Matches of the Year 2019

Johnny Legacy's Deep Thoughts

Matches of the Year 2019

Well, here we are again, the end of another year. 2019 will be remembered for a long time as the year AEW rose to challenge the behemoth that is WWE and WWE's response of expanding NXT's weekly show to two hours and putting it on USA, but it also saw Smackdown move to broadcast TV and become arguably WWE's A show, New Japan continue to put out the best wrestling in the world, the slow slide of ROH, a true return of the NWA, and Impact continuing to survive and possibly grow. As much as we argue about what's happening in the world of wrestling, there's no doubt that the bell to bell product is the best it's ever been.

As with last year, I'll be listing my picks for the top three matches for each month as well as any other matches that I think deserve a mention, almost all coming from companies I watch regularly (all branches of WWE/NXT, NJPW, AEW, and a smattering of ROH). If there's anything not mentioned here that you think should be, especially from other promotions, please leave it in the comments!

January
Honorable mention: Undisputed Era/War Raiders (Takeover), Jericho/Naito (WK)
3. NXT North American Championship: Johnny Gargano vs Ricochet (NXT Takeover: Phoenix)
2. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (Wrestle Kingdom 13)
1. NEVER Openweight Championship: Will Ospreay vs Kota Ibushi (Wrestle Kingdom 13)

February
3. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White (The New Beginning in Osaka)
2. Aleister Black, Ricochet and Velveteen Dream vs Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole (Halftime Heat)
1. Men's Elimination Chamber Match (Elimination Chamber)

March
Honorable mentions: Bryan/Owens/Ali (Fastlane), DIY/Undisputed Era (NXT TV), 5 way #1 contender's match (NXT TV)
3. Will Opsreay vs Jay White (NJPW 47th Anniversary Show)
2. Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii (New Japan Cup Night 11)
1. Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito (New Japan Cup Night 3)

April
Honorable mentions: All of Takeover: New York not mentioned below, Okada/White (G1 Supercard), Scurll/Taven/Lethal (G1 Supercard), Rousey/Flair/Lynch (WM), Miz/McMahon (WM)
3. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito (G1 Supercard)
2. Best 2 out of 3 Falls for the vacant NXT Championship: Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano (NXT Takeover: New York)
1. WWE Championship: Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston (Wrestlemania 35)

May
Honorable mentions: Omega/Jericho (DON), Shingo/Ishiimori (BOTSJ N 13), Bucks/Lucha Bros (DON)
3. Will Ospreay vs El Phantasmo (Best of the Super Juniors Night 7)
2. WWE Universal Championship: Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles (Money in the Bank)
1. Cody vs Dustin Rhodes (Double or Nothing)

June
Honorable mentions: Ibushi/Naito (Dominion), Moxley/Robinson (BOTSJ Final)
3. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay vs Dragon Lee (Dominion)
2. NXT Championship: Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole
1. Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi (Best of the Super Juniors Final)

July
Honorable mentions: Ishii/Robinson (G1 Climax), Black/Cesaro (Extreme Rules), Moxley/Naito (G1 Climax), every Yano G1 match
3. Will Ospreay vs Kazuchika Okada (G1 Climax 29 Night 7)
2. Tomihiro Ishii vs Jon Moxley (G1 Climax 29 Night 6)
1. Will Ospreay vs Kota Ibushi (G1 Climax 29 Night 5)

August
Honorable mentions: Okada/SANADA (G1 Climax), LeRae/Shairi (Takeover), Rollins/Lesnar (Summerslam), Okada/Suzuki (Royal Quest), Bucks/Lucha Bros (All Out), Ospreay/Tanahashi (G1 Climax)
3. WWE United Kingdom Championship: WALTER vs Tyler Bate (NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff)
2. Kota Ibushi vs Kazuchika Okada (G1 Climax 29 Night 17)
1. 3 Stages of Hell Match for the NXT Championship: Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole

September
3. Will Ospreay vs Sho (Super J Cup)
2. RevPro British Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (Destruction in Beppu)
1. Will Ospreay vs Amazing Red (Super J Cup)

October
Honorable mentions: Omega/Janella (Dark), Bucks/Private Party (Dynamite), Liger/Suzuki (King of Pro Wrestling), Cole/Riddle (NXT TV)
3. WALTER vs KUSHIDA (NXT TV)
2. AAA Mega Championship: Kenny Omega vs Fenix (Heroes Inmortales XIII)
1. Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks (Hell in a Cell)

November
Honorable mentions: KENTA/Ishii (Power Struggle), Cody/Jericho (Full Gear), Men's and Women's Survivor Series matches, Cole/Bryan (SD), Undisputed ERA/Revival (NXT TV)
3. NXT Championship: Adam Cole vs Pete Dunne (Survivor Series)
2. Women's War Games Match (NXT Takeover: War Games III)
1. Men's War Games Match (NXT Takeover: War Games III)

December
Honorable mentions: Jungle Boy/Jericho (Dynamite), Lucha Bros/Omega & Page (Dynamite), Cole/Balor (NXT TV), New Day/Revival (TLC)
3. NXT Women's Championship: Shayna Baszler vs Rhea Ripley (NXT TV)
2. TLC Match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: The Kabuki Warriors vs Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair (TLC)
1. Aleister Black vs Buddy Murphy (TLC)

WrestleMania I

Legacy Review

WrestleMania I

March 31, 1985 from Madison Square Garden

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

The Granddaddy of The Granddaddy of Them All, AKA Vince McMahon's massive gamble

We open with Mean Gene of all people singing the National Anthem (the real one, not America The Beautiful, AKA the National Anthem According to Vince McMahon). He's....OK. Guess we finally found something Okerlund didn't excel at.

Lord Alfred Hayes intros almost all the matches from his position just outside the entrance doors. Wrestlers are often walking around him as he's talking. He manages to sound bewildered or just plain lost about 60% of the time.

