Wrestling Gold Vol. One Page 2
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Sherri Martell v. Judy Martin. Case
in point, as Martell is spelled “Martel”, which is a common mistake but
would have been easily solved by having Dave check things over for them.
This is VERY early in Martell’s career, in Memphis from the WMC
studios, 82ish. Sherri dropkicks
Judy and works a headlock, but Judy gets a suplex and stomps away. Legdrop, but a 2nd try misses and Sherri comes
back. Standard girl stuff,
including a weird kneelift type thing from Sherri.
Judy backdrops her and gets a lariat to take over again.
Sherri messes up her own lariat, and gets caught in a double chicken
wing, but rolls forward and gets the pin at 4:24.
¾*
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Shawn Michaels v. Ken Johnson. Speaking
of early in careers, Shawn was 20 here, with short brown hair.
Again, WMC studios, 82ish. Johnson
is a standard Memphis job guy. There’s
actually a Ken Johnson who works shows here in Alberta and is a pretty decent
worker. He fails to overpower
Michaels, and Shawn pulls out the “flip out of a wristlock” sequence and
grabs a headlock. Crossbody gets
two, back to the headlock. Dropkick,
back to the headlock, but Johnson suplexes out and stomps away. They slug it out, and Johnson wins that battle and gets a
backdrop. Backbreaker gets two.
Blind charge misses, and Shawn goes the Enemy Pummel, backflips off the
top, and and finishes with two dropkicks and a powerslam at 4:18.
That’s a pretty amazing finish for the time period.
**
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Gino Hernandez & Tully Blanchard v. The Grapplers.
This is from Tully’s Southwest Championship Wrestling, much like about
30% of the matches on this series. Gino
& Tully were the FACES here against the hot new heel team of the Grapplers
(although one is loath to call anything involving either Len Denton or Tony
Anthony “hot” and/or “new”). Jim
Cornette points out that the psychology as far as the fanbase was concerned was
“Tully & Gino are assholes, but they’re OURS.”
The Grapplers were the tag champs at this point, and I’m omitting my
usual references to titles involved unless it’s a major historical point.
99% of the time in this series, it’s not, so it’s pretty much an
academic point anyway and thus I’m ignoring it.
Gino & Grappler 1 do some grappling to start.
Tully & Grappler 2 switch to fisticuffs, and the heels double-team
Tully, allowing #1 to hit the chinlock. Tully
bridges out and Gino comes in to clean house.
He’s a house of fire as Dave relates a story about an angle involving
Tully getting SCW kicked off USA. Gino
cheats behind the ref’s back and we’re clipped to Gino getting caught in the
wrong corner. They touch on the
long and nasty backstory of Gino’s death, but that would require two hours by
itself. Tully comes in but eats an
elbow and #2 clotheslines him for two. He
works the back and gets two. Back
to the chinlock, false tag results. Tully
gets the real tag, and Gino dropkicks #1 while Cornette veers into a discussion
of David Arquette (vis a vis wrestling going Hollywood and vice-versa, which
stemmed from Gino on soap operas). Tully
backbreaker gets two. Tully rolls
#2 into Gino, thus doing the old Anderson brother sacrifice, and Tully gets the
pin and the titles at 8:39. ***
Tully, for those who know anything about the feud, shocks no one by
turning on Gino immediately afterwards and beats the hell out of him with the
belts. Dave is SHOCKED and/or
appalled. Not that Tully would turn
on his partner, but that he would do it AFTER winning the titles. “Man, that’s just counterproductive!” is the exact
quote. Gino cleans house and turns
himself into a monster babyface, but after only one major match he flaked out
and left the territory for Dallas.
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Gino Hernandez v. Tully Blanchard. Hey,
it’s that one major match! This
is the same one from the Tully shoot interview I reviewed, except that it’s
not clipped all to hell and looks in better condition.
Tully bails right away, pissing off everyone.
Gino fires away, and Tully bails again.
Tully takes over with a cheapshot, but Gino reverses him into the
corner…and Tully runs again. Back
in, Gino elbows him into the ropes, Tully bails again.
