Thursday, August 29, 2013

Ke$ha & The Audience of One

Miley please, you got to twerk a whole lot harder to even get on the level of the true Sleeze Queen, Ke$ha. Nuthin but a poseur, honey.

Speaking of the Gutter-Glam Goddess, Ke$ha, I saw her deliver one of the best stage shows I have ever seen on Friday as she unleashed a unique chaos on stage in Connecticut. Having seen her earlier in the year in Massachusetts, it felt like a constrained show. In the intervening shows, she developed a truly unfettered performances that was sleezy as it was cheezy. Part of the fun of Ke$ha is you know she is in on the joke, but the a vast majority audience is not (and most of her haters are not). From the opening spoken word intro that evokes thoughts of Spinal Tap to her unabashed love for eyeballs (she has one tattooed on her hand) to having sexual encounters with ghosts, Ke$ha always plays to that audience of one amusing herself to no end and somehow bringing this hodgepodge legion of followers along for the ride through sheer might of her effusive charisma. Though there is one facet of music she indulges that is lost on many of her "Animals" and that is her love for  hard rock/heavy metal as noted by giving her guitarists multiple solos throughout set along with an extended solo early on in the show with all the finger-tapping, shredding excess of the 80s.  Ke$ha is a rockstar playing the part of the pop-star and the joke is on all of us because Ke$ha is the one who is laughing the hardest.









Thursday, August 22, 2013

Haku & Tama, The Islanders: Hidden Gems of WWF

You can have your Hart Foundations, British Bulldogs and Demolition, I will take the Islanders take everyday of the week. They have been by far the biggest revelation of my perusal through 80s WWF Tag library. These energetic performers could not be denied delivering great matches against a host of performers and as both babyfaces and heels. They began as erstwhile ethnic babyfaces around the same time as the Rougeaus. Unlike their French Canadian counterparts, they contributed to their matches in meaningful ways by interjecting big spots and eliciting sympathy from the crow. In the Hart Foundation and Demolition matches, Tama took huge bumps getting Demolition and himself over in the proces. The result was a more heated atmosphere. Unlike the bland the Rougeaus, they worked hard to interact with the crowd and whip them into frenzy. In particular, Tama is an amazing, unheralded wrestler. If you read this blog, you will see how much I rave about his work.

Tama was incredible as a big bumping babyface eliciting sympathy from the crowd, until Haku, the silent badass who cleans house. He carries himself as a star and the crowd reacted in part to his performances. However, the plans were to push the Can-Am Connection of Rick Martel & Tom Zenk as a pretty boy babyface tag team to mimic the success of the Rock N Roll Express, the Midnight Rockers, and Fantastics in other promotions. Thus the Islanders were turned heel to act as the number two heel team against these burgeoning stars. What followed is now one of my favorite feuds in WWF history as the Islanders run Tom Zenk out of the company and Tito Santana joins Rick Martel to form Strike Force. In many WWF "feuds", they treated more like programs. Basically, you would be programmed to face a certain wrestler for a house show loop usually without an angle behind it. Even there was an angle behind it, it was not a violent angle like the Islanders stealing Matilda. The Islanders vs Strike Force was built like an old school 80s territories feud. The Islanders ran Zenk out of the promotion->Martel tries to fight them separately in singles matches, but keeps getting jumped -> Santana takes affront -> Gang up on Santana -> Have kickass, bitchin' tag matches. It was really effective booking that produced wildly entertaining matches.

Tama, in these matches, was just incredible. He was a jaw jacking heel that was not afraid to show ass with the best of them. He still did big bumps like his belly flop in the ring, but this time he looked like a fool. Tama and Haku still were able to display their kickass offense during their heat segments. Tama's singles match with Martel is one of the best of the 80s and so is the first Strike Force match. Tama really could have been one of the biggest stars of the WWF if he was pushed properly. I could realistically see him as a number 2 or 3 face or heel in the WWF in the late 80s-early 90s. It is shame we never got to see it. What we did get to see is so awesome that it makes it frustrating there is not more of it. Icould realistically see him as a number 2 or 3 face or heel in the WWF in the late 80s-early 90s. It is shame we never got to see it. What we did get to see is so awesome that it makes it frustrating there is not more of it.

Choice Cuts of the Islanders:
The Islanders vs Demolition - MSG 2/87
Tama vs Rick Martel - MSG 7/87

The Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 9/87
The Islanders vs Strike Force - 2 out of 3 Falls MSG 10/87
Survivor Series '87

Just missed the cut:
The Islanders vs Hart Foundation - MLG 11/86
The Islanders vs Dream Team - MSG 12/86
Rick Martel vs Haku - 9/87
WWF World Tag Team Champions Strike Force vs Islanders - Philly 12/87
British Bulldogs vs The Islanders - MSG 1/88

The Floral Wallpaper Tights was really the one thing holding them back!

  


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart Foundation vs Islanders 11/86 Maple Leaf Gardens

Best match from the Hart Foundation I have seen so far and it was really good for a WWF Tag. The Islanders, hot damn, I had never seen them before and they were perfect babyfaces for the WWF in the way Rougeaus never could be. They kinda got fucked with the elevation of Strike Force as number one babyface. It doesn't strike me that they would be very good as heels, but we shall see. I have dug Martel and Tito a lot, but the they have a lot of ground to cover to match the sheer energy The Islanders brought to this match.

As for this match, Bret does a little bit more stalling than we are used to seeing, but when it comes to bump him and Anvil are ready to make Islanders shine. The Islanders could have been the ethnic response to your RnR Express clones with more WWF-oriented offense (read: Big Ass Spots). My favorite spot of the shine sequence: Haku's causal thrust kick to Bret while he is on the apron that had me going crazy. Bret chooses to do the blind knee as his transition spot du jour. Demolition Decapitation transitions into an Anvil chinlock.

Then in a spot of the whole friggin match, Bret runs Tama down the ramp and fuckin throws him down the steps. Holy shit! You didn't see that from the WWF at that time. Bret picks up him to take him back, but for good measure first rams his head into the ramp. Bret can bring the violence when he wants. Some good, quality low-down heel offense follows usually involving ramming Tama's head into stuff. Bret even takes a swing at Haku, payback, muthafucka. Bret sure loves the false babyface tag immediately followed by heel miscommunication I think he could milk it more. Haku comes in double noggin knocker, paint brushes Bret, and it is a double diving headbutt from the Islanders. Tama hits the high cross-body, but in the fracas Nedihart crotches Tama on the ropes and Bret steals one.

Are there things these could have done a bit better with more times, I am sure of it. But as it stands, I think this is my favorite Hart Foundation because it felt like the Islanders added something to the Bret show. Plus, there were more cheapshots and violence. I would definitely recommend someone checking this out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders vs "Ace" Bob Orton & "Magnificent" Don Muraco w/ Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji - 12/86 Primetime Wrestling

The Islanders are one of the best teams at getting the WWF style over with crowd as they are never boring during their shine segments and never letting them drift into heel in peril. Orton starts off Tama taking a karate shop wanders over to the wrong corner and Haku gives him a shot for his trouble. Here comes Muraco, who looks huge compared to everyone else. The crowd chants "Beach Bum!" Mr. Fuji no sells it so Jimmy Hart picks up the slack. Muraco gives Tama the "Up Yours" gesture. Haku with a dropkick sending Muraco into the corner where they pinball him. Eyerake by Muraco gives him a chance to tag in Orton. They really get the most out of the hard head gimmick. Orton powders to consult Hart. Tama avoids Orton who runs into Muraco as the crowd jeers the heels. Orton is able to execute a hotshot on Tama followed up by a huge right. "The tide has definitely gone out on the Islanders" - Jesse The Body. Jesse slays me as Vince is unimpressed. Chinlock by Muraco, but hits him with a clothesline then leg drop. Orton hits a nice dropkick and innovative knee to the body. Randomly Bruno just starts to talk after Haku saves Tama on a pinfall. Orton rammed into buckle and Tama gets a headbutt to the lower abdomen. No hot tag as Haku just comes in and they hit a double chop on Orton. Haku dropkicks Orton over the top rope and brings in Muraco the hard way and wraps up with the double noggin knocker. He makes the cardinal mistake of setting too early on back body drop and Orton catches with the boot. Muraco in with double knees to the head. Haku battles back, but lacks the charisma of Tama and it falls flat. Orton nonchalantly enters the ring allowing a red-hot Tama to come in. Tama cross bodies Orton over the top onto the floor. Melee ensues and the finsh is a double countout.

Plenty of action as the Islanders started off red hot. Orton regrouped was able to hotshot Tama and they took over with some great heel offense. The Islanders never sat in holds and really kept everything moving not letting it get bogged down into heel in peril. By the same token, the heels were good in this. I have always like Bob Orton and think every time I see him he has great offense and stooges well for babyfaces. Muraco is wicked hit and miss, but he plays his role great here and tag setting is somewhere he can excel without giving way to laziness tendencies. Haku still felt really green and had not yet learned how to interact with the crowd. It is incredible how good Tama is both as fired-up babyface and stooging heel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dream Team vs Islanders 12/86 Boston

Tama is looking PIMP at the beginning of the match. That jacket is fuckin *****, maybe that's why I got distracted. beefcake add his one useful contribution drops down to the Superfly pose and does "Up Yours!". Haku/Tama start with early double teams on Valentine's arm. Haku gets him a figure 4 armlock and head headscissors and also a hammerlock pinfall attempt. Tama and Valentine have a nice vicious exchange and Valentine also takes a cross body from Tama. Haku veers off cours and starts going after legs: single Boston Crab and spreading his legs apart. Basically the first half of the match was jaw-jacking and then has been working over Valentine. Valentine has kept it interesting with some stogging, but I really want to see him light someone up. Valentine gets a wicked reverse elbow to turn the tide and send Tama crashing to the paraquet floor. Tama is milking it for all its worth and once back in gets thrown back to the outside to take some light Beefcake offense. Valentine brings him in a with a suplex. Tags in Beefcake, but before exiting steps on Tama. Beefcake distracts Haku & ref for more Valentine offense. Beefcake knew where his bread was buttered.

Beefcake displays why he is a candidate for worst wrestler of all time with his lame offense. Tama is selling incredibly well and really trying to make up for Beefcake's shitty offense. In such a short time period, Tama has proved himself to have more versatility than most wrestlers display in their whole careers as he plays both an excellent sympathetic face in peril and a great douchebag heel. Valentine comes in and hits a reverse tombstone and then gets a figure 4, but Haku sensing the end is near breaks that up. Tama blocks a Valentine suplex and hits his own. Haku gets the tag and the place is rocking. Haku is a Tongan Tribal Fire Fully Ablaze!!! Haku is just killing the Dream left and right. TIMBAAAAAAAH! Beefcake is calling for timeout. The Islanders have the former champs where they want them. Haku hoists Valentine up and Tama comes acorss with the flying cross body and the bell sounds signaling the time limit draw. TAMA IS PISSED!!! He calls for 5 more minutes. The Dream Team tease taking them up on the offer before bailing. Gorilla gets a word with the three of them and it is a pretty non-descript promo.

Maybe I shouldnt watch matches so late because I did not think it was nearly as good, but I didn't think it was bad either. It was just disappointing. I wanted Valentine and Islanders to really light each other up. Haku was more explosive offensively than I had seen before in the babyface run and Tama was his usual badass self. If only the match I originally outlined was the match that took place.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders vs Demolition - MSG 2/87

Great match! Islanders started with some early doubling teaming to keep Demolition off balance. So that was not a Strike Force thing it seems that is something the Demos preferred to establish their strength and how babyfaces could still capitalize through superior teamwork. Ax/Tama have a good mat exchange with Tama getting the better of it. MSG seemed to dig the Islanders even though they were just a random ethnic babyface tag team at this time. This is the Demo's MSG debut. Haku begins to work on Ax's leg and some good babyface leg work follows. Lots of quick tags and follow up on Ax's leg that never drags. Tama tries to go toe to toe with Ax even in his weakened state that ain smart as he drives Tama head first into Smash's boot.

Smash throws Tama out to the floor hard. Tama takes the first of his two man-sized bumps when Ax whips him hard into the railing. The pugnacious Tama fights out of the corner and covers Ax only to pressed out to the floor in a fucking wicked bump. I am such an unabashed Tama mark at this point. What the hell happened to this guy?

Ax reverse elbow gets two and Tama bumped huge off that. Tama takes a wicked hot shot. Tama is a great face in peril and heel. I have feel bad he did not make it further. He kicks Ax, who sets too early and MSG is whistling. Haku is in and he is a HOUSE OF FIRE! Headbutts, Dropkick, big thrust kick DOUBLE HEADBUTTS! Tama high cross body only gets two on an Ax save. Donnybrook ensues, ref holds back Haku and Demolition Decapitation grabs the win for the Demos.

This is my favorite Demolition match so far and really reinforces how good the Islanders working both babyface and heel. Tama took some huge bumps and both Islanders had great offense throughout the match. Demolition were great for playing antithesis of the Islanders with all their strength and they worked hard to put over the Islanders moves and in turn Tama bumped huge for Demolition makes the Demos look like monsters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs The Islanders - 3/87 Philly

I'll be honest a bit of a let down. I thought with 10 extra minutes they could really piece together something for the age, but they spend the first five minutes stalling. I thought the shine was definitely the bets part of this with Haku knocking Bret's block off with a thrust kick off a criss cross. Tama making both Bret and Anvil look foolish on separate occasions. Islanders do some armwork on Anvil before, the blind knee WAIT Tama sees the blind knee and is pointing how smart he is only to have Anvil sledge him in the back. I dug the twist.

It was very good face in peril, but I was a bit spoiled by the throw off the ramp bump. They replaced it with Tama flinging himself into the railing once and onto the floor. They did a better job conveying a sense of struggle here, and the violence on the part of Hart Foundation was as ratcheted up with biting, choking and clawing. At this point of the match, I was still saying it could very much exceed expectations.

But the finish was really lackluster, they get the hot tag finally after a well done, heat segment and they do a short Haku house a fire and Tama comes flying halfway across the ring to nail Bret with a cross-body only for Danny Davis to put Bret on top in the fracas. I just hated how short it was. I really wanted to see Haku clean house and get some nearfalls before all was said and done. Alas, a fine match for what it was.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Either I suck at google search or most buxom lasses need to do Hawaiian Themed photo shoots.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders vs Can-Am Connection -Superstars 6/87

The AWA had the Rockers, the NWA had the Rock N Rolls & Fantastics, WWF took their stab at the pretty boy babyface tag team with the Can-Ams. After two years of the Bulldogs on top, the female fans must have been certainly grateful.

