This was real interesting. It's a babyface match for the vacant U.S tag title. Their was a lot of tagging in and out with a lot of momentum shifts. The Fantastic's treated Simmons strength with a lot of respect. Yet they could take advantage of his inexperience. The announcers really do a good job of getting that idea over. Another cool story point was Gilbert injured arm. It took 3 post bumps for Gilbert not able to go any more. I also loved how it seemed like Gilbert was about to switch it up to heel at anytime.I also liked the story of the back and forth till the team that tagged up on a normal basis took control. Good stuff.

Decision Match for the vacant US Tag Titles: The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) vs. Eddie Gilbert & Ron SImmons

 

This is what happens when The Sheepherders go to the WWF and yes this is a babyface vs. babyface match. The Fants were at the stage of their JCP run where the fans were starting to get tired of seeing them which happened to them a lot for some reason. We get a Jason Hervey crowd shot which was great. The action early on was fast paced with both teams looking really good and the fans were hot for everything. I really dug the early part of the match because everyone was moving and grooving and not relying on working restholds. Lots of nearfalls from both sides and whenever you would get a handshake the fans booed but tempers would start flaring as Gilbert & Fulton who were the two hot heads in the match started having issues. Simmons though was the x-factor in the match because of his size and strength and the Fants knew that so they started working over his left arm trying to weaken him but he would tag Gilbert back in and we are back to a stalemate. Simmons did get to use his power game on Rogers and now along with Gilbert they have Rogers where they want him and start working him over hard. Again though this doesn't last long and the ebbs & flows of this match is really fun to watch as it's just non-stop action. Gilbert injures his left arm going to the floor and he really sells it hard with Rogers being tentative to believe if he is hurt or not so he goes to work on it to make sure he's hurt. Both Fants really wrench at his arm and the fans are solidly behind Eddie who was awesome at getting over his issues. They start counting down by the minute and it looks like a time limit draw is in play as Gilbert goes to the floor but Fulton rolls him back in the ring only to get met by a desperation Hot Shot with 1 minute left on the clock. Gilbert makes a comeback but he rams his shoulder into the ringpost and gets schoolboyed by Fulton to win the match. The fans booed the Fants winning but everyone appreciated the match. I thought this was a really damn good match and I'm pushing this forward as a fairly easy nomination.

Eddie Gilbert & Ron Simmons vs. The Fantastics - This is for the vacant U.S. Tag Titles and it is a face vs. face matchup. It was wierd but the crowd was actually more for Gilbert & Simmons than for the Fans. The biggest problem with this match was that it went nearly 30 minutes but felt like an hour. Seriously, I watched alot of half hour matches from Portland but because they are 2/3 falls, it is easy to digest and each fall has its own story. This match had quite a few dead spots and was a chore o get through. Nothing actively horrible but not a match I will nominate