At Budokan: Four Corners of Heaven, The Lariat & Miracle Violence 04/18/91

I am headed off to the Grand Canyon this weekend and combined with copious WCW watching and Halloween festvities this previous weekend (I was jobbed out of winning the Phoenix Landing Best Dressed Contest by the Spice Girls. There clearly should have been a male and female division. I did win last year and sure as hell plan on winning next year. As Meatloaf says two outta three ain't bad ) I don't think I get out the Demolition column, but wanted to make sure I still had some content for this week, but I was not quite done yet with any particular WCW wrestler. Then I remembered I had recently watched the second half of All Japan's 4/18/91 Budokan card because many of the faithful of ProWrestlingOnly Yearbook series have touted this as one of the best nights in wrestling history. As a huge fan of All Japan Pro Wrestling. I was not disappointed by four distinct, entertaining matches. All Japan in the 90s, for all its esteem among wrestling fans, is not the deepest promotion. It both deserves praise for being able to basically run entire promotion around six wrestlers from 1993-1996 (Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Taue, Hansen, Dr. Death) and criticism for being myopic and not building a mid-card infrastructure.

NOT FAIR TO SLEEZE~!

The 04/18/91 Budokan card is the diametric opposite of the prototypical All Japan card of the 90s. It harkens back to the days of 80s All Japan where there was greater depth and diversity on the cards. On this card, you had a nice mid-card exhibition spotfest, a blood feud grudge match with blood in it, a heavy-hitting tag team brawl with a batshit insane finish and more blood, and a high-end title match. It is incredibly hard to pick a match of the night. Nothing attained GOAT contender match status, but three of the four matches are really high-end matches that bolster the resumes of all involved.

I would rank the Misawa/Jumbo match third on the night. I thought the beginning was a bit tepid even though Misawa did bring the offense at the outset. He could have done more to press the advantage. When you read the review, you will see that I say if we can JIP to the match I actually think it would have enjoyed it more as it did have especially hot finish stretch.

The Kawada/Taue grudge match comes in second. Partly because the 01/15/91 match, which I have included is just that much better so that it comes as the lesser of the two. That is not knock on it, but rather how good the 01/15/91 match is. Taue is just suffocating in that match and Kawada is fucking just throwing kicks to get this giant off of him. In the 4/18/91 match has Kawada working on top and struggling to hit the big bomb to put Taue away, but I preferred the 01/15/91 match.

I feel like a bit of hypocrite for putting a JIP match on top when I just made the arguement that the reason Misawa/Jumbo isn't higher is because I didn't like as a complete match just the home stretch. I will say in my defense that while home stretch is one of the most dramatic stretch runs ever, in addition the face in peril on Stan Hansen was bitchin' as all hell. Yes, Stan Hansen playing Ricky Morton was not just good, he was actually a great FIP. There is nothing Stan Hansen can't do. The finish run starting with the ref missing the tag to Stan finally annihilating Doc with the Lariat is some of the most engrossing in-ring storytelling and became an instant favorite. With every match I watch, Stan Hansen gets closer and closer to overcoming Ric Flair as the greatest wrestler of all time in my opinion.

God's Gift to Pro Wrestling Fans

BONUS MATCH: Akira Taue vs Toshiaki Kawda - 01/15/91

WAR! Taue immediately bullrushes Kawada knocks him off the apron hard onto the railing. That spot sets the tone for the rest of match: Total War. I loved how relentless Taue was in this match forcing Kawada to work the entire match from underneath and put on one of his gritty, scrappy performances to best the larger, ferocious Taue. Also, the fact the crowd was right top of the action added to that claustrophobic feel. Taue was suffocating Kawada as he right on top of him never letting up on offense. Kawada in desperation was able to grab his leg at one point and ram his head into the railing busting him open. However, Taue catches one of Kawada's kick and in one fluid motion whips that leg into the guardrail. Taue zeroes on that knee with fierce tenacity: wicked kneecrusher onto table, wrapping it around the post, chairshots to it. I love that Taue sort of realizes in a leg lace or a toehold Kawada is able to kick him in the head really hard so he tries the figure-4, which will tie up that free leg. One of my favorite moments, is when the camera zooms in on Taue trying to pick up Kawada and all of sudden you just see a flash of yellow connect with Taue's heads. Kawada is just fucking tremendous from underneath with all these kicks. I love how they work in Taue's size as he is able to reverse a press slam off the top and a powerbomb by just landing on top of Kawada. I actually bit on the powerbomb reversal finish as Taue really crashes down on top of him. If Kawada has kicks, Misawa elbows and Kobashi chops, then Taue should have kept the headbutts as they look way better than any of his punches or forearms. Kawada's out of nowhere Axe Bomber for the finish was the perfect end to this war. Taue unleashed his entire arsenal and Kawada had to hit that sudden bomb to secure the victory. I will echo all the other comments; All Japan could have added a lot of variety by sprinkling some short 10-15 minute brawls with the 30+ epics. Kawada and Taue brought the hate in this match and this is one of the all-time best blood feud brawls.
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Move over Great Muta, the true Pearl of the Orient

Kenta Kobashi vs Dan Kroffat - Budokan 04/18/91

Wow, I was surprisingly underwhelmed by this match. However, this was one of the best two-person male gymnastics routines even a Canadian judge would have a hard time disagreeing. This was way too cooperative for my tastes. From the beginning the fluid headlock to headscissors ending in a stalemate seemed more at home in the American Indies circa 2007. The strikes were surprisingly weak and the whole match felt heatless. The cartwheel escape into a clothesline sequence by Kroffat would be perfect for ROH. The transitions were perfunctory and the spots aimless. It was weird that punches were used so liberally in a AJPW match. In this match, Kroffat does not bother to sell and at least Kobashi at least displays anguish on his face after Kroffat's moves. Kroffat was a gymnastic robot. An example of the hyper-back and forth was Kroffat hits a huge dive and Kobashi immediately counters into a rolling cradle; Kroffat rolling senton->eats knees on splash->Back drop driver. There was just no sense of struggle. The one interesting takeaway was why didn't Kobashi keep the double-arm DDT in his arsenal. It was the only thing that looked wicked and it is a relatively safe head-drop. This is a great exhibition of wrestling spots, but it misses all the glue that makes wrestling good.
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Holy Demon Army Explodes

Akira Taue vs Toshiaki Kawada - Budokan 04/18/91

Kawada and Taue are hungry for top billing and they demonstrate that in spades in this encounter. It may be the two second bananas going at it, but they know a victory over the other could secure future matches against the opposing team captains or the Triple Crown. The match encapsulates that tension with wrestlers working hard to secure the victory and throwing caution to wind. They were both willing to take shortcuts and throw big bombs even if meant they risked losing it all. This match and the last both surprised me in how they were worked. This one was a throwback to the 80s. You had the intense matwork, blood, ref bumps and a countout finish and I loved it. The opening matwork is some of the best you will see in 90s All Japan and seemed sensible for the smaller Kawada to keep Taue contained with gnarly submissions. We see once Taue gets free how much of a power advantage he has over Kawada. Kawada is not above taking any measure necessary as he scrapes his boot across the forehead to disengage from Taue's figure-four on the arm in the process cutting Taue open. Now Taue is hot and he proceeds to sumo slap Kawada until they fall out of the ring ending with Taue executing a kneecrusher on the guardrail. I always loved that All Japan spot. Taue's leg work is pretty spot-on and Kawada keeps the struggle alive. They roll out of the ring Taue hits a powerbomb, but waits too long to capitalize allowing Kawada to hot a jumping kick. In a display of superb storytelling, he tenaciously goes after the arm. However, in order to get more leverage on the taller Taue, he is shoved off the ring ropes by Taue. They hit the home stretch each getting nearfalls, Kawada hits his spinkick knocking Taue into the ref. Kawada is able to hit his powerbomb, but the groggy ref is a bit late and he only gets two. They end up on the floor with Kawada looking to put the nail in the coffin with a powerbomb on the floor, but Taue hits the Nodowa on the floor for the countout victory.

