We start out in progress (a minute in) from Houston. Boesch is giving us the details. I like the match up on paper. Chavo Guerrero is a hot head with good work ethic and Buzz is a wacko character that also has a flare for entertaining. Won’t be a technical classic but more likely a brawl. Oh yeah, and it’s no DQ, so that might be why I’m assuming that.

We get cheating, a chair shot, and brawling at ringside from Sawyer. A good drop of Chavo on the steel barricade and Chavo sells it very well. Jim Ross is also on commentary lending a lot of credibility. Chavo bleeding so Buzz gets to play crazy. He bites and he crawls around. There’s a weird vibe to it that I’ll call confused homosexual anger. Perhaps that’s why Sawyer had issues: self-hating gay? Already, it’s got no real basis, but it’s a thought.

Chavo bites back. It’s a comeback and it’s good. Buzz Sawyer bleeds and bumps. Vioent brawl at ringside Chavo wins. Getting better.

Back in it’s a lot more intense. Chavo hits great punches that Buzz sells with a bump and pop-up. Chavo wins right there with a shoulderblock twist thing. These matches should be quick in this context, but that was just starting to get good. It was maybe 8 minutes…

Wait. Buzz challenges Chavo to come back on the mic. Cursing and yelling. Chavo comes in hard. Buzz has him but the ref won’t count at first. Awesome powerslam though. Chavo ducks an elbow and then gets another pin. I say Buzz was robbed, nut that was very good. Buzz still thinks he won. You tell’em Buzz! 2 ½ and 5/10.

Match Discussion Here

This was a great feud that has begun to have diminishing returns for me. I loved the first two matches, felt slightly let down by the finish and work of the third, and then it got worse. My problem is while these guys have clashing styles that work in matches where the is a classic wrestling rulebook structure and build, I don’t buy them walking around brawling by any means, and that’s what the feuds escalated into. Mexican death match wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, and the yellow strip singles match was horrible, yet the first to straight tags ruled. This is a cage match with all four men in at the same time, but I don’t have my hopes up.

Dull brawling with the heels dominating and the babyface brother team bumping off the cage in a bouncy way. Punch, kick, and mostly hold otherwise.

Match gets much better when the faces take over. They are better at showing charisma, and the heels are better selling here. Oddly enough the heels don’t draw heat for the beatdowns, but the place is popping and buzzing for the face’s controlling. Everyone is bleeding before the five minute mark.
Both teams brawl on top of the cage. A great visual for any time, but especially in 1986. Hector falls to the floor and gets more beat up by Keirn. This at times very reminiscent of ECW, both positive and negative.

Guerreros come back and then we end up on the cage again. Chavo gets stuck on the outside part of the cage in a clever bit of booking and athleticism. Heels tag team Hector till Chavo turns the tide with a big save. Crowd loves that they stopped a stuff piledriver and gave one of their own. In fact, that’s the finish. Guerreros win. Well laid out and the crowd popped, but like the Jake vs Slater match, I didn’t feel the sense of being taken on a ride. Half a great match is better than an average match. 3 stars and 6/10.

Match Discussion Here

Loser gets painted yellow by the winner. You know, cause goofy people in 1930 from Texas would call somebody “yella” if they were scared. Whatever.

Steve Keirn is yet another victim of the flamboyant gayness of wrestling, wearing suspenders with his wrestling trunks.

This is also a lights out match – a relic of the olden days where they turned the lights on to “end the show”, and legend had it the athletic commissions would leave so the match itself was actually unsanctioned. Something tells me that was a work too. Chavo has yellow paint and a brush with him. Looks like real paint to me.

Lots of punching and the occasional monkey flip. Then Keirn will bail out. It’s effective for the stips and whatnot. Keirn tries to shake hands, but that only leads to trouble. Chavo works a submission. Not terribly interesting but Keirn sells it well and Chavo portrays good intensity/anger. Chavo puts Keirn into the surfboard and then a camel clutch. Five minutes in.

