Posted December 17, 200816 yr comment_5436436 The Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Anything Goes Six-Man Tag) (10:35) Badstreet Match #2, talked about elsewhere. Gino Hernandez vs. Iceman King Parsons Good but not great match. Chris Adams vs. Jake The Snake Roberts (30:31) Actually two matches, both of which I nominated. Match 1: This is for Adams' Beat the Champ TV Title. Opening chain wrestling is OK, but then a downed Jake uppercuts Adams in the throat, and things get a bit more interesting. It's weird to watch this match in the context of every other Jake Roberts match I've ever seen, as he had apparently not yet discovered the DDT (or had discovered it and forgotten about it in a drugged-up stupor), so instead of the usual "keep going for the DDT" Jake formula, we get more of a "what will it take to put Adams away" formula, which is a good one to use in a match where time is at a premium, and something that Jake can also do pretty well. This almost goes the distance. Jake manages to fend off an Adams comeback by jamming a tightly-pulled length of tape against his throat. Adams ends up on the outside, and as he tries to get back in, Jake blasts him with a running kneelift. Adams gets his foot on the ropes at two , but Jake pulls it off before the referee can notice it, and wins the belt. Fun match and a solid nomination. Match 2: More greatness from these two. This is actually probably the slightly better match. Roberts is champ now, so the dynamic changes from "what will it take to put Adams away" to "what will it take to keep Adams from putting me away?", and so Roberts does a lot of stalling and begging off while Adams is all fired up on offense. Roberts also looks really good on the mat in the early chain wrestling sections, which was something I didn't know he could do. This has Gary Hart in Adams' corner as his special adviser, and he helps Adams cheat his way to victory, presumably foreshadowing his proper heel turn later on. Kerry Von Erich, Iceman King Parsons, & Skip Young vs. Butch Reed & The Pretty Young Things (2/3 falls) (24:42) OK, that's a bit of a misnomer, as Reed gets sent to the back after a great opening segment involving an arm-wrestling contest with Kerry and a sneak attack gone awry, and afterwords, Reed gets sent to the back, and Kerry opts to join him in the name of fair play, so it's actually a straight tag with Parsons and Young against the PYTs. This was a little borderline, because the ending kinda sucks, and after the opening part, you really want to see Reed and Kerry tie it up. Plus, if you watched the Mid-South set, you probably want to see Reed and Skip Young square off again. And Reed and Parsons, just because. I'm nominating it anyway because what we're left with is still an awesome, action-packed match. Really cool getting to see Parsons go up against Koko B. Ware. These are two guys with a lot in common on the surface level. At certain points earlier in the set, I was wondering to myself "why did Iceman never get a WWF run?", and then I'd remember "oh yeah, Koko". Figured WWF already filled their shuckin' and jivin' undersized black babyface quota, and while Iceman eventually turns heel, maybe they still thought it was too much of a redundancy. No matter. Important thing is I was excited that I'd be able to do a head-to-invincible-head comparison, and after one match-up, there's no clear winner. I hope they have a million more. Gino Hernandez vs. Mike Von Erich This features the first appearance of future Baby Doll Nicola Roberts, mowing down Stella Mae French as she tries to run in near the end of the match. Other than that...man, Mike Von Erich wasn't very good, was he? The Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Anything Goes Cage Match) (18:30) The third Badstreet match, this sans Mike until the very end, and also with elimination rules. Unfortunately, having this worked as an evenly contested handicap match for the most part seems to curtail the kind of chaotic nature that made the other matches work. I was underwhelmed by this. Gino Hernandez vs. Iceman King Parsons Another fun match between this two, but also not something I'd nominate.
October 17, 200916 yr comment_5445213 Gino Hernandez vs. Iceman King Parsons This was more of a set up to the Stella Mae/Hernandez feud with Nikola. Chris Adams vs. Jake The Snake Roberts This was a solid bout. I wanted to like this a lot since I like both workers. It just didn't seem to go anywhere. The work on the mat was dull. The bout seemed to lack a spark to it. I vote no on this one. Chris Adams vs. Jake The Snake Roberts This bout I liked better than the other one. I thought the mat work was fun here. The bout had a lot more energy than the other one. Plus roberts was great at being the Snake here.I also dug Hart's part at the finish which put Hart over as the difference maker for adams. This goes as a low to mid level nomination for me. I still expect more from these 2. Parsons/Sugar/Kerry Von Erich vs. Reed/Pyt's This is a 2 out of 3 fall bout. First we get a fun little piece of business with V.E and Reed doing an arm wrestling challenge. This was fun and Reed was great at selling his injury. This takes out Reed and KVE from the bout, and makes me want to see them in a bout. I thought the 1st fall was solid, but some of the timing seemed off a tad. Though the 1st fall lead to some great work from Ware on Sugar's neck in the 2nd fall. Plus I thought the 3rd fall was a ton of fun too. I'm on the fence on this bout. I'll give it a lukewarm nomination.. Gino Hernandez vs. Iceman King Parsons This didn't do it for me, but I would have loved to see Gino work Lawler in Memphis.
