The Freebirds v. The Road Warriors

 

Pre-match Birds interview is fun and they are wearing Confederate Flag warpant. Birds get chased off before the introductions and after those formalities are done we get an awesome moment with Hayes running around in the outfield while the crowd chants "Go Home Freebirds." Birds get bumped around wildly early. Hayes takes a punch to the face from Hawk on a sunset flip attempt and Hayes ends up retreating to his corner to tag a tentative Gordy. hawk hits the steel on a corner charge and Gordy hits a suplex. Hawk is working a pretty straight FIP here and actually semi-sells a Gordy piledriver which is an improvement for him. Hawk ends up in the Birds corner and fights them both but gets cut off on the way to Animal. Hawk hits a slam on Hayes off the top for another hope spot and then they do a pretty weak looking double knock down spot with Gordy that leads to the hot tag. Animal's powerslam on Gordy looked impressive and was a nice nearfall. Buddy tries to get involved but Ellering pulls him down. Buddy ends up chasing Paul down from behind and fucking killing him with a chairshot to the back of the head. All hell breaks loose with hawk beating on Buddy and we get a pretty lame finish with the Birds stealing a fall via chicanery while the ref was distracted. This is something that people will want to see if they haven't seen it because it is the Birds v. Warriors in a big setting. The body of this was actually pretty good but the only parts that were really great were Hayes roaming in the outfield and Roberts killing Ellering dead with the chair. I think this is a guaranteed EXTRA but I would have a hard time justifying this as a stand alone match. EXTRA

 

Little Tokyo v. Little Mr. T

 

Tokyo's pre-match promo is great. I think I have seen this one before without that, but that promo really does make it more fun. I did enjoy the flagrant use of racist wrestling stereotypes with Mr. T's hard head being impervious to even punches and his minstrel show stylings that followed that up were amusing as well. Tokyo's suplex looked really smooth. Match sort of meandered from there with some shitty comedy and a crap finishing run.

 

Kamala v. Jerry Blackwell (Bodyslam Challenge)

 

The opening strike battle was fun and Blackwell selling the shit out of Kamala's chops to his arm was really great. I liked the fact that Blackwell absorbed a lot of shots before finally going down as you don't want guys easily hitting the canvas in a bodyslam match. Blackwell makes it back to his feet and teases a bump through the ropes right onto Larry Nelson and the announce table. Blackwell circles backwards but suckers Kamala. Blackwell does some crazy face gouge and ends up decking Kamala with a big clothesline knocking him down. Kamala does a great jab staggering to the ropes to avoid the slam and turning the tables on Blackwell. Blackwell fights off a body slam attempt by headbutting Kamala in the fucking heart only for Kamala to fight back and chop Blackwell down to the mat. Kamala hits a splash and goes for the pin which the stupid ass ref actually tried to count despite the stip causing Blackwell to kick out at one. Kamala goes to the nervehold but it doesn't last too long and it was actually a pretty good base for Blackwell's comeback. Kamala ends up getting slammed after an avalanche. Post-match Adnan jumps in the ring and bloodies Blackwell with a sword. Aside from the dumbass ref ruining the "Kamala doesn't understand the rules" spot I liked this a lot.

 

Mil Mascaras v. Buddy Roberts

 

Short clips.

 

Sherri Martel v. Candy Devine

 

Short clips.

 

Stan Hansen v. Rick Martel

 

Short clips.

 

Boris Zhukov

 

Short clips

AWA World Tag Titles: The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) © vs. Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy & Michael Hayes) (9/28/85)

 

CONFEDERATE FACEPAINT!!! This is nothing but a brawl at the bell as the Roadies send the Birds running to the grass. Hayes running all over the field as the fans chant GO HOME FREEBIRDS is great. Roadies dominate early as Gordy bumps his ass off while Hayes gets pounded around. The Birds would get some offense in as Hawk would miss a running shoulderblock into the corner and this is about as long of an FIP section you would get on Hawk at this time. Hawk even sold a Gordy piledriver somewhat before a fun hope spot where he tees off on the Birds in their corner before trying to tag Animal and getting cut off. Hayes would climb up top and Hawk would slam him down before a double collision with Gordy after he tagged in put them both on the mat. Animal would finally get the hot tag and he about killed Gordy with a powerslam for a nearfall leading to a 4-way brawl and as this happened we got Buddy & Ellering fighting on the floor with Buddy nailing him in the back of the head with a steel chair. Animal would press slam Gordy in the ring which was intense then gave Hayes a big powerslam followed up a diving clothesline on Gordy. Hayes would then climb up top and caught Animal with some brass knux and the Birds would get leave with the titles but the decision would be overturned. I dug this a lot and I think it deserves a nomination.

