WWF's Tag Team GOLDEN Age! (Part 2)

Dream Team v Can-Am Connection (MSG, 1/19/87)

This is basically your Dream Team farewell tour as they'd EXPLODE a couple months later at Wrestlemania and Beefcake would randomly show up and cut Adrian Adonis' hair and turn babyface. I don't think anybody is ever going to go to the wall for Brutus being a lost great worker or anything, but the more I watch of the Dream Team the more I'm inclined to think he was mostly alright in a tag setting. Valentine being his partner helped, probably. Anyway this was really good, with a nice energetic shine segment and a couple rock solid FIP segments. Valentine was badass in this and I really wish we got a lengthy Valentine/Martel series because it could've been right around Valentine/Tito level. The transition into Martel in peril ruled; there was no nonsense, no chicanery, it was just Valentine, his arm hammerlocked, picking Martel up and dropping him throat-first across the top rope. I absolutely love the bit where Martel drops drops him with a punch, and as Greg falls back he grabs hold of Martel's wrist to drag him back to the heel corner (he also legscissors the leg to keep Martel in place as he tags in Brutus). Zenk gets clobbered with a nasty clothesline to kick off his heat segment, and it was a step down from Martel's but still good stuff. I'll always love the spot where someone will bridge up repeatedly, which will prompt the opponent to try and slam their whole weight on top of them only to take a pair of knees to the wee man downstairs. All of the Dream Team distraction spots coming back to bite them at the finish was great as well and Martel doing his slingshot splash will always be a treat.


Hart Foundation v The Rockers (MSG, 11/25/89)

Is this the best match between these teams? I'm sure I've seen all the ones that are out there but they sort of blend together at this point. This was pretty great, though. It was also a tremendous Hitman performance, not so much in what he did but rather in how he did it and the way he carried himself. Basically every move he hit looked great. I guess his ability to do that sometimes gets lost on us (or me) because his nickname is the Excellence of Execution and we (or I) maybe just assume it was a carny slogan. Knowing Bret like we know him he obviously took pride in actually living up to it. Everything he did that looks good anyway was a little extra crisp, a little sharper than usual. The missed moves or strikes looked like he fully intended to connect on them, including one missed elbow drop that would've caved in Jannetty's face. Even something simple like being caught in a sunset flip out the corner looked better just because he made a point of grabbing the ropes to try and prevent it. The match starts with everyone on even footing and we get a few really fun exchanges from every possible match-up. Neidhart and Michaels in particular were rolling out cool stuff, Anvil's big meaty shoulderblocks, Shawn having to use his quickness, Shawn trying a slam, Anvil laughing it off before hoisting Shawn up instead, Shawn rolling through into a small package. The Harts take over when Michaels is hitting the ropes and Bret catches him with a knee, but I liked how they'd already strung together some offence on him before that (including a really nice inverted atomic drop from Bret). The cheapshot felt unnecessary because they'd already managed to establish some control, but it positioned the Hart Foundation as subtle heels; not the sort of heels who NEEDED to use the cheapshot...just the sort who wanted to. Michaels' heat segment was strong, although maybe not as focused as you'd expect. The Harts kind of work the back initially and Anvil goes to the bearhug, then he goes to the front facelock, then later Bret starts working the chinlock. The latter was an especially weird choice just because they'd already gotten the heat past the point where you'd actually need it. On the other hand Bret DRILLING Michaels with European uppercuts was amazing so who cares about a dumb chinlock? Jannetty's hot tag leads to him taking a nutso cross body bump over the top, and that basically kicks us off on the run to the finish. Big finishing runs with 2.999 counts is one of the last things I'd associate with 80s WWF, but this was a great little finishing run and they really milked every nearfall, some getting a huge reaction from a crowd that expected a 3 count. Maybe you could say they peaked a little early on their way to the time limit, but it's a minor quibble.