The Midnight Rockers v Adrian Adonis/Bob Orton – AWA tag title.

 

Yes! Now THIS was completely awesome. Goes 17+, and is just killer. I don't know what was going on with Bob Orton, but he absolutely had a grudge against Michaels, and he beat the shit out of him the whole match. There was one point where he had Michaels in a headlock and was just punching him right in the face, making sick smacking noises. Rachel was watching with me and said "How is he even pulling those? It just looks like he's hitting him." Orton would punch Jannetty, then give it two-fold to Michaels. Clearly looked like he had a vendetta. Match itself was awesome as well, crowd was super hot, built to the Marty hot tag really well (with a couple nice teases), Adonis was mega-obese at this point but still threw in some impressive bumps. Just constant fun, easily the best ESPN match I have seen so far. SLAM DUNK NOMINATION.

 

AWA on ESPN Classic 5/7/08

God damn Orton is underrated as an athlete and a wrestler. Buddy Rose said he was the best guy he ever saw which is insane, but he really can take a bump, land a bomb, and pace shit perfectly. Opening stuff is really fun control out of a head lock, coming up for highspots, ala a Backlund MSG title defense. Adonis selling of the headlock/headscissors take over was odd, but beside that all the front end stuff was quality. Orton cuts off the momentum with this awesome delayed spinning backbreaker to Shawn, with Adonis following up with a sledge across his chest guillotine style and a running bulldog. Fuck Orton's delayed vertical was even better and nuttier than the delayed backbreaker. The heels cut off the ring on Shawn and are just crushing him with their entire arsenal. Adonis using his obesity to blockade Shawn form a tag so Orton can come in and stiff him was a great spot. Really cool teased comeback from Shawn who gets him with a short arm clothesline out of nowhere and then a slingshot/clothesline combo. Adonis goes for the splash, but Shawn gets the knees up. Shawn struggles to his feet and you think it will be hot tag time, but Adrian does this awesome punch drunk desperation kick to Shawn's leg sweeping him down. Then he tags in Orton who hits his fucking insane reverse cattle branding move. seriously that move is fucking outright nuts and looks like it could kill Michaels. Sick running powerslam from Adonis for another near fall. They do a ref missed the face tag spot and Shawn takes a huge bump to the floor. Great moment as a ringside boy is pointing the way for Shawn and Orton just flies onto the screen and crushes him, before posting him. Watching this you realize Michaels peaked early as he is so much better selling all of this. Fucking Orton is awesome arguing with the ref that he's been in the corner the whole time by pointing to the tag rope. Adrian takes his crotch first bump, but Michaels gets greedy and goes for a splash that he misses. Orton tags in and hits a neckbreaker on Shawn that literally looked like it broke his neck. Shawn didn't bump right for it and it was fucking insane looking. Orton gets the tables turned and gets punted wildly into a crotch bump on the top rope. Adonis gets the tag but so does Marty. Adonis takes his flip bump and gets whipped into Orton. Marty gets pulled to the floor by Orton and a huge brawl breaks out with all four guys on the floor. Orton is just running around punching every one. Ref double dq's them. Orton takes the Buddy Rose bump to the floor off a double superkick after the match was tossed out. Despite the lackluster finish this was fucking awesome. This is definitely going on the set

AWA World Tag Titles: The Midnight Rockers (Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels) © vs. "Adorable" Adrian Adonis & "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. (January 1988)

 

Okay I'm digging this matchup on paper. I don't need to do a big writeup on this one as this is exactly what I wanted here in that these four were bumping and selling like crazy with some really solid offensive moves and psychology to lead to the great defense. The heels were really great at using schtick as well and then you add the Shawn FIP section which was awesome along with the wild section after the hot tag that led to the expected cheap finish which really didn't bother me here as these guys were on fucking fire. Eric said this was the best ESPN match he saw and although I wouldn't go that far it's up there very very high right below Hennig/Bock and Rockers/Rose/Somers epics. Slam dunk nomination no doubt.