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WWE: Legacy – March 2010
This looks to be a really cool month. It is highlighting the year 1985. It was the year of the first Wrestlemania and I can’t believe it has been 25 years since that first, historic event.
---Week One---
The PPV this month is the historic Wrestlemania I. That is an obvious choice!
-Chris Adams vs. Kevin Von Erich in a Lumberjack Match-
This is a WCCW match-up from January 13th, 1985. This is a lumberjack match, too! I always liked how Kevin didn’t wrestle with boots. Kevin immediately tosses Adams and he’s immediately sent back into the ring. Kevin stomps at him and tosses him back into the face lumberjacks. Kevin rams Adams into the corner and slugs away and puts the Claw on him! Adams knocks Kevin off the second rope and the heel lumberjacks toss HIM back in. Adams softens him up some more before tossing him again. Kevin is rolled back in and takes a wicked superkick. Adams drops a headbutt for two and then goes to the reverse chinlock. Kevin stands up and airplane spins out of it. That’s how you know it is 1985 when you get the airplane spin. Kevin comes off the second rope with a cross body but Adams rolls out of the way. Adams piledrives Kevin (and it looked like a great one) but doesn’t cover. He heads upstairs instead. Kevin catches him and then in a very awkward spot Kevin slips, Adams falls (clotheslining himself on the top rope) and has his feet land right on Kevin’s head. Kevin covers and that gets the pin? Very weird ending to a hot match. The fans were totally digging this. Gary Hart runs in which draws one of the other Von Erichs. That was just a weird ending and this totally could’ve used some more time to develop. The lumberjacks didn’t really come into play in this match, either. **.
-Junk Yard Dog vs. Terry Funk-
This is a Boston match from October 12th, 1985. Funk attacks JYD as soon as he comes into the ring and tries to butt splash him while JYD is draped over the second rope but JYD ducks out of it and Funk ends up crotching himself and getting hung up. Funk is booted out of the ring and JYD puts on Funk’s hat in a big display of mockery and bravado. Funk crawls in so JYD gets on all fours and headbutts him back out of the ring. Funk returns and is sent into the corner. He rebounds into a bodyslam before falling out of the ring. Funk returns and JYD slugs away as our announcers, Monsoon and Ventura, talk about the Wrestling Challenge. Funk shrugs off being sent into the top turnbuckle but they really just stand around and stall some more. JYD covers Funk but gets distracted by Hart and breaks the count. JYD gets distracted again by Hart (who gets to the apron) so JYD chases Hart around the ring, allowing Funk to blindside JYD from behind. JYD is able to back drop Funk on the outside and follows with a bodyslam. We head back to the ring and Funk is able to sneak in a kick to the nuts that the referee doesn’t see. Fink legdrops Dog and covers for two. Funk puts JYD in a sleeper and Gorilla calls foul saying it is a choke. JYD is almost out. JYD fights back and knocks Funk down before dealing with Jimmy. He sends him into the corner and the ref deals with them. So Funk grabs the branding iron and whacks JYD in the head with it. He covers and that’s enough for the pinfall at 13:27. This was really just punching, kicking and stalling. I wouldn’t recommend it as a wrestling match since very little wrestling was actually done! *.
