VQ - Good to Very Good

 

Mean Gene opens the show and interviews The Iron Sheik and Fred Blassie. Blassie says a few words then Sheik opens fire in Arabic (?) and shits on Sarge calling him fat and whatever other mental illness induced shots he could think of. That interview ruled. Then David Schultz is interviewed. Good promo. He said he was ready to take down Andre. Sarge is now interviewed. This was great shit. Sarge said everything is on the line and the war is coming to an end. He got a boot and broke a wooden chair with it. Tremendous. Sarge declares that if he doesn't defeat Sheik in the Bootcamp match and make him bleed he won't wrestle in NYC again.

 

1. Don Muraco vs. Tony Garea

Fun opener. Muraco tried to keep Garea at bay for most of this but Garea's friskiness and speed prevailed. Muraco bumped alright for Garea's offense. Muraco stalled every time Garea got in his offense. Muraco got a decent onslaught on Garea then Garea came back with a dropkick and monkey flip before running into a power slam for the Muraco win. As I said earlier, this was a fun opener.

 

2. George Steele vs. Jose Luis Rivera

This sucked terribly. Steele blatantly showed off a foreign object within the ref's eyesight. He gyrated and didn't even lock up. Next, he hit Rivera with the foreign object then ate a turnbuckle and rammed Rivera shoulder first into the ring post. He won with the flying hammerlock and once again hit Rivera with his foreign object. Yeah, this was really bad.

 

3. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs. The Wild Samoans (2/3 Falls Match) (WWF Tag Title)

Very good match. The first fall was pretty good. Adrian bumped like a lunatic and Murdoch made funny facial expressions and took fun bumps from headbutts. Then North/South worked on one of the Samoan's legs for a good while. The work wasn't very intricate but it was solid stuff. The Samoan got the hot tag and The Samoans cleaned house with North/South taking big bumps. One of the Samoans got caught in a double team situation though and took several big elbow drops from North/South to give the champs the first fall. The second fall was quick but pretty good as well. A Samoan was double teamed for awhile until all hell broke loose and Murdoch found himself in taking a nasty double headbutt that led to two more headbutts for the Samoans to take the second fall and even it up at one apiece. The third fall was alright too with Murdoch stooging and Adrian bumping wildly before all four men battled it out until the twenty minute time limit expired and the match ended in a draw. Captain Lou was interviewed after the match and said he respected both teams or something. Again, very good tag match with solid structure and some good stuff in between. Low end nomination.

 

4. Jesse Ventura vs. SD Jones

Quick and average squash. Ventura took awhile to remove his gear and stalled for a few minutes. Ventura worked on Jones back eventually and Jones mustered up some hope spots. Ventura gave a nasty elbow to Jones back as he was bent over. Then he put in the Canadian back breaker where Jones submitted to get the win. As mentioned, this was a perfectly fine squash match.

 

5. Greg Valentine vs. Tito Santana (WWF IC Title)

Excellent match. They started out with a really aggressive amateur exchange to set the pace. Tito gave some sweet arm drags and did some good arm work. The Hammer caught him with a brutal atomic drop to start the heat segment. Valentine worked over Tito's back and mid-section with some rugged offense. There was one spot where Tito took a violent fall through the ropes to the floor. Tito's comebacks and hope spots were tremendous here. The crowd was totally behind him and MSG was about to explode a few times throughout the match. Tito got in a really great flurry of offense for some near falls including a cross body, top rope ax-handle, and an awesome exchange in the turnbuckle with both guys taking great bumps into it. There was one awkward spot where Tito did a firemen's carry into an arm bar to lead into the next section but it did transition into the next section well so it really isn't much of a complaint. Valentine gave Tito a hot shot on the top rope and worked on his arm for a few minutes. Tito got one last great comeback that was filled with tremendous rage and included some disgusting forearms of which he had traded blows earlier in the match with. The finish is really good too with The Hammer back dropping Tito to the floor in a sort of desperate attempt to escape Tito's chaotic attack. He then gave him a nasty atomic drop on the floor and got back into the ring before the count of ten to win the match. Tito is interviewed after the match and he complains that Valentine is a cheater and what not. This was a tremendous match with tons of hate, great selling, bumping, great structure and an awesome finish. Easy nomination.

 

Gorilla rambles about the Tito-Valentine match. End of story.

 

6. Andre The Giant vs. David Schultz

Amusing squash. Andre just casually walking around and manhandling Schultz was funny. I love Andre's facial expressions when someone tries to hurt him with offense. He just gives a look of "Are you fucking kidding me?" Schultz never really got any offense going and Andre won with a big boot. Again, this was kind of a fun Andre squash.

 

Fink announces the matches for the next card which I've already watched earlier this week.

