Someone put this up on the boards.

 

Stan Hansen v. Missing Link 9/19/87

 

This was pretty fun, basically a better version of the Hansen v. Khan brawl from the Other Japan set. Hansen clubbers Link, and Link cuts him off with nasty headbutts. Link got in a bunch of great looking offense, including a springboard headbutt from the second rope. Hansen gets frustrated and pounds on Link with a chair, and as he attempts to piledrive Link on it, Bill Alphonso who was reffing jumps on his back. So crappy finish, which I think will be pretty standard for this set, but this is a nomination worthy match.

 

Terry + Dory Funk v. Road Warriors 9/19/87

 

Match starts with 3 minutes of garbage being pelted at Terry while he starts fights with guys in the audience. Road Warriors come out and it is on, pretty much a brawl from the start with Terry taking some great Terry Funk bumps for the Roadies. Road Warriors actually sell a bit after Terry blasts them with a chair, and Hawk eats a spiked piledriver with out no selling it. Fun brawling stuff on the outside too, with Alphonso again DQing Terry for a chair shot (weird to have two matches between Texas heels and face painted faces end exactly the same) Post match there is an awesome chair fight with Terry and Hawk as they splinter the chairs swinging them at each other.

 

 

Invader v. Chicky Starr - Hair v. Retirement 9/19/87

 

This was not good, long meandering brawling, with parts looking actively bad. Invader kicks out of a piledriver before a one count. I liked the loaded mask finish, but this was a stip brawl feud blow off in fucking Puerto Rico with no blood.

 

Tony Atlas v. Iron Sheik 9/20/87

 

This felt like a 1993 Northeast indy main event with a little more crowd brawling, and one Tony Atlas suplex. It would have been a fine Northeast Indy main event but nothing we need to move forward

 

 

Will watch the rest and edit in comments later

"Mr. USA" Tony Atlas vs. Iron Sheik (9/20/87)

 

Not very good.

 

TNT vs. Mr. Pogo (9/19/87)

 

Okay brawling but nothing really special.

 

Stan "The Lariat" Hansen vs. The Missing Link (9/20/87)

 

This is an interesting matchup. Hansen jumps Link as he comes to the ring and they have a wild brawl starting outside the ring before going inside. Hansen goes to work on Link but Link is no-selling every headshot with Hansen selling headshots like crazy. This turns into a no nonsense brawl with a lot of clubberin going on and even Bill Alphonso gets bumped. Hansen brings a chair into the ring and keeps assaulting Alphonso forcing him to call for the DQ. This was a fun brawl and I'll pass it forward as a low-end pick.

 

NWA International Tag Titles: The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) © vs. Dory & Terry Funk (9/20/87)

 

Damn do these fans hate Terry Funk as they throw trash like motherfuckers at him. Dory starts the match with Hawk and I loved that he wanted to work his style with Hawk so he press slammed him forcing him to tag in Terry who went wild on the bumping for Hawk. The Roadies dominate the Funks here until Hawk misses a diving body press off the top rope. Dory would use a chair on Hawk on the grass but Hawk would recover from that and beat Dory & Terry with the chair numerous times before the action went back into the ring. Funks would go back to work on Hawk who would of course make his own comeback and Terry would start selling like crazy. The action would break down into a 4-way brawl with Dory eating the Doomsday Device and Terry bringing the chair into the ring for the DQ with the brawling continuing until the Roadies ran the Funks off. Another fun brawl that's more of a low-end pick to me.

 

Next we get clips of Kareem Muhammad/Mighty Igor in a cage.

 

Hair vs. Retirement: The Invader vs. Chicky Starr (9/20/87)

 

This was a big match and the main event for this show but this was a big disappointment because you would expect some heavy blood and wild brawling but it wasn't even close to that as there was no blood and the brawling was decent at best. If this was a standard match this could've been a low-end pick but with the stips and buildup this was a total disappointment.

