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This is a 5-DVD Set that came out a few years back. I picked it up on some good recommendations from my friends but I never really watched it. I figured now would be as good a time as any. As with all 5 discs, you can choose either from the original commentary or the “special insider commentary” done by Dave Meltzer and Jim Cornette. Yeah I think you know which one I picked.
The Main Program (The Matches)
Each match is introduced by Dave and Jim themselves
1) Sherri Martel vs. Judy Martin
The commentators inform us Sherri is the first person Cornette ever managed. They start off locking up and Sherri leapfrogs Judy then dropkicks her down. Cornette tells us that he started managing her shortly after this and says he didn’t try to start anything with her. Sherri works a headlock but is thrown down. Judy slugs away and shoulderblocks her down. Cornette doesn’t think that Sherri started out as one of Playboy Buddy Rose’s valets which was thought to be true. Sherri looks completely different than she did in the 90’s WWF. Sherri gets back body dropped and Martin takes over the match. She clotheslines her down as Cornette mentions she did it all without silicon (and Meltzer adds, well not at first). Martin knocks Sherri down and pins her for a two count and they do nothing of note. Sherri hits a weak clothesline and goes for another and Judy blocks it into a standing chicken wing which Sherri reversed into a victory roll for the pin and the win at 4:24. Not good, but better than what’s usually on the WWE nowadays. *.
2) Shawn Michaels vs. Ken Johnson
Shawn is only 20 years old or so here and sweet damn he looks young. Cornette makes fun of the ring announcer to start and Michaels shoulderblocks Johnson down. He hiptosses him and takes him down into a side headlock. It’s broken but he hits a nice crossbody and goes back to the headlock. Cornette mentions how Shawn was always a tremendous worker even young and hits a dropkick on Johnson. He goes to a headlock which Johnson turns into a belly to back suplex. They talk a bit about his career and how he’s “threatening” a return to the ring and they mention how most of the locker room stories are true. Johnson hits a backbreaker and they slug away. He says he couldn’t work like Flair but he was more athletic. Johnson sends Michaels to the corner but misses a charge and his shoulder hits the post. He back body drops Johnson then dropkicks him a pair of times and hits a powerslam to end things at 4:26. Just a squash match. *1/2.
3) Gino Hernandez/Tully Blanchard vs. The Grapplers
The Grapplers are tag champs at this time and Gino and Grappler 1 start off. They lock up and Grappler 1 takes pushes him to the rope. They lock up again and do some amateur wrestling. Grappler 2 and Tully are tagged in as Jim and Dave talk about Jim Carson. Tully locks up with Grappler number two and face miscommunication leads to Tully getting punched by Gino. Grappler number 1 is tagged in and goes to work on Tully. Cornette he was managers of the Grapplers for a while. Grappler 2 is tagged back in and hits a head lock but Tully snapmares him over but couldn’t tag in. He finally managaes to break free and tag in Gino who cleans house. Meltzer says how the South West Championship Wrestling used to be on USA and how they couldn’t pay the bills so USA dropped them and turned to a new promoter by the name of Vincent McMahon Jr. They got thrown off due to “bad taste in wrestling” and they start ranting off that. Meltzer says they could’ve saved the territories if they went back in time as the faces work over the heels. They cut to what was a commercial break as Gino is in there with one of the Grapplers. It should be noted that Gino and Tully were heels but since the Grapplers were more hated, they were de facto faces. Tully gets pounded on by the Grapplers and clotheslined down for two. Meltzer and Cornette talk about Gino trying to pursue a career in movies and he didn’t devote all his time to wrestling. The faces tag in but the heels had the ref distracted. They managed to get the tag in while Meltzer and Cornette rant about Arquette winning the WCW title and its hilarious. The faces take over again and do some regular 80’s offense on Grappler number two but face miscommunications ensues again and Gino nails Tully by mistake and ends up on the apron. He knocks Grappler number 2 into Tully as he flies off the apron allowing Gino to roll up Grappler 2 for the pin and the win at: 8:59 (shown). After the match, Tully turned on Gino to the surprise of everyone, Cornette and Meltzer included. Decent match, ***. That would be the last match the two ever wrestled together.
