A bit of American flavor hits Japan as the technical wizards of the Malenko family take on Southern tag team the Fantastics.

Tommy Rogers and Dean Malenko run through a ton of hold/counter-hold sequences that looks beautiful. Joe Malenko gets in, and man are his knuckle lock takedowns wonderful. He grounds Tommy in a hold. Fulton tags in a moment later, but Joe outclasses him. Five minutes gone.

Futlon continues to try to eecute takedowns and holds, but Joe knows the escapes and chains. Dean gets in with Rogers again, and Rogers works the arm. The action gets faster, with Rogers and Fulton making quicker tags. No real sustained advantages, but Dean is really efficient when he takes over. Joe takes over to work Roger’s arm. Fulton is in and shows over some counterholds. Ten minutes gone.

Joe goes to work on Fulton’s arm with really good holds, and Fulton counters with kicks. Dean comes back on Rogers with a Texas Cloverleaf attempt, and Rogers counters with a doomsday device (with Fulton doing the top rope clothesline). Dean comes back with a dropkick, tags in Joe, and Fulton tags in Rogers. Rogers uses some strikes, and knocks Joe in the corner. Great spot where Rogers misses an elbow and really takes the turnbuckle. Dean uses a bow-and-arrow at the fifteen minute mark.

All four men in the ring, Joe gets knocked outside. He comes back as they do a great sequence, and the Malenkos double team Fulton. Rogers saves from the top rope and pankcake Dean with a double team of their own. Back and forth these teams go as it slows down again. A good amount of tags. Great spot where Dean gets in trouble, and big brother Joe takes a top rope move to cover his brother from further injury. They trade several convincing near falls, ending when Dean hits a lariat, Joe grabs a waistlock, and Dean dropkicks Fulton into a German suplex with a bridge for the pin at the twenty minute mark.

On first take, given the ring jackets, boy do the Fantastics seem out of place on this set visually, probably even more than the RNR did. No matter, this is a great change of pace match for this set, and really not as foreign as I expected wrestling-wise. Dean and Rogers put on an opening clinic, and then Joe outclasses Fulton. I like the way Rogers took over Dean’s arm, and Fulton was fine holding the work in short spurts (he’s not bad, I just think of him as the least in this match). And man are the Malenkos an efficient offensive team. Along with their array of holds and transitions into holds, they seem destine to leave the ring with one of the Fans arms. When the Fans do decide to come back with strikes it definitely pops the match as the Malenkos use 95% pure wrestling to that point. It also makes sense as a story without a true heel team.

This progresses past the 15 minute make with a little more flare and fire, and grows to include some great double team sequences that I liked before they slow it down again. I liked seeing the Malenkos get more violent with strikes as time went on. Again, played well with the chess match going on here. Loved the spot where big brother Joe saves Dean and takes a move to spare his brother. Very Funk influenced moment, as we’ve seen. Loved the near falls at the end, and the finish. This was nice because I’ve tired (momentarily) of the Jumbo/Tenryu tags where guys do a million moves that look like they could be finishers, and this had a great pace and a reasonable build up for my tastes. Easily in my top third. 3 ¾ stars and 7.35/10

The Fantasics are back to face the non-Britsh Regal and utility midcarder, Jacko, in the best of three falls.

The fans give THE FANS kisses and flowers, and then the heel team of Regal/Victory smashes the flowers in ring. The Fans take care of those guys, clearing the ring. Back in at the start the Bobby Fulton shows off a bit, sending Regal hard to the buckle. Great bump and Regal/Victory commiserate on the outside. Tommy Rogers comes in and Regal bumps for him too. Regal looks pretty good in there playing his role. Both Fans use quick offense and clever tag team wrestling in the first several minutes. Victory The Fans work over Victory’s arm at the five minute mark.

The Fans continue to work over the arm of their opponents, and Victory ends up smashing into Regal. Victory takes a great big double back body drop, and the heels retreat to the floor. Seven or eight minutes in the tide turns, and Regal/Victory take over. Regal throws an awesome belly to belly suplex. Rogers tags out to Fulton, and he ends up taking Regal’s belly to belly too. They milk the idea of Fulton selling and trying to tag out at the ten minute mark.

