Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes (Strap Match) (10:25)

 

This is a country whipping match with Brody in Kerry's corner and Gordy in Hayes'. Country whipping match is one of my favorite gimmick matches, and this is a great fucking country whipping match. Not very long, but it's got wall-to-wall action, with straps, fists, and feet flying everywhere. Bonus points for Gordy being an awesome second. Every time Hayes got the upper hand, he would be dancing around like a fool and riling up the fans. Slam dunk nomination.

 

Garvin & Freebirds Interview/ Brody & Kerry Attack (5:12)

 

Ain't nothing wrong with this.

 

Terry Gordy vs. David Von Erich (21:00)

 

2/3 falls for the Texas Heavyweight Title. The bulk of this match feels more like an All Japan title fight than a World Class one. Both guys are throwing bombs, and Gordy is heelish in the way most gaijin monsters are, but outside of the initial bit where Gordy attacks David as he's getting out of his jacket and an ending that involves Chris Adams and Buddy Roberts, the rules are largely adhered to. When you consider the whole Texas vs. Georgia dynamic of the feud, you really could say that David was your native champion with superior skill defending against the gaijin monster with superior power. It's an easy nomination, and a match I think will go over well with a lot of voters.

 

Bruiser Brody vs. Kimala (Lumberjack)

 

The best match they've had yet, and real close to getting a nomination from me. This is still Kamala's match, but Brody actually brings something more to the table than, say, Big John Studd would have in the same situation. He's bleeding practically from the word "go", throws nice looking offense, and sells Kamala's mid-match heart claw like a champ. This ends with Brody winning via DQ when the heel lumberjacks gang up on him, which sort of rubbed me the wrong way, but I think I could still be persuaded to nominate this match. Then again, not sure anyone else would like this match as much as I did, so who knows?

 

Buddy Roberts vs. Iceman King Parsons

 

Both men are wearing (potentially loaded) helmets in this match. Like the other matches, it's plenty stiff. Roberts gets the advantage and tears off Parsons' helmet, leaving him vulnerable to hard kicks and forearms. Plus he drops his own loaded helmet across Parsons' back a bunch of times. His attempts to deliver the knockout blow to Parsons' head fail, and he bounces his head off of the turnbuckle and mat a couple of times before Parsons takes over, rips off Roberts' helmet and wig, decisively proving him bald (though it had been done a couple of times before), puts it on, and uses it to deliver a nasty Duggan-style spear off the second rope to win the match and the feud. A great way to blow off one of my favorite feuds on these discs so far. Slam dunk nomination.

 

Chris Adams vs. Jimmy Garvin

 

This is for Adams' "Beat the Champ" TV Title. If Adams wins or draws, he'll be the first person ever to successfully defend the belt ten times consecutively, and will be awarded with a check for $5,000. I guess you could complain that in a 15 minute time limit match where a draw is good enough for Adams, Garvin should be fighting more aggressively. This match is spent mostly on the mat, but at least it's good matwork. Garvin isn't quite The Destroyer when it comes to heeling it up on the mat, but he holds up his end of the match well. Adams is pretty fun on the mat. He has this one spot where he gets Garvin in an Indian deathlock, and then pushes himself up off the mat and splashes Garvin's legs. Garvin sells like a champ. He regains control and does these kneedrops that look totally dead-legged. It's not until the last two minutes that Garvin really starts getting desperate for the win. That's when Sunshine crotches Adams on the top rope behind the ref's back. Adams kicking out almost had me jumping out of me seat. Adams manages to hold Garvin to a time limit draw, but Garvin blasts him with his American Title after the bell and busts him open. Awesome match from two of the best World Class had to offer. Easy nomination.

 

 

Interview w/ Jimmy Garvin, Sunshine & introducing Precious

 

Famous angle that I'm sure will find a spot as an extra.

 

Bruiser Brody vs. Michael Hayes

 

This is the Brody that I know and...um...know. Not that he should be selling much for Hayes, mind you, but it's not a great match or anything. Post-match brawl with Kerry, Gordy, and others is a bit more interesting.

 

Jimmy Garvin vs. David Von Erich (Kimala interferes)

 

This was good, then Kamala interfered. That was good too, though, so it's all cool.

