Saturday, August 23, 2014

HITMAN383 Rant for NWA Great American Bash 1987



- The HITMAN383 Rant for NWA Great American Bash 1987. A little info first: back in the day, the GAB wasn’t a single show like it is today, but rather a tour that they did and then compiled a tape at the end with all the big matches. (This was originally written in 2000)


- I just saw “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” today, and let me just say that it is an EXCELLENT picture. Highest Recommendations to go out and rent this one today!

- Check out the new poll in the federation sections.

- BTW, I use this system: ***** - Excellent, **** - Great, *** - Good, **- Okay, * - Decent, DUD - Awful.

- Live from many different places.

- Your hosts are a variety of people, but Tony Shavonie usually does the most commentary work. He also has an odd mustache.

- Opening War Games Match: Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and J.J. Dillon vs. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Hawk, Animal and Paul Ellering: This is the first EVER War Games, and the crowd is just SUPER hot for this one. Arn and Dusty start, and the big man uses the elbow right away. Dusty hangs off the cage to hit a dropkick, and hits a solid ball shot. The Horsemen complain about it, so Rhodes responds by giving them all the finger. He catches Anderson with a DDT, and rakes him across the mesh to bust him open. Dusty hooks the figure four, and the first period ends. They do the coin toss, and the heels win, sending in Blanchard. The Horsemen go for big Dust, but get double elbows. It doesn’t last, however, as Arn and Tully are like sharks. They put Dusty in the figure four, and pound him. The period ends, and Animal comes in to throw his weight around. He grabs Blanchard and slingshots him into the cage three times, without release. NICE! He hits the flying shoulderblock on him, and rakes him on the mesh. Dusty comes out to join the fun, and then hammer Tully. Arn tries to save, but it’s no good, as the faces just destroy them. Flair comes in for his team and goes right for Animal, but he no sells. The Horsemen gang up on him, and FORCE him to sell, ramming him to the cage. See, when the heels have an extra guy in, they dominate. When it’s even, the faces dominate this. (Yeah, that’s pretty much the War Games formula) Dusty’s bleeding now, and Flair keeps using the cage as a cheese grater. Koloff is in next, but Flair and Anderson attack. It does them no good, however, as Koloff murders ALL the Horsemen. Animal with a press slam on Flair, as Dusty and Nikita work on the Enforcer. Koloff looks like a cross between Tazz and Goldberg, BTW. Luger comes in for the heels, and powerslams the Russian. He then holds Koloff for a big Flair ball shot, just because he can. Flair and Tully spike piledriver Koloff, and then, like vicious sharks, do it again! Great story telling! Hawk is next, and everyone flies! Dillon comes in as the last guy for the Horsemen, and attacks Hawk. That gets quickly no sold, and Hawk hammers. Flair makes the save, but Hawk rakes him on the mesh for the hell of it. Luger saves HIM, as a result. Paul is last for the faces, and now it’s down to submission or surrender. Everyone brawls, as the Road Warriors work on Dillon, and hit the Doomsday Device. They keep pounding him until he eventually submits, giving the faces the win at 21:10. I’m not the biggest fan of the “War Games match” to begin with, but this was VERY good. **** ¼.

- NWA Western States Heritage Title Match: Barry Windham vs. Rick Steiner: This was like two years before the Steiner Brothers formed, and Rick was just a singles wrestler. He also looked a lot like Rick Rude at this point. A criss cross leads to a big Steinerline, and then he hits another for two. Steiner with a belly to belly, and a back elbow to put Windham on the floor. He eats post, and Rick suplexes him back in, but Barry rolls through to pin him at 2:28. Too short to go anywhere. *.

- NWA U.S. Title Cage Match: Nikita Koloff vs. Lex Luger: The weird thing about these old ring set ups is that the guard rail is about 30 feet from the ring, so the 1st row is like the 15th today. Luger works him over to start, and catches him with a big back elbow, as I suspect that this tape has cut forward a lot, because Lex is MUCH more wet. Chinlock by Luger now. A really LONG chinlock. Finally Koloff breaks, and Luger hits a neckbreaker. That was good psychology, because Koloff had a bad neck (brace and all) from the War Games match (remember the two spike piledrivers?) Lex tries a piledriver, but get backdropped for his troubles. Nikita is too battered to comeback, however, and Lex hooks a full nelson. Oddly, the ref. for this is Earl Hebbner, of current WWF fame. He was much skinner, however. Back to the chinlock. Koloff breaks out, and a slugfest ensues, which Nikita wins. Nikita pops out of the corner with a lariat, but takes the ref. with him, and no one is there to count. Dillon slips a chair to Luger, who clocks Koloff in the neck, and puts him in the rack for the easy win at 13:32, to become U.S. champion. The cage played ZERO factor into this suckfest. – *.

