The Furious Flashbacks – The 100 Greatest WWF Matches of the 80’s Vol 1

The Furious Flashbacks – The 100 Greatest WWF Matches of the 80’s Vol 1

Savage-Steamboat, Savage-Hogan, Savage-Roberts. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World! Macho Mad!

This curiously entitled DVD is in my possession. Let’s see what we have on it.

Tag titles – North-South Connection (Dick Murdoch/Adrian Adonis) (c) v Sgt Slaughter/Terry Daniels

Daniels is the first inductee into the “Cobra Corp”. This is from MSG. I looked it up, it was on the undercard for the Brawl to End it All. Gorilla Monsoon and Gene Okerlund on commentary. They seem confused as to which one is meant to be doing PBP. Daniels and Murdoch run a great armbar segment to start where they counter back and forth. Tags made and Sarge is seriously over for his Pro-USA character. Many of you will probably only remember him as a heel during the late 80’s. Or possibly just for his one off appearances since. Sarge shows off his wrestling chops with some armlocking of his own. I like the very casual approach of a rather slim Adonis. He’s lying there chewing gum, knowing damn well he can’t lose to an armbar. Daniels does an amazing counter on a monkey flip where he lands on his feet. IN 1984! Are you fucking kidding me? He did it at speed as well although after landing he did use the ropes to support himself. Maybe Vince wanted it 100% clean or not at all. In comes Murdoch because he figures he knows all this kid’s tricks now but once again he’s caught in the armdrag. Murdoch has had enough of this technical shit and rakes the kids eyes. Daniels wasn’t expecting that level of cheating, which perhaps he should. Crowd erupts every time he gets anything but then its 1984 and the crowd was reacting huge to most things. Wrestling was just getting seriously hot. A huge “USA” chant starts but every wrestler in the ring is American? Daniels sure has that armdrag down and does it to Adonis as well. Adonis looks impressive with leapfrogs and they’re really letting it all hang out here. The pacing of this is way above anything I saw from the same era on tape before. Apart from Steamboat-Savage and the Bulldogs on offence. Sarge gets the HOT tag and cleans house. Sarge slows the pace with some arm work because it had to slow down eventually. Daniels still has plenty of energy though so Sarge tags him back in and dumps him on Murdoch for 2. Murdoch shows some awesome psychology by fighting the roll as Daniels tries to shoot the half and stays on his chest so he can’t get pinned. You just never see that these days. By exposing his back he leaves himself prone for the Shades of Wilbur Snyder. Murdoch hip tosses out and in comes Adonis with Daniels struggling into the second heat segment. Adonis with a SWANK~! Running powerslam. Bobby Lashley could do with seeing tape of that. He got up a serious amount of speed to make the impact more severe. Murdoch back in with the awesome as he racks Daniels by the arm. I’ve never seen that before. Crowd is getting really pissed off with the champs as they heel all over Daniels with double teaming. Sarge protests it but that just allows more double teaming and the crowd is getting visibly irate. They’re throwing garbage into the ring! You can’t buy heat like that nowadays. Daniels channels it with the desperation dropkick and in comes Sarge. COBRA CLUTCH! This crowd is coming unglued! Adonis blindsides Sarge with a knee to the back and the crowd does NOT like that. Daniels gets the tag and comes in with dropkicks. Crossbody gets 2. Crowd thought it was over. In comes Sarge to punch Murdoch out of the ring. Daniels gets set up for the illegal double team kneedrop/backbreaker and the champs retain in an absolute barnburner. Sarge sends ‘em home happy by beating the champs up post match. ****. They tore the fucking house down there.