I loved how scrappy Kawada was in all of this. He was just going from broke and throwing everything he had at the bigger Taue. Taue, for his part, was no slouch and was definitely timing his spots well and looked really invested in the match. The transitions were pretty top notch and the dueling arm/leg work was pretty great. It was a showcase for how effective a simpler style AJPW match could be. It also one of the better usages of the countout finishes. Kawada high-risk offense finally bit him in the ass and it got over Taue's finish as a devastating move.
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Miracle Violence Connection

All Japan World Tag Team Champions "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy 

vs. Stan "The Lariat" Hansen & Danny Spivey - Budokan 4/18/91

Holy shit! Doc absolutely levels that fan in the intros? I don't think he pulled that punch.

The Japanese fans sure as hell love them some Stan Hansen. I mean how can you not. What can't he do? Well, if you thought he couldn't play Ricky Morton, guess again. Even, with all the respected posters above me telling me he could. I thought it was still an incredulous statement that you have to see. Blessed are those who believe without seeing, but doubly blessed are those who have seen because you can revel in the glory that is Stan Hansen. Gordy & Doc were just pricks in this match constantly interfering and that is how we see Hansen get busted open right from the get-go. Whta I love about Hansen's FIP performance is how he is slowly sapped of energy. In the beginning, he is struggling more fiercely and then by the time Gordy is biting his cut you see he has all but withered away until a last second reverse elbow. It was really high-end work. Doc & Gordy were tenacious on that cut never deviating from it. While Spivey is hitting all his big spots, Hansen is still selling on the apron. Then we get the second round of Hansen's great performance where the ref misses the tag due to trying to escort Gordy from the ring and Doc clocks him. The home stretch is so dramatic as Doc is trying to finish off Spivey with everything he has and Gordy keeps running interference on the Human Heat Seeking Missile known as Stan Hansen. The Japanese fans are actively booing Doc & Gordy and they pop progressively bigger for ever Hansen break-up. I LOVED Gordy's tackles to the outside and the wide shot so we could see how much mayhem was going on. They built to a fantastic finish that all paid off with the second ref deeming Hansen legal and Hansen taking Doc's head off with a LARIATOOOOOO~!

Hansen played two different roles to perfection in this match as Ricky Morton in the beginning and a wild man running rampant who finally gets his revenge from the first half with a monster lariat. Gordy & Doc keep it off the mat and are excellent pricks with their interference, working the cut, Gordy tackling Hansen at every turn and Doc trying to polish off Spivey. My favorite part may have been all the Japanese fans doing "Hook 'Em Horns" with Stan Hansen. When Americans get that over in Japan it is just cool. Nothing beats 4 big, bad Americans kicking ass and getting over in Japan.
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80s vs 90s

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 4/18/91

Does anybody else have trouble watching Misawa take Back Drop Drivers?

The home stretch epitomizes All Japan and how incredible Misawa and Jumbo are as workers. This is the type of match where if you came in JIP to the slapfest in the middle, you may come away thinking there was a five star match here. There is one element of the beginning that I did like. I liked how Misawa took it to Jumbo immediately and hit his big diving elbow. It is a title match and Misawa is going in with the challenger’s mentality that he has to take the match to Jumbo. However, the match goes into a whole another gear once the slapfest breaks out and Jumbo annihilates Misawa with the high knee. As soon as the crowd is finished doing the Jumbo cheer, they break into a “Mi-Sa-Wa” chant. The heat segment was ok, it is nothing that will set your world on fire with Jumbo working the knee after a kneecrusher on the table. Once Misawa dodges Jumbo on a criss-cross and hits his lariat, the match really picks up into a great sequence for the Triple Crown. Misawa is not quite where he would be in a couple years, but this extended comeback is portent of the amazing things to come. The highlight spots that stuck out in my mind were the reversal of the back drop driver, but Misawa’s faces eats the ropes, just nasty. Misawa’s diving elbow (I kept thinking this was in the Champion’s Carnival so I bit on that finish). The hotshot by Jumbo followed by the Misawa German was friggin crazy and it was so cool to see a Japanese audience lose their shit over it.

What I love about this finish by actually watching matches backwards is how in some ways Misawa feels like Kawada. He pours it on attempting to get the pin after each bomb. He goes for the big bomb, Tiger Driver, only to be reversed and eat three back drop drivers. You would see that in Kawada/Misawa matches with Kawada running out of gas and Misawa hitting the repeated moves to get victory. It enhances those matches because now you know Misawa knows how Kawada feels. He was there. He lived it. He developed his killer instinct wrestling these matches with Jumbo where he learned when you get the chance you pounce and you do not let up. If that means three Tiger Suplexes so be it, I friggin’ earned this and I am not letting go. This was another in a slew of star-making performances for Misawa where you could feel he was getting closer both in kayfabe sense and in a real sense. The match was becoming more built around him and what would become predominant All Japan style. He had so much more confidence to lead in this match. In a kayfabe sense, he took it to Jumbo early and his comeback was filled with a lot of nearfalls that you got the impression that Jumbo was desperate (hotshot), but pulled it out in the end. I am slighting Jumbo by not talking about him more because he was great in this match timing all his offense well and selling the Misawa elbow like a million bucks. The Misawa elbow only works if he, the Ace, sells it and he made that move.

I think the top three matches are all hovering around four stars for me and I will give it sometime before I make argument for ranking them, but hot damn that was one helluva night if you were attendance. Judging by the crowd reactions, they knew they were getting the best and they were hot as hell for it.
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All in all, the 04/18/91 Budokan show illustrated how deep All Japan was at this point. Even though they were not reaching the highs they would later deliver, this was a consistently great night with a diverse card.

Hopefully, I will get up a Demolition: Walking Disaster Blog that chronicles their babyface run in 1989 and their demise in 1990.

The Hammer Swings Down :The Best of Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine)

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was the take no-nonsense, ornery, stodgy, tough as nails antithesis of the flashy, gimmick-heavy 80s WWF. It was a promotion was felt the need to make Ricky Steamboat in a kung-fu ninja expert or One Man Gang into Akeem. Everyone had to have a gimmick, even if they were just playing up their ethnicity like Tito Santana or British Bulldogs. The Hammer stood in stark contrast to this newfound, colorful regime. He was a throwback to the territory days where tough men ruled the ring with stiff punches and a scowl. Hell, the only time he did not have a scowl on his face was when he was begging off for babyfaces.

