Now this is an odd what-if match for the hardcore fan. RNR lands in All Japan.

The fan are heavily behind the RNR Exp. Kroffat and Ricky Morton open with a smart little duel of power versus speed. Hansen runs in and chases Morton, and for a moment everyone is in the ring. Settles into Morton again having to be quicker against Kroffat’s power and skill. Lots of good counter wrestling and a good dive outside from Morton. Gibson tags in and continues to counter Kroffat, but Hansen comes in and barrels over him and Morton. He makes it a Hansen match. Turn comes quick with Hansen missing a lariat at ringside and hitting the ringpost. Gibson goes to work on the arm. The bigger Hansen struggles out of trouble with Morton in. Five minutes.

Kroffat tags in and shows some sharp, efficient offense and agility, taking a few good bumps too. Morton sells for this stretch, as you’d expect. Gibson gets hope spots, and in one Kroffat delivers a great superkick to shut him down. Hansen tags in and roughs up Morton, avoiding his comeback attempts. Quick tags from Hansen/Kroffat, who have to work hard to keep Morton grounded. Morton gets a flash roll up pin on both at separate times, but they continue to get the heat on him. Ten minutes gone.

Gibson comes in to try and help, and Hansen kicks out of a pin where both cover him. Kroffat takes Gibson to the floor while Hansen signals for the lariat. Gibson ducks the lariat off the ropes, but then gets hit with the second attempt, and Hansen pins him. Hansen wins clean with the lariat in 11 minutes.

This was a hidden gem, sort of the reason I watch these sets. Good power and size versus speed and counter-wrestling match. It’s set up exactly the way you’d want it to maximize the styles of everyone involved. Morton wrestles most of the way, including “playing Ricky Morton” for a good stretch. Kroffat really impressed me with his efficient and devastating offense, and then his agility and bumps. Hansen tries to turn this into a Hansen match, and the only defense is for the RNR to let him make mistakes and go after his lariat arm for a short spell. The size and brutality of Hansen/Kroffat is such a good match up for the smaller, quicker RNRs. This had great pace and good tags while Morton was in trouble, with just the right amount of hope spots and then cut offs. It’s not a perfect match, or a top 20 or 30 match, but it’s the perfect stylistic change of pace for this set while maintaining a sense of quality in the work, so maybe I will rate it higher just because of where it fell chronological. One of the best “middle of the pack” matches I’ve watched. 3 ¼ stars and 6.65/10

The RNR look old coming out. Flair is animated as hell and Arn looks bad ass. They wear NFL jerseys and taunt Kevin Greene and Mongo McMichael. A dynamite graphic is set to explode to get us into the second hour of Nitro. Fireworks too. Well, that must be confusing for the audience in the building for the live match.

This is actually a pretty historic match up given the histories of all these men. The first few minutes consists of Flair and Anderson bumping and stooging for the RNRs like they were the Midnight Express in 1984. Great stuff including a double Figure Four spot and Flair doing his shove spot with the ref.
It’s to bad this match isn’t a part of a feud or mean something more, because it’s entertaining as all hell. It won’t hurt as much not having it in a greater context with me voting, but it won’t be a top 20 match most likely.

Ricky Morton starts selling as we get the elongated “playing Ricky Morton” heels get heat segment. Nothing new, and there really is no reason to be. Just solid tag wrestling from the Horseman team, especially Anderson, cutting off the ring. The spine buster to pin combo is just great. Of course these guys are older and the action is very old school, but it moves well.

Morton starts to get some hope spots and flash pin attempts and Arn slows it down. They go up a level or two then back down so seamlessly. The Horseman at times get cheered as babyfaces here.
The comeback and finish didn’t really inspire me as a fan, but perhaps the match was good enough my expectations grew. Woman interferes, Arn gets the DDT, and Flair covers for the win in about 17 minutes. A heck of a fun old school match. 3 ¼ and 7/10.