Regal wears down Fulton, slowing and grounding him. Great moments of near tags that eventually lead to Regal/Victory double teams in there corner. Fulton’s constant struggle is awesome. Fulton with a kneelift on Victory finally reaches Rogers for the tag. Rogers destroys Victory with punches, a drop kick, and an abdominal stretch, before all four men end up in the ring. The Fantastics win the first fall at 13:26 when Rega sends Rogers over the top rope for a DQ finish. It was actually better of a first fall finish than it reads, as Regal was breaking up a certain pin.

Second fall starts out hot with Rogers and Victory working tightly together, and then Regal taking over on Rogers. The heels use several tags and some fun moves. Fulton tags back in for the Fans, and this match is really rolling. The heels work over Fulton, who gets a few hopespots before the tag. All four men in the ring at the five minute mark of the second fall. Regal goes for a vertical suplex on Rogers, but Fulton sends Victory into Regal’s midsection. Regal drops Rogers, who schoolboys Victory for the pinfall at roughly the eighteen minute mark overall for the win in two falls.

Feel like the Fantasics learned something from wrestling the Midnights, and they showed it off here. The quick tags, moves, and focused work really came together in that first fall, which made an essential squash match feel like a showcase of talent. Regal and Victory were right there bumping and crying on the outside, until the eight minute mark when they take over and we get to see Regal’s excellent belly to belly suplexes. There’s nothing too flashy about the heels, and yet they were solid and compelling workers in this match. The second fall is really fast and tight work. It’s like the first fall was a warm up for these guys, which is always good because second falls sometimes settle into a less urgent groove. The punches in this match were great (and Regal’s belly to belly suplex was hot too). The finish to the second fall was great too. I really enjoyed this match. I’d think right now it might slip into my top third. 3 ¼ stars and 6.55/10

The final of the trilogy of Midnights/Fans matches on this set, this one emanating from the Dallas Sportatorium.

The Fans do their gimmick of getting hugs and kisses at ringside, while the Midnights wait in the ring. This is for the American Tag Team Titles. Eaton starts with Rogers, which is probably the best combination. He’s tentative, and as usual Rogers begins to out-do Eaton. Eaton traps Rogers in his corner and they try to double team, but Rogers fires back and Bobby Fulton comes over. The Midnights cower, a slower start, but an interesting one. Five minutes gone.

Condrey comes in on Rogers, and Rogers schools him. Condrey bumps great for him, and then Fulton comes in for an offensive spurt. The Midnights stooge and bump for Fulton, and then it’s right back to Rogers. Condrey comes up with a killer clothesline on Rogers, who doesn’t know there was a tag. The Midnights go to work after generously giving up the first ten minutes of the match. As always, the Midnights utilize quick tags, cutting off the ring, and double teams. All of it is really good stuff. Eaton does a backbreaker/powerslam combo that’s out of this world. The crowd is on fire for the nearfalls as they cheer on the struggling Rogers. The crowd really came alive rooting on Rogers to come back. Of course he does. Fulton clears the ring with punches off the tag. Awesome false finish with Cornette tripping Fulton and Eaton pinning. The kick out was huge and unexpected. Right at the fifteen minute mark Cornette comes in with the tennis racket and hits Bobby Fulton, who has rolled up Eaton. Ref Manning sees it and DQs the Midnights, but they retain the belts.

This is a really hard thing to argue, but I’ll toss out there that the Midnights vs Fans trilogy may be the pound-for-pound best in ring series on the set. Freebirds/VEs and DD/VE have a lot more matches, and therefore a few clunkers. None of the Mids/Fans stuff on the set was weak. Obviously we aren’t seeing every match in every series, but I’m try to put over how good I think this series is. As for this match, another solid and good-to-great effort from all four wrestlers. The Christmas Day match was the tightest, but shorter, with a simple story. The second match from 1/11/95 they stretched out what they wanted to do with The Fans getting more of the front of the match, and the Midnights getting a longer heat segment. This was similar to the second match, but may have been slightly more impressive in an offensive sense. The midnights gave up almost exactly 2/3 of the match, and still you wouldn’t think this was an unbalanced squash or anything. The story was certainly still there, with the Midnights giving away the first ten minutes then roaring back by doing their classic stuff (cutting off the ring, double teams, quick tags). Everything from the Midnight control on is amazing. Eaton pulls off a backbreaker/powerslam combo. I really thought the near fall where Cornette trips Fulton was the finish. Great false finish. The actual finish was so heated that even with it being a DQ, you still felt like the bad guys didn’t get away with their evil plan, and the right guys got their hands raised. I enjoyed this. 3 ½ stars and 7/10

The rematch from the wonderful and smooth tag title match from Christmas Day—won by the Fantastics.