-British Bulldogs vs. Dream Team(c) for the WWE Tag Team Title-
This was a warm-up to their Wrestlemania II match and it took place on October 12th, 1985. Do I need to keep writing the years if all of them are in 1985? This took place at the Boston Garden and that must’ve been some show since the Steamboat/Savage match is also playing this month on Classics.com. The manager of the Dream Team (Luscious Johnny Valiant) is absent from ringside. Davey Boy Smith and Beefcake start things out with Beefcake pulling out all the cheap stall tactics he can, including strutting. Beefcake is shoulderblocked down before Davey Boy grabs a side headlock. Dynamite is tagged in and he continues the side headlock. Valentine sneaks a tag in but runs right into Dynamite. Dynamite cross body’s Valentine for two and the Hammer begs off. Dynamite doesn’t oblige and he goes to work on the arm, something Davey Boy continues when he comes in. Davey Boy keeps at it but Beefcake pokes him in the eyes to break. The Hammer is tagged in and he tries to get a one-up on Davey but Davey Boy is able to tag in Dynamite and he goes right to work on Valentine’s arm. He sets him up for a Side Russian Legsweep but that’s used to leverage the arm. Valentine counters with a side slam and it seems the Dream Team will be working on the back of the Dynamite Kid. They double-team and slam his back into the corner, continuing to tag to get the five-seconds to do a “legal” double-team. Beefcake works in a bearhug before tagging in the Hammer. The Hammer changes tactics, going to work on the leg of Dynamite to set up his finisher, the figure four. Beefcake tags in but he’s suplexed so Valentine comes back in to prevent the tag. He goes for the figure-four but Dynamite blocks him. So he opts for a shoulderbreaker instead. Beefcake comes in with a suplex for two. Beefcake is tagged in and he slugs at Davey Boy in the corner so that the ref is distracted by Davey and they can double-team some more. Beefcake drops a pair of elbows for two. The Hammer drops a knee after a double-clothesline and covers for two. Valentine misses a pair of elbowdrops and Dynamite is able to roll to his corner and tag in Davey Boy to a huge pop. The double noggin knocker follows and the Hammer is bodyslammed down. Davey heads upstairs and barely hits a missile dropkick (literally one leg hits the leg of the Hammer). The Powerslam follows and that looks to do it until Beefcake pulls Davey Boy off of the Hammer. Davey Boy suplexes the Hammer and covers for two. Valentine boots at Davey Boy to tag in Beefcake. Beefcake is shoulder-blocked down. Bulldog sunset flips Beefcake for two. Davey Boy cross bodies the Barber but the Hammer comes in yet again. So Dynamite makes an entrance and Beefcake and Hammer and sent into each other. Bulldog launches Dynamite headfirst onto Beefcake and covers but the ref is distracted by all the goings on of the match. So he clears Bulldog (the legal man) from the ring, allowing Valentine to hammer Dynamite and Beefcake pins him at 17:47 to retain the titles. The Bulldogs keep a title and coerce the champs to re-enter the ring so they can get stomped some more. This was an epic match. Everything moved at a great pace, the moves were crisp, and it worked the tag formula perfectly. It lacked a certain something special to it that keeps it from being an all-time classic but is damn good. ****1/4.
---Week Two---
-Hulk Hogan(c) vs. Don Muraco for the WWE Title in a Steel Cage Match-
I don’t know where this came from but I’m happy it is here! This is a June 21st, 1985 match from MSG. This is something that could’ve shown up on the Hulk Unreleased Collection that I just reviewed. I think you’d be surprised at how the first two discs were. This is the white trunk variation of Hogan. Muraco charges at Hogan with the belt but Hogan sidesteps him and slugs away. The referee takes the belt and these two men are alone in the ring. Hogan tries sending Muraco into the cage but Muraco blocks and low blows the Hulkster. Try to Hulk out of that! Hogan does fight back after Muraco makes an attempt for the cage and he drops Muraco. He headbutts him and sends him flying into the cage. Muraco blades and Hogan, seeing blood, sends Muraco back into the cage. Muraco does manage to sidestep a charging Hogan and Hogan is slammed headfirst into the cage. Muraco slingshots Hogan into the cage and it is Hogan’s turn to blade. Muraco tries climbing over the top but Hogan catches him, slams his head into the top steel bar and bites the open wound of Muraco. Muraco kicks Hogan off the top and climbs down to boot Hogan some more. Hulk starts his hulkisizing and Muraco’s dead meat now. He takes a big boot and manages to get caught in the top two ropes. Hogan heads for the door but not before Muraco frees himself. Muraco grabs Hogan by the leg but Hogan is able to slug him off and exit the cage to retain the title at 9:05. It was definitely cool to see Hogan blade and I thought Muraco and Hogan did a decent job at working a cage match. ***.