Valentine had actually been first brought in the WWF as an adversary for the Bob Backlund during his run in 1979 and then again in 1981. You can find out more about these runs by listening to the Titans of Wrestling at Place To Be Nation (King of the Shameless Plugs). I have only seen the 1979 draw at MSG, but it is among my favorite one hour draws and a real testament to both men's work ethnic. During these intermittent runs, he worked primarily in Mid-Atlantic where he is especially known for his violent and bloody Dog Collar match with Roddy Piper at the inaugural Starrcade. Until seeing his work against Buddy Rose, this was my undisputed number one Roddy Piper match. Valentine would return to WWF in 1984 working an excellent, excellent match with Backlund at MSG, working with Hogan and then what many have called the greatest WWF Feud of the 80s: Valentine vs Santana over the IC Title. However, this blog begins with the birth of the Dream Team and charts Valentine's work in the late 80s. The Valentine vs Santana feud deserves its own blog.

Up there with Hulk Who & Owen 3:16 as the greatest Wrestling Shirts Ever

When he joined up with Brutus Beefcake to form the Dream Team, it is a perfect example of how well booked the WWF was in the 1980s. They where able to shift the a super hot heel away from the I-C Title and move him into the Tag Division where he can help get over new babyface tag teams and Brutus Beefcake. Valentine is such an effective worker in making his opponent earn his keep and forcing them to wrestle outside their comfort zone that by placing him in a tag team you are essentially tripling his effectiveness because now you have two opponents and Brutus Beefcake get over. Beefcake came out of the Dream Team break up as the No. 3 or No.4 babyface from 1988-90. That's a great run and a lot of it is how well Valentine taught him and put him over (Being Hulk Hogan's best friend does not hurt either). The British Bulldogs would run roughshod over most teams just throwing out offense aimlessly were coerced by Valentine's  hard-hitting style to wrestle more complete matches. Valentine reigned in the Bulldogs way better than Bret ever did. 

Unfortunately after the Dream Team break-up feud, Valentine wallowed in the mid-card mire without much direction. His team with Dino Bravo was broken up prematurely in my estimation and I think their team could have really been a boon to tag division especially in the lean heel years. What is interesting is that when Vince truly does run out of tag teams, who does he call upon, but Valentine to form Rhythm N Blues with Honky Tonk Man to give the Hart Foundation adversaries. In 1988, you almost get the sense he has a renewed singles push, but he is often placed with babyfaces that have no real upward mobility:over-the-hill Don Muraco, George Steele and Ronnie Garvin. Even though he was meandering, he was still having kick-ass classics with Tito Santana, the Blue Blazer and Ronnie Garvin. It is hard for me to assess what value Vince saw in Greg Valentine. I see a sturdy workhorse heel that can get heat with Jimmy Hart and be trusted to have great matches up and down the roster. Utility players in all walks of life are invaluable and often under-appreciated. Given some of Valentine's post -Dream Team booking, you get the sense he is being under-appreciated and that there were a lot of places he could have been used more effectively. Occasionally, he will be tapped for a big project like Rhythm N Blues or actually given the gimmick of the HeartBreaker that took a year and a half to pay off, but it all feels very stagnant just spinning his wheels. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Garvin matches, but it felt as if was taking place in vacuum neither guy was going anywhere. I just feel Valentine still had a lot more to offer given how good those matches were..

In this era of Rock N Wrestling, Valentine stood out by being a rough and tumble, meat and potatoes wrestlers. He was going to hit you hard, work a body part and sell & bump like a million bucks for the babyfaces. Basically, his gimmick was he was a NWA heel wrestling in the WWF. As watched more and more of the Hammer, he vaulted to top of my list of people I wish had gotten a World Title run. I don't think he could have ever been the WWF World Champion, but I believe he would have been a strong NWA or AWA World Champion. Inside the ring, there a lot of similarities to Flair in terms of spots: hard, stiff blows, Flop vs TIMBAHHH, figure-4, begging off and generally making faces look good. Valentine did it in a different way than Flair. He worked on top and worked at a slower pace. He made the babyface earn it making them look good by having them fight from underneath. I never felt that Valentine ever guzzled a babyface in a match. I always felt he divvied up the match according to the story he wanted to tell to maximize the effectiveness of the match. He reigned in the Bulldogs, made Beefcake look good (no small feat), had brawls with Tito Santana & Ronnie Garvin that felt like they should have been at the Greensboro Coliseum, worked great veteran vs speedy upstart matches against the Blue Blazer and the Rockers. In my mind, he is a mortal lock for the WWF's Top 5 Workers of the 80s (Savage, Backlund and Santana are my other locks). I believe he is underappreciated due to his lack of flash in an era when children were bewildered by these larger than life figure. It is precisely his bruising, ornery disposition that makes him stand out in the WWF because he was unique in this style forcing WWF wrestlers into interesting predicaments and making them all better for it. 

The Choice Cuts from Greg Valentine's post-IC Title Run (1985-1990)

The Dream Team vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/85

WWF World Tag Team Champions US Express vs Dream Team - MSG 9/85
WWF World Tag Team Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II

WWF World Tag Team Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86
Survivor Series '87
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88

Greg "The Hammer"  Valentine vs Blue Blazer - Boston 4/89
The New Dream Team vs The Rockers - 6/89
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - MLG 10/89

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble '90

Just Missed the Cut
Dream Team vs The Islanders - MSG 12/86

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake - MSG 7/87

The Dream Team!

The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/85

This match sure lived up to the hype and may be the best Beefcake performance I have ever seen. This match was all about tempo. Santana was in his red-hot feud with Valentine who had broken his leg and taken his title. The crowd was molten for that angle. The babyfaces worked their entire end in an up-tempo, fired -up fashion. The Dream Team knowing they could not match this attempted every trick in the book to break their momentum and work a real grinding style. This led to a really good match.

Early on Steamboat and Santana have a hot shine sequence with Beefcake and Valentine just bumping all over the place for them. I have been down on WWF Steamboat, but he was pumped for this match just flying around the ring. You know that Tito is going to bring the hate with his fists balled up. Beefcake and Valentine do their best to stall and break this momentum, but at first there seems like no end to this onslaught. Until, Tito goes for the figure-4 on Valentine, who grabs his trunks and hits a knee in the midsection. Once he hits a shoulderbreaker he consolidates the advantage for the Dream Team and grinds the match to a halt. They work on Santana with some double teams and Valentine slaps on an arm bar. Tito is almost able to make the tag, but Valentine knocks Steamboat off the apron and then Beefcake comes around and beats on Steamboat. The crowd was just eating this all up. The Beefer gets cocky and goads Steamboat. Tito is able to crawl past Beefcake and get the hot tag to Steamboat. IT IS BREAKING LOOSE IN TORONTO! Steamboat with his best hot tag I have seen. He unloads on both the Hammer and the Beefer with karate shots. The crowd was losing their shit for this. Steamboat grabs the sleeper hold, but Beefcake with an eye-rake. Valentine and Steamboat have a good exchange until an eye-rake does Steamboat in and Valentine consolidates with a gut buster. I preferred the Steamboat FIP is a better at selling and the Dream Team really unloaded with double teams and offense. Valentine starts to warm him up for the figure-4, but Steamboat knows his way around the figure-4 and grabs an inside cradle. Steamboat fights out of the corner and is able to Tito. ARRIBA! Double noggin knocker. Tito drops Valentine with a right. Flying Burrito to a huge pop! Beefcake saves. Melee ensues. They are double teaming Tito and Steamboat flies off the top onto Beefcake. Tito blocks Valentine's atomic drop and applies the figure-4 for the submission victory. ARRIBA! Wooooooooooooo, I am out of breathe after that one.

