Posted September 6, 200817 yr comment_5434411 Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich Terry Gordy vs. Chris Adams (10:40) I watched this a few days ago, so the details are kinda foggy, but this wasn't quite what you would have hoped it would be. Adams superkicks Gordy like nobody's business at one point, though, so that was pretty cool. He probably did it more than once. Every Chris Adams match I watch makes Shawn Michaels look more and more like a little bitch. Bruiser Brody vs. Buddy Roberts I'm sure Roberts held up his end, at least. Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich This match is preceded on this disc by two other matches between these two, and is probably best appreciated after watching them. Actually, this is probably best appreciated after watching them, the Garvin vs. David Von Erich matches, and the "Garvin and Sunshine are David's valets for a day" vignette. You'll probably be able to appreciate it no matter what, though, because outside of the Kerry/Flair cage match from the Christmas '82 Star Wars, this is probably the best match I've seen so far, and has to be a mortal lock for the set. This was supposed to be a 2/3 falls match between Kevin and Michael Hayes for Kev's American Title, but Hayes has yet to arrive at the arena for whatever reason. Jimmy Garvin, in the wake of being humiliated by David Von Erich, has been trying to rebuild his standing by challenging Kevin in non-title matches in recent weeks (which were a ton of fun, but a bit too short and one-sided to get nominations from me), but has lost cleanly each time. With Hayes absent, Garvin seizes the opportunity he might not get otherwise at this point, and takes his place. Outside of some bits of classic Garvin stooging, the bulk of the first two falls takes place on the mat. It's almost got sort of an Americanized UWF kind of feel at points, with both guys twisting each other into knots to try and get a submission or get the other guy's shoulders to the mat. There's a particularly elaborate sequence in the first fall that starts with Garvin applying an inverted Indian deathlock and leads to Kevin trying to pull Garvin's body over his own to get his shoulders onto the met, and eventually reaches a place where I lose track of whose limbs belong to who. After Kevin takes the first fall, Garvin manages to pick up the second when he blocks a running splash, not by getting his knees up, but by getting his fully-extended legs up and having Kevin dive throat-first across one of his boots in a particularly nasty spot. The third fall turns into a great, straight-forward brawl, before Michael Hayes finally arrives at ringside. Immediately, your screwjob sense starts tingling, and what's weird is that as much of a douchebag Jimmy Garvin is, you kind of feel for him at this point, and you don't want to see Hayes blow his big chance. Sure enough, the distraction allows Kevin to take the advantage (although he's enough of a good sport to wait until after Garvin is done jawjacking with Hayes to do it...what a guy!), but while the ref is counting Garvin on the outside, Sunshine runs interference, and while it leads to her getting a spanking, it also distracts Kevin enough to let Garvin recover and come off of the top rope onto Kev while he still has Sunshine over his knee, allowing him to win the match and the title, and letting him finally reclaim his dignity, at least in his own mind. Well, for a little while anyway. Jimmy Garvin Interview In a bit that should make the extras set pretty easily, Garvin interrupts a post-match promo with Hayes to celebrate his win, only for David Manning to come out from the back and announce that because he and the other referees saw Sunshine slap Kevin, leading to the spanking, they were throwing out the decision and Garvin gets a title held up AGAIN. His reaction to this is as priceless as you would expect it to be. Between the great angle and a phenomenally worked match between two of the best workers in the world in 1983 (I've praised Kevin enough elsewhere, but if all you know about Garvin is his WCW Freebirds stuff, he's going to be a real eye opener on this set), this has to be seen to be believed. Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy vs. David Von Erich & Iceman King Parsons (10:00) Really good, but not nomination good. David is definitely improving at this point. Shame he has less than a year to live. Bruiser Brody vs. Kimala This was pretty fun. Brody actually sells, which is nice of him. Still not sure what he brought to the table in this match that a million charismatic super-heavyweights couldn't have done just as well or better, but Kamala beats the shit out of him with gusto and he actually sells it, so he performs the bare minimum of what's expected of him, which is actually remarkable with Brody. Not a nomination or anything, but an enjoyable aside. Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich One fall for the held-up American Championship. Not quite as awesome as their previous match, but still a worthy nomination. Not as much cool stuff on the mat, but it is faster-paced and has plenty of fun brawling. When these two face each other, you really can't go wrong. Jimmy Garvin Interview Garvin gloats over the title win in sufficiently entertaining fashion. Freebirds Interview (3:36) It was a Freebirds interview. Therefore, it was good. David Von Erich vs. Jimmy Garvin (JIP) This is the match where the winner not only gets the Texas Title, but if David wins, Garvin and Sunshine have to be his valets for a day. What's shown is good, but probably not nomination worthy, though I don't know if we have enough shown here to nominate it anyway. Interesting that David is clearly the better worker in the match for a change. Again, he seemed to be making real strides at this point, which makes his looming demise all the more frustrating.
