Mid-South Wrestling 13/02/1982

Wild Samoans vs Rick Ferrera & Bill Ash

Enjoyable squash. Liked Afa holding Ash in the air by his jaw, looked really painful. Ferrera tags in, hitting a big flurry of punches, but immediately eats a Samoan Drop for the three.

Paul Orndorff vs Bryan Blair

Enjoyed this, really well worked competitive match, with Orndorff just being a bit too high in the pecking order for Blair to deal with. Orndorff is surprisingly sporting in this bout, even extending a handshake to Blair. Some decent matwork to start, loved the manoeuvring to escape a hammerlock into an armbar. Blair keeps up with Orndorff, which seems to frustrate him, as he gets annoyed when both men are tangled in the ropes. Both go over the top rope, with Blair seemingly catching his face on the bottom rope, and Orndorff hits a driving knee from the top to get the win.

Junkyard Dog vs Bob Roop

JYD is making a title defence here, and they build this up nicely by highlighting how the previous two weeks have seen title changes. Decent competitive stuff before the end sees some enjoyable hoopla. Roop has a fun spot where he rams JYD’s head into the corner from a full Nelson and he later hits a lovely jumping knee. JYD’s diving headbutt looks spot on too. They go to commercial with Roop on the floor, with his foot tangled in the bottom rope, and I liked that we came back to find the match over, but with the ending recorded. Adds a nice touch of realism. This is where the stuff’n’nonsense comes in, and it’s a lot of fun. First Orndorff comes out, accidentally hits Roop, and JYD hits the Thump on Roop. Orndorff tries to break the pin, but JYD gets up and slams Orndorff onto Roop. Next Bob Orton comes out, only for JYD to press slam him onto Orndorff on the floor. While the ref is looking at those two, JYD nails a big forearm to finally pick up the win.

Ted DiBiase & Mr Olympia vs Ed Wiskowski & Bob Orton

This is the first of the standby matches. Heels never really feel like they’re in this one, even when they get to work heat on DiBiase. Orton stooges about in the early going, swinging and missing with wild punches and flailing madly whilst held in a wristlock. Fun spot with Wiskowski slamming DiBiase to break a wristlock, but DiBiase holds on to send Wiskowski back to the mat. The heat is worked on DiBiase, it’s brief and includes a false tag, before Olympia dropkicks DiBiase onto Wiskowski during a slam attempt. We get a melee as Orton accidentally hits his partner, Olympia locks a sleeper onto Wiskowski and DiBiase picks up the pieces for the win. Enjoyed all this.

Ron Cheatham vs Frank Monte

Final standby match with a few minutes to go. Nothing much to this, though the matwork is quite decent. Liked Monte’s driving knees with a hammerlock held, and he at least tries a few quick pins as the time ticks away for a draw.

Mid-South Wrestling 06/02/1982

Bob Orton Jr vs Ken Woodby

Woodby is pale, portly and auburn haired; a less intimidating grappler you couldn’t hope to meet. Orton controls him on the mat, working the arm to keep him grounded. Orton then hits a back breaker, a leaping second rope forearm and a piledriver in quick succession to win.

Ted DiBiase vs Ron Cheatham

Flavourless squash, as DiBiase controls Cheatham rather easily and hits powerslam and the figure four to win. Meh.

The Wild Samoans vs Junkyard Dog & Mike George

This takes two attempts to happen, as the first sees a fun angle with Ernie Ladd furious that Skandor Akbar has taken managerial control of the Samoans, his charges. He goes on the assault, beating all three men down, until an unnamed One Man Gang comes in a beats him down, hitting a (shitty) top rope splash on his legs to injure him.

Twenty minutes later, after Akbar demands the Samoans be allowed their scheduled match, we get it…and it’s a bit nothing. It’s for the tag titles, held by Dog and George, but it’s too short for much to happen. What it does do is show how useful Akbar will be for the Samoans. After a ref bump, a chair gets brought into the ring and, whilst JYD is able to use the chair to deflect an attempted fireball by Akbar, it gets left in the ring and the Samoans take advantage, hitting a Samoan Drop on George onto the chair to claim the tag belts. I hoped for a better match, but the whole deal was fun.

