NWA Bunkhouse Stampede 1988 - 24/01/1988
NWA World Television Title Match: Nikita Koloff (c) vs. Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette)
Nikita Koloff has a hell of an armbar. It looks tight, and he’s big enough to trap someone in it without making it seem rudimentary, but unfortunately it seems to be the only move that his trainers taught him. Eaton doing the move makes perfect sense as it neutralises Nikita’s strength advantage, which is a good plan story wise. However the fans aren’t really hooked by the potential drama of the bout. Instead they are keen on shouting at Cornette, who responds not-so kindly, making the most of the heat. But back to the story of the match, surely you would abandon the plan when you are 5 minutes away from a potential draw and there is no sign of a tap. Eaton instead continues the same armhold to no success and a draw occurs, despite Nikita’s best efforts. Fine wrestling but a story with one gear and no progression can only lead so far. And it didn’t lead to a good match. **1/2
NWA Western States Heritage Title Match: Barry Windham (c) vs. Larry Zbyszko (w/Baby Doll)
You should be able to watch matches in a vacuum and still enjoy them, but watching things within context does indeed add a lot to a match. This isn’t a part of a feud or anything like that. It’s simply to get the title off Windham for an eventual bigger spot. But the story of the match is Zbyszko working Windham’s injured leg, which was caused by Tully and the Horseman not so long before this, and getting tons of success out of it. Windham’s selling was good but the true magic was him on offence. Those attempts at a comeback, those fantastic punches, the missed lariat. Terrific babyface work which is complemented by Zbyzsko’s weasel energy. The finish had Windham on his way to a victory but then a ref bump and a high heeled shoe prevented that and gave Zbyszko the title. Booo. But this was a really good match. Windham is so good in this period. ***3/4
NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair (c) (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Road Warrior Hawk (w/Paul Ellering)
The true magic about Flair is that despite it being obviously his formula and the same characteristics that's in all of his big matches but in the moment, it never comes across as him. His opponent shines, his opponent gets the heat. Hawk was really good on this merits but with the Flair bumps and the structure, but this is Flair at his best. When Hawk starts firing up and the crowd goes ballistic, there is a feeling of "this is wrestling". Quite a crazy feeling. The DQ finish saves Flair and protects Hawk, and that's the only part that feels tired in this era. A clean finish wouldn't hurt sometimes. ***1/2
Steel Cage Bunkhouse Stampede Match: Tully Blanchard vs. The Barbarian vs. Arn Anderson vs. Dusty Rhodes vs. Road Warrior Animal vs. Lex Luger vs. Ivan Koloff vs. The Warlord
I wasn't sure what to make of this at first. The contrived rules were a hard sell and it put me off this PPV for all my years of watching. But I was slowly sold by the brawling and grime spots like Ivan Kollof digging a belt buckle in Dusty's bleeding arm. The lack of an elimination was a refreshing aspect of the match too. In these big multi man matches, there is usually a quick elimination but they took their time to get over the nature of the match first, to get over the style they wanted before going for the spots. It earned my admiration for not doing the easy thing. And then the spots came and paid off, like Luger and the Horseman spots which were fantastic. The finish might have been predictable to all involved but I still think it was an effective close to the match. I liked this. *shrug* ***1/2
WWF Royal Rumble 1988 - 24/01/1988
Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat
This was a strong opener. Rude wasn't a quick learner in his youth but he had his strengths and Steamboat led him very well with his great technical skills and selling. Rude made great use of the heat when posing and his selling was also really great too. Steamboat felt Rude's strength early on, so he worked the arm to neutralise it. Rude fought back through illegal means and worked the camel clutch and Steamboat fought this way out like a clean babyface should before they went into the closing stretch. Steamboat is a long underrated technical wrestler and did some great work including a great inverted armbar and using a hold to hyperextend Rude's arm so he could chop it. Steamboat never ceases to amaze me. The finish was rather rudimentary with the ref bump and fake win for Rude which turned out to be a DQ after Rude pulled Dave Hebner into an incoming Steamboat. Good opener. ***1/2
WWF World Women's Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai) (w/Jimmy Hart) (c) vs. The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno)
This wasn’t as great as people probably recall, but I’ve seen the other matches on non-PPVs that they have so I may not have the same mind that most have. This was good nevertheless. It was simply booked in terms of the falls. The Glamour Girls win the first fall to establish control and the Angles have to get two to win the belts. Not always the cleanest but these have good chemistry and get the crowd behind the eventual title change by the JBA. Good match. ***1/4
Royal Rumble Match: Sam Houston vs. Jake Roberts vs. The Ultimate Warrior vs. Tito Santana vs. Don Muraco vs. Boris Zhukov vs. Dino Bravo vs. King Harley Race vs. The Junkyard Dog vs. Jim Neidhart vs. The One Man Gang vs. Bret Hart vs. B. Brian Blair vs. Butch Reed vs. Jim Brunzell vs. Ron Bass vs. Nikolai Volkoff vs. Jim Duggan vs. Hillbilly Jim vs. Danny Davis
The first rumble is a good one. They cheated a little with some of the things like having Bret and Tito and then Neidhart early but I get it. They established the rules, got some decent action out of it and the fans seemed hooked by the concept. Lacking the spots that even the next years would offer but it was a good concept from the start and it's worth a watch. ***
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match: The Islanders (Haku & Tama) vs. The Young Stallions (Jim Powers & Paul Roma)
The first time I felt like I HAD to watch something in this 1988 project of mine. It was just a little tedious following the rumble. And then you consider the breaks in action and you get a lumbering experience. While not terrible as a match as the Islander’s pick apart Power’s injured leg very well, but the rest of the 2 straight falls further makes the match feel lesser than everything before it. Shame. **1/2
NJPW New Year Golden Series 1988 - Day 17 - 25/01/1988
Top Of The Super Junior I Match: Keiichi Yamada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Another really good match for the Juniors in this era. It’s carefully paced and technically driven but wonderfully done with Yamada being nasty in his leg work, and with Koshinaka being a fan, the crowd was fully invested in the match, it just made it even better. Koshinaka was never a great seller but he is great on offence and he makes great comebacks that work for him and the match. This is well worth seeking out. ***1/2
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bob Orton
A short match that was pretty typical of a mid tour show like this. Orton shows his smarts throughout to keep up with Fujinami before the DQ finish. Then followed a pretty cool crowd brawl that had fans swarming them while at the back of the building. ***
Hiroshi Hase, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs. Buzz Sawyer, Owen Hart & Steve Williams
A brisky 6-man tag. Spotfest with no real story but that’s fine because this is entertaining in itself. The most common spot of the match was Saito and Choshu attempting Scorpion Holds with the foreigners constantly breaking it up. Williams didn’t do much for his team, meaning it was just Buzz Sawyer and Owen Hart doing the leg work against the natives. Not much depth but it was a good showcase of suplexes and dropkicks and all the basics wrapped up in an 8 minute package. ***
Comments
Post a Comment