Posted July 25, 200718 yr comment_5419755 So this was a DVD where everything makes the cut Vol. #13 featuring Buzz Sawyer 1980s Buzz Sawyer vs. Jim Duggan (chain match) (13:50) I don't think this is the same chain match Kris nominated, but fuck is it spectacular, bloody and really violent. Both guys have really great punches which is kind of a must in a chain match, and they kill each other with stiff chain shots. Sawyer chewing on Duggans bloody head and then spitting it up and slapping the blood out of the air like Hennings gum was just great 1980s Jake Roberts vs. Dick Slater (14:56) Also a total slam dunk pick. Slate is great with his awesome flip flop bumping. Jake also takes some really athletic bumps, for a guy I don't remember being particularly athletic. I was loving the punch exchanges here, actively crap ending hurts it a bit, but absolutely on the set. Vol. #14 featuring Ted DiBiase 1980s Ted DiBiase vs. Bob Sweetan (15:06) This was a taped fist match, and was amazing, both guys have great punches and are also waylaying each other with chairs. Lots of blood, great back and forth brawling, and a finishing punch nasty looking enough to have you buy a KO. Might be my favorite match yet. 1980s Adrian Street vs. Terry Taylor (loser leaves town match) (11:57) Way better then their TV title change, all of you Adrian Street goodness, cheek work, crazy carny takedowns, lots of cool cheapshots. Plus Taylors punches and babyfacism is great, also Taylor gets his eyes raked by Miss Linda and retaliates by twisting her boob. Vol. #16 featuring Butch Reed 1980s Butch Reed vs. Dick Slater No DQ match, VQ is a little shaky, but this is way too good to leave out. Reed is such a beast, maybe had the best looking offense of any of the Watts power guys. Slater is great at bumping around too, and they have a spectacular double ref finish, although a DQ in a no-DQ match is some bullshit, still Tommy Gilbert does the Onryo ref spot Vol. #18 featuring Steve Williams 11/29/85 Ricky Gibson, Al Perez, Hector Guerrero vs. Steve Williams, Eddie Gilbert, & The Nightmare (14:32) Great basic six-man tag, even the normally shitastic Nightmare looked good, I was loving Ricky Gibsons punches, and all of the face leg work. This was the least of the matches on the DVD, but still probably belongs on 02/14/86 Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (Roberts wins Mid-South North American Title) (9:51) This is a No-DQ and is full of blood, for such an amazing heel, Jake is great as a babyface rallying the crowd behind him. I loved all of the stuff with the boot, and the finish was great
July 26, 200718 yr comment_5419805 So this was a DVD where everything makes the cut I back Phil here 100%. This DVD has no filler. Everything deserves to be seen. 1980s Jake Roberts vs. Dick Slater (14:56) Also a total slam dunk pick. Slate is great with his awesome flip flop bumping. Jake also takes some really athletic bumps, for a guy I don't remember being particularly athletic. I was loving the punch exchanges here, actively crap ending hurts it a bit, but absolutely on the set. The DQ finish is ass and I like DQ finishes. But this totally belongs on the set as does the rematch. 02/14/86 Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (Roberts wins Mid-South North American Title) (9:51) This is a No-DQ and is full of blood, for such an amazing heel, Jake is great as a babyface rallying the crowd behind him. I loved all of the stuff with the boot, and the finish was great the boot step into DDT finish is a HOLY SHIT great. Those two need to be on as a pair. 1980s Adrian Street vs. Terry Taylor (loser leaves town match) (11:57) Way better then their TV title change, all of you Adrian Street goodness, cheek work, crazy carny takedowns, lots of cool cheapshots. Plus Taylors punches and babyfacism is great, also Taylor gets his eyes raked by Miss Linda and retaliates by twisting her boob. Watching this, I started to wonder if the Street v Fulton match needs to be on as this is that plus more. Fulton match (TV version/not handheld) has the advantage of Ross commentary. And while currently not the biggest Ross suporter, he's not as distracting as Boesch who manages to push dramatic understatement way too far. I've liked some bad Paul boeasch commentary in the past as he can be surreally ridiculous and not just so bad it's good but so bad it transcends bad/good distinctions. So I love Boesch saying nutty stuff on commentary: "He's incredibly strong. He's known to have once carried