Tito Santana def The Executioner in 4:50- The Executioner is billed as undefeated and both Okerlund and commentary say "we don't even know who this guy is or where he comes from". Even his WEIGHT is "unknown". They couldn't get him to stand on a scale for 10 seconds? Well, unbeknownst to everyone at the time but knownst to us now, The Executioner is Playboy Buddy Rose during one of his short WWF stints. Santana is in between his two Intercontinental title runs. They criss cross to start leading to a Santana backdrop, then Executioner gets dropckicked out of the ring. Santana locks in a headlock and runs up the ropes to keep Executioner in it. For WWF in 1985, that was flippydo. Executioner gets a kick in the gut to take over, and as promised in his promo goes for Santana's wounded leg. He goes up to the top but Santana gives him the Flair throw off. Executioner gets his knees up on a splash attempt. Back to the leg. Santana pushes off, and Executioner goes over the top and lands sitting in a chair at ringside! Nicely done. Santana bodyslams him back in. Flying chalupa! That could end it but Santana was still locked in a feud with Greg Valentine over who has the best figure four, so he slaps that on to win with. *3/4

King Kong Bundy (w/Jimmy Hart) def Special Delivery Jones in :09 :23- Bundy had wrestled in WWF in his rookie year earlier in the decade as Chris Canyon but for all intents and purposes he's early in his "real" first run and had been getting rapid squash wins over everyone. He's announced at almost 450 pounds and Monsoon says he looks "almost 500", but under the eyeball test he looks more like 350 to me. Jones runs the ropes and charges Bundy. Bad move, son. Bundy bearhugs him, dumps him in the corner, and hits him with the avalanche. One big splash later, it's over. Finkel announces it as 9 seconds and a record but any stopwatch will tell you it was really 23 seconds. Still, saying you're setting records helps put Wrestlemania over as a big f'n deal. Here's a fun fact: not long after this Hart traded Bundy to Bobby Heenan for Adrian Adonis and The Missing Link. A trade between managers. Wish we had enough managers to do something like that again. NR

Ricky Steamboat def Matt Borne in 4:38- Borne was just a jobber in his first WWF run. Steamboat had just jumped over from Mid-Atlantic after getting frustrated when his big TV title feud with Tully Blanchard ended with him losing, and with Dusty's booking glass ceiling in general. It's clearly early days for him in WWF as he doesn't have the Dragon nickname yet and is still wrestling in trunks. In fact (Ring Gearhead note), he's in all white tonight. Boots, trunks and kneepads. Borne mocks Steamboat's pose during intros. Steamboat starts out fast. Borne comes off the ropes and sees a chop coming so he grabs the ropes to stop, then charges again and Steamboat chops him anyway. Steamboat flips out of two atomic drop attempts and hits one of his own. Borne grabs a bear hug and turns it into a belly to belly suplex. Steamboat lays in more chops. Monsoon gets external occipital protuberance in. Steamboat hits the crossbody off the top (with Borne adding a nice touch of seeing it coming and jumping back in shock) and it's done. It's an extended squash, but also had a lot of nice back and forth. Borne was game. Of course, we all know that Borne would go on to personify one of the most famous gimmicks of the 1990s: Big Josh............Oh, yeah. And that other one. Doink something or other. **

Brutus Beefcake (w/Johnny Valiant) and David Sammartino (w/Bruno Sammartino) go to a double DQ in 11:44- Hoo boy. David Sammartino. This is one of those instances of a family name taking you places you shouldn't be going. Bruno didn't want David to get into wrestling but David did it anyway. Despite Bruno managing occasional matches for him their relationship was always strained. Bruno gets a way bigger pop than David on intros. Beefcake wins a couple of lockups before David gets a drop toe hold. They do some mat wrestling (which to be fair David looks fairly comfortable doing) and Beefcake ends up outside. Bruno offers the kid some advice and David immediately ends up stuck in a Beefcake headlock. Way to sabotage your kid's career, Bruno. David works Beefcake's legs a bit. Beefcake gets an eye rake with his forearm covering. After some more back and forth Beefcake gets a headbutt and throws David out. Valiant scoops David up and slams him on the floor. Bruno immediately goes into enraged dad mode and all four guys end up fighting in the ring. The ref calls for the bell and DQs everyone. They should have taken half of this match's time and given it to the Santana and/or Steamboat matches, especially with that ending. *1/2

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Junkyard Dog def Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) by countout in 6:55- JYD was the biggest star in Bill Watts' Mid-South before jumping to WWF in mid-'84. He remained hugely over but without Watts' magic workrate-inducing shock sticks his matches generally stank. It's all JYD to start. Valentine misses an elbow and JYD rolls through the crawling headbutts. Valentine uses a test of strength to take control and works the leg. JYD pushes out of a figure four attempt. They go back and forth in the corner. JYD takes over with more headbuts. Valentine flop! Hart gets up on the apron. Valentine tries to ambush JYD from behind but hits Hart instead. Still, Valentine manages to use the distraction to get a roll up, and puts his feet on the ropes to get the 3. As Valentine and Hart are leaving Tito Santana runs in (already changed into a dress shirt and slacks) and protests. The referee agrees and restarts the match. On Santana's word? The guy that's been feuding with Valentine for months? Valentine refuses to get back in the ring and is counted out. Santana would regain the IC title from Valentine 4th of July weekend. *3/4

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/Freddie Blassie) def The US Express (c) (w/Capt. Lou Albano) in 6:56- I love how Sheik calls Okerlund "Gene Mean" in his promos. He had plummeted back down the card after being the transitional WWF Champion between Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. The US Express are Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda (future IRS, dad to Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt), who happen to be brothers-in-law in real life. They started teaming together in Florida before moving up north, and would stay a team in the AWA before Windham moved into Crockett territory for his big singles breakout in '86. Captain Lou has what looks like a fishing lure attached to his cheek. Sheik and Rotunda start. Rotunda hits a dropkick and Sheik sells it while Rotunda's feet are still 6 inches away. The heels try to double team but Sheik dropkicks Volkoff off the apron, leading to some temporary dissension. Maybe one of them realized that a theocratic Islamic government isn't really compatible with Soviet style communism. No, they both remembered they're both basically dictatorships that hate the US and moved on. The Express control for a while, showing off some athleticism and going for lots of top rope moves. Volkoff rams Rotunda's head into Sheik's book spike and Rotunda goes face in peril. Volkoff drops him throat first over the top rope. Sheiky Baby puts Rotunda in the abdominal stretch to stretch his abs and make him humble. Rotunda hip tosses out and gets the hot tag. Windham hits his bulldog finisher on Volkoff but Sheik breaks the pin up. Donnybrook! While the ref is getting Rotunda out Sheik gets Blassie's cane and whacks Windham with it. Volkoff drapes an arm over and we have new champs. Pretty good for the time it got. Windham and Rotunda were in prove it mode, and the heels played their parts well. Another match that could have used more time. The Express would win the titles back in June before dropping them again in August to The Dream Team (Beefcake and Valentine). **1/4

Gene Mean joins the celebrating new champs in the back. Blassie denies that he ever had a cane. Classic.

