The WWE Vault has been doing the lord's work over the past few months. Just last week they dropped a never before seen Lawler/Savage match from '85, the week before that THE mother of all Omni shows with a Piper/Sawyer dog collar main event, and a while before that they dropped this, in full, pretty much out of nowhere. I finally got around to finishing it. You can read words about it if you like.
A serviceable enough opener; nothing remotely spectacular but it had a couple moments that you'll remember a week or two later. The only Whatley I've watched over the last five years has been '86 heel turn Shaska Whatley who cut Jimmy Valiant's hair but this was the whimsical babyface Whatley we all know and love (I assume). His big flying cross body was neat but it quite simply paled in comparison to Barr's kneelift as Pez was trying to get back in the ring. It sounded like it took Whatley's head off and a really good kneelift is sorely missed in today's pro wrestling. He went for it again at the end and surely would've put the proverbial nail in Pez Whatley's coffin, but Pez moved and Barr took an awesome bump off the miss. Bring back the kneelift.
The Spoiler v Johnny Rich
Man I really wish we had a ton of Spoiler footage. I've said that every time I've watched a Spoiler match in the last 10 years, so probably four times in total, and the statement rings truer every time. He has such a cool presence - a calmness, a composure where you know he's dangerous. For such a unit of a guy he has remarkable grace whenever he walks along the top rope or climbs the turnbuckle, perching up there with the ease of a gymnast before jumping off and clubbering someone in the neck. Eventually it would backfire and when it did he took a great bump across the ring as Rich threw him off the ropes. There was another awesome moment involving the ropes, this time with Spoiler sort of draping Rich's shoulders and throat over the top while he hung between that and the middle rope, and Spoiler kicking the top rope into Rich's throat about sent him flying out the ring like a crash test dummy. There was an audible gasp as Rich barely managed to hang on upside down. I like how the ref' made a point of checking Spoiler's mask at the start for a hidden object and later when Rich went for a monkey flip out the corner he started going for the mask. You'd think that would foreshadow a shady headbutt but no, Spoiler just grabbed Rich by the face instead and tried to squeeze his brains out. Rich even juices and the finishing claw/sleeper hold combo looked properly brutal. The Vault releasing a couple dozen Spoiler matches wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
Ted DiBiase v Mr. R
This wasn't much of a match as opposed to an angle. I don't think I've seen any of the DiBiase/Rich feud from Georgia but of course Mr. R is Rich under a mask. They worked five minutes of decent enough headlock takeovers and Rich frustrating DiBiase, then DiBiase's crew, Spoiler and Jesse Bar among them, hit the ring to get at Rich. They never manged to collar him and in the end were left looking foolish. Honestly I'd rather see a Spoiler/Rich match than DiBiase/Rich, but I guess that's because there's really nothing more to learn about Ted at this point. Spoiler v Rich would probably have Spoiler jumping off the rope with a loaded headbutt and Rich leaving puddles of blood on the floor.
Tommy Rogers v Les Thornton
Tommy Rogers was so good. It's always worth mentioning his great dropkick that he hit about five of here, and at least one was to Thornton's face. This had five minutes of really nice work around a headlock and Thornton ripping Tommy into a headdcissors by the hair. These were nasty hair pulls too, really yanking Rogers in there and the headscissors itself was super tight. Tommy would manage to pop out and immediately leap into the headlock again just for the hair to be pulled, quick enough for the ref' to maybe miss it but for the crowd do the same. And that crowd got more and more frustrated and that's what you want, right? Cool spot where Tommy pops out and runs the ropes, Thornton raises his legs like he's about to hit the monkey flip, and when you think Tommy will do the cartwheel spot he just grabs the legs and stomps him in the gut (after asking crowd if they want him to stomp the gut). Rogers' sunset flip is also wonderful, really quick and I love how he uses his legs to keep the arms down. An awesome pro wrestler.
Wahoo McDaniel v Nikolai Volkoff
This was a Big Boy Slugfest. It went six minutes and they used that whole time to throw meaty shots and bump into each other, which is about all I wanted out of Wahoo McDaniel v Nikolai Volkoff. Wahoo obviously has great chops and he caught Nikolai with one right to the face as he was coming out the corner. Volkoff takes big exaggerated bumps for Wahoo's shots, almost like he's surprised that a man of his BULK can be affected by regular chops. Volkoff has a real nice backbreaker and then hoists Wahoo, not a small man himself, into a military press that he turns into another backbreaker. Wahoo is on the apron getting clubbed in the neck so he just throws his shoulder into Nikolai's face and Volkoff goes flying. By that point ol Nikolai should not have been surprised.