Bob Roop vs Frank Monte

Short, but with bits to enjoy. Liked Roop showing hid power to muscle Monte through a hip toss after it looked like they’d blown it, and I enjoyed Monte slipping out of a second attempt to hit a flying headscissors, which he then held on the mat. Good ending too, as a clubbing blow to the back of the head by Roop sends Monte into the corner and Roop hits a shoulderbreaker for the win. Good stuff.

Paul Orndorff vs Mr Olympia

Really good stuff here. They work a nice even pace, with some lovely punches thrown by both, before Orndorff takes control by rebounding from the corner with a second rope clothesline. Nice driving knees into the side of Olympia’s face. Orndorff starts getting frustrated as Olympia kicks out of some big moves, with a powerslam and driven elbows only getting two. Olympia reverses a piledriver, hits an enzuigiri and locks in a sleeper that, even though Orndorff tries his best to fight it, gets the victory. Good sprint.

Ed Wiskowski vs Brian Blair

They get the “TV time limit” death spot here, but both guys wrestle like they want to win instead of killing time. This is speed vs power, with Blair showing his skill early by reversing a Wiskowski suplex into a small package for two. From there, Wiskowski keeps hurling Blair into the ropes, first catching him with a stungun, then with two slingshots. Blair kicks out of an O’Connor roll, sending Wiskowski headfirst into the bottom turnbuckle, giving him the comeback until time runs out. Fine enough.

Mid South Wrestling 23/01/1982

Brian Blair vs Tom Renesto

Really enjoy Blair squash matches in Mid South. He always does at least one goofily fun thing. Here it’s a through-the-legs sunset flip to catch Renesto unawares. Dug the double sledge to the stomach to set up a nice kneelift, before the abdominal stretch pin gets the win.

The Wild Samoans vs Jesse Barr & Tommy Wright

The most fun thing about this is how utterly worthless Barr is as a tag partner. Wright starts and gets roundly beaten by the Samoans. Just a fun massacre. Barr tags in, takes one move, avoids a diving headbutt and leaps across the ring to tag out again. Wright fares no better and eats a Samoan drop to finish it.

Mike George vs Carlos Zapata

Very short squash, with George looking comfortable in control at all times. Not much to this, but my notes do say “lovely right hand”, so that’s a good sign. Side Russian legsweep gets the win.

Mr Olympia vs Bob Orton Jr

This is for Orton’s Mississippi title. You’d think this would mean it’s more competitive, but this is pretty short and Olympia pretty much controls things. Olympia keeps Orton on the floor with a headscissors, which they work a pretty fun sequence with. Orton hits a nice forearm after getting whipped into the corner, looked like a sudden instinct blow, but Olympia locks on a sleeper from nowhere to win.

Paul Orndorff & Bob Roop vs Ted DiBiase & Dick Murdoch

Too short tag bout, but what we get is really fun. Loved the opening team work by the faces, as a quick tag leaves Roop disorientated, DiBiase dropkicks him from behind right into a Murdoch slam. They continue the story of Orndorff having a counter for DiBiase’s figure four leglock, with DiBiase locking it in midring. The commentary discusses the possibility of Orndorff reversing it again, and true to form he does. Really convincing battle over it. DiBiase suffers for a bit, before turning it back on Orndorff by rolling it back around. Nice bit of continuity and it shows some development by DiBiase. The ending was some creative bullshit, in the best possible way. The ref gets bumped in a melee, and Bob Orton Jr comes in to help the heels. The faces fends them off and Murdoch hits a top rope brainbuster on Orton, covering him and getting a pin as the groggy ref doesn’t realise Orton isn’t part of the match. Novel way to keep the heels strong. Not a great night for Orton though.

Ed Wiskowski vs Terry Daniels

Daniels gets a little shine, using his speed advantage to get a roll up for two, but the larger Wiskowski controls hitting a driving knee from the second rope and a backbreaker for the three.

Bill Ash vs Frank Monte

They play out an odd sub-four minute time limit draw, as TV time elapses. Neither guy looks too concerned about winning as time ticks away, but they both work some fun work on each other’s arms. Like Ash ramming a kneedrop into a hammerlock. Felt like the start of a good ten minute bout.

