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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) Rock N Roll Express vs. Macho Man Randy Savage/Lanny Poffo
Long stall to start as Lanny and Ricky Morton start off. They criss cross and Morton tags in Gibson who trop toe holds Poffo. They do a lot of quick double teaming to start off including a pair of double leg snaps. They double team and knock Savage off the apron. All of sudden, Savage jumps in the ring to face off against Gibson. Gibson sends him to the corner and misses a blind charge. He tags in his brother and pounds on him in the corner until Gibson rolls out and tags in Morton who cleans house. He does the double noggin knocker and sends Savage outside. This leaves Gibson and Poffo in the ring as Angelo Poffo cheapshots Morton on the outside. Savage dumps Morton back in and works him over in the corner. He sends him to the corner but misses a blind charge. He tags in Savage and he pounds away on Morton to no end. Savage misses an elbow drop so he tags in Poffo who continues working Morton over. Savage is tagged in and sends him outside. He hits an axehandle off the top to the outside and rolls Morton back in. Morton tries to make the tag but Savage pulls him back. He tags in Poffo who bodyslams him but misses a senton. Morton makes the hot tag and Gibson cleans house. He comes off the ropes but Angelo Poffo pulls the ropes down and Gibson falls outside. They double team him outside but Morton makes the save. Savage piledrives Morton on a table(!!!) years before ECW was thought of. The heels bail and the whole thing is a double DQ or something at 7:00. Really innovative match at the time (especially because of the table spot) and it still holds up well today. **3/4.
2) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Manny Fernandez
They lock up to start and this is non-title to let you know. They break clean a few times. They lock up again and Fernandez works the headlock. Bockwinkel breaks and hiptosses Fernandez. He bodyslams him but Fernandez comes back quickly pushing him off and working him over. Bockwinkel comes back but a bodyslam attempt was reversed to a small cradle by Fernandez and grabs a side headlock. Bockwinkel rolls him over for a series of pinning attempts but Fernandez keeps the headlock on. Bockwinkel gets up to a vertical base and breaks the headlock by sending Hernandez to the ropes and punches him in the gut. Bockwinkel takes control of things and pounds away at Hernandez. He hits a backbreaker and gets a two count. Bockwinkel grabs a bear hug and he’s busted open. Hernandez gets him to break but Bockwinkel continues punching away. Hernandez fights back and knocks Bockwinkel down. He drops a fist to the back of the head and gets a two count. He suplexes him for two and hits the flying crosschop. That only gets a two. He suplexes him and pins him for two. Hernandez grabs the sleeper but the TV expires at around 6:50 and of course Hernandez thinks he’s won. Fast paced match which I like. **.
3) The Sheik vs. Mark Lewin
The Sheik is the challenger to Lewin’s US title and in this match, the Loser must Leave Town. The Sheik looks incredibly old here. They lock up and break clean. They lock up again but Sheik doesn’t break clean. Lewin fights back but they separate. They lock up again and Sheik pounds away at him in the corner. Lewin comes back but not before Sheik elbows him down. He takes out a pencil and stabs Lewin with it. Lewin, of course, is busted open. They brawl some more and Lewin bails. The referee begins the 10 count so Lewin makes his way to the apron where the Sheik promptly punches him down. Lewin is disorientated and makes his way through the crowd trying to get back to the ring. He comes back to the apron and again gets attacked. Lewin continues to wander through the crowd doing nothing. Lewin comes back and makes the big comeback. He steals the pencil and pounds away on the Sheik with it. Sheik of course is busted open now and Lewin covers him for a loooooooooong two. Sheik sends him to the rope and they collide causing a double KO. Lewin goes for the pin but Sheik’s manager runs in and pushes him off of him. Lewin goes for the cover but Sheik’s manager interferes again. This allows the Sheik to take control but Lewin comes right back with double chops to the head. He whips him to the corner and grabs a sleeper hold. The manager comes back in and Lewin grabs a sleeper hold on him. Sheik does his trademark and throws fire in Lewin’s face (and gets some in his manager’s eye too) causing Lewin to get counted out and the Sheik wins the title at about: 10:20. Boring match. ¼*.