4) Gino Hernandez vs. Tully Blanchard
This would be one of only two matches the two fought, since Gino bailed on wrestling soon after. Tully is the heel here and Gino would be the face. Tully does the usual heel stalling bit to get the fans riled up. Some boxer is the guest referee and honestly I’ve never heard of him. They lock up and Gino punches him right out of the ring. More stalling ensues. They lock up but Tully takes over with a knee to the gut. An Irish whip to the corners is reversed and Gino slugs away at Tully until he bails again. Meltzer talks about SWCW big event at the Summit in Houston which was promoted on USA a lot as Gino pounds away at Tully while he’s on the ropes and Tully’s sent to the outside, again. He comes back in and Gino hits a pretty weird spin kick which sends Tully outside. This show was held in a different territory, against Paul Bosch so he had a show the very next night with Nick Bockwinkel being on the card. Gino whips Tully from corner to corner but misses a stinger splash and both men are knocked out. Tully is up first and he wraps Gino’s arm in the top rope and takes advantage of him. Tully suplexes Gino, who is busted open now, and hits an elbow from the second rope for a two count. Gino does the bump in the corner that HBK is known for (flip over the turnbuckle) and goes flying outside. Tully hits an elbow from the apron as they talk about Ernie Shavers (the ref) and Tully saying he’d knock him out. Lou Thesz is at ringside too, which Meltzer points out. Gino continues to be pounded on but a piledriver attempt is reversed and back body dropped out. Gino gets dropkicked out of the ring as Meltzer corrects Cornette on being the oldest champion, Cornette says Thesz while Meltzer says its Vince McMahon, which Cornette laughs at and says it doesn’t count. Gino, meanwhile, is making his big comeback and hits Tully with the ringbell, busting him open. They do some more brawling and Gino bites Tully’s cut as Meltzer and Cornette talk about the AIDS scare and how that doesn’t happen today. Gino hits Tully with the suplex but misses his elbow drop (with the funky landing). Tully takes over for a brief second before Shavers tries to back Tully off of Gino. Tully gets angry and throws a punch at Shavers which of course is blocked and Shavers knocks him down allowing Gino to go to the second rope and hit a splash on Tully for the pin and the win at 12:18: Beginning was pretty boring but it picked up and wasn’t too bad. **3/4.
5) Bob Orton Jr. vs. Adrian Adonis
Bob Orton is also known as father of the Legend Killer Randy Orton. This is pre-dress Adonis. The winner will be the awarded the championship belt so Lou Thesz gives a little speech beforehand. The belt is 75 years old and in the possession of Lou. Looks to be held on the same day as the match above. They lock up to start and Adrian works the arm right away. Meltzer notes that people expected Funk to be in the finals in this match since he was the biggerst star and Meltzer says Adrian could work really well despite being hugely overweight. Orton reverses Adrian’s arm bar into one of his own. Adrian actually hits a pretty nice headscissors and locks Orton between his legs. Cornette mentions that Bob Orton’s son, Randy is training to be a third generation wrestler. Orton breaks out of the move but Adrian goes right to a hammerlock. Orton gets a pair of snapmares but on the third attempt he reverses it to a backslide and gets a two count. Orton takes Adrian down with a drop toe hold and starts working over his arm. Meltzer and Cornette talk about the career of Adrian. Orton goes for something which Adrian reverses into a small package for two. Adrian works over Orton’s arm again and the tape on Adrian’s head falls off revealing he is busted open. They go off the ropes and Orton flips him over and arm drags him back into an arm bar. Adonis sends Orton to the turnbuckle hard but Orton still holds on to the left arm. Adrian sends him to the ropes to break but Orton shoulderblocks him down twice until catching Orton with an atomic drop. He covers him but only gets a one count. Adrian slams him and goes to the second rope but a splash hits Orton’s knees. Orton drops and elbow, covers, and gets a two count. Adrian rolls up Orton for two but Orton punches Adrian through the turnbuckle into the steel ring post. Orton works over the open wound of Adrian as Meltzer and Cornette talk about SCW disintergrating around this year. Adrian sends Orton to the turnbuckle and chops away but Orton comes right back and sends Adrian to the corner and he does a variation of the Flair flop. Orton sets up Adrian on the top rope and goes for the superplex but Orton gets punched out. Adrian grabs a headlock but Orton breaks by sending him to the ropes and a double shoulderblock knocks them both out. They get up around the same time and Orton misses a right punch and Adrian grabs him in a sleeper. Orton ducks out of the sleeper. Adrian goes for the sleeper again but Orton blocks it and gets one of his own. Adrian quickly ducks out and Orton is sent to the ropes. Adrian telegraphs a back body drop for Orton small packages him for two but Adrian reverses it into a small package of his own for the pin and the win at 14:46. Really good, classic match ***1/2.
6) Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher
This one is JIP and they are brawling outside the ring. Abdullah and Bruiser are of course, BUSTED OPEN. Abdullah knocks out the referee with the worst head butts ever. They brawl to the outside and choke each other. They grab a piece of wood and they lug around. They do the usual brawling and the whole thing is just called off at 5:12. ¼*.
