NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - NWA World Championship Wrestling 9/19/87

 

I cant believe I am about to say this and it is almost sacrilege, but this match is way too long and did not need to be this long. They could have shaved 10-15 minutes off this and had a way tighter match. Almost it looked hotter than hell in there. They were sweating profusely within five minutes. The finish did no favors to this match. You invest that much time into the match and no one goes over is pretty lame. Should have just put the RnRs over clean .

 

The babyface shine in this match shows why even a solid, basic one like this goes a long way. It establishes that RNRs are the better team so the fans know they are cheering for champs not chumps and shows why Anderson & Blanchard have to cheat because they are not as good. I like the heel hope spots that fool you into thinking the heat segment is coming like when Morton has sweat in his eyes and Blanchard hits him or Blanchard throws him over the top or when Anderson suckerpunches him in the corner. However each time the Morton has a comeback whether it is grabbing a chair or going for AA's leg. Then we get to Gibson's heat segment and the first one was great. They set up great with two throws over the top rope. Anderson choking with a rope and all the double teaming was great. They were kicking Gibson's ass who was selling well. Then during a break Morton gets the hot tag so we miss that and then he tags right back out and we are right back where we started with a Gibson taking heat. It just felt like the match was moving backwards. The hope spots were fine and the selling was great, but it felt like something we had seen. Morton's hot tag was kinda lukewarm and there was a double dropkick, but he had shoved the ref down. Blanchard blasts with the shoe. You think Horsemen had just won the tag titles, but Earl Hebner calls it off. There is a double DQ.

 

It is a really fundamental Southern Tag, which is great because these four are excellent. However, it is too long and they stuck with the Gibson in heat too long. I think going to Morton in heat would have switched things up or they could have just wrapped up after the first Morton hot tag. I think the heat in the building sapped their energy as they just weren't as energetic as usual. The finished sucked. Very good match, but at that length, probably something I wont watch again. ***1/2

Dude, you need to check this out again. I love this match.  But you got the finish all wrong.  It's a No DQ match!!!   You didn't see the whole thing.  The shoe is not the end, another ref comes in and they restart it