 

AWA Midgets Title: Little Tokyo © vs. Little Mr. T (9/28/85)

 

The racial stuff here was something else but the match wasn't that good.

 

$10,000 Bodyslam Challenge: Crusher Blackwell vs. Kamala (9/28/85)

 

Kamala is with Sheik Adnan and he is definitely no Akbar but Adnan is able to sing his anthem before the match. These two went to war on each other to start the match before Kamala got the advantage and just started to clubber Blackwell who sold it quite well. Blackwell fought back though hitting a big clothesline then followed it up with a big splash before trying to bodyslam Kamala who blocked it. Kamala would try the same but Blackwell would block it as well before Kamala would just chop him down to the mat. Kamala would then hit his big splash with the state licensed referee trying to count which was stupid. Blackwell would eventually power up hitting a big running splash in the corner then a bodyslam to win the match. Adnan would jump Blackwell afterwards and pounded Blackwell with the sword forcing juice as Larry Nelson goes nuts on commentary. This was two big guys just beating each other up and nothing else so of course this is a nomination.

 

Americas Heavyweight Title: Sgt. Slaughter © vs. Boris Zuhkov (9/28/85)

 

Boris tries to jump Sarge at the bell but he gets cut off and poked in the eyes for his trouble. Boris would bump around for Sarge who even used the American flag in a bullfighting spot before Boris would toss Sarge into the corner who took an insane bump over the ringpost and to the dirt. Boris would work over Sarge's neck here including dropping him on the top rope with Sarge taking a great bump and Sarge is really good at selling the punishment here. Boris would pound him on the announce table before trying to piledrive him on the grass but Sarge would give him a backdrop which had to hurt. Sarge would then slam Boris off the top rope to start his comeback before Boris pulls the referee in front of him as he tried the Slaughter Cannon. Boris would use this as a chance to load up his elbow pad which he would use on a running Sarge who bladed visibly before he went to the mat. Boris then went to work on the cut as the referee for called for the bell before Sarge fought back and ran Boris off. This was very fun and about as good as you were going to get from Boris at this time thanks to Sarge who worked his ass off here. This moves forward.

 

Mexican Heavyweight Title: Mil Mascaras © vs. Buddy Roberts (9/28/85)

 

There is no belt here of course. Mil is all over Buddy to start off here using lots of holds to keep Buddy at bay but Buddy would use rough tactics like a rake in the eyes then some choking with the tag rope to get the advantage. Buddy would bait Mil into a slugfest before Mil would hit a big suplex then a flying cross chop but Buddy to his credit kept going. Mil would finish him off though with a big cross body block off the top to win. Fine for what it was.

 

Asian Six-Man Tag Titles: Giant Baba, Genichiro Tenryu, & Jumbo Tsuruta © vs. The Long Riders (Wild Bill & Scott Irwin) & Harley Race (9/28/85)

 

Another made up title here. The Irwins are all over the place to start the match as you could tell they wanted some bookings in AJPW and of course Harley is going to work his ass off for the boss and his boys. Tenryu is great here as the workhorse for his team as you could tell he wanted to impress as well. It was fun hearing the fans go nuts for the Irwins when they were on offense. Tenryu works as FIP but the fans aren't behind the Japanese so it doesn't work well here as they were all for the heels so the psychology is messed up. Jumbo gets the hot tag but it isn't so hot since the fans don't care but Jumbo tries before getting lost so he tags in Baba which was weird. Bill takes the Race bump over the top rope to the dirt and as this happens the match basically comes unglued before it breaks down to a 6-way with Baba eventually finishing off Bill. There was some really good action here before the last few minutes of the match and I can pass this as a low-end nomination.

 

"Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (9/28/85)

 

Kerry dedicates the match to Mike who was in the hospital at this time and talks about how prayer worked for his brother. The fans are hot for Kerry here and they hate Garvin. Garvin bumps all over the place for Kerry to start and gets cut off everytime that he tries to get some offense. Kerry looks like Superman until Garvin would catch him with a knee sending him to the grass where Precious would taunt Kerry. Garvin would then send Kerry back over the top as he tried to come back in with Kerry taking a hard fall to the ground. Kerry would get a sunset flip though coming back in for a nearfall before coming back with a discus punch that put Garvin down on the mat. Kerry would go for the iron claw but got blocked before missing a running smash into the corner which allowed Garvin to go up top but Kerry would crotch him and would pin him for the win. Kerry would get the iron claw after the match but Garvin would break away.