Posted July 20, 201114 yr comment_5477182 Road Warriors v. Fabulous Ones We have this already. Bruiser Brody v. Jerry Blackwell We have this already. Greg Gagne v. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie (Cage Match) JIP. Can't remember if we have this already but I think we do as I believe this may have been Superstar's debut. Road Warriors v. King Kong Bundy/Jerry Blackwell We have this already. Road Warriors v. Fabulous Ones This may or may not have been JIP. It was actually hard to tell. This goes straight into Lane in peril and I enjoyed it. He did a good job taking an asskicking and selling it and the Roadies unleashed some big shots. I enjoyed Keirn's fired up attempt to attack Hawk as a bridge to the big spot with Animal airballing on a big splash and making the hot tag to Keirn. All hell breaks loose and Crusher ends up attaking Ellering in the ring for another DQ finish. If either of there matches had decent finishes they would make the set. Still I feel like one of them might be an EXTRA Road Warriors v. Sgt. Slaughter/Jerry Blackwell The first camera shot this goes to is Hawk and Sarge facing off dead center in the ring which was a great visual. This starts with Sarge and Hawk as well after Sarge salutes Blackwell which amused me. It was interesting to see how quick they worked Blackwell in and even though he took over quick, he went FIP really fast and worked in his first hope spot really early also. Having said that all of this was well done and the transitions looked good. I really dug Hawk busting out a jumping knee on Blackwell. Second hope spot was cool too though I can already hear Will bitching about Blackwell not making the tag when he could have. Roadies take turns slamming Blackwell and then Hawk goes for a running splash but Blackwell gets the knee up. Sarge gets the tag and I was surprised to see them go to a test of strength spot with him and Animal almost immediately. In typical AWA fashion this leads to a second FIP this time with Sarge and as is typical with Sarge it starts off of a big corner bump. Blackwell eventually casually tags in which was odd. Sarge ends up back in and they do a strange Cobra Clutch spot that ends with an Adnan run in for the finish. Pretty disappointing over all, though Blackwell looked great here. Road Warriors v. The Longriders I think we have this JIP elsewhere, but this is complete. I like the Longriders more than most and thought this was a pretty solid tag. Irwins are big enough where they don't look stupid working over the Roadies, though I'm not sure I can ever really buy Hawk or Animal as "in peril." Scott's pump kick looked awesome and I do have to give credit to Animal for selling as good as a monster of his kind possibly could have. The wild diving knee driving all four guys to the floor and leading to the schmozz finish was actually pretty cool. I have a hard time seeing this make it all the way through, but I see no harm in throwing it on the table for further discussion. Freebirds v. Rick Martel/Curt Hennig Martel coming out quick with the crossbody near fall and then running over and decking Hayes was a fun way to get this started. Loved Hennig kicking Hayes reaching hand away from a Gordy tag and then the headlock/leg scissors take down on both Birds to a massive pop which was a great follow up. Hayes tags in and Hennig takes his huge bump off of a clothesline, with Michael strutting around and doing his hip thrust at Martel. They go to the Curt hope spots really quick, but they are well played and well cut off. Martel gets the hot tag and comes in super fire dup to a huge pop. Buddy ends up standing on the apron and decking Hayes on accident with his boot before getting posted by Martel who splashes Hayes for the win. Fun sprint. Would have made a really good tv main event at the time. Still the VQ is not the best here and on paper this looks like it should be blowaway great and it wasn't. It does have a novelty to it, but the best I can see this is as a low end pick. Battle Royal We have this already Bob Backlund v. Rick Renslow This is pretty much the definition of a novelty match to me so I enjoyed it. This was basically Backlund working in simple wrestling stuff, Renslow getting outclassed, Renslow showing frustration, repeat. Backlund looked good, but I enjoyed the little touches Renslow threw in as well. This feels like the kind of match that EricR would really like if it were to show up on a 1998 Worldwide episode. Baron Von Raschke/Jerry Blackwell v. The Alaskans Another match where I liked Renslow. I thought his reaction to getting his punched blocked by Blackwell was hysterical. Fun Squash. Bruiser Brody v. Leon White We have this already.
July 20, 201114 yr comment_5477279 Freebirds v. Rick Martel/Curt Hennig Still the VQ is not the best here and on paper this looks like it should be blowaway great and it wasn't. It does have a novelty to it, but the best I can see this is as a low end pick. This was supposed to be Martel and Crusher vs. the Freebirds, but IIRC Crusher and Verne had a faling out over money so Crusher cancelled (They fought over $$$ every few years, Crusher would leave, come back, wash, rinse, repeat). Curt was an odd choice to team with Martel in mid-85 as he was still very mid-cardish at that juncture. I've never seen this other than Dan's World Pro set and that was the best VQ he could find, so it likely won't get any better than that.