 

Barbed Wire Match for the Universal Heavyweight Title: Hercules Ayala © vs. Carlos Colon (9/19/87)

 

Great seeing Joe Pedicino at ringside working as a figurehead for WWC and the fans are just pelting Ayala with trash. These guys get the stipulations as you want blood and violence and you get it here in bunches. Great punches and even some good psychology using the wire helped as well along with the great finish run puts this over the top as a slam dunk nomination. Great stuff here.

I have to clear up something about the Chicky vs. Invader match. The match was not set up to be a brawl. The stipulation was that Invader had to beat Chicky within the 15 minute time limit or else he had to retire. Chicky didn't need to win the match, all he had to do was make sure Invader didn't. In the weeks leading up to the show, Chicky had declared on TV that all he wanted was for Invader's career to end and had promised/threatened to run all over the ring, the stadium, the parking lot, get in a car and drive off, whatever it took, to outlast Invader and made sure he retired. Chicky wasn't looking to win or lock up with Invader, he just wanted to run out the clock. I'll try to do a review of the match this weekend.

I've seen most of this

 

Iron Sheik v. Tony Atlas

 

Hadn't seen this yet, figured it was worth a watch because I'm kind of a mark for both guys, though not necessarily as workers. Anyhow this was just an average match. Nothing terrible, nothing really notable either. The highlight was the post match with Iron Sheik stalking around with a chair while the ringside children fled in terror.

 

TNT v. Mr. Pogo

 

I actually liked this a good bit. I can see why some would not as it was slow moving at times after a red hot start, and there were moments where it got close to running off the rails. On the other hand I thought the build to the finish in this was strong and the hope spots and big moments from TNT and Pogo were great. This is also a rare match from the 80's that I think was dramatically helped by the ref bumps and interference. Up to that point I just thought this was pretty good with some fun moments (Pogo's headbutt, TNT doing the one armed chair smash, the build to the cobra clutch), but TNT wiping out the ref not once, but twice, the great near fall where you think TNT is going to lose on bullshit interference from Profe and the home run finish with Profe's briefcase were all awesome moments. Kind of felt like the end to a really well done WWE match, where one seemingly awful finish after another is teased and then they end up delivering on something great instead. The post-match with TNT being mobbed by fans and lived up on his shoulders like he was Rudy was great too.

 

Kareem Muhammed v. Mighty Igor - Cage Match

 

JIP. Christ almighty, not even I can go to bat for this. Slow moving tedious affair that couldn't end soon enough.

 

The Invader vs. Chicky Starr

 

I am watching this with what Boricua wrote in mind. I'd like to know what Invader said pre-match with Hugo that had Chicky flipping him off. Actually Chicky's entrance here was incredible as the fans were just showering him with trash. Anyway, in the context of the history lesson Boricua gave to us I think this is a good match. You can argue that even with the stips being what they were that there should have been some color and I wouldn't disagree. But the story of Chicky doing whatever he could to kill clock in an effort to kill Invader's career made sense and was well done and they also did a good job slowly getting Chicky in the fight to the point where you can almost see him getting over confident and foolishly thinking he can win this outright. Starr unloading everything and losing on a loaded mask headbutt was such a brilliant finish too, as it was as perfect a "tables have turned" finish as I've ever seen in wrestling. Invader grabbing the ref in celebration and the head shaving were great moments too. I worry about this some because if people don't know the context I could see this coming across as an iffy match, but with the details being known, and the fact that it was the main event match of the second biggest drawing show in the entire world that year (behind only WM III), it really feels like it belongs on the set. On work this is low end and I've had a weird standard for this whole process, but I will argue for this matches inclusion.

"Mr. USA" Tony Atlas vs. Iron Sheik (9/20/87) -

 

This was very average. The pre-match was great but everything else after that was run of the mill. Not bad, just nothing interesting at all.

