Discuss here.

I think the AWA set showed they were indeed a great team and that they worked well regardless of the opponents. I'm pretty sure I'll have them in my Top 25 when it's all said and done.

Some matches to watch:

 

8/10/74, vs. Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel, AWA TV, Minneapolis

 

7/7/77 vs. Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Duncum (AWA Tag Champs), Winnipeg.

 

3/1/81 vs. Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis, Minneapolis

 

3/22/81 vs. Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis (Cage match), St. Paul

 

 

5/14/81 vs. Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel (#1 contenders match), Winnipeg

 

4/18/82 vs. Sheik Kaissie & Jerry Blackwell (Cage), St. Paul

 

6/8/82: vs. Rick Steamboat & Mr. Onita, Japan

 

8/29/82 vs. Tito Santana & Rick Martel, St. Paul
(it's worth checking out the 7 or so minutes available of the end run of the
first High Flyers vs. Strike Force match on 7/18/82 from St. Paul as well. Great
energy considering it's minutes 23 through 30 of the match)

 

12/25/82 vs. Sheik Kaissie & Jerry Blackwell, St. Paul, Curt Hennig as referee

 

6/26/83 vs. Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell, St. Paul

 

11/24/83 vs. Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell (AWA Tag Champs), St. Paul, Ray Stevens as referee

 

2/7/85 vs. The Road Warriors (AWA Tag Champs), Winnipeg

 

3/28/85 vs. The Road Warriors (AWA Tag Champs), Winnipeg

When I first started watching wrestling in 1981 this was my favorite team. Even with my biased towards them I think they were a great team that I appreciate even more as I've gotten older.

 

Some of the main criteria I'm looking for like longevity, tag work and heated feuds they have. Even their promos were perfectly fine.

 

They will be in my top ten most definitely.

How much of them in the 70s do we actually have, Kevin?

Shit, not much. Some Luce film clips and some 8mm stuff from stadium shows, some six-man bits on film, the 1974 match vs. Bock and Stevens on TV where Heenan was introduced with Bock and Stevens, the title change in Winnipeg over Lanza and Duncum...not much more off the top of my head. The 70's stuff is limited but if Vince ever gets his shit together with the network, I think more will surface.

 

I do have a bit of silent film of them wrestling each other before they teamed up which is sorta cool, too.

I've watched a bunch recently. Terrific team, really. Greg Gagne was much better than I would have guessed from his rep, and Brunzell was much better than thought too. Need to rewacht a bunch of Killer Bees, although Brian Blair's dull ass may be hard to swallow (or maybe I underrate him a bit ?).

Khawk... can you make a High Flyers sampler with stuff from the 70s? The 80s set makes me think they can hit the top 25 but not much higher.

Gagne is way underrated by the majority of the internet. Brunzell is a lot of fun despite always being the guy who has to take the beating/fall. Anyone else think that goofy jump thing Gagne does when he gets a hot tag or fires up should count against them?

I would need to rewatch some of their stuff from the AWA set but I could see these guys maybe sneaking into the 20-25 part of my list. They were a really good team and I agree with dawho5 that Gagne is extremely underrated by people who act like the only reason he was ever pushed is because of his Dad. He held up his end of the team, it wasn't a George Gulas/Bobby Eaton pairing.

I would also recommend viewing my awa 1982 set as you will get a better sense of Gagne's mic skills, which are pretty good.

.

The title win over Duncum and Lanza is a decent match to watch them work as a young, fluid team, tagging in and out and working as one. Being from 1977, the High Flyers looked ahead of their time and moved at a great pace.

 

Check the match out. You can see an incredible improvement over their 1974 (?) match with Bock and Stevens from TV (where Larry Hennig turns face).

 

The High Flyers are a vastly underrated team that deserves some more attention.