Body Slam Challenge: Andre the Giant def Big John Studd (w/Bobby Heenan) in 5:54- The rules for this match aren't made horribly clear at the start, but the only way it can end is by bodyslam or time limit. If Andre slams Studd, he wins $15,000 of Studd's (well, probably Heenan's) money. If Studd slams Andre or the match goes to time limit, Andre has to retire. Studd and Andre had been feuding for years over who was the true giant in wrestling. The Body Slam Challenge was a regular challenge put on by Studd. While Andre is checking out the bag of money Studd ambushes him. It's also just about the only offensive move Studd has the whole match. Andre chops out and goes through his headbutts, chokes, and corner squashes. Studd takes a powder, then when he gets back in tries to slam Andre. Not happening. Andre spends another 3-4 minutes beating him down then scoops him up and slams him to win. Zero drama, but the crowd ate it up. Afterward Andre starts throwing the money into the crowd before Heenan snatches it away and runs off with it. After this show Studd would form a team with new Heenan acquisition King Kong Bundy and continue to harass Andre all the way up to Andre turning heel and joining the Heenan Family himself leading up to Wrestlemania 3. 1/4*

Promos for the women's title match. Cyndi Lauper's speaking voice needs autotune. Kai says that she will return to the locker room with "my hand in victor". I guess the odds are in her favorite. On their way out to the ring Moolah gives Lord Alfred a peck on the lips. Lord Alfred: "Good gracious!"

WWF Women's Ladies' Championship: Wendi Richter (w/Cyndi Lauper) def Lelani Kai (c) (w/The Fabulous Moolah) in 6:12- In many ways this is the culmination of the Rock 'N' Wrestling Connection that helped put WWF on the national map. Richter had been feuding with both Moolah and Kai. Meanwhile, a chance meeting between Lauper and Lou Albano got the ball rolling for Lauper to make WWF appearances. It also led to WWF matches being shown on the hot new cable network MTV, the first matches shown on cable television. Richter defeated Moolah to win the title on the first MTV special, The Brawl to End It All, then Kai took the title on MTV special 2, The War to Settle the Score (which was headlined by a Hogan/Piper singles match and was somewhat a warmup show for WM). The ref has to throw Moolah out of the ring. Richter uses a hammerlock to throw Kai around. Richter punches like Jimmy Valiant. Kai uses heel 101 hair pulling most of the match. Moolah reaches in and also grabs Richter's hair. Lauper runs in to get her off. An AA type slam from Richter gets a good near fall that the crowd bought in to. Kai hits a crossbody off the top. Richter does a rather slow and sloppy reversal of it to get the 3 and win back the title. Huge celebration in the ring after. It's a moment for sure. It started rough but got a bit better as it went on. If it was on GLOW (the modern TV drama, not the original) we would have called it good. *1/2

Before the main event we get the celebrity roll call. Former (and controversial) Yankees manager Billy Martin is the guest ring announcer. Las Vegas entertainment legend Liberace is the guest timekeeper, and he comes into the ring with a group of Rockettes and does a kick line with them (anyone under the age of 50 will probably have to go look up why it was such a big deal to have him there). The greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali is the special guest referee, serving as the second referee on the outside. Unannounced is Pat Patterson, the first ever Intercontinental Champion, who is the guest ref inside the ring. All this pomp and circumstance accomplished the goal of making Wrestlemania feel, again, like a big f'n deal.

WWF Champion Hulk Hogan & Mr. T (w/Jimmy Snuka) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/Bob Orton) in 13:24- This remains the only Wrestlemania not to have a WWF/E title defense. Piper quickly became WWF's #1 heel after arriving from Crockett in '84. He had feuds with Snuka (the coconut shot) and Bruno Sammartino before setting sights on Hogan. Mr. T is here because of the Rock 'N' Wrestling Connection. Piper gets a full bagpipe and drum corps for his entrance. Hogan's so fired up he rips off T's shirt after his own. Orndorff and Hogan start. No, wait, Piper wants in. OK. No, wait again. Now T wants in. Piper and T have a nose to nose standoff and exchange slaps. Piper feigns a time out but kicks T instead. They go into a nice mat wrestling sequence. T his holding his own here. T gets a slam on Piper. Piper pushes him back into the heel corner. Hogan charges in. DONNYBROOK! Orton gets in. Ali gets in. Snuka sneaks up to the top rope but can't find a target and jumps down again. Ali hits Piper! Ali also takes a swing at Orton while getting him out of the ring. This is chaos, but the good kind of chaos. The crowd is going nuts. The heels regroup and walk all the way to the back. Hogan stops the count to prevent a countout. Eventually Piper and Orndorff make their way back, only to get run into each other. Hogan works Piper over. T gets a couple of slams and a hip toss. Hogan big boots Piper over the top and out. While Hogan tries to go out after him Orndorff ambushes him from behind and knocks him out. Piper gives Hogan a chair shot. T tries to make a save but Patterson literally drags him away, allowing more double teaming. Orndorff hits a shot off the top rope, but goes to the well again and Hogan dodges a knee drop. Tag to T, but the heels immediately double team him. As T and Piper fight they fall into the face corner and Hogan tags back in. A back suplex from Orndorff kills his momentum. Orton and Snuka get in again. Snuka gets knocked back out. Orton goes to the top rope to hit Hogan with his arm cast, but Hogan dodges and Orndorff gets it instead. Hogan drops on him and gets the 3. Not too bad. It was well structured and everyone played their role to perfection. T did well with what he had to do, which would get him return invitations for future matches. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Essentially this is your typical MSG show with a few extra bells and whistles, but at the same time you can tell as it goes that you're watching something special and historic. If you compare shows from the same time side by side there's little doubt that Crockett and the NWA had the superior in-ring product. A lot of the wrestling style in the WWF at the time of this show was still stuck in the 1970s. But thanks to their connection with MTV and the burgeoning star power of Hulk Hogan they were starting to make a dent on the national landscape. The rest of the product would soon catch up, and the Wrestlemania formula would be perfected at Wrestlemania 3. Vince's gamble paid off big time.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+ in terms of pure match quality, when factoring in historical importance call it a C. Every fan should watch this show once.

