“Gentleman” Chris Adams, Kevin & Lance Von Erich vs. Blackjack Mulligan, The Great Kabuki, & “Ravishing” Rick Rude (6/13/86)

 

Kevin & Rude started early and Kevin just murdered him with a dropkick with Rude looking pretty dazed and tagging right out to Kabuki. Bill Mercer calling Lance “superbly handsome” was pretty creepy. Adams would take some shots from Mulligan and a groggy Rude before tagging in Kevin who Rude immediately rammed his head into a turnbuckle very hard. Kevin & Mulligan would then try to put the claw on each other but Kevin would snap another sniff dropkick on Mulligan’s head. Rude would continue to work really stiff on guys especially Lance who was supposed to duck under a clothesline but Rude nailed him on the top of his head. Adams would come back in and they kept pounding on Rude before it broke out into a 6-way brawl. Kevin would try to put the claw on Mulligan but he backdropped him over the top rope for the DQ. Kevin would get his revenge though with a fucking huge flying dropkick off the top rope on Mulligan before the heels got out. Bad finish but a damn good match and I think this is a fairly easy nomination.

Chris Adams, Kevin + Lance Von Erich vs Rick Rude, Kabuki, + Blackjack Mulligan

 

This was alright. It just falls short of a nomination.

This probably would've worked better as a Kevin/Adams vs. Rude/Mulligan tag, as Lance and Kabuki didn't really add anything to the match, but they didn't detract from it, either, so I can't complain. This was great from the word "go", as Kevin and Rude were looking really fired up. Loved the way Rude seemed to shoot in to grab the drop toe hold before Kev came back with the big dropkick. Kevin is a guy with a really sweet dropkick, and he throws three great ones in this baby. Mulligan put on a lot of weight, and is looking eerily like late-90's Hansen, only somehow even more broken down. Still, he is pretty game for this, and he does his best with what little he can do. He sort of works like Pierroth here, as he is a really broken down old guy who apparently can't bump anymore, so he has to find other ways to get over his opponents. I don't think he does it as well as Pierroth, as Pierroth could actually bump a little, and his slumping against the ropes and into the corner generally worked better than Blackjack being staggered by his opponents offense while making faces like the boxers in Punch-Out!! whenever Little Mac pops them one. Also, Blackjack's brawling wasn't so hot, kinda felt like he needed to be wearing jeans to the match so he could hit people with his belt like Pierroth. Still, I did like his funny face selling, and his brawling wasn't terrible. Sure, the littlest big boot was odd, but he made up for it with a nice leaping (sort of) back elbow. Rude really carried the day for his team, and I thought he was the star of the match. Now that I think about it, Lance did add one cool thing here, as he and Rude were going to do a missed clothesline spot to transition Lance to offense, but it got blown, and lance took it on the forehead. It was botch, but it was a good looking botch, and they improvised an even better transition where Lance blocked a Rude vertical suplex and hit one of his own that almost looked like a deadlift. So five guys came to play, and Kabuki didn't do anything wrong. Even with the DQ finish, this was a hell of a bout, maybe even a top 20 pick. I second the nomination.

Shoe, rewatch this or elaborate on your thoughts. With Kris and SLL both calling this a strong pick, I need more than "This is alright"

Rick Rude, Blackjack Mulligan & Kabuki vs. Chris Adams, Kevin & Lance Von Erich

- Very similar to the Fort Worth match but I think Mulligan brought this one down with his no selling. Thankfully, the other five were on fire. I liked the match but the Forth Worth match was stronger. If it was a choice between the two, I pick the one with the One Man Gang finish. Plus, this one had a shitty finish with Mulligan getting DQed after throwing Kevin over the top. Ironically, I am going with shoe on this one even though he didn't give a real reason. I also disagree with SLL on Kabuki. I think he is fine as a heel in these multi-man settings. It also hurts that I saw the same face team, the heels replace Mulligan with OMG and have a super satisfying finish to boot in the Ft. Worth match. No vote.