Posted November 9, 200817 yr comment_5435646 Fritz Von Erich interview interrupted by Michael Hayes (6:40) Fritz announces that he'll be teaming with his sons in the Badstreet match at Parade of Champions by punching Hayes in the face. Might be an extra. Chris Adams vs. Super Destroyer 1 I'm drawing a blank on this match, which is unfortunate, because I really like these two. Apparently, Super D #2 has been unmasked by this point, and Super D #1 almost suffers the same fate here. Probably good, but not nomination worthy. Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams & Mike Von Erich Penalty box match, where the valets can get thrown in the box as well. And they do. Repeatedly. Precious in particular seems to spend more time in the box than she does outside of it. She really puts on a great performance here. She always comes off as such a brat. Loved it when she tripped up Adams and started strutting around at ringside and taunting the fans, only for David Manning to walk up to her and throw her in the box. She and Garvin were really the stars of this match, though Hayes, Adams, and Sunshine all came up big as well. Mike stunk, but was forgivable in the grand scheme of things. This was a really wild, chaotic, action-packed match, and I had a lot of fun with it. I think it's an easy nomination. Kerry Von Erich vs. Jimmy Garvin (4:24) To short to be anything. Killer Khan vs. Johnny Mantel Finally, the epic return of Killer Khan to the 80's project, although this wasn't anything special. Maybe worthy as an extra for the pre-match promo where Gordy talks about Khan taking him up to the mountain top to learn the Oriental Spike. Although.... Freebirds, Garvin & Killer Khan Interview ....this accomplishes the same and then some. Definite extra material right here. Kimala vs. Terry Gordy (10:38) Not what I hoped for from these two. Ric Flair vs. Michael Hayes (10:00) Talk about your unorthodox matches. Flair is in World Class without the NWA Title, with Missing Link providing backup against Buddy Roberts in Hayes' corner, and he's ostensibly the babyface in this match. Meanwhile, alleged bad worker Hayes looks like the superior wrestler in this match, really laying in a beating on the ex-champ. Not to mention the whole "Flair can only wrestle one type of match" thing gets thrown right out the window, as Hayes spends most of the match beating on Flair, and Flair spends most of the match selling. Plus Flair busts out a Hotshot variant. Pretty much every heel in World Class does some kind of Hotshot, but never seen Flair do one. Anyway, this is a bit short and has a screwy finish, but fuck it, it was a lot of fun, and certainly a unique match in the canons of both men. I'll toss it up as a low-level nomination and see where it goes. Chris Adams vs. Killer Khan Their Mid-South match this wasn't. Jimmy Garvin vs. Mike Von Erich Nothing match, notable only for the debut of Stella Mae French. That might belong as an extra. Nothing else here does. Kevin Von Erich vs. Killer Khan (Kevin attacks Gordy so the match never starts) (6:10) Very disappointing. Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich (World Title Match) (20:00) "Now there's something you don't see everyday, Chauncey." "What's that, Edgar?" "A local babyface as NWA champion defending the belt against a top local heel." "Well, I suppose it's nice to have a change of pace every now and then." The territorial system was not designed for long-term babyface NWA champions. Hindsight being 20/20, that system needed a major overhaul if it was going to compete with the WWF's national expansion and the rise of Hulkamania. Kerry might have been just the man for the job in that case. As it were, this is a pretty great example of what could have been - an awesome title fight with an epic feel, where challenger Gordy wasn't afraid to lay in a full-force Gordy beating, and babyface champ Kerry sold well and gutted it out in spectacular fashion. No Hulk-Ups here. When Kerry kicks out of the piledriver, it feels like a last ditch effort to hold onto his belt against an overpowering challenger. He retains it after rolling through a Gordy top-rope crossbody, which looked less than smooth and less than convincing, and was the one beef I had with this match. Still, I think it's an easy nomination. Chris Adams & Stella Mae Interview (Bleep bleep bleep) Easy nomination as an extra. I've often said that wrestling has been missing the boat by not having any crotchety old Jewish women managers. I don't suppose Stella Mae is a chosen person, but I still think this supports my hypothesis nicely.
October 1, 200916 yr comment_5444724 Chris Adams vs. Super Destroyer 1 I thought this was a good solid bout. The wrestlers told a good story in the bout. Adams was suberb in going after the arm. The Fujiwara was neat. Super D took the Bret Hart corner bump at 1/2 the speed Bret would take it. I liked the bout if Super D had more charisma we might have a nom. It falls short here though. Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams & Mike Von Erich Just a fun filled 80's cool bout. This is territory wrestling. Nomination Kerry Von Erich vs. Jimmy Garvin No time is alloted. Killer Khan vs. Johnny Mantel Nothing of note Kimala vs. Terry Gordy Kinda fun, but that's about it. Chris Adams vs. Killer Khan Solid All the other bouts I've reviewed or didn't think it deserved mentioning.
