Tennessee Street Fight: The New Fabulous Ones (Eddie Gilbert & “Wildfire” Tommy Rich) vs. Phil Hickerson & The Spoiler (Frank Morrell) (6/25/84)

 

Hickerson was so awesome it’s too bad that he only worked when he felt like it due to his radio career. As you would expect Gilbert & especially Rich bled a lot and this was a great fucking brawl with the normal weapons being used like cowboy boots. Rich would pound Hickerson’s head on the half-table and they would brawl all around the ring as Gilbert took it to the Spoiler in the ring. Hickerson juices heavily as well with Rich biting at the wound. Rich wearing the white shirt made this even greater as the blood just stained it bigtime. Spoiler just pounds Rich with the boot but he makes a comeback and uses the boot on both Hickerson & Spoiler. Gilbert piledrives Spoiler on the floor as Hickerson punches Rich in the balls in the ring and as Rich goes down he pulls out a mask from his jeans. Gilbert would hold up Hickerson and Rich came off the middle rope with the loaded mask headbutt for the pin. This was awesome and a definite nomination.

 

“Leaping” Lanny Poffo & “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) (7/9/84)

 

Here is the rematch from two weeks earlier. There was some good competitive action early on with both teams looking good. The action would pick up with Morton working FIP and being thrown to the floor with Savage doing his diving axehandle off the top rope to the floor. Morton would come back in the ring and Savage tossed him off the top rope behind Calhoun’s back and Angelo Poffo got his shots in before Savage would take over. Poffo would hit his somersault senton for a nearfall and would keep up the pressure tagging in Savage but Morton fights back trying to get to Gibson but he gets cut off. Savage would try to piledrive Morton but Calhoun would stop him. Morton is still fighting his heart out trying to get to Gibson but Poffo would cut him off and Savage would drag Gibson to the floor where they started brawling. Morton gets to the corner finally but no one is there so Poffo chunks him back to the floor where Angelo would throw him on the table and Savage went for the piledriver again but Morton would backdrop him. Poffo rolls Morton back in the ring and tries for a dropkick but Morton grabs the rope making Poffo miss and gets the hot tag to Gibson. Gibson then comes in with both guns blazing and gets a Superplex on Poffo as Morton/Savage brawls on the floor. Angelo then ran in the ring and uses his shoe to pound on Gibson until Morton jumps him and uses the shoe on him but the Poffo brothers destroy Morton for jumping their dad. The finish was ruled a DDQ. This was tremendous stuff and another easy nomination.

 

Southwest Heavyweight Title: Dick Slater © vs. Dory Funk Jr. (early 1982)

 

This is from the Junction in San Antonio. This starts off with some great mat wrestling with Dory being in control and looking awesome. Slater sells just like Dory’s brother Terry here and it makes this match even better. Slater would soon get the advantage and used a lot of strikes including some great punches but Dory would pop him with some forearms and european uppercuts to knock Slater down. Slater would use a cheap shot though on Funk to stop his offense and tried a piledriver but Funk backdropped him. We would soon have a double collision of heads with Slater being knocked to the floor when Tully Blanchard shows up and jumps Funk until Slater can join the fun. It’s 2-on-1 until Scott Casey comes in to even the odds and they send the heels packing.

 

Southwest Tag Titles: The Fabulous Blonds (Eric Embry & Ken Timbs) © vs. “Ragin Bull” Manny Fernandez & Al Perez (April 1984)

 

This is the first push for the Blonds and they got over big in Southwest. This starts with some fast paced action with Embry & Manny featuring some great armdrags by Embry. Manny does the MUGA headscissors spot and follows with a slap before tagging in Perez. Perez would continue the offensive attack on Embry who bumps all over the place as Timbs stooges around on the apron. Timbs would tag in and the armdrag barrage would continue but eventually the Blonds would use their cheating ways to get control. The Blonds tagged in and out and continued putting the pressure on Perez who was okay as the FIP mainly due to him still being green. Embry tries for a piledriver but Perez backdrops him and makes the hot tago Manny who’s on fire. Manny just takes it to Timbs and Embry after he comes in the ring with the 4-way brawl starting up. Manny would chase Embry around the ring and came back in as Timbs was trying to piledrive Perez but Manny would hit Timbs with his flying cross chop and Perez would cover him for the win. The Blonds attack them after the match with Perez throwing Embry to the floor and Manny coming off the middle rope using the belt on Timbs but the Sheepherders would then show up and they destroyed the new champs rendering them bloody until the locker room clears. The match was fine but the angle following it was great.

