PYT Express v Fabulous Ones (Memphis, 6/25/84)
I think the only Fabs matches I've watched over the last couple years have been wild blood-soaked brawls with the Moondogs and Sheepherders, and that one match from the Crockett Cup where they worked heel against the Fantastics. So I guess I forgot how good they were as traditional babyfaces working a traditional southern tag. This was pretty great and it's a crying shame we miss the first five minutes. The Fabs were a blast early on during the shine, my favourite part being Lane putting a toe hold on Koko and goading Austin into the ring, then as Austin tries to get a hold of him Lane keeps turning in circles while maintaining the toe hold on Koko. Some of the blind tag shtick was maybe a little EGREGIOUS as Lane and Keirn surely don't look enough alike that Calhoun couldn't tell the difference, and they weren't even making the clapping sound to sell it. Even the Conquistadores would do that and them boys were full gold head to toe. At the same time the 1984 TikTok scene might've been even MORE rife with carbon copy blond-haired white guys doing silly dances so who am I to criticise anyone, let alone a professional wrestling referee? I don't remember the transition spot being great or anything, but after the PYTs take over it gets awesome. Koko was so good here. Obviously I've watched a bunch of him recently and I can't believe I thought voting him #70 in the 2016 GWE was too high. Stupid. I definitely had him 64 spots too low. Seriously, there's hardly anyone better at just swarming a guy, dragging a referee out of position so his partner can pick up from there, then reposition himself so he can go back to swarming as his partner deals with the ref'. He'll just leap out of nowhere off the top with an axe handle or whatever and he has grade-A Memphis punches and then he'll hit the dropkick and we all fall out the bed. Keirn getting fed up with it all and doing the switcheroo at the end kind of ruled, especially with how he popped up after playing possum and stared at Koko with murder in his eyes.
Lawler as the only one wearing his actual ring attire to a come-as-you-are street fight is a very Jerry the King Lawler thing to do. Michael Hayes in a 10-minute bar brawl is just about as can't fail a prospect as you can get in the 80s. He was great here, bouncing around off Lawler and Idol punches before taking his boot off and walloping people when the time came. At one point the camera pans to a wide shot of Idol getting clobbered in the ring off Gordy as Hayes moonwalks across the apron. It was very tremendous. Idol was so good on the apron here, dropping down and banging the canvas from the floor to get the people behind Lawler's comeback, always animated and full of energy. Good apron work is worth talking about and the Universal Heartthrob was always one of the best at it. He was also great when he got in the actual ring and I completely forgot about him pulling THE biggest pair of scissors you've ever seen out of his boot. These things were fucking garden shears and I fully bought him wanting to stab Hayes in the head with them. Hayes ending up with them and ACTUALLY stabbing the ref' in the head was nuts, then we get some carnage with folk flying over announce tables and Gordy trying to use Lawler as a human shield so he also doesn't get stabbed with scissors. I couldn't remember a thing about this from back during the DVDVR Memphis project and lo and behold it was very good. You're every bit as shocked as me.
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