Mid-South Wrestling 25/12/1981

Mike George & Carlos Zapata vs Rick Ferrera & Jerry Novak

George is only tagging with Zapata due to an injury to the JYD, and this is basically a handicap match. Like Novak trying a cheapshot by kneeing George as he runs the ropes, even if he’s a touch late. The heels tie George up in the ropes and beat on him, whilst his useless partner does nothing. Zapata does comes in and immediately gets sent to the floor, so George ends up whipping the two heels together and pinning Ferrera with a dropkick, with his partner hilariously passed out on the floor.

Paul Orndorff vs Brian Blair

These two guys have been the highlight of my Mid-South watching so far, so I was looking forward to this. Really enjoyed the opening matwork, which isn’t something I associate with Orndorff. They actually work a fun sequence based around Blair holding Orndorff in a headscissors.  Blair keeps up with Orndorff, until an O’Connor Roll sees Orndorff duck through the ropes and Blair eats the top rope right across his throat. Looked nasty. Blair is kept strong throughout – he blocks a figure four, then counters a suplex with one of his own. He locks in a figure four but Orndorff reverses it. Blair can’t make the ropes but won’t quit, so the ref calls it to give Orndorff the win. Really good match.

Ted DiBiase vs Mike Boyer

This wasn’t very good, pretty scrappy from the start. A powerslam on Boyer looks terrible before DiBiase wins with the figure four. Exceptionally skippable.

Bob Roop & Bob Orton Jr vs Mike Bond & Frank Monte

I anticipated this being a straight squash, but Bond and Monte are made to look pretty good. It takes Roop antagonizing Bond to distract the ref and allow a double-team on Monte. Even this doesn’t last long, as the faces get to control again before the heels take over in a lovely sequence: Bond and Orton work a criss-cross spot, and Roop gets a blind tag. Bond performs an O’Connor Roll on Orton, but Roop hits a knee drop to the back of his head during the pin, and Orton gets the win with a piledriver. Fun match, the heels lost nothing by keeping it competitive, winning due to their smarts.

Ed Wiskowski vs Tom Renesto Jr

Pretty solid squash, with Wiskowski just beating down Renesto piece by piece. Really loved him hitting a squash across Renesto’s shoulders as he was sat down. Backbreaker completes the easy win.

The Iron Sheik vs Don Serrano

Sheik jumps Serrano before the bell, but this lasts barely 30 seconds before Paul Ellering leaps in to beat up Sheik for an earlier sneak attack. Ellering hammers Sheik to end the show.

Mid-South Wrestling 12/12/1981

B. Brian Blair vs The Monk

Or “Bryan Blair” as he’s known as here. Nice little bit of matwork to kick off, with Blair using a nice legsweep to down the Monk, followed by a nice leverage battle to push Monk’s shoulders to the mat. The Monk uses Blair’s hair to pull him to the mat, and this seems to infuritate Blair, who ups the tempo. Nice height on a legdrop, before Blair uses an abdominal stretch to pin the Monk down for three.

King Cobra vs Tom Renesto Jr

Cobra looks to be in great shape, and his movement is certainly better than that of the chubby Renesto Jr. Cobra controls with some uninteresting armwork before winning with a headbutt. Not much to say here.

Jimmy Garvin vs Ed Wiskowski

Both guys look pretty hench here, especially the burly looking Wiskowski. As opposed to the previous bout, Garvin actually does some nice work on the arm of Wiskowski, wrenching a hammerlock and driving knees into the elbow. Wiskowski has some really nice looking blows in the corner and soon finishes Garvin off with a running knee to the face, a stungun and a gutbuster. Really good work here.

Junkyard Dog & Mike George vs Jerry Novak & Aaron Holt

Blink and you’ll miss it, as JYD and George hit a double-shoulderblock on Holt and JYD hits the Thump to win.

Iron Sheik vs Buddy Ryan

I’m not even sure Ryan gets any offence in, but he’s a pretty generic looking guy especially in comparison to a man in shape like the Sheik. Sheik just blitzes Ryan with some fun suplexes, refusing to take a pinfall win in order to hit more offence. Nice double-underhook suplex, nice belly to belly and finally a nasty looking deadlift German win the bout.