Now we get some sense to this. Chavo goes from the camel clutch to a bodyslam, and them more back strikes. Keirn gouges the eyes to gain the advantage. Not much heel heat initially for Keirn’s cheating, choking, and biting. It slowly builds though. It’s appropriate stuff for the stips match. The Fabs and Guerreros were in a bad ass feud at this point. Keirn punches Chavo as Guerrero bleeds on his knees.
This is tough. It’s got brutality and not alot of the “art” of wrestling, but it really shouldn’t. Still, it’s very slow and deliberate punch/kick once Keirn is on offense. It’s dull at times, but I feel wrong for knocking it because Keirn is trying to draw the heel heat with his tactics.

Picks up about ten minutes in with a slugfest that pops the crowd. Back and forth. Keirn doesn’t shine here with his bumps like he has in the past. Keirn does end up in control again. Crowd is buzzing more and Chavo is fighting back alot more, so the hope spot was effective to the match.

Chavo using alot more head trauma offense now, like the turnbuckle, which plays into the last match story. Keirn sells those better. Chavo really didn’t end up bleeding much, but Chavo is trying to bust Keirn open.

The finish comes as Chavo is beating on Keirn, Chavo reverses him by a whip into the buckle. Keirn takes the Bret Hart sternum-first bump, backs out and gets suplexed for the finish. Chavo wins.

Here’s some good story telling. Keirn hits Chavo with brass knux (everything in Mid South had big back body drops and brass knuckles) and KOs the ref. But Chavo comes back and grabs the paint. Stan Lane is out to try to spot the yellow painting, but Chavo nails him too. The finish was so flat but the crowd pops more for this stuff then the match. Chavo falls to a 2-on-1 beating, gets piledriven, and yellow painted bumped all over him. Chavo looked legit pissed.

A blah match. Stips made for the post-match stuff, and frankly the entertainment/angle aspects were better than the match execution one. Finish came out of nowhere in an uninspired match from a feud that had been going pretty strong. Business and sketch wise this all made sense, but they didn’t pull off the match portion that well. 2 ½ and 5/10.

Match Discussion Here

This match has a lot of expectations going in as the first was great and the second meeting was even better. Rules to this one are after you pin your opponent they have 30 seconds of rest and then the match continues until the other team can not continue. I imagine the guy pinned is the one that has to continue on, but I’m not sure. Ref starts a ten-count if you aren’t up after the 30 seconds, and the Guerrero brothers have asked that the ref be outside of the ring for most of the match, which only makes pins more difficult, but I guess sells the violence.

First fall is very good. No one overdoes anything. These guys are all so good they actually have “gears” within a match and a series of matches. The Memphis heels and the area ethnic babyfaces have both personality styles and working styles that are unique, but mix so well together that it’s a work of art. The keep it well paced and low without being overly slow, drawn out, or boring. The Guerreros are the aggressors and get in all the offense here. They make the heels run and work, and Stan Lane bumps a bunch for them. Fast tags and ring control, and for the time they were very flashy workers. At the same time the heels are always just about to run in on the faces whenever the back is turned, so it’s not like Steve Kiern was irrelevant the entire time he sat on the apron.

First fall goes to the Guerreros on a strong piledriver that gave Stan Lane a wedgy. When he makes the count and realizes, it’s literally “showing ass”, like any good heel would.

Second fall continues the brother Guer. Domination. Assume it’s a dangerous botched spot as Chavo drops Lane right on his face overhead from a bear hug position. He sorta makes up with it by gu- wrench suplexing.

Heels get the advantage right after with double teaming and eye gouging. You can tell Chavo had a bit of an ego and a temper from the little things in this series, but it doesn’t hinder the matches much. Lane and Keirn work on his back and choke him a lot. Nice touch – Chavo gets free and wanders to the wrong corner for the tag, selling a choke. Did I mention the heels keep biting the forehead? Yeah, it’s a death match. Just add blood and it works!

One thing I don’t like about this match is the heels use of poorly done super kicks. It doesn’t get the heat and it looks bad. Heels take the second fall with a neck breaker. Chavo is bleeding visibly now. I like the touch of having Hector try to stand over his brother in the 30 second rest and watch over him. Equally as cool that the heels divide and conquer.

