The SmarK Rant For WrestleTapes.net’s “Best Of The Rock N Roll Express Vol. 2”

The SmarK Rant for WrestleTapes.net’s “Best of the Rock N Roll Express Volume 2”

– Yes, we return with more Morton goodness, with his glass-eyed friend along for the ride. This tape covers the later 80s period, from 86 until their NWA swan song in 1988.

– NWA World tag title, cage match: The Rock N Roll Express v. Ole & Arn Anderson. From my “Best of Starrcade” rant. Robert dodges Ole and a pier-six erupts early. Arn gets caught in the wrong corner and retreats. Ole comes in, but can’t escape the RNR either. Ricky outguns him with some speed, and the Horsemen regroup again. Arn tries with Morton, but gets reversed to death. Rock N Roll work the arm, but Robert misses a charge and kneelifts the cage by mistake. Ouch. The Andersons just DIVE for the knee and destroy it. Robert kicks out of a figure-four, but Ole keeps up the punishment with a stepover toehold. Arn goes knee-to-knee on Robert and grinds it in. Robert gets an enzuigiri, tags Ricky, and he promptly goes facefirst to the cage to put a stop to THAT. Ricky Morton plays Ricky Morton and all is right with the world. Ole gets two off a snapmare and Arn bites at him. Back to the cage goes Ricky, and Ole methodically stomps away. Ricky bleeds huge. Arn switches to the arm and Ole keeps at it, slapping an armbar on. Hammerlock slam from Arn gets a pop and he goes to the 2nd rope, but gets nailed coming down. Ole comes in and pounds the arm, however, preventing a tag. Shoulderbreaker gets two. Morton kneelifts Arn, but can’t tag. Ole uses a stepover armlock, and Rick fires back, but Ole keeps at the arm. Rick fights back again, but gets double-teamed INCHES from the tag. The crowd is just about ready to riot at this point. He staggers up and walks into a spinebuster from Arn. D’oh. Ole comes off the top with a kneedrop onto Ricky’s arm, but Ricky won’t quit. Double-KO, but Ricky can’t capitalize. He fires away on Arn, lunges for the tag…and Ole nails him, giving the crowd a heart attack. That’s just mean booking. He small packages Ole for two as Robert finally has had enough and brawls with Arn, distracting the ref long enough for the Express to double dropkick Ole and Ricky gets the pin with his last burst of energy to retain at 19:00. CLASSIC Ricky Morton here. ****

– The Rock N Roll Express squash a pair of jobbers in short order. Not sure what the point of that was, other than to highlight Ricky’s stylish Kane mask.

– The Rock N Roll Express squash another pair of jobbers, again involving George South. Ricky is down to nose tape now and they finish quick.

– Two kids win the RNR Lookalike contest, despite looking nothing like them. First of all, the kid who looks like Robert isn’t a googly-eyed freak. Second, there’s no mullets in sight.

– The Rock N Roll Express v. Arn & Ole Anderson. From NWA TV. The Andersons go after Robert to start, but he fights off Arn with an enzuigiri and sends him running. Morton nails him on the floor, and does some admirable cheating back in the ring, rubbing his face on the top rope and going for Ole’s nose. Ole sends him rudely into the corner in response, but Morton punches him in the nose again, and gets a kneelift. That’s some unique psychology. Ole powers him into the corner again and Arn stomps away. Ole may be a dumbass in real life, but he was always a good heel. Arn gets an elbow and Ole pounds away, but Rick goes for the leg now and takes him down. Robert comes in and now the RNR are focusing on the knee. We get the time-honored double-figure-four spot (which Jim Cornette claims to have never seen before, this indicating that this match is from 1901), and Ricky keeps up with the cheating, raking the eyes of Ole. Someone must have stolen his peroxide or hidden his bandanas or something. The Andersons work Ricky over, but he fights them off and makes what appears to be a hot tag to Robert, and it’s a “Chinese fire drill” in the words of Jim Cornette. Everyone goes over the top and it’s thrown out at 5:53. Fun little TV match, although I don’t see “Chinese fire drill” getting over as a new replacement for “pier six brawl” any time soon, what with it being the 21st century and all. **

– Another quick squash, as Robert is now sporting DDP’s rib tape as a result of the Anderson match. Robert barely has the strength to finish with a sunset flip, let alone the double-dropkick, so you know it’s bad. The Andersons storm the ring and beat him into Strawberry Jello after the match. They head over to cut a celebratory promo, but the RNR haven’t had enough yet and the brawl continues into the back, with the Rock N Roll emerging the victors and cutting their own promo. Ricky’s mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore! Now, the credits for Worldwide run after this, and since I notice this stuff, I see that “Marc Laurinatus” is one of the lighting guys. Apparently he was a jobber named “Terminator”, and is of course brother to Joe (Animal) and John (Johnny Ace). Perhaps the talent gene skipped one brother.

