The Furious Flashbacks – The 100 Greatest Matches WWF Matches of the 80’s Vol 3
Posted by Arnold Furious on 10.25.2007
Lots of Sgt Slaughter and Barry Horowitz but no Ron Bass
The Furious Flashbacks – The 100 Greatest Matches WWF Matches of the 80’s Vol 3
Lots of Sgt Slaughter and Barry Horowitz but no Ron Bass
Sorry about the delay leading into this 3rd chapter of the greatest matches of the 80’s but I had other business to attend to in the interim. Finishing the WCW run for example. Here’s what’s on tap for disc 3…
1.Rick Rude vs Roddy Piper (12/28/89 MSG)
2.Bret Hart vs Randy Savage (Seattle, WA 11/11/87 aired SNME 11/28/87)
3.Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage (1/27/86 MSG)
4.British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation (9/23/85 MSG)
5.Blue Angel vs Barry Horowitz (8/13/88 Los Angeles, CA)
6.Tim Horner vs Barry Horowitz (12/30/88 MSG)
7.Sgt. Slaughter vs Rick McGraw (6/20/81 Philadelphia, PA) [Includes angle]
8.Bob Backlund vs Sgt. Slaughter (1/10/81 Philadelphia, PA)
9.Bob Backlund vs Sgt. Slaughter (3/21/81 Philadelphia, PA)
10.Rockers vs Rougeau Bros. (10/13/89 Paris, France)
11.Sgt. Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (5/19/84 Landover, MD)
12.Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat (6/21/85 MSG)
13.Tito Santana vs Ron Bass (8/22/87 MSG)
Rick Rude v Roddy Piper
This is a cage match. Bobby Heenan is managing Rude who addresses all the Inner City Sweathogs in MSG this evening. This feud featured Piper costing Rude the IC title at Summerslam while Piper was working as a commentator and was semi-retired. For those who whine about the modern habit of pinfalls ending cage matches that’s a stipulation in this match also. This is about what you’d expect from a cage match. It’s mostly a brawl with Piper controlling to keep the crowd amused while Rude sells like crazy. Rude takes a header into the cage allowing Piper a chance to climb out. When Rude gets back to his feet he’s opened up. He crotches Piper to get a mark of revenge. Seeing as there are no DQ’s he works the groin over. Heenan wants him to get out right now but Piper grabs his foot to stop that. Rude gets his arms out and Heenan tries to pull him out of the cage. Hey, it’s all legal Gorilla Monsoon! Rude gets his buttocks exposed as he’s pulled back in. That happened every chance he got. It’s like Rick liked to expose himself in public. Most people would get locked up. He gets cheered. A partially blinded Rude hits a neckbreaker but he crawls towards the wrong corner. Heenan points him the right way showing the advantage of having a manager. They both try to climb out resulting in top cage jousting back and forth before they both fall off attempting to climb down and it’s a draw. The referee orders the match to continue until we have a winner but now they’re out of the cage so we get a brawl around ringside. Rude’s ass is still exposed. Breezy! Back into the cage and Piper is struggling so Rude ascends the cage for the Bombs Away kneedrop. That’s for the IC title Hot Rod! Piper kicks out and the crowd LOVES it. Piledriver and Rude wants out now but they’re too slow with the door so he climbs out instead. But when he’s up there Piper shakes the cage and Rude gets crotched up top. Piper follows out and there’s a brawl on top of the cage that leaves Rude hanging upside down. Piper goes out the door but Heenan slams it in his face. Rude gets untangled and goes for the pin…for 2. Awesome. Back suplex from Rude and Heenan is preparing additional assistance. In come the brass knuckles. Piper punches Rude coming in though. Rude drops the knucks; Piper picks them up and bashes Rude in the face. Piper goes out the door and wins the easy way, which is what cost Rude. He was trying for a big finish. ****. Great match. Lots of energy and some nice set pieces around the escape.
