More Horsemen

Arn Anderson v Sam Houston (World Wide Wrestling, 9/7/85)

Really fun six minutes and a great Arn showcase. I said a couple days ago that in '85 he never had the good-looking offence yet, and that he wasn't using the great stomps yet, though he had a lot of his shtick down already. Well this was basically an extended squash and all of his offence looked killer so maybe I'll just shut the fuck up. Arn, Ole and Tully broke Houston's arm on TV a few weeks before this (awesome angle, btw) so everything Arn does is focused on the arm. He puts some real torque on the armbars, stomps the arm and shoulder joint with stomps that already look better than they did a month ago, wraps the arm around the ropes, hits a couple hammerlock slams which of course is one of the best armwork spots there is, it was all good stuff. Houston doesn't get much, but what he does get elicits molten reactions and holy shit these World Wide shows have heat for days. Just crazy, rabid heat, which is a cool contrast to the more subdued nature of the World Championship Wrestling tapings. Folk are absolutely losing their mind for Houston hitting a monkey flip at the beginning, then boo in disgust when Arn reverses the second attempt into an inverted atomic drop. The pop for Houston rolling him up at the end is just insane and '85 Crockett has to be one of the most well-booked runs of TV there's ever been.


Arn & Ole Anderson v Buzz Sawyer & Terry Taylor (World Championship Wrestling, 9/7/85)

This got about fifteen minutes and was really good. Taylor and Sawyer's early controlling was Tag Wresting 101, taking Arn and Ole down with armdrags, working the arm, quick tags. Ole continues to be great and I definitely should've paid more attention to him over the years. He was shouting instructions from the apron in this, and even if it was basic stuff about sticking a foot on the ropes to break a hold it's not as if very many wrestlers tend to do that. It's especially noticeable in the WCW studio as well given the atmosphere. Sawyer was great in this. He was one of my last cuts from my PWO GWE ballot a couple years back, but every time I watch him he impresses big time and I think a revised list would have him somewhere in the 80-100 range. My favourite Sawyer quality might be his dedication to character. He howls and barks when applying holds (the MAD DOG and all), routinely bites people as desperation spots, and his bursts of offence always look violent. He hit a running headbutt to the shoulder joint in this and it looked awesome. A quality pro-wrestler. Schmozz finish is surprising to nobody, but the post-match angle means you can probably add Terry Taylor to the list of folks maimed by the Andersons.