This is babyface wrestling 101, folks. Steamboat and Santana gave maximum effort and I bet it is real easy when you have a crowd as hot as this one at the Maple Leaf Gardens. The Dream Team wrestled a smart match to ensure constant heat throughout the match as they built not one, but two really hot tags. In some of those double FIP AWA tags, the first hot tag is not all that hot, but in this match that Steamboat hot tag is just as red-hot as the following Santana one. Beefcake actually wrestled pretty well here and was not as awkward as usual. The Hammer is going to clog the lane every time and make sure that babyface earns every shot. This up there with the Bulldogs match as one of the best WWF Tags of the 80s.
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WWF Tag Champs US Express vs The Dream Team - Philly 9/85

I am glad I went back and watched these two Dream Team matches because they could contend with the Islanders as my favorite heel tag team in 80s WWF. I will say one of the disappointments of Valentine sticking in one promotion for so long is that we did not get stuff like Valentine vs Windham one on one at length. Also, what I do not understand is why Beefcake seemed to suck so hard in '86. I mean Valentine barely let Beefcake wrestle in Wrestlemania II. He wrestled pretty decently in these two matches. He is still only the fourth best wrestler in these matches, but he is not sucking out loud.

I loved the start to this match as the Dream Team jumps them and a melee ensues. The Windham/Valentine exchange makes me want that singles match so much. The faces send the heels packing. Valentine & Beefcake true to form work smart and try to break their momentum. We get Windham/Valentine proper and the two minutes we get is awesome. Valentine stops the runaway freight train with a knee lift. Beefcake loses this advantage and we go to Heel In Peril with some arm work. I actually think Beefcake sold this pretty well and Rotundo worked pretty well in this segment. The US Express even hits a double dropkick (way better than Rockers one) on Beefer. Beefcake works Rotundo to his corrner and he blind tagged Valentine, who came off the top with a sledge onto Rotundo. Valentine suffocates Rotundo and is relentless on his legs and Rotundo sells pretty well. Rotundo is good at working some strikes in his hope spots in the corner. I dig Dream Team double whip into the corner. We hit the front facelock for a while. I will say the Valentine drop toehold to prevent Rotundo from making the tag is one of the best of those kind. Windham and Valentine get back into it. I just love how chippy this is. Valentine hits his shoulder breaker. I dig the shoulderbreaker I think someone should incorporate it in their moveset, but it is weird for Valentine's moveset. Valentine gets kicked off by Rotundo on his figure-4 into his corner so he can tag Beefer. Rotundo and Beefcake knock heads and The Hammer throws the Beefer on Rotundo and it is a close two! The crowd lets out a collective sigh of relief. But Rotundo escapes and hot tag to BIG BARRY!!! I love how Windham steps through his punches. He hits Valentine with a bulldog, but Valentine KICKS OUT! Now that's a death sentence for a babyface. Windham goes for the second bulldog, but Beefcake puts "Luscious" Johnny V's hair product in Barry's eyes. Valentine hits an elbow to seal the deal. I love how Windham is writhing in pain while he is being pinned, perfect selling.

The other match is definitely the better workrate match and the front facelock stuff does drag, but Windham & Valentine are really excellent. I wish they would some of that beginning melee stuff in other matches it gives matches a more heated feel. I thought this is one of the better title switches I have seen.
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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.
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WWF World Tag Champs Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - SNME 3/1/86

They show a clip of the Bulldogs beating the Dream Team non-title and the finish was sweet for any time period. Davey Boy did his running power slam on Beefcake and then hoisted up Valentine fireman's carry style and then Dynamite jumped on Valentine while he was on Davey Boy and hit his diving headbutt to win. I marked out.

This was an offensive showcase for all the Bulldogs' high tech offense, plain and simple. Matches like these will never be rated among the greatest, but at the same time I never complain about them especially when a team like the Bulldogs is being showcased because they are so good at offense. It never feels like heel in peril because there are literally no holds. It just slam bang spots from the Bulldogs. The only problem is that it is Valentine and Beefcake taking them. I like Valentine a good bit, but this match isn't exactly his forte. He is much better in even, long-ish brutal or scientific matches. These matches pretty show he has his one "TIMBAHHHH" bump and other than that he doesn't do a great job putting over the Bulldogs. It is serviceable, but not great. Beefcake sucks. I forgot how truly shitty he is.

The best parts of the matches were the Hammer's forearm exchanges with each of the Bulldogs. On the first one, Bulldog answered with a dropkick, but in a nice touch he really sold Valentine's offense (maybe he didnt have to wink.gif ). Then second exchange with Dynamite led to the very brief face in peril segment where the Hammer actually hit his second rope elbow. Dynamite pushes him off on the figure-4 attempt; Valentine takes the Flair gorilla press slam bump off the top. Just as the Bulldogs seem like they are closing in on the titles, Dynamite and Valentine collide on a criss-cross and Valentine falls on top.

If I ever wanted to show somebody the Best Hits of the Bulldogs, so to speak this would be the match. I actually think that was a good finish because the story of the match was how much the Bulldogs dominated, but fell short due to unfortunate circumstances. It makes you want to see the Wrestlemania II match. It is an effective and fun match.
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WWF World Tag Champs Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II

Beefcake's total amount of time in this match is literally one minute. Thank God. At one point, Gorilla says Valentine has been in there a while and whilst the Hammer conferring with Luscious Johnny V remarks he can't believe Johnny V wouldn't advise a tag out. All I have to say is Gorilla have you seen Beefcake wrestle? Of course, Beefcake's one big move is actually a nice hammerlock slam that was perfectly fed to him by Davey Boy and perfectly setup by Valentine's arm work, but it doesn't stop Gene and Gorilla from going gaga over the Beefer's one move. Give me Dino Bravo every day over that chump.

This begins as less of an offensive showcase for the Bulldogs. They still get in their assortment of suplexes (Davey Boy- delayed vertical and Dynamite's snap) and Davey Boy does a gorilla press slam, but Valentine is able to get in a few forearms edgewise throughout. I wouldn't go so far to call spot monkeys like the Steiners (who I love, even though I know most people around these parts arent too fond of), but you do get the feeling that don't really give much of a fuck about structure. Case in point, Dynamite forces Valentine to do the TIMBAHHH bump twice, when he could have done a better job to maximize its effectiveness.

