NWA Classics 24/7 #8

Pretty Young Things v Pat Rose & Hans Schroeder (Houston Wrestling, 7/6/84)

I don't think I've ever seen Hans Schroeder before. If I have I certainly don't remember, which probably makes sense because he's wholly unspectacular and not all that memorable. He kind of looks like Rudi Voller, though I imagine if Frank Rijkaard spat in Schroeder's hair Schroeder would've punched him in the face. Pat Rose feels like a guy you've seen work a studio match in every territory from Alabama to Tennessee. Pretty sure I saw him work Flair in GCW at some point. It was probably...well, Ric Flair v Pat Rose, so, you know. This was very by-the-numbers, but I figured it would be and that's fine because, end of the day, it's still more Koko Ware. He was having a blast early on, shucking and jiving and hitting his amazing dropkick, then he plays face in peril and takes a face-first torpedo bump straight into a turnbuckle. Rose and Schroeder aren't particularly inventive in their workover -- it's mostly headlocks with punches that may or may not have been towards the region of Koko's throat. So Condrey and Eaton they are not. It's good that that's cleared up, I'm sure.


The Fantastics v Dutch Mantell & Tom Pritchard (Houston Wrestling, 7/12/85)

It's not really a contentious opinion at this point, but the Fantastics were every bit the world class babyface team the RnRs were. I think I'd say they were the more talented team when you combine the talent levels of the individuals, or at least that there's more of an even contribution from Rogers and Fulton towards their team being great than there is from Morton and Gibson. Basically, Rogers is as good in a tag setting as Morton (pretty much perfect babyface tag wrestlers), and if Fulton isn't clearly BETTER than Gibson then he clearly brings more to his respective team. Opening shine period was awesome in this. I guess you could argue it went a wee bit too long, but I loved how Rogers and Fulton came up with a bunch of different ways to piss off Mantell, who was outstanding in his stooging early on. They do the bit where Tommy has Dutch in an armbar and Fulton comes in, steps over Mantell (stepping ON him in the process) to go over and shit talk Pritchard, then as the ref' ushers him back out he steps over/on Dutch again. Like "oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you down there." Dutch is fed up with Pritchard not pulling his weight and they get in a shoving match, so Rogers dropkicks Dutch in the back and flies into Pritchard. Crowd of course eat all of this up with a giant spoon. Mantell and Pritchard take over when Pritchard hits a nasty looking thrust kick to Fulton's jaw, and Dutch gets the full Arn Anderson point for shifting from stooge to surly bastard seamlessly. Pritchard doesn't really do a ton, but he's pretty fun and has great hair, like a frillier, blonde McEnroe 'do. Hugely entertaining match.