Indian Strap AND Texas Bull Rope!

Dusty Rhodes & Wahoo McDaniel v Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (Indian Strap/Bull Rope Match) (JCP, 3/29/86)

Well this was just the funnest. Bell to bell it's probably about eight minutes tops, but they wring as much out of those eight minutes as possible and the pre- and post-match add another couple bits of awesome onto it. Stipulation is basically a tag match where Dusty and Tully are tied together with the bull rope, while Arn and Wahoo are tied together with the strap. I assume this was put together because Arn and Tully did something to deserve being stuck in a match where BOTH opponents get to draw on their signature stipulation. Obviously they're both reluctant to secure the rope/strap at the start but then even more obvious is that Tully was getting yanked clean into the ring as soon as he finally did so. And man was Tully amazing in this. He did like four things offensively during the match; kick people in the balls, bonk them with a cowbell, dig the edge of that cowbell into their forehead, and try to strangle Dusty with the bull rope. But he bumped around all over the place, got punted out the ring, knocked over the steps, tried to run away, got caught and beat up some more, tried to murder Dusty with the bell (and when he missed there was a super satisfying clunk as it hit the ring apron), then took the best ever flip bump off a 'wrestler gets caught unawares with the rope/strap/chain between his legs' spot. At one point he wrapped Dusty's arm around the top rope and then hooked it around the throat like some sort of torture device, like whatever John Locke did to Boone when he left him in the jungle to be eaten by the smoke monster. He was also buzzing about like a relentless wasp at the family barbecue, trying to come to Arn's aid and put the boots to Wahoo (literally kicked him in the balls several times) before being whipped with a strap or dragged into an elbow. Say whatever you want about him, question his character all you like, but he was a Horseman and he had his brother's back every step of the way here, even at times where he'd have been better served not turning his own. Finish is awesome as well, with Dusty foiling a Horsemen double team and clobbering Arn with the cow bell. Tully flying off the top rope after the bell was incredible, the way he just came out of nowhere to land on Wahoo. I had to rewind it to see how he managed to free himself from Dusty, and with JJ's help they basically unhooked him and tied his end of the bull rope to the bottom ring rope (with JJ keeping hold for good measure), which meant Dusty was helpless for a few seconds. In the end he swings that cowbell and the Horsemen scatter, but not before they leave their mark on Wahoo. This was a fucking hoot.