Spent a Lotta Summer Nights in the Back of That Field, Every Inch of Mid-South Seen These Four Wheels

Buzz Sawyer & Dick Slater v The Fantastics (10/27/85)

On paper there's very little chance of this not being good. It's been over a decade since I last watched most of this stuff (apparently I started this project eleven years ago this month. I refuse to believe that) and I didn't remember a thing about this match, but they had a match on TV a day earlier that was really nifty and sure enough this fucking ruled. I think Sawyer and Slater were only together as a team for a short while, which is pretty unfortunate because they were an awesome pair of bruisers here. Buzz was having one of those nights where you bought him flying off the rails any minute. During the Fantastics' entrance he was covering his ears and rocking back and forth, the shrieks from the audience's female population and the droning of ZZ Top's 'Sharp Dressed Man' clearly setting him on edge. The early shine segment was strong as you'd expect, but things got really good when Buzz and Slater took over. The transition was great, with Rogers going for a sunset flip on Slater, Slater countering by just dropping on top of Rogers and drilling him in the mouth. Sawyer works a great side headlock, grinding his chin across the neck and head of Rogers, really cranking back and forth on the hold, then we get an incredible rope running sequence where Tommy crashes and dies off a missed crossbody. The surlier Sawyer and Slater get the more agitated Fulton becomes, the easier it is to then goad him into the ring, to draw the attention of the referee, so the more opportunities arise for Sawyer, Slater and even Dark Journey to pile in on Rogers. Slater really squeezed as much heat out of that hot tag as he could, waiting until Rogers was just about able to reach Fulton only to drag him back by the trunks, then a second time, then a third, so when Fulton actually got the tag the crowd was set to blow the roof off (we assume anyway. This was one of those matches where we had no crowd audio and instead it was Joel Watts doing commentary from his bedroom or whatever). Rogers fucking wastes Slater with an amazing dropkick during the scramble at the end, and then the finish with Sawyer and Slater hitting a Hart Attack was great. A very badass tag, in a great year for tag wrestling in the US. 

Ric Flair v Butch Reed (11/9/85)

This was an excellent bitta TV. It was Watts' take on Harley Race hiring bounty hunters to cripple Flair, only with Flair now in the Harley role and Reed in the Flair role. Amusingly enough, Dick Slater was the one collecting the bounty in both instances and I could absolutely see Slater as some roaming hitman terrorising the south for whoever pays the most handsomely. Originally this was supposed to be Flair versus Al Perez in a non-title match, but Reed comes out before it and calls Flair a lowlife back-jumper (for the bounty thing). He challenges Flair instead and even turns his back so Flair can jump him again. Flair says all of this is beneath him but then of course goes to back-jump Reed, only to walk into a right hand. It leads to a nice studio bout, around seven minutes so obviously they cut out the fluff from the longer arena matches. Flair is mostly on the back foot and having to throw pot shots where he can, quick chops, knees to the gut, kicks from his back, even his awesome double stomp that I'll once again maintain he should've kept as part of his regular moveset. All of Reed's power offence looked great and his big shoulder tackle at the end felt like something that would put a World Champion on their back for a 10-count. Reed barely has time to celebrate the victory as Slater immediately hits the ring and, like he did to his current employer only a couple years earlier, sets about putting Reed on the shelf. I guess nothing highlights the fickleness of the pro wrestling game more than the Champion of the World helping a man who once tried to break his neck to now try and break the neck of another. 

Mid-South Project

Territory Road Trip: There's a Snake in Mid-South

Jake Roberts v Brad Armstrong (Mid-South, 4/16/85)