-Road Warriors(c) vs. Freebirds for the AWA Tag Team Titles-
This is from The AWA Superclash and it took place on September 28th, 1985. I don’t have a lot of love for either team, so I’m not expecting too much here. This is in an outdoor venue in Chicago (maybe Wrigley?). The Freebirds here are Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy. They are wearing ridiculous Confederate-influenced face paint. Hayes gets some cheap heat from the crowd as Hawk and Gordy start. Hawk clotheslines Gordy down and manhandles him, leading Gordy to tag in Hayes. PS Hayes suffers a similar fate and has no choice but to escape the ring after Animal is tagged in. Gordy comes in and he’s sent hard to the corner, flipping up into a seated position. Animal bodyslams him and Hawk comes in off the second rope with a fist. Hayes is tagged back in and he grabs a side headlock on Hawk. He shoulderblocks Hawk down and tries a sunset flip but Hawk punches his way out of it. Hayes ends up getting pinballed between the Warriors. Hayes gets to his corner but Gordy doesn’t want to make the tag! He eventually agrees to get tagged in. Hawk tries spearing Gordy in the corner but Gordy sidesteps and Hawk’s shoulder rams into the ringpost. Gordy suplexes Hawk and Hayes is tagged in. Hayes side slams Hawk for two, but Hawk’s kickout actually sends Hayes to the outside. The Birds double-team Hawk and Gordy adds insult to injury with a piledriver. The Birds double-team Hawk in the heel corner but Hawk fights back, issues a double-noggin knocker but he can’t make it to his corner. Hayes clotheslines Hawk down and heads upstairs but Hawk catches him and press slams him off. Gordy runs in before Hawk can make the tag. Hawk and Gordy collide and both are knocked down. Hawk makes the hot tag to Animal and he atomic drops Gordy into the corner. A powerslam follows and he covers but Hayes runs in to break up the count. This draws in Hawk and the four of them are in the ring. Buddy Roberts makes it to the apron so he’s headed off by Paul Ellering. Roberts gets a chair shot in on Ellering so Hawk runs out to save his buddy. Animal press slams Gordy, powerslams Hayes and shoulderblocks Gordy. He covers but Hayes hits a flying fist (with an illegal object) off the second and Gordy covers for the pinfall at 9:54. The Freebirds walk off with the titles and the fans are NONE too happy with that. So Verne Gagne comes back and asks for a replay on the SportsVision screen. So the instant replay changes the decision. That was weak. This was your average tag match that worked the necessary formula. The Road Warriors didn’t go out of their way to sell for the Freebirds, the Dusty Finish at the end was crap but the formula worked to get the fans into it and it was a match I could sit through without too much of a problem. **1/2.
-Piper’s Pit on the Set of the A-Team-
This gem is from the February 16th, 1985 episode of All Star Wrestling. This was shortly before Wrestlemania so the Mr.T/Piper feud was going on strong. Piper sneaks up behind T, who is sitting in his chair. Basically the two argue until T shoves Piper. Well, T started it and that would be assault on his part. Not something you want to teach to young kids watching the show.
-Midnight Express vs. Alan Martin & Mark Cooper-
This rarity is the introduction of the Midnight Express to Jim Crockett Promotions. This is from an episode of World Championship Wrestling and aired on July 6th, 1985. I don’t know the difference between Martin and Cooper but at least I know the Midnights. Bobby Eaton starts off with one of them and the Midnights do make some quick tags to each other. After the first jobber is softened up enough, Eaton drags him to their corner so the other jobber can get tagged in. He doesn’t do too well, as Bobby and Danny just humiliate these guys. There’s not much wrestling going on here and it is one of the worst squashes I’ve seen. The other jobber comes in and is suplexed. He’s pounded on and Eaton hits a nice top-rope legdrop. The jobber is knocked out so Danny lifts him up and lariats him down. He covers to end this at 3:15. This was just an annihilation and hey, it got the team over as heels. ½* (my usual jobber match score).
---Week Three---
Oh man this looks like an awesome week!