Great American Bash '86 (7/26)

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '86 (7/26 show)

July 26, 1986 from Crockett home base, the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

Once again there's no commentary as this wasn't originally shown on TV

Like the 7/5 show, I'm reviewing this on my very first viewing. Thanks to the WWE Network for putting these two shows (and all the hidden gems) up!

No opening this time around. We go right into the intros for the first match.

"Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal def Sam Houston- Once again, this is not William Regal. High pitch pop for Houston. Why? The guy is a bean pole. The crowd is red hot though. Quick start. Regal backs off. Man, the ringside cameras are in there tight. Talk about right in your living room. Houston screams "He's got my tights ref!" while Regal tries some sneaky style. Houston does what he does best, take a beating. There's a reason he was a jobber in WWF. The camera thing must be a coordinated plan, these guys are playing to them like crazy during the chinlock spots. They're so close it's hard to make action out sometimes. It's like a Kevin Dunn wet dream. Regal goes through the usual heel playbook before Houston reverses a suplex. Houston misses a charge in the corner. Regal stacks him up, gets hit feet up on the rope for leverage and gets the 3. Houston argues with Hebner and beats Regal down after the bell. Hebner says "FU, kid" and raises Regal's hand again on the way out. *1/4

NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Black Bart and The Barbarian def NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Denny Brown and The Italian Stallion- Paul Jones is announced as Barbarian's manager but he doesn't come out with him. Brown and Bart start. Brown gets a couple of flying headscissors. Bart retreats to his corner but doesn't tag. Brown bodyslams Bart! Everyone looks shocked. That's not quite Marty Scurll slamming Bad Luck Fale, but it's still a decent size difference. Stallion comes in and works the arm. Barbarian teases ambushing him from behind off the top rope but Hebner catches him. After Brown comes back in Bart counters and throws Brown's head into Barbarian's hard coconut. Barbarian comes in and rolls through some power moves. Brown is FIPed. We've got more super tight camera work going on here. I kinda feel like I'm watching an action sequence in Cloverfield. Bart misses a butt splash off the 2nd rope and Brown gets the hot tag. Stallion cleans house until Bart eye pokes him. A Bart suplex, a Barbarian headbutt of the top rope, and we're done. Pacey, efficient and inoffensive. **

Loaded Glove on a Pole Match: "Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez def Baron von Rashke (w/Paul Jones)- That glove doesn't exactly look loaded or dangerous. Jones is in wrestling tights and a polo shirt instead of his pseudo army outfit because he's wrestling later. Thankfully both guys are in normal gear and not jeans so we don't have to worry about Rashke's pants falling down again. Rashke comes out swinging. He goes for the glove quickly but Fernandez pulls him down. After a bit of beating Fernandez goes for the glove, but while he's standing on the top rope he senses Rashke coming and leapfrogs backwards over him then gives him an uppercut. Jones tries to choke Fernandez and takes a shot. Rashke uses the distraction and almost gets the glove but Fernandez catches him and gives him the Flair throw off the top. Both times Fernandez has tried very hard not to pull Rashke's tights down. Fernandez misses a corner charge. Rashke locks in the claw. After holding it forever and Hebner doing some lip service to the fact that Fernandez should have been pinned or deemed unconscious by now Rashke lets it go and gets the glove. He whips Fernandez, Fernandez ducks a loaded glove punch, and hits a crossbody to get the pin. In the end the glove was completely superfluous. Rashke couldn't come close to keeping up with Fernandez so Fernandez couldn't do nearly what he was capable of. *

Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel def "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)- This is almost identical to the match they had on the 7/5 show so I'll whip (no pun intended) through it quickly. The usual stalling at the start. Precious jaws with Wahoo and gets whipped for giving him lip. Garvin takes a whipping and gets pulled back in every time he tries to go outside. Wahoo gives him some super stiff whips in the chest. Garvin gives him an eye rake. Wahoo rolls out and Garvin uses the strap to post him. Garvin gets up to 3 before Wahoo fights back. Wahoo gets 2 and Precious trips him. Garvin goes up top and gets flipped. Wahoo barrels through Precious' distraction attempts and wins. This match was a bit truncated this time and didn't have as much of the fun character interplay as the last one did. **1/4

Taped Fist Match: NWA National Heavyweight Champion Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) def Ronnie Garvin (w/Wahoo McDaniel)- Again, this match is very similar to last time. Tully takes the shot before the bell again. Unlike last time he spends most of the first round getting pummeled with his robe and belt still on. Round 1 ends with another KO punch after the bell. Hebner starts counting Tully down at the start of round 2. Dillon uses smelling salts to revive him. After the round 2 bell Garvin gives Tully a crotch shot. Dillon retapes Tully's hands in between rounds. At the start of round 3 Tully begs off and suckers Garvin into a tights pull into the turnbuckle. Toward the end of round 3 they do the Wahoo atomic drop spot. Round 4 brings more Garvin domination. Dillon throws a bucket of water in Wahoo's face. With the distraction he slips Tully brass knucks. Wahoo posts Dillon. Tully nails Garvin with the knucks and gets up before 10 while Garvin is counted down. Like the previous match, this one didn't have as much time to breathe as they did on the 7/5 show and wasn't quite as good. **3/4

The Rock 'N' Roll Express and The Minnesota Wrecking Crew II go to a 20:00 time limit draw- This is a #1 contender's match for The Midnight Express' world tag titles. Arn is still the NWA TV champion. The RNR get an absolutely insane pop. Gibson and Ole start. They have several lockup stalemates. Gibson squeaks out of the heel corner a couple of times. The Andersons confer and strategize in the corner. Another sequence ends with both Andersons eating dropkicks and getting pummeled to the outside. Well, that plan didn't work. Arn wants Morton and mocks his recent nose "injury". Morton faceplants and DDTs Arn. Arn takes a powder. Morton follows him out and gives him a punch in the nose. That'll teach you. Back in, Morton escapes the heel corner by casually striding through the ropes and out. Morton gets Arn with a drop toe hold, drags him to his corner, and Gibson slinghots himself over the top rope and onto Arn's knee. The RNR go to work on the hurt body part. They do a double roll of Arn's legs, and follow their momentum all the way to the corner and hit Ole! Arn escapes with an eye rake and sells the knee while getting over to tag. Morton gets Ole down and they do the same move to his knee. The Andersons keep trying to double team but the RNR have been one step ahead of them the whole match. Stereo figure fours! The crowd is going completely ape shit. While Hebner is getting Morton out Ole eye rakes Gibson and the Andersons finally get on offense. They work Gibson's arm a bit, but Gibson doesn't stay down long and quickly gets into his corner to tag out. Morton comes in and bodyslams both Andersons. Morton slamming Ole is even more impressive than Brown slamming Bart. Ole finally kills Morton with a flying shoulder tackle. We get the 5 minutes left call as Arn works Morton over, still selling the knee. While the ref is distracted Arn throws Morton over the top rope. Ole finds a camera under the ring (who the smeg left a camera under the ring?) and chokes Morton with the strap. The fans are throwing trash into the ring. The love these southern fans had for the RNR in the mid-80s was one step away from restraining order needed stalker territory. Ole cranks the armbar. Morton counters a buckle shot from Arn, goes to the top and gets a crossbody for 2. Less than a minute left. Morton dodges an Arn charge. At the 30 second call he gets the tag to Gibson. Gibson hooks a sleeper in on Arn while Morton pummels Ole. While it's on the bell rings for the time limit. They keep fighting after the bell. Eventually Gibson chases the Andersons off with a chair. This was really good (duh) but not either team's absolute A game. That would come later in their Starrcade '86 classic. It's also an interesting change of pace as both teams worked the bulk of the match almost with reversed roles. The RNR would get the #1 contendership later in the tour and regain the titles from the Midnights in August. ***3/4