WWF title – Hulk Hogan (c) v Dr D. David Schultz

June 17th 1984. In Minneapolis. Hulkamania is in full flow. Dr D famously got fired for striking 20/20 reporter John Stossel and blackballed from wrestling. Unless you believe the alternate story, which was that he tried to pick a fight with Mr T. Dr D was the guy that came up with the idea for Wrestlemania, at least according to the Honky Tonk Man. So it’s whether you believe the source. Schultz, if you’ve never seen him, is kind of 50% Psycho Sid, 50% Curt Hennig. I don’t know what his doctorate is in. Ass kicking and blonde afro’s probably. Dr D cheats repeatedly using Hogan’s bandana to choke him and then bashes the champ in the head with a chair. Hogan blades and taps an artery. Dr D doesn’t let him back into the ring knowing damn well that Hogan is struggling. According to Gorilla the chair is made of iron. Iron? Steel I think we can live with but who makes chairs out of iron? Apart from Moroccans. Dr D with his patented elbow drop off the second buckle, which is about as weak as it sounds. Crowd is pissed off. Of course Hogan kicks out huge and starts hulking up back when that was a new thing. Axe Bomber! Elbow drop gets 2 but Hogan doesn’t want to win that easily. Geez, what a jerk. Slam & the legdrop should finish but Hogan still isn’t done. He wants revenge for that chair shot. And revenge constitutes throwing Dr D outside and running him into the ring post. Sadly Dr D blades when he first goes over the top so is bleeding before the ring post shot. Professionalism, anyone? Can you imagine how much you’d get slated for that nowadays? Dr D gets back in charge but misses his elbow drop with Hogan moving. We see a really silly slo-mo replay of that. Another Axe Bomber finishes for Hogan. **. Nice blood but that’s about it. Hogan sucks. In a nice spot after the match Dr D grabs the belt off Hogan and bashes him in the gaping head wound. That doesn’t sit well with Hogan who beats him up some more.

WWF title – Hulk Hogan (c) v Magnificent Muraco w/Mr Fuji

Muraco jumps Hogan before he gets in the ring and tears up the champ’s shirt himself. He can’t even get the belt off before Muraco wails away on him. The crowd is eating this up, it’s MSG again, and gets on Muraco’s case as he chokes Hogan with the remains of his shirt. Well, if he will insist on wearing it to the ring. Hogan wakes up and fires away headbutting Muraco out of the ring. With that shirt all torn up he looks like a gladiator. He takes the remains of it off to choke Muraco. I can let that go; it’s a receipt. He continues with further choking though, which is just excessive. Hogan punches away and then lies to the referee about it. What a role model, eh kids? Outside and Hogan uses a chair. Erm, I think you’re out of receipts now champ. Now you’re right into cheating. Muraco is busted open. Hogan sportingly javelins his head into the ring post. What an asshole. Crowd eats it up though because it’s all about crazy brawling and intense violence. Hogan bites at the cut. That’s none too sporting either. Hogan suplexes him back into the ring. Muraco must be stunned at Hogan’s level of cheating. Fuji has done nothing. Or rather he doesn’t until Hogan drops the leg. Then Fuji drapes Muraco’s foot on the rope. Ref counts 3 then sees the foot. Muraco throws salt in Hogan’s eyes, which is a DQ but then so is the entire of Hogan’s offence. **1/2. Much more intense than the last match. Hogan was a real ass-hat in that match though. He even complains about the finish.

Snakepit match – Jake Roberts v Ricky Steamboat

I’ve seen this match before. It was on The Big Event, which I’ve recapped. So here’s the match.

Snakepit match, which means no DQ. Jake jumps ahead of the bell but Steamboat works him over at speed. Jake takes a few chops for 2. Steamboat goes after the arm to remove the thread of the short arm clothesline (the DDT set up move). Jake gets up a head of speed but he’s chopped down again for 2 and Steamboat goes back to work on the arm. Steamboat breaks out a back kick and outside we go for a brawl. Jake slams the Steamer on the floor and knees at his face. Jake goes for a chair but Steamboat takes it off him and goes to the midsection. Back inside Steamboat drops a single sledge for 2. Steamboat goes back to the arm but Jake whips him clean over the ropes. Jake follows out and catapults Steamboat into the ringpost. Jake wails away on him out there drawing blood in the process. Back inside Jake goes to the head games and jabs at Steamboat’s head. Short arm clothesline from Jake WITH HIS BAD ARM. The one Steamboat has been working the whole match.

Sidenote – it annoys me when old timer’s like Jake complain about guys today “not knowing psychology” and then you look at what they did. There’s no way in anyone’s book that was good psychology. Steamboat made a point of working that arm probably with that spot in mind and Jake didn’t sell it at all. Although it’s probably because he was high or something. Crackhead.

Jake looks for the DDT but Steamboat charges him into the corner. Gutbuster from Jake gets 2 but Jake covers with his arms in the air like a moron and is thusly rolled up for the finish at 10.24. **3/4. I dumped a quarter snowflake out of sheer contempt for Roberts (well, I started out at around **1/2 but tagged on ½* for the bladejob, minus Jake’s weak ass psychology gives us **3/4). This is also on the Jake Roberts: Pick Your Poison DVD.

