Fake cousin Lance joins real VE, Kevin, and Brody on a quest to take out the Freebirds and the mysterious Asian martial artist, Kabuki.

Kabuki, back to being a baddie after a short babyface run the summer before, hits Kevin with a thrust kick the moment the good guys get into the ring. Everyone pairs off and brawls. The Freebirds take over, with Buddy Roberts helping out. Gordy beats Brody with a boot while the other kick at him. The Von Erichs clear the ring with chairs, so this settles down into an actual match after a minute. They play up that Brody may be knocked out of the match. Hayes pushes for the bell to ring as Brody is helped to the back. Good story early as we start with a heel three on two advantage.

The Von Erichs start out hot, even down a man, but the match is clipped a minute or two to where we get Hayes controlling a selling Lance Von Erich a moment later. Hayes control was capable, but it’s much more fun to watch Gordy controlling. Kabuki gives his usual kicks while working over Lance with holds. Lace gets a hope spot and Kabuki cuts him off with a chop. Hayes comes in and Lance suplexes him. Kevin gets the hot tag and Gordy bumps for him. Gordy kills the momentum with a big boot and a suplex, and then Hayes comes in to play clean up. Great work by the Freebirds.

Kevin uses the iron claw for a hope spot on Hayes, but Gordy comes in and signals the Oriental Spike. Kevin fights it well, and Lance breaks it up. Kabuki comes in with a kick and does some of his best work all match. Brody comes back from the locker room with a chair and destroys Kabuki. It all breaks down into a brawl and the ref calls for the bell in roughly eight minutes. Double DQ finish.

Lance was kinda dull as the face in peril, while Kevin was a bit better, but man did the Freebirds shine like it was 1983 in their control segments. Kabuki even looked inspired in spots, especially right before Brody comes back in with a chair. The sub-plot of Brody being taken out and coming back was played out well, and I loved that Roberts was out there to make it even more unfair. Gordy was, as usual, the star of the match for me. Gordy rules. The finish was appropriate, but left me wanting a bit more. Still, a great Freebirds match that was only missing Buddy. 3 stars and 6.1/10

Brody comes back to Texas to take on the Freebirds with the most famous Von Erich son.

The Freebirds jump Kerry/Brody before the bell, but the good guys clear the ring. The teaee of a Brody versus Gordy brawl is pretty great. They settle it down for the actual match. Hayes stooges around for Kerry, and then we get Brody and Gordy. Gordy bumps at first, and then the Freebirds gang up on Brody. Hayes takes over, but not for long. Gordy looks very motivated in this one, and at times he manhandles Brody. Brody is somewhat selling in this one, which is nice.

Hot tag to Kerry five minutes in, and we get Gordy selling the discuss punches. Gordy comes back with a big boot, and then the Freebirds start with quick tags during their control segment. They get the heat on Kerry, Hayes slowing it down in spots, while Brody gets the crowd going from the apron. Brody and Gordy keep trying to get at each other, and I like that Gordy isn’t always characterized as afraid of Brody.

Kerry comes back with a suplex, we get two hot tags, and it’s the battle of the big men. Slugfest, and Brody wins. Everyone brawls in the ring. Freebirds cheat to double clothesline Brody, then Gordy sinks in the Oriental Spike ten minutes in. Kerry cheats to break the Spike, and it’s all four men again, with Brody chasing Gordy. A minute later it’s a double DQ with Hayes selling for Kerry while Brody/Gordy trade. It spills to the floor after the match.

A really fun, intense brawl with a regular heated match sandwiched in between. I loved that Gordy wasn’t depicted as afraid of Brody. I liked that Brody sold some, and as far as a match goes this was the better Brody. The Freebirds looked good in control, and Kerry wasn’t too overbearing (though Hayes made him look good quite a bit). I can’t think of a ton of negatives, though this isn’t a match I was in love with. I can’t really say why other than the double DQ finish and something felt a little off in the build. Still, a really solid pick if you were debating watching a match like this. 3 stars and 6.2/10

The Freebirds are back, taking on the fake Von Erich and the black guy who isn’t King Parsons. This certainly isn’t the good ol’ days.