CLIPS – Footage of Honky Tonk Man shoving Miss Elizabeth over thus infuriating Randy Savage. Liz says she’s fine but Savage is all pissed off…I think. Seeing as the Hart Foundation held Savage in place for Honky to slap Liz around he’s got them lined up first. Savage is in the danger zone! “VENGEANCE IS MINE!”
Randy Savage w/Miss Elizabeth v Bret Hart w/Jim Neidhart/Jimmy Hart
Savage is not only focused on wrestling Bret but also on protecting Liz on the floor against two guys. Savage gets aggressive and runs Bret into the ringpost while the other Harts run around to avoid him. They run some nice Irish whip reversals and Savage gets run into the buckles where Bret puts the leather in. Savage comes flying back with elbows but the ref pulls him off on the ropes. Bret hangs off on the apron so Savage knocks him off into the barrier. Watch that sternum Hitman! Neidhart has seen enough and jumps onto the apron to jaw with Savage. He’s joined by Jimmy so Savage does the old NOGGINKNOCKER and then dives off the top onto Bret but Bret has the megaphone and nails Macho in the ribs with it in mid air. Now Bret is in charge and he stomps Savage in the tree of woe. Piledriver gets 2. Savage comes back after Bret misses in the corner and Savage adds in the double axe off the top for 2. Bret catches Savage with a backbreaker and the 2nd rope elbow misses. Savage has the Five Moves O’ Doom scouted. Savage Hangover gets 2. The bumping and selling in this thing is incredibly energised. Savage takes a backdrop to the floor and blows out his leg. Liz is concerned. Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura talk about how this could be a career ending injury as Savage is having trouble standing. He can’t even put weight on the bad leg and takes his boot off. SERIOUS selling here. Savage tells Bret to bring it on anyway so Bret stomps the shit out of that injured ankle and posts it. Crowd are currently in a position where they think Savage has a broken leg. I miss the old days. Bret cranks at the ankle and the crowd BOO. Savage kicks him off with the good leg but can’t do much because he can’t stand. Half crab from Bret and Savage goes under the ropes to break it. This is amazing selling from Savage. He never once even comes close to using the leg. Bret goes to slam Savage but is countered into a roll up and Savage gets the win with his one leg. ***1/2. The selling was amazing in that match. Savage was putting on Wrestling Selling 101. He never used his left leg after the spot over the ropes including using the ropes to pull himself back up and even when he was sat on the canvas his left leg would be held in the air to protect it.
POST MATCH the Harts jump in there but Jimmy miscues with the megaphone and lays out Bret. Savage defends himself with the megaphone and the crowd goes insane. Nowadays they’d probably whine about how that makes the tag team look weak but Savage’s selling is so committed no one will ever remember anything else. He doesn’t walk out either. He’s helped out.
WWF title – Hulk Hogan (c) v Randy Savage
This was back pre-face turn for Savage. He jumps Hogan ahead of the bell still wearing his robe. Savage hits an axe handle off the top and tears off Hogan's shirt to choke him with it. Heh, Savage still has his shades on. He gets Hogan's belt and waffles him with it. He adds a belt shot off the top rope to Hogan's back. Hogan is finished but he pops up and Hulks up to a huge reaction. He steals Savage's shades and mugs around with them on to a MASSIVE reaction. That's how over Hogan was in 1986. Atomic Drop with the shades on, brah. He mocks Savage's style and tosses him outside. Hogan follows to javelin Savage into the ring post. Ventura is begging for a DQ on commentary. You'd better believe Savage bleeds all over the place on the floor. Savage is now limp and his legs are like jelly. Hogan choke lifts him, which irritates Liz to the point where she jumps onto the apron. Hogan blows her a kiss. RACY! Next she'll be out here wearing longjohns for the distraction possibly by shouting "Yoo Hoo". Savage gets a second wind thanks to the distraction. He drags Hogan outside and runs him into the post. Axe handle off the top! Back inside Savage adds another axe handle. SAVAGE ELBOW! That should be it but Hogan kicks out at 1. He Hulks up and Savage has nothing left thanks to all the blood loss. He tries running to avoid the pinfall loss but he doesn't even have the strength to do that. Savage takes the Axe Bomber and the big boot and now Hogan throws him outside if that's where he wants to go. Hogan is adding in punishment now for the abuse before the bell. Liz gets in the way to prevent a second javelin posting, thus earning her money. Savage is able to shove Hogan into the ring post and he gets counted out. **3/4. Incredibly hot atmosphere for this one. I can see why it’s a popular bout because of how poor Hogan’s defences usually were but aside from being good fun with bags of energy from Savage it’s not a million miles better than usual.