Strike Force obviously turned out to be a better end game because you are substituting Tito Santana for  Tom Zenk, but I actually believe the Can-Ams would have been a great act too. I mean if Valentine could wrestle matches basically by himself while Beefcake stood on the outside I think Martel would have been just fine.

The Islanders are still faces at this point, but have been wrestling more aggressively against fellow face acts like the Rougeaus and Killer Bees. Bruno fucks up worse than Heenan at Bash at the Beach when he says isnt this match where Heenan said he would unveil his new tag team. Vince was all like well Harley Race and Hercules are tagging later on tonight, damnit Bruno. Tama looks like one scary muthafucka. Haku actually looks pretty gentle, not intimdating at all and positively thin.

Haku vs Martel starts off awesome with some great Martel offense: reverse cross body block and hurricanarana. Zenk comes in and does his usual blase stuff. My favorite spot of the match is Zenk telegraphs a back body drop and Haku kicks him with so much momentum he actually walks through it. At this point, Heenan comes out and distracts the Can-Ams.

The Islanders bum rush The Can-Ams whipping Martel head first into the steel post and doing their dreaded double standing headbutt. Tama whips Zenk to the outside and delivers the headbutt from the apron. The Islanders win by countout.

This was a wicked effective angle for TV. It immediately gives the Islanders a ton of momentum to have Heenan as their manager and to really beat up the Can-Ams. This gives the Can-Ams the first angle where they will be seeking revenge. The best part is that Zenk ends up leaving so the angle gets even better once Tito gets involved.

It was so well-executed that I actually wanted to watch the whole angle play out at MSG.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Martel vs Tama - 7/87 MSG

Zenk has departed the WWF and thus Martel has activated AWA World Champion mode. He says he would wrestle the two Islanders himself (in separate singles). Throughout this match, if you did not know any better it felt like it was of his really high end AWA World Championship defenses. Martel is such an offensive dynamo and Tama is trying his best to break it up anyway he can with underhanded tactics. Martel is looking for revenge for Superstars and that fire conveyed really well here. For those who have trouble keeping the Samoans straight (I think that is everyone), Tama is Rikshi's twin and Haku is unrelated and from Tonga much like The Barbarian.

Haku & Tama double team Martel to start, but he explodes with a double clothesline that gets the crowd going and sends the Islanders to the floor. Tama keeps trying to break Martel's momentum: putting himself in the ropes, pointing at his clenched fist, not giving him clean breaks, but Martel is too much to handle and eventually gets a hold of Tama's leg. They break up the leg work with some fun stuff as Martel outsmarts or outquicks (cartwheel) him at each turn to get him back into a toehold or leglace. The way Martel is working this with all this energy just makes it feel so pertinent that he win. Tama sells the knee work very well.

The one thing about wrestling barefoot you better not have sensitive feet. Eventually Martel lays a little too far back and Tama has the chance to lay some shots in. Tama still selling gets caught with a shinbreaker and Martel grabs Tama by the feet while he is holding the bottom ropes giving him the ol'
heeve ho. This has been some really excellent stuff so far with Martel wrestling more like a World Champion than an upper mid carder in the tag ranks. Martel drops all his weight on Tama's knee before going into the spinning toe hold as he gives Tama his back that is enough to push him off and send him crashing to the floor. That was such a good transition spot.

Tama, still selling the knee, takes Martel and runs him headfirst into the steel ring post. Haku adds some shots for good measure. Tama hits his flying reverse elbow, but he is still selling and is frustarted with only a two count. Tama knows he needs to contain Martel's explosiveness slaps on a Vulcan Nerve Pinch. Martel hope spot is ended by a Tama knee lift who immediately winces in pain and tries for another cover off the knee drop. Much like Martel using a toe hold as his base, Tama is working the Vulcan Nerve Pinch. At this point, both guys are in such a groove that they still have me enthralled with their energy in the hold and another hope spot. This time Tama punches Martel in the face on his sunset flip. A Tama clothesline gets two and it is back to the nerve pinch. This time it looks like our French Canadian hero is fading. The Garden just wont let him die and a third time is a charm...Martel crashes and burns on his reverse cross body and now Tama is just relentless with the stomps and tosses Martel to the outside. He rams Martel's head against the apron. Martel just keeps coming. Haku now rams him headfirst into the ramp. This match is so fuckin good. Tama brings Martel in with teh vertical suplex and Martel kicks out again. YOU CANT HOLD DOWN RICKY MARTEL!!!!

Martel ducks a clothesline and hits a kneelift on Tama. Tama with some more, but Martel is coming back with strikes. Tama bodyslam and misses the diving headbutt. Lefts by the southpaw, Martel and a back body drop. ITS RICKY MARTEL TIME, MUTHAFUCKAS!!! Tama begs off and Martel connects with the reverse elbow that sends Tama to the floor. Martel gives Tama a taste of his own medicine ramming his head into the apron. Now he jerks the ropes so that Tama does a belly flop into the ring. That was a frigging awesome spot. Tama is now tied up in the ropes and Martel does a running headbut to Tama's midsection. Haku helps him get out, but Martel catapults Tama into Haku. This only gets 2, surprisingly, great false finish. Martel reverses a crossbody into a pinning combination.

Martel celebrates like he just won the World Title. The dastardly Islanders double team and where is Tom Zenk?!?!?!? That coward. Islanders hit their double headbutt. The refs try to break up this mugging, but Islanders are relentless. Ricky, dont be a hero! You need to find a friend in arms to combat these nefarious Islanders.

This is a strong WWF MOTYC for 1987 and I think I might vote it over Savage/Steamboat right now. I'd really need to see Steamboat/Savage again to judge it between these two. This is truly an incredible match on par with Martel's AWA matches against Bockwinkel, Saito and Jumbo and a real testament to Martel's natural babyface charisma and his relentless work ethic. This did not feel as segmented as so many 1980s WWF matches, but a true struggle where they constantly mixed in hope spots with their sound psychology. I can not wait for the next chapter in this feud. ARRIBA!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Martel vs Haku - 8/87 MSG

Both Islanders play King of the Mountain and won't let Rick Martel into the ring. Ricky is like two can play at that game and goes to back to bring out Tito Santana! STRIKE FORCE, BABY~! This angle has been excellent and the addition of Tito as Martel's partner due to Zenk's departure only makes it better. Gorilla explains that during of the Islander's 2 on 1 muggings of Martel, Tito made the save from the Spanish Announce Team. After a great 3 year run anchoring the upper midcard, it only made sense to use Tito in a new capacity as he stil something to give as a major babyface player. The British Bulldogs were withering in the face of injuries, so by pairing the recently AWA World Heavyweight Champion and recent WWF Intercontinental Cheampion made Strike Force an instant babyface superteam. The Islanders started off as their establishment feud with the Hart Foundation & Bulldogs wrapped up their feud. Strike Force went over the Hart Foundation to establish themselves as the number one babyface tag team only to drop the titles at Wrestlemania IV to establish Demolition as the lead heel team. Man, I miss this Vince, just really simple, but highly effective booking.

In the summer of 1987, Rick Martel is my pick for the best wrestler in the WWF. As I mentioned in the last match, he is working as if he is still the AWA World Champion, who is hot at the heel's underhanded tactics. Martel & Haku begin the match off hot with a BIG Martel cross body block. Martel just starts throwing hands because he aint gonna take it, anymore! My favorite aspect of this match is the sense of struggle as both men are constantly attacking each other, but not in a way that is hapahazard or chaotic. One examples is early when Martel sets early for a back body drop and Haku pounces leading you to think Haku will capitalize, but Martel cartwheels out of a Haku back body drop and hits a hurricanrana, which he punctuates with some punches to Haku's skull.

When Haku takes over, he does have to work very hard to keep Martel because Martel just wont stop moving forward. He uses a chinlock effectively and follows up with a back suplex. However when Haku gets a bit careless and gives Martel that separation by Irish WHipping him into the corner, Martel
responds with reverse cross-body off the second rope. That is the story of this match, Haku has to stay on top of Martel. One lapse in Haku's offnese and Martel will explode. In a desperation maneuver, Haku grabs Martel's trunks and throws him out of the ring. Martel seems more pissed that hurt on the outside. Haku brings Martel in the hard way with a vertical suplex. Haku misses his second rop headbutt and here comes the signature Martel left and Martel is on fire. Martel gets cocky trying the rana again, cardinal wrestling sin, Haku dumps him headfirst onto the top turnbuckle for his infraction. Haku with a diving headbutt only gets two and he drapes him over the second rope to choke him. Tama hits the prone Martel with a chair. In a rare WWF mistake, we actually miss the pinfall as we focus on the proud Tama. Tito rushes to the ring to make the Islanders pay for their transgressions and ensure Martel's safety as he actually does a stretcher job off the chair shot. They have put some serious heat on this feud and have really built their first tag encounter well. I am sitting here twenty five years in the future and I can not wait for the first Strike Force vs Islanders match.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Strike Force vs The Islanders - 9/87 MSG

Holy shit! How has no one ever told me of this match before. This match was an instant classic for me and currently one of my favorite matches. Before the match (shown on MSG Classics), Mean Gene shows a clip from Superstars where Tito gets assaulted by the Islanders due to him saving Martel from an earlier attack. So it is now personal between all four men. They do not wait for the formal ring introductions as Strike Force storms the ring and KATIE BAR THE DOOR BECAUSE THERE IS A PIER-SIX BRAWL A BREWIN!!! Islanders bail and Heenan leaves his hand on the apron and Strike Force stomps each hand. Then Martel brings in Tama the hard way who does a belly flop into the ring. A Martel dropkick send Tama over the top rope. I am loving every bit of this and so is the Garden.

Tama asks for time out, bitch please. Martel ducks a corner shot and he levels him. They set up the arm bar as the base of their attack with Tito coming off the ropes with an elbow to Tama's elbow and then swiftly knocking Haku off the apron. Tito leapfrogs over Tama and then turns around leveling Tama with a clothesline. Tama breaks up the armbar with headbutts and he tags Haku in. Haku promptly misses his big elbow. Time for him to play pinball for Strike Force. Once again, the armbar is the base with Martel using his speed. This is the best face shine sequence I have seen save for the MX/RNR Wrestlewar '90, which is also wicked fun.

All good things must come to an end and while the ref's back is turned, Tama comes off the top rope with an illegal forearm on Tito to set up the heat segment. Tama hits a wicked reverse elbow. The Islanders do all the good stuff: double teaming, choking with the tag rope, and false hot tag. Haku hits a monster superkick, but Tito kicks out at two. Haku goes for the kill with a SOMERSAULT SPLASH, but misses. TITO MAKES THE HOT TAG!!! THE GARDEN EXPLODES! ITS RICKY MARTEL TIME, MUTHAFUCKAS!!! He is one man wrecking crew, but as he has Tama in a pinning predicament Haku blasts Martel with the ref distracted. Haku vehemently chokes Martel with his foot.

Tama had Martel scouted on his reverse cross body. Martel has been watching his share of film too and avoids the second rope headbutt. The ref busy with keeping Tito out of the ring allowed Haku to hit Martel with a headbutt and throw Tama out to get the pin.

I loved this match. It was bell-to-bell action with great face/heel dynamics. When you have watched the whole angle progress you just couldnt wait to see Strike Force manhandle The Islanders that is what you get in the outset. The Islanders are no slouches in the offense department and really work a solid heel tag team. They could be a bit more vicious and there were times they were, but this is late 80s WWF so given the circumstances it was good enough. Santana and Martel are two of the best babyfaces of all time and holy shit is Rick Martel a MONSTER hot tag. I have this as my favorite 80s tag team match topping the Bulldogs/Dream 2 Out Of 3 Falls SNME match.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strike Force vs The Islanders - 10/87 MSG 2 Out of 3 Falls

Strike Force try to start off early, but the Islanders are wary of this and bail. Bock is on commentary again and does not know what to make of it when Gorilla posits that The Brain maybe in drag somewhere in the building. Neither do I, Bock. Was there an angle at the time? There is obviously the Weasel Suit, but I know nothing of drag. Anyways, Strike Force starts off hot with Strike Force controlling the action. They use a headlock as a base in this match. Tito hits a pretty sweet Thesz Press that only gets two. Haku catches Martel with a back suplex while in the headlock shades of Mr. Saito. Tama and Haku do some double teaming on Martel. Martel is a lot better than most WWF babyfaces in working underneath by mixing in hope spots. He tags in Tito who immediately goes in for the kill with the Figure-4. However, the Islanders break it up.

Haku sends Tito crashing to the floor and as pay back attacks Tito's right knee. THIS AINT MEXICO, HAKU!!! Tama follows this up by stomping the left knee.

This leads to a continuity problem the rest of the match as Tito & Haku are on the same page with the right knee psychology, but Tama works over the left knee. The knee psychology is sound and refreshing in this match up. Tito maybe a bit better at selling than Martel as he is really milking this injury. The Islanders are really relentless making this a very dramatic segment. Martel gets fed up with this, but inadvertently allows The Islanders to hit their double diving headbutt to pick up the first fall.

There should be a short respite in between the falls, but the Islanders want to keep the full court press on Tito's knee. So Martel stands over the fallen, hurt Tito challenging to take both the Islanders on at the same time. It is just a great visiual and I am a total sucker for things like this as it is such great drama.
The second fall is wicked short as they work on the knee briefly before Martel reverses a cradle attempt for Strike Force to even it up. THE CROWD ERUPTS!! The babyface cheating is justified by the Islanders being total assholes constantly blindsiding Tito and Martel throughout the build-up. They do same angle during the respite.

Haku just slaps Tito around a bit to start. At this point, Gorilla notices the leg discontinuity,  he claims that Haku is the one who fucked up by going after the right leg even though Tito had been selling the right leg. But like most Americans, he was accustomed to left side work so did not notice that Tito was selling the right leg. The Islanders go for the kill with the double headbutt, but Thou Shalt Not Hit The Same Spot In The Same Match In America.

ITS RICKY MARTEL TIME, MUTHAFUCKAS~! THE GARDEN IS ROCKING!!! Backdrop, strikes, reverse crossbody. Haku thinks he has Martel, but YOU CANT HOLD DOWN RICK MARTEL and he moves out of the way causing Tama to send Haku crashing to the apron and Martel to get the reverse sunset flip victory. STRIKE FORCE WINS!!! Martel does his usual I just won the World Title celebration!