Valentine irks me as he randomly just picks up Dynamite at one point and gives him what can be best described as a reverse tombstone piledriver. It just annoys because it felt so much like "Ok now it is my turn" rather him even doing an eye rake to set that up. That does setup Valentine doing his best Flair impersonation, crotching himself and then taking the gorilla press slam. The Bulldogs go for the rocket launcher diving headbutt, but Valentine does some cat and mouse is able to the knee the fuck out of Dynamite (those were pretty vicious). Davey Boy comes in only for his shoulder to eat steel setting up the face in peril segment. Valentine shoulder-breaker and usual hammerlock related offense including Beefcake's sole contribution to the match, I mentioned above. Valentine makes the cardinal mistake of overconfident heels and picks up Davey Boy after the shoulderbreaker.

Davey Boy throws Valentine off who collides with Dynamite head first standing on the turnbuckle. Dynamite takes a wicked bump off-camera and the Bulldogs win the titles. I actually like that finish as a callback to the SNME finish. This match was an outstanding one man effort by Valentine as he was bumping and selling for the Bulldogs better because he made this into more his style match as a brutal strike based match. However, he still let the Bulldogs get their spots in. As evidenced by Beefcake's inability to take Dynamite's hooking clothesline in the last match, he clearly was not the man to do that. I have watched the Funks vs Tito/JYD recently, while that is good. This match is still my pick for the best match at the woeful Wrestlemania II card.
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Greg Valentine vs Davey Boy Smith - 10/20/86 MSG

I was pretty pumped when I found out this match exists, but it never reaches unheralded classic status I hoped it would. If Davey Boy bothered selling, maybe things could have been different, but as the match is it is just a plain 'ol good match between two very good wrestlers. What sets Valentine apart from the rest of WWF at this point is just how stiff he lays in his shots. It really gives his matches a special feel. They trade bearhugs, which is actually a unique way for Davey Boy to show off his power. Valentine really starts to lay into Davey Boy with forearms and then his shoulderbreaker. I am not against the shoulderbreaker, I think it is a move that should be utilized more frequently, but I don't really get why "Master of the Figure 4" Greg Valentine would be using it. Valentine begins working on the leg, but that ends up being no sold as Davey Boy slaps on the Sharpshooter of all things. Had Bret even debuted the Sharpshooter at this point?

So much for that leg work as Davey Boy does a delayed vertical suplex and his powerslam. Valentine does his cat and mouse game trick. Does anyone really believe Valentine could outrun Davey Boy? Davey Boy was struggling to go slow enough to not overtake Valentine, maybe if he sold the leg it wouldn't look so phony. Valentine with some stomps and here comes the figure-4, but Davey Boy gets to the ropes. Davey Boy immediately hits a dropkick. What is selling?

Weird finish as Valentine pretty much out of nowhere double legs Davey Boy and hold onto the ropes to pick up the victory. This match suffered from the 80s WWF hyper-compression issues. Did any WWF match from '84-86 ever go over 25 minutes? The finish didn't make sense because the Bulldogs were about to be programmed with the Harts and the Dream Team shunted down the card. Plus it felt like they just cut the match off prematurely. There is good stuff here and there is no reason to believe that these two could not have delivered an all-time classic, but I just dont think Hulkamania era WWF was the right setting for these two to deliver that.
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WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - 2 Out of Three Falls SNME 10/86

One impressive thing about this series so far has been that these teams have really gone out and had different matches each time. This match saw the Dream Team in control of majority of the match. Hell, Brutus Beefcake looked shockingly competent. Valentine gets a hold of Dynamite's knee early, but Davey Boy comes in and the Dream Team overwhelm him bringing the injured Dynamite back in. I got to give the man some credit, but the Beefer worked Dynamite's knee pretty well, before Valentine was able to wrangle him into a figure 4 and garner the first fall.

They continue to work over Dynamite's leg at the beginning of the second fall. But Valentine goes for the always tempting second-rope elbow and misses allowing for Davey Boy to come in like the proverbial house afire. Bulldog hits his dropkick, delayed vertical suplex and running powerslam on Valentine before re-doing that wicked bitchin finish from the non-title match with Dynamite leaping off Beefcake and doing a headbutt on Valentine for the second fall.

Towards the beginning of the 3rd fall, there is a strike exchange, which makes me wish there was a Dynamite vs Greg Valentine match. Snap suplex by Dynamite, but he misses the standing headbutt. Valentine is back on the leg, but Dynamite pushes him off on the figure-4 attempt and tags out to Davey Boy. Beefcake gets the tag simultaneously and cuts off Davey Boy (I always want to write Bulldog, but have to stop myself). Valentine hits a suplex and Brutus connects with a high knee, but Dynamite saves. Brutus goes in for a high knee in the corner, but Davey Boy side-steps and picks up the win with a fisherman's suplex.

I would say it is close with the Wrestlemania II, but this is the my favorite match that I have seen between these teams. The match runs through the heels more, which is something I prefer. Hell, Beefcake came through in the clutch and proved me wrong in this match. Valentine was his usually violently awesome self. It is not like the Dream Team ate up the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs got in all of their offense and looked both resilient and impressive in their match. I actually think the other matches were too lop-sided in the favor of the Bulldogs that it actually made the Dream Team look like chumps. This match actually made the Bulldogs look more badass for overcoming the Dream Team in a way that just being on offensive never would. Dynamite sold really well throughout the match and Davey Boy is a really good hot tag. I would say this is my pick for best WWF 80s tag match I have seen so far.
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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.
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The Hammer schmoozing with Hollywood Big Wigs!

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I have not fully fleshed this out yet, but hear me out. Valentine is like the Flair of the WWF in the 80s. Valentine and Flair have very similar spots: very stiffing, hard-hitting strikes, Flop vs TIMBAHHH, begging off, figure-4. Flair cuts a bit better pace. Valetine prefers to work on top and Flair is more giving in the ring. I think people who's major hang-up on Flair is that as the champ he got his ass kicked too much, but probably love the Hammer because he does all the Flair stuff, but works on top in the majority of his matches. Since the WWF had Hogan as its ace, they needed their "Flair" to be on top, but rather in the midcard and tag division where he can be put in place to have great matches with a whole host of folks. I thought the following match could be viewed as what a Valentine NWA title defense could be like. I don't even think it is anywhere near his best match, but felt more in that vein than any other singles match I have watched. The one issue with being in the WWF midcard and now being featured is you became prone to getting lost in the mire, which is what hurts Valentine in comparison to Flair.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "The Rebel" Dick Slater - 1/87 Boston

I love how Gorilla and Lord Alfred always goof on Joey Marella. That's definitely something my Dad would definitely do to me if we were ever on TV together.

