The Rougeaus were a second-generation brother tag team from the dying Montreal territory and sons of Montreal wrestler, Jacques Rougeau Sr. I was able to include a small sampling of the Rougeaus work in Montreal against the Garvins (Ronnie & "Gorgeous" Jimmy) before WWF. Expectedly, this work is wildly different than spot-oriented, compressed, babyface-dominated stylings of the WWF. It is worked as a blood feud with a hot angle (St. Jean Baptist Massacre) leading to a fired-up babyfaces dominating a brawl. The closest thing the WWF tag division got to a blood feud was the Islanders/Strike Force, which is pretty tame in comparison to Rockers/Rose&Somers and anything in Crockett. Notwithstanding, WWF can still produce great match, you do not always need brawling and visceral heat. However, the Rougeaus were blase babyfaces devoid of fire and charisma (occasionally Jacques would display flashes.). I would actually rank the Killer Bees ahead of them in this time period that is how underwhelming the Rougeaus were as babyfaces. In 1988, with the Islanders dissolving and the Hart Foundation turning babyface, the Rougeaus turned heel by waving little American flags and announcing they were relocating to America and they were All-American Boys. In order to really cement the turn, they took on the Hart Foundation's ex-manager, Jimmy Hart.
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| What The Fuck, Oh My Good, Imma Hurl |
Unlike The Islander who were given two red-hot programs from their heel turn, the Rougeaus still seemed to languish. Part of the issue was that Bret was splitting time with singles, the Rockers were still being established, and then later in the year Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard showed up. In that Hart Foundation series, Jacques was much better as a cowardly little bitch, but Raymond did not seem anymore interesting. The Hart Foundation series was actually some of the worst Hart Foundation work I have seen with only the Rumble six-man being decent. After this program, they worked with the Rockers, which produced a great six-man at Summerslam, but that was more of a backdrop for the molten Martel/Santana feud (more on that in the upcoming Strike Force blog). In late 1989, the Rockers/Rougeaus hit a massive home run with one of the best light-hearted, shtick matches combined with a dramatic heat segment you will ever see. I cannot heap enough praise on this performance. In that match, it looked as if the Rougeaus had finally put it together in an interesting fashion with humor and great offense. Unfortunately, they were then saddled with 400 lbs of suck known as the Bushwhackers to drag them down and eventually Raymond saw the writing on the wall said enough leaving Jacques to become The Mountie, but that is a story for another blog.
The Rougeaus were the most underwhelming team of this project disappointing me at almost every turn. They really never garnering that much heat with the fans until the heel turn and even then it is spotty. All of sudden, they pull out a bitchin' match with the Rockers, but it is too little too late.
Choice Cuts from the Rougeaus:
The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Rockers - London 10/89
The Rougeaus vs The Garvins - Montreal 1985 (Both matches)
Survivor Series '88
Survivor Series '87
Rick Martel & Fabulous Rougeaus vs Tito Santana & The Rockers - Summerslam '89
Just missed the cut:
WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs Rougeaus - Boston 3/87
Dino Bravo & Fabulous Rougeaus vs. Hacksaw Duggan & Hart Foundation - Royal Rumble '89
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| I lol'd. |
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The Rougeaus vs The Garvins w/Precious? - St. Jean Baptist Massacre Montreal 1985?
Thanks to Dave Musgrave! This was a pretty wicked beatdown the Garvins gave the Rougeaus. Precious lays some smack talk on Jacques and Ronnie sprays hair spray in Jacques' eyes. Ronnie and Jimmy Garvin are the strangest brother combination in pro wrestling. They gang up on Raymond and Jacques Sr. comes in. It feels like AWA in a good way to me. As the fans pop huge for Jacques Sr., they want to see the old hero save his sons, but the Garvins sell for the elder Jacques, but he goes after Precious. The Garvins attack him and give him a double bodyslam. Then they do the what I believe is the Rougeaus finish. They put Jacques Sr in a Boston Crab and drop a knee drop on him. At some point Jacques blades and Jacques Sr. does a stretcher job. Montreal is friggin hot to see the Garvins get their just desserts. The Garvins definitely did a number on the local heroes and then they cut a local spot promo with Jimmy Garvin just lambasting Ontario and Ronnie says they annihilated the Rougeaus. After, the beatdown and promo just like the rest of 1985 Montreal I want to see Garvin get their asses kicked by the Rougeaus.
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The Rougeaus vs The Garvins w/Precious - Montreal 1985?
Jimmy Garvin looks just so friggin sleezy. That is really saying something in pro wrestling. Garvins seem to be taking this affair lightly until the Rougeaus come out and they try to keep them out. The Rougeaus overwhelm the Garvins and just unload on them. They even do the row your boat spot! Raymond looks awesome and is throwing huge right hand bombs! He piledrives Ronnie Garvin! Jacques with a fist drop and a second rope knee drop and Ronnie is gushing blood. The crowd is going crazy for the Rougeaus and Ronnie making them look a million bucks. Jacques chucks Jimmy Jam off the top rope and melee ensues. The Rougeaus spike Ronnie on his head! Jimmy puts Ronnie's foot on the rope to save him. Ronnie starts to fire back and hits a leaping headbutt to tag in Jimmy. Jimmy bumps around for the Rougeaus in a more overtly dramatic way. Ronnie grabs his tights and pulls him down. Jimmy is able to grab a reverse chinlock. This makes sense the Rougeaus are fuckin hot. The Garvins are just trying to break their momentum and you see them going back to the chinlock. Jimmy gets a knee lift for 2. They censor Ronnie's blood. Ronnie and Jacques are going at it while Jimmy has Raymond in a chinlock. Jimmy and Raymond collide pretty wickedly in a fast criss-cross. Both tag out, Jacques with a standing dropkick on Ronnie. Jacques dropkicks both Garvins. Jacques rams Jimmy's balls into the post a couple times, but Ronnie slugs Jacques Sr. The ref calls off the match. O Fuck You! He disqualifies the Rougeaus?!?!? Double Go Fuck Yourself!