I would say this is below the September tag match, which just had so much more action and really showed how much Strike Force wanted to pummel The Islanders. I liked the drama with Tito's knee, but it just felt a little too compressed. Plus I would have liked a little bit more definitive ending like a Boston Crab or cross body block to really put Strike Force over. That being said, they had the Garden with them every step of the way. This series has had incredible heat. This would be my WWF Feud of the Year and best Tag Feud I have seen from 80s WWF. This is just really classic stuff.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Hart Foundation (Hart Foundation, Islanders, Demolition, New Dream Team & Bolsheviks) vs Team Strike Force (Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Rougeaus, Killer Bees & Young Stallions) - Survivor Series 1987

I knew this match was well-regarded, but I had no idea what outcome was. I can not believe the two bottom feeding babyface tag teams were the winners. More so, I cant believe the match was booked around the Young Stallions being booked as the stars. There was no reason before or after to understand this book decision as Strike Force and British Bulldogs continued to be the preeminent babyface tag teams for the near future with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Demolition ending the next year as the top three babyface tag teams. Odd booking aside, this was a really fun match. They did not really try to weave a story, but it was action-packed and they busted out some pretty cool moves. The only story, I really noticed was the resiliency of the Young Stallions. Just because the Young Stallions were booked as the stars, does not mean they wrestled well, mind you. They were the worst wrestlers out there. Notably, Jim Powers was being a huge pussy for not taking the hotshot on 2 occasions.

The match started off with Martel/Volkoff tearing it up shades of how good their SNME match would turn out. Volkoff looked like a monster Tito hit the Flying Burrito to get the pin on Boris. Ax came in and did his usual Demoition bit. They establish the nature of the gimmick with tons of quick tags that keep the action fresh. One notable exchange was the chop exchange between Haku/Dynamite, where the hell was that in their matches. Everyone is hitting all their stuff with a lot of intensity. The Stallions get worked over a little bit. Jacques gets the tag, but crashes and burns on a reverse cross body and Ax gets the pin. The Stallions get crushed by a Neidhart backbreaker/Haku flying chop. The Valentine adds a sweet shoulderbreaker and a vertical suplex (he throws him more than slams him back). Dino Bravo hits like the best gutwrench suplex ever and they still cant pin the Stallions. Demolition becomes fustrated and gets themselves DQ'd by pushing the ref. Bret crushes Dynamite with a piledriver and cant get the pin. The heels just cant buy a win. Tama/Martel have a great exchange as usual, but Martel applies his Boston Crab too close to the heel corner and Neidhart clobbers him. Santana makes a similar mistake on a pinfall attempt and gets whacked in the big of the head by a Bret elbow and gets pinned!?!?!??!?!? That was the first sign something fishy was up.

Now there is a long Stallions heat segment with Valentine that is pretty decent because Valentine stiffing shitty wrestlers is always fun. Powers refuses to get dropped across the ropes properly because he is a mega-pussy. The match gets clipped here and we miss the Bulldogs getting eliminated. According to one review, I missed a Bret backbreaker into a Tama knee and other general awesomeness. Disappointing. When we come back, the Stallions are still getting beat on, so it appears as if you missed nothing even though you missed the number 2 face tag team being eliminated. Valentien goes for the figure-4, but Roma gets a sunset flip (blind tag) for the win. For shame, as the New Dream Team were the best workers. Though Hart Foundation and Islanders have been working pretty friggin well also. The Killer Bees have been non-existent and Young Stallions have sucked but been the crux of this match.

The Bees begin and Brunzell hits a pretty sweet high knee. Roma is back in to be the face in peril. Islanders start busting out their offense and look great. Brunzell is working offense for the faces, Stallions on FIP duty and Blair on the apron, just where he should be. smile.gif This is the best Brunzell has looked in the WWF. Roma gets the first bit of offense for the Stallions with a fist drop on Bret Hart, but that is short-lived with Bret hitting a suplex on him. Islanders again rocking it in the ring. Brunzell is in with the Hitman. He has the Hitman to be slammed. Tama dropkicks Hitman to get him on top of Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through for the pin. At this point, I was in shock because I expected the top 2 heel teams to easily vanquish the two babyface jobber tag teams.

Islanders jump right on Brunzell to press while they still can. Islanders do a little too much vulcan nerve pinch, but Haku works in a shoulderbreaker and they are doing their best to keep Brunzell in their corner. Stallions get a quick powerslam, but Islanders are able to overwhelm them again. Blair gets tagged and swarmed (pun intended). Islanders always press their advantage. Wicked reverse elbow by Tama. Tama misses a big elbow, the key weakness of all 80s WWF heels. Brunzell, hot tag, double noggin knocker, DROPKICK~! Haku saves. Brunzell attempts sunset flip on Tama and Blair with mask jumps over and gets his own sunset flip to complete the upset. Brunzell puts on his mask too outside as they celebrate. MASKED CONFUSION~!

On one hand, the Stallions looked awesome by surviving and resilient because they got beat on mercilessly. But they only got in like two offensive moves and they sucked in the ring. Bees showed up half through the match and it was the best Brunzell looked in the WWF, but none babyfaces aside from Martel looked all that great. This was a great showcase for the heel teams as they had a ton of offense and really worked crisp and efficient. It is crazy to think in one years time there would be an utter dearth of heel tag teams and an overabundance of babyface tag teams. I went in with high expectations and it was a bit of a let down. It was action packed and 30+ minutes flew by which is a credit to the teams, but it lacked a great story to really make it classic. It was a great fun, action blockbuster.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWF World Tag Champs Strike Force vs The Islanders - Philly 12/87

These guys could not have a bad match if they tried. Now, this was not nearly as heated and part of that may be they ran most of the angles at the Garden thus the Philly crowd was not as revved and the wrestlers are wrestling this as a normal match rather than a grudge match. The opening sees the Islanders jump Strike Force for a change but Strike Force is able to ram them into each other to establish control. Martel busts out his hurricanarana early to wow the crowd. Tama takes two big bumps one off a Tito dropkick to the floor and the other is his patented belly flop back into the ring. I love that bump. They tease a Martel heat segment. Strike Force works over Haku's leg in ways that would make the Rockers jealous as it never enters heel in peril territory just good babyface shine fun.

Tama breaks up a figure four attempt, which these atrocious announcers call a new Strike Force move (they called Haku Sika once and one guy could not pronounce Tama's name). Haku hits Tito with repeated backbreakers while Tama lays the bad mouth down. Tito is such a great face in peril and this does not compare to their other heat segments, but it is still well-done to make you want to see the Martel. Heel miscommunication sees Tama clotheslining Haku and Tito gets the hot tag.

Here comes Martel, baby! Martel takes out both Islanders and tags Santana back in. Tito hits the Flying Burrito on Tama and gets him in the Figure-4, but Haku breaks it up. Only to have Martel sunset flip Haku for the win.

This was more of a fun match than the more substantial earlier encounters. I would still say these are better matches than the majority of the WWF tag matches I have seen so far. I am actually pretty disappointed how short-lived Strike Force is. I was going to watch the Demolition series and that's about it in terms of notable matches. Strike Force had the potential of being one of the best babyface tag teams of all time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do they eat bulldog in Tonga or Samoa? Ruh roh, Raggy!?!?!?




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
British Bulldogs vs The Islanders 12/87 Superstars

Islanders have no floral wallpaper tights and they already look more menacing. Bulldogs in and Matilda goes right after Heenan and Islanders. They are hot because Matilda wont let them back in the ring. Heenan insults the dog and leads a walk out in protest of that mangy mutt being out there. Then he hatches a plan to get back at the dog for embarrassing him. He distracts the Bulldogs allowing the Islanders to really do a number on the Bulldogs including a sweet shoulderbreaker by Haku. Islanders and Heenan make a fast getaway with Matilda. Those dastardly villains surely the Bulldogs will make them pay for this transgression!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders vs The Killer Bees MSG 12/87

The Islanders have kidnapped Matilda from the Bulldogs as the Bulldogs have slipped to the #2 face team with Strike Force as the Tag Champs. Since the Islanders ended up losing their feud with the Strike Force in order to maintain their #2 heel status (behind the rising Demolition) they ran a program with the Killer Bees so they could collect some victories. The match was decent, but nothing fantastic it was just meant to reinforce the Islanders position on the card against the JTTS babyface tag team du jour of the WWF.

The shine segment is dominated by headlock attempts by the Bees. Tama is his usual excellent self as he tries to sucker Blair into shaking his hand going so far as to "crossing his heart, hope to die, stick in a needle in my eye" routine, but Tama telegraphs the kick too early and Blair hits an atomic drop and Brunzell claps Tama's ears. What the hell happened to Tama. He had so much natural heel charisma and he was no smaller than Savage. He could have had a short program with Hogan and had been a great asset in the upper midcard.

The Islanders take over on Blair when Haku hits a sweet back suplex out of a side headlock. The blandness of their match may result from the fact that I am writing Blair's name a lot more than Brunzell's name. Tama is really energetic in the heel heat segment with lots of choking and Haku add one his badass kicks to Blair's head. Blair, the most boring babyface ever, hits a couple flying forearms in there to flying get Jumpin Jim in there. Brunzell is a mild trash can fire which peaks with his dropkick and a beauty on Haku. He gets on the sleeper and end game commences. Blair chases Tama around the ring; Tama whacks Brunzell; ref holds Blair back; Tama hits the flying headbutt from the top on Haku and Haku is rolled on the victory.

It is the WWF so there is no reason for a clean heel victory. It only adds extra heat on the Islanders going into their Bulldogs feud to have the finish this way. It was a very decisive Islanders victory. The only real notable thing is how good Tama is at crowd interaction much better than the silent Haku and dont know what happened to him. Drugs? The other notable thing is B. Brian Blair could give Tom Zenk a run for his money in most bland wrestler.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
British Bulldogs vs The Islanders 1/88 MSG

I built up the expectations a little too high in my head for this match. I would have this top handful of WWF tags, but it does not touch the first Islanders/Strike Force. Still it is a very good match as the Bulldogs are red hot and the Islanders are showing a much more sadistic, arrogant side. I thought this was the first match, Haku really broke out of his shell and was delivering on the same level as Tama. I have grown to like Davey Boy a bit more than Dynamite and would have liked him to be the face in peril instead of Dynamite. However, Smith's segments at the beginning of the match felt really aimless and were not as tight and meaningful as Dynamite's.

Dynamite started this match off hot by attacking at the bell. Tama did his awesome bump back into the ring that someone needs to steal. Dynamite hit a wicked piledriver and then catapulted Tama into Haku. The Smith/Haku segment was decent in establishing two as equal, but I would have liked to see Smith mirror Dynamite's intensity. THEY STOLE MATILDA!!! Heenan has brought a dog collar and leash to remind them in true dick heel fashion. Smith worked a short heat segment off a quick attack by Haku during a tag exchange, which was pretty lame. Dynamite came in and re-energized everyone with his hooking clothesline and kneefrop. In his overzealousness, he ate a double chop from Haku in the corner.

I liked this heat segment from the Islanders. I wish there was a better face in peril in there though. They were constantly mocking Dynamite with the dog collar and leash during the restholds. Plus Haku was on fire this segment with his cool back suplex out of the side headlock spot and his sell of a Dynamite headbutt. It was Kawada-esque as he wobbled on jelly legs and fell on his add, but still prevented the tag. Haku was taunting as much as Tama and together they were garnering tons of heel heat. Dynamite hits a double clothesline on the Islanders.

Now here is the Davey Boy Smith I have come to love. Double-noggin knocker. Back body drop and then a big vertical suplex. Wicked piledriver, but broken up. Smith hits his big running powerslam and sees the other Islander and gives him a powerslam for good measure. The Garden is rocking. He grabs the leash and collar and starts beating teh Islanders with it drawing the DQ.

This had a good heat segment with a great finish. The first the third of the match could have been upgraded and I think with a better face in peril this match would have been a real hidden classic. As it stands, it is a match where the Bulldogs had vengeance on their mind, but got overzealous allowing the Islanders to capitalize. Then Islanders got cocky and handed the match over to the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs could not keep their composure to seal the deal. I think we need a rematch and what better place than Wrestlemania. Lets get that weasel, Bobby the Brain in there so he can take some lumps too!
----------------------------------------------------------
British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware vs The Islanders & Bobby The Brain Heenan - Wrestlemania IV

I didn't like this nearly as much as the six-man from last year. The Brain never really got his comeuppance maybe it is to come in the MSG match, but that was a major downer because I was expecting the Brain to make more of an ass of himself. The Brain did ham it up by wearing an attack dog protection suit neutralizing Matilda.

Dynamite and Tama started the match off hot with Tama doing his signature bump and then bumping huge onto the ring post. Smith/Haku did their MSG exchange, but Smith added a crucifix pin. Ware came in with a dropkick and a beauty shades of "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell. There was a nice Ware side-headlock and headscissors combo take over by Ware. Koko is on par with Tama so far as MVP on this match as he has really added some energy. Dynamite eats a Haku foot in the corner. Jesse says that Heenan looks like a Chinaman. Its 1988, Baby!

Heenan gets some stomps in and Dynamite sells, but he runs for the hills as soon as Dynamite stirs. Ok, they are building for when Heenan gets his ass kicked. Tama had control, but got caught showboating and ate knees on a Vaderbomb attempt. Koko gets the tag and Irish whips Tama into Haku, but he sets too early and Haku makes him pay with a kick. Heenan comes in with a kneelift. It just feels like Heenan is just another heel wrestler instead of the special attraction heel to get his ass whipped. Heenan barley sells Koko's punches, but he does take the wicked Bret bump into the ring corner and then dropkicked into the post. He still feels like he is selling like a wrestler than a manager. It all breaks down and The Islander slam on top of Koko for the win?!?!?!?! Matilda attacks (read: Davey Boy foists and rubs Matilda all over) Heenan in his dog suit.

I loved the dog suit and the first five minutes were fun, but those last five minutes dragged. I really wanted to see the Bulldogs take it to Heenan, but nothing doing. I know Heenan would often wrestle as a sub for Bock or Stevens in the AWA. He was actually expected to wrestle not just be a over the top bumping stooge. In the WWF, he was in a different capacity and I think this match would have benefited him doing a lot more stooging. This was a very disappointing match.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders (Haku & Sivi Afi) & Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs British Bulldogs & Koko B Ware - Philly 5/88

Tama has been replaced by Sivi Afi thus killing the Islanders. Alas.

