NWA On Demand

[Tabe]

I came out of the two matches (and everything else we've seen) wondering in the Fantastics aren't the best team of 86, which is saying a ton.

They are criminally underrated. They are probably the second best US team of the 80s (behind the Midnights). I'm biased, as they're my favorite team ever, but they were a great team.

[shoe]

I love how Houston really does a great job of having connective tissue between matches.

 

Taylor vs Buddy

 

These guys have a history of good matches. Roberts eats a punch and immediately takes a powder. Some back and forth. Roberts ties Taylor in the ropes and is beating on him. A kick by Taylor causes some seperation. In a nice revenge spot Taylor does the same to Roberts. I thought he could have milked the revenge for a bit longer. As the ref unties Roberts, Taylor goes for a cross body. He misses Roberts and hits the rope. This sets up Robert's heat. He's taking his time, measuring his shots. Crowd tries to rally Taylor. Roberts goes to the top without causing enough damage. Taylor catches him, and makes a comeback. He has a decent one for a bit, Roberts cuts him off only for him to mess up. Then it breaks down and it's the Freebirds battling Taylor/Watts/ and Chavo. 2/12*

A fight ensues and it's 3 on 3. It settles down into a match. Gordy bumping big early. Hayes and Taylor are at it. Gordy in to inflict some pain. Roberts is continuing the beatdown. Hayes is in and the crowd is rallying behind Taylor. He's been a solid FIP. Hayes eats a boot and we get a hot tag the ref doesn't see. So it breaks down into a free for all. Watts hits Taylor by mistake. Gordy and Hayes try to injure Watts, and they misfire. Match is thrown out as Watts is dropping people with brass knucks. A super heated affair. Gordy is all bloody post match. 3 1/2*

[shoe]

http://www.nwaondemand.com/ is showing a free Terry Funk vs Mark Lewin match that I rated 4 3/4*. It's worked like an NWA title match.

[Matt D]

Williams/Dibiase/Duggan vs Murdoch/Superstar/Buzz: This was a ton of fun in a big WWE Dark Match Six-Man with Main Eventers sort of way, the kind where everyone stooges a bit and hits all their finishers and sends the crowd home happy. Of course, the big draw here was the Murdoch stuff at the beginning with the handshake, playing on the Duggan vs Dibiase rivalry. I don't think any other wrestler in history could have done it quite like he did here. I swear, if this is the sort of BS that the Observer complained about in calling him lazy, it pretty much proves every complaint I ever had against the whole idea of workrate dogmatism. There was so much character and story and meaning behind all of this. The fans knew what was going on. They reacted to everything. They hungered for it. They accomplished more by teasing it and paying it off (in a way that made Duggan look great and Murdoch look like a stooge) than they would have with twenty spots. Glorious stuff.

 

Sting vs Gaylord: This wasn't dreadful or anything. Gilbert carried a lot of the load on the outside. They kept it very basic. It got sloppy in the stretch but it was, in general, a testament to how far Sting had come (and how far he had yet to go) as well as the power of just basic pro wrestling. It'd be interesting to see their match from 9 months before and the change. I don't think I'd rather get that one than something else, however.

 

Taylor vs Roberts > Watts, Chavo, Taylor vs Freebirds was just great pro wrestling. Taylor vs Roberts isn't going to win any awards (there's just something so rote about babyface Taylor to me), but it was heated and it led to a great bit of Freebirds stooging as they kept trying to take the win. I loved the camaraderie with Watts and the babyfaces. The heat on Taylor made a lot of sense because he was just in a match and then it all broke down effectively. It was like the world's best possible proto-ECW.

[shoe]

I thought the Ernie Ladd/ Tiger Conway Jr promos were fascinating. You have Tiger cut a babyface promo. With Ladd it's a total heel promo on Dusty. They're a tag team, but clearly has an agenda with Ladd. Neat to humanize a heel by introducing his son in the promo.

[shoe]

Gino vs Nick Kozak

 

Gino is wearing the mask from a head shaving from Jose. A fan has an identical gimmick as Gino. That is the most incredible thing ever. Boesch putting over Kozak's wrecker service. Kozak after the mask, but Gino escapes to the outside. Kozak with an ankle pick and starts to work the leg. Loving how Kozak is charlie horsing the leg. Gino cuts him off , but Kozak is great at showing fire. Kozak after the mask again. Gino with an eyerake stops him cold. Love Gino wildly throwing punches and missing. Loving Kozak measuring those punches. They're brawling on the floor. Gino with the elbows from the mount. Big Russian leg sweep followed by a few elbow drops. Gino with the win. I loved this match in it's simplicity. The basic story is Kozak trying to rip the mask off Gino. He was constantly going for it. In Pat Patterson's book they really put over Kozak as a great babyface. He really showed it here. His selling was great, but what was his calling card was his fire, and getting the crowd behind him. Plus both guys were really good at playing to the cheap seats here. I hope we get next weeks Gino vs Jose match. Again just great story telling and making the most of the gimmick, plus the fan with the gimmick ruled. 3 1/4*

[NickH]

These matches were from a match listing Tharpe posted last year but weren't uploaded. It had been over a year so I didn't worry about them but then the Gino/Kozak match came up yesterday. Lets hope we see these in the coming weeks.