Back in, Gino elbow away and tosses him.
Tully regroups. Back in, he
begs off, but gets sent to the other corner.
Gino charges and misses (of course) and Tully ties him in the ropes and
pounds him. There’s a fascinating
Texas history lesson going on in the commentary.
Gino is busted open, and sends Gino out via a Flair Flip.
Tully drops an elbow off the apron and we head back in, only to see Tully
toss Gino into Lou Thesz’ lap. Tully
rams him into the table and goes for a piledriver, but Gino backdrops out and
dropkicks him to the floor. A shot
with the ringbell opens Tully up. Gino
is PISSED. He sends Tully to all the turnbuckles and Tully bails to the
ringside table. Cornette goes on a
“Wrestling As We LIKED IT, By Gum!” rant, as Gino pounds away and bites at
the cut. Big elbow gets two.
Vertical suplex, but the Flying Crappy Elbow (a Randy Savage type elbow
done with all the style and finesse of Jerry Sags after one too many beers)
misses. And that was his FINISHER.
Think about that next time you watch Test screw up a powerslam.
Tully challenges the special boxer ref, gets punked out, and Gino gets a
bodypress for the pin at 12:16. Much
better with all of Tully’s heel psychology left intact (the shoot video
version is about 5 minutes long, give or take), although the ring announcer
somehow loses a minute when he announces the time as 11:20. I guess stopwatch technology has improved since 1984.
***1/2
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Bob Orton Jr. v. Adrian Adonis. Okay,
this was SCW’s tournament final for their version of the “World” title,
which ended up being about as viable as Fritz Von Erich’s version.
Lou Thesz (spelled “Thez” in the pre-match graphics inserted by the
Wrestling Gold folk) is there to present the belt, plus a REALLY old NWA World
title from the 30s, back when it was about as big as a standard belt-buckle.
Adrian works the arm to start, Bob responds in kind.
They fight over a wristlock. Adrian
hiptosses him and gets a FLYING HEADSCISSORS???
Holy crap. Bob reverses the
headscissors, but gets hammerlocked. They
exchange snapmares, and Adrian backslides him for two.
Bob regroups and grabs an armbar. Adrian
goes for the headscissors again, but Orton catches him, and Adrian rolls him up
for two. Adrian goes back to the
hammerlock. Bob gets overpowered,
but monkeyflips Adonis off a criss-cross and grabs the armbar again.
Adonis rams him into the corner, but Bob holds on like a bulldog.
He turns it into a vicious pinning combo for two, and works the arm.
Criss-cross again and Adonis hits an atomic drop for two.
He goes up, but the splash hits knee.
Orton drops an elbow and gets two. An
Adonis rollup gets two, but Orton posts him, reopening a cut from earlier in the
night. Orton methodically drops a
knee for two. Bulldog is blocked by
Adrian, but Orton sends him into the corner upside-down and takes over again.
Superplex is blocked by Adonis, and they collide for the double-KO.
Adonis hooks Good Night Irene, but Bob hotshots out of it.
Back to the sleeper, reversed by Orton, and Adrian whips him to the ropes
to escape. Bob cradles, and Adrian
reverses for the pin at 14:47. Dave
notes that they were on their best behavior to impress Thesz, and it shows with
a technical masterpiece that you wouldn’t expect given how Adonis turned out
later. ****
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Bruiser Brody v. Abdullah the Butcher.
Well, Thesz WASN’T in attendance here.
JIP in the midst of their usual brawl, as the ref gets wiped out in short
order. Brody kicks away and a
second ref takes one for the team. Out
into the crowd and they head up the aisle and stab each other with some shards
of wood. They head up to the stage
and choke each other down. Brody
grabs a chair and the whole thing is just kinda called off at 5:12.
¼*
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Larry Zbyszko v. Scott Casey. Remember
that spelling gripe? Well, I guess
it’s understandable for this match, but Larry IS a pretty big star.
They weren’t even in the ballpark, though, going with “Zibisco” as
their attempt at phonetic spelling. 10
points for effort, minus several million for style.
JIP as they fight over a wristlock.