Rick Ferrara & Diamond Lil vs Tony Charles & Barbie Doll

Really odd mixed tag match, with full-sized men teaming with female midget wrestlers. Never been a big fan of matches like this, as you lose the whole tag dynamic. You can’t really do double teams, it’s harder to work heat on the face and it ends up feeling like two matches bolted together. I thought Charles looked great here, before Barbie Doll pins Lil after a sitdown splash.

Ted DiBiase vs Paul Orndorff

Real fast tempo to kick things off here, really made it stand out from the other matches. Liked the focus from both men with DiBiase working an arm to start, only for Orndorff to take advantage of DiBiase hitting his head on a turnbuckle to put in some nice kicks to the skull. Thought Orndorff looked really good in the whole match, to be honest, felt really driven. The end felt a bit off, as DiBiase (the face) locked in a figure-four on Orndorff, which was then reversed with DiBiase only just hanging on before the time limit goes to save him from submitting. It was probably supposed to make him look tough for hanging on, but it really made him look dumb for getting his own hold turned against him and only not losing because the bell saved him. Small quibble aside, the match was fun.

WWF Philadelphia Spectrum 27/08/1988

Decided on a whim to watch one of the old house shows put on the WWE Network in the Old School section. Sadly, I was lied to, as the blurb promised me a Powers of Pain match that isn't show which I'd have been into. Still, the remaining matches were a fun hour of wrestling...

The Hart Foundation vs The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers

Fun little tag bout here. Loved the opening stages, with the Harts both getting to outsmart the Rougeaus when running the ropes – Anvil hitting a dropkick on a leapfrogging Raymond and Bret stopping short on a monkey flip to drop an elbow on Jacques’ head. The commentary suggests that the Harts are just off their face turn, so it’s no surprise they’re a little heelish with some of their actions in this, Bret casually whipping Raymond in the head with the tag rope in their corner. The Rougeaus take over by tripping Bret as he runs the ropes, and they run a masterclass in making things work to their advantage, continually luring Anvil into the ring as a referee distraction, allowing them to double team Bret. Bret gets a few hope spots and we get a false tag before the real hot tag, Bret managing to block a monkey flip that Jacques celebrates too early. We get a melee, in the midst of which Bret piledrives Raymond but takes a cheap elbow from the ropes by Jacque to give the Rougeaus a surprise win. Good formula tag team match here.

Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase

Savage starts this one like a man possessed, attacking DiBiase before the bell. It’s this mania that allows DiBiase a chance to take over, Savage running headlong into a boot in the corner. DiBiase tries to wear down Savage methodically, with chokes and drilled short punches to the head. Savage seems to build up little bursts of energy, allowing him to make supercharged comeback before a DiBiase blow stops him dead. When Savage is able to put a run together, however, he’s hard to contain, and I loved the whiplash clothesline he gives DiBiase, basically yanking him to the mat by the throat. DiBiase tries to calm the storm with the Million Dollar Dream, but when Savage makes the ropes, he relies on Virgil to remove a turnbuckle pad. This backfires, however, as another burst of Savage energy sees him block and ram Ted into the steel, only for Virgil to break up the pin for the DQ. Shitty end to a decent match.

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude

I quite liked this, though it’s easy to see they’re both in house show mode. I actually really loved the early stages, with Jake grabbing onto a headlock for dear life, refusing to be whipped off the ropes, and even maintaining it when given a back suplex. Eventually, Rude breaks free and rams Roberts shoulder first into the ringpost outside the ring. This gives Rude the shoulder as focal point, and he works this over with a hammerlock and armbar on the mat. Rude holding onto the hammerlock for ages isn’t as interesting as Roberts maintaining the headlock, though I did like Rude managing to low blow himself by jumping crotch-first onto Jake’s shoulder. Liked Jake’s selling on the comeback, taking off his wrist tape to improve circulation on the bad arm, and wincing after hitting the short armed clothesline. Bizarrely, Jake somehow hits the DDT on top of the referee, putting him out. Rude hits the Rude Awakening, only to find the ref still out, and when he comes to Jake’s foot is on the rope. They head outside, and Rude manages to beat the count to win. Crappy ending to a fun match. Not a classic, but even taking it easy, this was still fun.