 

Harley Race vs. Iceman King Parsons (22:37)

 

OK, this is a match that could end up being divisive. There are at least two spots based on Iceman having an invincible head because he's black. If you've been desensitized to racism in wrestling as much as I have, him popping up from a Harley Race falling headbutt while Race stays down probably won't bug you too much. Him no-selling the post shot could start some trouble. It's a well-executed comedy spot - Race posts him, turns around to jawjack with David Von Erich (who's accompanied Parsons to ringside), David points behind him, Race turns around and eats a nasty headbutt from Parsons. But it's still Parsons no-selling a posting. It's especially baffling in the context of the rest of Parsons' work, where he really has never been shown to have an invincible head, and his big feud with Roberts showed him getting hit in the head with Roberts' loaded headgear to be an instant knockout. So Roberts was loading his headgear with something harder than the ringpost? But those are just the two spots where it's clearly supposed to be Parsons having an invincible head. Later in the match, we revisit the Great Harley Race Controversy of 2008 ™, with a spot where Race brainbusts Iceman on the concrete. Iceman staggers to his feet pretty quickly, and makes it back to the ring much sooner than Race did on his two teased countouts in this match, which came off of much tamer moves. Is this Race making his opponent undersell a devastating move ala his piledriver on the concrete to Koko? Or does the combination of Parsons' invincible head and his post-brainbuster grogginess mean he's selling accumulated damage? Or does none of this matter because Parsons never had an invincible head before this match, his most prominent feud hinged to a large degree on his lack of an invincible head, and thus all of this is ridiculous?

 

Or, do you choose to look at this as I do, decide the match was more fun than all but a handful of matches I've watched so far, and let the inconsistencies slide? Yeah, some of those inconsistencies are pretty big when put into context, and I wouldn't blame anyone for not being able to get into the match because of them Problem is, they hooked me from the word go. The pre-match stuff where "We Are Family" starts playing and Race starts bitching that he "came here to wrestle, not to dance", and then he sees that David has come to the ring with Parsons and almost gets into a fight with him before the match starts. Race is pissed about the whole thing. He chews out David Manning because David shouldn't be allowed out here, then complains that Manning shouldn't be out there because he "intentionally" hit him in a previous match. I can't put my finger on why, but David Manning is quickly becoming one of my favorite referees ever. He clearly does not want to deal with Race's bullshit, but is determined to call the match right down the middle. When Parsons kisses the NWA Title, Race has had enough and jumps him, and shit's on. I know a thing or two about wrestling history. I know Iceman King Parsons was never NWA champion. The fact that I'm pulling for him to win the title in a match that happened before I was born suggests that these guys were doing something right. Even Bill Mercer delivers on commentary. He keeps track of how many nearfalls Parsons gets on Race, which really hammers home how close he is to becoming the first black NWA champion. And the crowd is right behind him, too. The aforementioned teased countouts of Race were some of the loudest "crowd counts along with the action" segments I've ever heard. The finish was about as good as a Dusty finish gets. A down-and-out Race smacks David, goading him into hitting him back, which sends him careening backwards, and Iceman hits him with the Butt Butt like he was shot out of a cannon to get the pin, but Bronko Lubich was working on the outside, saw what happened, and Race wins by DQ. So much fun. Not everyone will like it as much as I did, but I'd be lying to myself if I didn't nominate it.

Again I'll be hitting on bouts I haven't viewed.

 

 

Bruiser Brody vs. Kimala (Lumberjack)

 

I thought this was a fun brawl with both men doing some fun brawling. I'll give this a low end nomination.

 

Buddy Roberts vs. Iceman King Parsons

 

 

I've liked this feud throughout the discs, With that said this was another solid bout between the 2. It still felt like something was missing. I'm going to vote no.

 

 

Chris Adams vs. Jimmy Garvin

 

This was all sorts of awesome that I see as a top 10-20 spot. Nomination.

Again I'll be hitting on bouts I haven't viewed.

 

 

Bruiser Brody vs. Kimala (Lumberjack)

 

I thought this was a fun brawl with both men doing some fun brawling. I'll give this a low end nomination.

 

Buddy Roberts vs. Iceman King Parsons

 

 

I've liked this feud throughout the discs, With that said this was another solid bout between the 2. It still felt like something was missing. I'm going to vote no.

 

 

Chris Adams vs. Jimmy Garvin

 

This was all sorts of awesome that I see as a top 10-20 spot. Nomination.

Country Whipping Match: "Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes (9/5/83)

 

This is from the big Labor Day card in Fort Worth and this is one of the original whipping matches. Brody & Gordy are at ringside basically working as lumberjacks throwing their enemies back in the ring. These two just beat the fuck out of each other with the belts and their fists at a rapid pace with the fans going bonkers. Brody & Gordy would get involved at the end and the finishing sequence was great. There is a wild brawl afterwards including the debut of the ORIENTAL SPIKE!!! Definite nomination.

 

Then we get a fantastic promo by Garvin & the Birds about what just happened before Brody would come back to clean house.