 

TNT vs. Mr. Pogo (9/19/87) -

 

This was fun. TNT and Pogo made funny facial expressions and mixed in some solid brawling with decent in-ring stuff. There were several strong cut off and hope spots in this from both guys. All the chop and kick ones were well timed. The finishing stretch was full of bullshit but the suitcase shot was stiff. I was bored through bits and pieces of this also. I'm going NO on this one. I liked it but didn't enjoy it enough for nomination.

 

Stan "The Lariat" Hansen vs. The Missing Link (9/20/87) -

 

No, this wasn't any good. Missing Link's opening headbutts were kind of good because of how Hansen sold them but this was wasn't much. Missing Link is just so terrible. His selling is good comedy but nothing more. I did like Hansen destroying him with a chair and throwing Bill Alfonso around but that's not enough to merit this with a nomination. Yeah, I'm going NO.

 

NWA International Tag Titles: The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) © vs. Dory & Terry Funk (9/20/87) -

 

This was fun as fuck. The video opens up with a chair flying at the camera cause Terry threw it. Trash is showing the ringside area and entrance way as Terry stirs shit up with the fans. Ironman starts blaring and the next two or three minutes are tremendous with Terry nearly getting in a fight with a fan then the Roadies coming out and deflecting chair shots and chasing the Funks out the ring. The match is real fun too with Terry stooging, Dory getting crushed with a chair on the floor, and Terry choking out Hawk with the tag string. Dory gets his with the Doomsday Device but Terry uses a chair to break up the pin. The Funks are disqualified and we get this awesomely absurd chair fight between the Funks and Roadies on the floor as they are literally sword fighting with chairs. This is a LOW END nomination but I really think it should go on for the two teams involved and because it's somewhat of a unique spectacle.

 

Kareem Muhammed v. Mighty Igor - Cage Match - I skipped this. There's no way this could have been watchable.

 

Hair vs. Retirement: The Invader vs. Chicky Starr (9/20/87) -

 

Knowing everything in context this is awesome. Yeah, there's no blood but that isn't the point of this match. Chicky was great trying every way possible to kill time. The near falls early were great and then Chicky hiding under the ring ruled. Invader finds him beats his ass but Chicky low blows him and locks in a chinlock which was great. There were several tremendous close calls in this including Chicky trying to escape to the back, the sleeper, the figure four, and the few hope spots Invader got during the last few minutes when Chicky got cocky and was trying to win himself. The finish is fucking awesome and the pop Invader gets for pulling out the object to put in his mask was unreal. He headbutts Chicky off the ropes and wins and the crowd is nuts. The post-match is tremendous with Chicky getting his hair, chest, and mustache all shaved. This ruled. It has to go on the set. I think it's good enough for a SOLID nomination.

 

Barbed Wire Match for the Universal Heavyweight Title: Hercules Ayala © vs. Carlos Colon (Only way to win is by the figure four) (9/19/87) -

 

This is one of those matches that's all about teasing and building to certain spots. It's one of the better matches I've seen of that ilk. They build towards the barbed wire first because Ayala is afraid of the barbed wire as Hugo mentions during the match. Ayala is trying to avoid the barbed wire but Colon pushed him into the ropes. They teased head smashing into the wire. Ayala took control and bloodied Colon in the wire. He went for the figure four but Colon blocked it. Ayala ended up going into the wire between it and the ropes and his back, arms ,and face all got cut up. Colon got the same treatment after both guys tried the figure four. Colon fought out of the wire and the crowd went nuts. Ayala knocked Colon out with a foreign object shot and the ref took it away from him. Ayala put in the figure four and Colon managed to find the object that knocked him out and hit Ayala in the leg to break the hold. That was really innovative and awesome actually. Colon puts in the figure four and Ayala tries to pull himself in the ropes but gets caught in the barbed wire instead and he finally submits. The post-match is a lot of fun with the crowd going wild afterwards and Colon celebrating winning back the title. There was a lot of unique spots that were well done in this and everything was built to real nicely. I'm going to give this a SOLID nomination but it's a borderline EASY nomination.