Posted February 17, 200916 yr comment_5437264 This starts with a promo with the SCW World Tag champs Wahoo McDaniel & Ivan Putski. Handicap Match: Tully Blanchard vs. Mario Gonzalez & Ray Zurati (May 1981) Tully and Wahoo have a little fight before the match. This is Tully’s first match on TV after being out of action due to injuries suffered in a car wreck. Tully wins easily. Dory & Terry Funk vs. Scott Casey & Relampago Leon (May 1981) Pretty fun little match with the Funks going after Casey but Leon fighting above expectations until finally getting pinned. Handicap Match: Ivan Putski vs. Black Gordman & El Fantastico (May 1981) What’s up with these handicapped matches and why is Gordman lobbed in with that masked jobber. Putski is horrible. Then we get some great promos by Tully regarding Wahoo and the Funks about how great they are. Tank Patton vs. Jesse Tanner (May 1981) Squash. “Continental Lover” Eddy Mansfield vs. El Tejano (May 1981) Squash. Then we get promos by Black Gordman, Eddy Mansfield, & Tank Patton. The next show starts with a promo by Tito Santana and a babyface Dory Funk Jr. Tito Santana vs. Kelly Kiniski (11/6/81) Competitive match with Tito getting the win. Colonel Buckley Christopher George Robley III vs. Terry Allln (11/6/81) A young Magnum TA takes a beating here. “Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Moon Mulligan & Tank Patton (11/6/81) Always odd seeing babyface Dory. This was a fine TV match with the faces looking good and the heels keep up with him. Nice finishing sequence with Manny getting a backslide on Mulligan for the pin and he wants the $5,000 that Mulligan said he would pay out to anyone who pinned him. Dick Slater is cutting a promo until the Dynamic Duo shows up to butt in which irritates Slater and then we have some challenges thrown out before a beatdown on Slater. Scott Casey & Manny Fernandez would make the save. This was some good stuff and extra material. Scott Casey vs. The Spoiler (not the famous one) (11/6/81) Casey was supposed to wrestle Slater so he is pissed leaving himself open to being beaten by Spoiler but he would still get the win. Dory then cuts a promo regarding the Slater situation and declares war on the Dynamic Duo. The Dynamic Duo (Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez) vs. Ray Hernandez & Sweet Brown Sugar (11/6/81) Funny seeing young babyface Hercules here. Skip looks good here as the Duo bump and sell good for him with the fans digging it. The Duo also makes Herc look decent as well but he would fall prey to them and eat the reverse diving elbow drop off the top rope by Gino. Duo then cuts a promo after the match regarding the babyfaces and of course stomp out a cowboy hat that supposedly belongs to Casey. The next show starts with promos by Black Gordman & Relampago Leon. Billy Robinson vs. Relampago Leon (April 1981) Leon hangs with the legendary Robinson on the mat and this was a decent match. Robinson gets the win on a great reversal of a double wristlock. Handicap Match: Tully Blanchard vs. El Tejano & Ray Zarati (April 1981) Yet another handicap match featuring Tully. Scott Casey who was on commentary would have enough and he made his way into the ring pounding on Tully. Tank Patton would then show up and pounded Casey with his cast before getting Tully out of the ring. Chief Wahoo McDaniel & Ivan Putski vs. “Continental Lover” Eddy Mansfield & Tank Patton (April 1981) Wahoo is on fire here just throwing chops on both heels before being neutralized by Patton’s cast. Putski would get the tag and took some shots before tagging Wahoo back in who would throw 3 great dropkicks which was awesome. The fans are going nuts for Wahoo as the heels would get the advantage again working over both Wahoo & Putski who would still put up a fight as both men were laying in some chops. They would knock the heels to the floor as TV time runs out. I liked this a whole helluva lot more than I thought I would and I think this should go on the block as a low-end nomination even with the draw finish. Then we get promos by Casey, Wahoo, & Putski. Scott Casey vs. El Fantastico (April 1981) Squash. Chavo Guerrero vs. Black Gordman (April 1981) Billy Robinson is in Gordman’s corner and of course he would get involved, as Gordman would chunk Chavo to the floor with the brawl beginning. Fun while it lasted. Then we get promos by Mansfield, Patton, & Tully. This show starts with a promo by Nick Bockwinkel & Lou Thesz and it’s quite the sight to see these legends together. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Tom Prichard (July 1981) Prichard is a young prelim guy here and Bock really lets him look good here giving him some offense. I loved Bock’s bridging headscissors spots as him & Prichard had a fun little MUGA series going on here. Bock would finally get the win with a piledriver after a really good TV match. The Dynamic Duo (Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez) vs. Terry Allen & Scott Casey (July 1981) Man does Magnum wear some really tiny pants here and funny seeing him work Tully 4 years before their big feud. The crowd is hot for this match as the babyfaces bring the fire here and the Duo do what they do best and that is taking punishment while bumping all over the ring. Some really good back and forth action here that would end after Allen had Tully in a bearhug before being jumped by Gino setting up Gino getting the tag and hitting a beautiful reverse diving elbow drop off the top rope for the win. Very solid action and this goes on the block. Tiger Conway Jr. vs. The Spoiler (July 1981) Okay match that ended in a double countout. Next are promos by Patton & Robley before Putski interjects himself. Tank Patton & Colonel Buckley Christopher George Robley III vs. Kelly Kiniski & Relampago Leon (July 1981) Competitive match and that’s the one thing I’ve noticed about Southwest as they let their jobbers get some offense in before finally being defeated. “Continental Lover” Eddy Mansfield vs. Ray Zarate (July 1981) Mansfield has a haircut so obviously he has lost a hair match recently and he is pissed here just beating the piss out of Zarate. He rides Zarate like a bull after the match until Casey makes the save.
