On paper there's very little chance of this not being good. It's been over a decade since I last watched most of this stuff (apparently I started this project eleven years ago this month. I refuse to believe that) and I didn't remember a thing about this match, but they had a match on TV a day earlier that was really nifty and sure enough this fucking ruled. I think Sawyer and Slater were only together as a team for a short while, which is pretty unfortunate because they were an awesome pair of bruisers here. Buzz was having one of those nights where you bought him flying off the rails any minute. During the Fantastics' entrance he was covering his ears and rocking back and forth, the shrieks from the audience's female population and the droning of ZZ Top's 'Sharp Dressed Man' clearly setting him on edge. The early shine segment was strong as you'd expect, but things got really good when Buzz and Slater took over. The transition was great, with Rogers going for a sunset flip on Slater, Slater countering by just dropping on top of Rogers and drilling him in the mouth. Sawyer works a great side headlock, grinding his chin across the neck and head of Rogers, really cranking back and forth on the hold, then we get an incredible rope running sequence where Tommy crashes and dies off a missed crossbody. The surlier Sawyer and Slater get the more agitated Fulton becomes, the easier it is to then goad him into the ring, to draw the attention of the referee, so the more opportunities arise for Sawyer, Slater and even Dark Journey to pile in on Rogers. Slater really squeezed as much heat out of that hot tag as he could, waiting until Rogers was just about able to reach Fulton only to drag him back by the trunks, then a second time, then a third, so when Fulton actually got the tag the crowd was set to blow the roof off (we assume anyway. This was one of those matches where we had no crowd audio and instead it was Joel Watts doing commentary from his bedroom or whatever). Rogers fucking wastes Slater with an amazing dropkick during the scramble at the end, and then the finish with Sawyer and Slater hitting a Hart Attack was great. A very badass tag, in a great year for tag wrestling in the US.
Ric Flair v Butch Reed (11/9/85)
This was an excellent bitta TV. It was Watts' take on Harley Race hiring bounty hunters to cripple Flair, only with Flair now in the Harley role and Reed in the Flair role. Amusingly enough, Dick Slater was the one collecting the bounty in both instances and I could absolutely see Slater as some roaming hitman terrorising the south for whoever pays the most handsomely. Originally this was supposed to be Flair versus Al Perez in a non-title match, but Reed comes out before it and calls Flair a lowlife back-jumper (for the bounty thing). He challenges Flair instead and even turns his back so Flair can jump him again. Flair says all of this is beneath him but then of course goes to back-jump Reed, only to walk into a right hand. It leads to a nice studio bout, around seven minutes so obviously they cut out the fluff from the longer arena matches. Flair is mostly on the back foot and having to throw pot shots where he can, quick chops, knees to the gut, kicks from his back, even his awesome double stomp that I'll once again maintain he should've kept as part of his regular moveset. All of Reed's power offence looked great and his big shoulder tackle at the end felt like something that would put a World Champion on their back for a 10-count. Reed barely has time to celebrate the victory as Slater immediately hits the ring and, like he did to his current employer only a couple years earlier, sets about putting Reed on the shelf. I guess nothing highlights the fickleness of the pro wrestling game more than the Champion of the World helping a man who once tried to break his neck to now try and break the neck of another.
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