Royal Rumble 1990

The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs the Bushwhackers
Jesse Ventura on commentary highlights the difference between the two teams, the brawlers vs the wrestlers. The Rougeaus have a naturality in the ring which makes most things they do look excellent, including bumping for the Whackers generic offence. They get on offence using heel chicanery, then retain the advantage with even more smarts, using distractions and double-teams on Luke. Loved Raymond's cockiness in ring, with some nice little mannerisms to rile up the crowd. Jacques has grown a beard and looks a bit pudgy here, but knocks out a quick kip-up to also annoy the fans. The meat of this match is the Rougeau's in control, which is good as the Whackers pretty much suck on attack. I thought Raymond was great here, loved him jamming an elbow into Luke's head as he tried to break a Camel Clutch. The Whackers make the hot tag and shortly thereafter win with the Battering Ram. But fuck it, the Rougeaus ruled.

The Genius vs Brutus Beefcake
The Genius also rules. He goes through a whole range of slightly fey mannerisms to rile up the crowd and is just perfectly into his character. His mincing sell of an atomic drop is just terrific. Like with the opener, it's the antics of the heel that keeps the match interesting, as Beefcake offers nothing of interest here. When he has the Genius doubled over in the set-up position for a piledriver or a powerbomb, he does the least interesting thing he could and just jumps to apparently jar the Genius' neck. The Genius manages to escape the sleeper before the ref gets bumped. Beefcake puts the Genius down with another sleeper, so starts to cut the Genius' hair to the chagrin of Ventura. Thankfully Mr Perfect comes in to stop this unjust haircut, and jams a chair into Beefcake's ribs. In an interview later on, Perfect says he's fed up of Beefcake taking advantage of people, which is really fair enough. The ref disqualifies both men, so Brutus doesn't even get a DQ win.

Ronnie Garvin vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
This is a submission match, though each guy tries to pin their opponent in vain at multiple opportunities. Hammer has the Hart Breaker legguard on his shin, so Garvin has also put a guard on his shin to counteract this. Both guys like to lay it in snugly, so they're pretty happy to exchange blows in the early stages. It's pretty fucking great to watch. Valentine downs Garvin and locks on a figure four, but Garvin's shinguard prevents it hurting, as Garvin laughs and pulls faces at the Hammer. Valentine thus has to change tactics, so goes for an Argentine Backbreaker instead. They go back to exchanging blows, and you can hear every single one. Garvin goes for an Indian Deathlock, but the Hammer doesn't submit. Garvin gets knocked down near the ropes, so Jimmy Hart takes the shinguard off Garvin's leg. This time the figure four works. Garvin escapes, but can barely stand on his bad leg. Ventura does a great job of putting over the figure four, stating Garvin should submit or Valentine may end his career. Valentine goes up top to an unfamiliar top rope berth, and it backfires as Garvin hobbles over to throw him from the top. Garvin then removes the Hart Breaker from Valentine's leg. Both try to swing for the other with a shinguard, but only Garvin connects, before sinking in a Sharpshooter for the submission win. Fantastic match.

The Big Boss Man vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan
This starts off with a big brawl to start, with Bossman taking some nifty bumps out of the ring and into the ring steps. The Bossman impresses the Hell out of Ventura and Tony Schiavone with an enzuigiri on Duggan. The brawling here isn't as stiff as the previous match, but they keep up a decent pace and it remains entertaining throughout. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for the big telegraphed punches of Hacksaw. I like Duggan trying to break the bearhug of the Bossman by punching himself free, only for Bossman to keep the hold on and wear Hacksaw down. The story they're working here is that Duggan keeps getting up no matter how many times Bossman hits him, and this leads to the ending as Bossman gets so fed up, he nails Duggan with the nightstick for the DQ.

The Royal Rumble
This is a pretty great Rumble, with so many fun little stories and interesting moments. I also love the fact that you see guys fighting each other regardless of the face/heel divide. The storytelling starts early as Ted DiBiase draws number 1, which is nice continuation from him being number 30 last year. He pounces on Koko B Ware as soon as he gets in the ring to eliminate him, and does the same to Marty Jannetty to try and get an early advantage. Sadly for him, Jake Roberts is out next and provides slightly stiffer competition. I find with these early Rumbles you end up with match-ups in the ring that lend themselves to matches I'd really like to see. For example, early on we get DiBiase and Randy Savage squaring off with Roberts and Roddy Piper, which is a tag match I'd love to see. PIper teaming up with Bret Hart to double-clothesline the Warlord is a cool little moment too, knowing their real-life friendship which was never really mentioned on TV.