Hair vs Hair Match: Paul Jones (w/Baron von Rashke) def Jimmy Valiant (w/Manny Fernandez)- We cut in to Valiant with the mic getting the crowd to chant "bald headed geek". For some reason Valiant jumps Rashke at the bell, allowing Jones to ambush Valiant from behind. Spasm selling! Valiant is already bleeding. Jones gets an international object out of his trunks and nails Valiant with it. Every time Valiant gets a little bit of momentum Jones gets it out again and gives Valiant a shot in the gut. After a few Valiant gets a hold of it and hits Jones with it, then grinds it into Jones' forehead. Jones is gushing blood. Rashke jumps on the apron. Valiant grabs him, and Rashke throws Jones the "loaded" glove from the earlier match. But wait! Valiant sees it, goes into his tights and pulls out a glove of his own! The plot twists and turns in this match are leaving me breathless. Valiant gets his shot in first. He goes for a pin, but the seconds charge in and start to fight. As Hebner is dealing with them Shaska Whatley comes in, nails Valiant with a chair, and drapes Jones over. When Hebner gets back in he counts the 3. Fernandez protests. The faces run in from the locker room and whine but Valiant plops the chair down, plops himself down, and takes his head shaving like a man. As he's getting shaved he goes through the whole gamut of anger, acceptance, and sadness. When it's done he gathers up his lost hair as the heels mock him. Jones grabs the mic and chants "bald headed geek" back at him. Thanks to the brevity and good overbooking this was easily the "best" Valiant match I've reviewed, and the whole postmatch angle was actually a very well done piece of business. Valiant would get his revenge on Jones in another hair match at Starrcade, ironically after Fernandez turned on him and joined Jones' stable. Er, army. 3/4*

Best of 7 Series for the Vacant NWA United States Heavyweight Championship Match 4, Koloff leads 3-0: Magnum TA def Nikita Koloff (w/Ivan Koloff)- Magnum was stripped of the US title in May when he attacked the NWA president in a brawl that Nikita started. Nikita is only one win away from the sweep and the title so tensions are high here. This is the one match on both shows that could have really benefited from commentary to push that point. Nikita counts the wins so far up on his fingers and gestures this will be #4. After locking up a hard Magnum forearm sends Nikita out to recover. Lots of caution from both guys. Nikita shows the power advantage on a headlock but Magnum out wrestles him on the mat. Nikita picks him up for a slam but instead drops him throat first on the top rope. Nikita mocks the crowd's USA chants. Ironic as he'd end up doing a quickie face turn not long after this. A comeback crossbody from Magnum gets 2. On the kickout Nikita throws him over the bottom rope and out to the floor. Ivan distracts Tommy Young and Nikita gives Magnum a straight turnbuckle shot on the apron. Magnum sticks his head under the ring to blade. On closeup we can see Magnum's forehead is caked in blood. He gets out of a chinlock by ramming Nikita's arm he had worked earlier into the buckle. Nikita yells and shakes it off but doesn't sell it for long. Nikita gets the advantage back with a kick to the face on a backdrop attempt and goes for quick (well, quick for Nikita) pins. He gets frustrated and throws Magnum out. Young: "What's the idea, man?". Nikita throws him outside again. Ivan gets a shot in. Nikita throws him outside AGAIN. This time while on the apron Magnum gives him a shoulderblock and sunset flip. Nikita tries to hang on to the top rope but Young kicks it off and frankly fast counts Nikita down, hitting 3 as he's kicking out. And here I thought the Soviets were the experts at buying off sporting officials. Magnum finally gets on the board. Nikita being in control almost the whole match played well into the drama of him only being a win away from the sweep and the title, but it also meant the match barely got into second gear. Magnum would go on to tie the series 3-3 but lose match (game) 7 due to extensive outside interference. He was earmarked for bigger things anyway, that unfortunately wouldn't happen due to his car crash and injury. **1/2

Steel Cage Mixed Tag Team Match: The Road Warriors & Baby Doll def NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette- No Big Bubba Rogers with the heels this time. Cornette takes the mic to taunt Baby Doll before the match. Even though the face team is different this is essentially the same match as the 7/5 show, just a little smoother because it's two proper tag teams in there. The LOD and Midnights work some basic stuff. Eaton comes off the top of the cage a couple of times and gets caught the second time. As before, it's all just buildup to the money shot of Baby Doll knocking Cornette out and getting the win. **

