Wrestling Gold Volume IV: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Wrestling Gold #4: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Commentators: Dave Meltzer, Jim Cornette
We’re over halfway done with these things and I had a good time with the third disc so we might as well look at another. I’m not sure what to expect from these things, but again the matches are kind of secondary to the audio, with the two historians on the call. It worked before and it should again so let’s get to it.
As usual, I’m giving my best guess to some of the locations and dates.
From Memphis, Tennessee, September 3, 1984.
Rick Rude vs. Randy Savage
This isn’t something you saw very often and Jimmy Hart and Angelo Poffo are here too. Savage wastes no time in sprinting after Hart to chase him into the crowd and Rude is already hitting the stall button. Rude finally gets back inside and they fight over a top wristlock before Savage grabs an airplane spin. They’re already on the floor again with Savage grabbing the mic and throwing what looks like confetti at Rude. Back in and a Hart distraction lets Rude throw him over the top for a crash to the floor.
They get inside again with Rude hammering away in the corner and dropping Savage with a suplex. A clothesline lets Rude strut and pat the referee on the head, which is quite the odd personality from him. Back up and Savage sends him outside for the top rope ax handle, followed by a high crossbody but there’s no referee. Instead here is a massive King Kong Bundy (with HAIR) to deck Savage and give Rude the pin at 10:25.
Rating: B-. I don’t think there’s much of a surprise that these two had a good match, even though Rude was just getting his first major time in the ring. He certainly had charisma to go with the look and the match worked, with Savage clearly looking like he was ready to move on to the biggest stage in the world. It wouldn’t be much longer before he did, debuting in the WWF less than a year later.
From Toronto, Ontario, Canada, I believe February 17, 1974.
The Sheik vs. Andre The Giant
I believe this is a Texas Deathmatch (basically Last Man Standing in this case). Sheik, with Abdullah Farouk (the Grand Wizard Of Wrestling), goes right at him to start, which goes as well as you’re going to get by going after Andre. Some big right hands give Andre about eight each but Sheik comes back with the fire ball…and Andre is down for ten at 2:32. The whole match is listed elsewhere at 3:32 so I’m wondering if some stalling was edited out. Anyway, this was a REALLY bad idea, as Sheik hadn’t lost in Toronto in seven years and this showed the fans that he just wasn’t going to lose, so why buy tickets?
Post match Andre is tended to and gets quite the reaction.
From I have no idea.
Pampero Firpo vs. Jeff Doney
The much shorter (and much more famous) Firpo takes him down with a headscissors to start. The claw finishes Doney at 1:35. Well that’s a shame, as I wanted to see more Firpo, who has quite the wild reputation.
Post match Firpo helps Doney up.
From San Antonio, Texas, likely in the early 1980s.
Bruiser Brody/Scott Casey vs. Kelly Kiniski/The Spoiler
Brody and the Spoiler lock up to start and takes him down by the leg, allowing Casey to take over. Kiniski comes in and gets taken down by the leg as well, with Casey dropping some knees. The escape doesn’t work either but Spoiler comes in to work on Casey’s leg for a change.
That doesn’t last long either as Casey reverses into something of an STF, with Spoiler crawling over for the tag back to Kiniski. Casey grabs an ankle lock and it’s back to Brody to wrap the leg around the post. Back in and Spoiler takes over with the claw, which Brody breaks up rather quickly. Everything breaks down and Brody hits a dropkick, followed by the big knee for the pin at 6:48.
Rating: C+. The leglocks were a fine enough story for the match and it was fun to see Brody snap at the end and take over. As usual it feels like a shame that his career was cut short because dang he was great at his style. Casey is someone who wasn’t around very long and felt like he was rather good when he was out there, even if you didn’t see him outside of Texas very often.
From Memphis, Tennessee, September 17, 1984, likely fallout from the first match on the disc.
King Kong Bundy/Rick Rude vs. Jerry Lawler/Randy Savage
No DQ. Lawler and Rude start things off with Lawler sending him into Savage’s elbow to the head. Bundy (sans hair this time) comes in and powers Lawler into the corner without much trouble so Savage sneaks in for an elbow to the head. Bundy’s missed charge knocks Rude off the apron, earning some applause from Lawler, with the crowd eating it up of course. A missed charge in the corner has Bundy in more trouble as commentary compares loud reactions from the fans.