This was the last gasp for the Southwest promotion, as they did a failed
interpromotional war with Ole Anderson’s equally-dying Georgia promotion.
Casey was a big star in SCW, but ended up being out of a job when the
promotion got swallowed up by the Von Erich empire and eventually finished his
career as a jobber in the WWF, 40 pounds heavier. Casey gets a dropkick, but Larry grabs a headlock.
Dave scares the crap out of me (and Cornette) by rattling off exact
figures for the Shea Stadium show (paid and actual attendance, plus money
figures) off the top of his head. Casey
escapes with a backbreaker and side salto, for two.
Larry knees him and tosses him. Fun
fact: Larry’s insane push in the
AWA was not only due to loyalty, but because he was married to Verne Gagne’s
daughter. So HHH is just following
a great tradition in wrestling: Doing
the boss’ daughter. Makes you
wonder if Chris Benoit would have become a World champion by today had he gone
along with the others and married a Hart sister instead of waiting to steal
Kevin Sullivan’s wife. Casey
regroups outside, and Larry keeps pounding him.
Casey reverses a suplex and comes back, reversing a slam for two. Double underhook suplex and neckbreaker gets two.
Sleeper follows, and Larry can’t escape.
He falls into the ropes, then pins Casey in the corner at 7:03,
triggering a big brawl as Tully switches from Texas to Georgia in the process.
*1/2
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Jerry Lawler v. Bob Sweetan. This
was the battle of the piledriver. Bob
Sweetan is very, very ugly and Jim Cornette spends the entire match telling us
just how ugly he is, as only he can. Sweetan
could have played Shrek, ya know? This
is a few months after the Kaufman deal. Lawler
stalls FOREVER to establish himself as a heel in Sweetan’s home territory.
Sweetan was the booker, and I’ll give you one guess who he booked as
the #1 babyface. Of course, calling
Sweetan a babyface would give babies a bad name.
Unless you’re talking about babies who are fresh out of the womb,
before they’ve even had the placenta cleaned off them.
Lawler stops to lay down the law over the mike to waste more time.
The sound quality of the PA system is sadly lacking, so we can’t hear
what he’s saying, forcing us to look at Bob Sweetan’s horrifyingly ugly
visage in the meantime. Into the
ring, but Lawler won’t lock up. FINALLY
they start, and Lawler bails. They
do a chase and Lawler stops to gab again, complaining about the refereeing now.
Only, finally a lockup, but now Lawler lodges another complaint with the
ref. Lawler grabs a headlock, but
Sweetan punches out and Lawler bails and bitches about the closed fist, despite
using one himself a few seconds prior. Cornette
is in his glory teaching Lawler 101 on the commentary and breaking down all the
minute details of Jerry’s heel act and why it all works.
Back in, Sweetan stomps him and goes for the piledriver, but Lawler gets
on his bicycle and waits him out, then complains that in Memphis, the piledriver
is illegal. Of course, the crowd
gets on him for that. Back in, but
Lawler has had enough of Sweetan’s tactics and takes a walk.
Okay, finally another lockup, and Lawler punching and going to the eyes.
Fistdrop misses, Sweetan goes for the piledriver, but Lawler blocks it
and complains. Sweetan works the
arm as Cornette explains the psychology of Lawler’s exaggerated selling.
This match should actually be required viewing for up-and-coming young
heels, and I bet it IS in OVW. Lawler
gets pissed and slugs away, and indicates a piledriver is coming.
Sweetan of course backdrops out. He
comes back with an elbow for two. Another
gets two. Backdrop suplex gets two.
Another gets the pin, but Lawler’s foot is in the ropes.
Well, not really, but Lawler is the kinda guy who can convince the ref of
exactly that sort of thing, so the match continues for about another 10 seconds
as he quickly steals the pin (using the ropes, of course) at 14:47.
Sweetan gets pissed and piledrives him after the match, and Lawler takes
about 14 bumps off the one move and sells it like death.
Match was a lesson in heel psychology, but I wouldn’t wish it on my
worst enemy without the commentary from Cornette.