I'm not sure this is a great match. I thought it was comfortably a good one, just not sure it's a great one, and I'm not even sure it's a great Jake performance. But I know it was a mesmerising one. He was an incredible scumbag here. Brad Armstrong is a rock solid wrestler at his worst, who will bring lots of energy as a babyface even if he's sort of meat and potatoes in the overall sense. He's easy to root for, or at least the way he works is easy to root for, if you know what I mean. That wasn't enough for Jake though, who decided that if there was a ceiling on how much a crowd might want to get behind Brad Armstrong then there would be no ceiling on how much they might want to hate Jake the Snake Roberts. They didn't do anything particularly unique to start out. Jake would grab an armbar and yank Armstrong to the mat with the hair, the ref' would question him about it as the crowd got on his case, but Jake would obviously deny it, gesturing innocently like "Me?! Really?!" He basically treated Armstrong like a scrub and the longer it went the longer it felt like he didn't actually NEED to do all this cheating, he just...wanted to. It was a thing he enjoyed. He would drag Armstrong to the mat and muss up his hair, shouting "Braaaaad. Braaaaaaaaaad" in his ear, just bullying this kid in front of everyone. Armstrong fired back with a couple shots, but they mostly just annoyed Jake and Armstrong was always a bit too nice to do what needed to be done. At a certain point you almost have to fight fire with fire, even if it runs contrary to how you live your life as an upstanding American, and it looked like Brad just wasn't about that no matter how far he was pushed. Even then I don't think anybody in that building was more sick of Jake's shit than the ref'. This was probably as wound up as I've ever seen a referee, and that includes every match where Earl Hebnar loses the plot and nearly has a heart attack. Jake terrorised this poor guy about as much as he terrorised Brad Armstrong, though this was wholly psychological. The longer it went the more Jake cheated, and because the referee never actually saw most of it he was powerless to do anything, which enraged him even more. Then Jake would blatantly cheat right in front of him, like when he'd have Brad in an armbar and start pulling his ARMPIT hair. The ref' would scream in Jake's face and Jake would just grin and stare at him, unblinking. It was kind of disconcerting. Jake does slimeball as well as anyone but this was more sinister, like '91 WWF where he set upon a man with a king cobra. As someone who was an antagonistic wee bastard as a child I've seen the look of many a school teacher who's wanted to physically strike me, and I can tell you right now that this referee wanted to lay one on Jake's chin. It made the big payback spot about halfway in doubly awesome. After one too many hair pulls Brad had finally had enough, so he kipped up and dragged Jake to the mat by the hair, and when Jake got up in disbelief Armstrong punched him clean out the ring. Jake then pulled a rope out of his pocket, but as he slinked back in the ring everyone knew he had something in his hand, including the ref' who jumped all over him and actually managed to take it away! A victory for the little fella! In the end it didn't really matter. He had to raise Jake's hand anyway, because the DDT was inevitable, but referees in every profession take a hammering on the daily and for a change you maybe felt some sympathy for this one. 

Jake Roberts & Nord the Barbarian v Dirty White Boys (Mid-South, 6/30/85)

This was a very different look at Jake. If you needed any proof that he was a changed man, our referee from the last match was in charge again here and not once did it look like he wanted to take a shotgun to the Snake. I actually don't know if Jake had even turned full babyface yet, but he and big Nord were working as such and Jake was so over by this point that it would've been impossible to keep him heel anyway. And this was a decent tag, in a year where Mid-South had about a thousand decent tags and on a show that featured an awesome RnRs v Midnights tag. You probably won't remember it months down the line, but you can't really go wrong either. Jake played face in peril for a while and he was really good at it. He milked the hell out of those near tags and Barbarian is always fun on the apron getting more and more agitated. Denton looked badass in this. All of his cutoffs looked sharp, he sailed face first into the mat off a missed headbutt, and he sold wanting absolutely no part of the DDT by not even letting Jake grab a hold of him. Usually Jake would at least make enough contact to set the move up before the would-be recipient would bold, but Denton wasn't inclined to let it even get that far. Maybe he thought Jake was out there SHOOTIN'. Better to be safe than sorry. 

Territory Road Trip: Tully v Garvin!