 

TIGER CONWAY SR. and JR. vs. MARK LEWIN / GARY HART 2/9/79

ICHIBAN (with Gary Hart) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR. November 24, 1978

BULL RAMOS vs. MARK LEWIN / 2 out of 3 Falls for the Brass Knucks Title - blood! 12/15/78

NICK KOZAK vs. GINO HERNANDEZ (masked after hair match)

SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM (shaved head) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR.

MARK LEWIN vs. TIGER CONWAY JR./ 2 out of 3 Falls 1/19/79

GREG VALENTINE (babyface - with Johnny at ringside) vs. GINO HERNANDEZ/ 2 out of 3 Falls 12/22/78

ALBERTO MADRIL vs. GINO HERNANDEZ

JOSE LOTHARIO vs. GINO HERNANDEZ (masked)

IVAN KOLOFF vs. TONY ATLAS 9/5/80

GINO HERNANDEZ vs. SUGAR BEAR HARRIS (pre-Kamala!)

GINO HERNANDEZ vs. EL HALCON 9/5/80

promo - ERNIE LADD / TIGER CONWAY JR. This was on the list too.

[Matt D]

Gino vs Kozak was a hell of a lot of fun. It's really striking how Gino switched up his wrestling given the match. Again, this is stuff I wouldn't expect someone five years older than him to necessarily do. He was blinded a few times in the match due to shots he took (which makes sense given how the mask might shift on his face) and throwing these giant missed haymakers. A different sort of stooging considering he didn't have access to his facial features. The guy with the mask in the crowd was a blast. Kozak is one featured match away from really jumping out of the pack. I don't think we're going to get it from looking at the 78-on results thought. He's got a match vs Thornton and one vs Tiger. He's got a couple of mid-card featured tags that might get time. There's just a way that he dives into his spots with an alacrity you just don't expect from the guy that makes me think he really was something in his day. If we do get footage back in to 76, maybe we'll get that match.

 

I loved OMG vs Dibiase too. It's a shame we never did get that Glove vs Chain moment they teased early on. Tough but vulnerable babyface ace scrapper Dibiase is the best Dibiase no matter what anyone says. I thought the use of blood was really smart here. Gang wasn't really in danger until Dibiase got the knuckle dusters and opened him up (though his belabored blade job was pretty bad). Slightly earlier was a moment that really makes UWF and WWF stand out. Gang was in control, had Dibiase bleeding. They were heading on towards the comeback. They just needed to take the crowd down and up one last time. Gang sits on him and it looks like he's going for the ol' classic WWF chinlock (which is fine; I can't say that enough. It's fine when used well and worked hard). Instead, he course corrects and goes after the wound nastily. They build Dibiase back by having him rail against that instead. It's a great sign that there's not just one way to build a match and also in the stylistic differences between promotions. They could have gotten away with the chinlock comeback there, but this was a no dq match and attacking the wound and Dibiase responding to the sight of his own blood worked so much better in context.

 

Looking forward to the promos.

[Matt D]

These matches were from a match listing Tharpe posted last year but weren't uploaded. It had been over a year so I didn't worry about them but then the Gino/Kozak match came up yesterday. Lets hope we see these in the coming weeks.

 

TIGER CONWAY SR. and JR. vs. MARK LEWIN / GARY HART 2/9/79 - We've not been able to see Conway, Sr. so this was one I was looking forward to.

ICHIBAN (with Gary Hart) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR. November 24, 1978 - There are a finite amount of matches out there. Every chance to see Tiger, Jr. do his thing helps his case.

BULL RAMOS vs. MARK LEWIN / 2 out of 3 Falls for the Brass Knucks Title - blood! 12/15/78 - Pretty sure this is going to need the blood.

NICK KOZAK vs. GINO HERNANDEZ (masked after hair match)

SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM (shaved head) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR. - If nothing else, a chance to see Tiger up against a star.

