Pro Wrestling Chronicle

After Five Disks

1. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner’s Glove on a Poll, Tuxedo, Cage match ) (3/22/85) [BR-14]
2. Terry Taylor vs. Ric Flair (6/1/85) [RNRIK-7]
3. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) [PTB-16]
4. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (5/4/85) [RNRIK-4]
5. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (Tulsa 5/27/84) [SDM-2]
6. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrero (6/24/83) [PTB-13]
7. Dirty White Boys vs. Terry Daniels & Bill Dundee (5/11/85) [RNRIK-6]
8. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (5/3/85) [RNRIK-3]
9. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (7/6/84) [SDM-5]
10. Dick Murdoch vs. The Nightmare (7/14/85) [TSGDIA-5]
11. The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (10/12/84) [SDM-13]
12. Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express (No DQ: Tag Titles vs. $50,000) (5/23/84) [PTB-20]
13. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) [PTB-8]
14. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (6/30/85) [TSGDIA-1]
15. Brad Armstrong vs. Ted DiBiase (1/16/85) [BR-5]
16. Ted DiBiase vs. Brad Armstrong (2/10/85) [BR-10]
17. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (4/28/85) [BR-17]
18. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (6/8/84) [SDM-3]
19. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (7/2/84) [SDM-4]
20. Ted DiBiase vs. Terry Taylor (7/3/85) [TSGDIA-2]
21. The Fantastics vs. Dr. Death & Jake Roberts (4/14/85) [BR-15}
22. Buddy Landel & Butch Reed vs. Rock N Roll Express (3/28/84) [PTB-17]
23. Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Brickhouse Brown, Bill Dundee & Jose Lothario (Elimination Match) (11/16/84) [BR-2]
24. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) [PTB-6]
25. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (OKC 8/9/84) [SDM-7]
26. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) [PTB-14]
27. Rock N Roll Express vs. Dirty White Boys (5/11/85) [RNRIK-5]
28. Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel (7/12/85) [TSGDIA-3]
29. Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan (No DQ) (3/8/85) [BR-13]
30. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (1/21/85) [BR-8]
31. Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Rock N Roll Express & Jose Lothario (Elimination Match) (1/18/85) [BR-7]
32. Rock N Roll Express vs. Dirty White Boys (4/15/85) [BR-16]
33. Rock N Roll Express vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (2/13/85) [BR-11]
34. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (No DQ) (9/28/84) [SDM-11]
35. Kevin Von Erich vs. Chris Adams (1/18/85) [BR-6]
36. Killer Khan vs. Chris Adams (9/9/84) [SDM-9]
37. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (OKC 5/27/84) [SDM-1]
38. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (4/28/85) [RNRIK-1]
39. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83) [PTB-15]
40. The Fantastics vs. Bill Dundee & Dutch Mantell (9/22/85) [TSGDIA-13]
41. Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed (8/10/85) [TSGDIA-10]
42. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Gordy (Texas Tornado Match) (1/21/85) [BR-9]
43. Midnight Express vs. Bill Dundee & Porkchop Cash (4/6/84) [PTB-18]
44. Ernie Ladd & Butch Reed vs. Magnum T.A. & Master G (Street Fight) (11/4/84) [BR-1]
45. Brickhouse Brown & Master G vs. Butch Reed & Ernie Ladd (10/21/84) [SDM-14]
46. The Fantastics & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (7/20/84) [SDM-6]
47. Bob Roop vs. Ted DiBiase (4/2/82) [PTB-3]
48. Rock N Roll Express vs. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death (5/3/85) [RNRIK-2]
49. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Jake Roberts & The Barbarian (7/14/85) [TSGDIA-4]
50. Ted DiBiase vs. Jake Roberts (7/22/85) [TSGDIA-7]
51. Rock N Roll Express & Butch Reed vs. Dr. Death, Kamala & One Man Gang (2/25/85) [BR-12]
52. Ted DiBiase vs. Butch Reed (7/25/85) [TSGDIA-8]
53. Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) [PTB-4]
54. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) [PTB-10]
55. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83) [PTB-12]
56. Butch Reed vs. Iron Sheik (4/8/83) [PTB-11]
57. Al Perez & Wendell Cooley vs. Dr. Death & Bob Sweetan (8/30/85) [TSGDIA-11]
58. Rock N Roll Express vs. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death (6/19/85) [RNRIK-8]
59. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) [PTB-19]
60. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) [PTB-2]
61. Rock N Roll Express vs. Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts (6/24/85) [RNRIK-9]
62. Rock N Roll Express vs. Jake Roberts & The Barbarian (6/28/85) [RNRIK-10]
63. Adrian Street vs. Terry Taylor (Loser Leaves Town) (12/7/84) [BR-4]
64. Adrian Street vs. Chris Adams (10/10/84) [SDM-12]
65. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) [PTB-5]
66. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82) [PTB-9]
67. Hacksaw Duggan & Dick Murdoch vs. Kamala & Kareem Muhammad (7/14/85) [TSGDIA-6]
68. Dick Murdoch vs. Dr. Death (9/20/85) [TSGDIA-12]
69. Dusty Rhodes & Jim Duggan vs. Butch Reed & Hercules Hernandez (8/19/84) [SDM-8]
70. Butch Reed vs. Skip Young (9/23/84) [SDM-10]
71. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) [PTB-1]
72. Jim Duggan, Dick Murdoch & Bill Watts vs. Kamala, Kareem Muhammad & Skandor Akbar (7/28/85)[TSGDIA-9]
73. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) [PTB-7]
74. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (Scaffold Match) (12/2/84) [BR-3]