Rock beats scissors, and appropriately enough, Rock N Roller Ricky Morton’s speed beats muscled up Russians (fake ones too). They play with the speed vs the power throughout the match, making for a good concept. The Russians keep switching because in Memphis Ref Calhoun thinks all faces make clean tags behind his back, and all ball men look alike.

This match rules. Even Gibson shows off his skills here. The rest holds are fun and the pace is controlled by whichever team is in charge. Also if you squint here you can pretend the RNR are the AWA/WWF Rockers, or vice versa. The Russians sure suck at bumping, but then it’s a small complaint.
The RNR switching behind the ref doesn’t get old to me, especially in the face of the Russian switches earlier. Lance Russell comments on the early days for Morton and Gibson. Great perspective that adds to the match.

Gibson takes his big bump over the top rope and ends up the one selling long term. I always love a match that deviates from established history, even if this predates the whole “playing Ricky Morton” selling tag. In short, I dig Gibson playing a more active role. The fans are into him selling too. The Russians are such awesomely powerful bullies too.

A great Gibson sunset flip hope spot is in there. I needed to mention that it was so good. Morton gets the tag and the match doesn’t end then. Another formula buster! It does end soon after when Krushchev hits Morton in the back of the head with a chain. 1-2-3 pin finish.

But wait. The ref restarts the match. Rick rolls up Krushchev a moment later to hold onto the belts (I’m not sure what belts). Really good match that was fun yet had drama. 3 ½ and 7/10.

Match Discussion Here

The full-fledged famed RnR Exp. Is here in this Mid South Coliseum match. The Nightmares are the heels and resident baddies. No silly capes this time but they do have Jimmy Hart.

The Nightmares stooge and bump all over for RNR, especially Ricky Morton. There’s this weird spot where Gibson dives into the corner and saves Morton from hitting the turn buckle with his own body. Never seen that before. We also get many monkey flips on the heels. Nice quick action that has some pacing to it.

Nightmares actually start working on the knee of Gibson, so you know we’re getting a hot tag and then Morton selling. 5 minutes in and they’ve effectively cut off the ring. Lots of double teams and near tag drama. Good stuff.

Ending is pretty decent. Gibson gets the hot Tag to Morton, they end up cutting his comeback off, but Morton moves out of the way of a top rope diving head but to get the pin in 8 minutes. Like many of these Memphis matches, it was the start of what could have been a great match, but I feel like they went from the midpoint to the end without an act in the match. 2 ¾ and 6/10.

Match Discussion Here

Instant rematch. I loved the first one. This one starts in progress. Gratitude.

Savage’s selling is so under rated. It may be his best quality, even as a heel. Everyone is quick in this match, but doesn’t feel the need to do too much because of it. Gibson does a neat looking sun set flip early. Savage makes a habit of acting crazy and threatening camera men when he gets upset. It’s kinda scary stuff because he’s constantly all over the place, like a manager. Lanny plays the fool in the ring for the Express early.

Savage gets in and gets to do his double ax handle from the stratosphere. Heels take control. Much slower pace then their last match. Fine twist though. The Poffos run interference, cheat, and otherwise are dastardly heels. No hope spots as we reach 10 minutes in.

Match gets a tad dull when Savage isn’t running around the outside to screw with Gibson. Just as I say that Macho Man teases the same pile driver through the table on Morton. Morton back body drops him onto the table. All four end up involved, so it really does get hot at the right time. Gibson superplexes Lanny and has a pin. Angelo hits him with a shoe. Morton takes the shoe and beats Angelo with it. Savage and Morton end up scrapping with each other on the ground as this one goes black. A different match than the last, but equally as entertaining. 3 ¼ and 6.5/10.

Match Discussion Here

This is a quality match up. The Brothers Poffo with the presence of Savage and skill of Lanny. I know the greatness of the RNR Express, and I understand the strengths of both teams. The dynamic is there for a great match.

