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.

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.

This was on 24/7 so I figured I would play tie breaker. I am with Kris here, the wrestling here was really good shit, with all six guys looking awesome. I was especially digging the Iceman, and Gordy was a beast. I also really enjoyed the penalty box, as they used the gimmick well. Cool post match beatdown too, this should make a set.

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.

 

[Romdam 17]

I agree that the penalty box match stips didn't mean as much here, especially early on where Kerry was FIP even though hayes was in the box. I enjoyed the match but it isn't something i would fight for. As it is, I would call it a low-level nomination and would not be opposed if someone picked it as a specialty pick.