Wow, did this feud disappoint as this match was as much of a bore as the Bolsheviks match. The Heenan stuff with Koko at the beginning is what I wanted to see out of Heenan last match. Heenan cowering in the corner -> Koko lays down -> Heenan still apprehensive turns his back -> Koko catches him unawares and sends him into the opposite corner to take the Ray Stevens flip back-first bump. It was all down hill after that. Sivi Afi is a Superfly & High Chief Peter Maivia hybrid ripoff as he has Maivia's tats and Snuka's look. Afi is awkward and lumbering. It is no wonder he lasted for only a cup of coffee. The commentators believe that Sivi Afi is Haku and that Haku is Tama (Toma as it is pronounced). Then the commentators talk how the Bulldogs look like a like. O to be a wrestling commentator in the 80s or any era, actually. You never have to be proficient at your job.

Sivi Afi sucked it up in the ring. Haku/Dynamite do their little forearm exchange into a Dynamite headlock into a Haku side suplex, which always looks good. Dynamite hits a hooking clothesline to regain advantage, which in my opinion wastes one of the best spots of the match. It gets very heel in peril at this point with chinlocks. Koko, who is the best worker in this match again, does the best move of the match: a sweet reverse cross body that would make Ricky Martel jealous. Haku for his part jumped into it making it look even better.

Dynamite runs into a Haku clothesline and that is your weak, lazy transition to the heat segment where Sivi Afi is super awkward getting into position for anything. Dynamite took a dive to the outside got his head rammed into the railing by Haku and apron by Heenan. Haku hit a couple nice backbreakers while they worked over Dynamite's back and head. Heenan could be doing a lot more to get heat and to really the crowd excited to see him get his ass kicked...oh wait he does not.

Dynamite does an excellent block of Haku's suplex attempt with a leg scissors. He hit his suplex. Davey Boy came in hit a back body drop and vertical suplex. He just does not give a fuck anymore. Koko came in and hit two stellar dropkicks that would make Jim Brunzell jealous. His second one was really one of the best I have ever seen. A clusterfuck erupts; Heenan blind tagged himself in and with knucks knocked out Koko for the win. What the fuck?

I accidentally watched the Philly match instead of the MSG match, but the finish was the same according to History of the WWE site so I am not watching this borefest again. Bulldogs could not care less. Heenan was not really trying either. Haku was decent. Sivi was actively bad and Koko was pretty sweet. Bring on the Bulldogs/Demolition maybe a tag title shot will wake up the Bulldogs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The single best thing about this project has been the discovery of Tama who was incredible to watch as a babyface or heel. He was great at all facets of wrestling: offense, selling, bumping and crowd interaction. Haku was a perfectly capable silent badass. The Rockers would surpass the Islanders as the best tag team in WWF history, but in their short run I would still have the Islanders rank pretty highly on an all-time WWF poll. That Strike Force is one of the best feuds that Vince ever put together in the 80s and their work in other matches display how much they added to the WWF style.

Next time, we will look at the Rise of the Biggest WWF Tag Team: Demolition, Walking Disaster!

How was there no life guard gimmick in the WWF?

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Killer Bees Compendium: Jumping Jim Brunzell & B. Brain Blair

Finally after years of clamoring, there is a blog completely devoted to the mediocrity of the Killer Bees. Wait, there was no clamor. That was just Jim Brunzell's mother. Well this one is for her and all those who love their babyface tag teams: vanilla, cookie-cutter and generic.

Jim Brunzell was one-half of the ace babyface tag team of the AWA, The High Flyers with Greg Gagne in late 70s-Early 80s. From the footage, I have watched they were a very fun babyface tag team of their time. They have some good to great matches with Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Kaissey. They are most well-known for their feud with the East-West Connection, Jesse "The Body" Ventura & Adrian Adonis. Some people have liked their AWA stuff so much that they were interested in seeing Brunzell's work in the WWF and see if holds up. I have liked Brunzell and thought he had a great match with Jumbo Tsuruta in Salt Lake City. I do not think his work is very special at all in the WWF. In a lot of way he defers to Blair and pretty much only works the comeback segment just hitting his dropkick. Brunzell definitely looked like a guy collecting his pay check and putting in minimal effort.

B. Brain Blair is most famous in wrestling circles as the guy Iron Sheik irrationally loathes. Sheiky Baby would very much like to humble him old country way. Blair is a non-descript wrestler that looks a lot like Mike Graham. I wonder if they ever tagged.

The Killer Bees were not a bad team, per se, just ultimately a very forgettable team. They did manage to have the one of the best Demolition matches I had seen though others have surpassed it, but it still a very good match. They, along with the Young Stallions, were the stars of the action-packed Survivor Series '87 match, for reasons still unknown to me.

Choice Cuts:

Killer Bees vs Demolition - Houston 9/87
Survivor Series '87

They did not have a prayer. 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWF Tag Champs Dream Team vs Killer Bees - Boston 12/85

Holy shit! It is Jim Brunzell with a beard! "He must got tired of looking 16." - Jesse The Body

Valentine is one of the best 80s WWF workers by far and away. He is always great to watch when he is in the ring. He works a great chain sequence with Blair similar to the '87 match. He takes a bunch of suplexes from the Bees He sells well for both Bees as they work over his legs. Of course, he works in TIMBAAAAAAAAH! Blair gets caught trying to put the figure 4 on Valentine. Beefcake comes in. He stomps around and makes a lot of noise but doesnt do much. Valentine forsakes grappling and earns the moniker "The Hammer" with his sledges from the tough. Blair is able to maneuver away from Beefcake to tag in Brunzell. Jim and all his nefwound masculinity overwhelm the Dream Team. His new look does not affect his dropkick, but it does affect his awareness as he gets hit from behind while applying the sleeper to Beefcake. That is the finish. It was a decent match, but demonstrates what could have been with The Hammer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - 2/86 MSG

The one thing I never got about the Killer Bees is how they were supposed to be faces with the Masked Confusion gimmick. Anyways, this starts off with the Bees doing some token leg work on Anvil (think Rockers, but not as exciting), which culminates in a figure-4 that Bret breaks up. Jimmy Hart, clearly 20 years ahead of his time, gets mocked for shopping at a Thrift Shop. Bret slips on the second rope while going for a second rope elbow (a rare sighting of this Bret bump). Brunzell is a house with a small stovetop fire, dangerous, but easily quenched by a blind knee in the back (the ultimate Hart Foundation transition spot). Usual Hart Foundation heat segment: bodyslam on concrete, Demolition Decapitation, and the irish whip sling shot move. I remember this being a little too front facelock-y. Brunzell hits his sweeeeeeet dropkick (Bulldog's is still more impactful), but cant capitalize. The Hart Foundation Irish whip sling shot misses this time around.

Blair is a house afire: punches, small package, bodyslams and atomic drops (Bret bumps into Anvil). After the Hart Foundation collision, Brunzell hits his dropkick, but alas we hit the time limit draw. I thought this was on par with 9/85 Bulldogs match just a solid match nothing to go out of your way to see. The Hart Foundation/Bulldogs would eventually exceed this match in 1987, but for now it is on par with that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - SNME 11/86

This is not as good as their MSG match due to time constraints and the focus on getting over gimmicks, but it was a decent match. Bret ate a high knee early from Brunzell, which surprised me. Hart Foundation take over with the blind knee (somebody fucked up and ran the ropes towards the middle and Bret had to leap and slide to bury the knee in his back). Demolition Decapitation and then Anvil hits a freakin dropkick. Brunzell hits his dropkick, but cant capitalize that is a pretty good hope spot having seen it twice now. Both Bees end up on the outside: MASKED CONFUSION~!

Blair with an atomic drop on Hart sending him into Brunzell and now Anvil irish whipped into Bret. It is pandemonium in there, baby. Blair with the sleeper on Anvil, but Brunzell lets Bret hit a double axe-handle from the top that way he can switch with Blair while the ref is admonishing Bret. Bret gets the tag and eats the small package.

It was a decent match structured to get over the Masked Confusion gimmick, which went nowhere because the Bulldogs were firmly positioned as the lead face team until Strike Force took over.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll cop to the fact that skipped over the Killer Bees vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff early 1987 feud. When there is so much Greg Valentine to watch, Bees matches just don't seem that appealing. No offense to 'Ol Nik & Shieky Baby. Though anybody who watches them does Sheik humble Blair old country way?
------------------------------------------------------------------

Blair vs Muraco: That's the stuff of nightmares!




-------------------------------------------------------------------
Demolition vs Killer Bees - 9/87 Houston 2 Out Of 3 Falls

Before I rave about this match (just the first two falls), Pete Doherty is the fuckin worst commentator ever.

This is the greatest Killer Bees match I have ever seen and I have watched way too many Killer Bees matches. This may be Demolition's best match as well, but it is still to early to tell and I hope they have better matches. On top of all this, I think the first fall is greatest heel in peril tag I have ever seen. I think it is a bit overstated that WWF tag matches were done in a heel-in-peril style. They usually had a normal babyface shine and any babyface limb work was perfunctory and short-lived. It is not the crux of the match and the face in peril is usually as long if not longer than the babyface shine. This match is heel in peril through and through and really well-done. The hook of the match is that Bees have managed to injure Ax's knee finally exposing a weakness to the seemingly indomitable Demolition. As Ax is struggling to tag Smash, you are happy to see Demolition finally writhe pain.

The match begins as most Demolition matches do with concept that Bees have no chance on their own against Demolition. They have to manage to get a member of Demolition in their corner so they can do frequent tags and double teams. They are leveraging their speed advantage into double team moves. Demolition use a lot of cheating to parlay that into power moves. There is a real sense of struggle from the beginning. One team is not dominating the other rather they are jockeying for position. Ax keeps grabbing a front facelock and Blair keeps relentlessly pounding away at his knee. Finally Ax's knee gives out and the Bees just go to town on Ax's knee with all sorts of double teams, stretches and holds. Ax is desperately trying to get to Smash, but there is no sympathy to be had for these brutes. Blair goes for coup d'grace: figure-4. Smash sensing the end is nigh makes the save. In the confusion, Blair eats knees on a splash attempt and Demolition go up 1-0 in a great first fall.

Ax tries to avoid starting the next fall even though he won the previous fall so Brunzell brings him in the hard way. Ax is able to tag out, but as Smash comes in he performs an atomic drop on Blair, who tags Brunzell while being hoisted up. Blair collides with Ax and Brunzell dropkicks Smash to win the second fall. It is all knotted up.

Brunzell goes after Ax's leg again forcing him to tag out. This has really rendered Demolition into a one person team. Smash is able to get his boot up so that Blair wipes out. This sets up the Blair heat segment. This is great illustration of Demolition doing their bare minimum. The heat segment mainly consists of Demolition doing frequent tags to slap on the vulcan nerve pinch. It is not like they are using this hold to contain Blair. They should be pressing the advantage more instead it feels like killing time. Smash takes the Bret Bump into the turnbuckles and Ax misses an elbow. Has Bill Eadie ever hit an elbow? Brunzell is a small campfire as he only gets two with his dropkick. As he is running the ropes, Ax hits Jumpin Jim with Fuji's cane and that's all she wrote.

If the match just ended after the first fall it would go down as one of lost classics. The second fall was actually perfect as the Bees deserved to win the first fall and got it all knotted up. The third fall was a bore and just dragged. As Meatloaf says Two Outta Three Aint Bad.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
New Dream Team vs The Killer Bees 10/87 MSG

I like Valentine enough that I thought this could be good. Actually before the shit finish, I liked the match quite a bit. Valentine did some really excellent wrestling with both the Bees working in a nice fireman's carry by Blair and grabbing a headscissors on Brunzell before tagging out. It was nice to see some actual grappling as a change of pace. Bravo was a little stiff in the ring, but he showed energy and even did a leapfrog. Brunzell played face in peril after Bravo threw him into the Valentine's elbow. I really felt that the Dream Team had the blueprint for how Demolition should work as Valentine has that similar rough and tumble style with a lot of elbows and general rough housing. He is just way more convincing than either of the Demolition, which look like a bunch of cartoon characters as they stomp on the ring. Valentine got kicked off on his figure-4 attempt. TIMBAAAAAAH! They throw Brunzell on the outside and it is Masked Confusion. It is not an inherently stupid gimmick. I think someone who played it off with a little comedic panache like Eddie Guerrero would have made it into a great gimmick. Instead these two white bread wrestlers just seem like dicks for doing this. This is a decent Valentine match, but it shows after a weak 1987 that 1988 does not look too much better for him. I believe he broke up with Bravo shortly after, but with the Hart Foundation & Demolition turning babyface in 1988 and the onset of the Rockers, I think they could have used a Valentine heel tag team to even the sides.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Hart Foundation (Hart Foundation, Islanders, Demolition, New Dream Team & Bolsheviks) vs Team Strike Force (Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Rougeaus, Killer Bees & Young Stallions) - Survivor Series 1987

I knew this match was well-regarded, but I had no idea what outcome was. I can not believe the two bottom feeding babyface tag teams were the winners. More so, I cant believe the match was booked around the Young Stallions being booked as the stars. There was no reason before or after to understand this book decision as Strike Force and British Bulldogs continued to be the preeminent babyface tag teams for the near future with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Demolition ending the next year as the top three babyface tag teams. Odd booking aside, this was a really fun match. They did not really try to weave a story, but it was action-packed and they busted out some pretty cool moves. The only story, I really noticed was the resiliency of the Young Stallions. Just because the Young Stallions were booked as the stars, does not mean they wrestled well, mind you. They were the worst wrestlers out there. Notably, Jim Powers was being a huge pussy for not taking the hotshot on 2 occasions.

