Posted August 13, 200817 yr comment_5433995 1. Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - Texas Stadium, 5-6-84 This is a famous match where Kerry took the NWA title from Flair. Von Erich shows a lot of atleticism in the match. The crowd is super hot for the action. This was like a Flair/Kerry greatest hits match. It has the claw, Flair turnbuckle flip, press slam, attempt at the figure 4. This match was the Nitro Main Event of this feud. Overall, it was one of the worst matches between the 2, but still was good. The wrestlers worked at a quick pace so the bout was never boring. For historic significance, and for the work itself it gets a nomination from me. 2. Kevin Von Erich vs Chris Adams - Cotton Bowl, 10-27-84 This was one of their 1st matches in just a great feud.I was digging Adams getting all flashy with the handstands and somersaults. The hammerlock spots were neat. With the bumps and throws it had a quasi lucha feel to it. That Tope' that Adams did just murdered Von Erich. The finish seemed to come out of nowhere though. I thought the wrestlers were building to a 20 minute match. Though the killer angle afterwards made up for it. Overall, a good match and a nomination. 3. Freebirds vs Fritz, Kevin, + Mike Von Erich - Texas Stadium, 5-6-84 I thought this was just s tremendous brawl. This was wild and super heated. Just some great brawling with the Birds bumping all over the place Hayes was just great in his role bumping, showing ass, and beating some ass also. I don't know who the Freebirds bumped bigger for Fritz or Watts? Overall, just a super brawl and a slam dunk pick. 4. Mike Von Erich + Stella Mae vs Gino Hernandez + Nicola Roberts - Cotton Bowl, 10-27-84 I can't believe that Sunshine gets the big helicopter entrance. This was not good. Three of the 4 workers were bad or limited. Gino looked good at attempting to make a go of this thing; though he might have been in the match for less than a minute. The match had good heat though. 5. Kevin Von Erich vs Kabuki - lumberjack match It's weird to see Kevin with boots on. This was o.k but not a nom. Their was a neat angle afterwards where Bundy goes after the bounty. int: King Kong Bundy + Arman Hussain 6. King Kong Bundy vs Ken Mantell This was more of an angle to further the Kevin/Bundy issues. 7. Kevin Von Erich vs King Kong Bundy I loved how Kevin picked up a kid in the crowd and carried her to the ring. This is Kevin's debut with no boots. I liked this match, but it wasn't incredible.. I couldn't believe Kevin wanted a test of strength with the big man. Though we got a neat Billy Robinson escape from it. Bundy did a good job putting his weight on Kevin and working Kevin's back. The beginning stages of the match was neat with Kevin sticking and moving. Overall, I liked the match, and am going to give it a mild endorsement. int: Kevin Von Erich 8. Harley Race vs Kevin Von Erich - Reunion Arena, I thought this was a tale of 2 matches. The 1st part was mediocre, but the 2nd part with Race in control was tremendous. I thought the 1st part had some cool aspects. I liked how Kevin almost caught Race with some near falls early. This was neat to me because Race had just won the title and showed he wasn't prepped for a title defense. I thought fucking up the body scissors spot twice was brutal to watch. Once Kevin took that bump on the table and started selling the shoulder was gold. Kevin's selling was tremendous and I believed he hurt his shoulder.Race just murdered that shoulder, but gave Kevin enough hope spots to pop the audience and keep things interesting. I loved how Kevin was still able to get the claw on for a great false finish. I still don't know how Kevin putting his hand in his own trunks was going to alleviate the pain in his shoulder. Overall, this gets a nomination from me. - David Von Erich with Jimmy Garvin + Sunshine as "valets for a day" This is a mortal lock for an extra. 9. Bruiser Brody vs Michael Hayes This was more of an angle than a match. int: Terry Gordy - Sunshine video int: Jimmy Garvin stating he has hired an assisstant for Sunshine Another possible extra. - highlights Jimmy Garvin/Precious turning on Sunshine - Ft Worth Extra 10. Michael Hayes vs Iceman Parsons - State Fair Coliseum Fun while it lasted. - footage of Kamala bodyslamming Andre the Giant - Jimmy Garvin "press conference"