-Tully Blanchard & Baby Doll Music Video-
This is from a January 15th, 1985 episode of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. So Baby Doll gets off a plane and Tully is waiting with a limo. It was your standard 80’s hair metal song and Tully and Baby didn’t really do anything to make it stand out to me.
-Kevin Von Erich vs. Ric Flair(c) for the NWA Title-
This gem is from the WCCW Parade of Champions held on May 5th, 1985. The announcer says that the NWA title is the only TRUE world’s title. There are two rings here so there must’ve been some gimmick match that necessitated that. Kevin grabs a side-headlock and Flair tries powering out of it but fails. So Flair backs Kevin to the ropes to break the hold. Kevin even rolls up Flair for two and Flair bails to the outside. The ref counts to thirteen before Flair makes it back in. The announcer mentions that if Flair is counted out or disqualified he loses the title. That should make things interesting. Kevin asks for a test of strength and he shows, despite being five pounds smaller and not as muscular, that he is in fact stronger than the World’s Champion. Flair makes it to the corner to break and he goes old school with some chops. Flair tries a back suplex but Kevin slips out of it and puts the sleeper on Ric. Flair is able to make the ropes eventually but he’s still feeling the effects. Kevin back drops Flair and slugs away at him in the corner. Flair knees out of that and tries slugging at Kevin in the corner but Kevin blocks and sends Flair reeling with a trio of rights. Kevin tries to grab an Iron Claw by jumping off the middle turnbuckle but Flair sidesteps and responds with some chops in the corner. The ref gets in but gets knocked aside and Flair uses this opportunity to send Kevin over the top (which normally would be a DQ). Flair doesn’t see Kevin land on the apron and come back in with a crossbody off the top onto Flair which gets two. Flair takes another breather outside. Flair comes back with a knee drop for two before grabbing an abdominal stretch on Kevin. He uses the tights for extra leverage and the ref makes him break the hold as a result. Flair tries a backdrop but Kevin reverses it into an abdominal stretch of his own! Flair hiptosses out of it but misses the follow-up elbow drop. So Kevin punches Flair over the ropes and Flair lands on the aprons between the two rings. This devolves into more punches from Kevin before Flair is sent to the corner. Flair flips over into the second ring and Kevin is on top of him with a top rope crossbody for two. Kevin tries the Claw but Flair blocks and side suplexes Kevin. Flair grabs a sleeper now. Kevin breaks and suplexes Flair for two. Flair gets slugged down and Kevin grabs the Claw. Flair sneaks to the corner to break but he’s quickly whipped to the corner where he goes up and out. Kevin rolls Flair back in but Flair just tosses Kevin right back out (through the middle rope). Kevin comes in with a sunset flip that gets two. Flair bodyslams Kevin but Kevin recovers quickly and Flair escapes to the other ring. Flair heads upstairs and you can guess what happens next. They try a bridge sequence but it takes Kevin three tries before he can get it right. Kevin ends up backsliding Flair for two. Flair shoulderblocks Kevin down but walks into the Iron Claw. Flair makes it to the ropes but Kevin doesn’t break the hold. This leads to a contrived bit where Flair and Kevin fall to the outside. They brawl on the outside where both men are counted out at 20:32. The two continue brawling and Kevin keeps going for the Claw. It takes all the Von Erichs to break up the Claw and Fritz gets on the mic to say he’s proud of his son and that there will be another match. See, this was the problem with WCCW. They NEVER had clean finishes. Obviously Flair wasn’t going to lose the title and WCCW didn’t want their star to look weak so he wasn’t jobbing and it led to all these no-decisions. One thing that didn’t help this match was that these two didn’t really have a lot of flow with each other. Kevin’s offense was mostly punching and didn’t involve too much in terms of wearing Flair down and trying to beat him. Flair, didn’t really work his match either. It was a 20-minute match and he never even went after the leg or go to school on Kevin. It was really disjointed at times and it hurt the overall match. **1/2.
