1st & 2nd Round Matches
1) Mighty Wilbur/ Jimmy Valiant v. Ivan Koloff/ Dick Murdoch- 2
2) Steve Williams/ Ron Simmons v. Varsity Club- 3
3) Arn Anderson/ Tully Blanchard v. Kendall Windham/ Italian Stallion- 3
4) Road Warriors v. Jive Tones- 3
5) Larry Zybyzsko/ Al Perez v. The Fantastics- 7
6) Ivan Koloff/ Dick Murdoch v. Sting/ Lex Luger- 4
7) Midnight Express v. The Sheepherders- 4
8) Road Warriors v. The Powers of Pain- 5
To start off, there's no real rhyme or reason of what was shown here and some of these matches were clipped in places, but hard to discern exactly all of them so i'll comment on what was shown. Valiant threw some nice haymakers in the opener but was too much showboating and sassafrass to concentrate on his end of the selling. Nice double team for the finish. Next match pitted 4 collegiate athletes against each other in a hard hitting contest, Doc looked good reliving his grid iron days plowing through Rick and Rotundo was dissecting Simmons like an Army surgeon to an alien phallus at Area 51. Arn & Tully were giving their overmatched opponents tons of offense as Jim Ross pumped them as the greatest living team of the time, good timing. Killer Arn DDT secures their next round spot. The Jive Tones are Pez Whatley and Tiger Conway jr, who do this really funny oversell on a Hawk double clothesline, other than that, they were just fodder for the tractor war machine that is the LOD in the 80's. Hawk lowers Pistol's neckline about 8 inches with the finish. Next match was nearly perfect, everyone was superb in it, Rogers pin point on all his dropkicks, Larry Z was jacking his jaw and playing great heel here, Perez pulled off innovative spots with both Fantastics I've still never seen duplicated and Fulton was the babyface glue , they have so many creative spots they use, the finish was brilliant. Murdoch and Ivan were fun bruising up their younger co stars, but weren't too keen on taking any punishment themselves, guess that's why Lex trying to bodyslam Ivan looked like an elephant trying to walk on two legs while holding a 46' LCD TV. Midnights and pre-Bushwhackers was a good romp too, lots of fun striking going on, Whackers selling was questionable but their styles meshed really well for a shorter match. Our final quarterfinal was brutal and everything you would want from those 4 men fighting. Barbarian was a beast in his day, just treating LOD like playthings. Hawk also wasn't messing around and Aniimal's hot tag was hotter than Eva Mendes in a skimpy Ghostbusters outfit licking a lollipop (okay that's just a metaphor, nothing's hotter than that)
Other Matches:
9) Kevin Sullivan v. Jimmy Garvin (Prince of Darkness Match)- 1
10) Midnight Rider v. JJ Dillon (Bullrope Match)- 1
11) Ric Flair v. Nikita Koloff- 5
This joke was a Blindfold match essentially and is every bit as bad as you could imagine. Why Garvin would still do that stupid strut if his eyes didn't work is logic beyond me. Terrible ending too. The Bullrope bout was just a bloodletting on Dillon, who bled pathetically. Rider was Dusty and was in no rush to end this quickly. Flair v. Nikita started slowly with Nikita doing leg work, which felt like attending a timeshare meeting. Once Nikita started selling like a reckless abandon, it felt more like an important bout for a prestigious title than a spot show in Aberdeen.
Semis & Finals:
12) Powers of Pain v. Sting & Lex Luger- 3
13) Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v. The Fantastics- 5
14) Sting & Lex Luger v. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard- 6
Power v. Power was the advertised tagline here but it was more like tiredness v. impassivity. Barbarian again with his two token spots, powerslam and big boot were the saving graces of this stinker except for Sting's enthusiastic selling. Luger v. Warlord is a match delivered straight from Hell.....or Vince Russo's psyche, take your pick. I was stoked for this match but instead of wowing us, they played it safely while delivering a competent and well worked bout. Arn was the muscle while Tully kept the ring cut off. Fantastics were grounded for most of this with a few short bursts but were seemingly overmatched. The Finals turned itup, nearly a 7, I would say except for the really lame Magnum TA ending. All 4 guys worked really hard here, even Luger. Sting took a damn fine beating, highlighted by Arn's famous spinebuster that is a full 360 rotation, putting the dunce HHH attempts to shame. As I sit here watching a 2008 Smackdown PPV main event that includes tables, sledgehammers and people waiting their turn to do something, this match used none of that and kept a pace that most would be hard pressed to keep up with while telling a good story.
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