Posted July 20, 201114 yr comment_5477244 Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel Martel scores with a nice crossbody early, and that sort of becomes a theme of the match as Martel hits big offense in runs to combat Bock who is clearly trying to slow things down. There is an odd corner whip early, but other than these guys work really smooth exchanges, with Martel on the arm and Bock sort of targetting the ribs. Spot with Martel going to the floor and getting pissed off only to fire right back up and run off a nice string of offense on Bock was really well executed as it is a spot the AWA often ran, but rarely without a drawn out "heel keeps face at bay" on the floor spot. Bock ends up taking over with an eye rake and locks on a sleeper, but Martel runs toward the corner and drops him face first into the top turnbuckle which looked really good. Martel had dropped elbows on Bock's back earlier and Bock's back goes out on a slam attempt so Martel immediately goes to work on it and locks on an ab stretch. Heenan gets on the apron and gets accidentally decked by Bock which leads to a big near fall for Martel. Martel keeps the attack moving forward but eats the knees on his slingshot splash attempt. Bock goes back to the sleeper and they do a double pin finish but with Martel getting his shoulder up at the last second. Kind of a cool false title switch tease from the perspective that the heel got caught on the "cheap" counter. Road Warriors v. Steve O/Brad Rheingans Already nominated Tony Atlas v. Steve Regal I was surprised by how not shitty Regal looked here as his punches, knees and even leg drop looked good and got good reactions. Atlas big comeback was sold well by Regal too. Basically a quick competitive squash for Atlas. Billy Robinson/Larry Zbyszko/Mr. Saito v. Fabulous Ones/Blackjack Lanza Gotta appreciate Billy's stooging and relatively big bump early as he was at a point in his career where he easily could have phoned it in. Saito coming in and dragon screwing Kerin immediately only to take a wild bump to the floor off of an enziguri was a cool way to showcase his versatility. Saito was remarkably good selling for Lane's shit which frankly did not look good, but watching the big bull wildly swing, bow and eat kicks for his trouble and just stumble around dazed and confused is a ton of fun. Faces end up isolating Larry in their corner and working your standard heel cheating spots to great effect from the crowd who are eating it up. Robinson tags in after a nice Larry monkey flip bump and says "enough of this shit" dropping Keirn with a neckbreaker and a slingshot on the bottom rope. Heel control is not bad, but it kind of feels like they blow the hot tag to Lanza. All hell breaks loose and Keirn ends up as the legal man again and the finish is really poorly done. First few minutes of this ruled but it got steadily worse to the point where I can't advocate for it. Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel This is a great match, and already nominated. Road Warriors v. Tony Atlas/Jim Brunzell They do the pre-match face off with Atlas and Hawk that freezes over a graphic before a commercial which was pretty melodramatic. Okay the spot with Hawk powering off of an arm wringer was pretty awesome and I liked Brunzell surprising Hawk with a jumping knee. Actually this is pretty good in general when Brunzell is in, but for some reason Atlas is the FIP here. Over all this was just okay. Tag Team Battle Royal This was fun. I liked the final moments with Saito/Bock and Blackwell/Bundy being the last two teams. To me a battle royal has to be really unique or tremendously great to even be considered for a set like this. This didn't reach that level but I"m glad I watched it. Mr. Saito v. Sgt. Slaughter Already nominated