Boot Camp match – Iron Sheik v Sgt Slaughter

Crowd even pops the name of the match. They’re super psyched. Falls count anywhere and only pinfalls count. Sheik has Fred Blassie as a manager. Sorry, Ayatollah Fred Blassie. Now THAT is a heel manager. Prepared to sell out his entire country for the sake of a foreign wrestler. Pvt. Terry Daniels makes an appearance waving Old Glory. This is from June 1984 and the culmination of a long feud. It’s in MSG, as you’d expect. The Garden erupts for Sarge when he comes out here. Sheik doesn’t stand a chance and gets beaten down viciously from the opening bell. Sarge knows he doesn’t have to adhere to the rules so he uses his steel helmet and his stick thing. Looks like a riding crop. Sheik gets that in the face. Ow. Helmet shot gets a huge pop. This crowd is LOUD. Constantly rumbling noise as Sarge headbutts Sheik while wearing the helmet. Sheik reverses Sarge on an Irish whip though and he takes a header to the floor. Crowd is STILL loud. MASSIVE “USA” chant breaks out. Sarge blades on the floor for added drama and Sheik chair shots him. The crowd are hurling garbage into the ring already. The heat on this thing is insane. Sheik suddenly remembers that pins on the floor count and gets one…for 2. “USA”. Sheik takes off his belt, which is odd because he’s wearing trunks, and wails on Sarge with it before choking away. The heat on this is still insane. And effectively they’re not doing a goddamn thing. Sheik chokes away but Sarge drags him through the ropes. He nearly lands on the commentators. The crowd is STILL going nuts. They’ve not stopped. Sarge gets the belt and uses it to a HUGE pop. Sarge throws Sheik over the top rope and the crowd goes nuts again! What the hell was Vince feeding this crowd? Sarge with a backbreaker on the floor for 2. Sarge starts blocking stuff but Sheik throws him into the ring post. Well, that’ll do it. Sheik spits on him. USA, PAH, PAH. Mack him humble Sheiky! Sarge is bleeding a lot more than he was. That was pretty big gig off the post. Sheik bites it and opens the wound up HUGE. WOW. That is a LOT of blood. It’s a big gash on his head. I can only assume that Sheik really opened that sucker up. Sarge starts blocking punches again but he’s lost a lot of blood. Sarge gets thrown into the post again and he is FUCKED. Gene Okerlund drops the “crimson mask” cliché and the crowd is so fucking loud you can barely hear the commentary. Sarge comes off the top with an insane diving knee strike. That’d look cool now. And Sheik blades off it! That’s another enormous bladejob. Arteries have been tapped in New York City! Sarge is up first and he wails away with massive punches. WINDMILL PUNCH~! Ref scrambles into the ring and the pin gets…2. OOOOOHHHHH! Crowd is frustrated with how slow the referee is but he keeps getting out of the ring because it’s not safe in there. There are pools of blood in the ring. This is pretty sick. Sheik with a belly to belly for 2. Both men look very tired now because it’s been a long brawl with lots of blood loss. Sheik unlaces his boot and takes it off. Sarge ducks it and hits a LARIATOOOOO! Or the Slaughter Cannon as it was called. They both go for the boot but Sarge gets it. Sheik is struggling to get up. Sheik takes his own boot right in the jaw and that’s enough for the pin. WOO! ****. That was INSANE. The crowd was HOT throughout the entire match. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much heat in my life. Two great bladejobs and some nice storytelling. Incredible stuff.

The Genius presents…Mr Perfect. I have French commentary for this match, which suggests it might not even have aired in the United States.