– The Rock N Roll Express & Dick Murdoch v. Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson & Tully Blanchard. Ricky starts with Ole and immediately dodges a potential beatdown in the corner. He hits Arn with a rana and pounds away, and pokes Tully in the eyes for good measure. Tully gets lost and ends up on the wrong end of Murdoch’s fist to the face as a result. Dick tags in and does a criss-cross with Tully that ends with another punch in the face. The RNRs work the arm over in their corner, and WE’RE OUT OF TIME, TONY!

– Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez winning the tag titles would normally go here, but the tracking is so bad that I’ve been informed that it’s not going to be included from here on in. It’s the old “Robert rolls up a heel but the other one clotheslines them over” deal. Only a clip.

– Ricky & Robert “regain” the belts from Rude & Fernandez in a non-existent title change that we need to talk about for a minute. This match was actually a non-title match from weeks earlier, taped before Rude jumped to the WWF and left his half of the tag titles behind. There was never an actual match where the Rock N Roll regained the belts – they just invented a match in Spokane and used this footage to pretend it actually happened. This footage (from Worldwide, with Ricky pinning Fernandez after a sunset flip) is the “official” title change and the one that NWA/WCW history considers to be the match of record. But to repeat: The RNR never actually won the belts back in the ring. I just wanted to set that one to rest because I get people saying they were there when Fernandez & Rude or Fernandez & Koloff (Rude’s later substitute) lost the belts back to them or stuff like that. Never happened. As far as history goes, the RNR were awarded the belts, and footage from a non-title dark match at a North Carolina TV taping was redubbed to pretend like it was a title match in Spokane. Case closed.

– The Rock N Roll Express v. The Midnight Express, World tag team title v. US tag team title. From my Bash ’87 review. Cornette was in the midst of a banana emergency (don’t ask – seriously) and wasn’t there that night. Big Bubba is, though. I love this match. If you’re not an obsessive collector of everything Midnight/RnR like I am, this is a good primer on the feud and how they worked together. Literally non-stop action. Oddly, Robert Gibson plays Ricky Morton here. Morton gets the hot tag and they double-dropkick Eaton, but Lane makes the save and Tommy Young escorts him out. Morton gets whipped off the ropes and Bubba moves in the ring faster than I thought he could move and Bossman-slams Morton, but leaves his trademark hat and glasses behind by accident. Young turns around to make the count…but sees the hat and calls for the DQ instead. The usual **** match from these two.

(The next few bits are from my review of the RFVideo version of the Best of RNR)

– From NWA Pro: The angle that led to the RNR losing the tag titles, as Cornette makes an offhand comment about Ricky Morton’s dad being such a lousy referee due to his excessive drinking (with Stan Lane making the classy “tipping the elbow” motion in the background), and Morton comes out to knock Cornette on his ass in retaliation. The Midnights back off, but when the Rock N Rolls come out to defend against Tully & Arn later in the show, they jump them in the aisle and do really nasty things to Ricky’s arm. JJ Dillon immediately demands that they forfeit the belts, but Robert Gibson is a MANLY MAN (check that CHEST HAIR) and he wants to go it alone. Well, you don’t have to ask the Four Horsemen twice to accept a 2-on-1 beating.

– NWA World tag title: The Rock N Roll Express v. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson. I’m glad to finally have this match on tape, just because that pretty much gives me the entire library of RNR-Brainbusters matches. Robert fights alone and holds off Tully, and gets the enzuigiri on Arn. Arn pounds away, but gets taken down into a spinning toehold. We take a commercial break and return with Gibson getting pounded by the Horsemen. Tully drops an elbow and piledrives him for two. BUT WAIT! Here’s Ricky, proving himself to be equally manly, wanting to tag in even with a sling on his arm. He slugs the Horsemen down, but Arn hits him in the arm and the Horsemen get medieval on his ass. Tully finishes with a standing armbar, as Robert begs for mercy and throws in the towel at 4:48. Dusty Rhodes loved this storyline so much that he recycled it a year later when the Road Warriors won THEIR first titles. **

– The next week, Ricky vows REVENGE~! on Cornette. Now he’s done gone and pissed him off.

