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Post by elliott on Mar 8, 2020 4:07:20 GMT -5
The Sheepherders, I'm going to recommend under Midnight Express & Heavenly Bodies rules and just do it as a collective. These guys were one of the best brawling teams of the 80s. Crazy, violent nutjobs. But they also had some really good traditional southern style tags and were really good at working schtick and stalling. I have no idea if theres anything from the Bushwackers run worth watching. I haven't watched that stuff since I was a kid. But as the Sheepherders in various territories and Los Pastores in Puerto Rico, they were an awesome team.
Sheepherders & Buddy Rose vs Sam Oliver, Roddy PIper & Red Bastien 10/27/79 Sheepherders & Buddy Rose vs Sam Oliver, Roddy Piper & Dutch Savage 11/24/79 Sheepherders & Rose & Sam Oliver vs Roddy Piper, Rick Martell, Dutch Savage & Stan Stasiak 1/5/80 vs Roddy Piper & Rick Martel 5/3/80, 5/31/80 vs Fabulous Ones 6/22/85, Cage Match 8/6/85 Sheepherders & Jack Victors vs Fantastics & Terry Taylor 5/9/86, Barbed Wire Cage 5/25/86 vs Rock & Roll Express 6/23/85, 7/6/85, 7/4/88 vs Bruise Brothers 1/31/86 Street Fight vs Fantastics 4/19/86 Los Pastores vs Youngbloods Spring 85 Los Pastores vs The Invaders Barbed Wire Match 9/21/85, 8/2/86 Los Pastores vs Carlos Colon & The Invader Ambulance Match 12/21/85 Los Pastores vs Carlos Colon & Miguel Perez Jr 1/86
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Post by elliott on Mar 8, 2020 4:37:53 GMT -5
The Sheiks from AWA, I'll also do under Midnight Express rules. This was Jerry Blackwell, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaisse & Ken Patera. They were a fucking awesome heel group in AWA. Another short lived run that was still loaded with great stuff in spite of limited footage. Great in brawls & gimmick matches but could also work more traditional tags.
vs High Flyers Cage Match 4/18/82, 11/24/83 vs Mad Dog Vachon & Baron von Raschke Taped Fist Match 3/13/83 vs Mad Dog Vachon & Verne Gagne 4/24/83 vs Jerry Lawler & Blackjack Mulligan 3/4/84 vs Da Crusher & Greg Gagne Cage Match 3/25/84
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Post by KB8 on Mar 9, 2020 12:41:42 GMT -5
elliott is doing the lord's work here, but to add to what he said about the Guerreros, I'd say watch basically anything involving either of them in the feud with Jose Lothario. The two Hector/Lothario singles matches are must-see as the 5/25/84 one is an awesome six minute brawl and the 6/8/84 Mexican Death Match is incredible. I seem to like the latter more than everybody else, at least in that I think it's a stone cold lock for the top 100, but the general sentiment on it is that it's quality. The Chavo/Hector v Lothario/Duggan tag from 7/6/84 is the tag match from that feud you want to see. The 7/20 match against Lothario and Al Madril is fun as well, but not quite top tier.
Couple other Guerreros matches in Houston not mentioned that are absolutely worth checking out:
vs Eddie Gilbert & The Nightmare (12/13/85) vs The Sheepherders (3/14/86)
The four way tag match with the Guerreros, Midnight Express, Rock n Rolls and Fantastics from Mid-South (2/10/85) is also a blast for what we get, but unfortunately there's a big commercial break in the middle and we miss what sounded like some awesome Guerreros shithousery to both Tommy Rogers and Ricky Morton.
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Post by elliott on Mar 9, 2020 16:38:19 GMT -5
Yes! I knew there was some great Guerreros stuff that came out on NWA Classics but I still haven't dug through it all.
The Road Warriors are both overrated by the casual fan and underrated by smart fans. All the complaints about no-selling or being sloppy or whatever is completely missing the forest for the trees. Animal shouldn't have bumped and sold against Arn Anderson. Sorry, but that's ludicrous. You want to see these freaks just murder their opponents and that's what they did. I'm not gonna argue that they're a top 10 team ever or anything like that. I'm not sure I'd specify that they were even "very good." But they were Awesome. And thats exactly what they should have been. The had the best look, gimmick, team name(s) and finisher of any tag team.