Bloody Chavo sells much better, not that was bad. The smash him in the head a few times, get a turnbuckle shot in there, and finish him off by ramming him into a chair (even that took some nice team work). He’s out like a like as Keirn waits for the time to tick down.

Here’s where the falls gimmick helps. As Chavo lays bleeding and the ring announcer says “10 seconds…”, the fans start cheering on Chavo to get up. The bell rings and Keirn has his hands in the air. Chavo beats the count, and we go on.

Hot tag is almost to immediate, but the fans love the beating Hector puts on the heels. I didn’t like them skipping the drama of bloody Hector coming back. Hector only runs wild about 30 seconds, does a standing leapfrog splash on Keirn, and gets the fall. Kinda lame.

Gotta say Keirn sells well. Hector is fresh, and fists and turnbuckle shots never looked so good. Stan Lane kicks Hector in his back, then we get a chase, and I think this has fallen apart slightly. I know it’s suppose to be hectic, but it’s sloppy hectic, not the crazy good type.

Heels in charge and Keirn pins Hector with a suplex back into the ring. He’s bloody from a beating on the outside. Fans are only half-hot when the sixth fall starts, so it’s not quite at the level it was. In fact, Hector fighting to beat the ten-count was good, but didn’t get the heat it deserved. One great single punch sends him down. I appreciated it. Match isn’t as good as it could be, but it’s not failing either. It’s just dropped down a gear when it should be gearing up.

Set up has been good as the faces ruled early, and have had moments since, but had two heat segments on them. One for each face. It’s just the details that have held it back slightly.

Hector punches at air and makes a small attempt at a comeback. Stan Lane actually gets on the mic to incite the crowd. Piledriver by Keirn on Hector (as Hector had done to Lane earlier) gets the seventh fall for the Fabs.

Hector is great at a glassy-eyed sell till he hits the hot tag. Chavo cleans house on the heels. Hector is all of a sudden fine, and both at just smashing the Fabs into turnbuckles. The heels blade, I guess from the turnbuckles. I’m losing interest. Heels dispose of Chavo over the top rope and keep him out as they absolutely kill Hector with chair shots to the body and throat. All are relatively safe. Chavo then runs them off with a chair of his own, even though they have a chair and two men. The Fabs get counted out for that fall as they leave ringside. If this is the end I did not like the match.

The Fabs lose by count out. Whatever. I guess if “adjusted for inflation” this was a good violent angle match to set up an even bigger return, but since I’m not watching this as episodic, it doesn’t mean as much. I’m sure it was hardcore to some for the time, but I think other matches on the set have been tougher and rougher. I think the brawl portion was weak, and as they went on it lost some of the thought process of moves in the ring doing damage, while not upping the ante. Again, it meant something as a story. Hector took the beating and lay down as Chavo on the mic challenges the heels to another match. The faces win but they lose. Still, it lacked some of the passion of the first tow matches. I didn’t feel it, and I really wanted to love this too. 3 ¼ and 6.3/10.

Match Discussion Here

Rematch from earlier on the disk, and this one I was hoping to see again. Great start as Hector shows the fire and aggression chasing Stan Lane with the Mexican roll till Lane leans under the ropes. Kiern is there to reassure him. Totally defines the two teams in the first moments. Guerreros as the fiery aggressor and innovative, while the Fabs are tentative clever above-it-all heels.

A better first five minutes physically, layout wise, and psychologically than their first match. The brothers are more athletic and quick, but the heels are smooth cheaters who know not to get to close to the Guerrero corner.

Awesome flying arm bar takeover by Chavo. Chavo and Hector have fun with a head scissors and Steve Kiern sells the hell out of it. Technical yet easy for a kid to follow. Kiern’s bail to the outside and regroup was just the right facial expression and attitude. Stan Lane in gets heat for just stalling, so the crowd is sucked in. Also helps the faces because when they finally grab them and turn up the speed off the ropes the fans get excited. Only the babyfaces are flashy here.

