We're watching some 90s tags!

The Rockers v Haku & The Barbarian (WWF Wrestlemania VII, 3/24/91)

Your tried and true Rockers v big fellers tag is pretty much a can't fail prospect. Rockers v Demolition, v Twin Towers, v Powers of Pain, you're basically guaranteed to bottom out at decent. This wasn't quite on the same level as the Powers of Pain match, but it was still a blast and by this point they had a bunch of neat stuff they could do with Barbarian. Love the double nip up into both of them getting clotheslined inside out, the dropkick into hurricanrana spot always rules, then when they try it a second time the ref' stops it short so Barbarian comes in and does the assisted top rope slingshot that about cuts Jannetty in half. Jannetty leans all the way into every move, really bounces off the turnbuckles when whipped into them, gets clotheslined full in the face by Barbarian, leaps into a Haku crossbody that looked like a car crash, takes an amazing powerslam off the middle rope, just a great little heat segment. My favourite moment after the hot tag was when Shawn had cleaned house and Haku punched him right in the eye. Shit, Haku and Barbarian against some young athletic guys is as can't fail as Shawn and Marty against the big fellers! Truly a match made in heaven, then. The Rockers using some speed and double teams to score the win was the ready-made payoff to everything before it. One of the better Wrestlemania openers of the 90s, or maybe ever if you want think about it for more than seven seconds (unlike myself, who will not be doing that). 

Hollywood Blonds v 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell (WCW Worldwide, 5/8/93)

Maybe the best Hollywood Blonds match, and I say that as someone who watched all of that run relatively recently and pretty much loved it. This is real top drawer stuff. The foreign object shtick at the beginning rules. Pillman takes a roll of coins out his trunks and cackles like some SHENANIGANS are afoot, then when Bagwell tells the ref' to check him he hides it back in the trunks but refuses to open his closed fist. When he finally does and proves there's nothing in his hand he bursts out laughing like this is the funniest shit in the world. He then hides it in the kneepad before passing it to Austin, so when the ref' checks the kneepad there's nothing there and Pillman is beside himself at how amusing this is. It was very Memphis and I'm not even annoyed that it never had any actual payoff to speak of (we never see it again after the opening bit). Bagwell and Scorp both take a turn playing face in peril and this crowd are just molten hot for these guys. It's always a hoot when the WCW studio crowds would chant "Whoomp, there it is" for Marcus Bagwell and they're absolutely losing it for him doing the Blonds' roll camera bit in Austin's face. Then Austin about yanks his head off with the most brutal towel clothesline you'll ever see, which was a fairly amazing transition spot. Scorpio's heat segment is even better than Bagwell's and I always love how much height he'll get on simple moves. Or not even moves as such, just how he'll leap into the air before hitting the mat as Pillman steps over him hitting the ropes. He's graceful in a way not many guys of the era were. There were a bunch of really fun Blonds moments during the beatdowns as well, my favourite being the assisted abdominal stretch, or maybe Austin's little dance mocking Scorpio. The more I go back and watch Austin the more awesome he comes across. I guess most people think of him as a brawler as that was how he worked during the supernova years, but to me brawling Austin was so good because of the energy and the character work. As an actual punch-kick brawler I don't think he ever really had good punches. His execution on regular wrestling moves and his bumping ability was always pretty outstanding though, and you get to see more of that pre-neck injury. Even a simple vertical suplex bump here looked great. He's a guy who's rocketed back up my favourites list over the last few years and maybe I'll do that full 2001 re-watch some day. Anyhow, this was great and one of the best WCW tags of the decade.