Randy Savage bumps early for the Express. Great stuff as he makes Morton look like a million bucks. Crowd loves it too. The brothers totally stooge for the Express, which I love in this case. Savage does the “I’m gonna get you” then runs away. A few double team moves on Lanny showing off the speed of the RNR. They work Lanny’s knee while knocking Randy on his ass. Randy stares holes in the crowd for cheering.

Robert Gibson hits the turnbuckle with his shoulder, but it’s a tease as Ricky takes advantage of the match a minute later. The Poffos end up with control of the match, but it’s more back and forth then the formula Exp. Matches. The Poffos stuff is quick and crisp though, and I enjoy it because it’s not plodding offense.

Robert gets the hot tag and the Poffos bump all around like pinballs for the man. DQ comes at 9 minutes when Angelo pulls the top rope down. Huge fall. Morton is over to protect his partner and Savage pile drives him through the announcer’s table. ECW ECW ? I regress. Really something for it’s time. This got to me as a spot more then all the dull brawling matches I’ve seen on this set (not everything, I loved all Fabs-Moondogs matches). This just clicked for me. 3 ¼ and 7/10.

Match Discussion Here

This match is probably on here just as much for novelty as match quality. Here we have a really early pairing of the Rock N Roll Express, and they partner with future famed rival Bobby Eaton. How cool is that. Apparently Eaton is now out of the Hart led First Family. Good for him.

This starts out as a brawl when everyone hits the ring. I’ve seen a lot of them lately. Luckily for me this settles into the Moondogs bumping around and selling to showcase the smaller/quicker face team. Hart tells the announcers the match is under protest in a triva note, because Ricky Morton’s dad is the referee. Interesting. Morton manages to throw the greatest drop kick soon after. I’d sold. He misses it a minute later, so we know the heat portion will be pretty good.

Morton sells like…well, Ricky Morton, so the next few minutes are good. They are made better by the fact that the Moondogs are rough powerhouses, making the offense seem really impressive. The hope spots really get the people going too.

Something I like: Morton tags in your resident house of fire, Robert Gibson. Every Mid South tag with the RnR ended with Gibson getting the tag and go to some finish. Here he gets drop kicks in on the Moondogs, then misses big. The match continues.

Eaton gets tagged in and takes both men on. He ends up on the floor after the rope gets pulled down on him. Then the Moondogs hit him low on the floor. I love this tag team of Moondogs. Hart chokes Eaton with something while ref Paul Morton is distracted. Unfortunately with Eaton selling the match loses some of it’s luster. It’s still good, but it was a little better before.

Hart comes in to get punched in the face and pinned by Eaton in 12 minutes. Great finish and a real good match. I should point out Hart never sells his beating nearly as much as I’d like a non-wrestler to do. 3 ¼ and 6.4/10.

Match Discussion Here

Cornette and the Midnights are already in the ring doing mic work and getting heel heat to start the festivities. I love this heel move on Cornette’s part, and I’ve seen it on this set a few times. It’s very cool. I’d like to see something like this more often in modern wrestling, and I can say that LAX was doing it in TNA in ’06 and Larry Sweeney in ROH more recently. Rock N Rolls are out dancin’ around, being all babyface for 1985.

I watched the last match these two had on the set (1/21/85) again. I was hard on it, and wondered if perhaps I’d seen too much of the formula, both against each other and as separate entities. Well, it had a good heated heel heat segment with Morton playing Morton, but I feel my assessment was correct. I think at 3 ½ stars I’m being very fair with that match, and I don’t think it needs to be shoved up the ranks. There’s just too much great stuff in these 150 matches, and with so many high end matches the ranking between a #12 and a #32 could be razor thin.

Eaton puts the match into theatric “stall ball” right away. Robert Gibson ready to lock up, but Condrey takes a while to get on the apron, and then they consult. Then Cornette strategizes with Eaton and THEY hug. Face off – strategy session with Condrey. Face off – but Bobby tells everyone to wait. More strategy with Condrey, who is doing well working the crowd. I’m enjoying the nuances of this rivalry.