Jake Roberts v Ron Garvin
Awesome match with a tremendous slimeball Jake performance. He makes a point before the bell to highlight that he has taped up ribs, telling the ref' to make sure Garvin doesn't throw any punches there. The match is about 13 minutes long and probably nine of those minutes build to Garvin throwing his first punch to the midsection, then they continue building the next few minutes to him throwing his first punch to the face. It was a fantastic example of pacing and escalation and heat-building. Jake works a top wristlock and is pretty much masterful at manipulating the ref's position so he can cheat, moving Garvin around the ring so Ellering can involve himself when necessary, using different forms of leverage to keep Garvin grounded or cut him off. That leverage would come from simple things like his own physical height advantage, then he'd use the bottom turnbuckle to jump in the air and accentuate that height advantage even more, and of course the ropes were always in play for him to use when he needed to. He throws a bunch of little pot shots, grabs Garvin's hair and tights, and whenever Garvin cocks his fist to retaliate the ref' interjects long enough for Jake to sneak in another blow. Every time Garvin has a chance to swing on him and it's ripped away the heat goes up and up and they're itching for Jake to get cracked long before he does. Jake's selling of the ribs is really awesome too. There was a moment early where he threw an uppercut with maybe a little too much rotation and immediately grabbed his midsection in pain, then later he hit an elbow drop and clutched at his side when he hit the mat. This wasn't a match where he was on the back foot for very long or receiving much damage, so he was left to sell from above, while working his own offence, and I always love it when wrestlers pay attention to detail like that, to show how that injury is a constant and not a temporary inconvenience. It gives the crowd something to latch onto when they know the babyface can offset the rampant cheating with the right strike, so every hope spot or even a hint of a fight back gets a reaction. Garvin tries to escape holds by going for the tape around the ribs and Jake starts wrenching on the hold or shifting position straight away, desperate to keep Garvin from exploiting it. When Garvin starts building more steam Jake turns away from the ref' under the pretence that he's holding the ribs in agony only to unwrap tape from his wrist and use it to choke Garvin. When Garvin throws the first punch to the ribs Jake's selling is immaculate and he keeps it up after that, all the way to the end. Jake unloads with shots and Garvin won't budge before throwing that first big fist to the jaw, which Jake goes down like a ton of bricks for and also sells the midsection upon bumping on his back. The finish is great. Garvin getting planted fully on his cranium with the DDT on the chair would've been amazing on its own, but Jake waits until the ref comes to and he hits Garvin with another elbow drop, writhing in pain afterwards, just to show what he'll put his body through to win. It was almost heroic.
Stan Hansen & King Kong Bundy v The Road Warriors
You knew this would be sensational right from the lock-ups. Hansen and Hawk going at each other like a pair of bighorn rams trying to grind the other's ear off with their forearms was probably the best lock-up work I've ever seen and the crowd lapped up every second of it. Bundy and Hawk also have one of the best tests of strength you'll get and Bundy actually winning felt sort of unbelievable. The whole babyface shine was tremendous, basically. It might be the most I've seen the Roadies stooge ever. Hawk charges Bundy in the corner and runs face-first into a knee, taking this awesome falling KO bump and there were people back then who really thought these guys couldn't work a lick. The transition into Hansen working face in peril wasn't anything standout, but I guess sometimes two giant roided up bastards in face paint punching you repeatedly in the arm will do the trick. The actual heat segment itself was great. I wasn't used to seeing the Road Warriors show ass like they did early and I wasn't used to seeing them work as frantically as this on top. They're these menacing monsters who will more often than not obliterate people and not look particularly vulnerable in the process, so it was cool to see them do everything at double pace to make sure Hansen stays in their corner, or even just on the mat in general. When one would tag out they'd stay in the ring long enough to keep a hold of Hansen so the other could get in, both of them putting the boots to him for as long as they could without being disqualified. At one point they both just stormed Hansen in the corner with stomps and forearm clubs and it really put over how much of a force Hansen was, the fact that THESE two were having to resort to something like that, not because they wanted to beat on a guy for the hell of it but because on this occasion they needed to. Obviously Hansen will fire back any chance he gets and MAKES the Roadies keep him down, giving nothing for free in true Stan Hansen fashion. And Bundy coming in off the hot tag is yet another thing I don't remember seeing much of, but like everything else in this match it ruled. He was slamming both Road Warriors like they were sleeping bags fulla feathers and hit at least one huge splash. If you were expecting a clean finish I'm not sure what to tell you, but it breaks down into a nice brawl after the thing gets thrown out and that's about all I was hoping for. Hansen is the perfect sort of maniac in this setting because he won't settle until some proper shit has kicked off and here he just kept going after everyone, Ellering including, until they all cut and ran. This totally delivered everything I wanted from it.
Ric Flair v Brad Armstrong
You've possibly - nay, PROBABLY - seen this match before. Perhaps not this SPECIFIC match, between Ric Flair and Brad Armstrong from Atlanta's Omni Arena on the night of February 26th, 1984, but a Ric Flair match similar enough where you watch this one and have a fairly decent idea of how it's going to go. There's nothing wrong with that either. It can be fun knowing beforehand what you're about to dedicate 20 minutes of your life to. This was Flair coming in respectful, taking the young local challenger seriously and working clean. There was no bullshit, no strutting, no mocking, no wooing. Before long he got frustrated at Armstrong winning exchanges and the composure started to crumble, his true colours peeking through. He sought a reprieve without outright begging off, threw a few potshots without resorting to anything below the belt. They did a few things Flair liked to do, messed one of them up, did it again a second later. In the end he was pushed, maybe not to the limit but far enough where he was concerned, yet found a way to escape with the belt. He was resourceful if nothing else.
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