– From NWA Pro shortly after, the Midnights take on a masked jobber team called the Texas Cowboys, but suddenly find themselves getting routed by two suspiciously familiar guys. The crowd figures out who they are well before the Midnights do, and after a pair of double-dropkicks, the Express decides to retreat now and fight at Starrcade.

– Scaffold match: The Midnight Express v. The Rock N Roll Express. Ah, my very, very favorite type of match…the same type that produced that -**** classic to open Bash 91. Eaton hugs Cornette goodbye before climbing the scaffold. Big Bossman Bubba Rogers the Guardian Angel gives the Bossman slam to Morton (and what a beauty shot it was, too) and that leaves Robert all by his lonesome on the scaffold. Morton mugs Cornette and steals the LOADED TENNIS RACKET OF DOOM and takes it up the scaffold. Gibson has the audacity to blade. They crawl around on the scaffold for a while, and Eaton blades too. Eaton throws powder in the RnR’s faces. For those who don’t know, the object is to knock both guys off the scaffold. Eaton gets the racket and swings away, but Gibson pulls a piece of the scaffold off and nails him. Lane gets knocked to the underside of the scaffold and Morton follows him down as Gibson wales on Eaton with the racket. Lane falls first, leaving Eaton 2-on-1 against the Rock N Roll. They hammer away on him and drive him off for the win. Probably the best scaffold match I’ve seen, but then there’s only been three of any note besides this and they all sucked. Big Bubba climbs the scaffold and challenges Morton, so Ricky hits him in the nuts and runs away. Wow, what a hero. **

– The Rock N Roll Express v. Ivan Koloff & Vladimir Petrov. From the shitty “Supertowns on the Superstation” special. Petrov is the lame replacement for Nikita Koloff, looking like Warlord on a REALLY big steroid binge. And no, he’s not the Warlord, and no, I don’t know what happened to him, but hopefully it involved never wrestling again. Petrov overpowers Gibson to start and wants a test of strength, but Robert wants none of that. Finally he gets talked into it (how does THAT conversation go?) and completely dominated as a result, until Morton breaks it up. Petrov catches him in a bad bearhug (for those wondering how you screw up a bearhug, watch this match), and Ivan thankfully tags in. Robert hits him with a dropkick and Ricky works him over in the corner. Ivan charges and hits boot, and Morton gets a clothesline for two. He works the arm, and Robert rolls him up for two. Petrov tags back in, so stiff (in the muscular sense) that he can’t even go down for a backbreaker, and tags Ivan back in quickly. Ivan goes to another bearhug (a Russian Bear-hug?) and some shenanigans with the ref allow them to cheat. Petrov hammers away and goes back to that bearhug again. Oh man this guy is bad. Ivan drops a leg for two. He misses a charge and crotches himself, and Robert makes the hot tag to Ricky. Cross-body gets two. It’s BONZO GONZO and Ricky gets a sleeper, but Vladimir uses the CHAIN OF DOOM for the DQ at 8:58 of my life I’ll never get back again. ј*

– Clips of the Sheepfuckers doing a beatdown on Ricky Morton.

– The Rock N Roll Express v. The Sheepfuckers. Okay, back to the NWA in early 88. The RNR attack during the flag ceremony, and the heels bail. Luke starts with Ricky and gets dropkicked out again. Butch starts pounding Gibson, but the Express work him over in the corner. Luke also gets some of that action, but a shot to the throat puts Robert in a tight spot. He gets worked over on the floor and double-teamed in the ring. Robert’s rollup attempt is blocked, but he makes the hot tag to Ricky. In a better match, this would have been akin to the False Dawn in movie dramas, where you THINK that the hero is gonna win only to see him get captured by the Nazis again, but this isn’t that match and Morton doesn’t get clobbered again like he usually does. Double dropkick, no ref, and Johnny Ace runs in for the DQ at 5:29. Amazing that the flagbearer for the future Bushwhackers is now running the WWE, more or less. For the coup de grace, the Sheepherders threaten to CUT RICKY’S HAIR, which probably would have set off a riot and caused shampoo companies the world over to declare Chapter 11 on the spot. *