 

Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart vs. “Universal Heartthrob” Austin Idol (6/4/84)

 

Jimmy Hart is at ringside in Idol’s corner as Neidhart has turned on him taking the entire First Family so Hart is making his life hell. The match itself was okay nothing spectacular although Idol has a lot of heat. The finish was interesting though with Hart running in for the DQ and Hart helps Idol clean house on Neidhart & Spoiler. The post match was great.

 

Junkyard Dog vs. “Hacksaw” Butch Reed (5/12/84)

 

The feud has come to Memphis with the tarred & feathered angle going down on Memphis TV so JYD comes into this match fired up for him at this stage of his career. JYD would do his repeated headbutts on the knees sending Reed to the floor. JYD would continue to dominate Reed although working at a slow pace until Reed caught him in the running lights. This would turn into a slugfest with both men throwing soupbones until both men clotheslined each other. Both men would get to their knees and started throwing soupbones again until Reed started choking JYD. Reed would follow with more soupbones taking JYD back to the mat before going to a side headlock that would turn into a front chancery. JYD would get up and rammed Reed into the corner many times to break the move before throwing the soupbones and followed with a clothesline. JYD would then give Reed a hiptoss before catching him with the big Thump for the 3 count getting a clean win. This was a good match and a borderline nomination for me.

 

There is an 8-man squash match from WMC Studios with Rude, Anvil, Ox Baker, and others that is notable for two things as Rude is wearing a dress and Angel’s ass looks phenomenal in her 80’s catsuit.

 

King Kong Bundy vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler (7/16/84)

 

Bundy attacks Lawler before the match and stomps on the crown, which wasn’t done a whole lot. Bundy is working fast paced because Lawler gets a $1,000 for every minute he stays in the ring with Bundy. Jimmy Hart screams at Bundy for letting Lawler get the first $1,000 so Bundy just continues to beat on Lawler. Lawler goes to the floor and Hart begs Bundy to go after him, which he does as he posts Lawler before rolling him back to the ring. Bundy would drop a big elbow smash for a nearfall then Bundy cranks in a chinlock. Bundy puts Lawler in a bearhug and goes for a diving elbow smash but Lawler rolls to the floor to collect himself and make more money. Lawler would dance around the ring collecting money as Bundy chases after him but has to stop to regroup as Hart is having a fit. Lawler would come in the ring to break the count making Bundy chase him and making him madder. Lawler taunts Bundy with the fact that he has won $5,000 but Bundy would catch him as he tried to go after Hart and the action goes back to the ring. Bundy starts unloading punches on Lawler before slamming him into the corner as Lawler now has $6,000. Bundy goes for the splash but Lawler rolls out of the way and drops the strap when he gets up. Lawler then fires some awesome punches on Bundy until Rude shows up on the apron and as Lawler starts working on him, Hart throws a chain to Bundy who uses it to KO Lawler and drops the big splash on him to win. This was a very fun match with a great stipulation and I’m throwing it on the block.

 

International Heavyweight Title: Masao Ito © vs. “Wildfire” Tommy Rich (7/9/84)

 

JIP with Rich having Ito in a side headlock on the mat. Ito starts working on Rich using his odd strikes but Rich has been working with Tojo Yamamoto who is at ringside to counter Hart about how to get around them. Rich starts coming back using a double jumping knee smash to the face but Ito would strike him back down again then goes for a nerve hold. Rich fights out of it but Ito keeps on using different strikes before Rich starts firing the punches in. Ito hangs tough though and chops Rich in the throat but would miss a diving headbutt off the middle rope as Rich rolls away. Rich then climbs up and hits an elbow smash off the middle rope before hitting three diving strikes then hits the Thesz Press but Tojo is in the ring trying to get after Hart. Hart then throws the flagpole to Ito who nails Rich with it as Paul Morton is trying to get Tojo out of the ring but Rich would kick out of the pinfall attempt. Ito goes back to work using reverse chops but Rich fires it up and comes back throwing punches then hits a backdrop. Rich throws Ito in the ropes but Hart throws salt in his eyes and Ito goes for another pinfall but Rich kicks out again. Ito places Rich on the middle rope and Tojo gives Rich his own salt to use then hits a cross body block to get the win. Rich falls out of the ring to a large pop and gets the belt. This was quite a different match for Memphis as Ito wasn’t the normal Memphis styled guy but this worked and the story of Rich fighting through adversity was great. This goes on the block which I thought I would never nominate an Ito match because I thought he sucked.