a horse up a step ladder". "He is known as lionhearted because he loves lions, he chartered a canoe down the Mississippi for himself and a lion." Boesch commentary here never really gets that nutty and just stays bad. 1980s Butch Reed vs. Dick Slater No DQ match, VQ is a little shaky, but this is way too good to leave out. Reed is such a beast, maybe had the best looking offense of any of the Watts power guys. Slater is great at bumping around too, and they have a spectacular double ref finish, although a DQ in a no-DQ match is some bullshit, still Tommy Gilbert does the Onryo ref spot Yeah this is really great although it starts really Slater by the numbers, but pretty quickly Reed really adds his stuff and you have a really high end Reed v Slater match. I liked this better than the Houston Reed v Flair. 11/29/85 Ricky Gibson, Al Perez, Hector Guerrero vs. Steve Williams, Eddie Gilbert, & The Nightmare (14:32) Great basic six-man tag, even the normally shitastic Nightmare looked good, I was loving Ricky Gibsons punches, and all of the face leg work. This was the least of the matches on the DVD, but still probably belongs on I have no idea why Ricky Gibson and the Nightmare work so well together. It makes no sense. Did they train together? Something. Hector and Steve Williams also paired off really well. Should make a set.
November 21, 200718 yr comment_5424295 Dog Collar Match: “Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer vs. Hacksaw Duggan (12/27/85) Sawyer loses this match he must leave Mid-South and this is a great match. These two just beat the fuck out of each other using the chain and their fists that of course brings out the blood. Sawyer’s blood spitting spot is always great. This isn’t as good as the Reed match from 4 days later and the finish was sorta blah considering the rest of the match but still a definite nomination. North American Heavyweight Title: “Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater © vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts (1/24/86) This is the first match of their epic Houston series. I loved the knucklelock exchange with the kicks to the gut followed up by the DDT escape by Slater with the crowd chanting DDT. There was some really good action here with Slater bumping all over the place and Jake looking great with his offense. I loved the swinging neckbreaker reversal out of the DDT attempt by Slater who would follow up with a sweet piledriver. Slater had another awesome DDT escape by picking up Jake for a Scrap Buster but Jake would connect with the DDT clean as Slater would put on knux. Tommy Gilbert would count Slater at 2 but saw the knux on Slater’s hand and called for a DQ. Shitty finish but this would set up their other matches. Great stuff and a definite nomination. Taped Fist: Ted DiBiase vs. “Bruiser” Bob Sweetan (10/11/85) God damn were there some great punches thrown here and some great chairshots as both men were just beating the fuck out of each other. This is a slugfest with both men trying to top the other with viciousness and you could just feel the hatred between these two. Sweetan bleeds first as DiBiase just is relentless working over him but the tide would turn and DiBiase would pop a gusher. DiBiase would nearly kill Sweetan with a backdorp suplex but Sweetan would shake it off like a fucking man and started back pounding Ted. Ted would get sent to the floor and broke out the loaded glove that Sweetan would try to take off but it didn’t work and he got his jaw jacked for the victory. This is a slam dunk nomination. Loser Leaves Town: Terry Taylor vs. “Exotic” Adrian Street (12/7/84) Street is so fucking great here in everything he does from his offense to his selling to his prancing around the ring. Like Phil said, Taylor’s punches here were great but he has to fight not only Street but Miss Linda where he would grab her tit, which was funny. Taylor’s comeback was great as I loved the diving fistdrops that led to the five-arm finish. This is a solid nomination. No DQ for the North American Heavyweight Title: “Hacksaw” Butch Reed © vs. “Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater (12/13/85) Slater sends Dark Journey to the back before the match because he doesn’t want Reed to use any excuses if he loses. Reed would pound Slater with loads of soupbones early in the match with Slater selling like he was dying. Reed would chunk Slater over the top rope to the floor where he would pepper him with more soupbones then dropped him neckfirst on the