Tully Blanchard v Ron Garvin (Worldwide, 5/3/86)

An absolute corker of a match. One of the biggest compliments I could give it, bearing in mind that I no longer have the patience to sit and watch most matches that go any longer than about twelve minutes, is that this never felt like it went over half an hour. A lot of that is down to the pace they cut, which was electric right from the start. Garvin comes in with a busted hand, sustained in the first place by Tully and Arn when they wrapped it around a ring post and clobbered it with a cowboy boot. It takes away the punch, his biggest weapon, so he has to pull out everything else in his arsenal. He was relentless and gave Tully no breathing room at all. I thought his selling of the hand was pretty much perfect. It's not just how he would sell the physical pain, like when Tully would take a swipe at it or later when it was actively being worked over. All of that was great, but there were the more subtle touches as well, like when he wouldn't be able to hook the leg on a cover, or when he'd use his forearm instead to grind Tully's face into the mat, and those instances were what really drew me in. He threw one or two strikes with the hand - a couple overhand chops, no punches - and immediately regretted it, so he had to switch it up and use forearms, elbows, kicks and headbutts, pretty much anything else he could think of. The headbutts were amazing, especially the first one early on where he caught Tully going for a kick, held that leg there as Tully tried to throw punches off the standing leg, then just whomped him with a jumping headbutt. The Garvin Stomp was also a phenomenal moment and even David Crockett getting all weird on commentary couldn't detract from it. I can see why people might think Garvin's offence was a bit haphazard overall, or that there was no escalation to it, but to me it absolutely worked and he came across as a guy doing everything he could think of because he couldn't do the one thing he usually would. Tully was incredible as well. His runs on offence were few and far between, but he was vicious when he got the chance to be and tough as a bastard working from below. I think this more than even the cage match with Magnum is the perfect representation of Tully. He's a weasel and a cheat, but when it gets right down to it that boy will scrape and claw and bite and do whatever else needs doing to keep his belt. He took an almighty shit-kicking and refused to stay down. When there was an opening he would jump on it - quite often literally - and even if he couldn't sustain those advantages you never felt like he was out of the fight. At points he would resort to just grabbing one of Garvin's legs and twisting it around the bottom rope, I guess because he happened to be close to it and it would hurt so why would you not do that? He'd leap from his knees and try to headbutt Garvin in the guts. Then JJ got involved like you knew he would and the brief run of hand work was tremendous. There was one bit where he went for a sunset flip from the apron and Garvin held onto the ropes with both hands, then eventually had to let go with the right and Tully practically yanked his trunks clean off just to drag him into the pin. It almost summed up the match: Garvin fighting uphill with one good hand, against a guy who wouldn't go away no matter what. The finish is one of my favourite Dusty Finishes. Tommy Young gets bumped and JJ sneaks Tully a roll of quarters, but at the same time Dusty tapes up Garvin's hand for that one big shot. Both get up and throw a punch at the same time, Garvin is half a second quicker, Tully gets dropped. Coins everywhere. And of course JJ is apoplectic after Garvin gets the pin, pointing to the taped fist and the coins all over the mat. Decision reversed, Garvin dejected, Tully oblivious, a cockroach surviving yet another nuke. Just an awesome match from start to finish. I guess if I had a criticism then I'd have liked for Tully to work the hand a bit longer, but it's really a minor quibble when you consider how much of the match he spent getting smashed to bits. 

She Said She's Going Back to Mid-South; New York is Way too Cold

Dick Murdoch v Butch Reed (10/14/85)

