NWA United States Tag Team Title Match: The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) (w/Jim Cornette) (c) vs. The Southern Boys (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers)
This was as good as I remember. Sensational work. Great storytelling with the Midnight’ under estimated the newer challengers and them needing to adapt and change their routine. And Tracy Smothers was excellent in this portion of the opening shine. He made great use of his spots and was credible in kicking Bobby’s ass with his karate trick, who sounded those kicks superbly. That brought us a wonderful sequence with Stan Lane, who is more proficient in karate and at first was winning but eventually fell victim to Smothers’ strikes as well. And the eventual MX dominant portion was great and so compelling. Bobby was still selling fatigue and damage while Stan Lane was more vicious and nasty. And the two together? Forget about it. No one else is better as a duo. Armstrong was a strong hot tag and the closing stretch was great with the use of blind tags, legal partners and false finishes. The MX overcame the challenge but it was a mighty challenge. ****3/4
The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner)
Not great as the Freebirds are more character workers opposed to the work heavy Steiners. But the Freebirds are doing a gay baiting gimmick which is received as well as one would expect. Rick is the FIP and he sells well. But it was hard to invest. Not a lot of drama. Heat, yes, but no drama. ***
The Dudes With Attitude (El Gigante, Paul Orndorff & The Junkyard Dog) vs. The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson, Barry Windham & Sid Vicious)
This got DOGGED in the observer and I don’t really get why. The El Gianate thing is funny in how clearly useless he is and Sid does mistimed a distraction spot with the ref but the match mostly is Orndorff doing the work for his team with JYD coming in and doing spots. But the match is decent. Nothing stagnates, the Horseman are decent together. Arn and Orndorff are great when together. This was okay. **1/2
NWA United States Heavyweight Title Match: Lex Luger (c) vs. Mean Mark (w/Paul E. Dangerously)
A nice carryjob by Luger. Mean Mark is a bit of a dud. Uncharasmatic which is confounded by him constantly playing to the camera. And he’s so clunky. But Luger leads him nicely. Luger came out looking great. Proper star like performance. Had all the heat, carried the working load and the fans adores him. ***
NWA World Tag Team Title Match: Doom (Butch Reed & Ron Simmons) (w/Teddy Long) (c) vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)
Really good match. A step up from the other matches on the card, but this was a little too sluggish and a low key crowd didn’t help. But Morton’s selling was strong, Gibson shone in the end and I like Doom’s general offence. The finish was shoddy though. ***1/2
NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Sting (w/Paul Orndorff, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner & The Junkyard Dog)
The 1990 version of Kenny Omega vs Hangman Page. The destination might have been the right choice (although Luger changes things) but that doesn’t mean the match that’ll do it will be entertaining. I don’t know what doesn’t do it for me - it’s just predictable, I guess. The match itself is fairly typical, only it has all the babyfaces outside doing a quasi lumberjack gimmick without the fun that can bring and Ole being tied to El Giante. But it wasn’t that much of a focus. The majority of the match was focused on Flair and Sting and their usual tricks. Sting’s selling was good and Flair chopped him up good too. They were solid together as always and the fans dug it. So why didn’t it work? Again, I think it was just predictable. It was a foregone conclusion. Plus the timing had peaked. And loads of different factors. At the end of the day, this was a bit of a miss. A needed one though. Good performances, good matches, good moments. Just not great in any facets. ***1/2
Other Ratings:
Buddy Landel vs. Flyin' Brian - 3
The Iron Sheik vs. Mike Rotunda - 2.5
Doug Furnas vs. Dutch Mantel - 2.75
Tommy Rich vs. Harley Race - 2.5
Big Van Vader vs. The Z-Man - SQUASH
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