Perfect match so far. Heels try to slow it down with a head lock off Guerrero pin attempts. Works only a short time. We get some mat reversals and ..commercial break!? NOOOOO. This was great stuff. We come back and they left some of the heels getting heat. Double teams behind the refs back, grounding the high risk offensive minded faces, and throwing Hector to the outside. This is like a better full game time version of the match they did weeks before.

Good hopes pot as Hector almost crawls over only to get his eyes raked. Fabs showing a lot more than last time. Lots of ring position controlling. Kiern has a sleeper on so long he thinks he won the match, which is a fun spot. Gets slightly dull here as they keep it very slow and grounded, but the quick cut offs of the hope spots are really great, and the crowd heat builds well (as has the match itself). Hector finally starts crawling and rolling all around the heels to an almost silly degree (excessive silly, but only for a moment). Hot tag to Chavo.

Drop kicks and spin kicks from Chavo. All four men in and Hector becomes the legal man. Running the ropes gets screw up by to many workers in the ring, cut the do it anyway. Collisions everywhere (they fake through the screw up well enough) and Hector falls on Lane. Of course Tommy Gilbert is out of position, but why isn’t Chavo yelling at him to turn around. That’s lame.

Guerrero’s get the visual pin like last time, but Keirn rolls Lane out and takes his place. Cool moment where Hector still instinctively pins him, and Kiern allows it until two. When Kiern goes to take the pin, Hector rolls him up for the surprise 1-2-3. Guerreros win.

A great match the had flow and some great contrasts in style. A well told story with only small mistakes, but little risk. It knew it’s place on the card, but I really enjoyed it. 3 ¾ and 7.7/10.

Match Discussion Here

All these years and I have never seen an Adrian Adonis match. I know the gimmick – psychologically manipulative, egocentric heel with a subservient female valet. Except he’s gay and she’s his “fag hag”. Gorgeous George did it in the 50’s; Adonis in the 80s; Goldust in the 90s; and as recent as a few years ago Rico Constintino did it in WWE.

Boyd Pearce does intros. Finally, some J.R. & Watts commentary. Wow, Street’s valet, Miss Linda is an ugly chubby chick. At least Rico had Jackie Gayda. Can’t say I’m excited to see a heel gay gimmick in M. S. country with Watts on commentary. Even great booking can’t escape wrestling’s offensive bigotry and homophobia.

Problem with Street is the gimmick does add heat in a cheap sense and does have depth when played as tricky baiting (they do allude to A. Street wig the gimmick to gain advantage, as if perhaps playing a character. All that said, the gimmick at best casts a shadow over the match and at worst, overtakes it.

Street is physically misleading a can grab holds. They work some rudimentary submissions and switches. You can see the fluid British style in both, through neither is Johnny Saint. Street does have good presence for his day.

Back and forth stuff. Street flips the vicious switch at times, becoming more maniacal/intense. That I like. Good sequence with Street showing up Chris Adams twice, and then getting super kicked out of the ring. Trying to relate it to “my day”, it’s a house show HBK vs Goldust in 96 – if HBK were taking it really easy. I’m still not sold on Adams, who I wasn’t sold on as a child watching late ‘80s world class either. He’s decent, but I’m not watching for decent.

The Reversal comes with a neon sign as Adams practically yells, “I’m gonna sell the knee!” The heat looked to be good (but they’d done a lot of slower sub stuff anyway), when Terry Taylor is out to force himself on Goofy Miss Linda. Yuck. Street gets D Red for throwing Adams over the top rope.
CRAP! 2 ¼ and 3/10

Match # 33: Fantastics vs Chavo & Hector Guerrero (10/12/84)

The Rock & Roll Exp. are the champs at this point, so the winner of this match gets a title shot. Right away the heels (Guerreros) do something I’ve wanted to do the whole last week: Fans come down the aisle with high fives and jackass smiles for the crowd, wearing bow ties and goofy jackets. One of the heels kicks Bobby Fulton right in the head through the ropes. Awesome. Fulton/Rogers actually react with some fire. Guerreros are great cocky heels.