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c)- Very mixed crowd at the start. Sounds about 60/40 for Dusty. Tommy Young doesn't give Flair instructions, Flair gives Tommy Young instructions. Dusty and Flair get nose to nose and we're off. There's a strut off to start. Punches from Dusty rock Flair and he has to take a step back. Dusty blocks an attempted cage shot. Woman in crowd: "Flair you've got it baby!" Flair turns around: "You'll get some of this tonight baby!" and hip thrusts. I think she just got pregnant. Dusty works the arm and wins a chop exchange. Flair backs off again. Dusty hits a press slam and Flair goes into full begging mode. Sleeper! Flair juuuuuuuuuuuust reaches out enough to grab the ropes. Flair gets some knucks out of his tights and gives Dusty a shot in the gut with them. Dusty takes a cage shot and is bleeding. Cheese grater! Flair starts working Dusty's previously injured ankle. Figure four! Dusty's yelling at almost Flair-like levels. He reverses it and Flair gets in the ropes. Flair goes back to the ankle. Dusty gets a shock clothesline and quick covers but Flair just gets a foot on the rope at 2. Flair goes to the top. Dusty follows and rams his head on the top of the cage. Back down, Flair takes a cage shot and starts bleeding. He tries to escape again but Dusty drags him back in and gives him multiple shots off the top of the cage. Flair dodges a punch and Dusty punches the cage. Flair goes to the top rope and takes the Flair throw. Dusty figure four! Flair gets to the ropes. "Get if off! AH SHIT!" Dusty lays in chops and cocks the elbow to strike, but Flair wanders off and Flair Flops! Flair tries a neckbreaker but Dusty counters it into a backslide for 2. Flair goes up top and actually successfully gets off with a crossbody for 2. Flair eats cage again. Dusty stacks him up for 2. Flair tries a bodyslam, but Dusty counters it into a Paul Smackage for the 3! MASSIVE, Earth shattering pop. Tom Miller announces the winner like he just saw the most shocking and amazing thing he's ever seen. After the delayed Dusty Finish at Starrcade '85 Dusty officially wins his third (and final) world title, and ends the longest of Flair's many title reigns at just over two years, 793 days. The face locker room empties to celebrate with him. Huge Dusty chants from the crowd. It's as perfect a title change moment as you could ask for. The match wasn't as outright fun as Flair/Morton on the 7/5 show, but it had tremendous drama and physicality and built well to the surprise title win for Dusty. The celebration would be short though, as Flair would win the title back just two weeks later. ****1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Between the two GAB '86 shows available I think this was the better one. Of the two matches that were the same on both shows (the Indian Strap and Taped Fist matches), the 7/5 versions were better, but on this one the undercard is a bit more solid, the Valiant match was shockingly watchable, the RNR/Andersons match is easily the best tag match on either show, and as great as Flair/Morton was, Flair/Dusty was a hair better and featured a classic title change.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-

Great American Bash '86 (7/5)

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '86 (7/5 show)

July 5, 1986 from Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC

This a commentary free show as it was never shown on TV

For the first time in a Legacy Review I'm reviewing a show having never seen it before. This is the first of two Bash shows from '86 recently uploaded as Hidden Gems on the WWE Network. Thanks, guys!

We open the show with......skydivers? Yeah, skydivers. National champions apparently. Gold medalists in something or other and world records holders in something that escapes me completely. They're going to have a Fatal Four Way match! No, wait, they're doing some 4 way rotating thingy. I guess. Just looks like guys with parachutes to me. This is definitely the kind of thing ESPN would be showing at 3 PM on a weekday afternoon in 1986. All four guys manage to land on the target, so no one will be yelled at by their Pilotwings instructor today.

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship: "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal and Denny Brown (c) go to a 15 minute time limit draw- Despite what Wikipedia might try to tell you, Regal is *not* William/Steven Regal. He's an American wrestler that was a low level champion in the AWA before jumping to Crockett earlier in '86. He would go on to be a jobber in WWF for about two months before becoming the face of Windy City Wrestling, a little known territory in the post-territory days. Not so much a big fish in a small pond, more a guppy in a Ziploc bag. Regal stalls getting his entrance gear off. Lots of "one move, stall, reset" in the first few minutes. Brown takes charge with 3 consecutive bodyslams, accompanied by a very high pitched pop. Regal complains about hair pulling to stall. Long headlock from Brown, including running up the ropes for a flippydoish headlock. Regal goes to the hair/tights pulling heel 101 playbook and denies everything, Baldrick. Regal goes to counter a backdrop attempt with an elbow and Brown starts falling back to sell it well before contact. The 10 minute call is the cue to pick up the pace. Regal gets a couple of two counts, beefs with Hebner, then shoves him and, of course, Hebner shoves right back. Regal kills some more time with a chinlock. A Brown right hand and legdrop gets 2. As Brown is hitting Jake Roberts style short punches the bell rings for the time limit. Brown keeps going and Hebner has to stop him. Slow and paint by numbers basic. *1/2

Robert Gibson def NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Black Bart- Ricky Morton is in the main event later so this is to get Gibson on the card. The Rock 'N' Roll Express were arguably Crockett's top draw at this point. At the very least they were right there with Flair and Dusty. Gibson plays dodge the bigger guy to start, and manages to get Bart down with a Thesz Press. Flying headscissors! Bart tries to handstand out but Gibson uses his legs to drive his head back down into the canvas. Bart slips out and kills Gibson with a clothesline. Gibson is in super selling mode, almost flying out of the ring off simple punches. Bart drops him on the guardrail. Bart hits a Boom Drop style legdrop (both legs to the midsection) for 2. Gibson blocks some punches and gets a reverse crossbody off the second rope for the win. Gibson was trying but they didn't mesh well. *

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew II def Sam Houston & Nelson Royal- Arn is in his first of many runs as the NWA TV champ. Some scattered boos for Houston. Both teams argue over who's going to start, eventually settling on Arn and Houston. Arn: "Are you kidding me?". Arn schools Houston and tries to trap him in the heel corner but Houston squirts away. Ole and Royal hoss it up a bit. The Anderson get both Royal and Houston isolated, work the arm and drive both their shoulders into the top turnbuckle, but the faces still manage to make tags. Finally the arm work starts to pay off and the Andersons get Royal beat down enough for him to go face in peril. Ole wraps up the armbar and grabs a handful of pectoral muscle with both hands at the same time. Arn makes the mistake of trying to come off the second rope and Royal catches him. Hot tag to Houston. Houston hits a bulldog but Ole breaks up the pin. Donnybrook! Houston rolls Arn up, but the ref is getting Royal out. Ole comes off the top rope and nails Houston in the external occipital protuberance. Arn falls on him to get the 3. Perfectly acceptable Anderson tag team wrestling. **1/2