December 9, 200915 yr comment_5446278 "Handsome Halfbreed" Gino Hernandez vs. Iceman King Parsons (8/13/84) This was just a match before Stella Mae showed up to attack Gino. World Class TV Title: "Gentleman" Chris Adams © vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts (8/13/84) Finally we get some Jake. The matwork was sorta slow but I did like both men were trying to use the sleeper to weaken the other with Chris standing with his and Jake being on the mat with his being more effective. Jake really keeps Adams grounded before Adams makes a fiery comeback culminating into the Superkick which Jake sells like death but he kicks out at 1. Adams would then follow with another Superkick into the corner but Jake would pull off the tag rope and used to thrust Adams where he would follow with a high kneelift and it's at this moment where I think the finish was fucked up as Jake would cover but Adams got his foot on the rope prompting the match to continue with Adams being thrown to the floor looking confused. Adams then hopped up on the apron where he met another high kneelift with Jake pinning him again but this time out of the sight of the referee and pulling his leg off at the finish. This match was fine but not good enough for a nomination. World Class TV Title: Jake "The Snake" Roberts © vs. "Gentleman" Chris Adams (9/3/84) Gary Hart is now with Adams and Jake looks great on his knees with the belt over his shoulder. This started off way better than the previous match with the mat work being different and more aggressive. Jake was more like Jake here being a diabolical cocksucker smiling at Adams' pain and cheating to win pulling the hair and just roughhousing Adams. Adams would recover though and would go back to using the sleeper like the first match although grounded this time to take the advantage. Adams would miss a senton allowing Jake to recover and used a foreign object to punch Adams in the gut but Adams would counter by choking Jake with a rope before Jake would backdrop him over the top rope although Bronko Lubich never saw it. Jake continues to work on Adams getting a couple of nearfalls before Gary Hart distracted Jake causing him to go after him and for Adams to come back with a Superkick to regain his title. This was much better than the first match and a nomination. Next we get an arm wrestling match between Kerry Von Erich & "Hacksaw" Butch Reed with Reed coming out with The Pretty Young Things (Norvell Austin & Koko Ware) which would've been a fucking awesome faction with Landell in Mid-South. Kerry comes out with his soul brothers iceman King Parsons & Sweet Brown Sugar. This led to a brawl that got both Kerry & Reed both out of the next match with Reed being bloody and Kerry stepping out to make it even. This was extra material. 2 out of 3 falls: Iceman King Parsons & Sweet Brown Sugar vs. The Pretty Young Things (Norvell Austin & Koko Ware) (9/3/84) I fucking loved this match as these guys were great against each other plus you get Iceman against Koko which is an extremely rare matchup. Everyone had their working boots on plus they got time and it was all action. Easy nomination. American Heavyweight Title: Mike Von Erich © vs. “Gorgeous” Gino Hernandez (9/3/84) The ridiculousness of Mike continues here but Gino does his best here to make this an okay match and gets the win which was great. The match also felt more of a way to further the Stella Mae angle as well. Bunkhouse Steel Cage Elimination Decision Match for the World Class Six-Man Tag Titles: The Fabulous Freebirds (Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy, Michael Hayes, & Buddy Roberts) vs. Kerry, Kevin, & Mike Von Erich (9/3/84) Kerry & Kevin start this one alone because Mike was injured in the Gino match so it’s already 3-on-2. This is yet another awesome ass kicking brawl between the families with everyone being stiff and awesome but with the elimination stipulation it made it even better because the Von Erich’s had to fight the odds from the beginning especially Kevin after Kerry was eliminated who went alone until Mike showed up at the end. Kevin getting the elimination on Hayes was good especially after throwing Hayes into the cage with the camera catching Hayes blade himself while laying on his back on the mat. Gordy hit some great piledrivers here and the bump that Buddy took off the top of the cage thanks to Mike was awesome. This was phenomenal and a grand slam nomination. Just fucking classic. "Handsome Halfbreed" Gino Hernandez vs. Iceman King Parsons (9/10/84) I love Gino's look of utter contempt at Iceman while he dances and it was very Regalesque. Gino was great here as the chickenshit heel but Iceman wasn't aggressive enough sticking mainly to just a basic offense of holds. Gino's selling of Iceman's strikes was tremendous before Iceman went for some sloppy pinfall attempts with Gino reversing the last cradle and using his feet on the ropes to win.