Hayes and Buddy come down the aisle to Bad Street USA, and Hayes is as creepy as ever. The Birds are wearing their six man belts, to be contested in a month and a half at another Texas Stadium show. This is our first peek at Brickhouse Brown, who beats Hayes in an amusing dance contest. I remember him from the dying days of World Class when I was a kid, and I enjoyed him then. Hayes calls him “boy,” which would not get over in today’s culture.

The crowd is really hot for this match, which has as much to do with newcomer Brown as it does with the Freebirds getting so much heat. Hayes bumps around well for Brown, making him look credible. Roberts doesn’t have much luck with Brown, but he manages a kneelift on Lance Von Erich. Lance is big on the wristlocks and arm bars. I’m not too impressed with his skill and timimg (Lance), but the Freebirds do a good job with him. Lance does a passable Kevin Von Erich flying headscissors, then grounds Buddy and the match. It just doesn’t work with Lance, no matter how the the Freebirds work it.

The match isn’t horrible, but it isn’t setting my world on fire either.

Buddy works over Brickhouse Brown, and that’s so solid stuff. Double big boot to Brickhouse from the Birds. Hayes attempts a pin, and the fans cheer a hot tag to Lance that they hope will come. Great exchange where Hayes comes off looking like the best wrestler in the match (Brickhouse rolls under a clothesline, then get decapitated on the way back off the ropes.) Hayes goes for pins often, and Brickhouse avoids the three count. The Freebird control segment is good, but my patience wanes bit. Brown surviving does become a good babyface story though.

Brickhouse ducks a Roberts punch and suplexes him at the fifteen minute mark. The crowd gets behind a possible hot tag, and Lance gets in the ring. He runs wild on Hayes, all four get involved, and Roberts tries to throw Lance over the top rope. Lance flips back over like Kevin (or HBK) would do, rolls up Roberts, and pins him in sixteen minutes.

There was nothing really wrong with this match. It wasn’t perfect, but I can’t say Lance dropped the ball. For the time he was in he followed along okay, though you could tell he lacked the timing and skill level of a good to great wrestler. Still, something about this started to bore me, which is sad because the Freebird control section was very well done. There just wasn’t a fire in any of the execution, or the story itself. Brickhouse Brown was a bright spot, and Hayes for my money was so on he looked like the best wrestler in there. But I think watching this after all the classic Freebird matches on this set has me looking at it unfavorably come rankings time. I’m not high on this one, even if the committee found an above average Lance Von Erich match. 3 stars and 6/10

The Freebirds are back, six man belts and Georgia flags in tow, trying to recapture the magic.

So we’re back to this. The Freebirds have the six man titles again. VEs come out to Tom Sawyer. All is right in the world again. Buddy Roberts starts out, looking a little heavier than the last time we saw him. Hayes comes in to show Kerry how his sleazy dance is done, but Kerry does his own version (which Hayes sells as bothering him to no end). Kerry bounces Hayes around, and Hayes complains of a phantom hair pull. Kevin shows off his standing dropkick, and Roberts gets back in. Kevin looks good working the headlock in an acrobatic way. Honestly, this is good for the character stuff and the fun spots, but it’s definitely a step slower than their classic work. The Von Erichs dominate the first five minutes, sending the Freebirds to the floor.

Kevin takes on both Freebirds and wins. Buddy turns it around with a punch to Kerry, and Hayes continues the momentum. Kerry gets a few hopespots, then we get the hot tag to Kevin. Kevin goes after both Freebirds, putting the iron claw on Buddy. He breaks it, but a moment later Kevin crossbodies Buddy Roberts for the win.

Fun to see these characters interacting again in World Class, but it felt a bit slow and at times sloppy. The crowd was with it, but it didn’t have the same pop in action and smoothness that some of their earlier work had. It just didn’t feel ‘all there’, and even Mercer on commentary seemed on autopilot at times. Not much more to say. 2 ½ stars and 5.5/10

First, there’s the shock of the Freebird and Von Erichs on a team. Then you’ve got the fact it’s an odd three out of five falls match and it’s at Texas Stadium. Massive. Then you need to know there’s a $100,000 dollars on the line and it’s in two rings. The winner of the fall gets a new Lincoln car for the fall. Take a breath and we’ll check the match.

