Goody Bag 79: Ready to Rumble

 

Cadillac Tournament First Round Match: Randy Savage v Rick Rude: From CWA in Memphis Tennessee on September 3 1984. Rude stalls to start, infuriating the already tightly wound Macho Man. Savage chases Jimmy Hart around, but fails to catch him, as Rude continues his stall tactics. They finally make contact some three minutes in, fighting over an overhead wristlock, with Rude winning by grabbing a standing side-headlock. Macho quickly escapes and hooks an airplane spin, and Rude gets so dizzy that he falls out of the ring. Randy never really uses that in the WWF. Savage taunts him on the outside, so Hart distracts him, and Rude is able to capitalize with a sneak attack. Rude dumps Randy over the top, and he follows to send Savage into the post out there. Macho beats the count in, so Rude hammers him, and delivers a series of turnbuckle smashes. Rick with a press-drop across the top rope, and a fistdrop follows. A vertical suplex leads to Rude delivering a kneedrop to the leg, and he adds a clothesline from there. Irish whip, but Savage reverses, and catches Rick with a backdrop. Macho with a series of jabs and an elbowsmash, followed by a series of turnbuckle smashes. Randy dumps him to the outside, and he dives with a flying axehandle on the floor, then grabs a chair, but Hart pulls it away from him. Inside, Savage delivers a flying bodypress, but the referee is caught up with Hart. That allows King Kong Bundy to run in, and he knocks Savage silly - Rude capitalizing with an elbowdrop at 10:14. Solid enough, though lots of stalling. *

Terry Taylor v Sting: From UWF TV on June 13 1987 (taped May 31) in Little Rock Arkansas. Eddie Gilbert is supposed to be the special guest referee, but Sting refuses it since he’s biased, and they actually oblige him. They fight over an armbar to start, and Sting tries a suplex, but Taylor topples him for two. Sting manages to dump him to the outside, however, buying him some recovery time. Sting brings it back in, but Taylor catches him with an elbowsmash, and he tries a suplex of his own, but Sting counters to a sleeper. Terry fades, but manages to escape, and deliver a swinging neckbreaker for two. Taylor stays on him for a piledriver, but Sting counters with a backdrop, and Sting unloads in the corner. A corner whip rebounds Taylor into a press-slam for two, so Terry tries a headlock, but Sting forces a criss cross - the referee getting bumped in the process. Sting throws a clothesline, but Eddie Gilbert shows up to pass Taylor a boot. Taylor bashes Sting with it, and covers - the groggy referee counting the pin at 5:53. This was okay. Sting had a real star quality to him, even then. * ¼ 

Big Van Vader v Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow: From NJPW on August 8 1988 in Yokohama Kanagawa Japan. Vader attacks with his helmet to kick start the match, and he hammers Bigelow into the corner. A whip into the ropes allows Vader a bodyblock, and a cross corner whip sets up an avalanche. Another one, but Bam Bam sidesteps, and throws a shoulderblock, but fails to get Vader off of his feet. They measure each other a bit, and Bigelow lands a dropkick to knock him over the top. Bam Bam follows, and they slug it out on the floor, with Bigelow dominating. Inside, Bigelow tries a sunset flip, but Vader sitdown splashes him to block. He hammers Bigelow into the ropes, but Bam Bam returns fire, so Vader goes to a standing front-facelock to slow him down. Vader with a snapmare into a chinlock to ground Bigelow, but Bam Bam fights free, and they collide for a double knockout spot out of the ropes. Vader recovers with a bodyslam for two, but Bigelow catches him with a clothesline for two, and uses a bodyslam of his own to set up a flying headbutt drop - Vader dodging. Vader charges with a clothesline that sends both men tumbling over the top, and Vader nearly beats the count, but Bigelow pulls him back, and we get a double countout at 7:49. Not bad, but not as much fun as I was hoping it would be. ¾*

Rob Zakowski v Samu: From USWA on July 15 1991 in Memphis Tennessee. This is Rob Van Dam versus Sabu, way back when. Sabu already looks like Sabu, but Rob doesn’t look anything like the guy we’d come to know. He has blond hair, short tights, and even his face looks different. He tries for a few takedowns, but Samu blocks his efforts, so Rob throws a dropkick at him. Rob looks for a wristlock, but Samu gets the ropes right away, and bails to break the momentum. It’s funny hearing the announcers try to make sense of Samu pointing at the ceiling all the time. Their take: he’s afraid the lighting rig is going to fall on him. Considering the financial reputations of the people running this promotion, might not be a bad guess, actually. And it would get even worse for him in ECW! Inside for a criss cross, and Rob gets a takedown, then a floatover suplex for two. Samu goes to the eyes to slow Rob down, but Rob manages a schoolboy into a front-facelock. Samu escapes with a backdrop, and a 2nd rope kneedrop finds the mark. Samu goes to a front-facelock of his own, and he turns it into a few cradles for one and two counts. Rob fires off a series of kicks into a somersault cradle for two, but Samu nails him in the corner. He tries a charge, but Rob sidesteps, and looks for a dive, but ends up falling off, and Samu hooks a leveraged pin at 4:03. Nothing special, but fun for complists like myself. ½*