We settle back down to Savage beating on Rude and dropping the top rope ax handle to the floor. Back in and Rude goes to the eye but Savage breaks up a piledriver attempt. Lawler gets taken into the wrong corner but quickly gets out of trouble with the double noggin knocker, because it’s the 80s and that was still cool. Savage comes in for an airplane spin to send Rude staggering into the corner, followed by an atomic drop but unfortunately before the classic Rude sell.
It’s back to Bundy, who sends Lawler into a raised boot in the corner and the big elbow gets two. Things slow down and Rude draws Savage (who is shockingly on a thin edge) in so Bundy can get in some cheap shots. Bundy comes in behind the referee’s back to drop a knee but the splash misses…and it’s time to stagger up. Lawler slugs away and everything breaks down, with the referee getting bumped. Lawler has a foreign object of some kind to clean house and the referee calls the DQ for….well it could be a few reasons at 15:36.
Rating: B. This again felt like a big time match and that’s what you would want out of such a showdown. If nothing else, the idea of Lawler and Savage teaming together is rather unique, as they had been such heated rivals for so long. Once again Lawler is in his element against a monster and you could see the Ravishing side of things starting to come together.
Post match they brawl all the way to the back.
From some place in history at some point in time.
Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Don Kent
So this is a Shark Cage match, meaning two people inside one of those cages used to raise a manager above the ring. As you might expect, there is only so much you can do when the cage is about three feet wide. They ram each other into the cage and punch a lot as they try to get out of the cage to win.
Both are pulled back inside and Strongbow lifts him up for a ram into the roof. Kent rams him into the cage and chokes him down as this continues to die. Strongbow fights to his feet and manages to Hulk Up to hammer away. We’re actually clipped to Mark Lewin running in to choke Kent, allowing Strongbow to escape at 6:43 shown.
Rating: F. Imagine a match where the wrestlers’ feet were stapled to the floor. That’s about what you had here and it got as far as it was going to get. Commentary rightfully buried the thing because, again, they were fighting in a shark cage. This was firmly in the “this is dumb” category and thankfully it wasn’t something you saw very often. Just dumb.
Post match Lewin turns the cage over because he just wasted time on that thing.
From Memphis, Tennessee, May 14, 1984.
AWA International Title: Randy Savage vs. Austin Idol
Savage is defending and jumps him from behind to start and sends Idol outside for the top rope ax handle. Back in and Savage hammers away even more so Idol tries to grab a crutch from…well from the guy at ringside with a crutch. That earns Idol a neck snap across the top and Savage slugs away with the left jabs.
Idol Hulks Up and slugs away, including the right hands in the corner. More right hands set up the Las Vegas (Figure Four) Leglock and the crutch man (apparently Angelo Poffo) yells a lot….as Savage gives up at 7:01??? Either way it’s a new champion and I’m trying to remember Savage quitting more than a handful of times in his career.
Rating: C+. I could still go for more of Idol, as he certainly had a charisma to him and his promos were more than good enough. This was a match between two guys who felt like stars and while they didn’t have much of a high quality match, it did what it was supposed to, with the crowd going nuts and being into the whole thing. Good match here and both guys looked solid.
From Buffalo, New York, possibly on February 24, 1967.
Terrible Ted vs. Gene DuBois
Ted takes him down to start and gets on DuBois’ back, followed by a snapmare to put DuBois down again. They go to the mat, with the referee getting chased off by Ted, which doesn’t seem right. Back up and DuBois’ rollup attempt is shrugged off and the rather irritated Ted goes after the referee in the corner. For some reason Ted covers the referee in the corner and DuBois counts the pin…which of course doesn’t count. DuBois wrestles him down again but gets snapmared for a quick pin at 5:05.
Rating: D+. This was almost more of a comedy match than anything else, with Ted going after the referee over and over, which lost its charm rather quickly. You would think he could do something better than that and it only got him so far here. DuBois was doing most of the work and it went about as well as it could have all things considered.
Oh and one more thing: Ted is a bear.
From Memphis, Tennessee, July 16, 1984.
Tommy Rich vs. Rick Rude
We’re joined in progress with Rude grinding away on a headlock to start as Cornette explains the Memphis backstory, as only he can. Rich fights up and hits a quick atomic drop over the top. Back in and Rude goes low to escape a full nelson before knocking him into the corner.
Rude goes up and slips off the rope for a nasty crash, with Rich slapping on the sleeper. That’s broken up and the referee gets bumped, allowing Rude’s girlfriend Angel to come in. Cue Jerry Lawler to ram them together and steal a chain from Angel, allowing him to knock Rude cold. Rich gets the easy pin at 5:57.