- Texas Death Match: Dick Murdoch vs. Steve Williams: Steve has Magnum T.A. in his corner, who is just coming back from the car crash injury. Dick works on the cast covered arm of Williams, and that goes on forever. A slugfest develops, which Williams wins, but he misses a corner charge. Murdoch eats cast, and can’t answer the 10 count to give Steve the win at 3:27. I think this was clipped. (More than half of the match was trimmed off, actually)  Boring as hell though. DUD.

- Six Man Tag Team Match: The Freebirds vs. Ivan Koloff, Ragin Bull and Paul Jones: The Freebirds are actually the faces here. Hayes plays with Bull to start, just slamming him around and dancing to taunt him. Buddy Roberts tags in to abuse Bull some more, but a quick kick from Jones enables them to stomp away. Koloff hits a backbreaker and a leg drop, but Roberts gets a sunset flip for two. Gordy tags in, and kills all three heels. A big brawl breaks out, and Gordy covers Jones for the pin at 3:13 to a big pop. ¼*. (Oddly, this was not clipped. They actually booked a six-man to go three minutes. Maybe Vince Russo was breaking into the business?)

- $100,000 Barbwire Ladder Match: Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard: The ropes are covered in Wire here (not replaced like in ECW, just wire ON the ropes), and there is $100,000 hanging which you have to climb the ladder to get. This is also in a baseball field somewhere, with a very large sized crowd. 1987 had really big wrestling crowds. WrestleMania III, this, and a big one coming up later on this tape. They fight over sending eachother into the Barbwire, and Dusty goes to the elbow. Tully drives his head to the wire to draw blood, and then this gets sick, as Dusty takes the wire and cuts Tully’s arm open on camera. Ouch. He then does the same to his head. Rhodes starts to climb to the ladder, but Tully kicks him off. Blanchard climbs, and Dusty follows on the other side. Fat Boy knocks him off with an elbow, but stupidly climbs down instead of taking the cash. DDT by Rhodes, and he climbs, but Tully knocks him off. He climbs now, but big Dust stops him. Tully gets a black glove from Dillon, and bashes Rhodes with it, leaving Dusty laying. Blanchard climbs, but Rhodes “dropkicks” him off (the quotes because it was Erik Watts level of dropkicking), and climbs the ladder to get the cash at 7:09. Pretty bad match, with tons of “RAW selling” as they acted dead after about five minutes in. DUD.

- NWA World Title Cage Match: Ric Flair vs. Jimmy Garvin: Flair is putting up the gold against one night with Garvin’s valet “Precious.” Garvin chops away on the Nature Boy for a two count, so Flair gives him a ball shot. Flair goes to the top, and Garvin slams him off for two. He hooks the figure four on Ric, and gets some two counts out of it, until Ric makes the ropes. He tries to hook it again, but Flair intelligently rakes the eyes. He tries a suplex, but Garvin slips away and rolls him up for two. They trade chops (with Flair’s ringing out through the whole building), and Jimmy hip tosses the champ. Flair eats steel, and this appears to be in the same building as the earlier U.S. Title Cage Match. Ric bleeds off the cheese grater spot, and Garvin gets a two count off of it. Ric tries to climb out (in fear), so Garvin tugs the tights down (for a full moon), and the ref. smacks Flair’s ass. WHAT?!?! It gets two. (I still don’t know what the hell that was about, but I was creeped out by it again while doing the BUExperience on this one last year as well)  More cheese grater. Backdrop for two, and a criss cross leads to Flair taking his knee out. Knee breaker by Slick Ric, and he kicks the hell out of it, as Ron Garvin wanders out. Another knee breaker, and Garvin starts to comeback, but Ric kicks at the knee again. They trade chops, and Garvin actually wins! Flair climbs again, and again Garvin tugs the tights down. Okay, once is more than enough of that spot guys. Flair falls off to get crotched for two, and Flair whacks the knee again, then hooks the figure four. That’s enough to end this, and get Flair a night with Precious at 15:06. Okay match, for a six minute one, but not for fifteen. **.

