Allied Powers: World's Greatest Tag Teams Part II

1) Demolition v. Strike Force (WM 4)- 5
2) Barry Windham/ Mike Rotundo v. Iron Sheik/ Nikolai Volkoff (WM 1)- 4
3) Dudley Boys v. The Hardys (Survivor Series 2001- WWF v. WCW Tag Title Match)- 6
4) The Outsiders v. Harlem Heat (WCW Halloween Havoc 1996)- 4
5) Arn Anderson/ Tully Blanchard v. Sting & Nikita Koloff (NWA Great American Bash 1988)- 6
6) Nick Bockwinkel/ Ray Stevens v. Red Bastien/ Billy Robinson 2/3 Falls (AWA All Star Wrestling- Dec 1972)- 7
7) The Miz & John Morrison v. Rey Mysterio & Shawn Michaels (Raw, 11/17/08)- 6
8) Hart Foundation v. Rougeau Brothers (Boston Garden, 03/07/1987)- 5

The first 2 matches I have already reviewed, in the case of the Mania 1 bout, twice so I won't go into much detail here. The Mania 4 match was quietly very good, some good selling by Smash of his arm even during his offense parts stuck out, as well as Tito's awesome visual acknowledgement of his ass being kicked. Crowd was into it at spots but not over the top. Mania 1 was shorter in length and didn't have as much back and forth nor solid tag work as the previous bout. And the ending was identical to the first match, an old man's cane used to win the titles, so that lowered my score a bit.

Oh, hello Stacy Keibler, how could I forget you existed? These two teams were perpetually stuck in crash match mode so this cage bout is just big spot after big spot with the Hardys just being abused as their hometown NC crowd ooh's and aah's along with them, which makes for a cool atmosphere. Actually they pull off some huge moves that I know had all 4 guys taking more little white pills they don't know the chemical makeup of more than usual that night. I enjoyed the physicality of this too, really reminded me of some of the better ROH crazy tag matches where everything is done with strong style finesse. Loved Jeff's sell of the "Wassup!", like he was in a fancy restaurant and just poured the soup du jour on his crotch. The ending spot was all kinds of sick but I hated how Dvon put himself on the table for no explicable reason.

This match was more physical than I expected but didn't break down any new ground at all. Booker was about the best choice you could have had to sell the Outsiders' offense, he was very vocal, and took hard bumps when they didn't fully execute their power stuff. Nash taking an offensive beating for more than 5 minutes felt like an Easter miracle. Besides that, he didn't offer a damn thing else to this. Another cane shot to end the match? Thought Hall's late match headlock to sleeper sequences felt like a stalling move as if he could think of nothing else (besides the Jack & Cokes he would summarily ingest after the show)

Crowd heat was like Washington DC's yearly 4th of July fireworks display (sans putrid American Idol winner performance) Match mostly consisted of the uber faces attacking Tully's arm, although neither man gave much indication they were really hurting his arm with no real "work" being done, just idly sitting by in the hold, staring out at the dumb crowd that paid to watch subpar work. Lucky for them, the Horsemen were on (surprised?) Arn & Tully were such masters of their game I damn near beleived Nikita pulled that switch and reversal off all by himself! One of the long lost amazing teams of all time, their selling and how they take punishment physically is a lost art.

Wow this was a really cool studio match. Both teams were so good in their roles, Bastien was an acrobatic chain smoker, leaping and bounding all over the ring with some really innovative movements. Robinson is one of the great pro wrestlers from anywhere in the world, awesome suplexes, sick reversals and mat wrestling. Bock & Stevens just sell and bump like fucking men always have when you're head and shoulders above the rest. Match was at a breakneck pace and never slowed down right up until the finish, brilliant wrestling here, 2nd fall picked up the pace even more so and loved seeing mvoes you wouldn't expect in 1972 better than they are on our weekly wrestling TV.

So everyone took a shot of Red Bull and a hit of Speed before they came out because opening minutes was an X Division special. Wasn't as exciting as you may think. If nothing else, Rey has some of the best timing in wrestling; he plays the beatdown guy here and does a tremendous job, loved his whip in to the post bump. Miz & Morrison actually working over his midsection for a while was neat, but not sure what they were going for, case of indigestion? Ending with the double superkick was cool and Michaels going down cleanly was a nice change, but Morrison ruined it by basically jumping out of the ring while holding Rey's arm in a goofy spot.

Let's start with a Heenan quote: "You know Monsoon, Rougeau in French means coward." Lots of stalling here, Harts play extremely weak heels, kind of hard to buy especially when in juxtaposition the Rougeaus look like badasses which is like calling Dick Cheney "honest" and Kristen Stewart "desirable." There were a couple ncie exchanges, one with a backslide and Neidhart showing how much of live action Ram Man he is. Rougeaus didn't do much for me with their selling, just being kind of bland and unsatsifying, like most Summer Salads I've had. I mean, if I wanted to eat some strawberries, I wouldn't throw pieces of chicken and pine nuts in with them, I'd just eat the fucking strawberries! Jacques with a neat rolling arm lock and if Bret could have sold one move like he did in this match through the entire Vince feud, that would have been big money. Finish was pretty indicitive of the 80's.