You’ve got Gary Hart, Jim Cornette, and Skandor Akbar all “presenting” wrestlers for the bad guys. They make an announcement of Ric Flair being unable to be in the match because of his ribs. Not sure what that’s about. The Dynamic Duo and the Freebirds are in a different ring. Overly involved, self-important ref David Manning gives a lot of instructions that I’m sure no one will follow. This will be too crazy to give blow-by-blow, so I won’t even try.

Right away I think this is stupid as they have two separate tag matches going on at the same time. This is a tremendous waste if this was the first time the Freebirds and VEs teamed up. I wish we would have at least gotten to see the build up where the two bitter enemies decided to tag, but maybe there wasn’t one. I love Dr. Death, but it’s a waste to see him in this environment. Kerry rolls up Gino, but Adams kicks him in the head and Gino gets the pin. Kerry is the first loser, which surprises me. They have to stop the match for the announcement. This is lame.

Kamala looks good from what I see, but so many people are everywhere that it’s impossible to know what’s going on. There’s another bell that the camera doesn’t pick up. Second fall is won by Gino Hernandez and his team. No idea who the fall was on, but Hayes was on the mat. Kamala and Kevin Von Erich is the highlight so far. Kerry pins Rip Oliver in decent action. 2-1 baD GUYS.

Roberts rings Gino out with a deep headlock. Doc works on Kerry, and I’d like to see both matches, just not at once. Sadly I guess we’ll never see the Freebird and the VE actually working together since they’re in different rings. Doc does looks good from what I can follow, and Gordy’s stuff has been good, but it’s a clusterfuck. I don’t buy Mike Von Erich running wild on Kamala, but they do it anyway. Buddy Roberts gets the fourth pinfall, on who I don’t know.

Kerry tries to slam Kamala, but Kamala lands on him. Hayes gets a really close nearfall that pops the crowd. Kevin dives over the double ropes from one ring to the other on to Dr. Death. The match mercifully ends. The Freebirds leave having never interacted with the VEs. Gary Hart orders the OMG to destroy the car with his chain. Mike Von Erich does the best running crossbody of his career in the endzone of the stadium to stop Gang. The Dynamic Dup get the chain from Ref David Manning and smash the windshield. Kerry has to be restrained.

There may have been some great performances, but with two rings and crazy camera work it was so hard to get a feel of anything or a sense of flow. There was a vague story to this, but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the Birds teaming with the VEs in a six on six single elimination match where the teams actually had to interact. This was nothing more than a cheap stunt of a gimmick for a stadium show. It had cool spots, but that’s about it. More notable for the post-match car bashing. 2 stars and 4.5/10

They’ve finally come to the point where they’re putting these two warring factions in a cage and letting them run lose. From the looks of things we’re getting our Freebirds/Von Erich blow off after near two years of hate.

The camera shot starting with the hard cam to the cage is striking. It really got me excited for the match. This is for the Six Man Titles, and apparently it’s the last match for these titles because the NWA is “washing their hands of this feud.” The belt has been held up since the Texas Stadium show, and tonight is single elimination and there must be a winner. Mike Von Erich suffered an shoulder injury earlier in the show in a match with Gino Hernandez, so only Kevin and Kerry come out. Everyone is in jeans.

So here we go, two against three, elimination style, for the titles. The Von Erichs charge at the bell and a wild brawl erupts with the Freebirds taking headers into the cage. Kevin takes Hayes boot off and violently stiffs everyone with shots. Kerry does the same. This is definitely tight and chaotic, but the true test is if they have a story with a finish to tell. Buddy Roberts gets grated across the cage by the forehead. Gordy with the cowboy boot, but Kerry puts a stop to that. Kevin puts the Iron Claw on Roberts while Gordy bashes skulls with the boot. It’s basically a violent boot brawl with Roberts bleeding. 80-20 Von Erichs in the first five minutes.

Gordy takes out someone and puts the thumb up to show that he’s going for the Spike. Kevin saves Kerry from the spike, but Hayes recovers, so the Freebirds have the numbers again. Hayes stops an Iron claw on Gordy. The Von Erichs really have to sell to make this compelling for me. A lot of Iron claws or Freebirds stooging and bumping. At one point Kerry has double Iron Claws on two Freebirds while Kevin has one on the third. Kevin actually attempts a pin in the middle of this chaos. Finally, the Freebirds get a solid minute of offense. While Kevin is standing over Hayes on the second turnbuckle beating him Gordy lifts Kerry. Stuff piledriver with Buddy handling the assist from the top rope. Buddy and Gordy pile on top for the three count. Kerry has been eliminated. He lays on the mat, destroyed, while the Freebirds regroup. Kerry is carried out.

