All the '86 Crockett I've watched up to this point (and I've watched just about all of it) has been building super well to this show. They've hyped it massively on TV and Flair and Dusty and the Horsemen and Cornette have put it over as a huge deal. I don't even know most of the card and other than the clipped Fantastics/Sheepherders match that was floating about years ago I don't think I've actually seen anything from it. Unfortunately we miss a Guerreros/Sheepherders match as part of the five first round matches not on tape, but everything else seems to be there in full. The whole show is over 4 hours long, which is like half a Wrestlemania, so I ducked in and out of it on the Network over the last couple weeks. Here are words about the matches I could be bothered writing words about.
This is a bit of a dream match. The Fantastics are direct descendants of the the Fabs the way the Rockers are direct descendants of the RnRs. The Fantastics even used the same music as Stan and Steve. Fulton and Rogers would Fargo Strut the way the Fabs would Fargo Strut. They'd be mobbed by young girls and middle-aged women alike on their way to the ring. The Fabs were anointed by Jackie Fargo himself though; I don't think the Fantastics were given the same such treatment. Maybe that's why Keirn and Lane were so surly on the night. They'll tell you imitation's the sincerest form of flattery but sometimes there's a line you don't cross. Either way this was pretty great, if maybe not all-time level like it could've been on another night (to be fair, there's something to be said for them playing to their spot on the card). Nothing during the shine was blow-away great, but it did what it needed to and you bought the Fabs being frustrated enough to turn loose when they took over. The spot where they did it ruled, with Keirn distracting the ref' and Lane firing Fulton over the top rope with some karate. Fulton got dropped across that top rope a few times with some great looking hotshots and Keirn doing THE Fargo Strut really was perfect. Fulton's fired up weepy face after getting thrown over the top was sort of uncomfortable, like when Ohtani would do it after his opponent kicked out of a nearfall, but this was zoomed in with perfect video quality. Although speaking of perfect: the finish. You know this was good.
Koko Ware & Italian Stallion v Buzz Sawyer & Rick Steiner
Buzz and Koko are two guys who completely rule, who don't have a litany of high-profile matches against high-profile wrestlers, and for that reason would both appear on a list of my own potential dream matches that never happened more than just about any other wrestlers that I like. I love the two of them and they were both incredible in this. They worked some magic together, with Buzz taking an unbelievable bump through the ropes off a Koko dropkick, an amazing Buzz Sawyer leapfrog sequence, then for the transition Koko took one of the meanest concrete suplex bumps I've ever seen. This was a full splat and either Koko's selling was sublime or he got legit banged up a bit (probably both, actually). Sawyer laughing like a maniac before going out and ramming him into the guardrail was another great moment. He's one of the more believable lunatics ever; a deeply unpleasant wee terrier of a man. Italian Stallion is whatever and Rick was still a bit of a lump at this stage, but the former was mostly confined to the apron and the latter at least had a decent grounded bearhug. Buzz catching Stallion and murdering him with the powerslam was an even better finish than the last one. This was really good. I bet Buzz v Koko would rule.
Black Bart & Jimmy Garvin v Brett Sawyer & Danny Peterson
The most interesting parts of this were the Bart/Sawyer exchanges, not because they were particularly special but rather because Sawyer looks like yer man Janowski from Eastbound and Down and Bart is like a bigger brother of Reggie Ledoux. It didn't quite go like that match-up promises, however (nobody got blown up by a landmine or anything). Sawyer hitting a gorgeous top rope legdrop to the arm was pretty unexpected but the shine wasn't too hot overall, the heat segment was fairly cookie cutter and nobody was really buying Danny Peterson doing much of anything. Garvin's nasty side on brainbuster keeps that string of badass finishes rolling, at least.
Rock 'n' Roll Express v The Sheepherders
This was pretty low-key, not quite as blow-the-roof-off-it as it could've been, but perfectly fine within the context of a one-night tournament. The Sheepherders proudly waved the New Zealand flag to a chorus of jeers while the RnRs held the stars and stripes high to the opposite reaction. They wouldn't have needed much more of a hook to get the fans on board than the existing hook of who both teams were, but you can't complain about a little extra crowd heat. Gibson took his turn at face in peril and the New Zealanders mostly stomped the hell out of his shoulder. Morton came in hot, things broke down a bit, and then in somewhat fitting tournament fashion the finish was rubbish.
Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v The Fantastics
This couldn't have been a match-up that happened too often. It has a bit of a dream match feel to it even if it's not something I really thought about before. You know it was good, and with a proper feud behind them I bet they could've made absolute magic. Arn and Tully were awesome at progressively being wound up during the early stages. They tried to open the door for some double teams and cheapshotting, but the Fans had them scouted every time and Tommy Rogers telling Arn to kiss his butt was a straw big enough to break any camel's back. The transition into Fulton's heat segment was maybe a little lacking, but the work after it sure wasn't. Loved Arn and Tully basically working over his eyes, using boot rakes and digging their claws in there while Fulton regularly stumbled around ringside falling into barricades and ringside cops. I don't know if there's ever been anybody more committed to grabbing the tights on a pin attempt than Tully. He tried it about seven times in a row here and for a spot that often looks rudimentary you really bought Fulton having to fight to kick out. Nice hot tag, satisfying finish, a top shelf bit of tag wrestling from two top shelf tag teams.
The Fantastics v The Sheepherders
I remember seeing the clipped version of this way back forever ago, probably on some old Meltzer Five Star Match comp. At this point I don't remember what I actually thought of it in a specific sense but I do recall a feeling of "...that's it?" In full it was fine enough, though the first half was largely your standard fare. Where the RnRs held up the American flag, Tommy and Bobby went a step further and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The quadruple juice job was pretty awesome and by the end things were good and hectic, plus they'd managed to grab the crowd, which was surprisingly quite dead throughout the whole show. I know it's a Crockett event but it was held in a Mid-South town and Watts had won the kayfabe rights to host the thing, but despite those Mid-South crowds usually being rabid this one was fairly tepid (and both these teams were regulars in the territory around this time). There were a few better Fantastics/Sheepherders matches that year, honestly. Still, it was alright and it's cool that it exists in full after all this time.
I never watched the Flair/Dusty title match because I really don't need to watch another Flair/Dusty title match in the year 2021. The Road Warriors/Midnight Express match was basically the big show version of their house show match from the previous day, which means it was good but the house show match ruled and this one had a schmozz finish to boot. Road Warriors/Magnum and Garvin final was pretty decent babyface v babyface fare. Some other stuff happened. A night of wrestling was had.
No comments:
Post a Comment