7) Larry Zbyszko vs. Scott Casey
This is JIP and is from about 1984. They work on wristlocks to start. They bounce off the ropes and ends up with Casey missing an elbow drop and Zbyszko hitting the headlock. Just a note, Zbyszko is spelt Zybisco. Meltzer spits some attendance records of a Shea Stadium show (attendance, paid, and total revenue) to which Cornette is impressed. Casey works his way up and hit an atomic drop. Zbyszko takes over as Meltzer admits to coming up of the name Larry Zbyszko Gagne. The match is boring as hell but the commentary is something else. Casey is getting continuously punched to the outside ring table and is a bit woozy. Zbyszko bodyslams Casey then stomps his face. He tries to suplex Casey but it’s reversed and Casey suplexes Zbyszko himself. Zbyszko gets up first and tries to slam Casey but Casey falls on top of him for two. He hits a nice double underhook suplex and then hits a neckbreaker for two. Casey grabs a sleeper hold and Zbyszko is starting to go out but makes the ropes, causing the hold to be broken. Zybszko takes down Casey near the corner and uses the ropes for the pin and the win at 7:08. Tully Blanchard runs out and celebrates with Larry. Eric Embry comes out to tell the ref about what happened but Larry and Tully attack him until Stan Hansen comes out and cleans house. Not bad, *.
8) Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Bob Sweetan
This would be a battle of who had the best piledriver. Sweetan is about the ugliest wrestler who has ever stepped foot in the ring. Lawler grabs the mic and asks for more respect from the crowd. This was shortly after the Kaufman incident, just to let y’all know. Lawler stalls like crazy before the bell is even rung as Cornette tells us how ugly Sweetan is. The bell is finally rung and Lawler gets back on the mic to talk trash to Sweetan. Lawler continues to stall just to rile up the fans. They lock up but Lawler backs into the ropes, ducks a Sweetan punch, slaps him and bails again. He gets back on the mic and says he threw an open hand blow to Sweetan and gets back into the ring. They lock up and Sweetan pushes him to the corner causing a break. Lawler complains about the refereeing again, and they lock up, again. Lawler grabs a headlock but Lawler tries for a punch but its blocked and Sweetan nails Lawler, who bails and complains to the referee again about the use of Sweetan’s close fist. They try for a test of strength and they exchange kicks. Sweetan gets the best of things and tries for the piledriver but Lawler blocks and makes the ropes, and escapes to the outside. He gets on the mic again and complains how the piledriver is an illegal hold. He comes back in, but decides he’s had enough and just leaves. He gets back on the mic and gets back in the ring. They lock up for the second time in 10 minutes and Lawler thumbs him in the eye three times. He snapmares Sweetan but misses a dropping punch and Sweetan goes for another piledriver but Lawler backs him into the ropes. Sweetan pounds away on Lawler and starts working on his arm. Lawler fights back and starts punching Sweetan in the face, knocking him down and drops a knee. He showboats and goes for the piledriver but Sweetan back body drops him. Sweetan starts with the comeback and drops an elbow for two. He sends Lawler to the ropes, follows with an elbow, then drops an elbow which gets a one count. Sweetan punches Lawler down then hits a belly to back suplex and covers but Lawler’s foot makes the rope. He hits another belly to back suplex and covers Lawler and the ref counts to three, but Lawler’s foot was on the ropes. Lawler complains to the ref that his foot was on the rope so the referee resumes the match. Sweetan sends Lawler to the corner but a blind charge misses and Lawler pins Sweetan using the ropes and gets the win at: 14:43 Sweetan piledrives Lawler who takes 16 bumps with one move. Cornette and Meltzer themselves said how boring it was and I won’t disagree. ¼*.
9) Terry Funk/Ivan Putski vs. Gino Hernandez/Tully Blanchard
The match is joined in progress as Funk gets hit with a Tully swinging neckbreaker. Gino is tagged in and gets a nice dropkick but Putski stops the pin attempt. Gino piledrives Funk, drops the elbow but only gets two. Gino works a headlock but Funk inches close to his corner, only to get pushed back to the heel corner and Gino goes for his funky elbow. Tully is tagged in and he gets sent to the rope and Funk sidesteps him causing him to go to the apron. Tully slingshots himself through the ropes causing a ref bump. Tully gets bodyslammed by Funk onto the referee and a pier six erupts. Gino kicks the referee out of the ring and he and Funk brawl outside. Putski blocks a bodyslam attempt by falling on top of Tully and Ricky Morton comes in to count the pin ending things at 3:10. Tully and Gino pound the shit out of Morton until Ken Lucascomes in to clean house on the heels, and Putski and Funk finally come back in to help Morton out. Energetic, but too short. ¾*. The decision is that Ricky’s interference caused a DQ win for Tully and Gino.
