Battle of the Belts 1 v. Battle of the Belts 2

Hey everyone, back with another article for all you sick, deplorable wrestling fans enjoyment as the blog continues to run strong. And Happy Halloween, hope all you freaks and sickos are full on Nestle candy and hard orange peanuts; I also hope none of you were caught dead in a Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp version, the DC Comics version would be swank) costume last night and hope your women didn't get impregnanted sporting any sort of Twilight themed outfit, for that's a shame they may never be able to live down, especially if it's filmed for online consumption by the masses. I'm going to borrow a gimmick from Brian that I really enjoyed, he pitted 2 shows of the same namesake against each other to see which one was better in terms of wrestling content and enjoyment. And we time travel back to Florida in the mid 80's to do so.

Battle of the Belts 1
1) Hector & Chavo Guerrero v. Rip Oliver & The Grappler- 5
2) Cocoa Samoa v. Rip Rogers- 2
3) Jack Hart v. Kendall Windham- 3
4) Rick Rude v. Billy Jack Haynes- 6
5) Road Warriors v. Harley Race & Stan Hansen- 7
6) Nick Bockwinkel v. Frankie Lane- 4
7) Ric Flair v. Wahoo McDaniel (2/3 Falls Match)- 5

Overall Score: 46% (rounding up)

Analysis: The opener was everything you could hope for to open a show, the Guerreros were a hot enough act and performed such cool moves, you really only needed competent workers to pit against them, which their opposition was merely that. Cocoa I feared would be a dumpy old Samoan getting by on stereotypical tricks and while he was more mobile than I had predicted, he wasn't much better. Rogers is the dregs and I actually was more horrified of both men's "mirror image" female versions of themselves than recently screened Paranormal Activity 2. Windham was a gross 80's denim baby who showed nothing more than any female on NXT in the selling department, as Heart relentlessly pounded his head for far too long. Rude v. Haynes was drenched in physicality, both men sporting the same afro and thick beard look and both displaying more talent in the selling department than everyone else on the show thus far. This wild tag bout was everything I hoped for, 4 of the toughest dudes to ever put on trunks just potatoeing the hell out of each other for a good 10 minutes, with Hansen being the most violent. Bock made short work out of future WCW Saturday Night jobber Lane, after pinning him with a punch to the throat he used to block a crossbody, I shit you not. Our main event featured a lot of similar big match Flair-isms, but McDaniel, pudgy appearance aside, was pretty repetitive in his offense, chop, chop, rest hold, chop, rinse, repeat. How Flair got 40+ minutes out of him is one of the reasons he's the greatest of all time. How the falls ended up played into the pysch of the finish which ended iton a good note, but there wasn't enough real substance to warrant this kind of long battle.

Battle of the Belts 2
1) Tyree Pride v. Ron Slinker - 2
2) Kendall Windham v. Rocky Ieakeau - 3
3) Denny Brown v. White Ninja - 5
4) Jesse Barr v. Lex Luger - 4
5) Bruiser Brody v. Wahoo McDaniel -4
6) Road Warriors & Blackjack Mulligan v. Kevin Sullivan, Mark Lewin & Maya Singh- 5
7) Ric Flair v. Barry Windham - 9

Overall Score: 46% (rounding up)
Analysis: Thankfully this opening piece of torture didn't go long. Slinker looked like "Superfoot" Wallace's older slimy brother. He took bumps like a kindergardener learning to tumble for the first time. Pride's match winning cross body was as graceful as a yak trying to Soap. Ieakeau was fun to watch, really goofy mannerisms but seemed to make a hobby of bumping. Windham controlled this match though, surprisingly, and was kind of run like a squash, which you got the feeling Rocky could have schooled young Kendy. Nice bulldog finish though. Why was the White Ninja wearing all black? This was actively good, Ninja was actually a young Muto, who looked as crisp here as in his prime. Brown was simple, but they built up to a really good nearfall with the moonsault, i won't comment on the stuipd finish, only to say that Muto had earned his first geisha with this performance. Next match was unnecessarily long, seemed like a chance for Luger to get ring time because at this point he was greener than Poison Ivy's labia. He kind of plodded through rest holds then performing an "Oklahoma Stampede" that would surely make Dr. Death vomit on himself were he to still have functioning body parts. Finish was as insulting as Glenn Beck having his own show to spew off rhetoric. Our next match didn't offer much, the most intense moments were a wild chase around ringside with Wahoo chopping and bleeding and Brody running for cover. The pretext of the opening matwork almost feels insulting, like they should have been fighting like that the whole time. Another Chicago street fight special, Mulligan played good cowboy in pain, the heels looked like a group of male prostitutes getting ready for a Halloween Monster Mash. Warriors were just insanely over and destroyed and bashed everything in their way, like the monster from the Host, and were just as ugly. A fun way to kill 12 minutes for sure. Now, our main event, after starting watching it, I realized I had already seen this and reviewed it before because I was hearing a lot of pimping Brian was giving me from a lot of Internet people in the know. Overall, they were right. After re-reading it from 2008 as part of my Barry Windham love fest, there's not a lot i would disagree with after reading what I wrote. I guess the major obstacle is how I'm not as down on the finish, execution wise, they pulled it off, but you would like something a little more substantial than a double countout, but I guess Flair with his feet on the ropes would be equally as bad, so there's no right answer. But, the work stands for itself, if you want to know why I've loved Barry or how anyone is a fan of his, this is the perfect match to show you, it's a long affair and it's not just another brilliant Flair carry job, Windham is on his level in every aspect of the game. Another breath of fresh air here is you don't seem submissions worked this well, where you think they are ending the match; they have this audience literally in the palm of their hand.

Final comments:
It seems I liked both of these shows about on equal terms, both had good and bad, the Windham match far excelled anything on either show, and made the Wahoo match seem like a dinner of tofu compared to a 16 oz. porterhouse. See the Road Warriors v. Race/ Hansen off the first show to see 4 legitimate "Bad Dudes" beat the snot out of each other. Most of the other stuff, isn't required viewing so if you're online and have the choice of the undercards of these 2 shows or the latest Conan viral video, watch the funniest man on TV.