MARK LEWIN vs. TIGER CONWAY JR./ 2 out of 3 Falls 1/19/79 - It'll get time but heel Lewin has been a tough sell except for the Funk match.

GREG VALENTINE (babyface - with Johnny at ringside) vs. GINO HERNANDEZ/ 2 out of 3 Falls 12/22/78 - This is the gem out of the list. Man do I ever want to see this. I don't think it's on our list (12/29 is the Xmas blow off with Mil vs Gino, mask vs match).

ALBERTO MADRIL vs. GINO HERNANDEZ - I've generally liked the younger Madril we've seen in the footage.

JOSE LOTHARIO vs. GINO HERNANDEZ (masked) - By my estimation we've only gotten One (1) out of the dozen + Gino vs Jose matches. Every new one we end up with is going to be treasure.

IVAN KOLOFF vs. TONY ATLAS 9/5/80 - Should be workmanlike and solid. 80 Ivan is pretty good.

GINO HERNANDEZ vs. SUGAR BEAR HARRIS (pre-Kamala!) - Really curious what Gino does with him.

GINO HERNANDEZ vs. EL HALCON 9/5/80 - One thing the Kozak match showed us is how every new Gino match we get is another piece of the puzzle. I have a much better understanding of how the last few months of 78 went now, just from that.

promo - ERNIE LADD / TIGER CONWAY JR. This was on the list too.

 

Really, I'd be happy with just about any of these. I've been enjoying the UWF stuff a lot but my heart's in the earlier footage.

[BillThompson]

Based on what Matt wrote me yesterday, I'm very keen on diving into the Gino Hernandez and Jose Lothario footage we have from this service.

[shoe]

Some of these we have I think.

 

IVAN KOLOFF vs. TONY ATLAS 9/5/80

SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM (shaved head) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR.

ICHIBAN (with Gary Hart) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR. November 24, 1978

[shoe]

Sting/Gilbert vs Gary Young/Jeff Gaylord

 

 

20 plus minutes here. Sting starting to get some cheers here. Gilbert taking his time early. The dive and miss is a great opening spot by Gilbert. It really needed a Gary Young strut though to put an exclamation point on it. We get some chain wrestling early, and Young establishes he isn't going to be pushed around. Young with some really deep arm drags. Eddie really milking it and just working.Eddie is much fun stooging away. The exaggerated bump on a stomp to the face was just glorious. Now he's begging off to Gaylord. Sting in and it's the muscles turn. Both Sting and Eddie do a great job building to both guys taking the shoulder block bump. The crowd went nuts for it. Eddie with a great distraction spot that allows Sting to toss Gary over the top rope. This sets up the heat, and Sting looks to be softening up Gary's back. Eddie gets a cheap shot in. The cheap shots behind the refs back gets tons of heat. This gets to rally behind Gary like he's Tommy Rogers. Eddie in and takes over working an adominal stretch. Again they toss Young over the top rope. Back into the abdominal stretch. Eddie gets cocky, and misses and elbow drop. In a great revenge spot Young tosses Eddie over the top rope. Young makes hot tag . Gaylord is a house of fire, but Sting is stronger and turns the tide. Eddie gets the 3 after Stings does the heavy lifting. Eddie Gilbert was incredible here. Young carried his end. Both Sting and Gaylord had their moments. This far exceeded my expectations. Show this match to show why Eddie Glibert is an incredible worker. 3 1/4*

[shoe]

Promos from 7/20/84

 

Landell and Wrestling 3 promo

 

PYT's rebuttal promo.

 

Doc promo-Another stinker of his, but better than normal.

 

Taylor promo- solid promo, but lacking spark

 

Fantastics/Duggan promo- good stuff. Duggan is such a fun promo.

 

Cornette promo-The gold standard, man you want to see Duggan get Corny.

 

Reed promo-Reed's promo was great. Dog isn't housebroken, and Butch Reed is the dog catcher. This was a great promo.

 

JYD promo Good promo, but Reed's blew it away.

 

Ladd promo-Of course this is silky smooth. Great job of putting himself and his opponent over.

 

Magnum TA a really good walking tall promo.

