Nikolai Volkoff vs Tony Garea
Having unexpectedly enjoyed a Volkoff squash from a 94 Raw
recently, I went into this with positive feelings. They were misplaced. My
favourite thing Volkoff does here is fully commit himself to missing moves,
going full-on into the turnbuckles on a missed splash. His offence doesn’t have
the same level of commitment, as his strikes all look really wispy, his shitty
spinning kick looking particularly bad. Garea gets some good nearfalls from a
backslide and a sunset flip, but ultimately spends too long looking for
approval and falls prey to Volkoff hitting a press slam into a backbreaker. This
may sound like a good move, but Volkoff so obviously protects him with a flimsy
backbreaker that it’s a move he’d be better off not attempting.
Jake Roberts vs Scott McGhee
This was a lot more urgent to start, Jake firing off some
lovely punches and a really tough looking gutbuster. We’ll pass over McGhee’s
terrible looking gutwrench suplexes to be nice. McGhee misses a kneedrop, and I
like that he sells it for the short remaining time of the match, hobbling into
the short arm clothesline. Jake hold onto the ropes on an attempted O’Connor
roll, and plants McGhee with the DDT as he’s getting up. Post-match, Jake gives
McGhee a proper snaking (lets pretend that’s the correct verb), draping Damian
on him again and again.
King Tonga vs Paul Christy
Not a fan of Christy here, he’s got the softest strikes and
has a really awkward in ring manner. Tonga basically overwhelms him here, with
the only offence Christy mustering is a repeated choke in and across the ropes.
Doesn’t help him, as the moment Tonga gets back to his feet, he nails two blows
to Christy’s throat and hits a top rope headbutt to win.
Rene Goulet vs Lanny Poffo
Call me crazy, but I really enjoyed this. Really dug the
matwork to start the match, really nice feeling of one-upmanship between the
two. Even the commentary, where Gorilla Monsoon, Lord Alfred and Ernie Ladd
debate the pros and cons of Poffo’s backflip taunt, is fun. Goulet is great as
a stalling, cowardly heel trying to provoke Poffo into a mistake. His shit
eating grin as he hangs off the ringpost outside the ropes is terrific. Poffo
takes some big bumps off a missed moonsault and some missed dropkicks, and
Goulet’s double-foot stomps looked nasty. In the end, Poffo slams Goulet off
the top and hits a flip senton for three.
Professor Toru Tanaka & Mr Fuji vs Lenny Hurst &
Jose Gonzalez
This is the classic match, JIP from 1977. It’s 2/3 falls and
the first fall is really short. Gonzalez gets beaten down and caught with a big
clothesline by Fuji for the first fall. 2nd fall sees Gonzalez make
the tag to Hurst, who’s offensive run is very brief before Tanaka basically
beats him through the ropes. A sleeper puts Hurst out for the three count.
Really not sure what the point of including this was.
Sivi Afi vs Iron Mike Sharpe
This is sloppy to start, with Afi barely getting over Sharpe
on a legdrop and a really poor looking droptoehold. Things do thankfully
improve after that, loved Sharpe’s big bump from a dropkick than sent him from
the ring, over the railings and into the crowd. There is a contrast between the
thuggish power of Sharpe and the overenthusiastic fast-paced offence of Afi. It’s
a nice contrast, and this is pretty fast paced, with both guys missing lots of
moves which means neither gets prolonged control. They also exchange some big
blows in the ring, with an audible smack to their strikes. The end sees both
guys fighting outside the ring, with Afi just about skinning the cat in time to
win. The ref does seem to take ages to make his count, which Gorilla Monsoon
calls him out for on commentary.
Iron Sheik vs Corporal Kirchner
Shiek jumps Kirchner right from the get go, choking him out
with his flag. Kirchner at least seems fired up on his comeback, but this makes
him prone for mistakes and Sheik takes over with a gutwrench suplex that sees
him land on Kirchner’s head. Volkoff assaults Kirchner outside the ring, which
ultimately sees Sheik disqualified. This was fine enough, but not exactly a
banner main event.
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