After WWF match after WWF match this match kicks so much ass and is such a breath of fresh air. I assume most people here would like this match better than the Rockers matches as this way more violent and a very heated brawl. It is really energetic and action-packed. It never lets up. I think the Rockers matches has its own high points and is a very different match. I like this match a lot, but I think I would put the Rockers match over this. However, this is incredible brawl and I wish we had the blowoff because this is just another primer. I am not going to say where were these Rougeaus because WWF was not conducive to bringing this out of their performer. I wish the Rougeaus would had some spots in the NWA territories because they are kick ass vengeful babyfaces.
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Bret "Hitman" Hart vs Raymond Rougeau 10/86 MSG
A bit better than the match above, but that is only because I am a big fan of Bret's offense and stooging. I always thought Bret had one of the more impressive offensive arsenals in North America. 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. I have never watched Dino Bravo before so I will at least check out one of their matches. In short, only the title match with the Hart Foundation in Boston is worth seeing.
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The "Not-Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus vs The New US Express 12/86 Boston
I did not know Rotundo was around this late in the WWF. I have never really watched Spivey. No usual Rougeau BS early on, which I miss, but I presume that is due to it being face vs face. Gorilla notes the fan dont know who to root for in this match. Which is weird because they seem awfully of this guy named "Boring". So I am a bit higher on the work than the crowd, but I do see where they are coming from. The Rougeaus seem more game as this is close to their WWF debut whereas the US Express is on their way out. Spivey works an armbar in vanilla fashion why Jacques tries to get him to do anything. Rotundo is a little bit more willing and the Rougeaus work over the knee and Jacques slaps on a Figure-4 on the proper leg and is really working it. Spivey comes in with some brutish offense and tempers are starting to flare. Raymond busts out the rolling short arm scissors, which is always a treat. The finish is each team saves the other once. Finally the weakest Pier Six Brawl breaks out, I mean Katie slept through this and the door was wide open. Double DQ. Meh match, but the Rougeaus seem fun.
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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.
A very fun match, I would even say on par with Rockers/Busters match from early. 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. This is the same crowd that was chanting "Boring" at the Rougeaus nary three months early. Rougeaus are team with good psychology and maybe I am wrong, but I dont think they were 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.
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The "Not Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus vs The New Dream Team - 9/87 MSG
"Luscious" Johnny V has to rank among the most worthless managers in history. He is doing the Buddy Roberts wig gimmick since Beefcake chopped off his hair, but way lamer. The three members of the Dream Team do a lot of hugging. In 2012, hugging gets you babyface heat, o society how far you have fallen. biggrin.gif Bravo and Valentine even do a heel miscommunication spot early and hug afterwards warming my cockles of my heart. So Bravo strikes me as an energetic, yet less smooth version of Don Muraco. He isn't half-bad. Valentine does his "TIMBAAHHHH" bump 4 times, but is like "Fuck you, if you expect me to do any other bumps or sell". The heat segment is better than expected even though the Raymond is quite boring as a face in peril because Valentine and Bravo have so much stuff. I guess that is what happens when both your heels used to be singles wrestlers. Jacques gets the hot tag and he is house afire, but his offense isn't impactful. Johnny V gets his wig knocked off, but it takes way from the match rather than add to it because it happens outside the ring. Double bodyslam by Dream Team sets up a Valentine figure-4, but the time limit expires even though the Dream Team thought they had won. Weird finish as it made the Rougeaus look like they were lucky to even be hanging with the Dream Team. It was clear looking at the Rougeaus match listing that they weren't getting over as faces so maybe the finish stems from that. At that same time, I don't think the New Dream Team was going anywhere. Maybe it was just Vince throwing a curveball. This is a better match to showcase that Valentine/Bravo were actually a pretty decent team, better than Valentine's one man show with Beefcake. However, it is not a good showcase for the Quebecois.
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"Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase vs Jacques Rougeau 10/87
Solid TV match, where Jacques may have added more than Ted. Jacques always brought great energy to the match. Ted pulls the hair three times, before Jacques drops the grappling and resorts to fisticuffs. He crashes and burns on a cross body block. Ted with standard heel offense. Jacques is dazed sitting on the middle rope and Virgil pulls him out and drops him to the floor in the spot of the match. Dibiase takes his usual punch to the gut front flip spot before. Jacques goes on a run before some Virgil-traction leads to a schoolboy. Lame finish to a pretty ho-hum match.
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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.
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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.
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Demolition vs "Not Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus - Boston 3/88
This was touted as one of the better Demolition matches, but it did nothing for me. I would say the Islanders/Demos was a much better early Demolition match. At first it seems like Demolition will overwhelm the Quebecois, but miscommunication opens up some double teaming by the Rougeaus. Jacques is able to get a double wristlock on Smash. Raymond gets a high cross body to a dead crowd. Ax starts stomping Raymond. Ax grabs a front facelock and Raymond starts ironically chopping down Ax with some blows to the knee. His name is Ax. An attempted monkey flip cots Raymond and the heat segment begins earnest and it is a snoozer. Outside of a Fuji cane shot, it is just some cranking on Raymond's neck; it doesnt help that Raymond is the bland member of his team. Vertical suplex by Raymond and missed elbow by Smash gets Jacques in there, but at this point the crowd does not care about baby face Rougeaus. Jacques slaps on the Boston Crab in Boston and still no pop! How shameless can you get? smile.gif Ax with a big boot and then a double clothesline gets the duke for the Demos.
