I really love how in the early going every significant offense move from the babyfaces is celebrated like an epic achievement. Seriously monkey flips and body slams are treated as the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest and it really adds to the match. Sawyer ends up trapped in the corner in a full nelson and they try and rough neck him but of course the heels hit each other which is a spot that always works. Tommy Rogers gets the tag and hits a nice dropkick but Miller has had enough and just steamrolls Tommy knocking him to the floor. Rogers ends up attacking Miller's leg and Miller is a lot of fun bumping around for the babyfaces. Sawyer traps him in some crazy leg lock variation. Sawyer gets steamrolled and knocked to the floor and Miller hits a diving stomp to him on the floor but Rogers comes over and starts lighting him up with punches. Hogan hits an awesome looking body slam, a sick knee and then does a double flex pose on a cover - way better than anything he ever did as Brutus Beefcake. Kind of a funny spot as Hogan tries to coax Miller in for a double team and the ref gets distracted allowing the faces to hit a really great looking double dropkick for the first fall.

 

Second fall opens up with some pretty decent grappling between Hogan and Sawyer, but Sawyer gets trapped in the heel corner and ends up taking a Buddy Rosesque falling through the ropes backward bump to the floor. Sawyer goes FIP and looks really fucking fatigued at this point. Sawyer takes an AWESOME bump off of a knee lift off the ropes. Sawyer ends up dropping the second fall to a lariat and big powerslam from Hogan.

 

Third fall starts out with Hogan just walking over and hitting a stiff backbreaker on Sawyer. The heels keep working over Sawyer's back. It's a bit bearhug heavy but works okay. Sawyer ends up getting the hot tag and the fall comes almost immediately off of a drop down/Thesz Press combo. Really fun match. The babyfaces were awesome and the heels were better than expected.

This was indeed shockingly good considering the make-up of the heel team. The early cat-and-mouse stuff, with Rogers and Sawyer making Miller and Hogan look foolish, was really fun. Sawyer had become an outstanding tag wrestler, who could be paired with any flashy babyface to make a compelling team. He did a great job bumping and selling as Miller and Hogan controlled the second fall and much of the third. This was one of the better performances I've seen from Ed Leslie and certainly his best from Portland. He found the right balance between power offense and acting like a d-bag. I also enjoyed the finish to the third fall, with Sawyer playing decoy so Rogers could hit the Thesz Press. Definite nomination.