledriver well as he twitches around. I wish this would've been better but that finish sealed the deal for me as a no for nomination. Sgt. Slaughter vs. Mr. Saito (January 1985) This is a rare matchup and we get Blackjack Lanza on commentary which was also rare. Adnan would grab Sarge's boot as he got to the ropes allowing Saito to go on offense where he would throw Sarge into the corner and he does his great bump over the top to the floor which that floor looked hard. Saito & Adnan would then both get shots in on Sarge before he makes his big comeback where he takes it to Saito with a rib breaker but Saito comes back with some chops before getting a choke hold. Sarge again would come back though hitting the Slaughter Cannon before locking on the Cobra Clutch which brought Adnan to the apron and Sarge brought him to the ring where he would put the Cobra on him. Superstar then ran into the ring for the DQ. This had a good pace and both men were working hard but the shitty finish and the shortness of the match hurts this as a nomination Next we get the JIP version of the Roadies vs. Curt Hennig & Baron Von Raschke match that led to the near riot and this is definite extra material. Then we get clips of a Martel/Garvin match from New Haven that looked pretty good and featured "Bertha Von Raschke" to counter Precious and this is followed up by some good promos by Garvin & Baron. Sgt. Slaughter vs. Kamala (3/23/85) This is also from New Haven and Sarge comes in wanting to fight Kamala immediately sending him to the floor. Sarge keeps up the pressure before we get yet another clip coming to Kamala on offense pounding on Sarge. Sarge then starts his comeback hitting the Slaughter Cannon and then the Cobra Clutch but Billy Robinson would run out and used a chair on Sarge then shoved the referee down as Kamala hits his big splash on Sarge. Robinson beats on some jobbers before leaving the ring. Fun stuff. Then we get clips from the big battle royal at the Meadowlands on 2/24/85 where Sarge takes out both Kamala & Billy Robinson. Sarge is awesome here. Nick Bockwinkel vs. "Rambo" Greg Gagne (July 1985) Greg in his camo was always goofy. Sarge comes out to counter Ray Stevens in the corner. Billy Robinson is on commentary and it is eerie how much Wade Barrett sounds like him. I loved these old shows from the Tropicana in Atlantic City and it's too bad they quit running there. Good back and forth action to start with Greg focusing on the right leg and would get the INDIAN DEATH LOCK which was awesome. Bock would get to the ropes to break free by using punches then sent Greg to the floor where he would try to keep him there so Stevens could get shots in but Greg would fight his way back to the ring where he would go back on offense. They would trade sleeper holds before Stevens would get involved and that brought Sarge in the ring for the DDQ. The faces would clean house after the match and this was a fun segment. AWA World Heavyweight Title: Rick Martel © vs. Kamala (9/8/85) Kamala tries to finish off Martel early with strikes but his quickness helps him get out of the way and would hit a big dropkick to send Kamala to the mat which Verne Gagne on commentary goes nuts for. Kamala would come back and missed a flying charge into the corner hitting knee first and Martel would immediately go to work on the left knee. Kamala would fight back and would focus on a nerve hold which to his credit Martel sold like a champ. Kamala hit a big slam then went for his splash but Martel rolled away and countered with his slingspot splash from the apron but Kamala would kick out. Kamala was now angry and just chunked Martel over the top rope to the floor for the DQ since he didn't know the rules. This match was going along pretty good until the abrupt finish. Then we get clips of another Martel/Garvin match to finish.
