NWA Classics 24/7 #24

Gino Hernandez & Tully Blanchard v Junkyard Dog & Tiger Conway Jr. (Houston Wrestling, 9/25/81)

This was full chickenshit stooge Tully Blanchard. The Dynamic Duo tag from the previous week was more of a Gino show, but this was Tully at his craven, backpedaling best. All of his bumps were super quick and allowed him to amplify those moments of stooging. What I mean is, when he'd take a surprise hip toss he'd almost roll through straight back up to his feet, and as he did it he'd find himself nose to nose in the corner with JYD. He didn't just take the bump, stand up in the opposite corner and realise he was in the wrong part of town. He wound up in that wrong part of town so quickly that he never had the time to register where he was, so the way he almost jumped backwards out his boots as he saw the Dog's fist not but six inches from his face was a reaction of genuine shock and terror. He certainly earned those reassuring hugs from Gino ("a real touching monent," Boesch comments sarcastically). Gino was really fun doing his thing as well and I loved him doing his Ali shuffle when he wanted a boxing match with Conway, who naturally rocked him with a big flurry. I haven't seen a lot of Conway Jr., but he took a nice beating here and had a few cool hope spots. His flip out of a backdrop where he landed on his feet was especially impressive, though the mid-match angle with Bockwinkel attacking JYD meant Conway was left on his own for a while. When he made it to his corner for the tag only to find it empty I half expected him to turn on the Dog. If this was the WWF he'd have thrown him through a barber shop window or strangled him with his own chain. But he weathered the storm long enough for JYD to recover, and when it was time for that hot tag the Dog came in like a man possessed. The way he looked at Gino would put the fear of god in any man and you could see Gino thinking about cutting bait then and there. I'm wondering if the Gino/Tully Dynamic Duo wasn't even better than the Gino/Adams version, even if the latter is probably the more famous.