Now we have a shot at something more dramatic, if not a bit ridiculous. It’s Three-on-one with Kevin the lone Von Erich. I’d have eliminated a Freebird first before Kerry, but hey, I’m judging the match I’m given and it’s just turned for the better. Hopefully Kevin sells. They semi-circle him, Kevin with only a boot, and attack. Kevin holds his own until they choke him with a belt. Ten minutes gone.

They swarm Kevin, who makes comebacks every fifteen seconds, until he turns a Hayes whip to the ropes and makes it a sunset flip, eliminating Hayes less than two minutes after Kerry was eliminated.

Gordy and Roberts take it to Kevin in the corner, Mark Lawrence on commentary asking how much longer can Kevin go. This beat down section makes the Freebirds look good and gets the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Gordy hits a beautiful pile driver on Kevin in the center of the ring. That looks like a finish. Gordy pulls him up, finger wagging at the ref like “not yet.” Buddy goes to the top of the cage and waves over Gordy for the stuff pile driver, but Kevin back body drops Gordy. Mike Von Erich comes out in street clothes, shakes the fence, and Roberts crotches himself on top rope. Mike comes in, pins Roberts, while Kevin does a running splash and pin on Gordy. Ref Lubich takes forever, then counts both pins as one pin a the same time. The Von Erichs win.

I came into this match wanting 1.) to really like this as a match and 2.) to see an epic satisfying ending to this feud I’ve been following that has dominated the set. I was actually bias for the match, not even counting that I thought the stip was appropriate and the idea of two on one was great for the story. But then the Von Erichs were the von Erichs, and aside from the admitted fun spectacle of cowboy boot violence, they wouldn’t sell for crap. It’s hard to get into the drama of the match when two guys are continually playing John Wayne and not allowing the heels to get heat on them. That’s how the first six minutes went and it started to bore me. Then it got awesome, as Kerry got taken out hard with the stuff pile driver, and though I’d have rather seen one of the Freebirds taken out before this elimination, I felt in some way we were back on the right track.

Three-on-one is a little silly considering that the Von Erichs at times like to be Supermen, but I bought into it, and while there were hiccups, it was beautiful to see Gordy hit an amazing pile driver and then pick up Kevin after a one count. I loved that. I loved where the match was going again until—after all that violence—Gordy gets pinned with a simple splash after a body drop while Mike—not even involved in the match—is allowed to pin Gordy at the same time. I guess the fans of Texas don’t care about the rules (I know, Badstreet rules, but COME ON) because they just want their no-selling dominant heroes to win, but it made me hate the Von Erichs. I knew they had to win, and I was excited about how they’d get there. I wanted to see them overcome the odds in a more well told heroic way, and when I got this and added it all up I felt like I HAD to give it a good score (I’m scoring to place these on a ballot), but I didn’t want this near the top. For me this was on par with 11/21/83 elimination match (slightly below in fact) and the 4/28/83 Penalty Box match on my ballot. I’ve got it at #19 of 71 right now, but this could have been top five with the stage they had. I had hoped for more coming in, but yes I agree with the others, the brawl itself is amazing. 3 ½ and 6.8/10

World Class’s most well-known and featured feud continues with a match that was voted the Match of The Year by Wrestling Observer fan Voters for 1984. Is this the best match in the feud?

They start out brawling right away. All six men are allowed in the ring. Anything goes. No DQ. The six man title is on the line and they fight through the introductions. Mike already has his belt off, whipping people. Kerry has his shirt off. Already this seems novel for 1884 in the same way ECW felt novel to me in 1995. I’m sure most people hadn’t seen the brawls in Memphis, and this certainly stands up to those, so this most likely got passed around ahead of some really great stuff this feud produced in the eighteen months prior.

I can’t really describe the match to you. At random times participants get throw out of the ring to the floor, and then they come back in for a big comeback. Mostly the Von Erichs whip the Freebirds, and the Freebirds sell the beating and keep going. Sometimes Mike Von Erich gets tossed around, but most of the time they thankfully do not shoot his offense in this match. Mike does unload some great punches on Gordy in the corner, and then Hayes and Buddy try to take him out while Kevin saves. I don’t get the feeling anyone sells for long, and I guess that’s not the point of a match like this. It’s hate and carnage, and you hope the crowd stays hot and doesn’t burn out on it.