Lock up. Eaton misses a punch, but Gibson doesn’t. Beautiful Bobby literally runs to his corner and puts his head between the ropes. Then he does it again when he’s threatened a moment later. Very entertaining early stuff. I really enjoy the small things before we get to the meat and potatoes in this style of match. Eaton actually tells the ref to watch the fist from Gibson, and he says it with a pouting straight face.

Kick ass moment ensues. First Eaton gets caught in a head lock, and tries to get out with hair. Veteran move as he turns Gibson’s body anytimes the ref comes close to seeing the hair pull. Second is a play off a classic heel/MNX sequence where Bobby would throw a guy off the rope in the corner so he’s forced to run the ropes into the MNX corner. Condrey would then either give a high knee to the back through the ropes, or a fist to the face. When Eaton throws him here Gibson simply slows down, taunts Condrey, then moves out of the way. Eaton is coming from behind with a kick, but it goes (legit stiff) into Condrey stomach on the apron. Then we get dropkicks and a powder out to the floor as the MNX regroup with Cornette.

Ricky Morton in and he gets the happy crowd into more a frenzy. Eaton is hesitant and flustered. Morton takes care of Eaton with some great exchanges and the heels regroup again. Condrey is not happy, and the ref gets a mouthful. Then Eaton gives him some tips too. The fans get into it as Eaton starts asking them if his hair was pulled! Each side gives heat till he points the ref to Condrey, who agrees the RNRs pulled the hair. AWESOME. If this match has great heat segments and works in drama, it’s the full course meal, because it’s fun and well wrestled so far.

MNX try to trap Morton in the corner, but he’s to quick, and they retreat. Gibson and Condrey in, and Dennis is scared. He’s also no match for the headlock. He gets out and starts a shoulder block convention. Even gives Bobby a look and a dance after the third before hitting the rope for a fourth. But he’s out quicked and smarted again. Great heel whiney. The spacing of the men is great. The bumps and the moves are all crisp and solid. The verbal participation and character stuff is on, and all this makes me as happy as the crowd.

About ten minutes in we get a test of strength that shows how over the match is. The crowd gets into the test of strength struggle, and the men are barely doing anything. Only thing better would be huge heat for a rest hold on about the 4th hope spot before a comeback. Smart and fun stuff, again. Oh, and Condrey wins the test of strength Morton simply money flips him out. A second later they do a call back with Eaton Monkey flipping his own partner. It’s a bit silly, but perfect for the match, and as they roll out Cornette is pissed at Eaton for it, so I’m fine with it.

The Midnights finally outnumber the RNRs and Condrey trips Gibson in a wonderful looking turn of events. Choking him right away the fans act like they’ll riot. Eaton illegally off the top rope with a nice looking Alabama Jam, then swears it was off the second top. Everything in this match is done so the fans know exactly what’s being felt, said, and argued in the moment. The emotions are raw here. More choking from Eaton, moving Gibson so the ref can’t quite catch it again. Morton can’t take any more of this, but while he drags Eaton off, Cornette hits Gibson with the tennis racket, then walks away with a “who me?” face. The ref does go out to talk to him, but now you got a double team in the ring. The heels are the definition of cheating with the numbers advantage. 15 minutes gone by.

Gibson fights for the corner only to get cut off a second time by Eaton, and they utilize there third or fourth tag in and out here. Why isn’t cutting off the ring, holding the opponent, and fresh tags more a part of modern wrestling, since we still often use the hot tag formula. It’s just not as sports oriented. Surgical, in a way.

I need to mention its Robert Gibson selling here, and its formula busting. I love this match, and Gibson is really doing his job fighting off a Condrey’s hammer lock as he crawled for Morton. Crowd is on fire as Gibson is inches away from the tag, but Eaton cuts it off by hitting Morton. Then they double team when Morton is sent back to the corner for coming in. Crowd eats it up.