British Bulldogs v Hart Foundation
Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart start out and the level they’re at is frightening. It makes Savage look slow. They run the hammerlock spot where Bret gets run through the ropes and that enrages the entire Hart Foundation. Jimmy is particularly upset at how the ref allowed Bret to be thrown to the floor. It’s all good heel work as they seem more like a gang all crowding around on the floor like that. Neidhart finds himself outclassed by Davey as well especially when he tries to overpower and gets dropkicked. Weird how Davey would end up being in a future version of the Hart Foundation. Bret comes in looking confident but Davey catches him in a victory roll for 2. The Harts use team work and isolate Davey. He gets out of Anvil’s bearhug though and sneaks out to tag through his legs. DK-Bret again and once again that’s incredibly fast paced. Anvil distracts and Bret knees DK in the back and now it’s time for heat on DK as well. Anvil throws him to the floor and Bret sneaks around to slam DK on the floor. That’ll slow him down. Davey comes over to check so Bret kicks him in the head. We clip ahead to DK getting a shoeing still and the Harts doing the no tag switches. DK takes a big front turnbuckle at speed. 2nd buckle elbow gets 2. Backbreaker and Bret’s running the five moves. Anvil in with Bret holding DK in place for a beating. Ventura thinks DK is sufficiently worn down to be beaten. DK tries to force Anvil back into the Bulldogs corner. Bret runs in to knock Davey off the apron, which triggers a brawl between those two and a chase around the ring. DK is still trapped in the ring though and doesn’t benefit from the antics. DK is left having to push Anvil across the ring again but all that’s done so far is use what little energy he has left. Bret jumps in again causing the ref to miss the hot tag. Great heel teamwork. Bret comes in and they blow a headscissors but Bret improvises into a knee in the back. DK with a backslide out of nowhere for 2. DK gets tied up in the ropes but moves and Bret hurts himself splashing the ropes. DK rolls into his corner for the hot tag and Davey cleans house. Bret takes an even bigger front turnbuckle for 2. Press slam gets 2. Anvil jumps in to save. Davey is hurt from that and the Harts do some double teaming. Hart Attack off the top but Anvil is slow getting out of the ring and DK does the diving headbutt behind the ref’s back, rolls Davey off to the floor and gets the pin for the win! ****. Great tag formula. Just perfect use of the formula without it ever getting predictable.