Valentine works this match in a style that you would believe would be how he would work a NWA World Title defense. Unlike Flair, even though they have similar mechanics and spots, Valentine is going to work the match more on top and make Slater earn his keep. Valentine has vaulted into my Top 5 wrestlers I wish got World Title runs at some point. I will say I believe this is the only Dick Slater match I have ever seen. I know of the tag team with Bob Orton and feud with Jake the Snake in Mid-South, but other than he is a blind spot in wrestling. He definitely lives up to his reputation as a poor man's Terry Funk with how he sells Valentine's chops and blows. Valentine bails early after Slater gets the first punch in. They regroups, but Slater is able to maintain the advantage until Valentine tosses him over the top rope. Before he brings him in, he swings down the hammer across his chest. Valentine goes for the figure-4 after some hard-hitting work, but Slater counters into the small package. Valentine unloads, but here comes Slater with some punches of his own. TIMBAAAAAHHHHH! He even begs off after this. They have a wicked slugfest in the corner. Valentine gets his foot on the ropes and Slater drops down on his knee and goes for the figure-4 of his own, but Valentine eyerakes. Valentine pours it on with a sleeper and a figure-4 with Slater countering each, but unable to garner any momentum. Valentine pulls his trunks into corner gaining the pinfall while Joey Marella is oblivious to Slater's feet on his ropes. That is not going to help his reputation.

Valentine still went out of his way to put over Slater with TIMBAAAHHH and selling the leg of the figure-4, but I did not get a good feel for what were Slater's spots or what him unique. This really felt like Valentine was the champion and they were going to run his match which is a high-intensity slugfest.

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I take it back, this following Tom Zenk match is a better representation of what I think would be a prototypical Greg Valentine NWA Title Defense. Zenk is that perfect mid-card white meat babyface fodder that Flair would defend against (as he would in early '90) often. It was interesting to get to see Valentine in this context.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tom Zenk - 2/87 Philly

The Dream Team was programmed with the Can-Ams (I have not found the tag match and we are robbed of Valentine/Martel in '87, my dream match) thus they broke it up to singles affairs for this show. They start off with some hot arm work with a good sense of struggle. Valentine follows up with a Oklahoma Slam into the post and then proceeded to stand on Zenk quite a long time. I was listening to the Titans show, I was laughing so hard during this part. This is a great match to contrast with the Flair match because Valentine is working on top and Zenk is forced to shine via selling rather than through offense. He hung him out to dry with a front suplex onto the ropes followed up with a figure-4. Valentine knees Zenk onto the floor and then swings the Hammer down on the ropes. I loved the bit with Zenk pulling Valentine out to the floor and he holds onto the ref. Even though Valentine prefers to work on top, he still shows ass like the above and then later lets Zenk chase him around the ring. Valentine wins the chase, but Zenk finally fires up and does a poor man's Martel with his highstepping. Finally, Valentine hoists him up and crotches him on the top rope, which the ref signals for the DQ.

I don't think this is as good as the Slater match, but it is not a bad match per se. The Flair-style matches let the opponents look good, but they are just doing the Flair spots and only the cream of the crop were able to actually stand out by contributing. The Valentine-style matches force the opponents to look good at selling and earning it. However, again, his opponents do not show anything that makes them stand out. They look plug-in-play wrestlers while Valentine wrestle around him. You have to hold these wrestlers accountable. I think the Valentine/Blazer match is a great showcase of how the Valentine can get a wrestler over, but it is on that wrestler ultimately to get himself over by contributing interesting and unique spots. Valentine has proved time and time again that he can get good matches out people as disparate as Zenk and Muraco, which shows his style is readily adaptable.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake - 7/87 MSG

I felt compelled to include a match from this series even given my disdain for the Beefer. Valentine must have really not wanted to lose his hair because they put over the ultimate goal being to cut "Luscious" Johnny V instead of Valentine's golden locks. This series is also important because it bridged Beefcake from top heel tag wrestler to #3 or #4 babyface from 1988-90. Shockingly, this is a very good match, but who am I to doubt Greg Fuckin Valentine. They work in this WWF feud style so it is not a Katie Bar The Door Pier-Six Brawl, but just than version of it. Beefcake knocks their heads together and starts teeing off on Valentine. I love how Valentine sells the atomic drop as hurting his body from the tailbone to the top of his head. Valentine uses the leverage move into the turnbuckles to gain the advantage and Johnny V chokes Beefcake. "Luscious" Johnny V taunts the debilitated Beefcake with his hair. Valentine crashes down on Beefer with all his weight. Valentine applies the figure-4 onto Beefcake. He kicks Valentine off on his second attempt into the turnbuckles. I like how in WWF matches this is not an immediate transition, but there is a real sense of struggle. Valentine goes for a desperation suplex, but Beefcake reverses it. Beefcake reels off a nice lariat and follows up with his sleeper on Valentine and then on Johnny V before Dino Bravo interferes. They cut off a couple locks before the Bulldogs save.

It is not an all-time great match, but Beefcake is surprisingly good throughout this match. He brought plenty of energy in his shine and home stretch runs. He actually worked in some hope spots in the heat segment and he sold pretty well. Valentine was Valentine, which is to say he was pretty damn good. I loved him crashing down on Beefcake with all his weight and I thought he sold like a million bucks for Beefcake. Given, the crowd reactions it was to easy to see that Beefcake was getting over and definitely part of that was how well Valentine sold for him and structured the match around him.
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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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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.
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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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So does Obamacare cover the surgery to reattach your lower jaw to your upper jaw?

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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts - 5/88 Primetime Wrestling

This was a pretty disappointing affair as most Jake the Snake matches are for me. This is a perfect example of an air-tight logical match that is boring as piss. Roberts did not seem up to work at all as there was no babyface shine and he worked the entirety from underneath in holds. The entire match was structured as Valentine works a hold -> mini-Snake comeback ->signals DDT -> Valentine bails & stall. Rinse, lather and repeat. I will say the first couple holds were boring, but the leg work was the most entertaining and Roberts is always game to sell, just not put any effort into anything else. It did not feel like Valentine was really laying in his shots. They built the entire match around the "D-D-T!", which the crowd was chanting at the beginning until they were lulled to sleep. Now I was ready to be pissed if Roberts signalled for the DDT and then finally hit it because the whole bout was built around Valentine bailing when he knew it was coming. Roberts may be lazy, but he ain't stupid. He hit the DDT out of nowhere, which paid off that internal story. Jake the Snake brought the internal consistency and his usual selling, but left Valentine to the carry the workload in a really layout. Valentine did not even stiff him. Booooooooooooo!
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "The Rock" Don Muraco - PTW 06/88

I went in expecting the absolute worst and was pleasantly surprised at how well this came off and yes that is mostly due to the amazing carrying powers of The Hammer. If you let Valentine work his match, you are the very least going to get a good match and thats why the Roberts match was so boring as the wrestled a Snake match. Muraco put himself in the very capable hands of the Hammer and I was entertained for the 15 minutes of the match. Muraco for his part actually worked hard and ended up blowing up, but at first I was impressed with how quick he looked with all that muscle mass. The short shine was a showcase of Muraco's surprising quickness and one sweet sequence on the mat. Only for Valentine to start taking over with nasty, high chops that look at home in Japan. Yes, Valentine goes back to the chinlock a lot, but I liked his striking and the grittiness. He hit a sick hotshot on Muraco and then started landing wicked blows on Muraco. Muraco takes exception to this, but Valentine bails and resumes his offense with harsh strikes. This has to be up there for one of the best striking showcases from Valentine. Valentine crotches himself on Muraco's knees. Muraco still has some energy with some decent strikes and punctuates with a shoulderbreaker, but only gets two. Valentine starts to work the knee, but he crashes on his ass to the mat. Muraco ends up on top of the ref, but moves at the last second so Valentine lands an elbow on the ref. Muraco is totally blown up and the ref calls for a DQ while Valentine has him cradled. This is a match to watch to see Valentine just unleash his arsenal on a willing victim, but nothing especially great.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "The Rock" Don Muraco - MSG 7/88