This was described as a mugging of the Rougeaus, but it felt like the usual tepid Demolition affair. I never felt any sympathy towards the Rougeaus and they demonstrated no pluckiness. The Demolition as lumbering giants just was not menacing at all. In the Islanders match, the Islanders made Demolition seem like monsters because of their urgency on offense and Tama's bumping. Demolition feels like a team that may only be as good as their opponents.
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| Viva Le Quebec! |
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The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Young Stallions 6/88
Rougeaus are finally fabulous. They do a really great insincere gimmick between the waving of the American flags and the constant hand-shaking. They come off as great pricks. The Young Stallions don't fuck anything up. The Rougeaus are clearly the superior in wrestlers in every single way. This is your basic tit for tat match with Rougeaus playing the subtle heel. They trade Boston Crabs when Raymond comes in and blasts Roma with a forearm from behind and the Rougeaus drop the facade make quick tags working over Roma's back. Jim Powers comes in and Jacques feeds him like a champ. Small package by Powers is turned over by Raymond behind ref's back and Rougeaus win. Rougeaus keep it entertaining, but nothing to write home about.
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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. It was a really anti-climatic way to turn heel.
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| The French vs English: 150 years after it mattered. |
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The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The British Bulldogs - Summerslam 88
This match was not as good as I remember, but it is a perfectly good wrestling match. This would be on the bubble if I were to make a Top 100 or 150 or what have you of 80s WWF matches. Things like Dynamite's offense, Davey Boy's selling and the Rougeau's heel work are tempered by long stretches of inactivity. At the beginning, the Rougeaus seem game to bump all around, but the Bulldogs seem content to armbar them. One funny moment was Raymond not wanting to take Dynamite's hooking clothesline full-on so he side-stepped it a bit, but still sold it. I like Jacques' attempt at an USA chant. One thing I hate about WWF tag wrestling is segments where they do prolonged leg work, which just amounts to twisting the guy's leg. You cant at least do a spinning toehold. The Rougeaus mix it up a bit more than that, but still that they spend most of the time doing that. Dynamite comes in and unleashes a volley of suplexes. Davey Boy back in with his running powerslam but Jacques makes the save. Dynamite back in but takes a back suplex off the turnbuckle from Jacques. This heat segment is my other pet peeve of WWF tag wrestling non-focused, non-descript work. Jacques & Raymond just alternate between the abdominal stretch and reverse chinlock. That amused me greatly. Also, what didnt amuse me is Gorilla and Superstar Graham, holy shit was a sucky announce team. They really couldnt come up with a better tagline than "Its a happening" for the first Summeslam.
Dynamite gets a small package on Jacques while the ref's back is turned and MSG is standing. I notice while the crowd has really been into this match. There is one good sequence when Jacques has Dynamite in the ab stretch and he yells "Hey, ref" broadly gestures for the tag and Raymond comes in does a weird strut and kicks Dynamite in the abs. Dynamite recovers by headbutting Jacques in the gut and gives him a knife-edge. Davey Boy comes in and misses a dropkick, but is able to dump Jacques crotch first on the top rope. There is a big brouhaha and Davey Boy gorilla press slams Dynamite on Jacques, but the time limit expires.
I feel like I sounded too harsh on this match because there was a lot of good work and the pace was quite good. The heat segments just weren't as good as they could have been. I actually thought Bulldogs looked really good for a team that I figured wasn't going to give a fuck since they were on their way out. The Rougeaus are definitely better suited as heels. Jacques had great energy for a hot tag, but didnt have the offense. Raymond is a sound wrestler, but isn't good at getting face heat. As heels, Raymond can wrestle and it much is easier for him to get heat just by doing things like a weird strut or hugging his brother. Jacques is clearly a great antagonist and his ability to show ass and bump make him much better heel.
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Hart Foundation vs Fabulous Rougeaus Brothers - 9/88 Meadowlands
Lord Alfred Hayes loses his shit when the crowd throws frogs at the Quebecois. smile.gif
This is one weird match. If you did not know any better from the outset of the match you would think the Harts were the heels and the Rougeaus faces. I would hazard that Bret's defense of the blatant cheating and arrogance was that they were still in transition to being babyface therefore it did not make sense to go full bore. Anyways, in the match you have to decide if you want to cheer for the pricks (Hart Foundation) who choke, pull hair, let a fallen crawl over to his tag partner only slap his hand away or the cowards (Rougeaus). Eventually Bret lets Raymond make the tag. Jacques is entertaining in his mannerisms, but his work always leaves something to be desired. Bret is such a great face in peril. He is just a natural. The Rougeaus just have no spots at all to offer this match. Anvil gets tagged in and he is pretty decent as a hot tag, I feel like he will get better. He has all the traits to be a great hot tag. Bret irish whips Anvil into Raymond and then nails him with a piledriver. The ref is distracted Jacques off the top hits a prone Bret and the Rougeaus win. I'm a bit surprised since Demolition currently heel were the tag champs and with the Bulldogs sliding down the card, I thought Harts would take the win.
From a storyline standpoint, I know the Rougueas had turned heel at this time with their tiny American flags, but had the Hart Foundation turned face? There seems to be a long layoff for the Hart Foundation between WM IV and Sumemrslam '88 was that to ease the transition. I feel like I read somewhere that at some point Jimmy Hart betrays Hart Foundation to go with the Rougeaus, but I did not see him out there.
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Hart Foundation vs Fabulous Rougeaus - Boston 10/88 Brother Love as Special Guest Ref
Now this is more like it: a nice little fun match. Brother Love rambles on for 4 minutes. I don't know much about Brother Love's history. I know he was the Undertaker's original manager, but was he ever given anyone else? It is actually a brilliant gimmick for a manager and something I think that would work today.