railing. Reed would continue to work on Slater’s neck when he got back in the ring as he used a swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall. Slater would turn the tide though using some nice boot scrapes before going to work on Reed’s left arm with an armbar then wrapping it around the ringpost. Slater was relentless working on the arm even using a steel chair in offense that Gene & Ole Anderson would be proud of. Slater would start firing punches and Reed tried to come back by using his right arm but Slater would take him back down trying to post his arm again but Reed would counter by posting Slater. Reed would slam Slater on the railing then started firing right hands before taking Slater down and wrapping his left arm around the ringpost. Reed would keep the pressure on Slater but met a knee when running into the corner. Slater climbs up top and gets caught in the running lights on the way down. Reed would hit a piledriver on Slater who would roll the apron to avoid getting pinned but Reed would bring him back in the ring and tried to piledrive him again but Slater would counter with a figure-four that Reed would counter out of with a right hand. Both men would collide heads with Slater falling to the floor and Dark Journey shows back up giving Slater some knux to use but when Slater rolls back in the ring Reed catches him and delivers a press slam. Reed would hit the diving shoulderblock for a nearfall with Slater getting his foot on the rope. Reed would throw another right hand that he hit so hard that he fell backwards and Slater would roll on him for a nearfall. Slater gets mad and then drops an elbow on Tommy Gilbert before using the knux on Reed a few times even off the top rope. Slater would roll on the bloody Reed and Carl Fergie comes out counting the fall but Gilbert tells Fergie not to count and they award the match to Reed because of the elbow drop on Gilbert in a bullshit finish considering this was no DQ. This was a fantastic match that the finish hurts a little bit but this should definitely move forward. Ricky Gibson, Hector Guerrero, & Al Perez vs. “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, The Nightmare, & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams (11/29/85) Gotta love the Willie Nelson music for the babyfaces. Gilbert is fucking great here doing his schtick and damn does Perez look silly still wearing his spandex. Tom is right here as there is some lucha style spots done here and these guys do it quite well. Gibson is a guy who it is a shame that more of his 70’s work isn’t available because he was supposedly one of the best workers around and still shows signs here with some great punches. The babyface working the leg motif was pretty good too especially on the bigger Doc & Nightmare. The finishing sequence was really great and fun and it caps off a damn good match. I’m with Phil & Tom here as this should go on because I’m interested to see how this would fare against the other different types of matches. No DQ Decision Match for the vacant North American Heavyweight Title: Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater (2/14/86) Their last match in Houston had a controversial finish that caused the title to be held up and since then Jake has put out Dark Journey with his DDT that he talked about before the match which prompted Slater to attack him. Slater is fucking ruthless here with his punches and kicks really putting it to Jake. Slater’s DDT escapes were also good stuff. Jake threw some great punches as usual and when he got on offense he would take it to Slater. Slater would post Jake to get the blood flowing then hit a piledriver for a nearfall. Slater would continue pounding on Jake along with choking him with tape but Jake would start his comeback by taking off his boot and just waylaying on Slater. Slater is now juicing with the crowd going bonkers chanting for the DDT but Slater would block yet another attempt with the Scrap Buster. Slater would climb up top and landed his elbow smash for a nearfall as Jake would get his foot on the rope. Jake would go back to the boot but Slater would knock it down then as he went to pick it up, he got DDTed and pinned. Jake wins the title in a legendary finish in Houston wrestling because the day of the show a local Houston writer said that Jake was going to the WWF and he would lose to Slater. Boesch was fuming over this and met with Watts and they called this audible on the spot to give Jake the title. Slam dunk nomination.
