WWF's Tag Team GOLDEN Age! (Part 3)

The Islanders v Strike Force (MSG, 9/21/87)

This is the other Islanders/Strike Force match I hadn't seen and boy is it a doozy. Might be the best of their whole series, which is easily one of the best tag series of the 80s. The Islanders had attacked Santana on TV not long before this so Strike Force rush them at the bell and Fink has to practically tope himself to safety, so this is already eleven stars right out the gate. I love Heenan regrouping with his guys on the floor but leaving his hand on the apron to be stood on. I love him cradling that hand in agony only to make the same mistake with the other hand and have Tito make it a double. Tama takes the fucking grandaddy of all face-first slingshot bumps as Martel slingshots him from the apron clear into the middle of the ring, then he soars over the top rope off a dropkick and nearly wipes out a woman sitting by the guardrail. He is the very best of all time at being yanked out the corner by his legs and hurling himself in the air and the version of it here was crazy even for him. This was like when Vince Carter jumped clean over a Frenchman and dunked the rim off. We knew Carter was a transcendent dunker and we'd seen him jump out his shoes before, but that was even more ridiculous than usual. I also love the synergy between Tama and Haku. Tama is larger than life, full of energy, bumps and stooges to the back row every time. Haku is stoic, businesslike, sort of understated in his bumping but not afraid to go big when the situation calls for it. Gorilla refers to him as "big brother" and it feels like the perfect description of him. He was also laying it in something fierce and fucking wasted Tito with a thrust kick, just a complete temple-denter from nowhere. Structurally this was a wee bit different than usual. You had the great babyface shine, then the great heat segment, then the hot tag, but rather than going to the finish they had Haku cheapshot Martel off a roll-up and work another little segment with Martel in peril. It was an awesome few minutes, and if they stretched it out a bit longer leading to another hot tag it probably would've made for an incredible whole. Instead they went to the finish before Santana could get in again (though Haku's headbutt was a corker), which was maybe an anticlimax of sorts, but either way everything they did ruled and the feud that keeps on giving just keeps on giving.