Tito Santana vs Ron Bass (8/22/87 MSG)

This made the old set. The early moments are great with Tito tearing into Bass. Bass moves around really well for a big guy & makes Tito look great. Bass gets frustrated & brings Betsy into the ring. Tito gets a chair to even the odds. They discard the weapons & Tito still sends Bass all over. Bass goes to the floor & regroups. He makes great faces while trying to plot his next move. Tito follows him to the floor & Bass finally takes over by crotching Tito on the guardrail. Awesome spot that looked painful. Things are going really well here. They trade suplexes & Bass hits a piledriver but it’s not a good one as he’s too close to the ropes. The match comes to a halt as Bass locks in a head scissors & sits it in. Velvet McIntyre works a much better head scissors than this. There’s more holds to kill time. Tito makes a comeback & the match picks up from there. Great flying forearm to Bass who tumbles to the floor, but the time limit runs out. This finished #41 on the original set, but that’s way too high. It’s good enough in the front & back ends for a look. Maybe Will or Esteban will like it better. 

LOW END NOMINATION
 

I agree with Devon. The beginning 3 minutes made it look like a top ten contender. Then as Bass settled in and took over, he sort of guzzled Tito's ability to make enough comebacks so that the ebb and flow of the match kept the crowd engaged. Way too much dead space for a 20-minute draw. The problem is that you are comparing this to about a dozen other Tito draws including Greg Valentine matches that are among the best matches in company history. In 2005, I can see how this would wow some people. I think when we release the final set wiht 200 matches, people probably won't miss it once they get dee in the set. LOW END NOMINATION.