The match started off with Martel/Volkoff tearing it up shades of how good their SNME match would turn out. Volkoff looked like a monster Tito hit the Flying Burrito to get the pin on Boris. Ax came in and did his usual Demoition bit. They establish the nature of the gimmick with tons of quick tags that keep the action fresh. One notable exchange was the chop exchange between Haku/Dynamite, where the hell was that in their matches. Everyone is hitting all their stuff with a lot of intensity. The Stallions get worked over a little bit. Jacques gets the tag, but crashes and burns on a reverse cross body and Ax gets the pin. The Stallions get crushed by a Neidhart backbreaker/Haku flying chop. The Valentine adds a sweet shoulderbreaker and a vertical suplex (he throws him more than slams him back). Dino Bravo hits like the best gutwrench suplex ever and they still cant pin the Stallions. Demolition becomes fustrated and gets themselves DQ'd by pushing the ref. Bret crushes Dynamite with a piledriver and cant get the pin. The heels just cant buy a win. Tama/Martel have a great exchange as usual, but Martel applies his Boston Crab too close to the heel corner and Neidhart clobbers him. Santana makes a similar mistake on a pinfall attempt and gets whacked in the big of the head by a Bret elbow and gets pinned!?!?!??!?!? That was the first sign something fishy was up.

Now there is a long Stallions heat segment with Valentine that is pretty decent because Valentine stiffing shitty wrestlers is always fun. Powers refuses to get dropped across the ropes properly because he is a mega-pussy. The match gets clipped here and we miss the Bulldogs getting eliminated. According to one review, I missed a Bret backbreaker into a Tama knee and other general awesomeness. Disappointing. When we come back, the Stallions are still getting beat on, so it appears as if you missed nothing even though you missed the number 2 face tag team being eliminated. Valentien goes for the figure-4, but Roma gets a sunset flip (blind tag) for the win. For shame, as the New Dream Team were the best workers. Though Hart Foundation and Islanders have been working pretty friggin well also. The Killer Bees have been non-existent and Young Stallions have sucked but been the crux of this match.

The Bees begin and Brunzell hits a pretty sweet high knee. Roma is back in to be the face in peril. Islanders start busting out their offense and look great. Brunzell is working offense for the faces, Stallions on FIP duty and Blair on the apron, just where he should be. smile.gif This is the best Brunzell has looked in the WWF. Roma gets the first bit of offense for the Stallions with a fist drop on Bret Hart, but that is short-lived with Bret hitting a suplex on him. Islanders again rocking it in the ring. Brunzell is in with the Hitman. He has the Hitman to be slammed. Tama dropkicks Hitman to get him on top of Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through for the pin. At this point, I was in shock because I expected the top 2 heel teams to easily vanquish the two babyface jobber tag teams.

Islanders jump right on Brunzell to press while they still can. Islanders do a little too much vulcan nerve pinch, but Haku works in a shoulderbreaker and they are doing their best to keep Brunzell in their corner. Stallions get a quick powerslam, but Islanders are able to overwhelm them again. Blair gets tagged and swarmed (pun intended). Islanders always press their advantage. Wicked reverse elbow by Tama. Tama misses a big elbow, the key weakness of all 80s WWF heels. Brunzell, hot tag, double noggin knocker, DROPKICK~! Haku saves. Brunzell attempts sunset flip on Tama and Blair with mask jumps over and gets his own sunset flip to complete the upset. Brunzell puts on his mask too outside as they celebrate. MASKED CONFUSION~!

On one hand, the Stallions looked awesome by surviving and resilient because they got beat on mercilessly. But they only got in like two offensive moves and they sucked in the ring. Bees showed up half through the match and it was the best Brunzell looked in the WWF, but none babyfaces aside from Martel looked all that great. This was a great showcase for the heel teams as they had a ton of offense and really worked crisp and efficient. It is crazy to think in one years time there would be an utter dearth of heel tag teams and an overabundance of babyface tag teams. I went in with high expectations and it was a bit of a let down. It was action packed and 30+ minutes flew by which is a credit to the teams, but it lacked a great story to really make it classic. It was a great fun, action blockbuster.

DROPKICK AND...



-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders vs The Killer Bees MSG 12/87

The Islanders have kidnapped Matilda from the Bulldogs as the Bulldogs have slipped to the #2 face team with Strike Force as the Tag Champs. Since the Islanders ended up losing their feud with the Strike Force in order to maintain their #2 heel status (behind the rising Demolition) they ran a program with the Killer Bees so they could collect some victories. The match was decent, but nothing fantastic it was just meant to reinforce the Islanders position on the card against the JTTS babyface tag team du jour of the WWF.

The shine segment is dominated by headlock attempts by the Bees. Tama is his usual excellent self as he tries to sucker Blair into shaking his hand going so far as to "crossing his heart, hope to die, stick in a needle in my eye" routine, but Tama telegraphs the kick too early and Blair hits an atomic drop and Brunzell claps Tama's ears. What the hell happened to Tama. He had so much natural heel charisma and he was no smaller than Savage. He could have had a short program with Hogan and had been a great asset in the upper midcard. 

The Islanders take over on Blair when Haku hits a sweet back suplex out of a side headlock. The blandness of their match may result from the fact that I am writing Blair's name a lot more than Brunzell's name. Tama is really energetic in the heel heat segment with lots of choking and Haku add one his badass kicks to Blair's head. Blair, the most boring babyface ever, hits a couple flying forearms in there to flying get Jumpin Jim in there. Brunzell is a mild trash can fire which peaks with his dropkick and a beauty on Haku. He gets on the sleeper and end game commences. Blair chases Tama around the ring; Tama whacks Brunzell; ref holds Blair back; Tama hits the flying headbutt from the top on Haku and Haku is rolled on the victory.

It is the WWF so there is no reason for a clean heel victory. It only adds extra heat on the Islanders going into their Bulldogs feud to have the finish this way. It was a very decisive Islanders victory. The only real notable thing is how good Tama is at crowd interaction much better than the silent Haku and dont know what happened to him. Drugs? The other notable thing is B. Brian Blair could give Tom Zenk a run for his money in most bland wrestler.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islanders vs Killer Bees - SNME 3/88

Heenan cracks me up with his Beekeeper Net and Dog Leash to start as him and Jesse play off each other really well. The whole thing that is really holding The Islanders back is their lampshade tights. Brunzell starts off hot with Tama hitting a leg drop and doing a sweet double wristlock takedown into a pin. Does Brunzell have any worthwhile WWF matches?

Brunzell misses his patented dropkick when Tama hooked the ropes. Tama heabutts, back rakes and a vertical suplexes his way to a pinfall attempt. A Haku dropkick gets a two and intimidates the ref with the threat of a fist. Brunzell gets an atomic drop in the Islanders' corner, but Tama is able to tag in Haku. Double clothesline and her comes Blair with an atomic drop and a pair of bodyslams. The endgame is Blair has Tama in a reverse victory roll, but Haku clothesline the prone Blair to pick up the victory.

For less than 5 minutes of action (it must have been edited because Brunzell ended up with a bloody nose and the Bees seemed sweatier than expected), this was pretty fun and once again keeps the Islanders push going. Cant wait for the Islanders/Bulldogs matches!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Killer Bees - 7/88

This is the match where the Rougeaus finally turn heel. The best part of this is Jesse covering for the Rougeaus mixing up Memorial Day and Independence Day. I love The Body. There is a couple drop toeholds in this match, which is one of my favorite moves. Jacques stick his hand out to Brunzell at one point and then blows him off. Brunzell comes back and sticks out his hand, blows him off and rubs his hair in a nice sequence. They do a basic tag match only the Rougeaus start to cheat culminating in Raymond delivering a top rope double axe-handle to Brunzell while he was hoisting Jacques up causing Jacques to fall on top for the pin. I am sure these teams have had better matches against each other, but I watched it for the angle (not that I am going to find out). It was a really anti-climatic way to turn heel.

The Killer Bees left the WWF in mid-1988 because they recognized that there would be push for them. They would be stuck as the babyface tag team jobbers of the WWF. Brunzell stayed on as a jobber and I don't know what happened to Blair. I can't say I am terribly broken up about it as there were plenty of teams that earned their way ahead of the Bees.

The next time we will investigate the Hidden Gem Tag Team of 80s WWF scene: The Islanders!

A BEAUTY!

Monday, August 5, 2013

History of Hart Foundation (1985-1987): Best WWF Tag Team of the 80s?

The Hart Foundation has been heralded as one of the best tag teams in the history of the WWF and wrestling in general. This claim has been explored in the followed, which I do not feel hold under scrutiny.

Here is an article from the Bleacher Report: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/441549-creature-vs-creature-the-greatest-tag-team-ever

or the WWE trying to promote greatness of Hart Foundation: http://www.wwe.com/inside/listthis/greatesttagteams/greatesttagteams3

or this author claiming the Hart Foundation is the greatest tag team of the 80s: http://www.wrestleenigma.com/eve-why-the-hart-foundation-is-best-tag-team-team-of-the-1980s.

All these articles stick to mostly platitudes and generalizations. There is often a lot to be made out of the Hart Foundation and British Bulldogs feud, but there is never any specifics about what made them great. A lot it is taken for granted based on Bret Hart's name, which carries more weight than the actual matches. Instead of dismissing this out of hand due to natural skepticism, I wanted to evaluate the Hart Foundation on their work and against their peers.  I arrived two conclusions: Bret Hart is an incredible ring general, but his matches often lack a sense of struggle and urgency.

What you can see from 80s Bret matches are not these spectacular matches per se, but a spectacular ring general.  All of his matches feature his moves, his spots and his bumps. This is not diminish the contributions of others in his matches, but rather to observe that many Bret matches feature him as the driving force. This is a rare talent in wrestling. Usually two wrestlers combine their different spots with the ultimate goal of trying to craft a cohesive match. Bret takes the onus off his opponent and stress off the promoter by being able to have a complete match unto himself. This is the type of talent that the NWA World Heavyweight Champions such as Harley Race and Ric Flair possessed. The Alliance recognized this talent and awarded them with the belt. I believe that Vince McMahon recognized this talent in Bret at an early stage and often gave him chances to prove himself both in singles and as a tag team champion. I found that Vince's hesitation to commit to pushing Bret in the late 80s until 1991 hurt Bret in the short term (lack of great match output), but it was a boon for him in the long-run. By displaying great patience, Vince timed Bret's push perfectly so that he did not crash into the ceiling of Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior. It would have been foolish to waste Bret's gifts on the mid-card because a wrestler with his ability is able to make vast assortment of wrestler look like a million bucks. You can actually observe Bret's future superstardom in his poise in the ring and his ability construct solid, logical matches in 1985. However, Bret's commitment to structure does lead to a very mechanical cold feel in matches when he is not wrestling great wrestlers.

In some ways, Bret was a victim of circumstance in these hyper-compressed, spot-oriented matches. However, other wrestlers had to deal with the same environment and performed better matches. Those wrestlers would often suffer peaks and troughs whereas Bret was always very steady, only having one incredible peak against Randy Savage at SNME. I feel that more environment it is Bret's own commitment to structure that sometimes leads to the viewer feeling cold in his matches. His matches are super-segmented. He sticks very closely to babyface shine->heel heat ->finish. All wrestling matches loosely follow this structure, but Bret matches feature usually very little struggle within a segment. Often the matches feel like exhibitions where the people taking the moves just allow the moves to be hit. There is no struggle and in a pseudo-competitive environment you still want to see a sense of one team overcoming the other team. Another team that sticks to a very super-segmented structure is Demolition, but unlike the Hart Foundation, Demolition makes their opponents work for their offense and adapt their layout to their opponents. Unlike Hart Foundation, their execution is usually lacking and they feel like they are putting in the bare minimum of effort to perform their match.

I am looking at the nascent period of Bret's WWF career it is only expected to see Bret's raw talent for match construction to be apparent, but still unrefined. As he would go long, he would transform into an incredible big match wrestler. His execution was always second to none as he always hit his moves with such crispness. There is no challenge there for Bret. What separate the elite from the good wrestlers is their ability to arrange their moves, spots and bumps into masterpieces. You could tell from the outset Bret was looking for that challenge and was determined to succeed.


The Choice Cuts of Hart Foundation Heel Run (1985-87):
Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 3/86
Bret Hart vs Randy Savage SNME 11/87
Hart Foundation vs Strike Force 11/87
Survivor Series '87


Just miss the cut:
Hart Foundation vs Islanders 11/86
Hart Foundation vs Rougeaus 3/87
Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs 7/87

Bret lay off the twinkies. :)


-------------------------------------------


British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation – Philly 4/27/85

The very first Bulldogs/Hart Foundation featured a similar structure to the rest of the Bulldogs/Harts match, but it lacks of a lot of the usual spots (blind knee, Demolition Decapitation, Bret getting tangled in the ropes). It is structure that is not seen very often in WWF. It is a short shine with a double face in peril and I would hypothesize it is the influence of the AWA on Stampede Wrestling. I would also assert this is not a style that suits the offensive dynamos that are the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs excel where they can just kick ass and hit a ton of their crazy spots. When you have someone like a Hammer in there, to hit them in the mouth, you can get a really fun give and take. I really did not care much for 5/85 MSG match between these two and I would say this is a bit better than that,  but was just an average match. As I said above, it was a short shine with the stock Bret Hart bump off the hammerlock and the Dynamite enziguiri. I really liked the organic feel of the knee lift collision between Bret and Dynamite that leads to a pretty boring Dynamite Kid heat segment. They do the Bret/Dynamite I can’t hit a backbreaker and Dynamite hits one. I forgot how fucking awesome Davey Boy dropkick is. Neidhart cuts him off from behind with a groin shot. Fuck man and an even more boring heat segment ensues. This is mechanical, cold Bret Hart at his worst as we a lot of shoulder rubs. Dick Graham mentions “SUPLEX CITY!” Davey Boy just stops selling and cuts Bret off on top and hits a monster missile dropkick! Dynamite whips Bret into Neidhart and now the Bret Bump! He is a house afire and we get an ab stretch??? Tombstone Piledriver! That’s better. Now Davey Boy powerslam! Dynamite starts wasting time going into  the draw. Awfully cold finish. Better structure than the 5/85 tag, but Bret Hart is just working how you are supposed to rather than with your gut. Bret is a great ring general and brings a lot to the match, but when he was not feeling it then it would just leave you feeling cold.   ***
 
----------------------------------------------------------


The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation - 7/85 MSG

One of my favorite Bret spots is his leverage spot which results in someone taking a dive out to the floor. What I like about it most is that either Bret or his opponent could take it, which makes it one of the versatile spots in wrestling. Bret is definitely a big fan of the kneelift to set up his heat segments during this time period. Everything does even back in 1985 just looks so crisp. I know Bret prides himself on this, but I still cant help but compliment him on his ability to execute moves without being stiff. I like stiff wrestling as much as the next wrestling fan, but I think it is pretty nifty that Bret can make everything he do look so good without being stiff. Bret gives Davey a backbreaker so Anvil can deliver Demolition Decapitation. Wait, I thought this was the Bulldogs thread. Just on cue, here come Dynamite to bring the offense to this match with his nasty hooking clothesline and Davey Boy comes back in with a running powerslam. Now he takes the leverage move to the outside. After trading a couple Boston Crabs, they are just killing time to the curfew finish.