December 7, 200916 yr comment_5446236 Fritz cuts a promo from Fort Worth on 4/16/84 where he announces that he is coming out of retirement for one night only to take on the Freebirds at Texas Stadium on 5/6/84. Before the annoucement, Hayes comes out to interrupt him and asks Fritz if Lance Von Erich is going to step in the match which is awesome since Lance Von Erich wouldn’t debut for another year and a half. Fritz beats on Michael of course and this is awesome. Slam dunk extra. Super Destroyer (Scott Irwin) vs. "Gentleman" Chris Adams (4/23/84) Adams comes out to Jump by Van Halen which is the first time I remember him having music. Adams spent the early part of this match working over Super D's left shoulder even breaking out a jujigatame before going to a wakigatame variation. Adams kept the advantage before eating a high kneelift allowing Super D to take over and he would be very aggressive using some good punches and just mauling Adams. Adams would fire back with some solid punches before going for the mask which bring Akbar up to the apron but nothing would happen as Super D broke free on his own. Adams would miss a diving body press off the top rope before getting up to meet a shot by Akbar with a foreign object allowing Super D to win. This was fine but nothing special. Penalty Box Match: "Gentleman" Chris Adams & Mike Von Erich vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes (4/16/84) Sure enough the valets get into a fight before the bell rings and they start in the box immediately so you can guess it will be wild between them two at least. Mike had taped up ribs so they got worked on of course and the box gimmick was great of course as you always had someone in there with sometimes 2 in there. The action was good even with Mike in there working injured no less. Hayes was great here taking punishment and just being Michael in general while Garvin & Adams brought the hatred and Adams just smacked Garvin with two Superkicks. I loved Hayes slamming the door on David Manning's face as they tried to keep Adams locked in but Sunshine would get the key to let him out in time to save Mike who would get Garvin in an inside cradle to win. This was great fun and a very easy nomination. "Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (4/30/84) Kerry is 6 days away from his destiny so he of course was going to get the superpush and he did by going over the American champion in less than 5 minutes. Decision Match for the vacant World Class TV Title: Killer Khan vs. Johnny Mantell (5/7/84) Khan makes his wrestling debut here after making his debut a day eariler at Texas Stadium. Mantell tries but gets destroyed and Khan wins the title after Kelly Kiniski no-showed this match. Then we get great promos by Garvin & Precious and the Freebirds and this is extra material. Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy vs. Kamala (4/2/84) I think this was the first singles match between these two and they started brawling at the bell but it wasn't long before Kamala took complete control. Kamala was slow and plodding but effective until Gordy started throwing bombs starting his comeback setting up the Oriental Spike which he would get. Akbar & Friday then jumped in for the DQ before Hayes showed up for a wild brawl. I loved the Freebirds as faces and this was very fun. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair vs. Michael Hayes (5/7/84) This is the second time that Flair worked against Hayes in a singles match but the first time in Texas. Flair brings out Missing Link to be his backup against Buddy which is funny since Flair used Link as backup not too long earlier against Harley Race in Kansas City. Flair is the babyface here which is interesting because the Freebirds were getting cheered against Devastation Inc. Both men threw some really good punches here and Hayes were really aggressive working over Flair who juices from an old cut. Flair makes a comeback and it’s great watching him to his babyface schtick in Texas with Hayes selling his ass off. After some good hard hitting action, Link & Buddy would jump in the ring causing David Manning to call for the DDQ, which had to be expected. The fans were going apeshit for this though as Flair was eating it up. This was a lot of fun and even with the screwy finish I think this deserves to be on the block. World Class TV Title: Killer Khan © vs. "Gentleman" Chris Adams (5/14/84) Khan would work over Adams good early but as he tried to come back Gordy jumped on the apron where he would eat a Superkick, so Gordy would jump in for the DQ and they doubled up on Adams until the faces made the save. Mike Von Erich vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (5/14/84) This match was nothing but a backdrop for the debut of the god awful Stella Mae French who came for revenge for the heels injuring Sunshine in San Antonio days earlier. God damn I hated Stella Mae. World Class TV Title: Killer Khan © vs. Kevin Von Erich (5/21/84) Gordy is with Khan of course so you can guess what the finish might be after they brawl at the start of the match which actually wasn't even a match. NWA World Heavyweight Title: “Modern Day Warrior” Kerry Von Erich © vs. Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy (5/7/84) Here is a rare Kerry title defense and it’s great to see it against the best of the Freebirds. Kerry coming out to Yellow Rose of Texas by Tanya Tucker in honor of David is tremendous and it’s like a conquering hero coming home. These two had a history of having some damn good matches but this one was for the big one so it gave it an even more epic feel thus forcing both men to work even harder to deliver which they did. Everything was on point here as both men were awesome on the offensive and selling the beatings that the other was giving them. I will agree about Bronko Lubich here not being good as he counted to three one time very clearly but nothing was said about it and both guys kept working at a fierce pace. As the match went on it became more high-end and these guys were putting it all on the line here for a rabid crowd. The finish was really good too as it wasn’t a finishing hold that won the match but Kerry being the smarter wrestler and rolling through a Gordy cross body block off the top rope. This is a slam dunk nomination. Next we get a promo by Adams & Stella Mae and this is a definite extra as she gets bleeped on numerous occasions.