4) David/Kerry Von Erich vs. Gene Yates/Killer Karl Krupp
Kerry starts off with Krupp and gets a quick roll up for two and Krupp bails. Kerry takes Krupp down and rides him a bit. He gets a pinning combination and Kerry and Krupp roll on the floor. They lock up again and Krupp takes Kerry down and again they do some amateur wrestling. Kerry is in control and Krupp is just lying on the mat trying to break free of Kerry. Krupp rolls him over and slugs him in the face. Krupp is actually rasslin’ now so Kerry decides to fight back and he tags in David. David hiptosses him over then dropkicks him into the heel corner where Krupp got the tag into Yates. All of a sudden, Yates is in the Von Erich corner and Kerry is tagged in. Krupp tries to run in and save Yates so David knocks him to the ring apron and he retreats to his corner. Kerry arm drags Yates over into an armbar. Yates starts to fight back but Kerry won’t allow it. Kerry tags in David who works over Yates in the corner. He sends him to the ropes and hits a dropkick, then another one. He gets too close to the heel corner so Krupp attacks him. Kerry runs over and knocks Krupp over. David works Yates over with the headlock until Yates sends him to the ropes to break. Yate hiptosses him over but gets kicked off and he tags Krupp which the referee doesn’t allow for some reason. David takes him over but Yates reverses to a headscissors and tags in Krupp. Krupp sends David’s head into the turnbuckle and they double team him in the corner. Kerry runs over but the ref sends him back to his corner. Krupp gets his claw on David but David manages to punch out and tag in Kerry. Kerry arm drags him over and works on Krupp’s arm. Krupp manages to reverse and works over Kerry for a while but Kerry rolls out and we clip to Krupp tagging in Yates. Yates kicks away at Kerry but Kerry hits a dropkick that more closely resembles a high knee and tags in David. David gets a sleeper on Yates but Krupp interferes bringing in Kerry. Kerry and Krupp brawl while David school boys Yates for the pin and the win at 9:53. The random clips didn’t really get me into the match and most of the match was them rolling on the mat or a mess as the Von Erichs were very green at this point. *.
5) The Fabulous Ones vs. PYT Express
The PYT’s are the Pretty Young Things which consists of Koko B Ware and Norvell Austin and The Fabulous ones were Stan Lane and Steve Keirn. The Fabs were the first rock N roll type team that was a result of the MTV generation. Koko and Keirn start things off and they go off the ropes and Koko ducks down only to get kicked in the face. Koko stalls for a bit before attacking him from behind. Koko works him over pretty well. Koko back body drops him and drops a fist for two. He back body drops him again and tags in Austin. Austin stomps on him and covers for two. He hits a high-knee and dumps Keirn. They brawl on the outside and Koko chokes Keirn. They go back inside and Austin works over Keirn. He tags in Koko who taunts Lane. The PYT do some heel double teaming and Koko tosses Keirn again. Koko keeps the referee occupied while Austin works over Keirn on the outside. They brawl outside again until Lane carries Keirn back over to their corner. He rolls him over to his corner but Koko flies from across the ring to stop him (Lane) from tagging in. Koko tags in Austin who works over Lane. He drops and elbow and starts working on his arm. He sets him up for the piledriver but Lane flips him over. Austin tags in Koko who pounds away on Lane. Lane starts coming back. He tags in Keirn but the referee was distracted by Austin so he didn’t see the tag and it didn’t count. Austin and Lane get knocked out and the Fabs do the switch, so Austin walks over and Keirn makes the big comeback and cleans house on the PYT’s. Everyone’s in the ring now as Austin gets dumped. They hit a double DDT on Koko and that’s all she wrote at: 7:41. Fun match **.