The beginning of this match is really good and really establishes the stipulation of the match something that modern wrestling does not always do. Jacques pulls Bret's hair in order to get him to the ground and Brother Love lets it go. Bret pulls Jacques hair in a similar fashion and Brother Love makes him break his headlock. Bret gets a pinfall attempt Brother Love gives an exaggerated slow count. Jacques grabs a rollup while Bret is arguing and gets an egregious fast count. At this point, the heat is already nuclear in the Boston Garden with everyone throwing trash. Bret is so fed up he tags in the Anvil. The Rougeaus immediately point out that Bret is not holding the tag rope, Brother Love goes over to investigate and admonish him while the Rougeaus double team the Anvil. The Anvil FIP kills the match dead. The Rougeaus just have no spots, just choking, stomping and chinlocks. Brother Love lays the badmouth on the Anvil and also denies him a hot tag on grounds that Bret was not holding the tag rope. Bret eventually does come in and hits a bunch of his standard spots, which look amazing next to the Rougeaus' lame arsenal. Hart Foundation fed up with Brother Love dump his ass outside and hit the Hart Attack and Dave Hebner counts the three.
The Rougeaus were pretty bland as babyfaces and the heel turn has not helped. The Quebecers were so good, but yet the Fabulous Rougeaus are so lame in the ring. The Hart Foundation have not found their groove yet as a babyface team, but you can tall Bret is being groomed to be a singles star, which I feel is hurting the standing of the team. Finally, Brother Love seems like a great gimmick to me would have been a great addition to the cast of Heenan, Hart and Fuji.
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Hart Foundation & Hacksaw Duggan vs Fabulous Rougeaus & Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart & Frenchy Martin - 2 out of 3 Falls Royal; Rumble '89
I cant believe they gave Bravo, a world's strongest man gimmick because he is just not that large. His battle of bulls with Neidhart ends up with the Anvil winning with a clothesline. Duggan comes in and dwarfs Bravo. Bret comes in and gets a series of nearfalls the idea is to win that all-important first fall quickly. Bravo pulls down the ropes and Bret crashes and burns to the outside. Bravo gets a side slam and excitedly tags Rougeaus. Raymond hoists Bret up onto his shoulders and Jacques leaps from the top rope and does a seated senton to Bret. It was pretty impressive. The French Canadians go up one fall to none.
Rougeaus press their advantage against Bret. Unfortunately, Raymond does a gutwrench suplex to Bret. Dino has one of the best gutwrench suplexes so it seems like a waste to have Raymond do it. Dino in with a reverse atomic drop. Now the Rougeaus do a double team gutbuster. Dino grabs a bearhug on Bret and the chant of U-S-A! fills The Summit in Houston and Jesse is all over this one as the Quebecois has the Albertan in a bearhug. Bravo lowers Bret's shoulders on the mat, but only for a 2. Jacques now applies a camel clutch. Now the Boston Crab, which results in a false tag. They now go into the abdominal stretch and Raymond kicks Bret while he is in prone. Jacques gets cocky during a monkey flip attempt and Bret hits a reverse atomic drop. Duggan in to a big pop with some Sid-esque punches. He slingshots Anvil and then Bret onto hapless Raymond before winning the fall himself with an elbow. It is all knotted up. Bret is still selling on the outside.
Duggan wanders over into the heel corner and gets triple teamed. Gorilla tries to cover and says that what happens when you are not used to tag wrestling. Jesse makes me laugh when he says "No. Thats what happens you're Jim Duggan." Lots of triple team choking and stomping. Jacques does hit a really nice dropkick. Bravo hits a reverse atomic drop, but that sends Duggan over to tag Bret. Bret hits his own reverse atomic drop. If you like the reverse atomic drop this is your match! Bret pounds away on Bravo and gets a backbreaker. His second rope elbow is broken up. Bret goes for his reverse sunset flip, but Bravo hooks the ropes and Duggans whacks him with 2x4 for the win.
This was the best Rougeaus match outside of the Rockers match that I really liked. I have become a fan of Dino Bravo; he is not a great lost worker, but he tries really hard and he is fun to watch. The Rougeaus have been really underwhelming thus far with some really lame match. This was a fun, popcorn match and was much better than I expected.
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Rick Martel & Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart & Slick vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam 89
It is Quebec's All-Star has been assembled to crush Tito Santana and his allies, The Rockers. If you add Dino Bravo, you would have a pretty badass Survivor Series Team. Also, they should have stuck Martel with Hart. He had all the other Quebecois at this point and he has the bitchin as all hell Quebec jacket. The story is cntered Ricky and Tito after the fallout from Wrestlemania V. From my understanding, they were running an angle around the horn where Martel would attack Tito from behind during his entrance. The referee would rule that the bout would have to take place later. Then Martel would usually win a short match (under minutes) by some sort of nefarious tactic. I was pretty disappointed to discover this because I was excited for a bevy of 10+ minute Tito vs Martel matches. At Summerslam '89, STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES~!