This was an ok first match from these two "vaunted" teams of the golden era of the tag division. It was definitely action-packed, but it felt oddly directionless and unheated for a match involving Bret Hart. I always feel like Bret is more likely to have a boring match than a directionless match. At the same time, the Bulldogs seemed to keep things moving, but didn't bust out their big guns for the match. Recommended only if you are a completist, but arent all we. :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dynamite Kid vs Bret "The Hitman" Hart - 9/85 Landover

Good opening sequence sees a quick criss cross sequence end with Bret Hart taking a catapult into the turnbuckle and bumping to the floor. Hart takes an atomic drop hard and then a snap suplex. Dynamite, oddly, goes for a chinlock, but Bret reverses into a hammerlock and Bret takes his own leverage bump to the floor. I see the chinlock was needed to get Bret to do his bump, I hate those sequences. They do the Stampede reverse of the wristlock, but Bret goes to do it: he just kips up and punches Dynamite. I liked that a lot. Bret hits the knee lift to start his heat segment.

Everything Bret hits just looks so crisp. He was a big fan of the bodyslam on the concrete during his heat segments. Bret is actually pretty decent at working the crowd at this point, it just seems like no one cares because they just see him as a newbie. Dynamite and Davey Boy are perfectly capable of selling they just seem unwilling to do it like it is nuisance. Whereas, Bret actually takes the time to sell one of his own headbutts. The sunset flip by Dynamite gets a decent pop so maybe I spoke too soon. No one bites on the backslide. Bret does the attempted backbreaker/opponent flips/opponent hits backbreaker or bodyslam spot, which looks good. One of the reasons, Bret and Flair set themselves apart is because they already have whole matches developed unto themselves. They have multiple spots for their opponents to do to them, which takes the onus off less talented wrestlers.

Bret is up first and ties Dynamite up only to take his throw himself in the ropes bump. Dynamite up with his hooking clothesline, hair pull/throwdown (Bret did it earlier) and Bret takes his patented bump chest first into buckle bump. Wicked sweet back suplex by Dynamite only get two follows that up with a second-rope kneedrop and only gets two. On a criss cross sequence, Dynamite trips over Bret and takes a header into the ropes. I have seen plenty of Bret matches and I dont recognize that as one of his spots. Is it a Dynamite spot? If so, it is a really good one. Dynamite takes the Bret leverage bump and while we are on replay we almost miss Dynamite winning with a reverse cradle.

This was a pretty good sprint for 11 minutes. You could already tell Bret was main event material in the way that this was the total Bret show. Almost every spot was a Bret concoction that he would learn to craft into fantastic 30 minute affairs. Dynamite is a great offensive dynamo and holds up his end on selling. It isn't anywhere near the best Bret match, but it is an important match to show how many tools Bret already had in his arsenal in 1985.
-------------------------------------------------

The British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation - 9/85 MSG

Better match than their last outing. This one had the better shine than the July affair. The Hart Foundation really milks it and the Bulldogs are bringing their A game offense with Dynamite's catapult, Davey Boy's powerslam and victory roll. Bret does his knee lift to seemingly set up Davey Boy for a heat segment, but it is a pysche out as Dynamite comes in. Only this time, for Dynamite to run the ropes and take a blind knee to the back (a Hart Foundation staple). Dynamite really throws himself into the bumps thats the good thing, but apparently thinks selling just consists of laying motionless. Bret hits his bodyslam on the outside. Bret and Davey Boy do a good chase sequence, which breaks up the heat segment nicely. The transition is the same as the previous match with Bret tying up Dynamite in the ropes and Bret eating ropes. I would be remiss to mention that they botch the Bret backbreaker->DK flip out->DK backbreaker spot, but thankfully they don't redo the spot. Davey Boy comes in and cant stop Irish Whipping people. The Hart Foundation love having their opponents Irish Whip Bret into Anvil or vice versa. That's the first time I have brought up the Anvil that just seems wrong because he has been entertaining, but I guess nothing noteworthy so far. Davey Boy hits his gorilla press slam, but the Hart Foundation counters into Demolition Decapitation and then a top rope version of the Hart Attack. However, while the ref was distracted Dynamite comes flying off with a diving headbutt and rolls Davey Boy on top.

I wouldn't say as good as the Dream Team/Bulldogs 2 out of 3 Falls, but still very entertaining. I feel like the Hart Foundation are eating up the Bulldogs a bit too much and this match definitely felt more like the Bret show. I think Valentine was able to play to the Bulldogs strengths better.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation – Cap Center 1/18/86

The best part of this match was the fantastic build to the hot tag. Everything about this match was geared towards the hot tag and it really made you feel like this was the most important thing in the world to these four men. That level of investment creates great drama. The Hart Foundation matches for the Bulldogs are unlike anything else that the Bulldogs do. The Bulldogs are offense-oriented team and they do not excel at selling. The Hart Foundation guzzled them in each of their early matches in ’85-’86. Yes, we still get the babyface shine with Davey Boy making Anvil look foolish and overwhelming Bret with speed. Relatively quickly compared to other WWF tag team matches, Bret Hart cheapshots Davey Boy on a tag exchange. Bret hits his staples like the backbreaker and middle rope elbow and the heat segments contains plenty of cheating behind the ref’s back. Davey is able to crawl underneath Anvil and tag out to Dynamite. Dynamite’s hot tag was very short-lived and only featured Bret’s trademark bump off the railing to the apron. Of course, what cut off the Dynamite momentum was of course the blind knee in the back. Then we get the rest of the Hart Foundation staples: bodyslam on floor, Demolition Decapitation and Bret suplex. Dynamite gets a little chippy and Neidhary clamps on a facelock and they really milk the hot tag with Bret goading a chase, false tag, and hope spots. This leads to high drama in the match, but Bret falls prey to the temptation to finally crossbody Dynamite in the ropes. Davey Boy was such a great hot tag with a superb dropkick. Press slamming Bret to Neidhart and a running powerslam to Neidhart, but he is not the legal man. Now, Dynamite is in and a huge missile dropkick from Dynamite Kid, but a fracas breaks out leading to superplex that knocks out both men. Neidhart comes in and puts Bret on top for a shocking 3. They were billing this early on as a number one contender’s match and since the Bulldogs were the ace faces set to face the Tag Team Champions Dream Team I thought they were a lock to win. I have not watched the 9/85 MSG in a while, but I would say this was on par with that match and featured a lot of similar spots.


The Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - 2/86 MSG

The one thing I never got about the Killer Bees is how they were supposed to be faces with the Masked Confusion gimmick. Anyways, this starts off with the Bees doing some token leg work on Anvil (think Rockers, but not as exciting), which culminates in a figure-4 that Bret breaks up. Jimmy Hart, clearly 20 years ahead of his time, gets mocked for shopping at a Thrift Shop. Bret slips on the second rope while going for a second rope elbow (a rare sighting of this Bret bump). Brunzell is a house with a small stovetop fire, dangerous, but easily quenched by a blind knee in the back (the ultimate Hart Foundation transition spot). Usual Hart Foundation heat segment: bodyslam on concrete, Demolition Decapitation, and the irish whip sling shot move. I remember this being a little too front facelock-y. Brunzell hits his sweeeeeeet dropkick (Bulldog's is still more impactful), but cant capitalize. The Hart Foundation Irish whip sling shot misses this time around.

Blair is a house afire: punches, small package, bodyslams and atomic drops (Bret bumps into Anvil). After the Hart Foundation collision, Brunzell hits his dropkick, but alas we hit the time limit draw. I thought this was on par with 9/85 Bulldogs match with good solid work. The Hart Foundation/Bulldogs would eventually exceed this match in 1987, but for now it is on par with that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 3/86

This seemed like a solid match and one of the better WWF Steamboat matches that doesn't have Savage involved. Steamboat just never seemed to fit in the WWF something about just seemed so wrong. Bret Hart blindsides him early. The standard Bret turnbuckle bump leads to Steamboat's arm work, which is solid, but uninspiring. Bret transitions with a swinging neckbreaker, a little bit too much of a babyface transition. Bret does one of his favorite 80s sequences: goes for a backbreaker, opponent reverses into a bodyslam, but the wrinkle here is Bret gets the knees up on the splash. Excellent, excellent sequence as you get the hope spot, Steamboat desperately trying to capitalize, but in his overzealousness he over reaches and the Hitman is able to one-up him. Bret follows up with his bodyslam on the parquet floor and successfully gets the backbreaker. Bret misses second-rope elbow and here comes the Steamer. Bret gets a visual pin off a ref bump if I do recall correctly, but the finish ultimately is Steamboat rolling through a Bret cross-body for the win.

I have been down on Steamboat lately and this is a perfectly good match, but I think Bret is once again the better wrestler in this match and his fingerprints are all over it. Bret can have some borefests, but he did get better at structuring his matches, though that maybe a consequence of McMahon giving him more than 10 minutes at a time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart Foundation vs Rougeau Brothers - WWF, MSG 9/22/86
 
This one is on me for not making sure we watched it for Tag Teams Back Again as it is significant for the Rougeaus debut in MSG and just being a plain fun match. These two teams had better chemistry in this face/heel alignment than they did upon their double turn in 1988 if memory serves me correctly. I did like the Hart Foundation title defense in Boston in 87 better, but this was featured some really fun sequences. I really liked the opening shine. Bret Hart had no defense for the Rougeaus dropkick and he took some massive bumps out of the ring for it. The Anvil/Jacques shouldertackle sequence was the best and right up there with the Rockers stuff. Definitely recommend people checking that out. Jacques gets the Boston Crab, but Bret clubs him. I thought this a bit better than your standard Hart Foundation heat segment (cheating, front facelock, Demolition Decapitation, bodyslam on the floor) because Jacques was able to build some drama through failed hope spots like his monkey flip and crash and burn on the reverse cross body. I thought Anvil and Bret showed great urgency in cutting the ring. off. Bret sets him up in the ropes for his big miss into the ropes to do the transition WAIT! HE HIT THE MOVE SUCCESSFULYY! WTF! I dont think I have ever seen that. Bret misses his second rope elbow and Raymond comes in about as piping hot as he can. I like his spinkick, but he does not have much less. There is a fun Bret and Jacques chase sequence. Bret thinks he has felled Jacques, but he leaps over the ropes to the get the sunset flip and in the fracas the ref loses track of the legal man and counts the pin. Very fun shine, an above average heat segment makes this an easy recommendation. ***1/2

-------------------------------------------------------------

Bret "Hitman" Hart vs Raymond Rougeau 10/86 MSG

 Bret missed his true calling as a cowardly heel as he is quite entertaining in this role. He freaks out over his sunglasses getting destroyed is a nice touch. Raymond does a monkey flip. Bret tries one, but telegraphs and Raymond just stomps on his face, great sequence. Bret grinds the match to a halt with a chinlock. Raymond makes him comeback, but is missing Jacques' spark. They sure did toss piledrivers like candy in the 80s as Raymond cant get the three. Bret bumps well off an atomic drop before he double legs Raymond (ref distraction) and puts his feet on the ropes for the win.

Seems like the only major feud the Rougeaus had as babyfaces was with the New Dream Team.  In short, only the title match with the Hart Foundation in Boston is worth seeing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs The Hart Foundation 11/1/86

Last time, we saw these teams face off was about a year ago. The Bulldogs have wrested the titles off the Dream Team in a fantastic match and defended the title against the teams the likes of Sheik & Volkoff. While the Hart Foundation matured as a team against the Killer Bees. The Hart Foundation trap Dynamite in the corner, but the fights out, which is one of my favorite early shine spots. Now we do Davey Boy vs Anvil, but Bulldog can't budge the Anvil and ends up taking a powerslam. This begins the heat segment a little bit earlier than I was prepared for.

The heat segment is a Best Of Hart Foundation spots collection. They are all there for your enjoyment: Anvil slingshotting Bret over the ropes, Demolition Decapitation, the blind knee to the back, Bret's bodyslam on the concrete, Bret irish whipping Anvil into his opponent. I like the Hart Foundation offense just fine, but have three major qualms. First, it made the match totally about the Hart Foundation. It felt like the Bulldogs were just any opponents taking the Hart Foundation's offense. It could have been the Killer Bees, Islanders or Rockers. I like when matches utilize the differences to make a unique match that only these two teams could have. Bret just seemed like he wanted to do "plug and play" in this match. Second, Davey Boy is no Ricky Morton. This could have been Bret eating him up, but some of the onus has to be on him to perform hope spots and make people notice him and not just be a rag doll out there. The first two points culminate in my last point, I hate how this match had no sense of struggle. When wrestling matches become exhibitions, they lose their gravitas. Exhibitions are useful in wrestling for getting over offense or gimmicks, but in title matches against established opponents I expect a sense of struggle towards victory, not neatly defined "my segment, your segment". That is what the Dream Team matches so much better is that there was a sense of struggle in the Wrestlemania and 2 Out of 3 Falls match with both teams working hard to overcome the other.

Bulldog is able to pick up Bret and crotch him on the ropes. Dynamite comes in and supplies the Bulldog offense for the match: hooking clothesline, snap suplex and diving headbutt. I loved the Bulldogs' arsenal against the Dream Team and think it was criminal that they didn't get to show it off here. Anvil wipes out the ref and tries to cheat to get Bret to win with lots of dramatic two counts. Before Davey Boy rolls up Anvil for the pinfall after an exaggerated count.

I actually dug the finish and I thought it added a lot of drama to a match that lacked heat because it was the Hart Foundation show in the middle. Bret had all the MOVEZ~! in 1986, but he had not quite figured out how to put them altogether yet.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hart Foundation vs Islanders 11/86 Maple Leaf Gardens

Best match from the Hart Foundation I have seen so far and it was really good for a WWF Tag. The Islanders, hot damn, I had never seen them before and they were perfect babyfaces for the WWF in the way Rougeaus never could be. They kinda got fucked with the elevation of Strike Force as number one babyface. It doesn't strike me that they would be very good as heels, but we shall see. I have dug Martel and Tito a lot, but the they have a lot of ground to cover to match the sheer energy The Islanders brought to this match (I would be so wrong on both accounts!).

