Posted March 27, 201312 yr comment_5540049 The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) vs. "Ragin Bull" Manny Fernandez & "Ravishing" Rick Rude (2/3/87) This is a dark match from a TV taping and it's a non-title match. Morton & Manny have a fun exchange to start with Morton throwing some hard chops. Gibson comes in and gets isolated in the champs corner with Rude taking over and Gibson takes some punishment here. This isn't as compelling as a Morton FIP but it's effective and Morton is in the corner getting the crowd going. Ragin & Ravishing were getting to be a damn good team here and they brought a different style that the RnR was used to. Gibson would get his chance after giving Rude an inverted atomic drop and Morton would get the hot tag. Morton runs wild taking it to the champs especially Manny even getting a nearfall on a huracarana. Manny throws Morton to the floor but Ricky comes back with a sunset flip from the apron to get the pin on the champs as the crowd goes nuts. Very fun match and this is a nomination. NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Denny Brown © vs. Ricky Lee Jones (Ricky Gibson (1/11/87) I always dug Ricky Gibson and thought he should've been a bigger star and this was his biggest run of his career. There is some good back and forth action here but there is some clipping. Ricky would miss a running smash into the corner and hit hard with his left shoulder. Denny would immediately go to work on the arm and he worked it over fiercely in an effective control section. Ricky would make a comeback as the ring announcer telegraphs the time limit draw that is coming by counting down the minutes. Good match but not enough for a nomination. NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff (1/29/87) This is from Los Angeles. Flair got quite a bit of offense in here and even used the scaffold around the ring at one point as a weapon. Nikita brought his standard offense and did a decent job of selling for him especially setting up the figure-four but I think the Los Angeles crowd hurt here as they weren't really behind Nikita. Flair got the figure-four on Nikita but Nikita would reverse it and took it to the floor where he posted Flair which brought out the juice which was needed here. Nikita then gets the crowd behind him finally on his comeback as he worked over Flair's cut before locking on his own figure-four which looked way better than The Miz's. We would get Nikita nearfalls then Flair shoving Tommy Young who stood behind Nikita while smiling to the crowd before Nikita hit the Russian Sickle. Tommy Young would count out Flair but saw his foot on the bottom rope after the count and restarted the match. Flair baits Nikita in and sweeps him using his feet on the ropes to pin him but Young catches it and kicks them off. Nikita would go for another Russian Sickle but Flair would duck and backdropped Nikita over the top rope for the DQ in a shitty finish. This was probably the best Flair/Nikita match I've seen and even with the subpar crowd I think this is a solid nomination. NWA World TV Title: Tully Blanchard © vs. Chief Wahoo McDaniel (2/1/87) This is from THE OMNI!!!!!!! which is cool as shit. Lex Luger is sitting ringside watching the action. Good back and forth action early on with both men trading shots before the tide would turn with Luger hitting Wahoo with the TV title belt which we missed Tully getting the pin since the camera was on Luger. Total disappointment here. NWA World Tag Titles: "Ragin Bull" Manny Fernandez & "Ravishing" Rick Rude © vs. The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) (2/1/87) Again this is from The Omni. Roadies are dominant here to start as usual and it's fun watching Rude work against them because he was supposed to be one of them at the beginning. Hawk would hit a big diving lariat from the middle rope for a nearfall but Bull would run in and after a double-team move the champs took control of the match. The champs would do a good job here but Hawk wasn't always the best at working FIP and he didn't sell a whole lot here especially after a Rude piledriver where he popped up and hit a clothesline. Animal would get the tag and cleaned house hitting a powerslam on Bull who jumped off the middle rope which brought in Paul Jones who attacked Animal. Teddy Long would call for the DQ to end it. It was fine for what it was but no nomination.