Alright, some disk five thoughts and overall set thoughts, halfway through.

As far as disk five, I’m sure my rankings of them and overall ballot will most likely not be in line with many of what I’d call “traditional ballots” will be. But I think we abandon the thought of matching up a long time ago, though it was never a goal. I’ve tried, after the fact, toi keep up on the thoughts of others voting on the set. I’ve found their thoughts interesting, both for things I didn’t see, but also for why they loved or hated something I felt the opposite about. Most of you who have followed this know I’ve tried to examine the matches and their places from every angle (I have changed scores and re-watched several matches). When I do hand in my ballot I feel I’ll be confident in the quality of the match selection in as far as what I look for in a match and what universally tends to make for a great match.

The Murdoch vs Nightmare match captured my imagination with storytelling. I tend to enjoy matches that take risks and/or are presented with handicaps and overcome them. Wrestling is performance art to me, and being able to tell the story based around a punch that they did, and not having an announcer to further that, definitely helped it in my eyes. It was a good length , not being a short angle driven TV match given little time to develop, while also not feeling the need to be an epic they may have not been able to pull of, nor was that necessary. Just a great story.

That being ranked #1 for the disk, and the less-loved MNX vs RNR being # 2 here may cause people to see this as a “statement” vote disk ranking. Perhaps, but after the Brad Armstrong vs Dibiase TV match, I think statement votes have already been made by me, but also that I’ve gone back and forth on those things and in the end feel strong enough to keep most or all of my scores/ranks intact. When I haven’t, like with Flair vs Wahoo, I’ve corrected it.

Perhaps more thought provoking is Flair vs Reed finishing in the middle of the pack. I’ve seen in top five in many other ballots at the halfway mark, but to me that was Flair’s worst match (along with the 4/28/85 Von Erich match) on the set. I liked the Dibiase – Reed tv match better, because I’m not in love with Reed’s work at this point, but he is good. Dibiase may be a poor man’s Flair at times, but he knew how to have a great TV match with the man. Plus Reed actually worked on the glove, and you had the drama of will the heel that “always” wins hit his finish again!

Obviously a bunch of Flair is going high on the set list, but I’m really excited to see Murdoch take a more prominent role in the promotion. I’m also excited to see Dr. Death Steve Williams in more of a singles role (he was so versatile), and Jake Roberts has been great from a presence and psychology aspect. Frankly, I’m not sure I’ll ever be a huge fan of Butch Reed, and I’m hoping for a quick exit from Duggan soon because he seems to be stuck in “monster of the week” matches as a face, like Undertaker periodically throughout his career, after Duggan’s run climaxed with the Dibiase stips match.

Half way home, Flair, Dibiase, Taylor (thanks the Flair), MNX, Duggan, RNR, and Magnum TA are all well represented in the top 20-25. Though the set is heavily weighted to 84-85, there are a few matches representing pre-84 in the top 25, and something like nine matches in the top 25 are from the first two disks. In al, it’s a great mix of matches, personas, and styles.