vs Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol 1/31/84, 6/25/84 vs Jerry Blackwell & King Kong Bundy 11/22/84 vs High Flyers 3/28/85 vs Funk Brothers 10/19/85, 10/10/86 vs Midnight Express 4/18/86 HH, 8/4/86 World PRo, 11/27/86 Scaffold Match vs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard 11/26/87 Wargames 7/4/87, 7/31/87 vs Hulk Hogan & Genichiro Tenryu 3/30/91 vs Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara 8/9/91 vs PG-13 5/12/97
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Post by elliott on Mar 9, 2020 17:00:44 GMT -5
Steiner Brothers were like the next generation Road Warriors, only with an all american look/gimmick. Not much for selling and structure, but they will absolutely kill their opponents. Great in bomb fests with other dynamic offensive wrestlers. Very exciting the first time around. Lack of psychology & storytelling in general hurts them long term as their matches don't hold up as well on repeat viewings as some of the other famous US tag teams. But marking out for the Steiner's the first time you watch their most famous stuff is like a hardcore wrestling fan rite of passage. Making this list, its kinda crazy how many quality matches they have against one team but lack that career defining feud. Their best tag team rival is probably Hiroshi Hase & Partner or Kensuke Sasaki & Partner X
vs Doom 5/19/90 vs Nasty Boys 10/27/90 vs Midnight Express 10/13/90 vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki 3/21/91, 5/31/91 vs Sting & Lex Luger 5/19/91 (Scott's pink tights in this match should have been censored) vs Hiroshi Hase & Masa Chono 6/14/91 (Clash 14) vs Sting & Great Muta 1/4/92 vs Vader & Mr Hughes 1/21/92 vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizua 5/17/92 vs Miracle Violence Connection 6/16/92 vs Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow 6/26/92 vs Keiji Muto & Kensuke Sasaki 8/12/92 vs Hellraisers 1/4/93 vs Money Inc 7/17/93 vs Heavenly Bodies 8/30/93 vs Quebecers 9/13/93 vs Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto 1/4/94 vs Bret & Owen Hart 1/11/94 vs Kensuke Sasaki & Jushin Liger 2/17/94 vs Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto 1/4/95
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Post by elliott on Mar 9, 2020 17:33:10 GMT -5
The Nasty Boys I have been kind of avoiding because I am an unrepentant mark for them. I loved them as a kid in the early 90s and I still find them incredibly entertaining. I would happily buy a comprehensive 15-20disc set full of all of their matches. When we were doing GWE at PWO, El-P & I talked a little about the Nasty Boys and it led me to pick 5 totally at random Nasty Boys matches all against different opponents and much to my delight all 5 of the matches were enjoyable & completely logical. I think they had a good understanding of tag team psychology, knew how to work their gimmick/portray their characters within the context of a match, were crazy bumpers for guys their size, would work super stiff against the right opponents and were perfectly ok with getting destroyed. The 1990 Havoc match against the Steiners is at worst one of the 3 best Steiner brothers matches and it is the Nasty's making them sell & work a real match. If not for the contemporary smart fan tastemakers being workrate/movz marks and the neverending feud with Harlem Heat, I think the Nasty Boys would have a much better reputation as a team. Even recognition as a "solid TV tag team" would make me happy. But honestly, I'd rate them ahead of teams like the Steiners, Hart Foundation, and British Bulldogs.
vs Rock & Roll Express 4/16/88 vs Brad Armstrong & Lou Perez 9/29/90 vs Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich 10/20/90 vs Steiners 10/27/90 vs Hart Foundation 3/24/91 vs LOD 8/26/91 vs Headshrinkers 3/15/93 vs Scorpio & Bagwell 10/4/93 vs Ricky Steamboat & Sting 11/20/93 vs Cactus & Friend 4/17/94, 5/22/94 Wargames 9/18/94
List is shorter than it should be because I don't have as handy a list as I do for some of these other teams. I'm not going to pretend they have a bunch of hidden MOTYCs but if you dig this stuff, I would encourage just searching around for 10-15min long TV matches and you'll probably be surprised to find yet another watchable/solid/enjoyable/good match. For example, I just found: Nasty Boys & Rick Rude vs Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat & Sting 11/27/93. The video is almost 20min. If I've seen that match it was when I was 9 years old. No clue. But I'm totally gonna watch that later tonight.
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Post by elliott on Mar 9, 2020 17:52:55 GMT -5
DOOM is one of those teams that seemingly everyone loves and rightly so. Even though their run together was was less than 18months, they had the longest WCW tag title reign ever. Big tough asskickers. Career wise Simmons was on the way up and Reed on the way down. But they had great chemistry and were a tremendous tag team. Simmons had the incredibly explosive power spots and Reed knew how to structure matches. If their run was even twice as long we'd all be quick to remember them as an all time great team.
vs Eddie Gilbert & Tommy Rich Clash 9 11/15/89 vs Road Warriors 2/23/90 vs Steiners 2/6/90, 5/19/90, 6/13/90 vs Pillman & Zenk 6/16/90 vs Rock & Roll Express 7/7/90 vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson 10/27/90 vs Barry Windham & Arn Anderson 12/16/90 vs Sting & Lex Luger 1/30/91
Just watch all their shit you can. Consider it all bolded.