– Russian chain match: Ricky Morton v. Ivan Koloff. From the Clash III rant. Ah, the Ivan face turn angle that drew so much money. Dave Sheldon is lurking around ringside in his guise as Russian Assassin #1. Ivan pounds Morton and clotheslines him with the chain as Ross hints at his face turn. Ricky crotches him with the chain, but gets nailed again. Koloff touches two corners, but Ricky breaks it up and bails. Back in, Koloff keeps stomping away and touches two again. Ricky kicks at the knee to take over and whips at the knee with the chain. Koloff hits him with the chain, but gets yanked off the top. Ivan chokes him out, but Ricky comes back. Ivan whips him and touches three, but Morton takes him down and pounds away. Koloff hits him with the chain again and goes up, but they knock each other out. Ricky recovers first and drags him to three corners, but Paul gives Ivan the riding crop to hold onto for leverage, before suddenly letting go and giving Ricky the win at 9:52. Ivan is unceremoniously turfed via a beatdown by the Russian Assassins, and Nikita was SUPPOSED to make the save, but he was already gone. Junkyard Dog was later subbed into the angle to replace him, which of course makes no sense whatsoever and basically killed the whole angle. Match was slow and plodding. *

– The Rock N Roll Express v. The Nasty Boys. This review is also from the RFVideo Best of RNR tape. Off to the AWA we go, as 1988 saw the RNR working for whoever provided the most beer money. Gibson avoids a double-team a couple of times, but gets hammered in the corner by Sags. He gets the headscissors and Morton comes in with a piledriver that sends the Nasties running. Back in, Gibson rolls up Sags for two. Test of strength goes badly for Robert, but Ricky bails him out and comes in. Morton also tests his strength, and the RNR double-team Sags and sends him running. Knobs grabs a bearhug on Gibson, but the RNR double-team AGAIN and the Nasties bail. Back in, Knobs works a headlock on Robert. Morton comes in, but runs shoulderfirst into you-know-what, and plays you-know-who. Sags with the shoulderbreaker and the Boys work the arm. Sags with a clothesline and back to the arm. Double-teaming in the corner and Sags gets two. More cheating and double-teaming, but Sags misses a charge, hot tag Gibson. He’s a house of fire, but Morton’s still selling the arm. He dropkicks Sags and the heels collide and everyone is counted out at 12:53. Pretty formula, but the formula works. ***1/4

– Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden v. The Rock n Roll Express. From my AWA Superclash III rant. Rather odd choice for the closer. Fuller is better known as manager Robert Parker, while his partner Jimmy Golden became better known as one of the wrestlers in his stable: Bunkhouse Buck. Crap match to kill a few minutes, I guess, as nothing of note happens and it ends in a lame double countout at 7:20. Ѕ*

