Ted DiBiase v. Hector Guerrerro 10/25/85

 

Sort of a big clip in the middle of this match drops it off a maybe list. Pretty fun, but nothing spectacular, Hector really bleeds a gusher at the end of it.

 

Dr. Death Steve Williams v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan 10/25/85

 

Good match, with a really awesome spear finish, but kind of meandering until the end and a step below a disc selection

 

Midnight Express v. Rock and Roll Express 11/23/84

 

This is the Houston scaffold match, and is every bit as good as the other scaffold match. You can't do much more then punch on a scaffold, but all four guys have great punches, and I loved crazy Bobby Eaton, constantly climbing around the scaffold to try to get an advantage, I am not sure we need both scaffold matches on a disc set, but I am nominating this

 

Buzz Sawyer v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan 11/8/85

 

This is JIP as Duggan is already bleeding, but it is pretty great, a little chinlocky but the brawling ruled, and the pull apart was amazing. I am going to nominate this, although it might depend on how many of these we have in full.

 

Dick Slater/Dick Murdoch v. Wendell Cooley/Al Perez 11/8/85

 

Good long tag match, with Perez eating a pretty big beating as a face in peril, and the Hardliners being totally awesome. I love the goofy bumping by both guys, there seems to be a slight clip in the middle, but we get almost all of this. I loved the double team finish too. Would be a slam dunk for other discs, but with the quality of Watts tag work, I am just nomming it.

 

Jake Roberts v. Nightmare 11/8/85

 

I am really loving the Jake Roberts face run, he was so spectacular and knew just how to milk the crowd for the huge pop, the Nightmare is super solid, and this is a very good match all leading to the big DDT.

 

Jake Roberts v. Humongous 11/22/85

 

Humongous sucks, but Jake totally makes this work, this is face mask v. face mask and they do a ton of nifty face mask spots, I don't think this was as good as the cage, but Jakes flying knee lift and Humperdinks blade job put it over the top.

 

Dick Slater v. Butch Reed 11/22/85

 

Reed comes in with the neck brace, and this is heated and great. Slater bumps all over the ring, and is super nasty working the neck. I don't know about a two count from a piledriver when your wearing a neck brace, but it is a small quibble.

They air a pretty decent Wendell Cooley video to “If Heaven Ain’t A Lot Like Dixie”

 

Wendell Cooley & Al Perez vs. Brodie Chase & Gypsy Joe (10/9/85)

 

Gypsy fucking Joe but this is a squash.

 

“Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater vs. Steve Constance (10/9/85)

 

Squash. Watts buries former partner Tim Ashley in commentary.

 

Lord Humongous & The Nightmare vs. Tony Falk & Don Turner (10/9/85)

 

Squash. Barbarian has quit the territory to head back to the AWA so Humperdink says that Jake ran him out. Falk bleeds a gusher here.

 

Ted DiBiase vs. Nick Patrick (10/9/85)

 

Squash as like I said earlier DiBiase & Doc are fucking ruthless at this time. Sweetan shows up and attacks Doc then jacks DiBiase’s jaw. DiBiase would load up the glove and Patrick would dropkick him before he could hit Sweetan. Sweetan gets the glove off and cleans house. This should be an extra.

 

Hacksaw Duggan & Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. El Corsario & “Dirty” Dutch Mantell (10/9/85)

 

Slater has replaced Dundee as booker so Dundee left for Memphis and Dutch all alone. Duggan & Jake were a great babyface team and this was a fine competitive match.

 

Hector Guerrero vs. Ted DiBiase (10/25/85)

 

Fun match that is clipped up and Hector pops a gusher plus gets a big win.

 

Bobby Fulton vs. “Dirty” Dutch Mantell (10/9/85)

 

This feud is coming to an end since Dundee is gone. The slaps at the start was great and this was a good all-action match with a nice finish.

 

Mid-South TV Title: “Hacksaw” Butch Reed © vs. El Corsario (10/9/85)

 

Akbar is gone so Corsario is jobbing.

 

Lord Humongous & The Nightmare vs. Steve Constance & Nick Patrick (10/9/85)

 

Constance juices and Patrick bumps all over the place.

 

“Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert vs. Mike Nichols (10/9/85)

 

Squash.