¼*
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Terry Funk & Ivan Putski v. Gino Hernandez & Tully Blanchard. More SCW from 84. JIP
as the Dynamic Duo work Funk over. Tully
piledrives him and drops an elbow for two.
Gino suplex sets up the Shitty Elbow for two, and Terry tosses Tully.
Tully bumps the ref on a shoulderblock, and Putski is fists and fire.
Tully tries to slam him, but Putski falls on top for the pin at 3:07.
This was your standard TV match. 1/2*
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Dick Slater v. The Mongolian Stomper.
This is a cage match, although calling the thing around the ring a
“cage” is a dubious proposition at best.
Bob Sweetan is YOUR special ref. Most
fans who watched Stampede will already know The Stomper quite well, as he was a
huge draw for Stu Hart for years on end, as Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie.
JIP as Stomper rams Slater to the cage and applies an iron claw.
You know, if these heels knew anything about chemistry and/or metallurgy,
they’d study something even more devastating, like a stainless steel claw or a
cobalt claw. Hey, they could even
study the very rare but extremely dangerous nickel-cadmium claw, which is less
powerful than other clawholds but can be periodically recharged for up to five
years. Back to the cage, and the
claw. Cornette relates the classic
tale of the Stomper’s inner-ear gimmick.
Basically, Stomper had an “inner ear condition” which required him to
wear head-gear at all times. See,
he had his special weakness like the guys in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out --
normally he was unstoppable, but if the crowd made too much noise, then he’d
become disorientated and would be prone to babyface comebacks.
It’s a very rare medical condition, I hear.
So of course he’d be beating down the hapless babyface, only to have
the crowd make huge amounts of noise in order to throw him off, and the good guy
would then take advantage and get the win.
That’s a completely brilliant gimmick and I wish someone would swipe it
because fans today are still basically stupid and will believe anything that
they WANT to believe if it means acting like a moron is part of the deal.
I mean that in the nicest possible way.
Slater suplexes out of the claw, but Stomper chokes him down and
hashbrowns him on the cage. Back to
the claw, which gets two. Slater
fights free and stomps a mudhole, and sends him to the cage to draw blood.
Cornette lets us know how old manager Don Carson is, again as only he
can. Slater goes up with a flying
stomp, but Stomper goes low. Slater blocks a stomp, drops an elbow, and rams Stomper into
Sweetan. Stomper pulls his boot off
(which I guess was loaded), but Slater gets it and pins him at 9:17.
Heel beatdown results. A
surprisingly watchable brawl. **
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Nick Bockwinkel v. Bruiser Brody. Lou
Thesz is YOUR special ref, and his shirt looks like something I would have worn
in my misguided junior high years. Picture
Pablo Picasso doing his version of a ref shirt. Nick holds Brody down with a headscissors.
Brody? WRESTLING?
He fights out, but Bockwinkel sledges him down for two.
Brody no-sells and goes to a bearhug, but Bobby Heenan makes a nuisance
of himself. Bockwinkel goes back to
the headscissors. Brody makes the
ropes and bails. Back in,
Bockwinkel pounds him, but it’s Brody so he ignores it and hulks up.
He tosses Bockwinkel, and pounds him on the floor.
Back in, Brody goes up with a shoot off the top, for two.
Bockwinkel bails, and back in, Brody tries to finish with a slam, but
Heenan trips him up. He gets the
FLYING KNEEDROP OF HIDEOUS DISMEMBERMENT (and people said HOGAN had a lame
finish), but Heenan saves. Brody
pulls him in and whoops some ass, but that’s a DQ at 9:25.
Brody was game, but wasn’t exactly up to doing a scientific classic
with the champ. *1/2
The
Bottom Line: An average collection
of early-80s stuff completely rejuvenated by Cornette & Meltzer’s awesome
commentary, adding extra perspective and history to everything.
I didn’t even know most of the stuff they were relating, so this made
for some darn interesting viewing on my part.
I’d recommend getting the whole set, but if you only want one, I’d
put this one about second on the list.
Check them out via www.wrestlinggold.com if you’re interested.