I wish we had a thousand versions of this match-up, or at least a baker's dozen. We have two hundred Flair/Kerry matches, even a mere REGULAR dozen of Murdoch/Reed shouldn't be too much to ask for. The September match might be the best US match of the decade and I thought that the first time I saw it thirteen years ago, but I remembered a whole lot less about this one other than it going over half an hour. I think it's a step down from September, but not by a lot and of course it ruled like fuck. It was also very different from the first match, when they quite easily could've worked the same contest with a rejigged finish. The first fifteen minutes are for Reed's TV title while anything after that is for Murdoch's North American belt, which is a cool sort of wrinkle. TV title or not, those first 15 minutes were pretty much a masterclass in building to a punch. Not a big highspot, no piledriver, no brainbuster, just a punch. They're still face v face so work clean early, even if you know Murdoch is the most likely to drag things off the rails if it comes to it (like the September match). Reed works the arm and it's decent enough, plus Murdoch is always interesting working from below. They half tease things breaking down, both of them looking like they're about to throw a fist at one or two points, but it never comes to that and they do in fact keep it clean. Reed just keeps grinding him down with the hammerlock and armbar and Murdoch is frustrated, then we get the first moment of chicanery from Murdoch as he backs Reed into the corner, waits for the ref' to try and break them up, and shoves him away so he can throw a forearm that, while legal in and of itself, was at the very least unsporting. I like that Reed under most circumstances would've retaliated, but here seemed intent on seeing out that first fifteen minutes to make sure the TV title was safe. So he keeps himself in check and goes back to the arm despite Murdoch getting more surly, even resorting to throwing VERY questionable pot shots from the headlock. When the fifteen minutes are up Reed's title is safe and Murdoch is clearly annoyed, but now it's all about the North American title. And Reed hasn't forgotten about those little pot shots or that sneaky forearm. They both hit the ropes, Murdoch clears Reed with a leapfrog, then upon landing turns around into an absolute bastard of a haymaker. They'd built that one shot up from the start, feeding the crowd opportunities for Reed to take it earlier but holding back, Murdoch going from obviously legal elbows to questionable forearms to sly rabbit punches. The crowd knew it was coming at some point, and when it connected it resonated perfectly. Murdoch sold it like it took the whole jaw off him as well, losing a giant wad of spit or maybe a row of teeth before falling through the ropes and stumbling around on the floor. It was one punch but it felt like a blast from a cannon. The second half is tremendous; really just a brilliant fifteen minutes of duelling limb work, starting with Murdoch going after Reed's leg. He throws some of the best stomps ever, right to the kneecap, the side of the knee, the back of it, then pretty much everywhere else on Reed's head and body. That has him on top for a while until Reed goes back to the arm from earlier, which sets up a finishing run of both picking apart a limb. The way they sold exhaustion along with the body part damage down the stretch is some of the best you'll see. I also like how this never degenerated into a brawl like the September match did. It never turned into a fist fight and, barring Murdoch repaying Reed with a carbon copy haymaker of his own, I can't even remember any instances of them punching each other in the back half of the match. Reed's lightning bolt right at the midpoint suggested it would go that route, but it largely stayed on the straight and narrow. Good first half, exceptional second half, and Reed hoisting the belt up in the air at the end while all the black kids in attendance rush to the front row was fucking biblical. That's yer pro wrestling right there. 

Mid-South Project

Territory Road Trip: The Second, Third and Fourth Best Guerrero Brothers

Chavo & Hector Guerrero v Rip Oliver & The Grappler (NWA Battle of the Belts, 9/2/85)

I'm always psyched about new Guerreros footage, not just because they were an awesome tag team, but because any Hector Guerrero is a treat that I can't not be thankful for. This isn't even "new" in the sense that it was recently unearthed or whatever. It opened a pretty famous card and as far as I'm aware that full show has been out there forever. But other than the Flair/Wahoo match I'd never seen anything from it, nor did I know until last night that there was a lengthy Guerreros tag right there jerking the curtain. And this was pretty damn great. It got lots of time to build and they clearly put some thought into what they were going to do in each segment. The Guerreros always throw in some neat - dare I say INNOVATIVE? - stuff and I loved their play on the "babyfaces get whipped into each other" spot. Just before the point of contact they decelerate, then push off one another as they roll backwards and flip up to a standing position. When Oliver and the Grappler try the same immediately afterwards they are much less graceful, and the Guerreros catch them prior to the backwards roll and jump into the row boat sequence using the heels' legs as oars. Hector has a long stint in peril and Oliver and the Grappler were a really fun pair of bruisers. At one point they did a king of the mountain segment with Chavo getting more and more irritated, but every time he lost his head Hector would get thrown into a table or the barricade or sent flying across the floor while hanging off the edge of a chair. They even get a few minutes after the hot tag to take it home, and I liked how Chavo never just ducked out the way of the loaded boot shot, but actively pulled Oliver into its path as he leaped to safety. The Guerreros. What a wrestling family. 