 

“Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer vs. Don Turner (10/9/85)

 

Sawyer is vicious.

 

“Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater vs. Tommy Rogers (10/9/85)

 

Slater doesn’t want the long entrance so he jumps on the floor pushing Rogers and it’s heating up. Slater has some tight looking offense here as you could tell both he and Sawyer enjoyed working here because that type of working was encouraged. Rogers makes a great comeback but Slater would chunk him in a turnbuckle then give the Randy Orton soccer kick right to the face. Slater would lock in the sleeper to end this really fun match.

 

Mid-South Tag Titles: Wendell Cooley & Al Perez © vs. Ted DiBiase & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams (10/9/85)

 

There is only 5 minutes left of TV time and this was really solid while it lasted.

 

Hacksaw Duggan vs. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams (10/25/85)

 

This would’ve been even better a year later. Doc yucking it up to the fans then eating a huge blow by Duggan by flying over the top rope was great and the selling of the finger stomp was nice as well. Both men threw some great punches here and Doc’s headbutt was sweet. Doc was pretty rough on offense and Duggan juices but Duggan would make a comeback chasing Doc around the ring then collided when they entered the ring. Duggan would hit an awesome spear to finish off Doc in a really solid match. This is just short of a nomination.

 

Wendell Cooley & Al Perez vs. Larry Clark & Broadway Joe Malcolm (10/23/85)

 

Squash. DiBiase & Doc come out before the match wanting another shot since their last match ended in a TV draw. They challenge the champs to another match. Another extra.

 

The Bruise Brothers (Mad Dog Boyd & Porkchop Cash) vs. Tony Falk & Jerry Grey (10/23/85)

 

Bruisers make their debut.

 

Lord Humongous vs. Steve Constance (10/23/85)

 

Sucks for Constance because he sure does work Humongous a lot. Watts buries Tim Ashley again on commentary.

 

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Dirty” Dutch Mantell (10/23/85)

 

Poor Dutch is jobbing but this is still a fun competitive match.

 

“Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer & “Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater vs. The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) (10/23/85)

 

Fants are on their way to Memphis so it’s jobbing time. Sawyer & Slater were awesome here as asskickers. Slater does a great job though of selling for the Fants. Dark Journey gets involved of course and Watts talks about how women shouldn’t be involved in wrestling except against other women. Sawyer wins with a fucking great running elbow smash after some hellacious leapfrogs.

 

Hacksaw Duggan vs. El Corsario (10/23/85)

 

Duggan comes out with his girlfriend to counter Dark Journey so of course she gets destroyed by Buzz Sawyer after Slater & DJ run interference. This is a definite extra.

 

Scaffold Match for the Mid-South Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) vs. The Midnight Express (“Loverboy” Dennis Condrey & “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton) (11/23/84)

 

I haven’t seen the other scaffold match that is the official nomination yet but this one was a lot of fun. Yes the Duggan/Sawyer promos in the middle were great but terrible timing.

 

“Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer vs. Hacksaw Duggan (11/8/85)

 

This was great stuff but it was little too JIP for a nomination.

 

“Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer vs. Rick James (10/23/85)

 

Destruction.

 

Ricky Gibson makes his debut sending well wishes from his brother then Doc & DiBiase show up for the angle led up to the next match.

 

Ted DiBiase & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams vs. Wendell Cooley & Al Perez (10/23/85)

 

The heels brought out spandex tights and little boots calling the champs RnR Express wannabees saying that they need the spandex to go with their look. They tell the champs that the contract says that if they loses then they have to wear the spandex but the champs tell them that the contract also says that they have to wear them too. Teddy & Doc were so awesome here with their offense and making the champs look good. The champs though were okay here but it was at this point that Watts decided he wanted to go in another direction because these guys weren’t getting over like they wanted. This was the main reason why they lost this humiliation match.

 

“Hacksaw” Butch Reed vs. Dutch Mantell (10/23/85)

 

Dutch tries to collect the bounty but Reed takes care of him easily.

 

“Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater vs. Steve Doll (10/23/85)

 

Butch Reed comes out before the match asking about the bounty that Flair has on his head then basically calls Dark Journey an oreo. Reed then talks about how black men beat their women when they get out of line. Slater tells Reed that he isn’t going after him. Once again a definite extra.