September 29, 200817 yr comment_5434920 NWA World Heavyweight Title: “Nature Boy” Ric Flair © vs. “Modern Day Warrior” Kerry Von Erich (5/6/84) I mean really is there any shadow of a doubt that this match doesn’t make this list. Definite nomination. Kevin Von Erich vs. “Gentleman” Chris Adams (10/27/84) This is another legendary match from the Cotton Bowl because this was the real catalyst for the Dynamic Duo/Von Erichs feud because at this point Adams hadn’t done the real killer heel turn but would at the end of the match which they sold like Kevin had been murdered. The reason why they did such an angle was because Adams was still getting lots of cheers even after turning on Kevin a month earlier so they had to make him a real heel and it worked as there were girls legit crying their eyes out at ringside. These two were a natural matchup against each other because Adams had his hybrid style and Kevin worked a more mat-based style that could counter Chris. Adams broke out an awesome tope that hit Kevin flush on the nose and he looked out of it but got back in the ring using a great O’Connor Roll with a bridge to get the win. Then we had the angle after the match to cement this as a nomination. Badstreet Rules for the World Class Six-Man Tag Titles: The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy, Michael Hayes, & Buddy Roberts) vs. Fritz, Kevin, & Mike Von Erich (5/6/84) The stip here was that Fritz worked this match and if he won then Kerry would his share of the title since Kerry couldn’t work this because he had Flair. Fritz being in this match made it so fucking awesome because he was beating the shit out of the Birds but Kevin was also holding his own. The double claw spot was a legendary spot thanks to the Apter mags and Hayes blading for the claw was great. I did laugh though at Mark Lowrance calling Fritz the greatest wrestler we’ve ever seen. Killer Khan also made his debut here as well jumping Kevin so Kerry could run out to make the save. This is a very easy nomination. Mike Von Erich & Stella Mae French vs. “The Handsome Halfbreed” Gino Hernandez & Nicola Roberts (Baby Doll) (10/27/84) I absolutely hated this whole angle with Stella Mae as it was fucking ridiculous. Gino was double champ here holding both the American & Texas titles and was being wasted in such a position. The funny thing about Sunshine being involved in this was Dusty originally wanted Sunshine to be Tully Blanchard’s Perfect 10 3 months later but they couldn’t get in touch with her so Tully asked for Nicola instead. Lumberjack Match: The Great Kabuki vs. Kevin Von Erich (5/16/82) Kevin is wearing boots and Kabuki is wearing yellow pants. This was a fine match but I agree with shoe in that it’s not a nomination but still pretty fair and did have a lot of heat. Bundy attacked Kevin after the match trying to collect the bounty. King Kong Bundy vs. Ken Mantell (5/16/82) Kevin would come out and gets his revenge. Bundy with his head full of hair is so great. Kevin Von Erich vs. King Kong Bundy (5/30/82) Kevin is making his debut here working barefoot to give him more speed and that is a great gimmick. Kevin & Bundy have good chemistry together and this was one of their early matches where Kevin shows that he can really work against a big man. I loved the reversal of the test of strength with a dropkick that would piss Bundy off so he would slam him on the hard wood floor. I loved the finish of this with Kevin hitting a beautiful springboard 180 splash off the top rope and I think this match deserves consideration for a nomination. NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race © vs. Kevin Von Erich (6/17/83) This was billed for a while to be Flair vs. Kevin but he lost the belt days earlier to Race so they had to change the match of course and since the whole feud had been with Flair it sorta took the air out of this match. There was a good story though that Race was susceptible to defeat since he wasn’t prepared for Kevin so he wasn’t on his A-game to start. Kevin hit his trademark 180 splash off the top rope for a nearfall very early leading to Race to go to the floor to regroup. The action would continue to go back and forth with Kevin getting the claw on Race really putting him in trouble but again being Race he worked out of it although Kevin kept the advantage as Race was just being worked over early. Race chunked Kevin to the floor but he hit his left shoulder on the table as he fell to the floor and it looked like it hurt like hell. Kevin sold it like death and Race loves working on the shoulder so this worked well for the match. Kevin would still put up a fight though even with the bad shoulder and the fans were hot for Kevin every time he tried a comeback. Kevin would get the claw back