Bash 1987 Page 2
- Texas Death Match: Dick Murdoch (w/ Eddie Gilbert) v. Steve Williams (w/ Magnum TA). Pretty bad. Williams KO's Capt. Redneck with his arm cast and Murdoch isn't able to answer the 10 count. *
- Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts v. Manny Fernandez, Ivan Koloff & Paul Jones. Throwaway six-man match to give the Freebirds some heat. Buddy Roberts gets beat up by the heels for a while, then Terry Gordy gets in, destroys Paul Jones, and pins him with the big elbow. DUD.
- $100,000 Barbed Wire Ladder match (lights out, non-title): Tully Blanchard v. Dusty Rhodes. The circumstances surrounding this match always bugged me, because on Worldwide they showed the initial match to set it up (where Dusty got screwed during a TV title shot), the buildup (JJ cons Jim Crockett into putting up $50,000 on his behalf) and they talked about it constantly, but they never actually said WHO WON THE DAMN THING. It's a standard ladder match, but the ring ropes are covered in barbed wire. Crappy match. Most of the spots involve one guy trying to cut the other on the wire. Rhodes cuts Blanchard's arm right on camera...ick. Barry Windham is seconding Rhodes and Dillon is seconding Blanchard. The ladder never really gets used as a weapon, just as a ladder. Rhodes fights off interference from Dillon to climb the ladder and claim the $100,000. DUD.
- NWA World title match: Ric Flair v. Jimmy Garvin, cage match, title v. one night with Precious. Flair considered Jimmy a non-contender (rightly so) and demanded that he put Precious up as a colleratal for the title shot. Garvin is a *really* bad wrestler at this point and even Flair has trouble carrying him. Flair blades as usual, and graciously allows Garvin to beat the holy hell out of him for a while. But Garvin lands wrong during a leapfrog and bungs up his knee, and Flair goes to school. Whoo! Ronnie Garvin comes down to ringside to cheer for Jimmy and make it look all epic and stuff, but Garvin sucks dick so it doesn't work. Hilight of the match: Ronnie trash-talks Flair, and Flair (as far as I know) debuts the "hump the cage" maneuver to respond. Jimmy, the consumate actor, says "Ow, Ow, Ronnie I busted up my knee" to the camera every chance he gets. But then he gets all stoic and stuff and makes the comeback, and Flair ends up showing his ass to the crowd twice. Of course, they do the spot where Flair is on the top rope and he ends up trying to walk across, but falls on his crotch instead for a Garvin two-count. Jimmy goes for the brainbuster to finish it, but the knee gives out and Flair slaps on the figure-four, hangs onto the top rope, and doesn't let go until Garvin blacks out from the pain. Some idiot fan tries to climb the cage and you can just make out Ronnie Garvin beating the shit out of him in the background. Flair gets one night with Precious, although it would turn out to be drastically different from what he imagined... **
- The Rock N Roll Express v. The Midnight Express, World tag team title v. US tag team title. Cornette was in the midst of a banana emergency and wasn't there that night. Big Bubba is, though. I love this match. If you're not an obsessive collector of everything Midnight/RnR like I am, this is a good primer on the feud and how they worked together. Literally non-stop action. Oddly, Robert Gibson plays Ricky Morton here. Morton gets the hot tag and they double-dropkick Eaton, but Lane makes the save and Tommy Young escorts him out. Morton gets whipped off the ropes and Bubba moves in the ring faster than I thought he could move and Bossman-slams Morton, but leaves his trademark hat and glasses behind by accident. Young turns around to make the count...but sees the hat and calls for the DQ instead. The usual **** match from these two.
- WarGames II: Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger & "War Machine" (Ray Traylor) v. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Hawk, Animal & Paul Ellering. Basically the same match as the first, with War Machine taking the place of the injured JJ Dillon. Ellering again brings in the spiked gauntlet, and this time War Machine is the victim as the faces spike it into his face until he submits. Not quite as intense as the original. ****
The Bottom Line: Hey, this stuff is mana from heaven for NWA enthusiasts like myself. I wish they'd have included a better Flair title match, but it was slim pickings until Lex Luger turned face. One of those "something for everyone" tapes. Very recommended.