As a fan of the Big Lads of pro-wrestling, this was a really great 3 disk collection put out last year. The documentary part was really fun, and then 2 disks were just made up of some really interesting looking matches. This is the first disk, with the other one hopefully coming up later this week.
Bruno Sammartino vs Ernie Ladd
Pretty enjoyable match for the most part, with Ladd working
a load of fun cheating into the match. They establish before the bell rings
that Ladd has a thumb weapon hidden on his person that you know will come into
play at some point. Really liked Ladd’s sense of positioning, using his long
legs to put his feet on the ropes when applying a bearhug to Bruno, and
constantly circling whilst choking Bruno to prevent the referee seeing what he’s
doing. Bruno makes a comeback, and Ladd bumps big for him, seesawing himself in
the ropes. Ladd retrieves his weapon and uses it to take advantage again. Ladd
hits some weak looking shoulderblocks, but his big legdrop looks as good as
ever. Ladd misses a top rope splash, however, and that’s good enough for the
pin for Sammartino.
Gorilla Monsoon vs Superstar Billy Graham
I can only assume they didn’t have many Monsoon matches in
the archives, as this is pretty poor. Shame, as it starts off really well.
Graham tries to knock Monsoon down, with Monsoon barely reacting. Suddenly,
Monsoon explodes with his own shoulderblock to down Graham, quickly locks on a
giant swing and then blasts Graham with a splash, with only the ropes saving
Superstar. So great, it just came out of nowhere and suddenly Graham was nearly
done. From then on, it’s all Superstar. He takes control with a low blow and
applies two back-to-back bearhugs on Monsoon. He continues working the lower
back, ramming Monsoon into the railings outside then hits a top rope kneedrop
for the anticlimactic win (with Monsoon’s feet clearly in the ropes). Graham’s
control was pretty dull and this went rapidly downhill after the fun opening.
Haystacks Calhoun vs Nikolai Volkoff
Very quick match. Some basic brawling to start, before
Calhoun traps Volkoff in the corner and splashes him. Volkoff misses a knee
charge and gets splashed for the win. Nothing to this.
Ernie Ladd vs Kerry von Erich
Bit scrappy this one, I’ve seen better from these two. There’s
just too many moments where it feels like they aren’t on the same page, and
have to slow it down to reset. That said, there were good things here too. Ladd
is so good at using his size to immediately reach for the ropes when Von Erich
puts any hold on him, and I love little things like shaking his own hand after
a chop because he hit Kerry so hard. Kerry wears the Big Cat down by ramming
his head into the turnbuckles, with Ladd slowly going down to a knee and
getting rammed into the middle buckles. Ladd takes over with a foreign object,
just as in the Bruno match, but there’s some fun turnabout as Kerry grabs the
fist and causes Ladd to hit himself instead. These moments just make it more
frustrating when things go off the rails again, before Kerry wins with a sloppy
top rope sunset flip.
Ernie Ladd & the Wild Samoans vs Andre The Giant, Dusty
Rhodes & Junkyard Dog
This is a really quick sprint, but it’s a load of fun. It’s
not pretty, but they work a high tempo and keep the tags quick enough to
maintain that pace. Loved the heels trying to isolate Andre in their corner,
only for him to free himself, dragging Ladd and one of the Samoans with him as
he gets to his own corner. The heels find it hard to gain any traction, until
Ladd breaks an Andre pin with a legdrop, and the Samoans slam Andre. Things
quickly break down and Andre is able to hit a 2nd rope splash on Ladd
for the win.
King Kong Bundy vs Dusty Rhodes
Two big boys colliding here. Dusty outpaces Bundy to start,
peppering him with punches. Dusty gets huge reactions just by teasing the
elbow. Bundy works a bearhug, which is fun as they pepper in fun comebacks for
Dusty. Dusty elbows his way to freedom and peppers Bundy’s head with more
elbows, busting him open. This cues up One Man Gang to enter and draw the DQ
ending. Fun match
Hulk Hogan vs Big John Studd
This seems to be right at the start of Bobby Heenan’s WWF
run, with Gene Okerlund and Monsoon basically introducing him to the audience
with their commentary. Hogan is so great in this match, all fired up and ready
to fight. He absolutely nails Studd with a running back elbow in the corner, which
looks great. Studd takes over after blocking a slam, and he’s really not a fun
offensive wrestler. Just methodical clubbing blows. Hogan bleeds nastily, with
blood smearing the ring apron and his white trunks, and this seems to fire him
up. Hogan’s angry attack is great, but they end up fighting outside the ring,
with Heenan pushing Studd back in to beat the count at Hogan’s expense. This
was the best Studd match I’ve seen, and that’s because Hogan brought the fire.
Kamala vs Andre The Giant
This is a cage match, and is exceptionally tedious. The
start is fine, with Andre ramming Kamala into the cage causing Kamala to want
to find a way out quickly. He does manage to overwhelm Andre and nail a splash,
but tries for a pin due to not knowing the rules. We then endure a LOOOOOONG
stretch of Kamala chopping and choking Andre, trying to escape, Andre grabbing
his foot, repeat ad infinitum. This is finally broken by Andre grabbing Kamala
and choking him out, slamming him and nailing a top rope buttdrop before
escaping. This was terrible.
One Man Gang vs Shawn Michaels
Complete squash. Gang clubs Michaels to the floor, hits a
big clothesline and powerslam in the ring and finishes with the 747
The British Bulldogs vs King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd
Same match as from the Bulldogs’ VHS I wrote about 5 years
ago. Decent little match, with the Bulldogs using speed and superior
double-teaming to control early on, but suffering as soon as Bundy isolates
Davey Boy. Bundy is clearly better than Studd, with his offence looking far
more painful and moving with more speed. Bit of a cheap ending as Dynamite Kid
suddenly runs in, locking on a sleeper that looks like he’s pulling Studd’s
head off, and we get a DQ win for the Bulldogs as Studd pushes the referee
over. This was fine.
One Man Gang vs Ted DiBiase
Really liked DiBiase here, showed great babyface fire. Gang
was the perfect foil, not only having good control and convincingly wearing
DiBiase down, but also allowing for well timed openings on DiBiase’s comebacks.
A missed elbow by Gang shakes the ring, and I loved how DiBiase keeps moving
wherever possible. Gang misses the 747, and DiBiase tries a figure four. Gang’s
leg strength sends Ted into the ropes, where he bumps heads with Skandor Akbar,
the Gang’s manager. DiBiase is out, and Gang hits the 747 to the back, before
hitting one from the second rope to confirm the pinfall victory. Really dug
this.
Andre The Giant vs Randy Savage
This is for Savage’s WWF title. Some fun hullaballoo to
start, with the ref sending Bobby Heenan to the back. Andre sneak attacks to
start, hitting a big headbutt to send Savage to the floor. Even better, when
Savage is on the apron, he hits a massive chop to bring Savage back into the
ring. Loved Savage’s comeback where he just runs right by a big boot and hits a
clothesline to tie Andre up in the ropes. Andre frees an arm and one chop is
enough to stagger Savage, playing up Andre’s size advantage. Savage goes up and
hits the double-axe handle, but misses the top rope elbow (with terrible camera
work missing the whole thing). Andre goes to the floor and tries to grab
Elizabeth, leading to a brawl and double count out. Disappointing ending. The
post-match is pretty wild, with Andre grabbing the belt and roughing up the
referee, demanding to be declared champion. Andre stands alone in the ring with
the title to round out this disk.
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