More choking. Another cut off by way of grabbing the tights, and Eaton even hits a suplex. He looks so weak doing any power moves, even a simple one. Gibson is fighting him with all his might and the crowd wants the tag so bad. Big hope spot and Eaton ends it with a clothesline. Eaton goes up top but gets superplexed off, and that just does not happen in 1985. They strain and milk the hot tag. Here it is! It’s Morton who because the house of fire! He’s punching everyone in sight. Only part of the match that sucks is here, as he puts the abdominal stretch on Eaton in the middle of the big finish. Why!?

Robert Gibson tosses Cornette in, and though he holds Morton to get punched, it’s Cornette that Eaton socks. Crowd is jumping up and down screaming. Looks like the heels might win as Eaton is leaning over and punching Gibson, but Ricky Morton runs in the ring and sunset flips Eaton. 1-2-3. The Rock N Rolls finally (for this set) beat the Midnight Express!! Great way to bring this around, even if they had beaten them clean in the past.

I loved this match. It wqas dinner AND a movie. Well, more like Dinner, the movie, fly to France for desert, and all the sex afterwards in the finest hotel. It had everything you want as a fan, from funny to serious, goofy spots to technical beauty. Great story telling. A satisfying finish. I’ve gotta go back to see the my #7 through 9 matches, as seven is a MNX vs RNR match, eight is Fans vs Guerrerros, and nine is the classic angle of Rat Pack vs JYD/Olympia with L.L.T. stip. This match may be in that realm of lower top ten matches, and I might have said top 20 perhaps even halfway through the match. It just grows on you as the whole puzzle is shown. 4 stars and 8.3/10.

Match Discussion Here

Final match in the Rock N Roll Express trifecta, and sad to say the prior two didn’t fully live up to expectation (though those were terribly high). Their second match with Doc/Dibiase was a good TV match, but not a ballot favorite, but I did like it more than their match with the Freebirds. I’m shocked to say I’ve seen Gordy in two tag matches so far that probably aren’t/ going to end up in the front half of the 150. Doc/Dibiase was slightly better than the Freebirds match, and that brings up to this match up. Heels Jake Roberts and power wrestler (read enhanced) the Barbarian have to hold up against the Rock N Rolls.

Morton and Jake to start. Whenever I see Jake I think of Paul Heyman’s quote in Beyond The Mat About Jake having “it”. He really did. A healthier Jake having started out a decade later would have been ECW’s lead heel for the promotions whole run. Oh well.

An animated mobile Jake trades arm locks and leg laces with Morton to set the tone. Great pacing and first to third gear from these two. It makes sense but I hadn’t thought of it. Jake tags out after getting a fist in the face. Barbarian looks very different without the face paint. He also looks odd next to Ricky Morton. David and Golith – strength vs speed spots. Decent, but nothing g brilliant. The heels are good at getting the emotion across, which surprises me on Barbarian’s part.

After so many matches without an announcer, I’m so happy to hear Paul Boesch’s voice. Any voice will do for house so matches. It gets lonely, ya know?

Barbarian drops Morton throat first on an elevated (thanks to Jake) top rope, so the heels are going right to the heat on Morton. Jake in and does the greatest thing (in this match… so far) by pausing and stomping on Morton’s hand. Very out of the blue when usually a heel would just stomp or forarm the back. Jake taunts and waits on Morton, hands on the knees. I love this wacko.

Five minutes in. Rest hold applied by Roberts. Hope spot and than another, and the faces just beat the heels. Guess it’s to early for the whole formula. Moving on…

Robert Gibson in with Jake the Snake. They do spots where the Barbarian comes in. Boy, he was really slow in figuring out what to do in spots, and for the second time I see Jake motioning him to his place. In storyline it works because Jake was a mastermind character and Barb. Was a henchman. The muscle. But it really takes you out of these worked matches, and I’m not meaning how working overly light does for a split second.

Jake against Gibson again. These two work fine together with a headlock/roll up spot where Jake holds the tights. Barb is just so animated in a way that’s not helping, acting like he’ll run in here when there’s no reason. Gibson runs the ropes, hits a move, and in comes Ricky Morton (it must be time to get heat on the faces 10 minutes into what I’d call an average RAW or secondary WWE PPV tag match so far.