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Post by elliott on Mar 9, 2020 18:15:38 GMT -5
Faces of Fear. I've been on a run of teams with great names, so this seems like a good time for the Faces of Fear. Ok, so in terms of "Greatest Matches Ever" they don't have a candidate. All of the other teams I've mentioned so far have legitimate candidates for a 100 Great matches Ever list. The Faces of Fear might have two matches that approach 4stars, but nothing you'd definitely call a 4 star match and certainly no MOTYCs.
But the Faces of Fear were a great team. "Played their roles well" has become a total cliche. But its true and they did. They were big, huge scary tough guys who worked stiff, understood psychology, knew when/whom to sell for and had incredibly explosive offense. Seriously, Barbarian is one of the great offensive wrestlers of his generation. Since they often worked short matches, it means they had a large amount of entertaining/good matches if very few great ones. Their run together was also shorter than we might remember. Really it was one terrific match in 1991 and then a really fun run as a Nitro team in 96/97.
vs Rockers 3/24/91 vs Sting & Lex Luger 5/20/96 vs Rock & Roll Express 11/2/96 vs The Outsiders 11/29/96 vs Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho 2/24/97 vs Wrath & Mortis 9/14/97
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Post by elliott on Mar 9, 2020 18:24:04 GMT -5
The Nightmares, Danny Davis & Ken Wayne deserve a mention because we're on the run of teams with great team names. But I haven't seen nearly enough. I've enjoyed the bit I've seen and they are definitely worth exploring. I'll make just a couple of recommendations here, but direct you to Goc's pimping of them over at PWO. He's the Nightmares' expert. forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/29532-the-nightmares/vs Rock & Roll Express 1/13/85vs Mod Squad 7/21/86
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Post by elliott on Mar 10, 2020 17:09:43 GMT -5
East-West Connection Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura. I've really enjoyed the little bit I've seen of them. Jesse handled the promos, charisma and crowd while Adonis handled the in-ring stuff. And it worked. This is the only context in which you should watch Jesse Ventura wrestle. Adonis is great doing all the work. I know Adonis & Murdoch were a better team, but I've liked watching Adonis & Jesse more. It was a short run and we're light on footage. But there's some great stuff against the High Flyers and they're fun in squashes too so even their jobber matches are fun.
vs High Flyers 3/1/81, 3/22/81 Cage Match w/ Blackwell vs High Flyers & Hogan 10/13/81 w/ Blackwell vs Hogan & Andre 11/8/81 vs Verne & Mad Dog Vachon 3/22/80 vs Tito Santana & Ray Stevens 2/20/81 vs Tony Parisi & Dom Denucci 1/17/82 vs George Gadaski & Frank Reese 8/9/81
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Post by shrike02 on Mar 10, 2020 20:02:39 GMT -5
Portland has some great tag matches that made tape ...
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Post by elliott on Mar 10, 2020 20:16:06 GMT -5
I'm getting there
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Post by elliott on Mar 10, 2020 20:23:44 GMT -5
I've been trying to figure out how to handle Portland honestly. It might actually have more great tag team matches on tape than any other territory. They just don't have that one team over a 5 year stretch because Buddy Rose cycled through so many partners. I've been thinking about doing a Buddy Rose & Partner X post to cover Portland. But then I think to myself should I include Buddy ROse & Doug Somers in that post or do a separate one. So what ends up happening is I think "I'll just do a Doom post real fast."
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Post by elliott on Mar 15, 2020 4:06:21 GMT -5
Alright as mentioned above, Portland had some of the best tag team wrestling in the 70s & 80s. Because Buddy Rose was the centerpiece of the promotion during this era and he cycled through several partners over the years, we're just going to consider this the Buddy Rose & Partners post. I'm not going to include his AWA team with Doug Somers here. But I mentioned them previously in a post about the Rockers and that's really what you need to see from Rose & Somers. Anyway.
Over the years in Portland, Buddy had enjoyable matches with the following people as tag team partners: Ed Wiskowski, Texas Red, Rip Rogers, Rip Oliver, Matt Borne, Dynamite Kid, Curt Hennig, Hulk Hogan, Billy Jack Haynes, Stan Stasiak, Jay Strongbow, Brett Sawyer, and Tom Pritchard at least. Probably Wiskowski & Rip Oliver were his most famous heel teams and his face run is highlighted by tags & 6mans with Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes. Buddy Rose having an enjoyable tag match from probably 77-84 was one of the surest bets in wrestling.