"[Muraco] told me it is his lifelong dream to put Valentine out of business" - "Superstar" Graham

"They are not just fighting for a paycheck. They are fighting for morality. MORALITY!" - "Superstar" Graham

I decided to push my luck and watch another for these apparent childhood enemies (Hawaii & Seattle are kinda close, I guess) and once again I thought it was good, but not great. Muraco goes after the HeartBreaker early. It took them a year and half to pay off that storyline thats incredible. Valentine's shoulder eats the post. Muraco very gently rams him into the post. Muraco's arm work is pretty decent and I smile when he hit the Asiatic Spike onto the arm. Valentine revs up and just starts unloading with blows. Muraco turns the tide and Superstar starts talking smack on Valentine while Muraco lays into him. Valentine picks the leg and wraps it around the ringpost. Valentine works the leg and alternates with some nasty forearms and clubbering on Muraco. Muraco keeps fighting out of the figure-4. Muraco mounts his comeback with Valentine begging off. Muraco finally gets the HeartBreaker off only for the time limit to expire. Thus the the Ultimate Battle of Good vs. Evil ends in a draw. Shame. It is a match that I will be probably forget soon, but during it I never thought it dragged, but never really hit that next level. Valentine could still go in the post-Dream Team and I would have loved to see him get a run in the tag division against the Rockers or against Savage for the title in a one-off. Alas.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tito Santana - 11/88 MSG

This is the Ultimate Greg Valentine match. You got to give it 10 or minutes before it really kicks your ass. smile.gif The first ten minutes are not that bad, just a bit pedestrian. Valentine is rocking the "Heartbreaker" Shinguard and Ronnie Garvin has not produced the technological innovation of the "Hammer Jammmer" so Tito is left defenseless to the extra pressure the Heartbrekaer will apply. Thus Tito immediately goes after the shinguard this tunnel vision leaves him open for a cheapshot. Tito get a better of this strike exchange sending Valentine out to the floor. We are partying like it is 1985 because their strike exchanges still rule the school. Tito is really good at selling, strikes and comebacks, but he is pretty awful at opening babyface shines. He settles on the side headlock while Valentine settles on the chinlock to begin this match. The work is solid, but uninspiring. Valentine forces Tito into the ropes and kicks Tito's injured right leg. Valentine then wraps Tito's injured knee across the apron. Ok, now we are talking! Back from commercial Hammer is dropping some elbows before relentlessly attacking Santana's knee. Just when it seems like Valentine may be in a toehold too long (crowd is getting restless), Tito pulls down Valentine's trunks and just starts hammering him with punches. The crowd pops like mad for this. However, Valentine is able to catch Tito coming off the second rope. Valentine grapevines the leg and drops back a couple time. He then does the Arn knucklelock spot only he scissors the leg and forces Tito to bridge out three times before taking a shot to the balls. Valentine looks more shocked than hurt. Santana inside cradle only gets 2. Valentine winds up and misses a fist drop.

Vamos Tito! Nasty strike exchange, Tito overwhelms Valentine and TIMBAAAAAAAAAH! Now Tito works over Valentine's knee to set up his own figure-4. I am loving this. Tito gets eye-raked and Valentine fells him with a brutal chop. Valentine back on the legs turning the shinguard around but gets caught in an inside cradle. Valentine with two big shots, but fails to get the figure 4 on twice as he is shoved to the outside. They exchange strikes on the outside, which I wised lasted longer. Valentine rakes Tito's eyes, but as he rolls back in the bell rings signaling a draw. They tease a Valentine victory by Countount, but it is confirmed as a draw. Tito clears the ring of Valentine to keep his heat.

After Martel was "injured", they put Tito in a holding pattern until he got back though he mainly faced Rick Rude, which I am looking forward to watching. Valentine had returned to the singles ranks after his team with Bravo failed to set the world on fire even though I think with the right push they could have been a bigger deal. Valentine was working with Muraco at this point so neither guy was in a major angle, but they pulled busted out a pretty hard hitting match together. Outside, Randy Savage/Ted DiBiase, I cant think of anything else that would get on this level. In a pretty light year for the WWF, I would say this is a serious MOTYC.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Blue Blazer - 4/89 Boston

WOW! I did not expect this match at all. Pretty much all the pre-94 Owen I have seen has been pretty disappointing as many have pointed out he works too much like a gymnast. He starts off with a backflip off the top turnbuckle and I expected much of the same throughout the match. Instead, we got a hard-hitting, focused and well-paced match. This is the type of match that convinces me that Valentine is the best WWF worker of the 80s. He really wrestles a smart match that makes the Blazer look incredible. The Blazer was a pretty cool gimmick and could have really cashed in on the superhero craze that is going on right now.

Blazer targets Valentine's left arm with armdrags and wristlocks. He gets a nearfall with a cross body block. Blazer has dizzied Valentine with his speed and this is some of the best ground game I have seen in 80s WWF. Valentine is able to send the Blazer crashing to the outside. Valentine comes off the apron with a double axe handle. Owen sucks at selling as he kind of staggers around the outside and is not evoking sympathy rather just looks confused. Hammer plays King Of Mountain keeping Owen at bay with elbows and knees. Valentine hits him with a backbreaker and stomps. He wrenches his knee in the corner and he delivers vicious forearms. Blazer mounts a comeback with a second rope dropkick TIMBAAAAAH. Blazer fighting fire with fire using European uppercuts. He crashes and burns on a dropkick when Valentine hooks the ropes. Valentine realizing that the Blazer is for real wastes no time trying to apply the figure-4 but fails on all three occasions eventually crashing to the outside. Blazer seizing this opportunity works through a series of nearfalls attempting to secure the victory with a series of high spots including a missile dropkick and a top rope elbow drop. On his last move from the top, Valentine catches him and slams him for the victory.

I loved this match! It really felt like two wrestlers struggling working hard to secure a victory. Blazer was able to focus on Valentine's arm early, but Valentine was able to throw him to the outside and deliver some heavy blows, but that does not phase Blazer enough. Valentine regains the advantage tries to go in for the kill, but the Blazer is persistent. The Blazer would not let up with a barrage of moves. Eventually the ring veteran Valentine snaps him up to get the win. It was just a really well-constructed match that was executed beautifully. One of the best matches I have seen from the WWF 80s era.

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Bret Hart vs Greg Valentine 5/89 Meadowlands

Bret Hart was just ostensibly a tag wrestler at this point as he was splitting his time in a program with Mr. Perfect and wrestling random matches with Neidhart against random tag teams. Outside a small program with Powers of Pain isolated to Primetime and the Rockers program at the end of the year, Bret's main focus was against Mr. Perfect and other midcard heels. I think Vince's booking restraint at this point is genius and displays how good used to be. He would never be that patient anymore. After two really awesome matches against DiBiase and Perfect, the bar was set high for the Hammer. I believe Valentine outclasses both DiBiase and Perfect in the WWF so I had really high hopes for this one. However, this came off as one of Bret's more pedestrian matches. I was not expecting a brawl per se, just something a little bit more hard-hitting. DOnt get me wrong, Valentine definitely laying in his shots and Bret gave as good as he got, but did not reach the fever pitch I wanted.