The babyfaces start off hot with some double teaming. The Rockers slingshot Tito who does a cross body on Raymond and Martel. The Meadowlands is rocking for this match. The first bit of Martel we see if him high stepping while punching Marty. The announcers inform me he does a cartwheel, but the camera work is a bit shoddy. Gone are all the cool spots, in their place is a cocky heel with a great right. Tito gets the tag and Martel fucking dives out of the ring to tag Raymond. Tito gets distracted by Jacques allowing for Raymond to hit a high knee from behind.This is one of better Tito face in perils I have seen as everyone worked really well here. Ricky Martel helps do a double hotshot onto Tito and now he comes in. Tony is indignant about the abject cowardice of Martel while Jesse defends him. This is actually some pretty good stuff between the two. Tony blows every WWF announcer out of the water at this point as he sound genuinely excited about the product and makes you believe in all of Tito's hope spots. Jacques lets out a big "Woo-hoo" after a sweet dropkick. When Tito starts to mount a comeback on Martel, Jacques runs over and pulls his hair so that Martel can reestablish his advantage. "SUNSET FLIP!" by Tito and the crowd loves Tito. Raymond applies a Boston Crab and Jacques with a big knee drop on Tito as the crowd gasps, but it only gets two. . The crowd chants for Tito during the abdominal stretch. Desperation cross body by Tito for 2 on Jacques. Jacques accidentally hits a high-knee on Raymond while Tito got out of the way. Shawn is in and cleans house on all three men. Katie bar the door because a pier-six brawl has erupted. TITO BLASTS MARTEL WITH A FLYING BURRITO!!! In the confusion, Martel clobbers Marty on a rollup-attempt to win the match.
It is clear that Vince had big plans for Martel as he is letting him pick up wins in the Tito feud albeit protecting Tito with the surrounding angle and Martel picked up the win here. This is a really fun popcorn match where the Nordiques play excellent dastardly heels who use every trick in the book to keep Tito down. Martel is reveling in besting his former partner Tito. However, one of these nefarious tricks backfires on the Nordiques allowing for the Rockers to come to aid of their friend. Tito getting to hit Martel with his finish was supposed to be the feel-good climax, but future booking plans necessitated that Martel be kept strong while Tito was beginning his descent down the card. Martel is a fun heel with all his antics, but do miss his big spots. This is one helluva performance from Tito and the Rougeaus really hit their stride in 1989 after some awful years. It is too bad tag wrestling was pretty much dead in the water in a scant few months. This is a fun match that people should check out if they never had.
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The Rockers vs Rougeaus - 10/89 London, England
This is pro wrestling. I know pro wrestling can be a lot of things, but this really captures the fun, light-hearted aspect of wrestling that develops into a dramatic story: an Shawn Michaels make the tag. It is such a simple hook. I often feel compelled to dig deeper to prove that it is more impressive match. In this match, it is beauty is how shallow it is. It is two pricks trying to show up the good guys. The good guys goofing on the bad guys and having fun at their expense. The crowd is laughing along right with them. This level of entertainment and fun is what is missing from most WWF face control segments. Until the pricks can grab a handful of hair, then it becomes a dramatic effort from Michaels to get the hot tag to escape an incredible onslaught from the dastardly, underhanded bad guys. The amount of offense Michaels takes and his selling is the drama that most their WWF heat segments are missing. The go home stretch calls back to the opening with the good guys using the bad guys own dirty tactics against them to pick up the victory.
Who are these guys and what did they do with the Rougeaus? The Rougeaus have been the most underwhelming tag team that I have seen in my viewing. Their heat segments tend to be borefests and Raymond seems devoid of any charisma. In this match, the Rougeaus look like the best WWF heel tag team ever in this one match. They stooge and bitch out like the Busters and they have the offense of the Midnight Express in this match. I understand the beginning can be tedious for some, but I like bullshit. You will see that Marty does want to lock up twice, but each time Jacques calls him a chicken and goads him into doing the relatively easy feat of athleticism. I am a sucker for heels that congratulate themselves over simple feats. However, now the Rockers get the idea how they can really show up the Rougeaus with Shawn's moonsault and shaking the ropes for Jacques. How much Jacques throws his head being rammed into the top turnbuckle is awesome. I laughed again (only thing I laugh at each time).
I love how Jacques scurries away into the protective embrace of Raymond. The MX used Cornette to bitch out for them, but here the Rougeaus do it themselves. The leg work is incredible and the best Rockers control segment with all the switches without tags. Jacques, the ref and crowd just make this segment so great and another stretch where I can not stop smiling. Then while Jacques is arguing, Raymond will actually get to the corner, but he wont be there. I just love that stuff. Hell, even Raymond is great for all his work within this hold and constantly keeping it moving. Eventually, Jacques grabs Shawn's hair and Raymond rams a pretty nice knee into Shawn's back transforming this match from light-hearted to a dramatic affair. Already, you can tell Rougeaus are game for what I consider the best heat segment in WWF 80s tag wrestling. Shawn takes his Flair Flip bump into the turnbuckle and bumps huge off a double chop. The stars are just aligned in this match as Shawn is having his best FIP and the Rougeaus are just fucking on. Raymond's savate kick sends Shawn tumbling over the top rope and they start working on Shawn's back. They do the Boston Crab/knee combo and then Raymond throws Shawn onto Jacques' knee. Seriously, where the hell have these Rougeaus been. "We are really seeing the Rougeaus at their absolute best." - Tony. Tony always knows what's up. Jacques does a fake clap for a tag and the crowd boos the shit out of him. I love this crowd! Raymond busts out the rolling short arm scissors into a pin combination and Shawn reverses. I love this match!
Jacques knees Raymond by accident and lets out a nice, hearty "Fuck!". Here comes Marty doing his best Rick Martel. Hands above his head, so energized just hitting anything in blue and yellow including the Mouth of the South. Raymond trips him from the outside allowing Jacques to get a piledriver. Now the Rougeaus go for the coup d'grace the Megaphone, but Shawn is able to get it and hit Jacques for Marty to get the pin. Once again, the Rockers give the Rougeaus a taste of their own medicine.