The Von Erichs start to dominate, Freebirds bailing out or Gordy taking punches. Kevin gets the claw on Hayes. Gordy starts murdering Kerry with a boot, while Roberts and Mike try to suffocate one another. Buddy ends up choking him with a bet while Kerry stiffs the crap out of Gordy with the boot. I can’t keep up or do this match justice. If you love wild brawls, this is a match you must see.

Finish comes with Kerry on top of Hayes in the corner, standing on the second rope. Killer Khan runs in and uppercuts Kerry. Kerry falls back to the mat and Hayes dives on top for the pin in seven minutes.

I have a hard time getting a handle on where this match goes on my ballot. If you love short, but wild brawls, this should do well—and to be sure it was violent as hell. It fit the feud well. It also was guys just hitting each other, and with the exception of a brief time where the Von Erichs ruled the ring, I really felt nothing other than “guys are doing crazy stuff.” This is my problem, I don’t know how to completely embrace something without what I’d call a flow. Add to that how short this was and the finish, and I’ve got to move this into the Country Whipping Match area where I enjoyed it for what it was, but it doesn’t fully win me over. At least I’m trying to be consistent. This was actually the W.O.N. MOTY for 1984. I’m not sure it’s in the top 5 of World Class matches from 1984. 2 ¾ stars and 5.5/10

The pinnacle of the World Class Championship Wrestling run, as Fritz come out of retirement to join his boys as they face their greatest rivals, The Fabulous Freebirds.

This match is from the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions super card that took place at Texas Stadium in front of something like thirty-thousand fans. Roberts and Gordy come out in silly looking cut off shirts that show their bellies, but overall the Freebirds are badass. This is a Freebird specialty “Bad Street Match,” so I’m guessing it’s no disqualification. Self-important ref David Manning explains over the mic that this match has no rules, and yet the tag rules will be enforced. So only two guys in the ring at once, but those two can do whatever they want to one another.

This is shades of Bill Watts’s Last Stampede in Mid South, where he came out of retirement—coincidentally held two weeks before this match. Fritz, like everyone else, is in street clothes, but Fritz’s don’t look like anything you’d wrestle in. The Von Erichs clear the ring and Gordy start flinging chairs. Kevin is bleeding from the fingers because of the chairs.

The rules go out the window pretty fast as Kevin wants to brawl with Roberts, the Freebirds get involved, so the rest of the Von Erichs come in. Violent wild brawling that looks very good by any day’s standards. Kevin looks motivated as every early. Mike does the two things he does (punches and an elbow drop) well, and then the Freebirds feed Fritz’s punches while the other participants brawl. My only negative is Hayes goofy overselling and lack of smooth execution catches my eye for the first time in many matches. It’s a small quibble.

Fritz whips Hayes with his belt while Mike holds him, and the stadium goes crazy. Ref Manning sees this and does nothing. So much for the rules. Hayes runs and Kevin stands in the corner waiting for a Freebird with the balls to face him. They give the crowd a moment to breath until Gordy comes in. Gordy bullies Kevin for a moment, but Fritz is over with punches from the corner. Gordy bumps big for Fritz, then heads right back to a weakened Kevin in the corner. It’s mentioned on commentary that if the Von Erichs win Kerry takes Fritz’s place on the Six Man Champions team. Kevin takes control and they tease an Iron claw. They Freebirds go to work on Kevin at the five minute mark.

Hayes comes in with a nice big clothesline, then takes off his boot and beats Kevin’s head in. Goofy Roberts hump thrusts Kevin’s head with his belt buckle. Fritz gets the hot tag and the Freebirds bump for him. He gets the Iron Claw on Hayes, and then Roberts, simultaneously. Gordy breaks it up, then smashes his cowboy boot over Fritz’s head. The Von Erichs turn the tables, smashing Gordy and Hayes into one another. Hayes’s face is covered in blood. Mike gets whipped into Buddy, but Kevin comes off the top rope and crossbodys Roberts for the pin. Von Erichs win the Six Man Titles in about seven minutes. Post-match we see Killer Khan debut, attacking the V.E.s with the Freebirds. Lawrence on commentary refers to him as “this strange and deadly Oriental.” What a different world. He does the Spike, and Kerry comes out to make the save.