10) Dick Slater vs. The Mongolian Stomper in a Steel Cage Match
Bob Sweetan is the special guest referee for this match and this match is JIP. The Stomper pounds away on an already busted open Dick Slater. He uses an iron claw for a few seconds before turning it into a side headlock. Slater gets up and the two exchange blows, only to have the Stomper send Slater face first into the cage. The Stomper grabs a side headlock but Slater eventually turns that into a belly to back suplex. Stomper kicks him in the head while they were both still down and grinds his face into the cage. The Stomper puts the Iron Claw on Slater but mere minutes later Slater comes back and stomps away on the Stomper and chokes him with his boot. Slater sends the Stomper into the cage and the Stomper is busted open. He does it again and the Stomper blades on camera. He grinds Stomper’s face into the cage and knocks him down. Slater comes off the top rope with a stomp to the chest. He snapmares him down but misses an elbow and Stomper low blows Slater to take control. He bodyslams him but goes for a stomp, only to have it blocked and Slater fires away. The Stomper sends him into Sweetan, takes off his boot and hits Slater with it. He goes for it again but Sweetan sees this and stops him from hitting him. Stomper shoves him and Slater grabs the boot and knocks The Stomper down for the pin and the win at: 9:19. Afterwards, The Stomper knocks Sweetan out of the cage and Don Carson comes in and the two double team Slater until Santo Negro comes flying in over the cage onto the Stomper and Sweetan comes back into the ring. Fun match. **.
11) Bruiser Brody vs. Nick Bockwinkel
This is for the AWA title and the special referee is Lou Thesz, though they misspell that!! (It’s spelt Thez on here). Bockwinkel’s manager is the legendary Bobby Heenan. We’re JIP as Bockwinkel works Bruiser down with a headscissors as Cornette and Meltzer talk about Thesz’ rather odd looking referee shirt. Bruiser manages to escape and gets Bockwinkel in the corner choking him until Heenan interferes. Bruiser and Bockwinkel exchange punches and Bockwinkel knocks him down and back to the headscissors. Bruiser makes the ropes and Bruiser bails to the outside for a quick breather. He comes back only to get pounded away by Bockwinkel. Bruiser startes bruising up and gets Bockwinkel down to his knees and sends him to the outside and sends him into the time keeper’s table. They make their back to the ring and Bruiser goes to the top and hits a chop on Bockwinkel. He starts kicking away and covers Bockwinkel for one. Bruiser bodyslams Bockwinkel and goes for a leg drop but Heenan trips him up so Bruiser chases him. He comes back inside and bodyslams Bockwinkel and drops a high knee (which was his finisher) and covers, but Heenan breaks up the pinning attempt. Bruiser brings him inside and beats the crap out of him. He sends Bockwinkel over the top rope (which wasn’t a DQ in Texas, sez Cornette) and Bruiser follows him outside. He brings Bockwinkel inside and brings a chair too but Lou gets the chair and tosses it away but Thesz had DQ’d Bockwinkel for manager interferance at 9:25. *1/2.
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Bios
You get short bios of Dave Meltzer and Shawn Michaels that scroll along the screen. Shawn’s bio was actually written by Meltzer himself.
2) Check This Out
Three stills shown for Wrestling Observer, eYada.com, and VCI Home Video
3) Chapter Menu
You know what it is!
4) Select Audio
Allows you to select from the original commentary or Daves and Jims.
B) Audio/Visual
It’s presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. It doesn't really come into play since most of the main source is Jim and Dave speaking. The video is about the best you'll find. It varies by match but since some of this stuff will be almost impossible to get in quality like this.
C) Liner Notes
Sadly, no liner notes were issued. It would’ve been nice to have a booklet of some sort saying when the matches took place, when they first aired etc but this isn’t a major release with loads of money to put into it so I can understand
Wrestling Gold Disc One-Busted Open Rundown
1) Sherri Martel vs. Judy Martin (*)
2) Shawn Michaels vs. Ken Johnson (*1/2)
3) Gino Hernandez/Tully Blanchard vs. The Grapplers (***)
4) Gino Hernandez vs. Tully Blanchard (**3/4)
5) Bob Orton Jr. vs. Adrian Adonis (***1/2)
6) Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher (1/4*)
7) Larry Zbyszko vs. Scott Casey (*)
8) Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Bob Sweetan ( 1/4*)
9) Terry Funk/Ivan Putski vs. Gino Hernandez/Tully Blanchard (¾*)
10) Dick Slater vs. The Mongolian Stomper in a Steel Cage Match (**)
11) Bruiser Brody vs. Nick Bockwinkel/Bobby Heenan(*1/2)
Overall Review
Definitely a must for the fans of classic early 80’s southern area wrestling. The quality is absolutely fabulous and is better than any tape could be, especially given the age and rarity of some of these. The total match average was about 1.6 which is decent but there was nothing horrible on it, and there were some pretty good *** matches. Out of the 5, I’d call it 3rd best, and I'd say it's an easy 8/10 overall.
8.0
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