 

The Bruise Brothers (Mad Dog Boyd & Porkchop Cash) vs. El Corsario & Jerry Grey (10/23/85)

 

Squash.

 

“Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert vs. Jimmy Backlund (10/23/85)

 

Squash.

 

“Capt. Redneck” Dick Murdoch & “Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater vs. Wendell Cooley & Al Perez (11/8/85)

 

I loved the Perez armwork early on both men but he would get his ass kicked along with Cooley. Murdoch & Slater work great as a team here and Dark Journey even gets some offense in. Perez throws some great punches as he fights his way to make the hot tag in a very long FIP section. Cooley would finally get the hot tag and came in blazing firing away with the punches with some fantastic selling by the heels. The finish was also tremendous and it’s funny watching the tag champs job away in non-title matches. Easy nomination.

 

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. The Nightmare (11/8/85)

 

These two work really well together as Nightmare looked the best I’ve seen him on this set. The DDT escapes were nice and a great setup for when Jake finally hit it. Jake took a good bit of punishment here as well and sold it well. I also liked the finish and this has enough to move forward.

 

Slater & Sawyer have a press conference and Slater says he is leaving town because he is tired of the bullshit.

 

The Bruise Brothers (Mad Dog Boyd & Porkchop Cash) vs. Steve Constance & Shawn O’Reilly (11/6/85)

 

Squash.

 

Watts interviews Flair and the beginning of the great two week angle begins.

 

“Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert & The Nightmare vs. Nick Patrick & Tommy Wright (11/6/85)

 

Gilbert & Nightmare reunite as they are about to win the tag titles. Jake comes out before the match with a bag that he would reveal later.

 

“Hacksaw” Butch Reed vs. Ricky Starr (11/6/85)

 

Squash.

 

Lord Humongous vs. Perry Jackson (11/6/85)

 

Squash.

 

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. El Corsario (11/6/85)

 

Squash. Jake reveals his own hockey mask that he plans on using to counter Humongous.

 

“Hacksaw” Butch Reed vs. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair (11/6/85)

 

Reed announces that he has bought out Perez’s contract with Flair calling Reed a monkey. This is a fight from the start as Reed gives Flair everything he has but Flair hangs with him and would eventually get the advantage due to Reed’s bad knee. This becomes a TV version of their house show match with everything happening faster and Reed gets the pin with a flying shoulderblock. Slater jumps Reed after the match and they give him a spike piledriver for his pleasure along with a couple of neck snaps. This was a great TV match and a nomination for sure with the angle as the cherry on the sundae.

 

No DQ: Lord Humongous vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts (11/22/85)

 

Jake is wearing his mask here and there are some great mask spots throughout the match. Jake is on fire here as a babyface and the Houston crowd is nuts for him in this. Jake throws some great boot spots which are legal here since this is no DQ. Humongous is very limited in his offense and just plods around the ring using power moves but Jake does make him look good. The crowd goes nuts for the DDT and then Humperdink comes in and pops a gusher after being destroyed by Jake’s mask. Humongous then locks in the Shennomake for the finish. I liked this match more than Will did so it goes forward.

 

Duggan comes out demanding revenge on Sawyer & Slater for fucking up his woman and for Flair for injuring Reed. Flair then gives his retort which kickstarts the DiBiase/Murdoch angle that we all agree will be on the set.

 

Hacksaw Duggan vs. El Corsario (11/6/85)

 

The Bruise Brothers vs. Shawn O’Reilly & Ricky Starr (11/6/85)

 

Squash.

 

“Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert & The Nightmare vs. Steve Constance & Perry Jackson (11/6/85)

 

Squash. Before the match their feud with the Bruisers starts as they try to steal Gilbert’s portrait.

 

Bounty Match for the North American Heavyweight Title: “Hacksaw” Butch Reed © vs. “Mr. Unpredictable” Dick Slater (11/22/85)

 

Reed just pounded on Slater here with everything he had and Slater took it like a man bumping all over the place. Slater juiced so Reed started pounding him even more. Slater was just as great at working on Reed’s neck and yeah the kickout of the piledriver irked me but still it didn’t hurt the match. I liked the finish myself and this is a definite nomination.