DiBiase gets the endurance push this year, with Jesse highlighting how well he was doing as early as 8 men in. Dusty Rhodes eliminates Savage within moments of entering, which plays off a Brother Love segment earlier on the night where Dusty came to the defence of Sapphire as Sherri abused her, and where Savage attacked Rhodes. Andre comes to the ring and eliminates the Warlord, leading to an altercation on the outside between Bobby Heenan and Mr Fuji. Awesome. Piper eliminates Bad News Brown, leading to an angry Brown pulling Piper out, kickstarting their feud. They brawl to the back as a young Shane McMahon tries to regain order. Another one of those cool pairings occurs as Dusty and Ax team up to clobber Andre, Demos style. Haku enters, which allows him to pair with Andre to beat down Ax, but Smash is the next entry, which evens the odds and provides a mini Tornado Tag in the middle of the Rumble. The Demos manage to eliminate Andre, sending him over the top with double running forearms.

Akeem pairs off with Jimmy Snuka, but makes the hilarious mistake of stopping to dance, leading to his elimination in short order. The Demos pair off against Haku and Snuka, yet another tag match I'd love to see. The Canadian Earthquake comes in and is instantly a favourite, eliminating Dusty (massively telegraphed by the Dream) and Ax. Haku pulls a great "oh shit" face at that. All the guys in the ring (bar his partner Bravo) team up to lift Quake out of the ring, which allows him to be eliminated, but also be seen as a real threat. Just great booking in this Rumble. The Warrior comes in to a huge pop. The Model comes in and goes right after Smash, which makes sense when you remember the Demos caused him to be out injured for the best part of a year. Smash winds up on the apron, and Haku kicks him in the face to eliminate him. Tito enters and, yep, goes right after Martel, as I believe he did every year. A Warrior clothesline sees DiBiase finally eliminated to a monster pop.

Hogan enters to the biggest pop of the match, and he eliminates Snuka and Haku in short order. Shawn Michaels hilariously last 20 seconds and Martel soon follows to give us the Hogan/Warrior showdown for the first time. Things pretty much end up in a stalemate, with both men down after a double clothesline, giving an entering Barbarian some pretty easy pickings. Rick Rude enters early to get some of this action. Warrior saves Hogan from elimination, but when Hogan tries to return the favour, he manages to knock Warrior from the ring. For some reason, Warrior sees this as a sign to re-enter the ring and beat up the heels. Man, that worked out pretty brilliantly for Hogan. We end up with a final three of Hogan, Rude and Mr Perfect. A heel double team backfires, leading to Rude being eliminated. Hogan Hulks up after a Perfectplex and quickly hurls Perfect out to win. Really fun Rumble.

AJPW Wrestling Summit 1990

So, I am still ongoing in my quest to get into Puro. However, sometimes it's nice to have a helping hand, and this show is a prime example of that. This show is a cross-promotion with the WWF, so I get the added benefit of my childhood heroes accompanying me on the ride

Jumbo Tsuruta & King Haku vs Rick Martel & Mr Perfect
it's kinda fun to see Haku working as a face here. Perfect begins the match by bumping for the two big men, before Haku becomes face in peril following a missed flipping senton. Haku isn't the only one here who busts out some flashier moves: after dropping repeated elbows on Haku to keep him down, Martel lets him get up and hits a rana on him. Martel then hits a springboard splash for two. Martel goes to the well again by trying for a second rana, but Haku drops him face first on the turnbuckle. The heels keep Haku in danger with some submission holds, but Haku gets knees up on a Martel splash, and gets the hot tag from Tsuruta. The pop Tsuruta gets is immense. Haku and Tsuruta work the heels over, culminating in Tsuruta hitting a picture perfect belly-to-back suplex on Martel for the win. Well executed formula tag match, with the added bonus of seeing guys like Martel and Haku bust out moves you don't normally see from them