Hector & Mando Guerrero v Badd Company (AWA, 5/14/88)

Well this was like two thirds of a stone cold classic. A few more minutes during the heat segment, maybe a bit less time spent on the babyface shine, a proper finish, we're easily looking at a five and one quarter star affair. Pre-match DDP asks the Guerreros where the nearest Taco Bell is, so Hector grabs his bullwhip and threatens to bring some ruckus. A man who's had to endure that sort of shit more than once. When the match actually starts, Mando does a goofy Karate Kid crane pose in front of Tanaka and Tanaka looks at him like "c'mon man, really?" A man who's had to endure that sort of shit more than once. I actually like how Tanaka played it up like he was almost disconcerted by it. "Okay mate, you can stop now, I've seen it before, we all think you're hilarious." Except Mando kept doing it and then even Hector started and Tanaka must've figured there was something not right with these two. The Guerreros were just a hoot running up the score here, and the crowd went from being sort of apathetic towards them to losing their minds for all of the cool stuff they were doing. They work Tanaka's arm for a while and run a bunch of fun double teams and miscommunication spots, cleaning house to a standing ovation while Mando does a mini spin-a-roonie in the middle of the ring (a mini-roonie!). One or two of the spots didn't come off perfectly, but it's hard to ding guys for trying something different rather than going through the motions. Trongard and Nelson are going wild for all of it on commentary as well, culminating with Mando hitting a bonkers dive from the top rope to the concrete, wiping out both Diamonds (Paul and Dallas Page). What held it back most was the TV time limit, so we never got much of a heat segment despite Tanaka leading into it with his impeccable leaping forearm. Hopefully there's a longer match between them because this could be a killer pairing. 

Territory Road Trip: Texas When I Die

Kevin Von Erich v Chris Adams (No DQ, Gino Hernandez in a Cage) (WCCW, 9/2/85)

Imagine how much hair was torn out by health and safety boards across the country in the 1970s and 80s whenever they caught wind of a "person locked in a cage" match at one of the stupid pro wrestling shows. Some poor bastard locked in a too-small cage thirty feet in the air, hoisted up there in the first place by six people pulling on a rope, the rope then held in place with a fisherman's knot anchored around a stack of chairs partially bolted to the floor. Gino couldn't even stand fully upright in this particular cage, had to ask the small handful of people in charge of raising him to the ceiling to hold on for a second so he could say something on the house mic, then the thing never stopped swaying around when it was actually up in the air. I'm pretty sure people were still sitting directly underneath it, like a cage with a person in it hanging over their heads was just an everyday thing. This was the lead in to the double hair match between the Von Erichs and Dynamic Duo, so of course the heat was nuclear and everyone was completely fucking rabid. It actually started out a little cleaner than you'd think. The intensity was high, but Kevin never went straight for the throat and instead worked the body scissors. And Kevin Von Erich has a great body scissors, the way he'll lift the recipient up and drop them back down hard, really squeeze as hard as possible. Before long it spills to the floor and the last few minutes are manic. Adams was really awesome at desperately fighting out of what Kevin threw at him, and then being vicious in response. Kevin would try for a piledriver and Adams would smash him in the ears by bringing his knees together, then he started choking Kevin with the microphone chord and jabbing the whole microphone into his throat. Adams was not the least bit interested in enduring the claw for the fourteen-thousandth time since he's been in Texas, but Kevin wasn't for giving it up and I loved the bit where he basically dragged Adams into the middle of the ring with the claw hand. You knew Gino would get involved at some point, and it's Texas and there's a Von Erich in there so you probably knew it would backfire, and the finish and post-match scene was insanity. Gino gets his SWANK suit torn to pieces but he and Adams manage to stuff Kevin in the cage (which was lowered to the ring through no small amount of effort by referees and Kevin himself), then Gino whips out scissors and tries to cut Kevin's hair! The fight over the scissors after Kerry hits the ring is borderline terrifying and I'm kind of surprised nobody wound up stabbed. I remember the hair match being awesome so I'll maybe watch it again later. Maybe. 