I love the MX/RNR Wrestlewar '90 match and I really don't think this is far off of it. I think this is probably the match I select as the best WWF tag match of the Hulkamania Era (84-91) when all is said and done. It has the best control and heat segments with an actual, logical finish with a really good transition that bridges light-hearted with dramatic. The criticism I know is that there is a lot of bs in the beginning, but I enjoyed it and it played into the control segment well with the Rockers still fucking around with the Rougeaus and it sort of fuels the Rougeaus fire to really kick their ass even though they were the ones that instigated it. Shawn is really off the charts selling and bumping for the Rougeaus.
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The Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart vs The Bushwhackers - Royal Rumble 1990
I have never seen a Bushwhackers match (I have seen the Sheepherders) and you cant go through life without seeing the Bushwhackers, right? Also, Jacques has a beard!?!?!? Lots of cool gems in this one. I think if they went full-on comedy through the entirety match it could have been half-way decent. But this match started off as comedy sucked and so maybe there was nothing that could save this. The fans do love the Bushwhackers and doing their weird march. Everyone including the ref (who is Danny Davis!) gets their ass bitten. Jacques comes in and thinks he is smart for avoiding some stuff. The Rougeaus take over and it starts off pretty well as the Rougeaus seem pretty energetic as they showboat and beat on Luke. They drop Luke on the top rope throat-first, which seems like a decent bump. Instead of following it up with a pinfall attempt, Raymond puts him in a chinlock?!?!? Stupid. This is when the Rougeaus mail in and the usual boring Rougeaus come in. Chinlocks and abdominal stretches. Jacques eats knees on a splash. Jacques does the most ridiculous oversell over a Butch "punch" to the midsection. Jimmy Hart is in the ring and the Whackers are finally going to give the Mouth of the South what he deserves. Rougeaus dropkick the Buchwhackers into each other. Raymond puts him a Boston Crab and when Jacques gets tripped by the ropes. The Bushwhackers hit the battering ram for the win.
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This is a rather ignominious end for a tag team, but the Rougeaus were hardly a spectacular tag team and I did not feel a great sense of loss when they dissolved. There are more Rougeaus/Rockers matches out there that over time I will watch, but other that I do not feel like there are many missing matches or dream matches that could have been.
Since this half-way point in this series, I thought I would I rank the tag teams so far and then rank all the matches I deemed "Choice Cuts"
Best Tag Matches of WWF (1985-1991) so far:
1. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Rockers - London 10/89
2. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 9/87
3. WWF World Tag Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86 2 Out of 3 Falls
4. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 10/87 2 Out of 3 Falls
5. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Rockers - MSG 10/88
6. WWF World Tag Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II
7. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88
8. WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs Strike Force - MSG 11/87
9. Survivor Series '88
10. Rick Martel & Rougeaus vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam '89
11. Islanders vs Demolition - MSG 2/87
12. Survivor Series '87
13. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs British Bulldogs - MSG 7/88
14. Demolition vs Killer Bees - Houston 9/87
Best Tag Teams of 80s WWF so far:
1. The Islanders - Great babyface and heel run that got cut short by Tama leaving. Excellent feud with Strike Force.
2. British Bulldogs - Even though I was down on them for their Hart Foundation work, they had an excellent series with the Dream Team and proved they could still go against Demolition in '88.
3. Demolition - Great matches, but not real money feuds so far as their program with Strike Force was disappointing. Still great matches with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Bulldogs cant be denied.
4. Hart Foundation - Bret Hart is a great ring general, but he is much better at playing the subtle heel than the out and out heel. I like Bret a lot and he showed a lot of promise, but he did not always deliver.
5. Rougeaus - Rockers match saves them from the last spot.
6. Killer Bees - Inoffensive, but not much going on.
The tentative schedule going forward is Strike Force, Brainbusters, Dream Team, Hart Foundation (88-91), Demolition (89-90) and The Rockers.
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Hart Foundation & Hacksaw Duggan vs Fabulous Rougeaus & Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart & Frenchy Martin - 2 out of 3 Falls Royal; Rumble '89
I cant believe they gave Bravo, a world's strongest man gimmick because he is just not that large. His battle of bulls with Neidhart ends up with the Anvil winning with a clothesline. Duggan comes in and dwarfs Bravo. Bret comes in and gets a series of nearfalls the idea is to win that all-important first fall quickly. Bravo pulls down the ropes and Bret crashes and burns to the outside. Bravo gets a side slam and excitedly tags Rougeaus. Raymond hoists Bret up onto his shoulders and Jacques leaps from the top rope and does a seated senton to Bret. It was pretty impressive. The French Canadians go up one fall to none.
Rougeaus press their advantage against Bret. Unfortunately, Raymond does a gutwrench suplex to Bret. Dino has one of the best gutwrench suplexes so it seems like a waste to have Raymond do it. Dino in with a reverse atomic drop. Now the Rougeaus do a double team gutbuster. Dino grabs a bearhug on Bret and the chant of U-S-A! fills The Summit in Houston and Jesse is all over this one as the Quebecois has the Albertan in a bearhug. Bravo lowers Bret's shoulders on the mat, but only for a 2. Jacques now applies a camel clutch. Now the Boston Crab, which results in a false tag. They now go into the abdominal stretch and Raymond kicks Bret while he is in prone. Jacques gets cocky during a monkey flip attempt and Bret hits a reverse atomic drop. Duggan in to a big pop with some Sid-esque punches. He slingshots Anvil and then Bret onto hapless Raymond before winning the fall himself with an elbow. It is all knotted up. Bret is still selling on the outside.
Duggan wanders over into the heel corner and gets triple teamed. Gorilla tries to cover and says that what happens when you are not used to tag wrestling. Jesse makes me laugh when he says "No. Thats what happens you're Jim Duggan." Lots of triple team choking and stomping. Jacques does hit a really nice dropkick. Bravo hits a reverse atomic drop, but that sends Duggan over to tag Bret. Bret hits his own reverse atomic drop. If you like the reverse atomic drop this is your match! Bret pounds away on Bravo and gets a backbreaker. His second rope elbow is broken up. Bret goes for his reverse sunset flip, but Bravo hooks the ropes and Duggans whacks him with 2x4 for the win.