Mr Perfect v Bret Hart

Because the Genius is cornering Perfect I have to think this match takes place in 1989. This would also be after the Hart Foundation turned babyface because Bret is being cheered and already the WWE is shrewdly marketing his sunglasses. As you’d expect from these guys everything is incredibly smooth. The hip toss reversal spot is done at incredible speed. Hennig sells it out of the ring and is still spinning when he’s on the floor. Heh, heel overselling rules and Hennig was the best at it, ever. Genius is critical of the commentators. Well, they ARE French. He has a point. Bret with a headlock but Hennig pulls the hair. He does a decent job of hiding it but Earl Hebner is wise to him. Bret won’t let go of that headlock and Hennig always sells takedowns superbly. Bret grabs the hair on another one just to prove a point and get his receipt. Hennig with another hair pull but Bret crossbodies him for 2. Bret with a shoulder charge and a sunset flip for 2 and then it’s back to the headlock. This is all SO smooth. It’s a thing of beauty. Hennig goes suspiciously low but Bret counters him into a crucifix for 2 and then back to the headlock. This is text book stuff. Keep control of your opponents head and keep control of the match. Bret sweeps the leg and boots Hennig in the guts. Crowd was thinking Sharpshooter or low blow. Hennig is overselling SO much here. Bret punches him and he does a huge back bump. Clothesline is worthy of a 360 sell over the top rope. Hennig decides to take a breather out there because he’s getting owned. Hennig goes back in but cowers in the ropes like the ultimate chickenshit heel. Ref tries to keep Bret back, which gives Hennig the opportunity to punch him over the ref’s back. Now it’s Bret’s turn to go on a selling rampage as he snap back bumps a chop. He falls outside and Hennig follows out to chop him over again. Hennig is less sympathetic than Bret and dumps him on the rail sternum first. At least it’s not broken this time Bret. Back inside Bret recovers but Hennig reverses him and Bret takes a huge front turnbuckle for 2. Hennig decides to bring the hair mare. Must have been watching a lot of women’s wrestling at the time. Rolling Neck Snap! Jack Knife pin! That gets 2. Hennig goes up top but Bret crotches him. Genius can’t look. Bret goes to town and Hennig is selling like a champ again. This time sliding himself groin first into the ring post on a hip toss. That almost looked believable too. Bret with a snap suplex for 2. Crowd actually buy that as a near fall and BOO when Hennig kicks out. Small Package gets 2. Backbreaker gets 2. Bret is frustrated by the multiple kick out’s. Hennig rolls him up for that but the kick out sends Henning through the ropes. His selling has been amazing here. He’s having a ball. They brawl outside and the referee’s count is already bothering me. I don’t want this finish! No! Hennig gets back in. Hooray! He goes to suplex Bret in who slips out and rolls Henning up BUT Curt reverses it and grabs the tights for the win. ****1/4. Did these guys always have awesome matches or what? Summerslam ’91 and King of the Ring ’93 were better but this is still a killer match and a great demonstration of what they were capable of.

Gene Okerlund has Jake Roberts backstage. Okerlund freaks when the snake touches him. His hand shaking with the mic is a nice touch. Two cameras because Jake’s promos are a moment that need capturing. He says to Savage that Jake is the guy that mother’s warn their children about. Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura are the commentary team. Okerlund has an interview with Savage too. Savage won’t let Liz talk about snakes so Okerlund suggests he’s afraid of snakes. Savage says he’ll make boots & belts out of that “animal”. “Damien?” quizzes Gene. No, Savage was talking Jake Roberts. Heh.

IC title – Randy Savage (c) v Jake Roberts

Time period wise I think this is their Saturday Night Main Event match from December 1986. It’s the only time I can think of where Jake would be face, after turning when his Steamboat angle finished up a few months beforehand and Savage turned face, which happened in 1987. Liz is scared of the snake. Not as much as Savage who hides behind Liz. Ah, we get a graphic for SNME so I was right. Sweet. Both these guys are at the height of their powers so this is great. Ventura suggests they’re both heel but I figured Jake turned in late ’86. And indeed he armdrags Savage and gets popped. Savage finds himself in the snake bag corner and freaks again. Jake does the headlock controlling and Savage pulls his hair. Savage nearly gets caught in the DDT and bails. Jake shows some great emotion in knowing he was *that* close to beating Savage. He facelocks him again as Savage comes back in but Savage backs him into the corner. This has incredible enthusiasm and energy. Considering both guys are supposed to be heel the crowd loves it. Savage starts dominating with his speed, which leaves Jake shook up. The crowd chants for the “DDT”, which is what eventually turned Jake fully face. Savage gives him a beating at speed and goes for repeated fall attempts. Savage hooks Jake up in the ropes and decides to do something REALLY smart by hiding the snake bag under the ring. Mind games~! Jake gets free without Savage seeing and Savage gets caught with a knee coming back in. Jake wants his snake bag back and finds it easily because he saw what Savage was doing. Short arm clothesline! That’s usually the set up but Jake pins instead and Savage is saved by the ropes. Jake with a front suplex (in 1986? Vince doesn’t know what to call it). Jake sets for the DDT but Savage grabs the ropes and saves himself. They’re busting ass here. Savage hides behind Liz again so Jake pulls out the snake but Savage is so quick he jumps Jake before the snake can come out. Jake eats ring post and Savage comes off the top with an axe handle. Savage clocks Jake with a flying forearm. He goes for another one but Jake punches him in the mouth. Jake with jabs and the crowd is really up for Jake winning now. Savage once again saving himself with his speed but bumps the referee in the process. Jake bumps him too and now we’re looking at the double DQ. BOO! ***1/2. Intense psychology loaded brawl. I’d have loved to have seen 20+ minutes on a PPV. Of course you’d have to put Jake over so that would scupper Wrestlemania 3 with Steamboat so you lose a great match.