- NWA World Tag Team Titles, and NWA U.S. Tag Team Titles Match: The Rock & Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express: The Midnight’s have Big Bubba with them, who later becomes known as The Big Bossman. They are also the U.S. Champs, and the R&R’s are the World tag champs. It’s title for title, like WrestleMania VI. Eaton starts with Gibson, and Robert hits a sunset flip for two, and a head scissors. Lane tagged in, and Gibson kicks him out (literally). Stan comes back with some of his famous kicks, but Rob hits the enzuguri to knock him to the floor again. Morton gets in, and chases Lane around a but, and a criss cross leads to some arm drags by Ricky. Eaton gets in, and beat up, Morton, and Morton hits a rana. In 1987. Gibson tries a flying head scissors, but Lane whacks him, and tags in to hit a backbreaker. The Midnight’s work him over, and now Robert Gibson is, oddly, playing Ricky Morton. Gibson starts a comeback, but a well placed headbutt by Lane stops it. Eaton hammers him, but Gibson rolls away and tags, and a big brawl breaks out. Double dropkick by the R&R Express for two, and in the chaos Big Bubba hits the Bossman slam on Morton to allow Eaton to cover, but the ref. see’s Bubba’s hat and glasses in the ring and DQ’s the Midnight’s at 7:24. Cheap ending to prevent any title switches. Good match, however. *** ½.

- War Games Match II: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger and War Machine vs. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Hawk, Animal and Paul Ellering: What, again? War Machine is replacing Dillon, and is Bossman under a mask. This is also in Miami’s Orange Bowl, with a big ass crowd. Dusty and Arn start again, and play a little cat and mouse game. Dusty uses the big elbows on him, and shoots him into the mesh. Anderson is already busted open, like 1:30 into this! Rhodes with a DDT, and he works the leg. War Machine is in for the heels now, as the heels win the coin toss again. Bubba takes the elbows as well, but it’s only a matter of time before the Horsemen take over and work the leg. Dusty is busted open now, and it’s a gusher, as Hawk comes in for the Superpowers. He catches War Machine with a dropkick, and Arn with a powerslam. Slam for Bossman, and Dusty takes Arn down with a clothesline. They all aimlessly brawl around until Flair comes in for his team and chops Hawk down. That’s why I usually dislike War Games matches. When someone new comes in, it’s hot for about 30 seconds, but other than that, it’s aimless brawling. (War Games matches definitely work better when you know the backstory. It’s not, like, the Shawn/Razor ladder match, where you can put it on, and even if you have no idea whey they’re fighting, the work speaks for itself. With War Games, you really need to know the ‘why’ behind it, or it can come off as aimless brawling)  Nikita comes in next, and takes a piledriver from the Enforcer, but no sells. He goes after Flair next, and makes him eat steel. Tully’s in now, and Hawk eats cage! He and Rhodes brawl, and Tully hits a dropkick from the top. Dusty no sells some elbows from Bossman, and slams him in return. Everyone is dead at this point, and Animal comes in to clothesline all the heels, and repeat the triple slingshot spot on Blanchard. Have you boys heard of improvising? Luger is last for the Horsemen, but Animal takes him down with a shoulderblock, and then tosses Tully from one ring to the other. Okay, that was cool. (The Road Warriors were basically born to be in War Games matches) The Horsemen stop the Animal power train with some chops, but Hawk stops THAT effort, and they double clothesline Luger. Ellering comes in last, and now the Match Beyond begins! Paul jumps War Machine with a pair of Road Warrior wrist spikes, and he goes to work on everyone with them. Everyone gangs up on Bossman, and take turns clotheslining him, and then Animal rakes the spikes in his eye to make him submit at 21:16. Another good one, but not as good as the original. Still, *** ½.

- Bottom Line: I don’t know. I guess I’m just not an NWA enthusiast, because I don’t particularly like this show. If you are crazy about the War Games match, this one is for you. If you aren’t, I say this: The first match is available on Rantsylvideo for free, (Back when shit was hard to find. Today, I’m sure you can find literally a dozen versions of it with a quick Google search)  and the Midnight’s/R&R tag match was repeated (with better results) about 1,000 times elsewhere, so there isn’t much to really see here at all.

- Very Mildly Recommended.



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