Monday, June 6, 2011

Memphis by Midnight :: Truck Stops and Women

Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, & Dutch Mantell & Terry Taylor vs. Samu, Bobby Eaton, Sweet Brown Sugar & Rick McGraw (2/3 falls - 12/4/82) - 4

Your prototypical 80s multi-man tag match. The heel team did a very good job of isolating the respective face member. Bill Dundee, in my opinion, did the best at connecting with the fans and making them feel sorry for him. Lawler seemed more concerned with getting himself over. Samu's bumping was great -- it reminded me of the Missing Link. Mantell wasn't selling a lot throughout the match and seemed to have a real Superman complex to him. Match got a bit clustery throughout the bout, but for what it was, it was fun to watch unfold.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Lanny Poffo (Late '82) - 4

The in ring mat work in this match was pretty darn good, but the fans seemed pretty quiet. I'm not sure if this was due to the poor audio quality or what. Garvin got some cheap heat by resorting to various typical heel tactics like using the ropes and at one point using a chain. Poffo was a skinny runt and it would've been easy for the crowd to get behind him. Garvin absolutely controlled him on the mat, which made Poffo's comeback that much more impressive. Odd bit: The commentary was done in Lanny Poffo first person ("I" statements). Now, I have no idea if this was Poffo doing a post-match voice-over or what, but it was weird and quite dry, making a slow-paced match just boring. Terrible, terrible commentary, but really good mat work.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Randy Savage (Cage - Late '82) - 7

A really good match featuring some high levels of intensity by both guys. Savage had the audience behind him 100% in this blow-off to a feud. Garvin laid everything in to Savage -- from a simple punch to a complex submission. Savage seemed to be pulling everything out of the bag. Every time he'd get Garvin down on the mat for a pin, Garvin would somehow find the ropes to aid in interrupting the count. Both Savage and Garvin were selling great here, particularly after taking devastating maneuvers, like a piledriver, by convulsing their legs and entire bodies. So good! Garvin caused a ref bump and pulled off the ref's belt and began choking Savage with it, adding an extra bit of hate element to the match. One gripe: the commentary. This guy on commentary was acting like he was calling a golf event. For a blow off to a feud you should be jumping out of your chair and shouting in the microphone... something like this: "Oh my God! Savage hits the pile driver, Garvin is out! Here's the pin. 1-2-3! SAVAGE WINS! SAVAGE WINS!" Instead we get. "Savage with the piledriver. Savage is your winner." Fuck that and the guy doing the commentary.

Bobby Eaton & Sweet Brown Sugar vs. Jacques Rougeau & Terry Taylor (1/1/83) - 5

Jacques and Taylor had an insane amount of technical ability in the ring. Their transitions from hold to hold were outstanding. SBS and Eaton looked great, too. They successfully ate all of the offense from the face team in dynamite fashion. This match was paced awesomely -- everything seemed to be flowing between the teams like melted butter. Just an all around smooth and flowing match that worked perfectly in the ring. I was just in awe of how amazing Taylor and Jacques were in the ring. Seriously really good stuff here.

Bill Dundee vs. Adrian Street, Miss Linda, & Jim Cornette (Lumberjack Strap Match 2/6/83) - 2

There seemed to be a lot of pussyfooting around in this match. Street seemed to want to get over the fact that he was an effeminate male more-so than actually work a match. There were so many shenanigans occurring outside of the ring that it was hard to keep focused on the in-ring work. Let me put it this way: what you'd expect to see happen in this match probably happened, and not a whole lot more.

1 comment:

Jessie said...

that rougeau tag has my interest piqued..