Hector has great arm drag. Wow, he made me compliment an arm drag. It was that pretty.
It’s clipped! Damn, I was starting to get into it and they cut to a heel heat segment with the Guerreros on seller Bobby (not Morton) Fulton. That’s a good 5-7 minutes they must have removed. Lame. I am assuming, BTW.

Apparently the babyface Fantastics do a switch with no tag spot in every match. They do one here just like in the Midnight Exp. (8/9/84) match. They don‘t even play to the easy Houston crowd when doing it. I don’t get it, and it’s not done well either. It also ruined a great Rogers vs. Chavo pairing. This is my second Chavo match and I’m loving him. Fulton drags Chavo back to the face corner to make the tag. Match is really coming together.

Really fast paced stuff, and very good. Even Fulton’s offense – realize I’m not a fan of Fulton’s stuff on the set so far – is good enough. Quick tags from both teams and the heels wrestle away the advantage. Match is keeping the crowd well.

Standing suplexes from Hector for two counts. Asaulto Suplex for two. Buck body drop come back by Tommy R. (M.S. Trademark). Tease the hot tag and it’s a well played fake. This match rules! I think they announced ten minutes, which even without time cut would make sense. I guess he said “15 minutes”, which would mean about 6 minutes was cut. That sucks.

The Guerrero Brothers are the team that impress me. Not the Fantastics. They’re really working their butts off, as it Rogers selling. Would have loved to see the Guerrero Brothers vs. the R&R Exp. sling shot suplex and double teams.

Here is the test. Hot tag to Fulton. Yeah, he got over excited and didn’t know what to do for a second on two occasions. Overall better than before.

Visual fall for Fulton on Hector, but with ref distracted Chavo does an awesome somersault cannonball from the top rope onto Fulton’s back. Hector pins him for the Guer. Bros. win. Good call by Watts down the stretch.

Only thing holding this buck was the long term development as a story, the clipping, and Bobby Fulton at times. Very good hidden gem for a midcard match. Second one on this disk (Adams & Khan). 3 ¼ and 6/10

They’re back! The brothers Guerrero are here in this match as faces, straight from Houston. This is my first chance EVER to watch the Fabs, a team I’ve heard so much about. Steve Keirn has gone on to run the Florida WWE development territory, while Stand Lane went on to be in a new version of the Midnight Express.

From the start I’m happy as Chavo gets denied a handshake and that fires him up. Stane Lane starts with him and he’s got a good heel presence here. There’s that great Guerrero arm drag on Lane, who complains somehow his tights were held. The mocking of the strut by Chavo is funny.

The Fabulous One’s are definitely the body building type. Surprised they didn’t end up in the WWF. They stooge well and hem and haw for the brothers early. Some fun arm bar work. Actually, a lot of stuff the brothers do is focused on the arm, the most fun being a leapfrog over one brother and onto the arm bared appendage. I love the focused attack on one arm.

They clipped it. Damnit. Well, it looks like it wasn’t much. Guerrero’s are still in charge with quick tags and arm-focused stuff. I love these guys. Match is cool so far. I see Hector calling a lot of stuff, but that doesn’t really bother me. Hammerlock takeovers where the brothers do all the work and Stan Lane just has to lay there. They should send their checks to El Paso. Heels eventually powder out because they just aren’t quick enough to counter.
Chavo gets tagged in and it’s apparent it’s time for the heels to take over. They trap him in the corner. Time to see what the heels have. They’ve been good at the subtle heel stuff so far, like trying to switch without a tag. This match does need to move a bit more thou, as it’s still at a low gear.

The choke and double team the hell out of Chavo while hot headed Hector keeps running in. Fabs get great heat one they send Chavo to the floor to sell. Posing works wonders for them, but the strut is a Memphis strut, not a much cooler Flair strut.

The Fabs are a little to deliberate for me, as even when they sneak a cheat, there’s no sense of urgency. I do like the way they work as far as logic and attitude. They do all the right things. Hector keeps trying to get at them for the double-teams in the corner, and again he’s sent outside. Great sunset flip hope spot. Lane grabs the tights to keep him from running over for the hot tag. He’s taken, kicking and screaming, back to the corner and then the outside, where he hits the barricade. Every time he gets a moment these guys cut him off nicely. This is MNX heel teaming goodness.