6) The Road Warriors vs. Austin Idol/Jerry “The King” Lawler
This would be around the Road Warrior’s rookie year. Animal and Lawler start off and Animal gets kick to the gut and military presses Lawler. Lawler bails to the outside. Hawk gets tagged in and he does the same thing that Animal did to Lawler. Lawler again bails. They clip ahead to Lawler pounding on Hawk in the corner only to have Hawk no sell his punches. Lawler and Hawk lock up and Hawk whips Lawler to the corner but a charge hits Lawler’s boot. Lawler drops a fist from the second rope but Hawk gets up pretty quickly. Hawk pushes Lawler to the corner and pounds away but Lawler starts powering up and takes off his strap. Lawler cleans house on the Warriors and tags in Idol. Idol continues the house cleaning and slams Hawk while Animal slams Lawler into the turnbuckles. Lawler falls on top of Animal and Idol jumps on top for the pin but Animal kicks out. Ellering interferes but gets kicked by Animal after heel miscommunication. Lawler and Idol get stereo roll ups but Ellering is busy distracting the ref. They brawl and Ellering comes in and the ref DQ’s the whole thing at 5:52. The Warriors and Idol/Lawler continue brawling and they dump the Warriors. Decent for what it was. *1/2.
7) Randy Savage vs. Jerry Lawler in a Cage Match
This is probably one of the weirdest cages you’ll ever see. They lock up to start and Lawler wins that battle by punching Savage down in the corner. They lock up again and Lawler again pounds away. Savage bails to the top of the cage to rest. Savage draws Lawler to the corner and pounds away, snapmares him over then grabs a headlock. They clip ahead a bit with Lawler tossing Savage into the cage. Savage bails to the little space between the cage and the area outside the ring and pulls something out of his tights? Well, he was reaching in there. They lock up and Savage starts working Lawler’s arm and pulls his hair to get him to the mat. Lawler tries to comeback but gets poked in the eye. Cornette and Meltzer entertain to no end on this match with the talk of the IWC (The Poffo’s promotion) and how they were the outlaws of wrestling. Have to hear it. Savage covers Lawler but Lawler makes the ropes. Savage tries to suplex him but Lawler blocks. Savage just punches him out of the ring and Savage hits a double axehandle off the top to the outside. Savage tosses him into the cage for good measure and chokes him using the bottom rope. Savage throws him into the ring post for good measure and punches him some more! They make it back to the ring but Lawler reverses a Savage Irish whip and Savage collides with the cage. Lawler starts taking over only to get snapmared over by Savage. Savage goes to the top of the cage but misses the flying elbow. Lawler bodyslams Savage down and we clip quickly again as Savage tries to choke Lawler out only to have Lawler move and Savage gets crotched. Lawler goes for the piledriver but the piledriver is illegal in Memphis. Savage back body drops him and covers him for two. Savage then works in the airplane spin and both guys get dizzy, so Lawler uppercuts Savage. Another quick cut sees Savage dump Lawler to the outside and drops an axehandle from the top rope. Savage sends Lawler into the cage until Lawler blocks and in a bit of irony sends Savage into it. Off goes the strap and Lawler brings Savage inside and punches away at Savage. He tosses Savage face-first into the ring as Joe LeDuc climps into the ring and drops and axehandle onto Lawler which causes a DQ at 13:38. The heels double team Lawler to end things. The cuts hurt the flow a lot but still you gotta love 1980’s Savage and Lawler. ***1/2.