-Debut of Randy Savage-
This is from the July 6th, 1985 episode of Championship Wrestling. Savage wrestles a guy named Aldo Marino. This was before Randy even had a manager (that would come later in the month). Aldo arm-drags Macho early but the camera pans away to see all the heel managers of the time (Blassie, Fuji, Heenan, Valiant and Jimmy Hart) come out to scout Savage. Aldo sunset flips Savage for two but that will probably be the only offense he’ll get. Savage clotheslines him over the top rope before coming off the top rope with an elbow to a standing Aldo’s head. Savage covers but picks him up at one. He dumps him to the outside and follows with the axe-handle off the top. Savage brings Aldo back in, bodyslams him and hits two flying elbow drops to end this at 2:44. The heel managers celebrate with Savage afterwards. A slightly above average jobber match. *.
-Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard(c) for the NWA TV Title in a Steel Cage Match-
This is from the 1985 Great American Bash from July 6th, 1985 although the main title says it is the 1987 Bash. Weird. The ring announcer says this is not a match sanctioned by the NWA. An added stipulation is if Dusty wins the match, Baby Doll will be his for 30 days. Tully tries to corner Dusty but Dusty says no way and elbows out of it. Tully ducks out of another atomic elbow attempt and Tully is scared of that elbow. This prompts Dusty to do whatever dance he does across the ring. Dusty bodyslams Tully and I just now notice that there are no announcers for this match. Dusty works in a single leg-takedown but can’t capitalize and Tully sends Dusty into the cage. He follows with an elbow drop off the second rope that barely hit Dusty and it looks like Dusty’s already used the blade. Tully weakens Dusty with a chinlock but Dusty puts an end to that with a snapmare. So Tully gets a couple of pinfall attempts and starts to work Dusty’s arm. When I say work his arm, I really mean take a breather with an arm-bar. Dusty tries punching out of it with punches so weak he couldn’t get out of a paper bag. It manages to work somehow and Dusty elbows away at Tully and tosses him into the cage. He slams him headfirst into the cage a half-dozen times and Tully’s wearing the crimson mask now. This leads to a boring sequence where each guy is literally falling all over each other, possibly because of their loss of blood, and looking ridiculous in the process. The crowd sleeps through it, too. They finally start to rouse when Tully slips out of a suplex attempt only to run into a Dusty clothesline for two. Dusty puts Tully in the figure-four, despite never really building up to the move. Tully reverses it and Dusty sells the maneuver by limping around for two seconds before delivering an elbow to Tully and backdropping out of a piledriver attempt. Tully tries escaping over the top of the cage so Dusty climbs up and casually elbows him off. He delivers an elbow from the top that I assume was supposed to miss but it hits Tully anyway. Tully no-sells it and goes on with what he’s supposed to do, namely, getting a foreign object from Baby Doll. That all becomes moot when Dusty pulls Tully in, piledrives him and covers for the pinfall at 11:22. Dusty celebrates in the ring with the title. At 11:22 this was way too long. Dusty’s matches were never good and this is an example why. His matches never had a rhyme or reason for what he was doing. The figure-four in the middle of the match for no reason, too much meandering around, way too many elbows and he never properly sold or let the heels control much of the action. *1/2.