As for this match, Bret does a little bit more stalling than we are used to seeing, but when it comes to bump him and Anvil are ready to make Islanders shine. The Islanders could have been the ethnic response to your RnR Express clones with more WWF-oriented offense (read: Big Ass Spots). My favorite spot of the shine sequence: Haku's causal thrust kick to Bret while he is on the apron that had me going crazy. Bret chooses to do the blind knee as his transition spot per usual. Demolition Decapitation transitions into an Anvil chinlock.

Then in a spot of the whole friggin match, Bret runs Tama down the ramp and fuckin throws him down the steps. Holy shit! You didn't see that from the WWF at that time. Bret picks up him to take him back, but for good measure first rams his head into the ramp. Bret can bring the violence when he wants. Some good, quality low-down heel offense follows usually involving ramming Tama's head into stuff. Bret even takes a swing at Haku, payback, muthafucka. Bret sure loves the false babyface tag immediately followed by heel miscommunication I think he could milk it more. Haku comes in double noggin knocker, paint brushes Bret, and it is a double diving headbutt from the Islanders. Tama hits the high cross-body, but in the fracas Nedihart crotches Tama on the ropes and Bret steals one.

Are there things these could have done a bit better with more times, I am sure of it. But as it stands, I think this is my favorite Hart Foundation because it felt like the Islanders added something to the Bret show. Plus, there were more cheapshots and violence. I would definitely recommend someone checking this out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - SNME 11/86

This is not as good as their MSG match due to time constraints and the focus on getting over gimmicks, but it was a decent match. Bret ate a high knee early from Brunzell, which surprised me. Hart Foundation take over with the blind knee (somebody fucked up and ran the ropes towards the middle and Bret had to leap and slide to bury the knee in his back). Demolition Decapitation and then Anvil hits a freakin dropkick. Brunzell hits his dropkick, but cant capitalize that is a pretty good hope spot having seen it twice now. Both Bees end up on the outside: MASKED CONFUSION~!

Blair with an atomic drop on Hart sending him into Brunzell and now Anvil irish whipped into Bret. It is pandemonium in there, baby. Blair with the sleeper on Anvil, but Brunzell lets Bret hit a double axe-handle from the top that way he can switch with Blair while the ref is admonishing Bret. Bret gets the tag and eats the small package.

It was a decent match structured to get over the Masked Confusion gimmick, which went nowhere because the Bulldogs were firmly positioned as the lead face team until Strike Force took over.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It is a long article you deserve a break to ogle. Ogle ogle ogle ogle. 

WWF World Tag Team Champions British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation - Superstars 1/26/87
 
I watched the title change, which was a short match because of Dynamite's injury. In the run-up, Davey Boy was teaming with every face known to man from JYD to Tito to even Piper. Referee Danny Davis was busy with checking on Dynamite's well-being after being knocked out with Hart's megaphone while Davey Boy was kicking ass and taking names, Davis missed a Bulldog pinfall. Hart Foundation double DDT -> Hart Attack -> Fast count -> New World Tag Champs and a newly minted molten heel in the form of Danny Davis.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


WWF World Tag Team Champions Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees – MSG 2/23/87

Bees  are sporting an odd look in tennis shoes. First major Hart Foundation title defense.

Harts have both Jimmy Hart and Danny Davis. Awesome shine. Hart blocks the hiptoss so Brunzell goes up and takes him over with a headscissors and then a very nice spinning armbar. Blair spears Bret while he is tied up into ropes and then catapults Bret into Anvil. Hart Foundation need to regroup, good stuff. Bret loses test of strength and the Bees begin the normal shine armwork. Blair distracted by Hart and Bret blindsides. Harts cheat, quite good at that. Blair O’Connor rolls for two and Bret front facelock. Harts choking. Slingshot splash in and Brunzell needs to make the save. Bret Bump. Blair bodyslam, but Anvil pushes Hart on top, roll through fun spot. Bret wins front facelock to get Anvil in. Bret buries knee in back, the most Hart Foundation of all Hart Foundation spots. Anvil bearhug into front facelock. Ref didn’t see it tag. Bret camelclutch Electric chair. Hot tag to Brunzell! Brunzel atomic drop into dropkick Anvil saves. Davis clobbers Brunzel from behind and Bret roll through to win the match.  Very fun match.


WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation w/Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis vs The "Not-Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus 3/87 Boston

The Hart Foundation are fresh off the screwjob of the Bulldogs so this match will at least have heat. I would say this maybe the best Hart Foundation match ever. We start off with a little Rougeau bullshit to get everyone revved up and Bret is at his slimy best. I really this is a great performance from him. He heels it up to 11 with the combination of "Look at me, Mom!" and cowardice. He milks a Rougeau slap for all its worth. Even the Anvil takes a nice bump for Raymond. They work over Bret's leg in an entertaining fashion, before they trap Raymond in the heel corner. The Harts worked this segment well varying Anvil's power with Bret's smarm and general douchebaggery. Raymond times his hope spots (backslide, sunset flip) well and Jacques was an excellent cheerleader. Once Jacques gets the hot tag, this place goes nuts! Some general fun like whipping the Harts into each other and such. Jacques, I believe, had Bret small packaged, but that Dastardly Danny Davis reversed it behind the ref's back.

I know there are a lot of people down on Bret's tag work, but I think this is a pretty good display of the Hart Foundation as an effective heel team in garnering heat until the place exploded for the freaking Rougeaus, who have sucked out loud as babyfaces. This is the same crowd that was chanting "Boring" at the Rougeaus nary three months early. Rougeaus were never ever presented as an elite team, but they wrestled huge in this match and the Hart Foundation made them look great. Finally, the WWF missed striking alliteration gold and truing Danny Davis into the next elite heel for the Hulk Machine if they just called him "Dastardly" Danny Davis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs The Islanders - 3/87 Philly

I'll be honest a bit of a let down. I thought with 10 extra minutes they could really piece together something for the ages, but they spend the first five minutes stalling. I thought the shine was definitely the bets part of this with Haku knocking Bret's block off with a thrust kick off a criss cross. Tama making both Bret and Anvil look foolish on separate occasions. Islanders do some armwork on Anvil before, the blind knee WAIT Tama sees the blind knee and is pointing how smart he is only to have Anvil sledge him in the back. I dug the twist. (Holy fuck, just I re-read this and that sounds awesome! Tama is so fuckin good!)

It was very good face in peril, but I was a bit spoiled by the throw off the ramp bump. They replaced it with Tama flinging himself into the railing once and onto the floor. They did a better job conveying a sense of struggle here, and the violence on the part of Hart Foundation was as ratcheted up with biting, choking and clawing. At this point of the match, I was still saying it could very much exceed expectations.

But the finish was really lackluster, they get the hot tag finally after a well done, heat segment and they do a short Haku house a fire and Tama comes flying halfway across the ring to nail Bret with a cross-body only for Danny Davis to put Bret on top in the fracas. I just hated how short it was. I really wanted to see Haku clean house and get some nearfalls before all was said and done. Alas, a fine match for what it was.
-----------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs Tito Santana & Danny Spivey - SNME 1987

After finishing up his feud with the Macho Man in mid-86, it seems like Vince had his heart set on retooling Tito as a tag team guy, which I think was a smart move. I am looking forward to watching Strike Force. I don't know much about Spivey. I know he had one-off match with Luger that is considered pretty good. He looks like a bigger version of Stunning Steve Austin and seems like the type of guy Vince would have loved to keep. I have no idea why he is wearing the French flag as his trunks. ;)

This is your run of the mill, sleepwalk Hart Foundation match. The big spot is Anvil doing the Martel slingshot splash being assisted by Bret. Spivey had to do the FIP b/c they needed Tito for the hot tag and he sucked pretty hard at selling. Tito was sweet off the hot tag with Flying Burritos for everyone. He slaps on the figure-4 on Bret, but Davis comes in and hits him with the megaphone in the chaos. Voila! You have your Wrestlemania III six-man tag match.
----------------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation/Danny Davis vs The British Bulldogs/Tito Santana - Wrestlemania III

I watched the title change, which was a short match because of Dynamite's injury. Davis was busy with checking on Dynamite's well-being after being knocked out with Hart's megaphone while Davey Boy was kicking ass and taking names, Davis missed a Bulldog pinfall. Hart Foundation double DDT -> Hart Attack -> Fast count -> New World Tag Champs and a newly minted molten heel in the form of Danny Davis.

This match is wicked fun until the finish. Tito has been such a joy to watch even if he was dragged down by Adrian Adonis and Don Muraco on occasions. The babyface shine segment gets you amped. The heat segment is pretty decent on Dynamite, nothing particularly inspiring until Danny Davis comes in. He is a fuckin awful wrestler. Worst ever? He couldn't even post properly for Bulldog's delayed vertical suplex, unless this was him taking gimmick so far that he couldn't wrestle. ;) Like I understand playing it up you suck at offense, but there is no reason to suck at bumping. What is impressive is the amount of heat he got. If they gave this gimmick to anyone worth a damn, it could have easily been a big upper midcard heel act for a couple years and probably would have gotten a Hogan program. People were going nuts for Tito and Davey Boy's offense (TOMBSTONE~!). I am a sucker for weasel heel takes a bunch of big moves. The finish pretty much sucks because Davis goes over due to nefarious tactics. It makes sense because they were probably planning to push Davis based on the heat he was getting until they realized he was fuckin atrocious. Still a fun Wrestlemania type match that I had actually never seen before.
----------------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs The British Bulldogs
 SNME 2 Out of 3 Falls 5/87

I got to put over Jimmy Hart huge early as Matlida fuckin shoots on him and actually bites him in the leg. Then there is an awesome shot of Matilda with the megaphone in her mouth. Matilda is my fuckin bitch, now. (Get it? I totally slay me) Seriously, Matilda seems ridiculously lame (to me at least), but her entire tenure was validated in that one minute.

It is an SNME match, so you know what that means: SPRINT! Davey Boy starts off per usual. Wows us with the Stampede reversal out of the wristlock, then does his standard show of strength by picking up Bret while in a knucklelock, some quick armwork before a Bret knee lift as usual sends right into FIP. No meandering here as Anvil and Bret are following up everything quickly and crisply. But in their haste, Smith gets his knees up in the corner. Hot tag, Dynamite is ready to go to town: Bret takes his turnbuckle bump, hair pick up, hooking clothesline, snap suplex, diving headbutt. Anvil looks to make a save and throws Davey Boy out to the floor, where Davis takes advantage of him. Tito chases Davis while the Hart Foundation double teams Dynamite and they do not heed the ref's admonishments leading to the DQ.

Second fall, they continue to work on Dynamite and do Demolition Decapitation. While some choking goes on, we do a chase sequence and when we comeback, we get Bret's favorite transition: hang Dynamite in ropes only to cross body block the ropes. Hot tag! HOLY SHIT! Davey Boy hits two MASSIVE dropkicks on the Hart Foundation. Brunzell's are prettier, but these dropkicks actually look like they got some mustard on them. A delayed vertical suplex gets two, but Anvil gets in some forearms before clobbering Bret on the apron. Tito hits the Flying Burrito on Davis to a huge pop. Bulldog gorilla press slams Dynamite onto Anvil and the place erupts. Alas, the title can't change hands on a DQ. That is some grade-A bullshit right there.

After a drought of fun Bulldogs' matches, this one comes on like a monsoon of non-stop action. Everyone is hitting their stuff crisply and the transitions are really well-done. Transitions are important to me and I think Bret setup each one nicely and the match felt like a contest between a couple offensive juggernauts. Nowhere near the best with stuff with the Dream Team, but the best Hart Foundation/Bulldogs, which really feels overrated watching the work now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs - MSG 7/87

If I am not mistaken, this is the last major match these two teams would have together. They went out with a bang. Definitely my choice for the best match these two teams have ever had with each other. Three Hart Foundation/Bulldogs matches have made WWE DVDs I cant believe this one has not. To me this is finally the match that rivals the stuff with the Bulldogs were having with the Dream Team.

The Hart Foundation finally learns and attacks the Bulldogs during the Matilda routine. They isolate Davey Boy, while Dynamite gets Matilda out of harm's way. It is all for naught as Bret runs into Anvil on a criss-cross. It actually comes off as a really well done spot. Someone pissed in Dynamite's corn flakes that day because he is ripshit the whole match. Just tearing into people and snapping at the ref to get into position better and this makes for a way better match. After a hooking clotheslines, Bret rolls away and Dynamite follows him and just starts rifling elbows at him. Bret in desperation eyerakes, but Dynamite still controls to get Davey Boy in there and do a double headbutt. This has been what is missing in this series. That feeling of a real contest and urgency. The Bulldogs are hungry and the Hart Foundation are cheating like muthafuckas. None of this, let me you ragdoll for 5 minutes, now you be my ragdoll. Everyone is trying to cut each other off and there is a real sense of struggle.

When I started online, I always heard Dynamite get these rave reviews, but Davey Boy Smith is way more fun to watch in my opinion. He is both the better FIP and hot tag. Davey Boy's hot tag dropkick can't fuckin be beat. That thing is disgusting. But I digress, fisherman's suplex by Davey Boy gets two. Here is a bit of weak transition as Bret punches Dynamite and is able to tag Anvil. I say it is weak because I do not think a heel should gain the upper hand in that fashion especially in the WWF where closed fists are commonplace. In Japan, a closed fist is one of the ultimate dick moves. In WWF, it just feels like another move. I would have rather seen something more heelish end the shine.

Anvil is feeling into tonight with manical laugh and sledges before sending Dynamite out to be slammed into the rial by Bret. Back in now Anvil is biting him, this is the point when I was like "Ok, finally these two teams are really bringing it". Demolition Decapitation, which always looks nasty, gets two. Dynamite dazes Bret with a headbutt and falls on top on a slam attempt. Now Anvil tries to headbutt Dynamite. Bad idea and Anvil knocks himself out. I love it. Smith gets in prematurely, but Anvil ends up forcing Bret to take his trunbuckle bump and Anvil is back body dropped to the outside. HOT TAG! No dropkick, booooo. Makes up for it by busting out the monkey flip, which he has not done yet. Then falls that up with 2nd rope kneedrop, another move Smith has not done. Davey Boy rules. Now his more conventional offense: delayed vertical and running powerslam both get two. Bret grabs a sleeper only for Dynamite to headbutt him. In one of my favorite spots, Davey Boy goes to gorilla press slam Bret, but "loses control" and drops Bret crotch first on the ring ropes. That one is a always a Sleeze Pleezer.