Michael Hayes v Buddy Roberts (WCCW, 5/13/88)

Remember there was a time when Michael Hayes was not only NOT considered the best Freebird, but actively considered the WORST Freebird? What a ridiculous world we lived in. The DVDVR Texas set was quite the eye-opener for me, as prior to that I had always considered Gordy to be the best wrestler of the Freebirds by a distance, while Hayes was the promo guy (an incredible promo guy, but still). I have been wrong many times in my long and foolish life and I was very wrong about Michael P.S. Hayes. Because Hayes was the godking of the ten-minute bar fight, the rabid cage match or strap match, where he would try and claw someone's eyes out when it became apparent that he couldn't weasel his way out of a fight. He was a cornered animal and hell mend whoever did the cornering (usually a Von Erich). By '88 he was a full blown babyface, and I can't recall how that came about but by Christ this was an amazing babyface Michael Hayes performance. His babyface energy was off the charts here and people were bonkers for him. It would be hard to imagine these two being running buddies five years earlier; hard to imagine a point in time where these Texas crowds were going ballistic for Hayes being the one getting his clock cleaned. He threw some awesome punch combos while Buddy pinballed all over the shop for him, including a sequence early where Hayes popped him off the apron and Roberts landed on the announcer's table. Hayes stomps a mudhole in Roberts in the corner like the herald of Stone Cold and then moonwalks into the middle of the ring and I think someone fainted in the crowd. They brawl around the floor and Hayes clobbers Buddy in the back of the head with a chair and you almost cover your eyes knowing what you know about CTE in the year 2022. This was about seven minutes all in, and I loved it when I watched it 10+ years ago and I'm glad it was as great as I remembered. 

Territory Road Trip: Wildfire!

Tommy Rich & Bill Dundee v Bounty Hunters (Memphis, 2/2/81)

This was peak Memphis. Pre-match the Bounty Hunters (Dave and Jerry Novak, managed by 'Cashbox' Jimmy Kent, whom I honestly have zero recollection of) jump Rich and Dundee on their way to the ring, and Kent slabbers Dundee with a shoe and Dundee is carted away covered in blood. You probably know where this is going. Rich and Dundee are the tag champs and if the match doesn't go ahead they need to forfeit the belts, and obviously Rich says to hell with that and decides to go it alone. Rich was so awesome in this, sticking and moving, always making sure he couldn't be cornered by the Bounty Hunters, throwing quick shots (amazing punches), regrouping, throwing more quick shots (amazing punches), never being static long enough to be caught, a couple times roping the two Bounty Hunters into elbowing each other or having one of them monkey flip the other. He even loaded up his elbow pad with a foreign object and the people were a million percent behind him elbowing a hole in Jerry Novak's forehead and drinking the blood. There was also one bit where he threw four consecutive fist drops that were some of the greatest fist drops you've ever seen. When the numbers game ends up proving too much for him he bleeds everywhere (of course he does) and sells the blood loss amazingly, then Dundee sprints out with a bandaged up head and the last minute is bonkers. Unfortunately the finish is clipped out, but if I know Memphis like I know Memphis then I can only assume we saw what LED to the finish (Dundee getting slabbered with a shoe again), even if we don't get to see the actual pinfall. This ruled. 

Tommy Rich & Steve Armstrong v The Nightmares (Continental, 6/22/85)

Continental is a real blind spot for me. I could probably count on one hand the number of matches I've seen from when it actually became Continental Championship Wrestling, and not too many more from when it was still Southeastern. The TV set up in the Boutwell Auditorium (in Birmingham, Alabama; "deep in the heart of Dixie," as Gordon Solie puts it) has a similar sort of aesthetic to some of the early AAA shows. So there's a thing for you. Anyway this was a real blast. Basically every time I watch the Nightmares they're a hoot and I probably come out of every one of those matches thinking I should watch all the Nightmares footage I can get. This was another awesome pinballing heel performance from them. I don't know whether it was Nightmare #1 or Nightmare #2 (nor do I know which one was which between Davis and Wayne) but one of them takes an absolutely incredible over the top corner bump where they smack their head off the apron on the way down, and it was done with such grace that I can only assume it's a signature spot and I guarantee I'd pop for it every time (though maybe not enough of a signature spot that I've seen them do it before, because I don't think I have). When they finally take over you know they run some phantom tag shenanigans as Rich and Armstrong and the crowd gets irate. Steve Armstrong may not be the most accomplished of the Armstrong family but he does have a superb dropkick, which he threw several of here. There's a follow-up match to this with Johnny Rich joining Tommy so perhaps I should watch that soon. 