July 15, 200916 yr comment_5441994 Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich This was awesome. This full of greatness that plays to both mens strengths. The mat work was so awesome, mixed in with Kevin's strikes made it feel he was working a hybird Regal/Finlay style. Garvin was great here too keeping everything interesting on the mat with his selling and his mat work also. This feels like a top 15 bout. Nomination. Jimmy Garvin Interview Extra file. Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy vs. David Von Erich & Iceman King Parsons This was solid tag, but not a nomionation. I loved the reverse bear hug to stomach claw spot. Bruiser Brody vs. Kimala Another fun brawl between the 2 that I liked. Not a nomination though. Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich Another good bout between the 2. I'll 2nd the nomination but it isn't at the level of the 2 of 3 fall bout. Some good interviews from Garvin and the Birds. David Von Erich vs. Jimmy Garvin This is JIP, and the bout is good, but should go on as an extra with the VOTD angle.
November 11, 200916 yr comment_5445793 Going over stuff I haven’t seen 2 out of 3 falls for the American Heavyweight Title: Kevin Von Erich © vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin (7/18/83) Michael Hayes was supposed to be Kevin’s opponent but wasn’t there for some reason so Garvin who had been unsuccessful in beating Kevin in non-title matches over the past few weeks took his spot in a title match. The first fall had some tremendous crowd heat as both men just went to war on the mat trying to stretch the other one in some weird angles that were awesome. Kevin would botch a reverse diving sunset flip off the middle rope on Garvin to win but he covered it up by wrapping his body around Garvin for the pinfall. The second fall continues the matwork battle with Kevin in control this time including a cool spot where Garvin tried the MUGA headscissors counter but Kevin dropped Garvin on his head with his legs as he tried to power out. Garvin was great selling the pain here as Kevin just kept wrenching it in keeping control but when he tried his running body press, Garvin got his legs up and Kevin hit throat first allowing Garvin to get the pin to even the falls. Garvin starts the third fall kicking Kevin around the ring before Michael Hayes finally shows up wondering what the hell is going on in the ring. Garvin gets distracted by this as he explains that he took Hayes’ place and as this happens, Kevin recovers and gets back to his feet as Hayes is angered. Kevin then goes on the offensive and hits Garvin with a dropkick sending him over the top rope to the floor before grabbing Sunshine and pulling her into the ring where he starts spanking her. Garvin uses this as an opportunity to jump off the top rope with a double axehandle on Kevin to get the pin and win the title. This was great stuff and a slam dunk nomination. Hayes is cutting a promo after the match whining about being late due to airplane issues before Garvin comes out with Hayes saying that he could’ve been champion too if Garvin won it. David Manning then shows up and overturns the referee’s decision of course and yet another title was held up in a Garvin match. Garvin was completely incensed at this as Hayes says what about his shot at the title. This was fantastic stuff. The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy & Michael Hayes) vs. Iceman King Parsons & David Von Erich (7/18/83) Iceman is the vocal point of this match as the Birds hate him for taking Roberts’ hair and they try to destroy him early on but he would get a tag to David who would then eat offense from the Birds including a neat upside-down bearhug by Gordy. David would counter that with a claw to the stomach but Hayes would tag in to break that up before David would get to Iceman who would clean house. Iceman had Hayes reeling but missed a cross body block allowing Gordy to tag in to resume the control before making a really quick tag to Hayes that would backfire. Iceman would reverse Hayes into an O’Connor Roll to get the win in a flash finish. I liked this one but it falls just short of a nomination. Bruiser Brody vs. Kamala (7/4/83) This is what you would expect from these two as they just beat on each other with punches and slaps with Brody getting bloodied very early in the match. The crowd is nuts for everything here especially Brody’s comeback as he was the first to take Kamala to his knees here then to his back which the crowd went apeshit for. Brody then went for Friday as Kamala recovered and started back pounding on him and David Manning for good measure. The war continues with Manning taking more punishment and he would call for a DDQ. This isn’t a nomination but it is a definite extra as this was an awesome brawl. Decision Match for the vacant American Heavyweight Title: “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich (7/25/83) This is a one-fall match instead of the 2 out of 3 falls from the week before. This picked up where the previous match left off as they did go to the mat but it wasn’t as long this time and the match as a whole had a faster pace. Kevin used his body scissors here to weaken Garvin and to keep him grounded but Garvin would eventually rake his eyes to get free. The match then became more of a brawl with both men roughhousing that favored Garvin’s style and he would take the advantage. They told a great story here of how Garvin was so desperate to win a title after being part of controversies regarding two different titles. Kevin would make his comeback and knocked Garvin around the ring like a pinball with Garvin trying to stay on the floor to stall for time. Kevin would lock on the iron claw from the ring to the floor bringing Garvin back in with Garvin juicing which really angered Sunshine who again became a distraction. She was thrown into the ring and was tied up with Manning as Kevin tried to go up top to finish off Garvin but he would get sprayed in the eyes allowing Garvin to hook an inside cradle to win the title. I really liked this one and almost as much as the previous one because this was a different monster as you had more brawling and blood from Garvin which was expected considering the circumstances from the previous week. Definite nomination. Garvin would then cut a promo the next week gloating over winning the title and this is extra material. The Freebirds would then come out for a promo and this was awesome as usual. Then we get clips of the match where David won the Texas title and got the services of Garvin & Sunshine for a day.