on after Race come off the top rope and it looked like he might get the win but Race pulled him back through the ropes again landing on the floor. David Von Erich would then come out to help Kevin back in the ring so Race would attack him leading to David coming in for the DQ. David would hit his high kneelift and started pounding on Race then talked shit to him how he couldn’t beat a one-armed man. The finish was to setup David for a shot at the NWA title as he said to Race that if he couldn’t beat him then he would retire from wrestling so it worked in a way. The match was damn solid and a fairly easy nomination. Next we get Jimmy Garvin & Sunshine as Valets for a Day and this is a slam dunk extra. Bruiser Brody vs. Michael Hayes (9/23/83) Brody just kills Hayes so Gordy runs in and he gets his ass kicked too until Hayes makes it 2-on-1 and this marks the debut of the Oriental Spike. Gordy had just come back from Japan with this new weapon and it would take the face dressing room to get the Birds out. This is extra material. Then we get a Sunshine video to She Worked Hard For The Money by Donna Summer featuring the turn on Sunshine and again extra material. Then we get the “press conference” from Sunshine and this was a fantastic promo on her part. Mercer then goes to Garvin’s house for a retort and Precious answers the door wearing just a shirt then a pissed Garvin would come out. Michael Hayes vs. Iceman King Parsons (4/1/83) This was a sprint from the start with Hayes winning as he rolled over as Iceman hit a cross body block and pinned him with his feet on the ropes. Then they show clips of Kamala slamming Andre the Giant from Mid-South. Then we get a press conference with Jimmy Garvin before the Sunshine turn.
October 20, 200916 yr comment_5445251 Mike Von Erich + Stella Mae vs Gino Hernandez + Nicola Roberts - Cotton Bowl, 10-27-84 I feel like this should be an extra. I really did love Sunshine's big return. The match itself wasn't audaciously bad, though that's probably just because it was kept very short. Gino was sharp, and Mike didn't really fuck anything up (again, didn't really have a lot of time to do so). The women were pretty bad, they open the match with the least sexy catfight ever, and their stand-up stuff was even less inspiring. Still, I liked the surrounding angle a lot. Kevin Von Erich vs Kabuki - lumberjack match I came very close to nominating Kevin vs. Magic Dragon, and Dragon was way worse than Kabuki, so probably shouldn't be a huge surprise that I loved this. Kabuki actually held his own here. Threw a lot of really solid kicks, and if this were the only Kabuki match you ever saw, you might come away from it thinking he was a good worker. Kevin is awesome as always. Loved the opening where Kabuki kept throwing kicks, and Kevin was keeping just out of their range, looking for his opening, and then leaping in and throwing forearms when he's tackled him to the ground. There are a shit-ton of clawholds in this match, which I guess is to be expected considering who's involved, but they are constantly fought over and never boring. You never got the sense that either man was just killing time with them. Post-match attack on Kevin by Bundy was awesome, and would be a worthy extra by itself, but I think the match as a whole deserves to go ahead. int: King Kong Bundy + Arman Hussain Strong promo for both men, and I think it would make a worthy extra. Kinda funny that Hussein's claims of what Bundy would do to Andre are sounding more and more like Hogan's claims of what he actually did to Andre. King Kong Bundy vs Ken Mantell Extra material. Not much to the match itself, but what's there is pretty good, and then Kevin running to get his revenge was awesome. Kevin Von Erich vs King Kong Bundy I think this is a pretty easy nomination. Bundy was really good at showing slow-burning anger, and Kevin is Kevin, he is the kind of really athletic opponent who could frustrate Bundy and get that anger out of him. When he does, Bundy really lays a heavy beating on him. The historic benefit of this being Kevin's first match wrestling barefoot is a great added bonus. Also neat to see Bundy when he had hair. He actually looks a lot like what I would probably look like if I weighed 450 lbs. David Von Erich with Jimmy Garvin + Sunshine as "valets for a day" Is there even the slightest inkling of doubt as to whether or not this should be an extra? Yeah, I thought not. Michael Hayes vs Iceman Parsons - State Fair Coliseum Too short to actually be anything, but it was good for what it was.
