Posted September 12, 200817 yr comment_5434513 int: Skandar Akbar 1. Kamala vs BIll Rathke Squash int: Kevin Von Erich 2. Kevin Von Erich vs Terry Gordy I dug how Terry Gordy worked over Kevin's leg. Then when Kevin got the advantage he did some payback spots on Gordy's leg. A neat Lucha flip from Kevin where he landed on his feet. I dig Kevin on the mat. The work comes across as a battle as opposed to a work. This was worked as a title match style where both men looked good. The finish seemed a tad off, but overall I thought the work on the mat makes this a mild nomination for me. int: Freebirds 3. Jimmy Garvin vs Chavo Guerrero Guerrero has some great gear here. Guerrero is just rapid fire with dropkicks and the head scissors. Guerrero was great working over Garvin's neck. Guerrero's offense was high end. Garvin as a base for Guerrero was fine. His rudo work was well done. Overall I liked it. I'm going to pass on a nomination though. It was just a tad bit one sided for me. int: Jimmy Garvin 4. Kamala vs BIll Rathke + Roberto Renesto squash. int: Skandar Akbar 5. Michael Hayes + Terry Gordy vs David Von Erich + Iceman Parsons This was all right. Just not nomination material. 6. Kamala vs Tollah Yatsu Just nothing to it. - Skandar Akbar promo 7. Freebirds vs Kerry Von Erich, Iceman Parsons, + Chavo Guerrero - penalty box match Guerrero is so state of the art as a worker. The Guerrero/Gordy shoulder block spot was neat. This was good stuff, but the gimmick hurt the match for me. I thought the Freebirds looked great but the match seemed to drag in spots. Overall, it falls short of a nomination. 8. Chris Adams squash int: Bill Mercer w/ Chris Adams having tea Adam's doesn't seem too comfortable here. 9. Kamala vs Jose Lothario 10. Iceman Parsons vs Buddy Roberts - Freebirds cut Iceman's hair I thought this was a well worked match. Both wrestlers looked good in a give and take match. That dropkick that Roberts gave Ice in the beginning moments looked stiff as hell. I dug the spot where Ice gave Roberts a dropkick to the back of head and Roberts took a big header bump into the ring post. I thought the finish was the shits but the angle at the end heated up the feud so I was fine with it. The match with the angle makes this a keeper so I'm nominating it.
September 19, 200817 yr comment_5434697 Kamala vs. Bill Rathke (4/15/83) This is Kamala’s TV debut and I love how Kamala has to come through the side entrance because he can’t be in a locker room. Total squash. Mercer has a sit-down with Kevin Von Erich about the status of his career at the moment. American Heavyweight Title: Kevin Von Erich © vs. Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy (4/15/83) I loved the early work on the leg here by both men with Gordy keying on Kevin’s left leg keeping him grounded and trying to take out his aerial game. Kevin would then get the advantage going after Gordy’s left leg and did it relentlessly. Gordy would put up his knees though as Kevin tried a body press that would catch Kevin in the ribs and sent him to the floor. Gordy then started aggressively beating on Kevin but he would sneak in a claw hold that Gordy would get out of but then Kevin would reverse a slam and dropped Gordy throat first on the top rope. Kevin would then put the claw back on Gordy as Hayes comes down to ringside. Kevin would eventually get Gordy up for a slam with Hayes grabbing Kevin’s foot but Kevin would turn it the other way and hit a turning powerslam on Gordy, which probably wasn’t supposed to happen. Both men would then start throwing bombs before Gordy tried another slam on Kevin who would then hit a sloppy inside cradle for a nearfall as the match is breaking down. Kevin would pick Gordy up again by the ropes allowing Hayes to finally get his spot right tripping up Kevin with Gordy falling back on him but Kevin tucked under and got the pin himself. The crowd goes nuts but this finish was really sloppy. I still think the work deserves consideration for a nomination. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin vs. Chavo Guerrero (4/15/83) Chavo is making his TV debut here and looked awesome here with Garvin being a really good opponent for him. This actually had more lucha style work than I expected and it worked fine. I think we had some clipping here in fact I’m pretty certain since they went to a time limit draw. Good stuff. Handicap Match: Kamala vs. Bill Rathke & Roberto Renesto (Tom Branch) (4/15/83) Squash. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts) vs. Iceman King Parsons & David Von Erich (4/15/83) I FUCKING love the theme the faces use here as they come out to Fire & Ice by Pat Benatar, whoever thought of using that for this team who were matching tights by the way is great. Garvin & Sunshine are at ringside to get on David’s nerves. The crowd is molten for this match and they get a good show here to start as Iceman & Buddy have some good exchanges in the ring with Iceman throwing some great dropkicks. Hayes would then come in and both Birds just bump all over the place for Iceman & David. David would eventually get the claw on Hayes which would set off a 4-way brawl that would end up with a double collision by the Birds but as Hayes fell back he knocked David over the top rope to the floor. Garvin would then distract David and hit him with his video camera leaving Iceman alone but Hayes would roll David back in the ring and got the pin as Iceman is preoccupied with Roberts. I loved the finish here and this was a very fun match that should go on the block. Kamala vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu (4/29/83) This was the big match they’ve been building to for weeks and it was pretty sucky although it does have Kamala getting the face pops. This ends in a DDQ as Kamala brings Hussein in the ring and destroys everyone. Penalty Box Match: Chavo Guerrero, Iceman King Parsons, & “Modern Day Warrior” Kerry Von Erich vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy, Michael Hayes, & Buddy Roberts) (4/29/83) Quite the interesting face team there. Birds were awesome here at everything and I loved Gordy’s exchanges with Kerry & Chavo