Territory Road Trip: Attempted Murder on Turner Broadcasting!

Ric Flair & Sting v The Great Muta & Dick Slater (WCW Clash of the Champions VIII, 9/12/89)

I needed to forget about that Flair/Reed match from the other day so naturally I decided to watch another Ric Flair match. I guess in a lot of ways the '89 run revitalised him, having the Steamboat series and then the babyface turn. I think Flair's even said himself that Funk lit a fire under him. And judging by this it was a fucking inferno because man what a tremendous Flair performance. Maybe it's because he got to work like this so infrequently, touring heel NWA champ as he had been for nearly the entire decade, but when Flair is fired up like he was here it almost makes me wish the NWA business model was a little closer to Vince's and they had Flair tour the country against not the local babyfaces but the local dirtbags and bastards. Because babyface Flair could be sensational, boys. He brought a gigaton of energy to this and never stopped the whole match. I suppose that was his approach to wrestling anyway, heel or face. Keep things moving, always be doing something, don't give the people a chance to get bored, all of that. Whether you enjoy that approach or not is another thing, but it sure translated perfectly here. He was always active on the apron, never let you forget this was a hate feud even if the main source of his hatred wasn't present (Funk was "injured" so Slater was drafted in as a replacement and...come on, that just writes itself), never allowed the heels to let their guard down. When he wasn't wooing and high-fiving Sting he was bursting into the ring unprompted to shred folk with chops, then he went face in peril and that was just as good - maybe even better, honestly - and I guess it's easy to forget how great a tag wrestler Flair was. Early on he gets knocked to the floor and Muta catches him with a plancha, then Sting catches Muta with a plancha, then Slater jumps Sting, then Flair starts throwing chops and punching noses and the crowd just erupts. When Sting takes a turn being beat on there's an amazing moment where Slater and Muta have him on the floor over by their corner, so Flair runs all the way around and goes bonkers on them. A phenomenal performance all round. Under normal circumstances the non-finish would've been a bit of a bummer, but I'd suggest these are not normal circumstances and you don't really care about the non-finish when Funk shows up with his arm in a cast, the sleeve torn off his suit jacket, and tries to literally suffocate Flair with a plastic bag. The Flair/Funk feud was something else. 

Territory Road Trip: Funk in New York (by way of Toronto)!

I've been watching a lot of random 80s US territory stuff lately. Just hopping around promotions, from up north to as far south as the border will allow, watching studio matches, arena matches, some promos, some angles, just whatever takes my fancy when looking through match lists and whatever. I'll see where it takes me.

Terry Funk v Steve Gatorwolf (WWF from Maple Leaf Gardens, 10/13/85)

This was basically Terry Funk being as Terry Funk as possible in order to make a purse out of a gatorwolf's ear. He was ten thousand percent ridiculous and if you like the idea of Terry Funk being a ridiculous idiot against enhancement talent then you will probably enjoy this. Alternatively, if you are a joyless sack of meat and potatoes and do not like the idea of Terry Funk being a ridiculous idiot against enhancement talent then you can go and watch whatever else it is you people like. Funk was determined to make Steve Gatorwolf look like someone who had even the tiniest chance of victory. That often entailed stooging around in absurd fashion. "How can I make this feller look like he has a shot of winning? Perhaps I'll have him bonk my head off the turnbuckle and I'll sell it by staggering all the way over to the opposite corner, bonk my own head off that turnbuckle and then nearly fall through the ring ropes over there." Funk clotheslines Gatorwolf over the top rope and nearly goes with him, then teeter-totters on the rope for about fifteen seconds waiting for his bewildered opponent to do something. He falls off that Maple Leaf Gardens stage twice, then on his way back into the ring he takes a kick at Monsoon and I love how Funk riling up Gorilla was a nightly occurrence with him. Gorilla would bite nearly every time (he didn't this time on account of the fact that it MIGHT'VE been an accident (it was not)) and Funk would find a new way to stir up shit every match. Prior to the finish Funk tried to apply the sleeper three separate times and Gatorwolf slipped out of each attempt, managed to even apply his own to Funk, but in the end you knew who was getting jabbed in the chest with a branding iron. I can't think of many wrestlers in history that you could put in there with Funk and their presence would make me not want to watch the match. 