Genichiro Tenryu vs Randy Savage
Fun stuff to start as Savage tries all kinds of mindgames to put off Tenryu, who stands there with a totally unconcerned look on his face. Savage takes the opening flurry of chops like a man, crumpling into the corner, but quickly taking advantage as Sherri distracts Tenryu. Tenryu regains control by back bodydropping Savage WAY over the top rope to the floor, then meeting him with a flying shoulderblock from the apron. Another Sherri distraction allows Savage to dominate again, but inside Tenryu hits Savage with an enzuigiri (complete with awesome wobbly legged Savage selljob). Sherri really earns her money by again giving Savage the advantage and this time he makes the most of it, which allows him to hit the big elbow, which only gets two. Savage escapes a powerbomb attempt, but hurts his knee on a crossbody. This allows Tenryu to hit another enzuigiri (with another fantastic sell by Savage) and the powerbomb for the win. As enjoyable as you'd expect from these two, Savage really made Tenryu look immense here, taking his stuff like a man, and the crowd were really into both guys.

Ultimate Warrior vs Ted Dibiase
This is for the WWF title. It opens pretty much as you'd expect it would, Warrior countering everything Dibiase tries with raw power, until Dibiase avoids a flying shoulderblock, sending Warrior face first to the mat. Dibiase gets a little bit of offence in, including spiking Warrior on a piledriver, but Warrior suddenly hits a few clotheslines and a big splash for the win. Far too short and essentially just a showcase of two guys showing their best spots.

Demolition vs Giant Baba & Andre The Giant
Man, the Demos will have their work cut out making this one look good. And in fairness, Smash tries his best to make Baba's attack look threatening. Baba has this really odd way of selling that's curiously hypnotizing, as it doesn't even slightly resemble regular selling. Not saying it's good, just oddly watchable. Andre, despite being possibly more immobile than Baba, at least looks more imposing due to sheer girth. The Demos really try here, using quick tags when they have the advantage to keep control of the monsters, but their selling is what really hold the match together. Of course, it all breaks down into a brawl, allowing Andre to drop an elbow on Smash for the win.

Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen
It's really odd to see these two guys in the ring together, it feels like they should exist in entirely different universes. Even odder is watching the two big guys exchanging wristlocks and Hogan taking Hansen to the mat. Of course, this doesn't last and before long they're brawling outside, where Hogan busts Hansen open on the ringpost. Hogan then works over the cut viciously, wailing away at Hansen and even kicking him in the head until he falls out of the ring. Not what you'd expect from 90's red-and-yellow Hogan. Hogan slams Hansen through a table outside and puts him back in the ring to stamp his head again. When Hansen finally gets some offence in, in the form of a flying shoulderblock, the pop is huge. Hansen's payback on Hogan is pretty hellacious, hitting the Hulkster in the head with a chair (which he then throws at Earl Hebner!) and hitting a flying axehandle (of sorts) from the railings. Now with Hogan bleeding, Hansen goes after his cut, but a lariat attempt is countered by Hogan. Hansen avoids the legdrop, but Hogan nails him with a lariat for 3. Super, super enjoyable, Hogan looked like a monster out there.

WWF Fan Favourites

This is an VHS that the WWF released in late 89/early 90, with the premise being that each match is one requested by a fan. We get a clip before each match of an unenthusiastic fan saying that wrestler A vs wrestler B would be a classic match, before we cut to the action. Let's see what we get.