 

7. Mad Dog Vachon vs. Steve Lombardi

Good squash. Mad Dog was going nuts coming to the ring. He picked up a trash can from the back and tossed it out into the aisle. Then, he intimidated several fans and went after a few of them. Mad Dog started the match with a fish hook then chopped the shit out of Lombardi. He then bit, scratched, and clawed his way to a nasty pile driver for the win. After the match he gave Lombardi a vicious top rope knee drop to the head and assaulted him with a chair. This was really entertaining and a fun squash.

 

8. Paul Orndorff vs. Salvatore Bellomo

Extremely fun match that was also legitimately very good. Bellomo's family was in attendance and they were announced to the crowd. Orndorff Pearl Harbored Bellomo before their gear was off and they brawled in their gear. Tremendous. Orndorff had the advantage until Sal came back with a cross body for a near fall. Bellomo did a great bump off a back body drop in this as well as another awesome bump to the floor onto ring side chairs. Sal worked over Orndorff's leg for a good portion of this and did some good work on it. Orndorff sold it well. The finishing run ruled with Sal coming back into the ring after getting tossed out and locked in a sleeper and the crowd went insane. He even blocked the fucking pile driver which ruled. Eventually though, Orndorff caught Bellomo with a nasty clothesline then hit an awesome pile driver for the win. This was a fucking fun ass match and was actually very good too. Low end nomination.

 

9. Bob Orton Jr. vs. Chief Jay Strongbow

Pretty good match. Orton took an amusing but wild bump to the floor and into a chair at ringside. Strongbow took two great bumps to the floor including one where he landed on the chairs at ringside. Orton took control after the second Strongbow bump to the floor and gave him some pretty stiff offense. Strongbow did his usual comeback stuff but it worked really well in this setting as Orton bumped greatly for him. However, he would run into an Orton knee to the mid-section that was followed by a nasty looking forearm drop from the top rope to secure the win for Orton. This was a surprisingly good match as well and very fun at that.

 

10. Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik (Bootcamp Match)

This is one of the greatest matches ever. Period. It's not going to get beat. I'm confident this is going to be and remain my number one match of the decade. Something would really have to be extraordinary to match this. The pomp and circumstance before Sarge's entrance gives a great vibe before the match. Sarge marching to the ring in his field helmet was tremendous. Shit is already fucking great at the start with Sarge taking off his field helmet and beating Sheik's face in with it. Sarge putting it back on later to headbutt him is one of my favorite spots in a match ever. Sarge beats the hell out of Sheik with a baton. Soon enough, Sarge takes his ludicrous turnbuckle bump to the floor and Sheik now has the advantage. Sheik hits him hard as fuck with a chair. I loved Sheik struggling to lift the chair making one think that the weapon is extremely devastating. He then takes his belt off and violently whips Sarge with it. Also, he wraps it around Sarge's throat in pretty viciously chokes him with it. Sarge came back briefly and tossed Sheik to the floor and gave him a back breaker there and went for the pin but only got a near fall. Sheik starts to load his boot with Sarge in the corner but Sarge blocks the shot. However, Sarge gets his head smashed into the ring post instead and bleeds buckets. The crowd is so fucking hot in this match it's fucking awesome. Sheik works the cut and Sarge is totally covered in his blood. Sarge took another great turnbuckle bump then Sheik went for a gord buster but Sarge blocked it with a punch which was a tremendous spot. Then Sarge got on the top rope and literally stomped on Sheik's skull. Sheik is now bleeding profusely and covered in blood. The whole ring is at this point full of debris from the crowd, broken weapons, and soaked in blood. That is fucking awesome. Both guys sell the shit out of the exhaustion of the match (I don't know how much of that was selling) and traded offense. Sarge kicked out of a gord buster and a suplex from Sheik. Sheik removed his boot then loaded it on the turnbuckle. He swung it at Sarge but missed after Sarge ducked and Sheik took a tremendously great clothesline on his head that sent the boot flying into the front row. The boot got thrown back into the ring and Sarge loaded it up some more then cull cocked the fuck out of Sheik with the boot for the win. Sarge's bloody expression and celebration in the pool of blood and debris was a tremendous visual that let's everyone know that this match was successful in what it was trying to accomplish. This is on a totally other level from most matches I've ever seen. It's probably going to be number one on my ballot and possibly a lot of other people's ballots. Don't be surprised to see this as number one once again and I can't fathom it not being just that. REALLY, REALLY EASY NOMINATION.

 

Final Analysis

Tremendous show. This is easily the best show I've seen so far and it's not even close. Two of the matches on this card are easy nominations and one is most likely going to finish number one on this set as it did on the first set. There were two other low end nominations and a couple of other matches that were a few paces or minutes away from nominations. The Steele match I didn't like but it was too inoffensive because it was so short. So yeah, this was an absolutely awesome and entertaining show.

I'm on vacation in Chattanooga and watched this with Devon tonight so I figured I would toss in my comments here.