Cornette fires up the Midnights on camera “I don’t want nothin’ but belts!” Rogers controls the early going, a neat moment being Rogers kicking at the tag attempt Eaton makes from the apron. Bill Mercer on commentary is as always hilarious. “Condrey’s nickname is loverboy. That may not be a nickname.” You’d have to hear the way he says it to fully grasp the gay undertones. Roger’s does a headscissors on Eaton while keeping Condrey in a headlock, then takes them both over as the Fantastics clear the ring. A solid opening two minutes. Eaton comes in and bars Rogers arm, a nice bit of work for a run of the mill move. The Sportatorium crowd is really live for this one. Rogers ends a good sequence with two stellar drop kicks to run off Eaton. Five minutes gone.

Fulton finally tags in for a quick explosion that ends in both Fantastics giving the Midnights monkey flips. They clear the ring again. Back in, Fulton slows it down with a headlock on the mat, and Eaton continues to try and turn it into a pin. Eaton has some great bumps and moments of selling in this. Cornette is disgusted on the outside. Ten mines gone.

Condrey pulls Fulton’s hair and Eaton gives him a knee to the back. The Midnights wear out Fulton quickly with quick tags and fast moves. Words can’t do justice to how good the Midnights are at eating up opponents with offense and getting crowd heat. Fulton gets a hope spot, and Eaton just walks over to Rogers on the apron and punches him. No tag yet, and Fulton pays the price. Eaton freezes the match with a seated chin lock/camel clutch. Fulton has another hope spot that ens in a vicious clothesline on him. Fifteen minutes gone.

Fulton double crossbodies the Midnights then rolls for the hot tag to Rogers. Rogers goes wild as the Midnights bump for him. Condrey tries to toss Rogers out of the ring, but Rogers smashes into ref David
Manning for a believable ref bump. Midnights get contro, and look for the double whip from the corners for a Fantastics collision. Fans reverse and Rogers gets a visual pin on Eaton, who kicks out at one when ref Manning gets there. They go to the ropes where Midnight Exp. Manager Jim Cornette wacks Rogers with the tennis racket he carries around, Rogers falls to the mat, and Eaton covers for the three count. The Midnights win the tag belts in seventeen minutes.

It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: The Midnights are amazing at what they do. The economy and efficiency of moves. The cheating, the stooging, the bumping and selling, down to the persona. They also had good teams to work with, and Tommy Rogers deserves the lion’s share of credit. He was tremendously under-rated, though I think after the Mid South set there was more credit being given to him. Tough match to judge against their Christmas Day match. I thought that match was more compact and in some ways a tighter story, but in this match allowed the participants to spread their wings and show their skills. It’s like they were given the extra five minutes to sink or swim on how good they were. They succeeded in my eyes. Very little to nitpick or complain about in this one, and I liked the heel finish. This will end up even higher than the Christmas Day match for me, though a comparative rewatch is probably in order. 3 ¾ stars and 7.3/10

The greatness of tag teams featured in the Mid South Diaries finds its way to Dallas on Christmas day. It’s the Midnights vs the Fantastics.

The Fantasics come off as pretty gay with their outfits, throwing out Candy Canes to the audience from their top hates (Yes, top hats). Hey, if it was cool in the eighties to wrestling fans, then… never mind. Cornette is with the Midnights. The Fantasics are WCCW American Tag Champs. Bobby Eaton and Tommy Rogers start out. It’s very smooth stuff. Cornette is animated and Rogers gets on him. The crowd is noisy. Great atmosphere. Rogers is hitting all the moves while Eaton is creating a lot of movement and bumping. This is above the level of Ice Man King Parsons and Chris Adams, and even Jimmy Garvin, who are all mainstays in this territories matches. Bobby Fulton and Dennis Condrey go at it. Condrey is not as good as Eaton, but he’s damn good, and he makes Fulton look like a million bucks. Fulton holds up his end. A lot of stooging from the heels. Condrey/Eaton do the “gay hug” spot to a fan reaction. Five minutes gone as smoothly as possible.