Barry Horowitz v Blue Angel
Don’t quote me on this but I’m pretty sure Blue Angel is an early incarnation of the Blue Blazer and is therefore Owen Hart under a hood. Horowitz is heel and cowers in the ropes before even locking up. Maybe he’s having a premonition of a bad mask experience (Red Knight). Angel bounces off the ropes and starts throwing armdrags popping the crowd huge because its lucha-libre style and this is California. Nip up into an armdrag and I’m now 95% certain that’s Owen Hart because of the style. Monkey flip WITH AN ARMBAR gets 2. Armbar Northern Lights gets 2. This is SO cutting edge. He’s never breaking contact with the arm but still hitting stuff clean so it looks awesome AND it’s effective. Angel with a few more armdrags and Horowitz is looking completely out of this. Barry hides in the corner to let his arm recover. JEWISH RUDO~! Angel gets the crowd going by stomping his foot. He’s like a matador and the crowd are just buying into it BIG time. Horowitz finally gets some room away from the armbar and hits a superkick. Horowitz steps on the neck and adds in a kneelift for 2. Angel attempts a comeback and gets poked in the eye. Angel takes the Hart front turnbuckle and Barry shoots the half for 2. Oddly enough Horowitz used to wrestle as a Hart. His name in Memphis was Jack Hart. Butterfly suplex gets 2. Horowitz with a backslide for 2. His offence is less entertaining and showy therefore making him the ideal heel. Angel hits a leaping springboard crossbody for 2. That shit looks state of the art now let alone the late 80’s. Sunset flip gets 2 and Angel’s only offence is desperation stuff. Barry gets a Russian legsweep for 2 and heads up top. Angel nips up and throws him off. Huge missile dropkick from Angel. That was three quarters of the way across the ring with Horowitz trying to avoid contact. Suplex and a kneedrop gets 2. Backbreaker gets 2. He’s using a lot of Bret Hart’s moveset here. Moonsault finishes Horowitz off and the crowd LOVE this shit. ***1/2. Great match for the time. Owen’s stuff was way advanced especially the bouncing off the ropes and the springboarding.
Barry Horowitz v Tim Horner
Sound quality disappears on this bout. Both guys are jobbers. Horner had previously worked in the NWA tagging with Brad Armstrong. Horner is faster and has been studying his lucha libre. He looks poor compared to Owen in the last match but he’s still above the standard workrate for the WWF in the Hogan era. Heel Barry takes one of his typical short cuts by elbowing Horner in the Adam’s apple. Horner goes to the armdrags to save himself. That heat segment lasted about 5 seconds. Didn’t feel right. Barry fakes a knee injury on a leapfrog and Horner is dumb enough to fall for it. You can turn your back to a man but you can never turn your back to a heel. Horner gets a smooth inside cradle for 2. They go for some quick roll up’s each way, which is ahead of its time as well. Admittedly they’re not connected like Malenko-Guerrero did them but the idea is the same. Horner fires up and starts throwing punches. Barry is in a selling mood and back bumps everything. Horner backdrops him and hits a belly to belly for 2. Horner with a back roll into a roll up and he takes the win. **1/2. State of the art at the time but even compared to Horowitz-Angel it wasn’t really in the same league. I can see it getting some love but it’s not a ‘best of’ anything apart from Tim Horner’s best WWF match.
CLIPS Rick McGraw is out to accept the Masterlock Challenge Sarge’s Cobra Clutch Challenge. It’s the same exact thing as the Masterlock Challenge complete with the chair in the middle of the ring. There’s FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS on the line if McGraw can escape. That’s American too. McGraw is the JTTS and generally the guy who loses to the next challenger to the WWF title of Bob Backlund, as it was at the time. This is like every other “Challenge” match with a devastating submission hold only the crowd REALLY buy into as McGraw manages to knock Sarge off his feet a few times by backing into the buckles but Sarge won’t give up the hold and eventually McGraw is out cold. It’s really weird seeing how this event is taking place in something that looks like a Bingo Hall. Start small Vinny Mac.
Sgt Slaughter v Rick McGraw
The ring announcer must be at least 70 years old. The ref is OLDER. Sarge whips McGraw with his riding crop but that serves only as motivation. McGraw pounds him in the corner and Sarge is busted wide open. McGraw continues to wail away with Sarge unable to defend himself. If this was boxing it’d be over. Looks like Sarge tapped an artery. He throws McGraw out of the ring to buy himself some time. Sarge regains his composure and kicks at McGraw before running him into the ringpost. Sarge’s blood is EVERYWHERE here. It’s all over him, all over McGraw, all over the canvas and there’s even a pool out on the floor even though Sarge hasn’t been out there. If he gets some on the ref it’s a 1.0 Muta. Sarge is in charge now though and punishes McGraw with knees. Sarge is focusing on the shoulder/back area with slams and he throws a shoulderbreaker in there as well as a stomp off the top. COBRA CLUTCH~! We all know this put McGraw away in the challenge match and he’s out here but Sarge just drops him. Questionable. He slaps it on again and claims to have won. Oh, and he has! **1/4. Great brawl. Bit short at 5 minutes though.