Chavo uses those awesome Guerrero rolls to make the tag, and Hector comes in with big drop kicks. It breaks down and they use tag team moves to dispatch of the Fabs. Lane even runs the ropes slow.

That’s what you get with muscled up guys, even good workers. Ref tries to gain control and while that’s going on the Guerreros get the visual pin. I think it’s Lane who comes off the top with a knee to the back of the head. He tosses his partner to the floor and gets the pin in 17 minutes.

Very good match that might have been more and was technically very good. It had the feel of what RNR vs MNX could be, but on an off night. By that I just mean if the guys had their minds elsewhere or were a bit tired, that might be this match. Very enjoyable though. The brothers still amaze me and the Fabs were very good. 3 ¼ stars and 6.4/10.

Match Discussion Here

Guerrero, Chavo’s youngest brother. Olympia, now on the outside, is with Skando Akbar. That explains why Chavo came out as a hot face.

2 chinks in the armor: Chavo’s punches and his mess up on a family special – the reverse surf board.
Good psychology, as Olympia momentarily slows the match and grounds Chavo, but Chavo speeds it back up. He works on Olympia’s back and he’s incredibly intense and purposeful.

Olympia is the king of rest holds, but it works well in this storyline match. Chin lock, but Chavo fights it off. Hope spot and back into the chin lock. Olympia really grinds it out (which you need to do to get a submission hold over)and gets a good heated reaction. Another hope spot for Chavo. This is building well.

Chin lock! Chavo’s fight to get out of the hold is epic. He’s chopping, punching, and throwing Olympia by his mask. He goes for a third whip to the buckle, but Olympia shoves him. Great bump.
I’m loving this match. I dig the story and the wrestling is strong. Crowd only helps.

Sick back breaker from the heel Olympia. We’re at the ten minute mark. Guerrero keeps trying to steal a pin out of nowhere. Mr. Olympia is thrown through the ropes and Chavo dives on him. He got serious air there.

Holy crap! Chavo gets Olympia back in and his punches actually improve. No, he’s just throwing a left straight and it’s more credible. They are punches and kicks Steve Austin would respect, and the ref gets pushed away. He comes back and as he pulls Chavo off, Olympia doesn’t sell. He gets something out of his tights and puts it on his boots. Olympia dropkicks Chavo, the object K.O.s him, and he falls through the ropes. Mr. Olympia – Super heel.

Only thing I dislike so far is Olympia should be showing a beating and selling a bit by now, even with the advantage.

Olympia drags Chavo back in, pins him, but Chavo gets his foot on the rope! Olympia is pissed. I really thought that was the finish. He locks on the sleeper. Chavo won’t give up as the arm stays up.
Chavo makes a huge comeback and though Olympia’s strong suit doesn’t seem to be selling, he does lay down for a german suplex. Chavo wins! He then gives another suplex that would make Kurt Angle flinch. Fans are going crazy Chavo is trying to rip Olympia’s mask off.

It gets better. Akbar comes in but he can’t stop Chavo either. Ted Dibiase comes in, bumps like crazy for Chavo, before overwhelming him with the cast on his hand. The Dusty-Bockwinkle match and this are listed as a month apart, and Dibiase is still running around with that cast?

Major beatdown on Chavo with Dibiase giving the famed falling fist over and over. Faces are out from the back and they get beat down. Major heat!! Reminds me of ECW angle cira 1997 where RVD/Sabu/Lawler cleared the ring until Taz came out. I’m very curious how Mr. Olympia turned and sided with Dibiase. Mr. Wrestling II comes out as the heels leave.

There was 20 minutes of my life where I enjoyed being a fan. It got me seriously interested in seeing more Chavo and even Dibiase in Mid South. This was the best thing on disk one yet. I’ll need to look into a compilation of Chavo or Dibiase in M.S., and really the 1982-83 seasons of Mid South TV. 3 ¾ and 7/10.

Some interesting thoughts from others on this match