Goody Bag 65: Hidden Gems 6

 

Demolition v Tito Santana and Mil Mascaras: WWF live event in Houston Texas (promoted as the Paul Boesch Retirement show) on August 28 1987. Ax starts with Tito, and Santana catches him with a bodypress for two early on, so Ax tags out. Smash rakes the eyes right away, and a corner whip works, but the charge in doesn’t. Tag to Mascaras for a jumping forearm, and a dropkick follows. Back to Tito to work a wristlock, but Smash whips him into the ropes to escape, and he hammers Santana in the corner. Tito dives off the middle with a fist for two, but walks into a cheap shot, and Ax tags in to backelbow him for two. Demolition go to work on Santana, but Tito fights Ax off, and makes the tag. Mascaras comes in with a pair of corner whips and a backdrop to set up a splash for two, but he ends up in the wrong corner, and pounded. The Demos work him over, until Ax misses a legdrop, and Mascaras puts him in a camel clutch. Smash saves, so Santana knocks him out of the ring, and hits Ax with a dropkick. Cue interference from Mr. Fuji, but the referee sees it, and it’s a DQ at 5:56. This was watchable, and certainly a unique combination. *

USWA Heavyweight Title Tournament Second Round Match: Jerry Lawler v Mark Callous: From Memphis Tennessee on October 8 1990. Callous with some stalling in the early going, but he manages to power the King into the corner, and a cross corner whip rebounds Jerry into a clothesline. Again, but Lawler comes back with a clothesline of his own, as Mark does a zombie sell. He should keep at that, could be a good gimmick. Callous goes low to take control back, and a headbutt finds the mark in the corner. Press-slam sets up a legdrop for two, and Downtown Bruno helps with some interference. Apparently his nickname is ‘the weasel,’ which is just disappointing. Callous with a backdrop for two, but he telegraphs a second one, and the King hammers him. Turnbuckle smash rattles Callous, and he hooks a schoolboy, but Bruno is distracting the referee, so no count. That allows Callous to recover with a jumping clothesline for two, and he works a chinlock, as the announcers call Mark a ‘skyscraper.’ Lawler escapes the hold and makes a fired up comeback (straps down and all), so Bruno tries more interference, but it backfires this time. Slugfest goes Lawler’s way, but no matter, as the referee disqualifies Callous at 6:42. ¼*

Lightning Kid v Louie Spicolli: TV taping dark match from Tucson Arizona on April 6 1993. This is only Kid’s second ever match in the promotion, his first literally only one day prior to this, and also against Spicolli. And the crowd is still filing in here, the building some half empty. Feeling out process to start, and Kid catches him with a dropkick and a spinheel kick to get control. Northern lights suplex gets him two, and a pair of lightning legdrops connect. Corner whip sets up a corner dropkick, but a second one misses, and Spicolli delivers a headbutt drop to the groin for two. Who is this bootleg referee they have working this one? Kid comes back with a headscissors takedown and a spinkick to send Spicolli to the outside, so Louie threatens to walk, but Kid dives after him with a flying spinkick into the aisle. That one drew shrieks from the fans, who definitely weren’t accustomed to seeing stuff like that in 1993. Kid with a snap suplex on the way back in, but a flying somersault senton splash misses, allowing Spicolli a saito suplex. He tries a charge, but Kid spinkicks him to block, and hooks a victory roll at 3:49. This was fun for what it was. Also fun to watch the crowd give them absolutely nothing for the first minute or so, but then getting increasingly invested as Kid busts out bigger and bigger high spots. * ½ 

WWF Women's Title Match: Alundra Blayze v Lioness Asuka: TV taping dark match from Salisbury Maryland on November 21 1995, in what turned out to be Blayze's last WWF match. Blayze goes for a takedown early, but Asuka keeps blocking, and knocking the champion down. Asuka with a vertical suplex for two, and a ropechoke leads to a facebuster. She peppers Blayze with kicks ahead of a reverse chinlock, but Alundra fights off a ten-punch, and Asuka bails. Blayze dives after her with a flying bodypress, but the challenger ducks, and Alundra wipes out on the floor. Back in, Asuka puts her in a sharpshooter, and then delivers an atomic drop when Alundra won’t quit. Cross corner whip, but Blayze blocks, and she makes a comeback. Asuka hides out on the floor, but Blayze stays on her with kicks out there, and she drags her challenger inside by the hair. Piledriver, but Asuka backdrops her to block. She goes up to the middle for a dive, but Blayze handstand ranas her off, and a 2nd rope dropkick gets her two. German suplex, but Askuka blocks, so Blayze snapmares her instead. Back to the suplex, so Asuka tries to reverse, but Blayze reverses back at 7:37. This was fine, but the crowd was dead. Still interesting to watch, especially getting to see how noticeably moody Blayze looked both before and after the bell. *