January 28, 201015 yr comment_5447410 Dory & Terry Funk vs. Scott Casey & Relampago Leon (May 1981) This wasn't really doing it for me, which is a shame considering the guys involved. Handicap Match: Ivan Putski vs. Black Gordman & El Fantastico (May 1981) Southwest runs a lot of handicap matches, but they're pretty good at working them, so I won't complain. Southwest Putski actually isn't that bad. His brawling is unspectacular, but it's acceptable, and you put him in with the right wrestlers and you'll get something good. Gordman is fun heeling it up in his half of the match. El Fantastico's half isn't as interesting, but has a good finish, as Putski busts out a nice looking gutwrench slam and then finishes him off with a great powerslam that really should have been his finisher instead of the Polish Hammer. Watching this match, I'm inclined to wonder what Putski's body of work would have looked like if he had more of a throw-oriented offense than a straight brawling game, as his throws seem to be better than his strikes. Ivan Putski as a Polish Steiner Brother might have been good. Tully Blanchard Interview Funk Brothers Interview These were all really good, and I could see an argument for including them as extras. Tito Santana vs. Kelly Kiniski (11/6/81) Kind of a long squash, but a pretty good one. Colonel Buckley Christopher George Robley III vs. Terry Allln (11/6/81) Robley is wearing his awesome "Nobody Calls Me Yellow" t-shirt. Good match. You can see even at this early stage that Magnum had real potential. “Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Moon Mulligan & Tank Patton (11/6/81) Good match with a fired-up Dory and a cool post-match angle. The Dynamic Duo interrupts Dick Slater Awesome angle, and I agree that it's extra material. Scott Casey vs. The Spoiler (not the famous one) (11/6/81) Would've preferred to see Casey against Slater, obviously, but still, good little match. Dory Funk Jr. Interview Dory declares war on the Dynamic Duo in a really straightforward, resolute fashion that only a few wrestlers can really pull of well. Thankfully, he's one of them, and this might be an extra as a result. The Dynamic Duo (Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez) vs. Ray Hernandez & Sweet Brown Sugar (11/6/81) Really good match. Gino wasn't all the way there yet as an in-ring performer, but everyone else had their working boots on. Even Hercules Hernandez looked good, and I really come away from this wanting to see a Tully/Skip singles match. Post-match promo is awesome and might be an extra on it's own. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Tom Prichard (July 1981) Good match. I love me some Nick Bockwinkel, although I actually was digging Prichard more in this bout. The Dynamic Duo (Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez) vs. Terry Allen & Scott Casey (July 1981) So Tully and Magnum always had awesome chemistry with each other? Good to know. A bit short, but loaded with action, and I'll back this as a nomination. Tiger Conway Jr. vs. The Spoiler (July 1981) This Spoiler is no Don Jardine, let me tell you. Tank Patton & Colonel Buckley Christopher George Robley III vs. Kelly Kiniski & Relampago Leon (July 1981) I rather like Southwest's booking philosophy of giving jobbers offense. This is another really good match made possible by that philosophy. Patton and Robley make a great team, and Kiniski gives the best non-Tom Steele performance I've ever seen from him. “Continental Lover” Eddy Mansfield vs. Ray Zarate (July 1981) Didn't do it for me.