A short, fun brawl that had the history of the feud and a huge hot crowd going for it. Mike Von Erich was hidden well in this, and everybody made an old, out-of-shape Fritz look like a million bucks. This was very similar to Bill Watts’s Last Stampede, which was held just two weeks earlier. The Freebirds did their part, with Hayes and Gordy really working hard both when they had control and as stooge/bump machines essentially for an unintimidating kid and an old man. Kevin looked awesome in this, and I wish it was longer just for him. This didn’t light my word on fire, but it was stiff as hell and kept short. Above average and I’m glad I saw it. 2 ¾ stars and 5.7/10

The match set up in our last Diaries finds the Freebirds in the odd state of semi-good guys, back together again to defend the six man belts and face a team where a masked Super D #2 might be the sane one of the group.

There’s nothing more amusing and/or creepy than a sleazy heel like Michael Hayes prancing to the ring, eyes bugging, singing his own theme song and desperately trying to act like a rock star. Hey, it worked for a few years. Hayes threatens to smash Missing Link in the face with the 6 man trophy if he attacks. Skandor Akbar’s team is the walking stereotype of what all non-wrestling fans growing up in the eighties think wrestling is: a generic masked guy, a crazy-haired musclehead with face paint, and a fat guy pretending to be a savage foreigner.

Gordy starting with Super D #2 is quick and neat. Very good work that sucks you in right away. Hayes and Kamala come in and Hayes does the stomp on the foot gimmick. Hayes looks as good as he normally does, but Buddy Roberts looks even more motivated. Link is goofy, sometimes on purpose, sometimes just because of his talent level. A very quick moving match where you can tell they don’t have a lot of time , so they’re going all out. Super D looks by far the best on his team, but the other two are playing their character just fine in the body of the match.

Roberts sells a beating as all the bad guys…er, worse guys, take turns on him. They clip some of the heat with a commercial, and when we come back Roberts gets a hope spot and tags in Gordy. Everyone feeds Gordy at the five minute mark, with Hayes in throwing punches on a downed Link. Kamala comes back on Gordy, and I get a kick on them working against each other. Hayes comes in like he’s a hot-headed Von Erich, and the role reversal of Dev. Inc doing the heel shtick isn’t lost on me. Gordy gets hope, but crashes shoulder first into the buckle. A moment later Hayes gets the hot tag, mostly punches, and it breaks down with everyone in the ring. The Sportatorium fans are going crazy for Hayes. Un-be-lievable. Link does his diving headbutt that never works—and it doesn’t. He hits Super D #2. Hayes dives ontop for the clean pin in just under nine minutes. Freebirds retain the titles and the fans go crazy.

A fun match where everyone seemed motivated. Short, but quick, it at times had the pop of a RAW main event from the Attitude era. The characters were well-defined, and just the idea of the Freebirds as babyfaces defending the titles was enough to make this worth your while. There’s nothing blow away on here, as everybody works at about their level (the top end of that), but Gordy vs Super D #2 at the start might have been my favorite pairing. Extra points for Hayes being all creepy rock stars as he sang along to his own theme song. 2 ¾ stars and 5.3/10

Will this war ever end? Before we get to the Hayes/Kerry LLT Cage match we’ve got an elimination match to watch and sort out. I’m not-so-secretly hoping the feud goes another year.

Something this set has been able to avoid is heavily-clipped or Joined-in-progress (JIP) matches. Unfortunately this one is joined in progress, and we’re told the Von Erichs are the current six man champions as a time stamp. I did a quick check on Wikipedia and found that the Von Erichs won the belts on December 2, 1983, so this match was not shown on the normal TV broadcast within a week or two of being taped, and was instead shown later in this shortened form (I think it was on the 12/12/83 TV show). Hopefully I can get a feel for what the match was.

