Posted July 20, 200718 yr comment_5419589 Kerry Von Erich vs. Kamala (4/28/85) Kerry gets the claw on Kamala as soon as he hits the ring but Kamala goes to the floor for counseling by Akbar. The Von Erichs always worked well with Kamala, which says a lot for Kamala because he would make them look great and sell for them especially for the stomach claw. Kerry throws some nice dropkicks here and breaks out the Weaver Lock which I like as it is a tremendous move to use on a big man. Akbar gets involved of course and the match ends up being a DQ. Kerry gets beat down after the match by Akbar & Kamala before Duggan makes the save. Nothing special here. NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © vs. Terry Taylor (4/28/85) This is an early match in their series of match that would take place over the next month so there isn’t any hatred yet as there was a handshake between the two before the match. We’ll see how differently this is worked compared to the others. There was some really solid chain wrestling early in this as Flair wasn’t working heel style here but a hybrid of his face work with heel mannerisms. This early part of the match was like Mid-South MUGA and it was pretty damn great but Flair picked up the intensity in mid-match by really heeling it up using hair pulls and the ropes for leverage on moves. The fans in Oklahoma City turned the heat up and Taylor fed off of it for his big comeback using some great punches, which Taylor used as a setup for the old standby Flair match move, the sleeper hold. Taylor then went to work on Flair’s leg to setup his figure-four leglock but first went with a Boston Crab, which was a different move for a Flair match and I think it’s an effective move to use on Flair to weaken him down considering his back problems. Flair soon recovered and there was some more good back and forth action including a great sunset flip sequence with Flair fighting his ass off to get out of it before succumbing. Taylor would soon hit the backslide for a nearfall and a press slam off the top rope for another nearfall before it turned into another slugfest with Taylor knocking Flair over the top rope with a punch. Flair would get the advantage back though going to work on the legs to setup his figure-four as the OKC crowd was cheering hard for Taylor and Flair went for the move at least 5 times but Taylor fought out of it everytime before a great spot where Taylor got his leg caught in the ropes as he tried to enter the ring and Flair just stomped the shit out of him. Taylor was hanging between the ring and the security railing with not much room to spare and it was just a cool looking spot. Taylor kept fighting back though but he made a mistake giving Flair the atomic drop on his injured leg and Flair would soon lock in the figure-four as the OKC crowd went apeshit. Taylor tried and tried to fight out of it but he couldn’t and had to submit giving Flair the CLEAN WIN!!!!, which was quite the rarity. I fuckin loved this match and I may get some shit for this but god dammit I loved this match more than the Superdome match, it was worked very differently and everything just looked better plus there was a clean finish, which for a Flair match is always a plus. First time I’ve used this phrase in this section but a slam dunk DVD selection. Tom Prichard vs. Terry Daniels (5/4/85) Good little match nothing spectacular and both men looked really good here. Prichard hit a nice enzuigiri for the win. Thor (Kevin Kelly) vs. Mark Ragin (5/4/85) Poor Mark Ragin having to be saddled with the really green Kevin Kelly in his Thor gimmick. The match was what was expected and that isn’t good. This did have a cool finish as Thor had Ragin in the Canadian Backbreaker but Ragin used the ropes to push off land on his feet and roll over with Thor getting his shoulders pinned. Mid-South Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. Hercules Hernandez & Killer Khan (4/11/85) This is a different matchup to say the least and I’m intrigued to see Khan work with the RnR. It was hilarious seeing Herc & Khan steal the belts before the match and pose to the crowd. Khan selling like he was shot for an armdrag by Morton was tremendous in fact his selling the whole match was phenomenal. Watching this I am just entralled by Khan channeling Eddie Gilbert & Jerry Lawler Memphis heel schtick and doing it just as good as them. The heels get the advantage and Herc shows off with his power moves as he was at his best at this time in his career and Khan is awesome with his screaming on offense and continual heel schtick as he held up fingers in the air counting along with ref on a nearfall and this look of utter shock as Morton kicked out. This match is basic RnR formula and Khan did the job for the double dropkick but this was a tremendous match. Khan becoming the Mongolian version of Eddie Gilbert sealed this one as a DVD pick for me. Mid-South Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. Ted DiBiase & Hercules Hernandez (12/3/84) Carl Fergie checks everyone before the match and lo and behold he found a foreign object on DiBiase and took it away from him as DiBiase said that it wasn’t his. Some real good action early on as it was all about RnR outsmarting the heels as they tried to trick them and backfiring. Of course the tide changes when Morton is in the ring and he takes a beating from DiBiase & Herc before the hot tag to Gibson which they dropkick DiBiase out to the floor. Buddy Landell then runs out and puts an object in DiBiase’s glove before he nails Gibson in the back of the head while he had Herc in an inside cradle to win the titles. This was a fine match and I’ll put it in the maybe file. Brad Armstrong vs. Hercules Hernandez (3/10/85) Brad was just so damn fluid in the ring what a tremendous worker he was, it’s a shame he never made it as big as he should have and Herc did a great job bumping and selling for him as well. Herc’s offense was okay although he held on this reverse chinlock forever it seemed but Brad fought out of it and ate a high kneelift for his trouble. Herc went back to the chinlock though and it just slowed the match down to a crawl. Brad had a nice comeback using crisp punches and hit a reverse cross body block off the middle rope for the win. Okay match. Brad Armstrong vs. Edcar Thomas (4/15/85) Hey look it’s Phil’s new favorite wrestler Edcar “Boo” Thomas who Watts wanted to push so bad but the fact he had zero charisma in the ring pretty much killed him dead even with his great credentials. I can’t say it enough but once again Brad looked good here carrying Thomas. The Arkansas rednecks yelling “boy” at Thomas as he had Brad in a headlock was funny due to him yelling “I GOT YOUR BOY.” Brad fought out of Thomas’ never ending armbar and eventually used the sleeper hold to win the match.
November 9, 200717 yr comment_5423702 NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair © vs. Terry Taylor (4/28/85) I was loving this when Flair kicked into full cocksucker mode, I don't think the early matwork was as good as the early matwork in the Houston match, but man Flair brung it. The dismanteling of the knee was about as good as it gets, especially the kicking of the trapped knee in the ropes, which was so brutal looking that I almost wouldn't have bought Taylor breaking the figure four. This is a slam dunk pick. Mid-South Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. Hercules Hernandez & Killer Khan (4/11/85) I love me some Killer Khan, but this really didn't do a ton for me, Morton had some cool shit, and Khan was funny, but they blew some stuff at the end and this didn't feel like a high end R+R's match. Memphis Khan is way better in the Chris Adams match Mid-South Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. Ted DiBiase & Hercules Hernandez (12/3/84) This was okay, but there were parts where Gibson looked really bad, not the level a R+R's match needs to be to make a set.
November 16, 200717 yr comment_5424014 What the fuck was wrong with Robert Gibson in these two tags. he really had look of guy going through the motions while on ketamine. Like half disinterested half in no condition to wrestle. Morton is really impressive here especially in the first and Hercules has a great leapfrog. What Morton can do with disinterested/stoned tag partner and an opponent who has nothing but a leapfrog is impressive but match itself doesn't make a set. For one man Ricky Morton matches, I prefer the RNR v Gilbert/Nightmare one because at least that didn't have bad Gibson.