WWF title - Bob Backlund (c) w/Arnold Skaaland v Sgt Slaughter
Sarge is upset with the sheer number of “Gomer Pyle” signs in the crowd. Backlund is not only ginger but he has brown tights. Sarge charges but Backlund sidesteps him. He then wrestles him out of the ring to show his superior in ring skills. Sarge looks a little thrown by this early altercation. Backlund remains entirely focused. Sarge charges again but Backlund sweeps the leg. Now this is like watching bullfighting. Backlund the matador is barely doing anything and Sarge is wearing himself out. Backlund is a superior technician and takes over with a hammerlock. Sarge is flustered and is forced to use the ropes. Good job this isn’t under Pure Title rules. Backlund backs off another charge into an armdrag and this is beautiful technical wrestling that makes sense. Sarge looks lost. The crowd are on his case and he can’t get anything going. But his frustration gets worse as he misses in the corner and posts his own shoulder. Backlund picks off the injured arm and this seems a formality now. Sarge keeps on charging and gets armdragged two more times before Backlund goes back to the armbar. Sarge finally gets something going by headbutting and socking Backlund in the kisser while positioning the referee. Backlund is out matched in striking and that’s not really his favoured approach anyway. Sarge draws a tonne of heat with a headlock and he keeps sneaking illegal punches in after positioning the ref. After a shaky start Sarge is back to the game plan. Backbreaker gets 2. Sarge is pulling the tights on the pins as well. This extra bit of cheating pisses Backlund off and he battles back punching his way out of trouble. Sarge is got to him and thrown his game plan but he may have upset him a bit too much. Piledriver from Backlund. They both lie around for a while selling fatigue. Sarge is up first but Backlund slips out of the Cobra Clutch. Sarge hits a few backbreakers but can’t put Backlund away with them. He decides it’s time to unload something bigger by going up top only for Backlund to throw him off. Backlund gets caught with knees charging in and Sarge foolishly doesn’t use the ropes for leverage. Sarge thinks he won because he’s a comedy heel and gets rolled up for 2. Backlund spills out of the ring for advice from Skaaland. “Stop being shit ya ginger bastard”. I think that’s what he said. Sarge with a backbreaker on the floor as if that’s somehow more devastating than in the ring. Backlund gets back on the apron but Sarge punches him stupid and runs him head first into the post. Sarge has to break the count or Backlund will get counted out. They repeat the ringpost spot so Backlund can blade this time. It’s a gusher too from the champ as you’d expect because he did hide under the apron to do it. Sarge grabs the ring bell and bashes Backlund with it and that’s SURELY a DQ? Backlund has spent about 3 minutes on the floor without getting counted out too. Just sayin’. Sarge works at the cut as Backlund struggles back in there. The ref jumps in to check the cut but he’s ok! Backlund gets a whip reversal and Sarge takes a huge bump to the floor. Backlund gets his second wind and goes completely insane. He whups Sarge from pillar to post but the match is over because they both get counted out on the floor. In a great spot Sarge grabs the title belt and smacks Backlund in the head with it. Then the ref. ****. Psychologically sound match with blood and heat as well.