We start out with rough and tumble Gordy taking apart Kerry with some good looking offense. No eliminations have occurred yet, so we’re safe with the main body of the match intact. Credit to Kevin for trying his hardest to reach Kerry for a tag. Classic Von Erich/Freebird stuff with Kerry slugging back with punches, Gordy takes a few, then shuts down the comeback with punches of his own. Roberts in for a pin attempt on Kerry. The Freebirds are keeping Kerry in their corner, and the Von Erichs get all temperamental and come after Michael Hayes for his illegal part of a move. The Von Erichs have a epic struggle trying to extricate Kerry from three-on-ones. They can’t, but Kerry hulks up after eating Hayes’ punches. Kerry throws a million punches of his own (fine comeback) and I’m reminded that I hate the way Hayes sells punches or bumps on his butt after several. It won’t hurt my enjoyment of the overall match though.

Hayes is bleeding (looks like Kerry is opening him up legit, on-purpose, with slicing punches), fights back, and the ref goes down in a heap with the wrestlers. Ref Manning can’t get free as Kerry stays on with punches in the mount. Kevin and David are awesome here, leaning in from the apron, then going to the center of the ring with balled up fists daring the remaining Freebirds to get in the ring. Ref Bronco Lubich gets in and Manning separates Kerry from Hayes. Somehow the result is Kerry and Hayes being eliminated, I’m guessing from a double DQ. Someone explain how Hayes should be DQed, please. I guess when he took Kerry down they hit the ref and Manning felt it was intentional.

We continue two-on-two. A bloody Hayes and a woozy Kerry won’t leave, so self-important Ref Manning threatens fines for both on the mic. The two still manage to get in another scrape. Big David and cagy Roberts (wearing head gear again) start out. Buddy bumps around and take some moves from David, than Kevin, before being bailed out by big Gordy. Gordy gets flipped off the top rope (like the Flair spot), Kevin goes to work, and they tease the claw. It ends up being the lamer abdominal iron claw, but Gordy sure tries to theatrically sell it. Roberts comes in, and David takes care of him. A second later they become the legal men, and Roberts is fearful of repercussions. David had a good looking punch. I like him more than I did at the start of the set, but probably still the least of the three main brothers.

A running high knee on Buddy in the corner puts Roberts down. This is a good match up given the size difference. Roberts tags out the first chance he gets. Gordy and David is always pretty good, with Gordy willing to go the extra mile to desperately gain an advantage. They tease a David tag to Kevin, the Freebirds holding David close and taunting Kevin, and this section is pretty great heat stuff. They give the time cue of 15 minutes, so by my count we missed the first four minutes of the match.

Kevin does get the tag (which is amusing since Buddy taunted him to long) and he runs wild, throwing his perfect dropkick to the invading Gordy. An interesting finish to this fall as David goes after Gordy, and then Kevin dives at him, but Gordy catches him and tosses him right onto Roberts waiting knee. Gordy pins Kevin and the Freebirds are up a man. Great elimination there.

David versus Roberts and Gordy. How will the hero get out of this one? Roberts is already counting the victory on the apron, but Gordy has his game face on, and David is focused too. David outsmarts the two, gains a near fall on Gordy, before clasping a sleeper on him. Roberts breaks it up. The Freebirds continue to try to double team, and neither ref can get control, so as David is beating on Roberts the monster Gordy puts the thumb up for the Oriental Spike. David is fighting it even as it’s on, and puts a goofy Iron Claw on Gordy . This is an exciting match. David ducks a double Freebird clothesline and delivers one himself. He knocks Roberts over the top rope with the high knee. As per the rules, Roberts is eliminated because it’s over the top rope. We’re down to Gordy versus David.

Gordy goes for the Spike, but David puts him in the Iron Claw, and at the same time throws Gordy over the top rope for the win. Something about the finish was both good and fitting, yet fell flat for me after such a great match. Sometimes these matches feel like they are adding rules on the fly, and that takes away some of it for me. I think I’m greedy because I’m still bothered about missing the likely perfunctory opening minutes. This was a real well-timed and fast-paced match that I totally recommend if you are in love with the Von Erich/Freedbirds feud. If not, it still works really well as a self-contained match, and ultimately, even if I didn’t like the double DQ or thought the Gordy/David finish was to quick, there’s so much to like in this match that over rides those things. Even those things have positives that conflict with my gut negative reaction to them. The Von Erichs (pick a brother) overcoming the Freebird machine is always a good story to tell in a long form, so this match gets a thumbs up from me. 3 ½ stars and 6.8/10