Bart & Brad Batten vs. The Kansas Jayhawks ("Hangman" Bobby Jaggers & Dan Kroffat) (November 1988)

 

Battens were fun here using the double switch and the referee was gobsmacked because he couldn't tell who was who since they are identical. Kroffat would have to use a low blow to get a tag to Jaggers but that still didn't work as the Batten's maintained control thanks to Kroffat hitting his partner by mistake numerous times and this became a theme here as the Battens would throw these guys into each other to go along with them hitting each other. This domination by the Battens lasted quite a while until Jaggers would get a cheapshot on Bart as he ran the ropes. The tables turned here as the heels now are working together nicely as a tandem and use some adept doubleteaming to work over Bart. The Battens would eventually make a comeback but this would end up going to a time limit draw. This was a decent match but I think there was way too much goofiness with the heels hitting each other.

 

Victor Jovica vs. "Bulldog" Don Kent (11/24/88)

 

These guys were ancient and this was a slow match.

 

Hercules Ayala vs. Rufus R. Jones (11/24/88)

 

Another slow match that was not good.

 

Huracan Castillo Jr. & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. The Ninja Express (Mr. Pogo & Kensuke Sasaki) (December 1988)

 

The faces showed fire here but this was a little too clunky at times. This was decent at best. Dr. Death vs. Sabu (December 1988) No idea on who this Dr. Death is.

 

Rufus R. Jones vs. "Hangman" Bobby Jaggers (December 1988)

 

Rufus is throwing bombs on Jaggers to start the match as the fans are going nuts and Jaggers is really good here at selling all of this while agitating the fans with his stalling. The fans are totally making this as they chant with every Rufus punch and everything he does basically. Jaggers takes over here and mainly uses restholds before Rufus makes a comeback and wins. Again another fun match but not good.

Bart & Brad Batten vs. The Kansas Jayhawks Rare stuff here as this disc starts with a match right out of the gates. I strongly disagree with Kris on this, as I thought the opening stuff was fine, and in fact was well done. You could argue that it went on too long, but I've seen fuck tons of Southern tags that have segments that go just as long and feature performers that didn't work it half as well as Jaggers and Kroffat here. I loved the crybaby stuff from Jaggers and Kroffat was awesome showing frustration, flying around with big bumps and generally playing the fool. I wasn't didn't love some of the Battens offensive choices, but they weren't bad and were effective over all. I also really liked the way the heels took over here and the work when they were in control was good stuff, including a nice hopespot on a sunset flip, and a cool drop down/lariat combo. It's possible that I am overrating this because I was expecting it to be much worse based on Kris review, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

Victor Jovica vs. "Bulldog" Don Kent I actually think Kent has been surprisingly decent on the PR footage so far, while Jovica has looked as old as he is more often than not. This was nothing to write home about, but considering the combined age of these guys, I wouldn't hesitate to call this a respectable match. Kent still moves around well, can take a decent bump, has a flare for the theatrical and works well as a cheapshot heel. Jovica is over and has a good knee lift, but really that's all that was required out of him to make this watchable. Not a nomination, but a good effort.

 

There is a brief clip of Ron Starr being destroyed on the Sports Shop shown here. Makes me want to see any and all Ron v. Chicky matches

 

Hercules Ayala vs. Rufus R. Jones This is one of those matches you would see on a results list and think "my god why would they book these two against each other?" I was actually psyched to watch this though because I'm turning into a Rufus mark, but then the disc started shitting out on me. No clue what was going on here and it may have been my dying computer acting up. Anyhow this was more fun from Rufus. Ayala getting pissed at him when he danced around and did his jive was way more entertaining to me than it should have been. Jones over selling is comical, but oddly sympathetic, I really can't explain it. I also loved the big Rufus comeback. The finish was lame, but this is a match where you really see the appeal of a guy like Rufus, even if you think he stunk. I really wish there was a match of his I could throw a bone to, but this ain't it.

 

Huracan Castillo Jr. & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. The Ninja Express The opening of this was pretty decent but nothing special. Perez did get absolutely destroyed by Pogo off of a criss cross, which was pretty awesome actually, but it didn't really go anywhere. There were some good offensive spots in this - including Sasaki hitting Perez with his own bodyslam - but as a whole this was really disjointed and not particularly compelling. Sasaki was green and it showed.

 

Dr. Death vs. Sabu Really odd match to feature on tv. Disc started fucking up huge here to the point where I couldn't watch this at all.

 

Clips of Jason and Carlos Colon finish are shown.

 

Rufus R. Jones vs. "Hangman" Bobby Jaggers Holy fuck we get Rufus in the full king get up, Jaggers in the full cowboy get up and then Jaggers pisses Rufus off and he starts beating Jaggers ass while still wearing the king get up. Awesome start to this, even more awesome than Sarge fighting Hansen with his hat on form the AWA set. I actually really enjoyed this when Rufus was on offense, but Jaggers was not compelling at all working on top here. I know the argument would be "well Rufus couldn't take anything," but he's bumped better than this and honestly this came across like Jaggers not giving a fuck and looking for a quick pay day. Rufus outworked Jaggers here and this was decent enough where I considered nominating it, as every set needs a last place match where the voters can say "WTF, who liked this?," but I just can't do it.