Brooklyn Brawler vs Koko B. Ware
I'm sorry, there is no way I buy anyone wanting to see this match. I am especially sure no-one wanted to see a match that was 80% Brawler offence. Koko at least brings some high energy (sorry) early on, busting out a pretty nice flying headscissors, but Brawler has nothing to offer on offence, bringing stomps, chokes and rope-burns to the party. At one point Koko fires back with a sunset flip, which wakens the crowd, but Brawler soon puts a stop to that nonsense by putting on a chinlock to silence. Even Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred can't say anything positive for Brawler, with Lord Al commenting on his "ponderous" offence. Koko eventually comes back with a nice facebuster from the corner and a killer Ghostbuster to win, but it's too late to save this abortion.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Dusty Rhodes
An altogether more fun match. Both guys are experienced enough to know how to get a reaction from the crowd without putting too much into the match. In this case, both get the crowd into it via their selling. The Hammer sells Dusty's blows in a punch-drunk, groggy manner, while the Dream manages to incorporate a little dancing into his selling, showing his attempts to keep himself in the match. Both men are heavy hitter, and a punch exchange in the corner is particularly fun. Valentine is wearing his shinguard (called the Hartbreaker) to help with his figure four leglock, but it's Dusty who threatens one first, a nice holdover from his days feuding with Flair. Neither man actually gets to put it on, as the end comes from Ronnie Garvin coming out to prevent Jimmy Hart interfering, allowing Rhodes to roll-up a distracted Hammer for the win.

The Twin Towers vs The Hart Foundation
This should be good. The opening stage sets the scene, the Anvil trying a power battle with Boss Man, but failing to budge him on two shoulderblock attempts. Instead, he levels him with a dropkick, adapting his game. Akeem tries it with Bret, and, following a sitdown on a sunset flip attempt, starts to dominate the Hitman. The Twin Towers use their size advantage to control Bret and are plenty of fun to watch in the process, both being blessed with physical charisma and good speed for men of their size, highlighted by a sweet double avalanche in the corner. The Towers dominate Bret and the heat section is really well worked. They throw in 4 or 5 different hope spots before Bret finally gets the hot tag to a huge pop. The Anvil looks great on the hot tag, nailing Akeem with some solid shots, before resorting to using his relative speed for a double dropkick with Bret. It breaks down with all four men outside the ring (Bret even hits a pescado on Boss Man), but Akeem rolls in to beat the count and win. Afterwards, the Harts beat up Slick to regain their heat.

Mr Perfect vs Tito Santana
Two men who share real chemistry in this one. Because he's looked back on so fondly for his bumping ability, I sometimes forget how fluid Mr Perfect was on offence, and he looks really good here, aided by some consistent selling by Santana. Perfect dominates a lot of the offence in this match, but is soon bumping like a demon for Santana. Like with Perfect, I'd forgotten how good Tito was on offence, here showing real aggression as he pounds away at Perfect on the mat. Rick Martel comes out to run interference on Tito as I ponder back on the days when feuds were so well paced that they could afford to dedicate video space to it, safe in the knowledge the feud would be ongoing by the time the tape was released. Tito hits the flying forearm, but Martel puts Hennig's foot on the rope. He then distracts Tito on a figure four attempt, allowing Perfect the time to roll Santana up for the win. A bit short, but a fun bout.

Million Dollar Man vs Jimmy Snuka
The match begins with DiBiase trying to buy his way out of the match, which Schiavone takes great offence to, as it's a match the fans want to see. They shouldn't, because this really isn't very good. DiBiase does his best to bump hugely for Snuka in the opening stages, but Snuka really drags the match down by stopping...inbetween...every...move. DiBiase gets on offence, which is better simply because he doesn't take half an hour to do every move, though Snuka does take an odd bump over the top for a DiBiase clothesline, which looks awkward. The ending comes when Virgil distracts Snuka on the apron, but Snuka avoids a DiBiase attack from behind to roll him up for the win.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan & the Ultimate Warrior vs Andre The Giant & Ravishing Rick Rude
So much fun. Honestly, this is everything a throwaway tag match should be. We kick off with Warrior and Duggan doing each other's signature poses, which is cool, before we get into the action. Make no mistake, this isn't a "moves" match, but it is based around entertaining fans, which it does very well. An early spot sees Rude accidentally clothesline Andre into the ropes (and sells his arm afterwards too!) before getting used as a battering ram on the Giant by the faces. This is also one of the best uses of Andre I've seen from this era- here he's booked as a monster, gleefully stalking Duggan while he's injured. Andre taunts Warrior by doing his rope-shake pose, taunts Duggan by yelling "HOOO!!" while sitting on him and even copies Rude's hip swivel, all with a big grin plastered on his face. The ending is pretty predictable, Duggan belting Rude with the 2x4 while the ref is distracted, which leads to a Warrior splash for the win, but it's impossible to watch this and not be entertained. Good stuff.