This was the best Rougeaus match outside of the Rockers match that I really liked. I have become a fan of Dino Bravo; he is not a great lost worker, but he tries really hard and he is fun to watch. The Rougeaus have been really underwhelming thus far with some really lame match. This was a fun, popcorn match and was much better than I expected.
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Rick Martel & Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart & Slick vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam 89
It is Quebec's All-Star has been assembled to crush Tito Santana and his allies, The Rockers. If you add Dino Bravo, you would have a pretty badass Survivor Series Team. Also, they should have stuck Martel with Hart. He had all the other Quebecois at this point and he has the bitchin as all hell Quebec jacket. The story is cntered Ricky and Tito after the fallout from Wrestlemania V. From my understanding, they were running an angle around the horn where Martel would attack Tito from behind during his entrance. The referee would rule that the bout would have to take place later. Then Martel would usually win a short match (under minutes) by some sort of nefarious tactic. I was pretty disappointed to discover this because I was excited for a bevy of 10+ minute Tito vs Martel matches. At Summerslam '89, STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES~!
The babyfaces start off hot with some double teaming. The Rockers slingshot Tito who does a cross body on Raymond and Martel. The Meadowlands is rocking for this match. The first bit of Martel we see if him high stepping while punching Marty. The announcers inform me he does a cartwheel, but the camera work is a bit shoddy. Gone are all the cool spots, in their place is a cocky heel with a great right. Tito gets the tag and Martel fucking dives out of the ring to tag Raymond. Tito gets distracted by Jacques allowing for Raymond to hit a high knee from behind.This is one of better Tito face in perils I have seen as everyone worked really well here. Ricky Martel helps do a double hotshot onto Tito and now he comes in. Tony is indignant about the abject cowardice of Martel while Jesse defends him. This is actually some pretty good stuff between the two. Tony blows every WWF announcer out of the water at this point as he sound genuinely excited about the product and makes you believe in all of Tito's hope spots. Jacques lets out a big "Woo-hoo" after a sweet dropkick. When Tito starts to mount a comeback on Martel, Jacques runs over and pulls his hair so that Martel can reestablish his advantage. "SUNSET FLIP!" by Tito and the crowd loves Tito. Raymond applies a Boston Crab and Jacques with a big knee drop on Tito as the crowd gasps, but it only gets two. . The crowd chants for Tito during the abdominal stretch. Desperation cross body by Tito for 2 on Jacques. Jacques accidentally hits a high-knee on Raymond while Tito got out of the way. Shawn is in and cleans house on all three men. Katie bar the door because a pier-six brawl has erupted. TITO BLASTS MARTEL WITH A FLYING BURRITO!!! In the confusion, Martel clobbers Marty on a rollup-attempt to win the match.
It is clear that Vince had big plans for Martel as he is letting him pick up wins in the Tito feud albeit protecting Tito with the surrounding angle and Martel picked up the win here. This is a really fun popcorn match where the Nordiques play excellent dastardly heels who use every trick in the book to keep Tito down. Martel is reveling in besting his former partner Tito. However, one of these nefarious tricks backfires on the Nordiques allowing for the Rockers to come to aid of their friend. Tito getting to hit Martel with his finish was supposed to be the feel-good climax, but future booking plans necessitated that Martel be kept strong while Tito was beginning his descent down the card. Martel is a fun heel with all his antics, but do miss his big spots. This is one helluva performance from Tito and the Rougeaus really hit their stride in 1989 after some awful years. It is too bad tag wrestling was pretty much dead in the water in a scant few months. This is a fun match that people should check out if they never had.
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| MAGIC~! |
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The Rockers vs Rougeaus - 10/89 London, England
This is pro wrestling. I know pro wrestling can be a lot of things, but this really captures the fun, light-hearted aspect of wrestling that develops into a dramatic story: an Shawn Michaels make the tag. It is such a simple hook. I often feel compelled to dig deeper to prove that it is more impressive match. In this match, it is beauty is how shallow it is. It is two pricks trying to show up the good guys. The good guys goofing on the bad guys and having fun at their expense. The crowd is laughing along right with them. This level of entertainment and fun is what is missing from most WWF face control segments. Until the pricks can grab a handful of hair, then it becomes a dramatic effort from Michaels to get the hot tag to escape an incredible onslaught from the dastardly, underhanded bad guys. The amount of offense Michaels takes and his selling is the drama that most their WWF heat segments are missing. The go home stretch calls back to the opening with the good guys using the bad guys own dirty tactics against them to pick up the victory.
Who are these guys and what did they do with the Rougeaus? The Rougeaus have been the most underwhelming tag team that I have seen in my viewing. Their heat segments tend to be borefests and Raymond seems devoid of any charisma. In this match, the Rougeaus look like the best WWF heel tag team ever in this one match. They stooge and bitch out like the Busters and they have the offense of the Midnight Express in this match. I understand the beginning can be tedious for some, but I like bullshit. You will see that Marty does want to lock up twice, but each time Jacques calls him a chicken and goads him into doing the relatively easy feat of athleticism. I am a sucker for heels that congratulate themselves over simple feats. However, now the Rockers get the idea how they can really show up the Rougeaus with Shawn's moonsault and shaking the ropes for Jacques. How much Jacques throws his head being rammed into the top turnbuckle is awesome. I laughed again (only thing I laugh at each time).