-Bret Hart vs. Dynamite Kid-
Is this awesome or what? This is from the September 15th episode of Primetime Wrestling. Bret is rocking the Wrestlemania II-era blue tights and black shirt and Dynamite looks fresh from injecting some steroids right into his ass. Hart ducks between the ropes to start, immediately showing he’s a heel. They lock-up and Dynamite twice pushes Hart to the ropes. Hart bails the second time. Hart comes back and is shoulderblocked down. He tries a dropkick but Dynamite catches his legs and slingshots him into the corner. Hart rolls to the outside. He gets back in and tries to boot Dynamite in the gut but Dynamite blocks and atomic drops him. Dynamite follows with a beautiful snap-suplex for two. He goes to the reverse chinlock before moving to a hammerlock. Bret reverses it but Dynamite charges the ropes and ducks down to send Hart hurtling to the outside. Bret comes back and grabs the arm of Dynamite but Dynamite is able to flip out of it and counter to an arm-wringer of his own. Hart reverses and pulls him down by the hair before charging at Dynamite with a knee to the gut. Hart pulls Dynamite up by the hair and delivers a diving punch off the second rope. Hart headbutts Dynamite and gains extra cool points for rubbing his head afterwards. Hart dumps Dynamite and bodyslams him on the concrete. Bret waits for Dynamite to re-enter and hits a backbreaker for two. Hart tries a backdrop but Dynamite explodes out of the gate with a sunset flip for two. Hart slugs away at Dynamite and again Dynamite sneaks in a pinfall attempt, this time a backslide for two. Dynamite flips out of a backbreaker and gets one of his own. Hart ties up Dynamite in the top rope and tries charging but Dynamite escapes and Hart crotches himself. Dynamite charges with a sick clothesline and diving headbutt. Dynamite gets his revenge for being pulled by the hair and does the same to Hart. Hart is sent to the corner and he runs in chest-first. Dynamite drops a knee to the face for two. A back suplex follows and that gets two. Dynamite drops a knee from the second rope and that one looked like it hurt. That only gets a two! Hart sends Dynamite to the ropes and drops down but he got up too quickly and Dynamite trips over him. So it looks like they do the spot again and this time we get the desired result. Dynamite flips over a bodyslam attempt and tries a roll-up using the ropes as a spring but Hart dives and Dynamite is sent to the outside. We see a replay of this but miss Dynamite sunset flipping Hart from the apron to get the pinfall at 12:32. Hart doesn’t like the call and the Anvil runs out to voice his displeasure (and double-team Dynamite) until the Bulldog makes the save. This was an amazing match for 1985 and I can’t believe how fast and crisp Dynamite was in the ring. I really like how moves people did before were countered the second time and that each guy was figuring out the other. Great match. ***1/2.
---Week Four---
-Introducing: Ricky Steamboat-
Ricky talks about breaking into FCW. He was called Ricky Steamboat by Eddie Graham, the “nephew” of Sam Steamboat, a main eventer in those parts who was also from Hawaii. Steamboat was immediately a face. He came to the WWE in 1985 and that was his big break in the business. His first ever match was against Steve Lombardi, who would become the Brooklyn Brawler. We see clips of Ricky’s Hall of Fame induction speech, too as well as his thoughts on it. We go to Steamboat’s first match. He quickly showcases his quickness with some leapfrogs and a nice dropkick. Steamboat hits a cross-body for two. Lombardi is arm-dragged down and dropkicked. Lombardi stalls things a bit before getting a cheap shot in the corner. He elbows Steamboat down and slams his head into the turnbuckle. Lombardi tosses Steamboat over the top but Steamboat skins the cat and returns fire with some dropkicks. Steamboat heads upstairs and ends this with a flying bodypress at 3:13. That was a good debut for Steamboat and he was already over with the fans with that win. This was a good squash. *.
-Debut of Lex Luger-
This is from the CWF (Championship Wrestling in Florida) and is from October 29th. Luger is from Parts Unknown and is battling the feared Sam Lee. Luger just shoves Lee down and tosses him away when he grabs a headlock. Luger is definitely in great shape here. Luger grabs a bearhug and slams Lee into the corner. Luger sends Lee to the corner and clotheslines him on the rebound. A back breaker submission ends this at 1:17. This was just a big-ass squash to introduce Luger to the CWF. ¼*. I love how the Classics.com team finds matches like these to be aired.