Rating: C+. You could see Rude getting bigger and better around this point and it was cool to see what would become a great star. He wasn’t quite all the way there yet but the skill was coming together. Rich was someone who could get over anywhere in the south and it helps to have Lawler helping you in Memphis. Short but fun here.
From Memphis, Tennessee, early 1983.
AWA World Title: Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jerry Lawler
Lawler is challenging and Bockwinkel wrestles him down to start without much trouble. Bockwinkel works on the arm, including a top wristlock. Lawler gets sick of the arm cranking and fights up but we’re clipped to Bockwinkel sending him into the corner. Back up and Lawler hits a quick crossbody but Bockwinkel sends him crashing to the floor. Lawler fires up out of the corner and the comeback is on, with the right hands letting Lawler knock him into the corner.
Bockwinkel sends Lawler into the referee though and that’s….not a DQ actually as Bockwinkel hits a top rope ax handle for two and they head outside, with Lawler sending him into the announcers’ table. Back in and Lawler and just unloads with rights and lefts but shoves the referee. Bockwinkel hits the referee (intention unclear) and it’s finally thrown out at 12:13 shown, with Lawler winning by DQ. The roof comes off and then the referee hands the belt back to Bockwinkel to kill the energy immediately.
Rating: B. There are very few things that will always work in Texas and the Lawler comeback in Memphis was one of them. It worked again here, as the fans were buying the idea of Lawler being able to win the title. Unfortunately that was something that they did for so long that it stopped working so well. Granted Lawler did finally win the title, albeit in 1988, but he did get there. Bockwinkel deserves so much more credit than he gets, as you do not see many people as skilled in the ring as he is. My goodness that man could make anything look smooth and it was fun to see him take someone apart.
From Memphis, Tennessee, 1984.
Randy Savage vs. Austin Idol
Angelo Poffo is here with Savage, who bails out to the floor to start and the chase is on. Back in and Savage hammers away in the corner with the big elbow connecting for two, which isn’t treated as a big deal here and man that’s bizarre. Savage sends him outside and Idol chops away to take over, meaning it’s time to slug away back inside.
Idol tosses him right back outside but Savage takes over again, with Idol being busted open. Savage slams him down a few times for two each and some elbows set up another slam for two more as Savage isn’t exactly mixing it up here. Another slam is countered into a small package to give Idol two so Savage jumps to the top for an elbow to the head. Savage bites the head and pulls at the cut, which means it’s time to Hulk Up.
The comeback is on and Idol drops a middle rope elbow and starts hammering away as well. A running elbow misses but so does Savage’s jumping knee, meaning it’s time to go after the leg. The Las Vegas Leglock is loaded up so Poffo gets on the apron to throw in the knuckles. The loaded right hand finishes Idol at 11:41 shown.
Rating: B-. Other than that weird string of slams, this worked well again with Idol having so many of the characteristics that Hogan stole from him over the years. Shockingly enough, Savage and someone like Hogan worked together for a good match. I liked this again, but dang it could have been fun to hear them talk to each other even more, as that was Idol’s best work.
From Indianapolis, Indiana, early 70s.
Bob Ellis vs. Bobby Heenan
So this is the classic story of Heenan being the evil manager who sends his wrestlers after Ellis, who beats them all and now it’s time for Ellis to get his hands on Heenan. Well in theory at least as Heenan comes to the ring on crutches and claims a knee injury. Cornette is of course aghast at the suggestion that a wrestling manager would fake an injury to avoid a beating.
Heenan wants to postpone the match for five to six months so he can heal properly but the referee isn’t having it and we’re ready to go. Heenan swings with the crutch but only hits the buckle, meaning it’s time for Heenan to send in the Blackjacks. That just means a pair of bulldogs from Ellis so Heenan dives over the top in that trademark spot of his and it’s a countout at 1:06. Just a funny angle rather than anything important but Heenan could sell this as well as anyone ever.
Overall Rating: B-. It’s another case of having a good time watching old wrestling and just getting a sample of what is available out there. The interesting part about a lot of these things is how much they do with so little. These are bare bones sets but the fans are into these people and it still works to this day. You can get into the stories they’re telling and it makes these matches entertaining. Throw in Cornette and Meltzer on commentary and it’s quite the interesting look at things.
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