Barry Windham vs. Dusty Rhodes (GAB 7/10/88)
- One of the better non-Tully Dusty matches out there. The only thing that sucks is that this should have been the summer of Luger-Windham. Barry bouncing around for the dream really made this work while a lesser wrestler would have made it hard to watch. The ref bump was pretty weak but it allowed Ron Garvin to make his heel turn. I won't vote this high but I'll nominate it.
(Also on the Dusty DVD)

I'll give this a low end nomination. Windham bumped and stooged his ass off for Dusty. J.J was pretty great here as well. The crowd was really behind Dusty here. While Windham was in control it was worked around the claw. This was ok,but they made it work.

US Heavyweight Title: Barry Windham © vs. "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes

 

Here is the culmination of their big rivalry and as Schiavone brought up, Dusty never lost the title it was taken away from him. There was some fun back and forth action early as this matchup was very fresh unlike most Dusty matchups over the recent years. Dusty hit his big DDT and a cross body block early on as he wanted to finish the match quickly but Windham would scurry to the floor to recover. Dusty just keeps taking it Windham when he gets back in the ring and Dillon as well and the place is hot for this action. The battle goes to the floor where Windham starts getting some shots in but he goes for a piledriver and Dusty reversed it with a backdrop but when they got back in the ring, Windham just started beating the shit out of Dusty but when he tried to slingshot him back in the ring off the apron, Dusty reversed it and Barry took a wild bump to the floor. Dusty then slammed Windham on the floor again and Barry just taking all kinds of abuse but keeps coming back. Dillon though would distract Dusty long enough for Windham to cheapshot him and now it looks like Barry will get full control. Barry locks on the Iron Claw with Ross saying that Dusty has never submitted in his wrestling career which is funny. I really wished Barry would've worked more offense before going to the Claw because he had the hold on for a long time and it made Dusty look like a superman compared to the others that had fallen to it earlier. Dusty shucks and jives trying to get the power and finally starts hitting bionic elbows so the hold gets broken but when Dusty goes for the figure-four, Barry locks the claw back on and we are back to square one. Barry gets Dusty on the ropes and goes for the Superplex but Dusty knocks him off onto Tommy Young so now we are refereeless while Dusty goes up on the ropes and backdrops Barry off the ropes before hitting the bionic elbow. Dusty has Windham pinned but there is no Tommy Young so Dillon jumps on the apron as Ronnie Garvin comes in the ring to KO Dusty as Dillon picks up Tommy Young as Windham puts the Claw back on Dusty for the count. I liked this match a lot but Barry's main offense just being a long ass fucking claw hold wasn't too hot. I'll pass this on as a low-end nomination.