 

Don Muraco v. Tony Garea

 

This was a perfectly good match and honestly with a few more minutes it might have been a nomination. Muraco is pretty much the definition of a hit or miss guy and he was generally a lazy fuck by this point. But here his stalling was really energetic and I enjoyed the way he played off of Garea in general. Garea has no problem stiffing you and his "flashy" offense was sold well by Muraco. I really liked the finish here as Garea was mid flurry and sort of sprinted into the arms of doom.

 

George Steele v. Jose Rivera

 

Devon is trying to out hyperbole me here. This was not bad. I mean it wasn't good and I fucking hate George Steele as a rule, but this was not bad. Very short affair that saw Steele scare some small children, use a foreign object, eat a turnbuckle and lock on his hammerlock finish. Nothing to it.

 

Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch v. The Wild Samoans

 

I think East/West is better than North/South and don't give a fuck who knows it. Still this was a good enough match to nominate. This went long, and at times felt long. There were spots that looked good and fun the first time, but were repeated to the point where they really didn't work anymore. Adonis had some great Ziggleresque bumps, but they probably were too much at times. Still this was more good than bad. The way they structured the falls made sense and one logically led to the other. I liked the heels offense when they got it in, which wasn't enough. The Samoans were suitable in their role here. Honestly it sounds like I'm shitting on this, but I thought it was a surprisingly good bell-to-bell affair, that was plagued by the problems you would expect from a match with these two teams. This is a good match that others might like more than me.

 

Jesse Ventura v. SD Jones

 

This was amazingly not shitty. The fans chanting Bozo at Ventura was pretty great. Ventura targets the back. The finish of this is pretty great actually as SD goes for a back body drop hope spot and Ventura does a fucking elbow drop to his back as he is hunched over. I have NEVER seen that spot done before. Then he locks on the backbreaker. Short and actually kind of sweet for what it was.

 

Greg Valentine v. Tito Santana

 

I was fading when we watched this and this match woke me right back up. This was just a nasty, violent, affair. One thing I really love is a match that really escalates as it goes along and this was a match that started intense and kept climbing to the point where it really seemed like these two were trying to kill each other. Another thing I love in a match is when you see spots that don't quite seem right and yet they actually add to the match because of how they come across. This match had tons of that, including one spot where Valentine almost kills Tito by tackling him blind through the ropes and another where Valentine drops an elbow right to the top of Tito's head, rather than onto his mid-section. Tito throws some brutal looking forearms in this and is really great as a tough babyface who isn't afraid to throw hands with anyone. I could see some hating on the finish, but I thought it actually came across as a logical "out" for Valentine and it didn't hurt Tito at all. Awesome stuff.

 

Andre The Giant v. Dr. D

 

This was basically an Andre squash. Pretty fun stuff as Andre bring some cool looking offense, including a simple stomp that looked like it might kill Schultz. Andre has great mannerisms and looked like he was having fun here.

 

Mad Dog Vachon v. Steve Lombardi

 

This was fun. Mad Dog coming out and ripping at the railings, really looked like a confused guy at a nursing home freaking out because he took the wrong meds. Match was basically an asskicking, with Dog doing all his Dog stuff and Lombardi taking it well. Post-match Dog meltdown was fun too.

 

Paul Orndorff v Sal Bellemo

 

I am not sure if this will hold up on a second watch, or if it really has a huge chance of being on the set, but this absolutely deserves consideration. Really a fun and spirited performance from both guys. I am a huge mark for brawling sections at the beginning of matches where both guys still have their gear on, so this got started the right way and only got better. Paul's aggressive offense was fun early and Bellemo was really fun in this too. He took a huge back body drop bump and got a really great hope spot near fall off of a crossbody. I was shocked at how giving Orndorff was here, as he ended up getting his knee worked over by Sal and was on the defensive for a big chunk of the match. The sleeper spot was great, as was Sal's block of the piledriver. Then Orndorff crushed him with a piledriver when he was tired of putting up with this shit. This was like a really good WCW Pro or Worldwide match and is a really neat find if nothing else.

 

Bob Orton v. Jay Strongbow

 

Awesome carry job from Orton that falls short of a nomination, but just barely. Orton's selling and bumping was fucking awesome in this as he was working over time to make Strongbow's shit look good. To be fair Jay did not look terrible here and held up his end okay. The teased superplex spot was really well done and the flash finish was about as well done as could possibly be imagined. Good stuff.

 

Sgt. Slaughter v. The Iron Sheik

 

I don't see anything beating this for the number one slot. This holds up and then some. If anything it is even better now than the last time I watched it. I am not going to do a huge rundown because I have written this up multiple times before. But the blood loss, the momentum swings, the battle for the boot...I just don't see anyway, anyone could think this was anything less than a great match. Sarge tends to get tons of credit for this as he should, but this was also an excellent performance from the Sheik. That stretch run with the ring littered with debris and blood and both guys totally spent is just about the best thing I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. This might be the best singles match of all time.