I'm a Man with a Plan and a Taste for Freedom, and I got 34 Acres on the Mid-South Line

Ric Flair v Butch Reed (10/11/85)

Well, this is a match that happened. It was pretty Flair by the numbers, and I figure if you're one of the seven people who reads this thing then you've seen enough instances or read enough words on Flair by the numbers that you don't need another thousand of them today. It started out fine. Reed worked the headlock and he has a great headlock, so that was okay. Flair couldn't mount any offence so he threw some quick chops, and I thought Reed sold the initial impact of them great, showed that they stung like a bastard, but then immediately wanted to punch Flair's head off and the ref' had to talk him down (a bit too forcefully, because we're dealing with Tommy Gilbert). It had the feel of Flair trying to get under Reed's skin, maybe goad him into making a mistake. It was decent stuff. Then at some point they just kind of dropped everything else and started running through the signature Flair spots, including the bridging backslide that felt about as out of place as I've seen it. It was like they worked the first ten minutes of a 40-minute match before shifting to the last ten minutes of the 20-minute match it actually was. I love Reed to death but I'd rather watch him work a series with the Iron Sheik at this point. 

Ted DiBiase v Bob Sweetan (10/13/85)

This was pretty similar to their match from a couple days earlier, just without the taped fist stipulation. But taped fists or not, many punches were thrown. I feel like Sweetan's a guy who does a lot of stuff - or at least works in a way - that I like in theory, but watching one match of his every sixteen months or so makes it difficult for those matches to really engage me. I'm not likely to learn anything new about DiBiase at this point so I'm looking to see how Sweetan works with him, how he throws in any hope spots, how he sells for DiBiase, all that fun nerdy shit you think about when you've been reading about wrestling on the internet for like twenty years. He's GRUFF but sympathetic enough and I liked him trying to smash DiBiase's head through a table in a rage. He will also bleed, as you may very well expect from a man who looks like Bob Sweetan. This was pretty alright. 

Mid-South Project

Piper Stops Wrestlers' Careers, the Weak Spot was Their Ears, Scorpion Darts Hit Their Mark, Pierce Their Heart with Silver Spears

Roddy Piper v Dick Slater (Mid-Atlantic, 4/24/83) - GOOD

This was a fun Slater showcase. I don't know if it was intended to be that, but either way it felt like it was his match and Piper sort of let him lead. It worked pretty well, other than a bit in the middle where Piper made his comeback and Slater basically shut him down and abruptly went back on offence. We got one amazing Hot Rod punch flurry, an amazing eye poke, a string of headbutts on all fours - a low key Piper performance, but a good one regardless. "Slater is a poor man's Terry Funk" is probably a tired talking point by now, and might even be a little unfair (they were pretty much contemporaries and started wrestling only a few years apart, so it's not exactly the same as a million indie wrestlers aping Johnny Saint), but it's hard not to make the comparison watching something like this. I don't even mean it as a knock really, because Funk might be the best wrestler ever and if the film was a little grainier I could've been convinced this was actually Terry Funk at points. The mannerisms are striking, from the obvious stuff like the seesaw in the ropes spot to the more subtle, like how he would throw jab combos or even just the way he'd move at times. But it wasn't just the Funk similarities. There were parts of this where it looked like Slater was doing his best Harley Race impression too. He did a falling elbow drop that was pure Race, then hit a falling headbutt and it was the best Harley impression I've ever seen, the way he stepped back and measured Piper, took a wide base, seemed to fall forward in slow motion, even the way he connected with the headbutt. In all the years of Triple H doing Ric Flair and Harley Race cosplays I've never seen him capture the ESSENCE of Harley like Slater did with that one headbutt. 

Complete & Accurate Hot Rod