 

Southern Heavyweight Title: Jerry “The King” Lawler © vs. Kamala (6/4/84)

 

Kamala was brought in by Hart to get rid of Lawler and he comes out early just beating his ass. Lawler tries to get some punches in but Kamala just shrugs them off and pounds his belly. Lawler would kick Kamala in the stomach but he would keep on slapping his belly and jumped in the air meaning Lawler was fucked so he went for a nerve hold taking Lawler to the mat. Kamala then hits Lawler with a splash on Lawler’s back and rolls him over for a nearfall then starts back chopping on Lawler. Kamala keeps up the pressure but Lawler starts firing up and drops the strap firing away the punches on Kamala. Lawler keeps throwing but Kamala won’t fall backwards then he got him down. Lawler would miss though with a falling fistdrop so Kamala nails him and sends him to the floor. Kamala then pounds Lawler’s head on the table and keeps on hitting him with everything he could before going back to the ring. Paul Morton counts Lawler out but Kamala breaks the count and posts Lawler a couple of times sending Lawler over the table to the floor. Lawler tries to get back in the ring but Kamala keeps breaking it up just beating the piss out of Lawler. Lawler would get smart though and Kamala would come back to him so Lawler picked up the chair that Hart was sitting in and plastered him two times before going back to the ring winning by countout. Lawler got pretty much destroyed in this match but his smarts prevailed once again telling a great story. Kamala looked as dominant here as I’ve seen him since we started this project but this might be too much of a one-sided match to go on the block. I would like to hear what the others think.

Tennessee Street Fight: The New Fabulous Ones (Eddie Gilbert & “Wildfire” Tommy Rich) vs. Phil Hickerson & The Spoiler (Frank Morrell) (6/25/84)

 

Yeah this was great, Tommy Rich starts bleeding like two seconds into the match, and man does Tommy bleed. Rich pulling out the mask to load was a great finish and what I assume was payback for previous Spoiler dastardliness

 

“Leaping” Lanny Poffo & “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) (7/9/84)

 

Man maybe I have watched too much R+R's lately, but this did very little for me. Outside of Savage's double axehandle, and the reversal of the piledriver on the table, there wasn't much memorable. Poffo's offense is really dainty, and Gibson blows both a dropkick and his run up superplex spot. Add a shitty finish and I am going with a no vote here.

 

Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart vs. “Universal Heartthrob” Austin Idol (6/4/84)

 

Yeah this wasn't much, Idol needs a great opponent to be watchable, and I like Niedhart more then most, but he isn't it.

 

Junkyard Dog vs. “Hacksaw” Butch Reed (5/12/84)

 

I think I would only be voting for this because I want to see a full epic match between the two. This wasn't it though, JYD's punches looked great, but not much else really did from him. His crawling headbutts, which is a spot I have seen look great, looked ass here, and there was a spot where he was running Reed into the turnbuckle which looked bad too. Also JYD in Memphis isn't nearly as over as he was in Mid-South which hurt the heat a match like this needs. I regrettable No vote for me.

 

King Kong Bundy vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler (7/16/84)

 

Lawler as Bugs Bunny here was awesome, just a super smart match. Lawler evading Bundy and cashing checks was fun. Not a huge Lawler comeback, and I am wondering if we have a better match between the two somewhere, but this makes it for now.

 

International Heavyweight Title: Masao Ito © vs. “Wildfire” Tommy Rich (7/9/84)

 

Yeah this fucking rocked. I like Ito a bunch more then Kris as I think his chops look super nasty. This is Rich just getting beaten on, and babyfacing the fuck up. Rich is really amazing at working Memphis babyface, the finish with Rich kicking out of the flag shot and the salt, before Tojo evens the score was just great. This was my favorite match on this disc. Absolute nomination.

 

Southern Heavyweight Title: Jerry “The King” Lawler © vs. Kamala (6/4/84)

 

This was basically a Kamala squash, as he throws Lawler all over the Mid-South coliseum. Lawler takes a beating great, I loved the bump over the Memphis table, but man he didn't even get a real comeback before the finish. Lawler is a pretty good Spike Dudley, but it wasn't like he was taking Spike Dudley level bumps and I don't know about nominating a Spike Dudley match. Were all Lawler v. Kamala matches this one sided?