Tag titles – The Dream Team (Greg Valentine/Brutus Beefcake) (c) w/Johnny Valiant v British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith) w/Lou Albano/Ozzy Osbourne

Gene thinks Ozzy is from Manchester. In what reality? Ozzy is from my neck of the woods, as he frequently states, and was born in Aston. This is from Wrestlemania 2, natch. I’ve done this before so here’s the PBP; Davey and Hammer start out. Arm bar from Davey but Hammer hip tosses out of it. Dynamite tags in and Hammer takes a Flair face bump. We get a shot of Ozzy on the outside. Snap suplex from Dynamite. Hammer blocks a second from Davey but it’s countered back into a vertical suplex. Hammer comes back and works over Davey’s mid section. Beefcake tags in for the first time. Arm ringer. Press slam to escape by Davey and Dynamite comes back in. Small package gets a near fall for Dynamite. More tags for the babyfaces. Fisherman suplex from Davey gets a near fall. Hammer tags in and hits a suplex on Davey. Elbows from the Hammer. Shoulder blocks from Dynamite after he tags in. Lots of tags from the Bulldogs. Sunset flip scores a near fall for Dynamite. Backbreaker from Dynamite. Hammer with a piledriver on Dynamite and another near fall. Hammer goes up top so Dynamite throws him off. All 4 men in now. Davey goes to press slam Dynamite on Hammer but Hammer bails. Running powerslam from Davey but Hammer kicks out. Suplex from Davey. Hammer reverses an irish whip and Davey gets posted. Hammerlock from the Hammer and Beefcake comes in. Hammerlock from Beefcake and he starts working the arm over. Tags from the heels and they continue to work Davey’s arm/shoulder. Shoulderbreaker from Hammer and Hammer breaks the fall himself. Dynamite puts himself in collision course with Hammer on an Irish whip, which knocks Dynamite to the floor. Davey rolls the unconscious Hammer up for the fall. Cool spot. ***1/2.

IC title – Randy Savage (c) v Ricky Steamboat

From Wrestlemania 3. Duh. Been a while since I recapped this one but my opinions haven’t changed much. I could probably talk a lot more about the psychology. Hell, I’ll re-do all the Wrestlemania’s when I get enough time. Early clashes include a few collar and elbow tie ups and a waistlock from Savage which Steamboat throws him off of. 30 seconds wrestling and already it’s the best match on the show. Savage moves Liz on the outside. I’m reminded that George Steele is in Steamboat’s corner. Couple of arm drags from Steamboat and a choke lift. Steamboat breaks the hold to avoid the DQ. Savage chokes Steamboat on the ropes. Wrist lock and an arm ringer from Steamboat and he does the over the ropes Savage hangover on the arm (instead of the throat). Savage comes back with a back elbow and then he throws Steamboat outside. Savage won’t let Steamboat back in and he kicks him in the face. Elbow to the exposed throat from Savage. He’s working the injured body part. Snapmare back in from Savage. Nice move. Knee drop to the throat and another 2 for Savage. Steamboat gets Savage caught up in the ropes and he beats on him. Irish whip reversals and Steamboat hits a high crossbody for 2. Couple more arm drags from Steamboat and another near fall. The speed of this is phenomenal for the time. Steamboat skins the cat after going over the ropes so Savage clotheslines him out. Savage blindsides Steamboat and he lands in the crowd. Cool. Animal Steele has to help him back in to avoid a count out. Savage dumps him out again and hits the double axe handle from the top. Back inside and another double axe handle from Savage. Over the top rope hangover from Savage. Couple of near falls. Suplex from Savage. This is getting hard to keep up with. Gutwrench suplex from Savage and another kick out. Steamboat backdrops Savage over the ropes and the height he gets is great. The crowd is starting to really go nuts. Steamboat hits a “karate chop” from the top rope but Savage gets his foot on the ropes. As I was typing that Savage got back up, got Irish whipped and chopped down again for another near fall. Steamboat hits a sunset flip for another near fall. Roll up from Steamboat and another near fall. Bridge pin from Steamboat and another near fall. Small package and another near fall and half the crowd thinks it was three. Crowd completely nuts for everything by this point. Scoop slam from Steamboat and he slingshots Savage into the ring post. Savage falls off the ropes straight into a pin for 2. Another roll up from Steamboat and another near fall. Savage reverses it and grabs the tights but Steamboat kicks out. Savage grabs the tights again and drags Steamboat into the ring post shoulder first. Triple Irish whip reveral and a ref bump. Savage hits a clothesline and heads up top. Flying elbow and he had it won there but the ref is still down. Savage goes outside and gets the ring bell. Huge heat from the crowd. Steele gets the bell off him but Savage kicks Steele in the head and gets the bell back again so Steele pushes him off the ropes. Savage goes for a scoop slam but Steamboat holds on and rolls him through for the pin at 14.31. Steamboat is your new champion. Massive, massive pop from the crowd and the WWF had their best match ever to that point. *****.

