Posted July 16, 201213 yr comment_5510371 VQ - Excellent 1. The Iron Sheik vs. Tony Garea Extremely fun opener. Garea gets in some great offense on Sheik including great near falls with a sunset flip and cross body. Sheik didn't have much of a control segment here but he threw a nice chop to Garea's throat at one point. The finish is good with Sheik whipping Garea full force into the turnbuckle chest first followed by a stiff back suplex. I liked this a good bit but it wouldn't fit too well on a set. 2. Tito Santana vs. Bob Orton Jr. (IC Title) This was very, very good. Tito won the opening exchange with some sweet arm drags. Both guys have some really detailed and solid wrist lock/arm bar exchanges. Orton gets the advantage after catching Tito following a leap frog with a nasty shot to the back. Bob works on Tito's back for a large portion of the match but uses a variety of stuff to make it pretty interesting like a big powerslam, nasty one armed back breaker, some vicious knees and stomps, and a really awesome suplex cradle that looked like it hurt like hell. Tito kept on firing back occasionally which allowed for some nice cut off spots including a stiff throat shot that Tito sold tremendously with foaming of the mouth and all. The pacing was really solid in the closing stretch as both guys showed their fatigue but didn't oversell it. There was a great abdominal stretch reversal exchange and a really good Tito near fall with a small package. At one point both guys just threw their fists at each other while on their knees gasping for air. The two fought in a corner where Bob gave Tito a front atomic drop. They both stiffed each other for a minute and the bell rang for a draw. They continued to brawl after the match. This was paced really well and I never lost interest. There was some pretty nifty and stiff stuff included as well. I'm giving it a solid nomination. 3. Bob Backlund vs. Paul Vachon This was pretty much a two minute squash. There was some quick holds and Vachon got in a tad bit of offense. Backlund gave Vachon a delayed body slam then locked in the Cross Face Chicken Wing for the win. 4. Hulk Hogan vs. Greg Valentine (WWF Title) Valentine and Hogan are interviewed pre-match. Valentine cuts a normal promo but Hulk says something about calling the electric company in NYC to turn the power off because the Hulkamaniacs will be making the city explode or something. This was pretty good. Valentine went after Hulk immediately following the ring announcements. Hulk fought back and threw some awesome punches and whipped Valentine into the turnbuckle aggressively who bumped great for it. Hulk got on a side head lock but got back suplexed and The Hammer pounded on him for a few minutes with some stiff clubs. This heat segment didn't do anything for me. They went to the floor and brawled so the match slowly got better. Hulk reversed a suplex attempt into his own and followed that up with a shoulder breaker and a fucking brutal big boot that connected with Valentine's face. Valentine found an opportunity to work on Hulk's leg after a Hogan mistake and worked on it briefly. He attempted the figure four but Hulk countered on both tries. There was a pretty good sleeper spot with Hulk fighting out of it. Valentine made his second heat segment more varied and compelling than the first. The Hammer went for a move from the top rope but caught a huge clothesline that looked sick from the camera angle. Hulk executed the leg drop in a bizarre but actually cool way to grab the win. There were parts in this that didn't sit well with me but there was some great brawling and fun spots. I could see this on a set and someone else possibly liking this more. So, I'm giving it a low end nomination. 5. Antonio Inoki vs. Charlie Fulton This was fine for what it was. Inoki locked in a nasty leg lock. Fulton got in some offense and laid in a sleeper for a few minutes. Inoki fought out of it and kicked Fulton in the head for the win. 6. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs. Sgt. Slaughter/Terry Daniels (WWF Tag Title) Very good match. I see some of the issues people have with the Adonis/Murdoch team. This match has a good example of one of them. It takes too long for the match to get going because Adonis and Murdoch have to showcase their shit. It gets really annoying. Terry Daniels was throwing arm drags, dropkicks, and applying arm bars for ten minutes. All of the moves were executed well but this shit went too long and it got annoying. Daniels did do a tremendous feet first landing off of a Adonis monkey flip attempt. Once the rope running stopped this match got into better structure. Adonis gave Daniels an awesome running powerslam and Murdoch beat the shit out of him for several minutes. Daniels got in a nice dropkick and Sarge came in for the hot tag. Sarge cleared the ring and applied the Cobra Clutch on Murdoch but Adonis prevented the submission. Sarge took a nasty knee in the back and tagged in a rested Daniels. Daniels laid in some nice dropkicks on Adonis and got a really great near fall off of a cross body. The ref was distracted by Sarge and Adonis gave Daniels a cheap shot. This was followed up by a frightening top rope knee drop from Murdoch for the North/South win. This finished 40 on the first set but I don't see that at all for this new set. I'm calling it a low end nomination that could have been better if not hurt by the long bullshit that took up over half the match. 