I’m realizing again one of the great attributes the RNRs brought to the table. Both Ricky and Robert could run the ropes and create movement in matches, while having moves, drop downs, and reversals strung together around that to create a sense of excitement. Creating movement in a wrestling match is a real under rated quality, especially for matches that are NOT high flying spotfests. Flair matches always had a lot of good movement and basic wrestling as their bases, and the RNRs do too. Funny, this disk of the set is all Flair/RNRs, so it’s essentially a preview disk for Crockett tapes.

Just figured out why this match got nominated. They go another 2 minutes of headlock stuff, and then Jake gets tied up in the ropes. The beginning looks so contrived (I know, it is, it’s wrestling, but…you know) until you see the reason for the tie up, and then you forgot how he got there. The Rock N Rolls take turns punching and kicking, and then dropkicking Jake while the Barbarian keeps trying to fend them off. Every time he chases one out of the ring, the other gets in and beats up a helpless Jake. The crowd eats it up, and so did I. A fun spot that needs to be copied soon, and if it has, please tell me where so I can see it.

Jake face plants after getting unhooked – to the fans delight – then the RNRs take turns trying to cover him. I enjoy it as this spot is fun too, but why is Randy Anderson constantly letting the faces in this match do whatever they want? People bitch about this stuff min modern Briscoe Brothers matches, but to a degree it was all over CLASSIC Memphis and Mid South. The finishes are always breaking into Texas Tornado rules that only get officiated by the book half the time. The RNRs and Fantasics often switched partners just cause they wanted to, and while it was seen by the fans as getting back over on the heels, isn’t it the refs job in that situation to lay down the law. Here, every other pin is illegal, and yet it’s counted by Anderson on the mat. It’s something important to be acknowledged in modern day since the rose colored glasses have long been out on pre-1990 stuff. It is an advantage push situation in this match for me, as it’s annoying as an afterthought, but enjoyable gamesmanship/comedy at the time.

The Barbarian sells like an idiot, even for a “big man” monster type. He’s getting the heat on Morton, though I didn’t see a tag. What a goofy match, as Barbarian sometimes is just walking around instead of engaging the faces in the ring. Punch, kick, mostly headlock and body slam from the Barbarian. You’d think he couldn’t screw up a headlock, but Barbarian loses his grip and stance more than once trying to “grind it”. Yuck!

Jake in. I respect that Jake goes right to the sleeper and smiles at the crowd. The Crowd is chanting and he’s milking it without doing a thing. Working smart. Still, I was already bored. Different era, I’ll try not to let it taint my opinion, but I was already not a huge fan of this match. Hope spots and cut offs. At least Jake taunted Gibson with a limp Morton. Barb in. Crap!

A bright spot is Morton trying to fight out of Barbarian’s grasp and his momentary hope stuff. Jake in. Now it’s slowly redeeming itself. Jake taunts and hits Gibson to the point he comes after Jake. Good intensity. Morton’a classic selling and hope spots are more defined here. 20 minutes in .

Must have been the cue. Morton hot tag out of nowhere after several good times it was built up.

Gibson in. You know the deal. Gibson beats the world. Ref out of place. Gibson pins someone. No ref. Barbarian gets him in a bad full nelson (half Robert Gibson’s fault). Ricky Morton solves that problem by drop kicking his partner so Barb. And Gibson both fall down. What? What? Even Boesch struggles to explain this crap. Gibson is somehow fine. Now we get his famous standing in place pin for the heel to grab him. It’s Jake with the DDT. That looked cool. Barb covers and Morton has to pretend he’s drunk so he doesn’t break up the pin. Maybe he was.

Screw this match. Over 2 minutes of flashes of greatness with overall below average stuff. Not anywhere near my top 100. 2 stars and 3/10 from me, and it was the last minute that cemented that as I was thinking of being more generous. If this happened today I’d be pissed this match wasted so much of the rest of the cards time. 2 stars and 3/10.

Match Discussion Here