Bunkhouse Match: "Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez def Baron von Rashke (w/Paul Jones)- Jones is dressed like 1991 Sgt. Slaughter as we're in the middle of the "Paul Jones' Army" era. As is tradition for Bunkhouse matches both guys are in jeans and t-shirts. Rashke jaws with the crowd for a while and Fernandez jumps him. While Rashke is down Fernandez and Jones play peek a boo in and out of the ring a bit. Fernandez misses a dive. Rashke works him over with an international object. Fernandez is bleeding. Rashke takes off his belt and gives Fernandez the government mule treatment. I'm thinking Rashke should have left that belt on though. His pants are falling down. For real. Now Rashke takes of his boot and uses it as a weapon. Fernandez counters by stepping on his toe. Smart. Rashke tries to run the ropes but his pants have fallen down so far he can't run. They're practically down to his knees. Fernandez dishes out some boot shots and Rashke is bleeding. Fernandez misses a flying clothesline and goes over the top and out. At least it's grass and sod outside instead of concrete so there's some padding. Rashke takes advantage to hitch his pants back up. He picks Fernandez up off the apron to slam him, but Fernandez counters it into a Paul Smackage for the 3. Fernandez was one of the more underrated guys of the era and was especially good in hardcore style matches (as hardcore as this era got) but this didn't entirely come together. Rashke's side match with his pants is unintentional comedy gold. *3/4

Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel def "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)- Garvin stalls like crazy with his gear and Precious so Wahoo whips him to get his attention. Garvin tries to walk but Wahoo pulls him back in with the strap and whips him ten ways to Sunday. Garvin manages to work in a headlock, but Wahoo pulls the strap up into his crotch. They get into a tug of war with Wahoo on the outside, and he ends up crashing through the guardrail (and on top of a cameraman in the wrong place at the wrong time). Garvin leaps at the opening and busts him open. Wahoo fights back with some stiff chops but Garvin stays in control. Garvin goes for a pin and has to be reminded of the rules by Hebner. Garvin drags Wahoo around for 3 turnbuckles, but Wahoo fights out. More stiff chops. Wahoo spits on Precious! Wahoo gets 2 buckles but Precious trips him. Garvin goes to the top rope but Wahoo snaps him off by the strap. Wahoo ties him up and gets to 3. Precious gets on the apron and tries to stop him again. Wahoo completely ignores her and gets the win. For a strap match, this was pretty durn good. Garvin was a fantastic chickenshit heel, but was also a good enough wrestler to be legit when things got serious, and Wahoo was a good no nonsense straight man foil for him. ***

Taped Fist Match: Ronnie Garvin (w/Wahoo McDaniel) def NWA National Heavyweight Champion Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon)- "Taped fist match" means the guys' fists are taped (obviously) and it's boxing style rules. 10 3 minute rounds, 30 second rest periods between rounds, no wrestling moves, no pins, win by a boxing 10 count KO. Garvin is driven in on a golf cart like a conquering hero on a chariot. I'm not 100% sure but I think that's young Dustin Rhodes driving the cart. Tully tries to charge while he has still his robe and belt on but Garvin backdrops him and lays him out with a punch. Dillon is livid. Tully takes a while to recover. When the bell rings it's all Garvin. The first time Tully goes down Dillon revives him with smelling salts. Tully goes down several more times before the bell sounds to end round one (in what I think was way more than 3 minutes). Tully tries another sneaky charge between rounds and gets laid out again. Dillon argues with Tommy Young for more rest time. The bell rings for round 2 and Tully gets up at 8. Garvin goes for a couple of headbutts and gets told off by Young. No wrestling, only boxing. Tully's down again at the end of round 2 (which I'm 100% certain was much shorter than round 1) so Dillon dumps a bucket of water on him. Round 3. Garvin pushes Young out of the way to beat on Tully while he's down. Tully manages to pull Garvin into the corner and post his shoulder. Garvin falls outside. Tully follows and posts him again. Round 3 ends (again shorter) with no bell at all, just the ring announcer's call. Round 4. Garvin gets wobblelegged (TM Dusty Rhodes) but recovers and starts to no sell. Tully bodyslams him and drops and elbow. He covers for a pin but Young refuses. Boxing rules only. Garvin gets dragged outside again. Tully tries to take a shot at Wahoo but gets atomic dropped for his trouble right into a Garvin right hand. After round 4 Dillon retapes Tully's hands. Round 5. Tully grabs a headlock. Garvin side suplexes him. Tully goes to the top rope. As he comes down he and Garvin hit each other and they're both down. Young counts them both down to 10. There must be a winner so we're doing the old "first guy to get to his feet wins". Dillon comes in and waves his towel to try to revive Tully. Wahoo has a much more effective method: while Young's back is turned he dumps a whole bucket of water on Garvin. Garvin crawls up and wins. Afterward Dillon points out all the water in the ring and argues to Young. Young claims he didn't see it and doesn't know anything about it. That's the ref equivalent of "my monitor went out". Dillon threatens to have the whole arena thrown out and to have Young's job. I'm not much of a boxing guy so working under these rules isn't really my thing. The first couple of rounds were a bit dull, but it got better as it went and in the end turned out pretty good as they told a solid story and worked their asses off to execute it. Tully is at his peak, selling like a champ and playing his heel role to perfection, while this style of match played well to Garvin's strengths. ***1/4

Double Russian Chain Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The Russian Team- I think we're over egging the gimmick pudding here. There's two chains. Animal is attached to Ivan Koloff, Hawk to Nikita Koloff. The LOD joined Crockett in April and immediately won the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament and were clearly destined for big things. All four guys are in the ring tornado style with no tags. It's a wild and chaotic brawl from start to finish and hard to recap. There's lots of choking and crotch shots with the chain. Animal yanks the chain to post Ivan while he's outside. Tommy Young takes a ref bump and falls outside. Nikita removes his strap and hits Animal with the Sickle. Young is still outside, so Ivan goes up to the top rope instead of pinning. Ellering pushes him off and Ivan gets crotched on the top rope. Animal covers him and Young gets back in to count the 3. A bit of a mess, but thankfully it was short. 1/2*