– The Rock N Roll Express v. The Midnight Express. From WrestleWar 90, and here’s a fresh review because my previous one sucks, and I need a break from cutting and pasting. A guy in the front row has the all-time greatest sign: “We Have Herd Enough”. Stan claims in the intros that Jim Cornette stole Ivana from Donald Trump. JR didn’t even know he liked girls, and in fact he heard that his mixed doubles partner was a guy. The teams have a nasty staredown to start, and Gibson and Lane hiptoss each other for the stalemate. Lane loses a criss-cross and bails, and takes out his frustrations on Nick Patrick, which gets him nowhere. Cornette escalates the tantrum and wants a fight, which Patrick is all too happy to oblige him with. Cornette goes flying out of the ring without even taking a shot, and the crowd eats it all up with a spoon. Back to the match, as Morton hits Stan with an atomic drop that sends the MX crashing into each other (thus cutting off interference AND getting a big offensive move in) and the Express are bickering as a result. Cornette plays Jimmy Carter and things calm down, and Lane starts up with Morton again. Lane slugs away, but Eaton comes in and gets caught with armdrags a-gogo. Eaton & Morton do the test of strength, and Ricky does his “walk up the shoulders” spot, and the Express takes a powder again. Lane wants a slugfest, so Morton kicks him in the ass and he bails again. Eaton tries again, and Cornette trips up Morton, but that backfires as Gibson does an end-run and holds off the MX’s attempt to double-team. Eaton slugs away on Robert, but gets backdropped and the RNR double-team him right out of the ring. Man, these guys need a new gameplan. Back in, the RNR double-team Lane and get an elbow, but Stan tosses Ricky in desperation. He follows him out and ends up hitting the post. Back in, Eaton tries again with Morton, but gets caught in an armbar. He goes with the old right hand to escape, and they slug it out and go tumbling over the top to the floor. Lane beats Gibson to the crime scene, and slams Morton on the floor to FINALLY turn the tide, as Ricky Morton is YOUR face-in-peril and all is right with the world. Back in, Eaton gets a backbreaker and chokes away, and the MX double-team with a necksnap on the top rope. Lane takes Morton down into an Eaton elbow, and that gets two. JR notes that Morton has a history of taking punishment. No shit. Eaton suplexes him for two. Lane powerslams him for two. He knocks Gibson off the apron to distract the ref, and tosses Ricky over the top, into the arms of Eaton, who hotshots him on the railing. Morton brutally rams Eaton’s head into the post to come back, but the ref is distracted while he sunset flips Lane back in the ring. Lane lays him out and chokes away, but Morton gets a rollup. Eaton hits a neckbreaker off the blind tag to break that up, which is just awesome tag team wrestling technique. Eaton hits him with Snake Eyes and Morton sells it like his skull is oozing brain matter or something. Lane puts his head down, however, and Morton looks to come back, but Bobby kicks him in the face to end that hope. Morton tries to fight back again, but he gets caught in between them and hit with a shot to the throat. Bobby heads up for the flying elbow, and Lane slaps on an armbar while talking shit to Gibson on the apron. That’s cold. Bobby hits a single-arm DDT and works a hammerlock. Morton fights up and they reverse each other into the corner and collide. Lane cuts off Morton’s attempt at a tag with a sideslam, and really that was Morton’s own fault. The Express looks to finish with the Rocket Launcher, but Morton lifts the knees, and it’s the HOT tag to Robert Gibson. He’s a house afire! Everyone gets laid out, and a sunset flip on Eaton gets two. It’s BONZO GONZO, and Cornette WAFFLES Gibson with the tennis racket for two. Awesome. The Midnights double-team with a Flapjack, but Gibson reverses to a cradle on Lane for the pin at 22:52. These guys are incapable of having a bad match together. ****1/2

– Corporal punishment match: The Rock N Roll Express v. The Fabulous Freebirds. From Capital Combat ’90, and once again let’s do a fresh rant on it. Everyone has leather straps to use as they please. Hayes does a wee bit o’stalling to start. Okay, maybe more than a wee bit. Perhaps a good solid chunk of stalling would be more accurate. You know this 1990 because the RNR have upgraded from bandanas on their tights to fringe. Gibson gets a couple of shots on Hayes, so PS tags out to Garvin and he has a strut-off with Morton. The RNR play mindgames with Garvin in their corner, frustrating him. Garvin gets the first strap, but Morton steals it and whips away, prompting JR to go into a flurry of down-home Oklahoma woodshed clichйs. The RNR keep double-teaming Garvin and Gibson gets a sunset flip for two, so Garvin backs off and waits for Morton to come in again. Ricky works a headlock and hangs on, and Hayes’ complaints to the ref allow the RNR to switch off without a tag. We get the double figure-four spot, which makes no sense in this context, and Gibson gets caught behind enemy lines and elbowed by Hayes. Michael gets a strap, as does Gibson, and it’s like Reservoir Dogs with straps. The Birds get strapped and choose that moment to stall again. Back in, Gibson gets whipped into Garvin’s knee, and worked over in the corner. Garvin drops a knee for two. Robert gets tossed and worked over by Hayes on the floor. Back in, Morton gets the tag and trades eye-rakes with Garvin, but a cheapshot from Hayes turns the tide and Ricky is YOUR face-in-peril. Garvin hits the chinlock. Hayes comes off the top with a shot for two. Back to the chinlock. Ricky comes back and pounds away, but gets hit with another punch from Hayes that knocks him down again. Hayes drops three elbows for two. Back to the chinlock. Bulldog gets two. Garvin comes in and goes back to the chinlock. Morton escapes, but runs into a knee and gets tossed. Hayes chokes him out with the strap, buying more stalling time. Back in, Garvin drops Morton with a knee and goes back to…wait for it…the chinlock. Garvin goes up and gets slammed off, and Morton takes care of Hayes, but he can’t find his corner and Hayes keeps pounding. Another bulldog is blocked, hot tag Gibson. Sleeper on Hayes and it’s BONZO GONZO, allowing the Freebirds to double-team Gibson. Hayes DDTs Gibson, popping the crowd, but Hayes showboats and Morton sunset flips in from the top for the pin at 18:30. Needlessly long and dull match. **1/2