8) The Samoans vs. Ted DiBiase/Bob Roop
The Wild Samoans are managed by Ernie Ladd and this is for the Mid South Tag Team Championships. The Samoans are the champions and they are Afa and Sika. DiBiase looks completely different from how we know him, completely shaved and all. Roop and Afa start thing off with a headlock and Roop starts working his arm. Quick tag to DiBiase and he goes to work on the arm too. Roop is tagged back in and continues with the arm. He grabs a headlock but Afa breaks with an Irish whip but gets shoulderblocked down. DiBiase is tagged back in and hits a dropkick on the Afa then goes to a side headlock. Afa gets him to the ropes and doesn’t break clean. He tags in Sika and they double team DiBiase. Sika drops a headbutt on DiBiase and the Samoans double team DiBiase again. Afa is back in and chops away. He tags in Sika and DiBiase tries to fight back but that goes nowhere. DiBiase gets bodyslammed but Sika misses a headdrop allowing DiBiase to get the hot tag to Roop. Roop cleans house as Ernie Ladd interferes causing Afa to drop a headbutt from the top rope onto Roop who was covering Sika. The Samoans make Roop the face in peril until Roop makes the tag. The ref doesn’t see it though. DiBiase comes in and and all hell breaks loose. Roop hits the shoulderbreaker on one of the Samoans and covers for a three. The ref ends up DQ’ing the Samoans at 6:08 because Ernie Ladd was in the ring while the pin was being counted. Cheap-o Ending. *
9) Bruno Sammartino/Dick The Bruiser vs. Ernie Ladd/Baron Von Raschke
Ernie Ladd you’ll know as former NFL player and a very young Bobby Heenan is at ringside. Bruiser and Rashcke start off and Bruiser works with a headlock and then he shoulderblocks him down. He rams him into the turnbuckle then hits a stomp from the second rope which draws Ernie Ladd in to break the pin. Bruiser works in the headlock and we clip to Ernie and Bruno getting tagged in. Ernie is absolutely huge here. He towers over the faces. The faces beat him up pretty well though and Bruno hits a back body drop and knees him out of the ring. Bruno knocks Raschke off the apron. Nothing much of anything happens until we clip ahead to Raschke beating on Bruno but he misses an elbow drop and makes the hot tag to Bruiser. He grabs the mouth of Rashcke and tosses him outside. He draws Ladd in and tosses him too. He doesn’t followe with a tope though. They battle outside as Bruno chases Heenan around. Raschke and Bruiser come in and Bruiser pins but Heenan breaks the tag. Bruiser hits a back body drop on Raschke and covers. Raschke’s foot makes the ropes but the referee pulls it off the rope and continues the count leading to a Bruiser/Bruno victory at 4:53. Blah match and the cuts really piss me off. *
10) Tully Blanchard vs. Manny Fernandez
These two guys had legit heat as they were totally opposites in just about everything. They stare each other down and Manny slaps him. They lock up and exchange punches. Manny wins that battle so Tully bails. Tully drop toe holds him and they grapple on the ground but break when they get to the ropes. That doesn’t stop them now as they do some mat wrestling. They lock up and Manny takes him down and puts on a wristlock. He works on that until Tully gets to his feet and bodyslams Manny but misses an elbow. Manny hits a nice armdrag and goes to an armbar. He literally lifts him around the ring with it. They clip ahead to Manny working the leg and Tully backing off. He kicks Manny though and starts pounding away with forearms but Manny fights back himself. They wrestle near the ropes but their momentum takes them outside. Gino Hernandez attacks Manny on the outside with a belt buckle. They go inside and pound on him. Manny bleeds like crazy. Chavo Classic who at this time was just Chavo Guerrero makes the save with his boot leaving the faces victorious. Whole thing was about 5 minutes long. *.
11) Rick Rude vs. Jerry Lawler
We’re JIP as Rude works over Lawler in the corner. This is a really young Rick Rude still with his afro. He pounds on Lawler some more and covers for two. Jim Neidhart is at ringside and Angel, who never worked again. Rick Rude actually hits a suplex, changing his usual moveset of punching. He drops an elbow but that only gets a two. He poses and hits a swinging neckbreaker, not quite the Rude Awakening yet, and covers but Lawler makes the ropes. Rude bodyslams Lawler and drops and elbow and it’s yet another two count. He continues with the fists and the covers. Rude with more punches but it has no effect on Lawler anymore as he Kings Up. He starts throwing his own punches and takes off his strap to the delight of the fans. Rude throws Lawler into the ref who is bumped. Rude misses and elbow so Lawler covers, but there’s no ref. So Neidhart runs in and drops an elbow, but Lawler misses and hits Rude instead. More heel miscommunication ensues as Rude and Neidhart collide. Lawler hits a fist drop but Angel interferes. This allows Rude hit a double axehandle and covers Lawler as the ref counts the pin for the win at 5:14. Rude wins the belt or retains and celebrate so Lawler goes postal on Rude and Neidhart. Angel hits Lawler with a chair so Lawler punches Angel down. The fans go crazy even as Rude and Neidhart double team Lawler until The New Fabulous (Eddie Gilbert/Tommy Rich) ones come in and then The PYT’s (Norvell Austin/Koko B Ware) come in and all hell has broken loose. Match was all punching. ½*.