I love how Jacques scurries away into the protective embrace of Raymond. The MX used Cornette to bitch out for them, but here the Rougeaus do it themselves. The leg work is incredible and the best Rockers control segment with all the switches without tags. Jacques, the ref and crowd just make this segment so great and another stretch where I can not stop smiling. Then while Jacques is arguing, Raymond will actually get to the corner, but he wont be there. I just love that stuff. Hell, even Raymond is great for all his work within this hold and constantly keeping it moving. Eventually, Jacques grabs Shawn's hair and Raymond rams a pretty nice knee into Shawn's back transforming this match from light-hearted to a dramatic affair. Already, you can tell Rougeaus are game for what I consider the best heat segment in WWF 80s tag wrestling. Shawn takes his Flair Flip bump into the turnbuckle and bumps huge off a double chop. The stars are just aligned in this match as Shawn is having his best FIP and the Rougeaus are just fucking on. Raymond's savate kick sends Shawn tumbling over the top rope and they start working on Shawn's back. They do the Boston Crab/knee combo and then Raymond throws Shawn onto Jacques' knee. Seriously, where the hell have these Rougeaus been. "We are really seeing the Rougeaus at their absolute best." - Tony. Tony always knows what's up. Jacques does a fake clap for a tag and the crowd boos the shit out of him. I love this crowd! Raymond busts out the rolling short arm scissors into a pin combination and Shawn reverses. I love this match!
Jacques knees Raymond by accident and lets out a nice, hearty "Fuck!". Here comes Marty doing his best Rick Martel. Hands above his head, so energized just hitting anything in blue and yellow including the Mouth of the South. Raymond trips him from the outside allowing Jacques to get a piledriver. Now the Rougeaus go for the coup d'grace the Megaphone, but Shawn is able to get it and hit Jacques for Marty to get the pin. Once again, the Rockers give the Rougeaus a taste of their own medicine.
I love the MX/RNR Wrestlewar '90 match and I really don't think this is far off of it. I think this is probably the match I select as the best WWF tag match of the Hulkamania Era (84-91) when all is said and done. It has the best control and heat segments with an actual, logical finish with a really good transition that bridges light-hearted with dramatic. The criticism I know is that there is a lot of bs in the beginning, but I enjoyed it and it played into the control segment well with the Rockers still fucking around with the Rougeaus and it sort of fuels the Rougeaus fire to really kick their ass even though they were the ones that instigated it. Shawn is really off the charts selling and bumping for the Rougeaus.
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The Fabulous Rougeaus w/Jimmy Hart vs The Bushwhackers - Royal Rumble 1990
I have never seen a Bushwhackers match (I have seen the Sheepherders) and you cant go through life without seeing the Bushwhackers, right? Also, Jacques has a beard!?!?!? Lots of cool gems in this one. I think if they went full-on comedy through the entirety match it could have been half-way decent. But this match started off as comedy sucked and so maybe there was nothing that could save this. The fans do love the Bushwhackers and doing their weird march. Everyone including the ref (who is Danny Davis!) gets their ass bitten. Jacques comes in and thinks he is smart for avoiding some stuff. The Rougeaus take over and it starts off pretty well as the Rougeaus seem pretty energetic as they showboat and beat on Luke. They drop Luke on the top rope throat-first, which seems like a decent bump. Instead of following it up with a pinfall attempt, Raymond puts him in a chinlock?!?!? Stupid. This is when the Rougeaus mail in and the usual boring Rougeaus come in. Chinlocks and abdominal stretches. Jacques eats knees on a splash. Jacques does the most ridiculous oversell over a Butch "punch" to the midsection. Jimmy Hart is in the ring and the Whackers are finally going to give the Mouth of the South what he deserves. Rougeaus dropkick the Buchwhackers into each other. Raymond puts him a Boston Crab and when Jacques gets tripped by the ropes. The Bushwhackers hit the battering ram for the win.
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This is a rather ignominious end for a tag team, but the Rougeaus were hardly a spectacular tag team and I did not feel a great sense of loss when they dissolved. There are more Rougeaus/Rockers matches out there that over time I will watch, but other that I do not feel like there are many missing matches or dream matches that could have been.
Since this half-way point in this series, I thought I would I rank the tag teams so far and then rank all the matches I deemed "Choice Cuts"
Best Tag Matches of WWF (1985-1991) so far:
1. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Rockers - London 10/89
2. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 9/87
3. WWF World Tag Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86 2 Out of 3 Falls
4. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 10/87 2 Out of 3 Falls
5. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Rockers - MSG 10/88
6. WWF World Tag Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II
7. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88
8. WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs Strike Force - MSG 11/87
9. Survivor Series '88
10. Rick Martel & Rougeaus vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam '89
11. Islanders vs Demolition - MSG 2/87
12. Survivor Series '87
13. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs British Bulldogs - MSG 7/88
14. Demolition vs Killer Bees - Houston 9/87
Best Tag Teams of 80s WWF so far:
1. The Islanders - Great babyface and heel run that got cut short by Tama leaving. Excellent feud with Strike Force.
2. British Bulldogs - Even though I was down on them for their Hart Foundation work, they had an excellent series with the Dream Team and proved they could still go against Demolition in '88.
3. Demolition - Great matches, but not real money feuds so far as their program with Strike Force was disappointing. Still great matches with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Bulldogs cant be denied.
4. Hart Foundation - Bret Hart is a great ring general, but he is much better at playing the subtle heel than the out and out heel. I like Bret a lot and he showed a lot of promise, but he did not always deliver.
5. Rougeaus - Rockers match saves them from the last spot.
6. Killer Bees - Inoffensive, but not much going on.
The tentative schedule going forward is Strike Force, Brainbusters, Dream Team, Hart Foundation (88-91), Demolition (89-90) and The Rockers.
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