[shoe]

Dibiase vs OMG

 

I'm a fan of both these guys. This is no DQ. Dibiase has the glove. OMG with the chain. Ted cut that great promo leading to this. OMG with a cheapshot. He takes Teddy outside and begins to beat on him. Teddy makes a comeback and hurts gang. We're getting a lot of back and forth with neither getting the advantage. Akbar enters the fray and posts Teddy. Gang waffles Ted with a chair. Gang has been working over Ted for the past few minutes. A nice KOTM spots by the gang. Ted is busted open and working the cut. Ted fires up, but is cut off. Love the spot Matt D talks about with the blood wiping. Gang has been great here. A missed splash sets up a Ted comeback, but he's lost to much blood. In an act of desperation he uses the chair and starts his comeback. This is one hell of a brawl. The crowd is feeling a title change. The ref bumps were a little over board. Loved the finish though. This was super heated. Both guys looked great. Babyface Ted ruled, and OMG was a human wrecking ball. 3 1/2*

[NickH]

Some of these we have I think.

 

IVAN KOLOFF vs. TONY ATLAS 9/5/80

SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM (shaved head) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR.

ICHIBAN (with Gary Hart) vs. TIGER CONWAY JR. November 24, 1978

 

The Koloff/Atlas match we have is from 8/22/80

The only Graham/Tiger match is from the 1/7/79. I don't think Graham went completely bald til when, 1982?

 

We have an Ichiban/Tiger match which is labeled as 12/1/78 which is incorrect. I reckon this is from the 12/15/78 card because Mark Lewin comes out at the end and Boesch mentions that he will be in the following match which would be against Bull Ramos.

 

The 12/15/78 card is also the last to have the name 'Ichiban' since his "identity" was revealed as Killer Karl Krupp which he goes back to the next week.

[NickH]

I just want to add this little info.

 

There are some matches that list Dale Valentine when in fact it's Greg. BOLDED we have.

 

12-08-78 Houston
Ichiban beat Greg Valentine
Greg Valentine (sub for White Knight) beat Gama Singh

12-22-78- Houston
Greg Valentine beat Gino Hernandez (Reverse Decision)

03-23-79- Houston
Greg Valentine beat Nick Kozak

04-06-79- Houston
Tiger Conway Jr. beat Greg Valentine (Reverse Decision)

 

04/13/79- lost to David Von Erich by DQ

 

05/18/79- lost to Tiger Conway Jr. By DQ

 

06-08-79- Houston
Greg Valentine beat Tiger Conway Jr.

 

06-15-79- Houston
Greg Valentine beat Pepper Gomez

 

06/29/79- entered a battle royal (did not win) and beat "Jones"

 

08/24/79- beat Wahoo McDaniel by DQ

 

08/31/79- drew David Von Erich

[NickH]

Not sure how many of you are keeping track of results but if you are here is some cards which are not listed in the results thread.

 

8/24/79

 

9/21/79

 

9/28/79

[shoe]

I really hope they have more of those Gino vs Lothario matches.

[Matt D]

The Gilbert/Sting vs Young/Gaylord match was a nice surprise. The worst part of it was Gaylord doing basically anything, especially but not just limited to his punches. Everything else was really quite good though. Gilbert was an absolute star, just a perfect stooging villain who knew to cheat and cry and complain at every turn, just a perfect heat magnet, and I think between that, the fact that Young was local, and the simple fact, seen so clearly in all of this footage, that the Southern Tag is the perfect form of wrestling, the crowd really got behind the babyfaces by the end. I loved how Gilbert continuously used the over the top rope throw (with distraction since it's illegal) to either take over or cut off comebacks, and how Young reversed that to set up the hot tag. The most important thing in wrestling are the big moments, the transitions, the comebacks and the cutoffs, and these are downright genius in their simplicity, making use of something that the crowd understood and that had meaning in order to make everything matter. Gilbert is a guy who snuck on my GWE list and I'm sure glad he did.

[NickH]

With the sale now gone through I hope we can now get a good flow of matches being uploaded instead of the drip feed we've been getting.

[shoe]

With the sale now gone through I hope we can now get a good flow of matches being uploaded instead of the drip feed we've been getting.

Where was it announced the sale went through?

[Matt D]

I understand that Dibiase vs Duggan is a really important match and it SHOULD be up (again), but now that uploads seem to be only on weekends, it was a bit frustrating to go all week and then just to get something that was already up on the service months ago. It's ok and good for a match like this which got shifted off in the change or whatever, to be put back up, but as part of a random Wednesday upload in the midst of a week of them or something, not as the first one we've gotten since last Sunday. I get that these things take time to upload, but it's not the customer's fault that the matches got taken off in the first place, right? Some of this would be ok if there was better communication. As it is now, we hit reload and just hope for something new.

[Matt D]

To be fair, I, more than anyone in the world, will gladly accept Gold Cup matches (even squashes) as a peace offering.

[shoe]

Plus a midget match!!!

[paul sosnowski]

The midget match today, is the first match from the 6/1/79 card, which could also mean another NWA title match between Harley Race and Wahoo!!!