WWF title – Randy Savage (c) v Hulk Hogan

From Wrestlemania V. Savage seems to have lost a lot of heat in the past year. That’s what happens when you have to play second fiddle to the Hulkster brother. Savage threatens to waffle the Pukester with the belt. Savage chickens out of a tie up to draw some heat. Hogan overpowers Savage so he bails to compose himself. Savage opts to badmouth Liz before getting back in. Savage bails again and puts Liz between himself and Hogan. Some major f**king heat for Savage. Hogan actually does a wrestling move. Hang on. No, I rewound the tape he was definitely wrestling. Savage side suplexes Hogan out of a headlock. Savage heads up top and hits a double axe handle. Savage goes to an armlock and pulls the hair to keep Hogan down. Hogan pulls the tights (cheat!) to get out of the headlock. Savage gets his head zinged off the buckles and Hogan hits a few clotheslines, which Savage sells like crazy. Hogan is bleeding from above the eye. Savage goes back to the headlock. In a nice psychology move Savage goes for the big boot but Hogan catches his foot. Cool. Sloppy atomic drop from Hogan. Savage gets a 2 from a roll up. Hogan is getting a real beating and can barely stand. Savage draws some more heat by stamping on Hogan’s hand. Savage wastes too much time so Hogan zings Savage’s head off the buckles again. Hogan scoop slams Savage over the top rope. Wow. I forgot about that. How cool was that? Liz goes to check on Savage but he doesn’t want her help. Hogan keeps blocking everything. God, how annoying is that? Hogan threatens to javelin Savage into the ring post but Liz gets in the way. Hogan is reversed and gets posted. Liz goes to check on Hogan. Make your mind up bitch! Savage sees her helping Hogan and goes out to confront her. Savage threatens to belt her. What a role model. Hebner throws Liz out of the match and now it’s a fair fight. Savage does the double axe handle to the floor. Awesome move. Hogan is selling the throat so Savage does his hangover the ropes into a rope clothesline. Savage rules. Savage takes the tape off his wrist and chokes Hogan with it. Hahaha. I love heels. Blatant choke from Savage so Hebner breaks it up. Top rope elbow from Savage and he nailed it. Hogan kicks out at 1 because he doesn’t sell finishing moves. He’s the Hulkster. Hogan goes to his no sell crap. Well the match was good. Big boot. Old glory and it’s over at 17.53. ***1/2. Shame about the finish because I’d really enjoyed it up to that point. Savage OWNED Hogan and yet never got the win against him. Hogan is such an egomaniac.

The 411: This shit is awesome. Savage-Steamboat everyone has seen but getting it on DVD is nice even if the picture quality varies somewhat throughout the DVD. It’s a pity that the matches aren’t in any sort of order. I’d have probably gone chronological. But this first disc (of eight) jumps between 1984 and 1989 and everywhere in between indiscriminately. I figured it might be in order of quality but with Savage-Steamboat being on disc one there’s no chance of that. Of the matches I’d not seen before I really enjoyed the old school North-South Connection tag title defence and the Boot Camp match. If you’ve never seen anything from the era apart from the later PPV’s this collection should be yours. Hit me up about contact details for snagging your very own copy.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]