WWF title – Bob Backlund (c) v Sgt Slaughter
This would be a cage match to follow up from last time to avoid the inevitable repeat of the count out and provide a definitive outcome. Sarge tries to escape from the bell but Backlund pulls him back down. Sarge goes to punch Backlund between the eyes but Backlund ducks and Sarge punches the cage instead. Backlund seems best prepared for the match and uses the cage frequently in the opening minutes. Sarge makes a point of going low because there are no rules and then takes advantage of the location of this match. Sarge tries to get out of the door but Backlund knows where he is and grabs the foot as soon as he heads that way. Sarge gets dragged back in. He was close though. They do a lot of lying around, which is a bit early for my liking. Backlund with a piledriver and he looks to head over the top. He’s pulled back down and Sarge goes up but now Backlund goes low and there’s a receipt if ever there was one. Sarge opts for the door instead but Backlund grabs the leg. It seems every spot they do is just a retread of earlier in the match. I swear they’ve done double spots at least 3 times. When they’re done with that we’re reduced to running each other head first into the fence. This is one of the reasons I don’t care much for cage matches. Compare this to the more creative Rude-Piper bout for example. Sarge blades. Backlund goes back to dodging charges, which at least harks back to the start of the first match. Sarge dives for the door and we get the third spot where Sarge leaves only his leg in the ring and Backlund drags him back in. If Sarge loosened his boot he could have won this. While I’m not buying it at least the crowd are. When Backlund is done dragging him back inside he could quite easily just walk out of the door but he doesn’t. Sarge spends a while running Backlund’s head into the cage in an attempt to draw blood. The crowd is losing it as Backlund finally figures out he can just walk out of the door and win. And does so. Jesus. *1/2. Terrible match but for some reason highly regarded and the crowd love it. It’s like 25 minutes of nothing.
The Rockers v Fabulous Rougeau Brothers w/Jimmy Hart
Rougeau’s come out to their awesome “Proud American Boys” music. The Rockers waste no time wailing on the Canadians. They hit some tandem offence and double superkick the Rougeau’s out of the ring before the match starts. Shawn gets cocky though and is picked off for an early heat segment. Shawn is too full of bounce though and leapfrogs his way out of trouble. Crowd pop everything the Rockers do no matter how mundane, which is typically French. Country full of weirdoes. The Rockers do a heel no tag switch, which is weird. Then do it again. Raymond doesn’t seem too happy about it. More illegal double teaming and none existent tags follow and the crowd seem to find it amusing. Jacques meanwhile has been stuck in a basic leglock for AGES and doing nothing about it despite constant openings appearing. The no tag switches continue the entire crowd LIE to help the Rockers out. Now, that’s hardly fair now is it? Now I’m all for crowd members lying to screw with wrestlers heads but that just seems unfair. Then they protest as Shawn gets picked off for another heat segment and Raymond chokes him using the tag rope. Shawn gets beaten up and happily bumps around putting over the Rougeau’s tag team offence. The Rougeau’s seem to be enjoying a connection with this audience where they can bullshit the crowd in its own language. They run the formula by drawing Marty in whenever Shawn looks like making a comeback. Ref then misses the hot tag thanks to Jacques distracting him. Jacques miscues and knees his brother in the face though and Marty gets the hot tag finally. Again everything he does is met with an eruption from the audience. Ref is busy dealing with Raymond when Jacques gets caught in a backslide for what was easily a three count but the ref doesn’t see it. Marty gets picked off with a piledriver. Ref is drawn into the corner again but Shawn sneaks in and piledrives Jacques for Marty to get the sneaky pin. ***1/4. Energetic tag effort. Very formulaic but with some interesting quirks like the Rockers cheating in the early going and then again to win. When in Rome I guess. It was in Paris? Oh. When in Paris I guess.
Sgt Slaughter v Iron Sheik
Sheik came back to the WWF in late 1983 with the new Iron Sheik gimmick. Slaughter meanwhile is freshly turned face to fend off the challenge of the pesky Iranians. Crowd chants “USA” and that’s the whole set up here. Gorilla sells Sheik’s ridiculous looking boots as a “weapon”. Sarge wastes no time beating Sheik up to teach him a lesson for being different. Unfortunately there’s a scratch on my disc at that point and it won’t play the rest of it. I imagine this match wasn’t as good as their Boot Camp match that I’ve already done.
Steamboat-Valentine is *** as I’ve seen it before. And who really cares about Ron Bass?
The 411: It’s a good collection with some fun angles and energetic matches but I would say it’s the least of the DVD’s from this collection so far. Still thumbs up, obviously.