 

2 out of 3 falls for the Texas Heavyweight Title: David Von Erich © vs. Terry Gordy (9/5/83)

 

Gordy goes nuts on David at the bell and you can tell that this is going to be another war between the families. There was a ton of hatred being shown here by both men and they were beating the hell out of each other. Great back and forth action with Gordy using his new Oriental Spike to take care of David to win the 2nd fall. The stuff with Chris Adams & Roberts was fine as it built up Adams as a player in the feud and set up the finish which we didn't get to see the full finish only DVE schoolboying Gordy for the win. This was still awesome though and a definite nomination.

 

Lumberjack Match: Bruiser Brody vs. Kamala (9/5/83)

 

This again is a war from the bell which was expected from these two. Brody juices early and often and it's funny seeing a very young John Tatum as a lumberjack. Kamala was awesome here bumping and selling for Brody and these two really meshed well together as Brody had experience with Abby but Kamala was more athletic at this time. The crowd was really hot for Brody here especially when he made his comeback. The finish was screwy as Brody would get his ass kicked by the heel lumberjacks forcing a DQ but this was a Brody match so DQ's are the norm. The finish didn't bother me at all and I think this deserves a nomination for the blood and hatred.

 

Iceman King Parsons vs. Buddy Roberts (9/5/83)

 

Both men are wearing headgear here and this is looking like the blowoff match of the feud. This was a solid hard hitting match with both men just pounding each other with Roberts doing whatever he could to get the headgear off Iceman which he would succeed in doing. Roberts would miss with some headbutts in the corner allowing Iceman to regain his senses enough to move out of the way of a diving headbutt off the middle rope by Buddy. Roberts wasn't fazed though and continued to use his headgear on Iceman's hands as he blocked a shot and his back before missing another diving headbutt off the top rope. Iceman would then make his comeback and ripped off Buddy's headgear revealing the bald head again. Iceman then put on Buddy's headgear and nailed him hard with a diving headbutt off the middle rope to get the win. This was really fun and is a solid nomination.

 

Beat the Champ TV Title: "Gentleman" Chris Adams © vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (9/12/83)

 

Adams has already taken Garvin to a draw for the American title in Dallas so this is the rematch but this time for Adams' title which is a cool concept. Adams is in his 10th week as the champion getting $500 for every week and this match is for $5,000 so it adds more to this. Some good matwork to start this with both men looking good especially Adams but Garvin hung with him selling for Adams quite well. Garvin would soon gain control and became more aggressive in his offense with Adams returning the favor on his comeback before jacking his jaw with a Superkick with 2 minutes left. Adams would climb up top but Sunshine would trip him up allowing Garvin to go for the pin but Adams would kick out. Garvin would hit a nice gutwrench suplex for a nearfall and kept trying to get the win in the last minute which was a nice touch as Adams was doing the same thing in their earlier match but time would run out with Adams surviving to keep his title and $5,000. Garvin would attack him after the match of course and nailed him with the belt forcing some juice and really heating up this angle. Great match and a definite nomination.

 

Garvin then has Sunshine Appreciation Night on the next week's show giving her gifts including her own personal valet who was Precious. 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 with Gordy using 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.

 

David Von Erich vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (10/7/83)

 

Adams comes out before the match demanding that Garvin put up the title against him with Garvin brushing him off. There is still hatred here between these guys from months ago but both have moved on to other feuds so it's not as heated as before. Garvin had David in a headlock when Akbar & Kamala showed up and Kamala just jumped in the ring pounding on David for the DQ but David would get the iron claw on Kamala with Kamala showing fear for the first time.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race © vs. Iceman King Parsons (10/7/83)

 

Fun seeing a non Von Erich get a title shot especially Iceman although David was in his corner. Harley was great before the match being a grumpy old fuck due to Iceman having entrance music then David Manning being the referee and DVE being at ringside. This was a textbook touring NWA champion Race vs. territory babyface style match as it made you feel like Iceman could get the win on any nearfall. The stuff with the headbutts was fine as Harley loved to use his head and when he wrestled a black guy it would always backfire. Both men were great in their roles here and the fans were smoking hot for Iceman as they thought he could win the title. Harley broke out the brainbuster on the floor that Iceman would get up from pretty quickly trying to put him away but Iceman's head was hard you know and it didn't phase him as much. Harley would soon try a piledriver on the floor but Iceman would counter that with a backdrop. Of course David would get baited to hit Race which Bronko Lubich saw on the floor that led to Race eating the Butt Butt by Iceman with David Manning counting the pinfall. Lubich then tells Manning of this and Iceman loses by DQ as DVE protests. This was a blast and this is a easy nomination.