The quick and efficient way the Midnights sway this match with a double team and low tactics is poetry to my eyes. So good. Eaton takes over, but these guys are masters of quick tags, double teams, and cutting off the ring. We get all of that in the next minute as Rogers sells. Condrey with some big backbreakers. This stuff is little power, but totally tight finesse. The back elbows and kicks from the Midnights look perfect. The crowd is into the idea of Rogers tagging out, but he’s taking a beating. They don’t even do a rest hold until almost ten minutes in, and that gets big heat for its placement. A Rogers hope spot ends with a sick clothesline by Condrey. Ten minutes gone.

More and more a frustrated Fulton charges the ring after a taunt or injustice, only for Ref Lubich to back him up while fleet of foot Midnights double team Rogers. Condrey even does a double stomp to Rogers’s abs. Somehow Rogers sunset flips both Midnights—makes it look good—and gets to his corner in believable fashion for the hot tag to Fulton. The midnights feed the Fulton rally, all four men in the ring. Midnights gain the advantage for a moment, but Fulton ducks a double clothesline, Rogers grabs Condrey’s leg from the outside, and Fulton crossbodies Eaton for the pin. A perfectly executed final stretch to a pretty amazing thirteen minute match.

This one wasted no time. I have a feeling I might be slightly higher on this than most, but I don’t think anyone will have this in their bottom half. Where to begin—the crowd was good for this to give it that small extra bump, the character played their part incredibly well (even what little Cornette did was good stuff). The timing, I can not say enough about the finesse, execution, and timing of this match, right down to the perfectly executed finishing sequence. From the way Rogers outwrestled Eaton in a slick opening two minutes, to the way they glided right into the Midnights control segment, through all of that great selling by Rogers and good choice of moves from the Midnights—I’m very happy to have seen this match. Back elbows and backbreakers for everyone. 3 ½ and 7.3/10

Apparently storyline-wise Terry Gordy is to blame for all of this. Gordy attacked the Fantastics recently, and we know he’s had a longstanding feud with Death – Dr. Death Steve Williams. This allows Hayes and Roberts of the Freebirds to slide into a feud with the Fantastics.

Early it’s the Doc and Gordy show. Doc shows fire fighting all the Freebirds, while Gordy is determined but ends up bumping a lot. I take issue with the way a big guy like Gordy bumped so much just because he could, but as fellow CHRON contributor Gene Boyer has pointed out, the difference between All Japan Gordy and Mid South Gordy is sometimes the style of the territory. True, I think it’s a weakness of Mid South in some cases that may have been one of the few layout ideas I think WWF did better.

The babyfaces all hit their big moves, but Gordy avoids trouble enough to help the heels to momentary advantages. The heels definitely stooge (as the kids are saying these days) for Dr. Death and the Fans. Buddy Roberts plays the head stooge well. Michael Hayes is then in to play clever, but then stogy. And we come full circle back to Gordy. Those were good segments.

They go to commercial and upon return we find out the Freebirds have the advantage on Bobby Fulton. It’s MNX level smooth and gets the fans all kinds of riled up. A lot of fun but nothing to write home about. Doc gets a hot tag and goes crazy being fed bumping heels. It’s Mid South, so it breaks down two seconds into the hot tag, all six men in, and they steal another RNR-MNX old tune: a finish. Accept they don’t use it as a finish. A roll up by Tommy Rogers gets ended hard by a Hayes clothesline.

It ends up going back to a Doc-Buddy Roberts legal man situation, but that goes nowhere once the Angel of Death ends up interfering again. The babyface semi-main event locker room empties and it’s a DQ finish. Decent but worthless match. Don’t watch this unless you’ve never even seen these men. 2 ½ and 4/10.

Match Discussion Here

This match rules from the first image. It’s Hollywood John Tatum! He’s like a younger Jim Belushi, if Jim was younger and hammed it up with blond hair. I love that guy. His tag partner is Jacko – the journeyman Jack Victory, who was very inspired from the stuff I’ve seen, while in Mid South. The man has always had a gigantic fat ass. The Fantasics take forever, as usual, to get to the ring. Kissing girls and babies as Ross and Hayes on commentary talk about TV time remaining.