They do a common finish, where Anvil from the outside trips Smith on a suplex attempt and Bret falls on top for the win. Excellent, excellent match. Zero down-time, felt like a struggle with a real sense of urgency from both teams. If someone had to pick the representative match for this series, I would pick this one because it is just that much better than the rest. The title change, unfortunately due to the mitigating circumstances of Dynamite's injury, is just a 3 minute match. Then all the other matches feel of equal historical importance, so I would just pick the best one and that is this one in my opinion.
---------------------------------------------------------

Whenever I see Rick Martel I always think of "Let Hear it for the boy!" I dont know why.

---------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs Strike Force - 11/87 Superstars

This is the quintessential Hart Foundation match as it is very neatly segmented over 10 minutes with emphasis on the heat segment. Strike Force looks like they are off to the lawns of Wimbledon with their all white outfits, but instead took a detour to trade hands. Looks can be deceiving as we all know Martel and Santana are two of the best. I have really enjoyed Martel's work in the AWA against the likes of Bock, Jumbo and Saito. I was looking forward to his performance, unfortunately, in such a short match he was limited to the hot tag. He did get in a nice dropkick at the beginning that popped the crowd. Tito came in and slugged it out with Anvil before eating the classic blind knee to the back while he was running the ropes.

We enter the heat segment, which takes up the majority of the match, which is well executed. The Hart Foundation cheat effectively with chokes and throws to the outside by the ref's back. They hit their secondary finisher (Demolition Decapitation), but that is not enough. Bret ends up taking the Bret Bump to quite the pop and the crowd is whipped into frenzy for Martel. This is what I have been waiting and Martel comes in hits his reverse cross body block off the second rope, which Bret breaks up. Strike Force retaliates with a double slam and Martel puts him in the Boston Crab for the win.

I just watched a ton of 1996 WCW with the likes of Benoit, Eddie, Malenko and Jericho. I was dizzy with the all the offense being thrown out and the lack of structure. Then I watched this and while it was comforting to me to see someone really heel it up. The structure was just too neat. There were no Tito hope spots. There was no sense of struggle. It was just we are going to execute shine->heat->comeback and that's it. It is four pros and the match was fine and entertaining. Yet it left me wanting more. The green is always greener on the other side. I cant get no satisfaction. smile.gif
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WWF World Tag Champs Strike Force vs The Hart Foundation - 11/87 MSG

From what I have seen, this is the best match from heel run of the Hart Foundation. It should come as no surprise as Tito Santana & Rick Martel are not two of the best babyfaces of the 80s, but of all time. Plus this had Bock on commentary!!! I did not know Bock was ever in the WWF. He had no singular gems that stood out just added a lot of intelligence to usually bereft of intelligence WWF commentary team. The early story of the match told very well by commentary was that Bret is a technical wizard, but can be a mental marshmallow in there. Once things start going against him he is too easily rattled. After some early successes against Martel, he takes two armdrags and bails to the outside tagging Anvil. It was a nice little story early.

Strike Force work the headlock against the Foundation. Martel executes a headlock on Bret that would make Backlund jealous. Before it gets too entrenched in "heel in peril", Tito executes a small package and that brings him too close to Hart corner. Bock thought that was awfully dumb. Tito takes some offense before Bret takes his signature bump into Tito's knee this time, which was a cool variation. Martel is a house of fire. He definitely one of the best at throwing strikes with both hands. Too often wrestlers try to use their off-hand and those are the strikes that look wicked awful. However, his zeal betrays him as Anvil holds down the top rope and he tumbles over onto the exposed concrete. Anvil whips him back first into the railing and Bret follows up with a backbreaker. Everything is against Martel's ribs & lower back with an Anvil bearhug. There are more hope spots than usual in a Hart Foundation match. Martel got a Oklahoma roll and he was really working to get out from underneath the Hart Foundation onslaught. Bret was going to what would become his stock moves: 2nd rope elbow and vertical suplex with of course liberal choking and switching.

They do a great false tag with Martel firing up out of the corner only for Bret to pick his ankle right before he can get to Tito. Martel is able to whip Anvil into the ropes which sends Bret on the apron flying to take the Pillman bump on the railing. Now Tito is in and he clocks the Anvil with the flying forearm and Bret comes in only to elbow his partner. Strike Force hits a double clothesline and Martel goes for the Boston Crab on the big man, but nothing doing as Bret breaks it up. Tito with the Flying Burrito on Bret. Then they whip the Hart Foundation into each other Boston crab this time locked in on the Anvil, but Bret blindsides him with the megaphone drawing the DQ. Harts lay a beating on them post-match.

This match was all-action for about 15 minutes with both teams playing their roles excellently. Strike Force looking to overcome the cheating of the Hart Foundation with their speed and heart. The Hart Foundation look to take back their titles by any means necessary. The best tag match of Hart Foundation's heel run.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs Bret "Hitman" Hart - SNME 11/87

Unless I am forgetting some Rockers match, this is definitely my pick for best match in SNME history (Rockers/Busters match is close). Make no mistake about it, this is the Randy Savage show and one of the few times in his whole WWF career where Bret takes a backseat to someone in a match. As much as we can debate whether this is Bret's coming out party, this is definitively Savage's coming out party as the number two babyface in the company.  Thus it is only logical that Savage is the star of the match, but that being said, there are very few heels at this point in time in the promotion that could have delivered the same performance as Bret did in this match. I think that is really when a match transcends into something special is when both wrestlers are crucial to the success of the match in such a way no other wrestler could take their place. To state in the converse fashion, neither wrestler feels like a generic, warm body to partake in the routine of someone else's match.

Even though, Savage is my favorite wrestler of all-time, I have not viewed many of his matches through my new revisionist lens. I have been a bit afraid because I thought he may not hold-up. Have no fear, I enjoyed this match more than I remember upon first viewing. Savage is not a fan of extended segmenting in his matches especially he likes short babyface shines when he is a babyface. What I like about this is that adds a sense of struggle in a way that most WWF matches lack. Bret is almost getting in "heel hope spots" during the shine just to spice things up. They establish Macho Man will have plenty of extracurriculars to concern himself early. This is also the first instance of the rather proliferate Bret bump off the apron onto the guardrail.

Also, one thing I love in my wrestling is urgency. Has there ever been a more urgent North American wrestler than Savage? Savage crashes and burns on his double axe-handle to the guardrail. Bret delivers a piledriver that would make Bob Backlund proud before ramming his shoulder back into his post. Savage does a mini-control segment before being back dropped over the top rope and onto the floor. Thus begins Savage's Emmy campaign. If you have force me, I would say I prefer Savage' knee selling over Toshiaki Kawada's by a hair. Savage is just so excellent on fighting on one leg. Elizabeth helping Savage take off his boot is such a nice touch. Bret is in his element working over the leg. They work this to such a fever pitch that crowd pops huge for Savage's desperation inside cradle off a bodyslam attempt to win.

An excellent match that illustrates how the WWF style had the potential to deliver powerful stories even if they didn't always. I loved this match and I think it is a harbinger of Bret's future and a testament to what Savage could be as a babyface.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Team Hart Foundation (Hart Foundation, Islanders, Demolition, New Dream Team & Bolsheviks) vs Team Strike Force (Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Rougeaus, Killer Bees & Young Stallions) - Survivor Series 1987

I knew this match was well-regarded, but I had no idea what outcome was. I can not believe the two bottom feeding babyface tag teams were the winners. More so, I cant believe the match was booked around the Young Stallions being booked as the stars. There was no reason before or after to understand this book decision as Strike Force and British Bulldogs continued to be the preeminent babyface tag teams for the near future with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Demolition ending the next year as the top three babyface tag teams. Odd booking aside, this was a really fun match. They did not really try to weave a story, but it was action-packed and they busted out some pretty cool moves. The only story, I really noticed was the resiliency of the Young Stallions. Just because the Young Stallions were booked as the stars, does not mean they wrestled well, mind you. They were the worst wrestlers out there. Notably, Jim Powers was being a huge pussy for not taking the hotshot on 2 occasions.

The match started off with Martel/Volkoff tearing it up shades of how good their SNME match would turn out. Volkoff looked like a monster Tito hit the Flying Burrito to get the pin on Boris. Ax came in and did his usual Demoition bit. They establish the nature of the gimmick with tons of quick tags that keep the action fresh. One notable exchange was the chop exchange between Haku/Dynamite, where the hell was that in their matches. Everyone is hitting all their stuff with a lot of intensity. The Stallions get worked over a little bit. Jacques gets the tag, but crashes and burns on a reverse cross body and Ax gets the pin. The Stallions get crushed by a Neidhart backbreaker/Haku flying chop. The Valentine adds a sweet shoulderbreaker and a vertical suplex (he throws him more than slams him back). Dino Bravo hits like the best gutwrench suplex ever and they still cant pin the Stallions. Demolition becomes fustrated and gets themselves DQ'd by pushing the ref. Bret crushes Dynamite with a piledriver and cant get the pin. The heels just cant buy a win. Tama/Martel have a great exchange as usual, but Martel applies his Boston Crab too close to the heel corner and Neidhart clobbers him. Santana makes a similar mistake on a pinfall attempt and gets whacked in the big of the head by a Bret elbow and gets pinned!?!?!??!?!? That was the first sign something fishy was up.

Now there is a long Stallions heat segment with Valentine that is pretty decent because Valentine stiffing shitty wrestlers is always fun. Powers refuses to get dropped across the ropes properly because he is a mega-pussy. The match gets clipped here and we miss the Bulldogs getting eliminated. According to one review, I missed a Bret backbreaker into a Tama knee and other general awesomeness. Disappointing. When we come back, the Stallions are still getting beat on, so it appears as if you missed nothing even though you missed the number 2 face tag team being eliminated. Valentien goes for the figure-4, but Roma gets a sunset flip (blind tag) for the win. For shame, as the New Dream Team were the best workers. Though Hart Foundation and Islanders have been working pretty friggin well also. The Killer Bees have been non-existent and Young Stallions have sucked but been the crux of this match.

The Bees begin and Brunzell hits a pretty sweet high knee. Roma is back in to be the face in peril. Islanders start busting out their offense and look great. Brunzell is working offense for the faces, Stallions on FIP duty and Blair on the apron, just where he should be. smile.gif This is the best Brunzell has looked in the WWF. Roma gets the first bit of offense for the Stallions with a fist drop on Bret Hart, but that is short-lived with Bret hitting a suplex on him. Islanders again rocking it in the ring. Brunzell is in with the Hitman. He has the Hitman to be slammed. Tama dropkicks Hitman to get him on top of Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through for the pin. At this point, I was in shock because I expected the top 2 heel teams to easily vanquish the two babyface jobber tag teams.

Islanders jump right on Brunzell to press while they still can. Islanders do a little too much vulcan nerve pinch, but Haku works in a shoulderbreaker and they are doing their best to keep Brunzell in their corner. Stallions get a quick powerslam, but Islanders are able to overwhelm them again. Blair gets tagged and swarmed (pun intended). Islanders always press their advantage. Wicked reverse elbow by Tama. Tama misses a big elbow, the key weakness of all 80s WWF heels. Brunzell, hot tag, double noggin knocker, DROPKICK~! Haku saves. Brunzell attempts sunset flip on Tama and Blair with mask jumps over and gets his own sunset flip to complete the upset. Brunzell puts on his mask too outside as they celebrate. MASKED CONFUSION~!

On one hand, the Stallions looked awesome by surviving and resilient because they got beat on mercilessly. But they only got in like two offensive moves and they sucked in the ring. Bees showed up half through the match and it was the best Brunzell looked in the WWF, but none babyfaces aside from Martel looked all that great. This was a great showcase for the heel teams as they had a ton of offense and really worked crisp and efficient. It is crazy to think in one years time there would be an utter dearth of heel tag teams and an overabundance of babyface tag teams. I went in with high expectations and it was a bit of a let down. It was action packed and 30+ minutes flew by which is a credit to the teams, but it lacked a great story to really make it classic. It was a great fun, action blockbuster.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Randy Savage & Tag Champs Strike Force vs IC Champ HonkyTonk Man & Hart Foundation - Steel Cage 3/88 Boston Garden

This match was too intriguing for me to pass up. Plus I am a sucker for Savage matches that I have never watched before. Besides the famous HonkyTonk/Savage SNME match, I do think I have ever seen the HTM in action. It is so weird seeing Santana & Savage on the same team. The match starts off hot and everybody is using Strike Force's t-shirts to choke each other out. Anvil looks to escape through the door, but Tito punches him in the face a couple times and leaps over him, which would be a decent finish to a cage match. Anvil takes this opportunity to also waltz out. Martel throws The Hitman hard into the cage in one of the best spots of the match. The babyfaces whip the heels into each other and they take this opportunity to try to escape together. However, Savage is too slow and is caught while Martel escapes. This leaves Savage alone with two people in the ring. I liked the psychology of that as it was the best time for both babyfaces to try to escape as opposed to Martel just randomly leaving Savage high and dry. Hart exclaims "Piece of Cake!" and Lord Alfred thinks he said "Watch the Gate!". Gorilla not missing a beat jumps on him for that one as I have a chuckle. Hart leaves and Honky Tonk looks to have a little bit more fun with his arch-nemesis only for Savage to get his second wind and start taking it to Honky. Honky tries to go over the cage, but Savage pulls his back in by his greased up Johnny Bravo quaff. They do the spot where the guy lays on the top rope and someone kicks him in the guy only Honky is laying across the cage. That is one of those spots that looks cooler in your mind than it did in execution. A spot that never fails is Honky crotching himself on the top rope and Savage climbing over the cage for a victory.

It was a fun match with good psychology one inventive spot: HTM lay across the cage while Savage kicks him. It was much better once it became more focused on Savage's struggle to overcome the odds. As such, this is more of a Savage showcase than a Bret match. It does display how amazing Savage is as a babyface in peril and how his comebacks really whip up the crowd. You could feel Savage is being positioned as the lead babyface for the year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So to answer the questions posed above, I am going to have say it is inconclusive as of right now. I have only compiled the heel run and there are plenty of other candidates. It is a pro wrestling article, I hope you were not expecting a clean finish. :)

Next up the Killer Bees! The compendium that no one thought they needed and still never needed!