Hair vs. Hair Match: Jimmy Valiant def Shaska Whatley (w/Paul Jones)- After rewatching all of Valiant's Starrcade matches it goes without saying my hopes aren't high here. The intros (if there are any) are clipped and we jump right in to Whatley ambushing Valiant. Valiant immediately goes into his "spasm" selling. Whatley gets caught trying to get his feet on the ropes on a pin attempt. Valiant keeps trying to boogie up (his hulk up) but Whatley keeps shutting him down. Valiant doesn't so much run the ropes as take a weird half dancing discombobulated stride to them, flops on the ropes, and bounces off. Whatley jaws with the crowd for a good 30 seconds before a pin attempt then shouts out "DAMMIT!" when Valiant kicks out at two. Well son, it's your own damn fault for taking your time. Jones gets a couple of shots in. Valiant gets tied up in the tree of woe and Hebner has to get him out. Valiant does a blatant spot call then gets a small package for 2. Whatley goes for an arrogant cover with just one knee, and Valiant forgets to kick out! Hebner stops at 2, pauses for a few seconds, *then* Valiant gets a shoulder up. Whatley backs up and does some.....dancing? Not sure what that was supposed to be but it was ugly. He misses an elbow drop and Valiant finally fully boogies up. He hits the wide rotating windmill punches that make The Rock's punches seem subtle. Valiant locks in the sleeper, but Whatley smartly pushes Hebner out of the ring as he's going down. Baron von Rashke runs in (thankfully with his belt reattached and his pants stabilized) and puts on the Loaded Glove of Titaniun Knuckles +2 to nail Valiant with it. Manny Fernandez also runs in to make the save. Valiant picks up the Loaded Glove and nails his other arm Whatley with it to get the 3 count. The face locker room charges in as Vailiant shaves Whatley's head. Exactly what you'd expect it to be, for better or worse. DUD

Steel Cage Mixed Tag Team Match: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA & Baby Doll def NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (w/Big Bubba Rogers)- I guess we're counting Cornette as a woman here. The Express and TA were continuing a rivalry that had started in Mid-South. Baby Doll, Tully Blanchard's former manager, turned face and joined up with Dusty soon after the official formation of the Four Horsemen. Cornette wants Baby Doll. Er, Cornette wants to *fight* Baby Doll.....well, in Cornette land I might be saying the same thing anyway. Eaton tries a charge but Baby Doll armdrags him down. The Jim Cornette of 2019 would do a 20 minute rant on how that was killing the business. After a cool down we reset with Eaton and TA. TA press slams Eaton. Condry runs in and TA tries to press slam him but can't get him all the way up and just drops him. The heels pause to confer again. Eaton eats cage and blades. TA pushes him into his corner and Baby Doll slaps him. Dusty hits stereo punches on both Midnights. Cornette considers departing the ringside area but decides not to. Condry takes a cage shot and is also bleeding. Baby Doll gives him a cheese grater spot in the corner. The heels manage to turn it around against TA. TA counters a piledriver attempt by doing a handstand. Nice. The Midnights double team and pummel him. Cornette tags in when he thinks it's safe but misses a diving elbow by half a ring. TA tags in Baby Doll and Cornette retreats. TA goes face in peril. Eaton hits a fist drop off the top of the cage. He goes for it again but TA catches him. (2 on 2) donnybrook! Baby Doll runs over and drags Cornette in. The faces clean out the Midnights and trap Cornette in a triangle. TA punches him out and Baby Doll covers for the pin. Afterward Dusty and Rogers exchange words. Dusty goes out and gets ambushed by the Midnights. They hold him as Rogers beats him down. This was pretty much all killing time until Cornette got his expected beat down. Dusty practically took the night off. *3/4

The ring announcer reminds us to stick around for FIREWORKS immediately after the main event. It is 4th of July weekend.

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair def Ricky Morton- Flair gets the HELICOPTER entrance, with a red carpet rollout. Amazingly cool. This was the entrance Charlotte was emulating at WM 35. Pretty big pop for Flair considering he's well into his heel run. Morton's wearing a face guard. I don't recall the specifics but given that and the way the match is laid out I'm fairly certain that Flair and/or the Horsemen broke Morton's nose at some point during the build. Some local radio/TV sports guys handle the ring announcing, and surprisingly it's not too bad. Flair gives us a WOOOOO and we're off. Flair gets inadvertently poked in the eye during a lockup and flops like an NBA player. It's unusual to see Flair in there with someone noticeably smaller than him. Flair tries to climb out but Morton pulls his trunks down and gives the audience a bit too much Flair. Morton gives Flair the ten punches in the corner. Flair Flop! A Morton backslide gets 2. Flair gets mad at Tommy Young and pushes him. Young pushes back and Flair sells it! Morton starts working on Flair's nose, playing into the injury. Flair sells a punch like he ran nose first into concrete. "Ah shit!" Flair gets frustrated with Morton for all the punching. After some more nose work Flair gets Morton's face guard off. While he's trying to throw it away Morton rolls him up and gets 2. Flair begs "not the nose". Flair gets a kneebreaker while in a headlock but Morton hangs on to it. Morton misses an elbow drop and Flair finally gets some momentum. He removes the face guard again and gives Morton a cage shot. Morton's bleeding. Flair tries the guard on for a bit before throwing it out of the cage. Flair targets the nose and Morton sells the injury. Flair goes into a good 7-8 minute sequence where he's like a lion playing around with its next meal. He pushes Morton's face into the cage to pose for the photographers. While raking Morton's face in the cage he shouts "Tell them your name!". An arrogant cover gets 2. Flair encourages some Rock N Roll chants from ringside fans. A guy in the crowd yells "Give him a chance!". Flair hooks in the figure four and plays rope leverage cat and mouse with Young. Young eventually catches him and breaks the hold. Morton gets a desperation small package for 2 and starts to hulk up and come back. Flair finally eats cage and I'm pretty sure the camera catches him blading. Morton works the nose some more and gives Flair some cheese grater spots. Flair's screams of agony can be heard all the way at the top of the stadium, and I mean legit blood curdling screams. A Morton cross body off the top gets 2. Flair tries to climb out again, Morton follows him. They trade fisticuffs while straddling the top of the cage until Flair falls all the way down to the mat. Another cage shot. Flair: " FUUUUUUUUUUUUU AH SHIT!". A missile dropkick gets 2. When Flair kicks out Morton lands on top of Young. Flair takes advantage of the distraction, picks Morton up into atomic drop position and crotches him on the top rope. Flair drops down, gets his feet on the ropes for leverage, and Young counts 3! 10 seconds after the bell, the ring announcer reminds us again that the fireworks begin momentarily. I think they already happened. Just another night at the office for the greatest there's ever been, and Morton is pretty damn awesome too. ****1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: You can't expect too much in terms of match quality from large stadium shows of this era, and since it's only one show in a multi-week tour there wasn't going to be much angle wise here either. The main event is must see, the two good matches in the middle are worth a look, and as bad as Valiant's matches are they're like a Rifftrax movie: bad in an amusing way and fun to mock. You can take or leave the rest.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C