Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 116: The Fantastics & Terry Taylor vs. The Sheepherders & Jack Victory (Barbed Wire Cage Match) (5/25/86)

Faces are in the ring and the crowd is hot right off. Weird thing is this “cage” looks like something that more trade-related backyard wrestlers would construct. It’s a 2×4 castle that looks like the start of building a house. Wood is in the place of metal or steel. There is no metal bar or traditional cage fencing, but instead barbed wire across the structure in many rows, so you get more barbed wire then the three ropes worth you might expect.

I like that they start out brawling the minute every gets in. That’s feud and context appropriate. I like that the wrestlers aren’t afraid to bleed. It gets a bit dull watching brawls like this, but there are glimpses of War Games-like heat and effort inside the ring. There’s a lot going on in a small space. Surprisingly I’m learning in brawl situations that Bobby Fulton is far more relevant than Tommy Rogers. Also I see where Victory got a rep that would lead Heyman to feel he’d fit into ECW. These two on the ropes fighting, and on the way down, were great.

Finish was great for the time (and even now) as Taylor dives off the ropes and sunset flips Victory while he had been trying to attack a face.

Match is under ten minutes which is good because you can’t keep this up. The fans were hot and liked it, so it didn’t overstay its welcome. It didn’t capture me, but then the angle/wrestlers aren’t really my guys and the style is one I lived through (ECW) for a decade and moved on from in many ways. Better said, you need emotional attachments for hardcore matches like this to transcend brawling and be high on a list. This match looked like it did in the moment, but I didn’t have the emotional attachments like with Duggan vs Dibiase. 3 stars and 6.2/10.

Match Discussion Here