as he was bumping all over the ring for them. Hayes would avoid Kerry early on but when he made it in there the crowd would go nuts as Hayes would use dirty tactics to keep Kerry at bay. Gordy was the first to go in the box because he hit Kerry from the apron and it took a while before someone went in for the first time and then Hayes would soon join him in the box together which made a cool visual. Roberts would be in alone and would get his ass kicked before his brothers rejoined him in the ring. Parsons would play FIP for a bit before getting the tag to Chavo who would come in blazing working over Gordy. Kerry would have to go in the box because he held Gordy in the ropes leading to Chavo getting worked over by the Birds which led to Buddy going in the box. Chavo would flip around the ring finally getting the hot tag to Kerry who was out of the box and he started throwing bombs on both Gordy & Hayes. Gordy would catch Kerry in the midsection though with a knee leading to the Birds pounding on Kerry this time. Hayes would taunt Iceman forcing him to enter the ring so he could go into the penalty box as Gordy gives Kerry a nice looking fireman’s carry slam. Kerry was great as the FIP here taking punishment and selling the fact he needed a tag hard. After a kick to the midsection of Roberts, Kerry would tag in Chavo, which led to Kerry & Hayes going at it in the ring as Parsons starts slapping Buddy’s chest. Kerry & Hayes get thrown in the box with Chavo soon joining Kerry as he tried to help Iceman. Iceman again gets worked over but as Gordy tries to slam him, Iceman counters into an inside cradle to get the win in a shocking fashion. The brawl would then continue after the match with Kerry eating a spike piledriver by the Birds. I loved this match and to me it’s an easy nomination as the penalty box was a very cool gimmick that really worked here. Gentleman Chris Adams vs. Butcher Vachon (4/29/83) Adams looks great here. Mercer then has tea with Chris Adams as this is his introduction to the fans and was okay. Kamala vs. “Supersock” Jose Lothario (4/29/83) Jose has no chance here. Iceman King Roberts vs. Buddy Roberts (4/29/83) This was a lot of fun with both men working their butts off and Roberts pinballing for Iceman. Roberts gets some offense in with some good back and forth action but it’s mainly Iceman on the attack which was good. Hayes would run in for the DQ as the mission was to cut Ice’s hair and it would take all the Birds to do the job. I agree with shoe here regarding the reason why it should be on the block so I’m co-signing.
November 10, 200916 yr comment_5445748 int: Kevin Von Erich Kevin is definitely one of those guys whose micwork may be less than eloquent, but who can still convey his ideas and emotions in such a way that it connects with you. This probably isn't extra material, but I like Kev's sincerity here, talking about his frustration with the outcome of his match with Flair while in the same breath acknowledging that Bronko Lubich made the right call. Kevin Von Erich vs Terry Gordy There will be a million Kevin/Gordy matches on this set, but it is such a good match-up, I don't see a problem with throwing this one on, too. Jimmy Garvin vs Chavo Guerrero It was a bit one-sided, and some of Chavo's stuff looked semi-blown, but most of it looked great and Garvin was the man as always. I agree that it falls short of a nomination. Michael Hayes + Buddy Roberts vs David Von Erich + Iceman Parsons Solid bout. This just didn't grab me the way I hoped it would. Kamala vs Tollah Yatsu Awwww, you guys are heartless! This was a total blast. Kamala was an absolute killing machine here. I loved how Hussein kept distracting him with the whistle, but he eventually paid for it, leading to a finish were all hell broke loose. This really should go on as an extra. Skandar Akbar promo It has been cool seeing Akbar's early, more serious promos, but now he is starting to go more into the more over-the-top comical direction that I'm used to from him. His tone of voice is still fairly serious, but he starts talking about how an unnamed babyface has offended The Mongol with his haircut (since The Mongol's haircut is SERIOUS BUSINESS that represents what an awesome warrior he is), and concludes by telling various babyfaces and Hussein's gang that their time is running out while holding up a giant hourglass. This should go on as another fine extra for Devastation Inc. Freebirds vs Kerry Von Erich, Iceman Parsons, + Chavo Guerrero - penalty box match I am digging the penalty box match, but I think having a penalty box six-man is kind of a double-edged sword. Guys getting thrown in the box and leaving things 3-on-2 doesn't have quite the same impact as straight tags where guys get thrown in the box leaves it 2-on-1. On the other hand, we do get plenty of moments where things are 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 that give us the cool visual of two guys being stuffed in the same box. Either way, the work here is good enough on it's own to move this forward, and the gimmick is used pretty well, although Mike/Adams vs. Hayes/Garvin is probably still the Citizen Kane of penalty box matches. Chris Adams squash Five minutes cut out, has a dumb finish where Adams puts Vachon's arm around his leg so he can grab a single-leg and set up an enzuigiri. int: Bill Mercer w/ Chris Adams having tea Interesting. I don't think Adams was really uncomfortable here, he was just doing more of a straightforward, realistic style of interview instead of cutting a wrestling promo. This made the ending bit where he hyped up his feud with The Mongol sound odd, but it worked well for the bulk of the interview where he talked about his career to this point, his accomplishments thus far in wrestling worldwide, and his general impression of the World Class scene. It's probably not an extra. Iceman Parsons vs Buddy Roberts - Freebirds cut Iceman's hair This is the first great match between two guys who would have a lot of great matches against each other, and it concludes with the angle that would set the tone for the rest of their feud. It definitely goes forward.