– US tag title match: The Midnight Express v. The Rock N Roll Express. From Clash XI, which I’ve never reviewed for various reasons. Most of them having to do with the main event. Eaton starts with Gibson and escapes a hammerlock, and Eaton gets frustrated quickly. Criss-cross and Eaton gets taken down with a headscissors. Lane comes in and nails him with a back kick, but Gibson gets an enzuigiri. Morton tags in and they work Lane over in the corner. Criss-cross ends with Lane getting hiptossed, but he slugs Morton in the mouth. Charge misses, however, and Ricky backdrops him, and armdrags Eaton on the way in. Rana and Eaton bails to the corner. Lane comes in and gets hit with an armdrag as well, and the RNR go for the arm. Gibson atomic drops Lane into the corner off a criss-cross, and it’s back to the face corner for a Morton rollup that gets two. Back to the armbar, and Eaton comes in to turn the tide. They head up top and Morton blocks a superplex, nearly falling on his head in the process. Yikes. It’s a CHINESE FIRE-DRILL and the MX double-backdrop Gibson, but both RNRs rollup both MXs for a collective two-count. Everyone backs off to regroup again. Morton hiptosses Lane, but Lane blocks a rana attempt and turns it into a double-team that puts Ricky down. They work him over with a necksnap and elbowdrop that gets two for Eaton. Eaton misses a charge, hot tag Gibson. He cleans house like a French maid and Eaton tumbles out with Morton as a result. Gibson goes to a leglock on Lane while Eaton bumps Morton into the railing, and Bobby nails Gibson off the top for two. Morton is back in and it’s BONZO GONZO, as the RNR hit Eaton with the double dropkick for two. Lane breaks it up, so the ref DQs the champs at 11:49. Holy CRAP that’s lame. Pretty uninspired stuff here. **3/4

– NWA World tag team title: Doom v. The Rock N Roll Express. Might as well redo this one, too. This is from Great American Bash 1990. This would be one of the few cases of someone actually passing the torch in wrestling, as the RNR were on their last legs in the NWA and were built up in order to give the rub to the hot new Doom. That was kind of a theme throughout the show. Simmons overpowers Gibson to start, but Robert’s game for a fight. Reed tries, but gets slammed and elbowed down. Morton comes in, but his shoulderblock strategy proves less successful than planned. Reed keeps overpowering Morton, but now the RNR get smart and both guys shoulderblock him at the same time. Reed puts Gibson back down again, however, and stomps away. Simmons gets a legdrop, and Reed tosses Gibson to slow things down a bit. Robert sunset flips back in for two. Neckbreaker gets two. Robert gets a kneelift and Morton comes back in with a sleeper on Reed, but Simmons clocks him from behind on a rollup attempt, and Ricky Morton is YOUR…well, you know. Reed gets a clothesline for two. Flying elbow gets two. He hits the chinlock and Morton fights out with a backslide, which Gibson helps out, for two. Reed stomps him down again, and Simmons necksnaps him for two. Morton gets a fluke cradle for two, but Simmons hammers him again. Powerslam gets two. Reed comes off the middle with an axehandle, and drops a fist for two, thus giving JR the chance to call someone’s fist a “soupbone”. Back to the chinlock, as Simmons & Teddy Long pull on Reed’s legs for added leverage, and Reed tosses Morton over the top for good measure, allowing a beating on the outside. Back in, Simmons slams him for two. He puts his head down, however, and Ricky fights back on Reed, only to walk into a powerslam. A splash hits knee, however, and it’s hot tag Gibson. He cleans house like Monica on speed, and gets a sunset flip on Simmons for two. It’s BONZO GONZO and Gibson hits an enzuigiri on Reed that sends him crashing into Long, but Reed comes back with the flying shoulderblock for the pin at 15:34. And thus the torch is passed. Robert Gibson left for knee surgery soon after, and that was the end of the Rock N Roll Express in WCW. I wildly overrated this match in my original rant. **1/2

The Bottom Line: While most of the big matches here are available on other WCW commercial tapes, those commercial tapes are INCREDIBLY tough to find, so if you’re looking for the RNR stuff from them, this is the tape to get.

Check it out at www.wrestletapes.net. Coming soon: The Best of the Midnight Express!