Road Warriors v. Baron Von Raschke/Crusher

 

Okay I admit I kinda marked out a bit for Hawk selling fear of the claw. Sort of notable as the title switch and it was actually pretty well structured, but I just could not get into the Baron and Crusher in this setting. They just seemed really out of place.

 

Rick Martel v. Jimmy Garvin

 

Already nominated

 

Road Warriors v. Fabulous Ones

 

This is from Vegas and features the Fabs with the Baron as their second wearing the Fabs male stripper gear. Good lord. The Fabs confounding the Roadies early was well done and I liked how Animal roughnecked Lane and then Hawk snaps on him, choking him out in a rage. Bad camera angle on the Animal missed splash. This ends in another bullshit finish. Too bad. Baron was fun in the post-match though. EXTRA

 

Jimmy Garvin v. Rick Martel

 

Martel goes to the rana early here and peppers Martel with punches and the crowd just fucking explodes. Garvin is a really fun stooge, bumping around here and selling the shit out of everything Martel throws at him. Martel goes to the arm which turns out to be a mistake as Precious distracts the ref and Garvin goes to a hair takedown escape and a chokehold to gain control. Martel bumps well on a clothesline cut off spot and then gets chucked over the top behind the refs back for a huge bump. Martel makes his big comeback and has Jimmy reeling, getting a great near fall on his slingshot splash. Finish is Garvin hitting Martel with the knucks and getting the pin only for the ref to find the object as he goes to raise Garvin's hand and reversing the decision. I think this is probably the second best match I've seen between these two. Not a home run for the set but worth consideration.

 

Battle Royal

 

Kind of cool to see a battle royal with Blackwell, Sarge, The Birds, Vader, and The Mongolian Stomper in it. Just totally random to me. Another fun one with the fans storming the ring with Sarge afterword. EXTRA

 

Fabulous Ones/Crusher v. Road Warriors/Paul Ellering

 

We have this already

 

Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

Definitely never seen this one before as I am guessing it was from a PWUSA taping. Opening near fall on the crossbody by Martel was a nice kickstarter. Bock quick goes to work on Martel's ribs with some big shots, but Martel returns the favor and hits a nice knee drop. Martel goes to work on the arm at this point and I thought it was pretty sharp. I thought Bock countering by just driving his shoulder into Martel's gut knocking him backward through the ropes was cool and Martel snapping and just hammering Bock int he face as he tried to run the "heel keeps face at bay on floor" spot was neat. Martel just comes across super aggressive and nasty here and Bock throws in some punch drunk selling and good bumps to add to the feel. Martel eats the knees on his slingshot splash and Bock goes to the ab stretch to further attack the ribs. Bock goes to the sleeper. Cool stuff as Martel keeps fighting out of it and they end up going into a parity section with double knockdown spots and stuff of that ilk. Good back and fourth and Martel goes for a reverse crossbody but Bock just decks him in the face in a really great spot. He follows up with shots to the ribs and ends up driving Martel to the floor. Neat finish as Bock hits an outside in suplex but Martel locks on a cradle for the fall, with Bock having a hysterical reaction. This might be my favorite of their matches.

 

Road Warriors v. The Freebirds

 

Birds out in their Confederate Flag face paint. The Hayes/Hawk schtick contest was fun and Hayes begging out to Gordy was a predictable result of the first encounter. Hawk ends up going FIP eventually but I really didn't find the set up to that to be very compelling and I found myself excited by the hot tag for the wrong reasons. The post-match brawl is better than the match.

 

Sheri Martel v. Candi Devine

 

Featured some fun bumps by Sheri but over all didn't feel like much of a match.

 

Jerry Blackwell training session/lunch

 

This is probably the all time grand slam EXTRA. I literally cannot conceive of any argument for this not being on the set. Goofy training videos, with Japanese over dubs of Blackwell and a female trainer who measures his stomach followed by Blackwell going to a Burger joint and sitting down for the most absurdly large meal I've ever seen. This includes foot in his beard and awkward glances from onlookers. EXTRA

Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel

Road Warriors v. The Freebirds

I believe these two were from a PWUSA Card at the Meadowlands.