-Andre The Giant vs. King Kong Bundy-
This MSG match-up took place on September 23rd, 1985. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a lot of wrestling moves here. Bundy has Jimmy Hart with him and Andre is escorted to the ring by Capt. Lou Albano. This was a culmination of their feud according to Monsoon. They lock-up and Andre clubs Bundy in the corner before choking him. Bundy escapes to the outside before coming back in with a game plan to attack the injured sternum of Andre. Andre blocks some of the blows and tries backing Bundy off of him but Bundy keeps a’comin’. Bundy kicks Andre to the outside and Andre’s doing a nice job selling the injury. Andre comes back and slows things down with a nerve pinch into a sort of headscissors. Bundy breaks but he’s sent tumbling to the outside. Bundy goes back to work on the sternum. Andre tries blocking but he’s knocked down to his knees and then to his back. Andre rises and shoulders Bundy in the corner. Bundy sends Andre to the corner and tries his splash but runs into the big boot of Andre. Andre goes to cover but Big John Studd runs in for the DQ at 13:50. Andre is double-teamed but he quickly escapes and finds a chair, sending the heels running. This felt like a lot longer than 13:50. That rest sequence in the middle was easily about 3-4 minutes and these two don’t personify fast, clean, crisp wrestling. Still, the selling of Andre was there, as was the story aspect of it so I can’t hate on it too much. I’d say * based on the selling sounds fair.
-Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch(c) vs. The Brisco Brothers for the WWE Tag Team Title-
This gem comes from a Philly show that took place on January 12th. Adrian and Gerald start off with Gerry nabbing a few armdrags and a bodyslam to send Adonis reeling. Gerry works the arm of Adonis, who hadn’t taking to wearing a dress yet. Adonis escapes and tags in Murdoch. Jack comes in, too. Jack quickly goes for the figure-four but Murdoch breaks. Jack works the leg leading to a funny segment where Murdoch tries to make the tag and Adonis reaching in and falling into the ring. Gerry is tagged in and he continues working the leg. Murdoch manages to make it to his corner and tags in Adonis. Adonis is shoulderblocked down and walks into a leg crossbow. Adonis escapes to the outside and pulls Gerry out. Gerry is crotched over the top of the steel ringpost. Gerry comes back in the ring with a sunset flip. Adonis stays after him and Murdoch is tagged in and chokes him with the tag string. Murdoch knees Gerry (hopefully not with that bad leg!) Gerry is atomic dropped again. Adonis comes in and backslides Gerry for two. Adonis bodyslams Gerry and heads upstairs but misses a flying splash/ Gerry doesn’t tag out but instead locks on a figure-four. Adonis makes the ropes. Gerry tags in Jack and he cleans house. He backdrops Adonis, sends him to the corner and locks on the figure-four in the center of the ring. Gerry takes care of Murdoch, sending him to the outside. The ref gets Gerry out of the ring and this allows Murdoch to spear Jack with the chair. Adonis pins and that’s all she wrote at 14:13. At times this was painfully boring. It didn’t work the standard tag formula of the heels working over the faces to gain sympathy. Instead the Brisco brothers controlled most of the match and it disrupted what could’ve been done to keep the fans into it. The cheap ending didn’t help either. *.
-Ric Flair, Ole Anderson & Arn Anderson vs. Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA & Manny Fernandez-
This is from an NWA Worldwide episode taking place near the end of 1985 – December 28th to be exact. I’ll be honest; I’m excited to see this match. Flair and Dusty start this off and Dusty keeps the heels away with his super-elbow. They actually don’t make contact and Arn and Manny enter the ring. Arn gets leapfrogged a couple of times and the fans explode for this. Arn is elbowed down so Ole runs in and he’s pinballed between the three faces. Arn comes back in and is elbowed into the face corner and he’s pinballed around between the faces. Ole comes in and he’s bounced around, too. Flair finally comes in and he’s shoved down by Dusty. Flair chops Dusty in the corner but Dusty no-sells and punches his way out of it. Flair gets elbowed down by Dusty and Dusty tags in Magnum. TA press-slams Flair as we head to a break. We return with Arn working over Magnum’s arm. Flair is tagged in and he chops away. Ole comes in but he’s not too effective as Magnum is able to get to his corner and tag in Manny. Manny hits a flying elbow on Arn before connecting with a second rope flying punch. Manny is too close to the heel corner and Arn pulls him by the trunks into his teammates. Flair chops away but Manny is able to chop right back. Manny hits a crossbody for two on Flair. Flair tries a piledriver but Manny back drops out of it. Arn is tagged in and Manny is elbowed down for two. Manny is triple-teamed but manages a slam on Arn that gets a two. Things start breaking down as Flair brawls with Magnum outside and Arn takes it to Dusty. Magnum is knocked out, Dusty charges after Flair and in the melee Arn is able to whack Manny with a chair. Dusty runs in and puts Flair in a figure-four but the legal men are Manny and Ole and Ole covers for the pinfall at 11:55. They go after Dusty’s leg but Magnum makes the save and the Horsemen escape to the back. This was a super hot match from beginning to end and the booking was fairly solid. Of course Manny was doing the job here. Everything had this sort of chaotic fight that you’d expect from enemies such as these. Great match. ****.
