This might be the earliest supernova babyface Randy Savage performance on tape. In everything before this he'd been heel, and obviously he'd been a maniac, but this was something else. The energy, the VIGOUR, the presence and charisma, he looked every bit the superstar he'd become in the not too distant future. About half of this, maybe more, was his show. Lawler was content to step back and let Savage have the spotlight and obviously Savage made the most of it. Every interaction was pure electricity, every time he held up an elbow from the apron so Lawler could ram Rude into it, every time he put his dukes up for a fight, every time he jumped in to even the odds when the heels tried to double up, the heat just went up and up and the more it did the more he fed off it. At one point Bundy backed Lawler into the corner and wellied him with a huge punch, whipped him across to the opposite corner, then when he went in for the splash Savage ran across the apron and yanked Lawler out of dodge at the last second. There was another bit where Bundy had Lawler in the corner and went to clobber him again, so Savage snuck in and hooked Bundy's arm long enough for Lawler to crack him. The first proper Savage/Bundy showdown consisted of Bundy playing intimidation tactics by spitting on Savage and Savage spitting on him right back, Bundy left almost befuddled that someone would do that, then enraged when Savage did it again, then befuddled once more when Savage not only never backed away when Bundy charged but in fact met him head on. When Bundy grabbed a chair in frustration Savage grabbed a metal post and I think everyone knew he would use the thing. Rude gets punched around the ring and he doesn't quite have his shtick down yet, but he was fun getting punched around the ring and even took a big atomic drop in very Rick Rude fashion. Savage gives him maybe the best airplane spin ever caught on film, hits him with the double axe handles off the top, and at any given moment it felt like Rude would turn around and Savage would be perched on the top rope like a gargoyle ready to strike. He fucking terrorised Rude and it was amazing. Even in a lower key role Lawler was still a really strong face in peril, just turning the heat up little by little until the mad bastard on the apron gets the tag. When he does the lid comes off the place and then Savage's own lid comes off and the ref' gets decked and you know where that goes. The post-match brawl rules and I guess I'll watch the no DQ rematch next.
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