12) The Crusher/Dick The Bruiser/Little Bruiser vs. Blackjack Mulligan/Bobby Heenan/Blackjack Lanza
Little Bruiser is a midget if you couldn’t tell by his name and he starts off with Bobby Heenan. He dropkicks Heenan in the back to start as he goes running around. He tags in Mulligan as Lil Bruiser tags in Dick The Bruiser. Mulligan ends up in the face corner allowing the midget to pound away on him. He tags back in the Bruiser who works a headlock on Mulligan. He gets sent into the turnbuckles, snapmares him over and holds him as Lil Bruiser comes in for some shots. The ref reprimands him as Lanza tries to sneak in but Crusher chases him off. Bruiser works the arm as Lanza keeps trying to get at him. Bruiser knees him down and covers but Heenan breaks up the pin. He knees him again but this time Lanza breaks up the pin. Crusher is tagged in and Lanza is tagged in and Crusher grabs a side headlock. He ends up in the heel corner though and they dom some heelish things. Bruiser comes over and knocks Mulligan off the apron. Heenan comes in but misses the midgets and bails. The ref tries desperately to stop all the interference. Heenan is tagged in and the Crusher absolutely kills him. He tags in the midget as all hell breaks loose again. Heenan manages to get back and tag in Lanza as he grabs a side headlock on The Crusher, but Crusher breaks and pokes him in the eye. Bruiser is tagged in and works over the neck of Lanza. He knees him in the gut showing his impressive moveset and starts working on the leg until Heenan interferes. The heels pound away on Bruiser but Crusher stops that with a double noggin knocker. Finally, it’s Lanza and Bruiser again as Bruiser ducks some punches and generally no sells anything. Heenan is tagged in but heel miscommunication leads to Lanza punching Mulligan. He hits a back body drop on Heenan but the pin is broken up by Mulligan. We head outside and they brawl like crazy. Heenan bladed really good and is bleeding like crazy. Crusher back body drops Lanza and covers for two. He covers again after a knee but Heenan breaks the pin. All 6 men are in the ring and Lanza and Mulligan are thrown into each other. Crusher knocks him down as the midget bites his ass. Lanza and Mulligan are thrown into Heenan. Lil Bruiser comes off the top twice on both heels but can’t get the pin. He comes off the top onto Heenan and THAT gets the pin and the win at 11:31: Brawl ensues after as the heels beat on the midget until Bruiser and Crusher dispose of them. Really fun match, the best of the DVD’s so far. ***.
As an added bonus, we get a commercial for the next three DVD’s. Whoopee!
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Bios
You get short bios of Jim Cornette and Bruiser Brody 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 Two: The Maim Event Rundown
1) Rock N Roll Express vs. Macho Man Randy Savage/Lanny Poffo (**3/4)
2) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Manny Fernandez (**)
3) The Sheik vs. Mark Lewin (1/4*)
4) David/Kerry Von Erich vs. Gene Yates/Killer Karl Krupp(*)
5) The Fabulous Ones vs. PYT Express (**)
6) The Road Warriors vs. Austin Idol/Jerry “The King” Lawler (*1/2)
7) Randy Savage vs. Jerry Lawler in a Steel Cage Match (***1/2)
8) The Samoans vs. Ted DiBiase/Bob Roop (*)
9) Bruno Sammartino/Dick The Bruiser vs. Ernie Ladd/Baron Von Raschke (*)
10) Tully Blanchard vs. Manny Fernandez (*)
11) Rick Rude vs. Jerry Lawler (1/2*)
12) The Crusher/Dick The Bruiser/Little Bruiser vs. Blackjack Mulligan/Bobby Heenan/Blackjack Lanza (***)
Overall Review
Well, the 12 matches averaged about 1.625 stars each so take that as you will. The average star rating was slightly higher than disc one but I enjoyed the matches on here more. There were two three star matches and one that was close but the rest was generally one star. Out of the 5, I’d call it 2nd best and an easy 8.5/10.
8.5
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