It should be mentioned how much the team of Ross and Hayes rule on commentary. The shows have great talent and hot crowds, but it’s the voices of those guys that really tipped the scales over in 1986.

First and foremost this match is fun. The heels show ass, as they say, and sell/pose/cry/whine. The faces look smart , thriow great dropkicks, and use some clever tag team moves. Once they hit the reversal and heel heat it really gets into gear. Bobby Fulton (no shock there) gets his foot grabbed, turns to glare, and then gets dropkicked in the back through the ropes. Victory is outside to catch him and dump him across the rail.

The work the heel heat qickly, but the plus side is the crowd stays hot. Double knock down and crawl to the corners spot. Tommy Rogers in as your house of fire. Four man brawl. Victory “Tullys” Rogers to the floor and they drop elbows on Fulton. The faces make a big comeback, well timed stuff, but with the ref distracted an elbow is dropped on the back on Roger’s head as he pins one of the heels, and the pin is reversed. New tag champs. Tatum and Victory stumble out of the ring with the belts.

It’s tough to do anything that resonates in six minutes or so, but these guys managed to squeeze a full match in, complete with all the fun opening stuff and some good interactions, and it was all wrestled well. The story is there, as was the athleticism. I was impressed. At 6 minutes it won’t be a classic or rank in my top 30-50 most likely, but I liked it a lot. It shows shorter matches don’t have to be rushed. 3 stars and 6.4/10.

Match Discussion Here

This is for the held up UWF tag team belts. Gilbert has his whole faction out there. Missy and Tatum should keep me interested if the match does not. Should be fun to see a young StingThe Fantastics take forever to get to the ring. They annoy me when not working hard in the ring. Ross is joined on commentary by Duggan. My bar is set low.

Eddie Gilbert makes Bobby Fulton look like gold early. He sells for everyone. The Fans are definitely sprinting in this match, which means they’ll work very tight. I love the quick tag team rules. The double-team stuff here is why they were looked upon favorably by some fans who thought the RNR Exp. Got too much credit. Sting is very green here, and it’s fun to see him get tossed around by these guys when he screws up. Tommy Rogers nails him with two stiff moves when Sting messes up.

Eddie Gilbert holds the match together until Bobby Fulton makes the comeback. It’s kept short. Sting is actually involved with a good ref bump, swinging his foe into Carl Fergie. John Tatum interferes, but Dark Journey brings out The Missing Link. It’s a DQ with a great Tatum bump to the floor at the end.
This was kinda fun, but it’s run of the middle Saturday morning stuff. No idea why it made the set. Short, sloppy when Sting was in, and a dud finish. It was interesting to see Gilbert work these guys and Sting be dragged along by an inspired Fanatastics team. 2 ¼ and 4/10.

Match Discussion Here

Dark Journey is a face now and Missy Hyatt makes an appearance with the heels. She’s slept with everyone but Sting on the heels side… maybe Sting too. Neat.

They do the hot opening with great tag team cooperation from the Fantastics and Tatum does a great job of making Missing Link seem like a killer. When we settle it down Eddie Gilbert and Tatum take turns trying to make lesser talent look both cool and bad ass. There seems to be a lot of that on this set. Mid South had some crappy wrestling babyfaces!

Early Sting. He would get better, but not a ton better. Looks like he was a capable hand early on who everyone thought was a quick study, but never got really great, just decent. Very much John Cena, which is funny because early on in Cena’s career he was compared a lot to Sting, and may end up be a better drawing version of him.

The heat is good because Bobby Fulton sells so well and the heels were really on with their antics. The crowd is super hot too, and while Duggan and Taylor were the draws, I’d take the Fantastics in the ring over them. The faces are just terrible on offense, but very good when Fulton is the only one in to sell. This heels squad was just as strong as the Freebirds were a match ago, just not as strong presence-wise.

There are a few ugly parts to this match with Sting-Fulton or Missing Link-anyone, but the hope spots and heel heat is dead on.

Finish is the match breaking down after the hot tag to Tommy Rogers. It gets slightly clumsy, the women get involved, and Hyatt hits Gilbert by accident. Rogers elbow drops and pins him for the win. 2 ¾ and 6.2/10.

Match Discussion Here

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