Almost all of these matches are 2/3 falls.
Rose, Ed Wiskowski & Sam Oliver Bass vs Dutch Savage, Lonnie Mayne & Skip Young 10/22/77 Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs Sam Oliver Bass & Lonnie Mayne 12/3/77 Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs Jimmy Snuka & Skip Young 12/10/77 Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs Jerry Oates & Skip Young 2/18/77 Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs Tenryu Shimada & Takashi Inoume 9/16/78 San Fran Rose & Rip Rogers vs Adrian Adonis & Ron Starr 6/30/79 Rose & Rip Rogers vs Adrian Adonis & Ron Starr 7/7/79 Rose & Sheepherders vs Roddy Piper, Red Bastien & Sam Oliver Bass 10/27/79 Rose & Sheepherders vs Roddy Piper, Dutch Savage & Sam Oliver Bass 11/24/79 Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs Sheepherders 7/5/80 Rose & Ed Wiskowski vs Roddy Piper & Rick Martel 8/2/80 Rose & Rip Oliver vs Jay Youngblood & Joe Lightfoot 11/8/80 Rose & Rip Oliver vs Roddy Piper & Steven Regal 6/20/81 Rose & Kim Song vs Matt Borne & Brett Sawyer 9/12/81 Rose & Stan Stasiak vs Rocky Johnson & King Parsons 11/28/81 Rose & Matt Borne vs Rocky Johnson & King Parsons 12/5/81 Rose & Rip Oliver vs Steve Regal & Hack Sawyer 2/6/82 Rose, Rip Oliver & Matt Borne vs Rocky Johnson, Brett Sawyer & Steve Regal 2/20/82 Rose & Rip Oliver vs Larry & Curt Hennig 4/3/82 Rose & Rip Oliver vs Larry & Curt Hennig 4/10/82 Rose & Hulk Hogan vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Yatsu 5/12/82 Rose & Matt Borne vs Brett Sawyer & Tommy Rogers 5/29/82 Rose & Rip Oliver vs Rocky Johnson & Brett Sawyer 7/10/82 Rose & Dynamite Kid vs Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes 6/11/83 Rose, Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes vs Dynamite Kid, Rip Oliver & The Assassin 6/25/83 Rose & Billy Jack Haynes vs Rip Oliver & The Assassin 7/23/83 Rose & Billy Jack Haynes vs Rip Oliver & The Assassin 8/13/83 Rose & Curt Hennig vs Dynamite Kid & The Assassin 9/3/83 Rose, Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes vs Dynamite Kid, Rip Oliver & The Assassin 9/10/83 Rose & Curt Hennig vs Dynamite Kid & The Assassin 10/28/83 Rose & Curt Hennig vs Rip Oliver & The Assassin 11/5/83 Rose & Curt Hennig vs Dynamite Kid & The Assassin 11/19/83 Rose & Jay Strongbow vs Dynamite Kid & The Assassin 11/17/83 Rose, Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes vs Dynamite Kid, Rip Oliver & The Assassin 12/17/83 Rose, Matt Borne & Curt Hennig vs Rip Oliver, The Assassin & Ed Wiskowski 3/10/84 Rose, Roddy Piper & Brett Sawyer vs Rip Oliver, The Assassin & Ed Wiskowski 3/17/84 Rose, Tom Pritchard & Bret Sawyer vs Rip Oliver, The Assassin & Ed Wiskowski 4/14/84
I know there's a lot of shit bolded here. But the Rose face turn & feud with Rip Oliver, Dynamite Kid & The Assassin is a holy shit level feud with multiple top 100 contenders. The Assassin is a super fun worker that I was not expecting at all. And don't be nervous about those matches with Billy Jack Haynes. They are awesome. Everything with Roddy Piper in Portland was must see. The post on the Sheepherders has more Piper in Portland recommendations.
Everyone really needs to do the Buddy Rose deep dive. Rose really is an all time great and you'll be pleasantly surprised how good people like Matt Borne, Ed Wiskowski, Ron Starr, The Assassin, Rip Oliver etc were. In addition to all these fucking tag matches, there's great singles matches with literally everyone mentioned and more.
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Post by KB8 on Mar 20, 2020 5:03:53 GMT -5
Taking a look at that is a pretty good reminder of just how fucking awesome Buddy Rose was. I still haven't seen a decent chunk of that stuff either which is pretty exciting. I should run through the Portland set already.
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