Brad Rheingans v. Rocky Stone

 

I really loved the opening as Rheingans hit some sweet looking rope running spots including an awesome leapfrog where he just vaults over Stone. Stone takes over when Brad goes for another leapfrog and Stone just rams his head into his guts instead. Rheingans takes a bunch of turnbuckle shots and just lays in a heap on the ropes from the outside. Rheingans ends up winning with a series of dropkicks and a gut wrench suplex. Decent opener.

 

Steve Regal v. Buck Zumhofe

 

Buck lands on his feet after a drop down monkey flip attempt and hits a nice dropkick. Regal's control segment is way better than normal and Buck works some good up and down spots out of it. Just a lot less of Regal's sitting around in a chinlock stuff here and while Buck's jogging in place schtick is embarrassing it really does pop the crowd. Really liked Buck's dropkick at the ten minute mark as Regal took a nice wild bump before rolling to the floor. Regal tries to call a time out and run away from Buck but Buck takes a sick looking high knee on a corner charge and then Regal's elbow. Regal goes for an Irish Whip and Buck gets a quick slam and then his Vader Bomb type finisher for the fall. This was one of the their better matches.

 

Jerry Lawler v. John Tolos

 

Tolos ambushes Lawler and immediately goes to work on his arm. Tolos is fun showing fear of Lawler's punch coming off the ropes. Lawler does a headlock spot where he cranks down about twenty times while the crowd chants along and then punches Tolos in the face for the knockdown. Lawler gets a sunset flip nearfall. Lawler takes a huge over the top rope bump for a teased DQ finish. Lawler gets back in and drops the strap and throws rapid fire punches to Tolos. Tolos selling of the second rope fist drop was ridiculous. Lawler misses a corner charge and Lawler collapses. Lawler misses a diving knee and Lawler hits the piledriver for the finish. This was a fun match. EXTRA

 

Judy Martin/Velvet MacIntyre v. Joyce Grable/Wendi Richter

 

Velvet almost immediately gets tossed to tossed to the floor and then takes a follow up bump out there herself. Nice looking nearfall for the faces. Grable does a fun spot where she airballs on a bunch of punches. The heels end up taking over on Velvet who is a decent FIP. This is an 80's women's match so you know you are going to get the hair whip snapmare sequence and the heel standing on the hair spot. Martin gets the tag and hits a couple of really stiff shots to Richter as she comes off the ropes. Martin works FIP and bit. Velvet came back in and hit some decent offense. The heels do some fun power moves and the finish was awesome. These girls worked hard if nothing else.

 

Wahoo McDaniel v. Eddie Boulder

 

God it is hard to believe Boulder is Brutus Beefcake. Typically stiff match involving Wahoo though it wasn't really worth watching as anything more than a curiosity.

 

The High Flyers/Rick Martel v. Jesse Ventura/Ken Patera/Blackjack Lanza

 

The faces got in some fun offense early. Jesse ends up getting bounced in while he is leaning on the top which is a silly spot that allows works well. Cool sequence as all the heels get wildly tossed into each other but the end result is Greg going FIP. Martel gets the hot tag but it comes after a clip of sorts that kind of hurts the flow. Martel ends up missing a dropkick and Patera gets a nearfall. Pretty shitty spot as Martel clearly tags Gagne right in front of the ref who just ignores it and the hot tag ends up coming a few seconds later in a much less dramatic fashion. Brunzell gets Lanza in a figure-four but all hell breaks loose. Heenan slips a foreign object to Patera and he gets a shot in but all hell breaks loose. Eh. This should have been a lot better.

Brad Rheingans vs. Rocky Stone (4/24/83)

 

Okay for what it was.

 

"Rock n Roll" Buck Zumhofe vs. "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal (4/24/83)

 

Regal is early in his heel run here as he wasn't long gone from the WWA. The action here was okay but I'm not a Zumhofe fan so I wasn't inspired by this. Not a nomination to me.

 

Jerry "The King" Lawler vs. "Golden Greek" John Tolos (4/24/83)

 

Lawler's first match in Minneapolis and it's against Tolos of all people. Lawler should've gotten much better as he looked good here but Tolos was just not the right guy for this match.

 

Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter vs. Judy Martin & Velvet McIntyre (4/24/83)

 

Okay for what it was and I liked the heels using the Freebirds double-team powerbomb finish.

 

Chief Wahoo McDaniel vs. Eddie Boulder (4/24/83)

 

Eddie of course is the future Brutus Beefcake and Wahoo pounds on him good here.

 

The Hi-Flyers ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne) & Rick Martel vs. Blackjack Lanza, Ken Patera, & Jesse "The Body" Ventura (4/24/83)

 

The faces looked good early on especially Martel who was just so fluid in everything he did with Patera of course being the best of the heels in selling and bumping. Brunzell gets caught and works FIP for a while before tagging in Greg who cleans house on the heels leading to a 6-way brawl and Gagne getting the sleeper on Patera but Jesse would club him from behind and this would start Greg's FIP section. We get a clip right before the hot tag which hurts the momentum but Martel then gets worked over by Patera so he gets a FIP section as well. This eventually breaks down into a 6-way brawl again after Brunzell comes in ending up with Patera getting some knux from Heenan and using it to win. Decent but could've been better.