-Road Warriors(c) vs. Baron Von Raschke & Curt Henning for the AWA Tag Team Titles-
This classic battle occurred on AWA All-Star Wrestling and took place on April 12th, 1985. Curt was very young here. Larry “The Axe” Henning is calling the action here and astute fans will notice that is Curt’s father. Curt and Animal start this one off Curt grabs a side headlock and Animal just tosses him off, clearly showing his supremacy in the power department. We start a criss-cross (first of the month!) but Animal puts the breaks on that and tags in Hawk. Hawk swings away and Curt is able to duck out of the way. The two battle over a lock-up which leads to a slugfest. Hawk wins that but Curt is able to tag in Raschke and the announcer claims there will be no pussy-footing around. I love that word. Hawk tries some shoulderblocks that don’t work but he quickly backs off when the Baron brandishes the Claw. Raschke starts working on the arm of Hawk and Curt comes in with an axe-handle off the second rope. Hawk just slugs his way out that and Curt’s in trouble in the Road Warriors corner. Curt is sent hard into the corner by Hawk and Animal tags in. We jump a bit forward in time (possibly a commercial break) to see Animal just drilling Curt with three back-breakers. Animal sends Curt to the corner but a blind charge finds the boot of Curt. Curt tags in Raschke and he backdrops Animal. He puts the Claw on Animal and only Hawk’s interference puts a stop to that. Curt comes back in and he axes Animal down. He follows with a missile dropkick and attempts a running crossbody. Animal ducks out of that and Curt’s neck gets caught between the two top ropes. The Road Warriors dispose of the Baron as Larry tries to save his kid. Curt gets bashed with a chair (and cut open) but Larry is able to make the save and destroy the Road Warriors with the chair. That earns a DQ victory for the Road Warriors at 8:49. Before the commercial break this worked the tag formula as it should and it’s not that hard to mess up. The ending sequence was appropriate to keep both teams strong and I have to say this was an entertaining bout. Not the best tag team match this month but really good. ***.
-The Bottom Line- There was a lot of great stuff included here and I’m happy that the last few weeks were all things that I’d never seen before. I heard people complaining on the message boards about the content added but I really think that the Classics team is making the best of what they’re told to do. Where else could you get this matches for less than $4 a month? The price you pay annually is for two DVD’s and you’re getting a LOT more matches than anything you’d get on the DVD’s. Plus you have all the episodic shows, too! This is still a great value and when the crew can find two ****+ matches, a few ***+ matches and some ultra-rare first appearances (Steamboat and Luger), what’s not to love?
Here’s a rundown of matches I didn’t watch this month.
--Week 1--
--Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper (War to Settle the Score)
I was about to watch this until the opening logo looked familiar. Yeah, I reviewed this on Roddy Piper’s DVD but it wasn’t labeled on there as War to Settle the Score! It was a standard Hogan/Piper stall-fest I gave *.
--Bret Hart vs. Rene Goulet (MSG 01/21/85)
This was posted during Hart Foundation Month on Classics.com. I wonder why they needed the repeat match.
--Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (Boston 12/7/85)
This was on the recent Macho Madness DVD which kicked all kinds of ass and should be in your collection.
--Week 2 --
--Randy Savage Introduces Elizabeth (Championship Wrestling 08/24/85)
--Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair (Starrcade 11/28/85)
Both of these were reviewed on previous WWE DVD releases so I passed them by. The Rhodes/Flair match had the wrong airdate, though (July 6th, 1985 – possibly their GAB match?).
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