7. Wendi Richter vs. The Fabulous Moolah (WWF Women's Title) (The Brawl to End it All) Pre-match interview with Moolah and Albano happened. Terrible match with a terrible finish but it's important. The first couple of minutes consisted of hair pulling and sloppiness. Moolah got caught in the ropes upside down which was cool but she was in there too long. Richter did a few nice moves for near falls then had Lauper nail Moolah in the head with some bizarre object. Moolah got back on offense and tried to get Albano to hit Richter with something but he ended up hitting no one after both broads got out of the way. The finish was dogshit as Moolah did a german roll for a cover and both ladies shoulders were on the mat but Richter's came up after two and she won the belt. Moolah and Albano assaulted the offical after the match and Lauper, Richter, and Dave Wolfe celebrated. The highlight of this match was Dave Wolfe calling Albano a liar and fraud on commentary. The post-match interview is tremendous and hilarious and has to be an EXTRA. Dave Wolfe says this match proved women don't need to be in the kitchen getting pregnant. Sarge came in and kissed Richter then Hulk showed up and said Wendi was the Marilyn Monroe of wrestling. Hilarious. Albano appeared all pissed and caused a ruckus only to get assaulted by Hulk. This was amusing shit that wasn't any good but the finish (although it's terrible) and post-match interviews would be solid EXTRAS. 8. Paul Orndorff vs. Chief Jay Strongbow The match sucked. Orndorff ran from Strongbow for a long period of time then Strongbow sucked it up in the ring. They had a collision and Orndorff beat on Strongbow for a minute. The Chief fought back but got hit with a weak clothesline for the Orndorff win. 9. Afa vs. Rene Goulet This was okay for what it was. Goulet took a great bump off of a back body drop. He put a foreign object in his glove and worked over Afa with it. He applied a claw for awhile then bit Afa's stomach and side a few times. Afa eventually caught Goulet with a really good Samoan Drop for the win. 10. 20-Man Battle Royal Inoki won this. Adonis and Murdoch were pulling some absurd shit going in and out of the ring. Sarge eliminated both of them but got himself out in the process. The Samoans took some wild bumps when they got eliminated. Inoki was double teamed by Ron Shaw and Rene Goulet towards the end. He eliminated both guys and celebrated the win. This battle royal wasn't as fun as others could be around this time. There wasn't enough spots that stood out. We have bonus interviews from TV but don't know which show. 1. Blackjack's BBQ has The Iron Sheik and Freddie Blassie responding to fan mail. This is fucking HILARIOUS. The fans send vicious insults about the Middle East and The Iron Sheik and Tehran withholding oil from the United States. Sheik and Blassie are tremendous calling one of the fans someone on welfare because they were from Alabama. Awesome. EXTRA 2. Lord Alfred does a bizarre special on Jesse Ventura discussing his ring attire and golfing abilities. We get a random clip of Ventura coming to the ring in his attire. 3. Next is a clip of Cyndi Lauper gloating about training Wendi Richter at some concert in Houston. Piper and Albano are interviewed about her and Piper's outfit is tremendous and odd. We get another clip of Cyndi and Wendi traveling the country defending the belt and shit. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was played throughout. Piper said Lauper doesn't deserve an award for her contributions but that he does. 4. Orndorff and Piper are interviewed about Orndorff's match with The Tonga Kid coming up in Baltimore. It gets cut off though and nothing else is shown. Final Analysis This was a fucking loaded card. It had four championship matches including one that was crucial to the popularity of the company. There were a few squashes but the night ended in a battle royal that I'm sure the live crowd enjoyed. I nominated three matches from this card and suggested an EXTRA as well. Overall, this delivered pretty well on all cylinders.