The beginning was some by the numbers Bret control work with a chinlock and wristlock. After a headbutt, Valentine feigned doing his TIMBAAAAAH, but instead stood frozen until Bret's dropkick. Valentine chucked Bret out of the ring. Bret really milks out on the floor and they play King of the Mountain for a bit. I think Bret really liked that in 1989. Bret is a really good sympathetic face and Valentine is great when he is on top. So the match picks up here as Valentine is really laying in his stuff. Valentine is the Patron Saint of Clubbering because he is so damn good at it. Valentine whiffs on a second rope elbow drop. Bret mounts his comeback and shows a lot more fire. He headbutts Valentine again and pushes him over TIMBAAAAAAAH! Bret gets his backbreaker and goes for his second rope elbow, but Mr. Perfect distracts him. Valentine catches him with a high knee and stomps on his ankle repeatedly. Bret is really milking this and he attempts to crawl away that is such a great moment of helplessness. Bret is able to muster up enough to kick Valentine off on the figure 4 sending him into the post, but the bell rings before the 3 count registering.

They were doing a nice slow burn with Bret Hart going to draws with a lot of mid-card heels and it was a good booking decision. The match picked up once Valentine took control and the finish was really well-done, but I felt overall it could have been better. I would liked some more meaty exchanges. Bret is really proving his worth as an underdog babyface.
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The Rockers vs New Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart - 6/89

Rockers have taken over well for the Islanders as the team that just cant have a bad match. This is just good, solid tag team wrestler that is entertaining throughout. I was expecting a little bit more because I think The Hammer may be the best WWF worker of the 80s, but this settles in that good territory. Bravo is incredibly better when compared to Beefcake. He definitely has energy and I won't ever fault someone for that.

The story of the match is as you expect Rockers' speed and continuity versus the strength of Bravo & ruggedness of Valentine. They establish Bravo is stronger than Marty so Marty blind tags Shawn, who dropkicks Bravo in the back into a Marty slam and then a slam for Valentine; Rockers clear the ring. Valentine gets in with Shawn and Demolition wishes they were this good at clubbering offense. Valentine works over Shawn's shoulder and rams it into the post. Shawn creates space and then rams The Hammer's shoulder into the ringpost. I love payback spots. This is a couple minutes of Rockers' targeting Valentine's arm it is well done, fast pace work that never delves into heel in peril. Valentine with a forearm shot tags in Bravo, who takes a monkey flip form Marty. On the second monkey flip, Bravo catches Marty and gives him a reverse atomic drop. Bravo then lets out what can only be described as the "Howard Dean Scream" as he tags in the Hammer. Marty is the face in peril as New Dream Team works over him in entertaining fashion. This heat segment was better than some of Busters' heat segment. They were constantly tagging out and never just settling for choking. Bravo hits a great gutwrench suplex. Bravo misses the elbow. The crowd pops huge. Shawn comes in a house of fire. Ducks punches and punches of his own and suplexes Bravo. Double dropkick on Bravo, dropkicks for everyone including the Mouth of the South. Double fistdrop from the top, but Valnetine breaks it up. Shawn & Dino bump heads; Valentine puts Bravo on top; Jannetty breaks it up. Jannety in as a reverse sunset flip and Valentine clothesline him as the ref detains Shawn so the New Dream Teams WINS?!?!?!?!?!??!?

Wait Valentine/Bravo won? They have not been a regular team since 1987. I just dont get it. It seems like The Rockers have been pushed hard to this point maybe Vince sees they will hit a ceiling since the Demos and Hart Foundation are also faces. I wish Valentine/Bravo got a serious push as the number 2 heel team.

Fuckin' weird finish aside, it was a fun match which cut a brisk pace and everything was well-executed. The Rockers are definitely the best home stretch team in the WWF as that stuff was wicked entertaining to watch.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Dusty Rhodes 6/89 - Niagara, NY 

With Tony on commentary, this feels like some down-home Southern cooking, baby. Dusty's antics always make me laugh; definitely one of my favorite wrestlers to watch. They establish the elbow early as his signature weapon felling The Hammer instantly. This is a battle of the Bionic Elbow vs. The Hammer Elbow. Dusty misses an elbow and Hammer takes over with a chinlock. Dusty and Valentine exchange blows in the corner. He goes for the Figure-4, but Hammer rakes the eyes enabling him to work over Dusty's leg. Valentine has the Hartbreaker is looking to make Dusty submit to his Figure-4, but Dusty pulls the hair. Dusty mounts the comeback out of the comeback and Dusty proves his work translates well to the North whipping the crowd into the frenzy. Valentine gets his knee in the corner and Jimmy Hart ascends the top turnbuckle!?!?!??! Garvin grabs him off the top. Rhodes gets the roll-up win.

The match is nothing to write home about and you do not have to go out of your way to watch it, but it is cool this match exists. Dusty in WWF is almost as weird as Flair in WWF, but I think Dusty fits a bit better in WWF, but not by much. It is always interesting to watch him in WWF. His bells and whistles still got over with the crowd. Valentine worked his usual stuff in, but I wished he turned it up a bit.
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Ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle

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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - 10/89 MLG

Well this match did not sneak up on me as I knew how much I liked the Royal Rumble match. This is one of those "Katie Bar The Door, Pier-Six" Brawls, just a drag-out, burn-down, bare-knuckle slobberknocker. You can count the "wrestling moves" on one hand, but who gives a fuck because they bring the heat with every blow. Gorilla tells me Valentine is the one who asked for Garvin's reinstatement after he retired him. Lord Alfred says if he gets his ass handed to him that he would be "hoist on his own petard", which I had seen elsewhere and now know what it means. Who says wrestling can not be educational? biggrin.gif

They lock up and Garvin wins a shoving contest in the corner. Then it turns into a boxing match with Garvin getting the better of that. Valentine tries coming in full bore with some vicious blows and chops, but Hands of Stone cannot be denied, well until Valentine gets a kick that may have been low. Valentine capitalizes on this immediately with elbows, but Garvin spreads his leg on a piledriver attempt. When Gorilla says look at that spread I get a chuckle out of it. Valentine piledrives him anyways, but only gets two. Here comes Garvin again with punches and chops; he attempts a pin after a headbutt/splash combo. Valentine backdrops Garvin on piledriver attempt, but Garvin tries a sunset flip however his legs are too short. Lord Alfred had a good laugh over that one. Garvin Stomp! The Sharpshooter gets blocked by an eye-rake and Valentine tosses him to the outside, we play a little King of the Mountain as Valentine sledges and elbows him. Garvin grabs a sleeper but he is just too damn short. He pokes him in the eyes and gnaws on his forehead. He goes for the kill with the Sharpshooter, but Valentine punches his way out. Garvin walks into a shinbreaker and Valentine applies his figure-4 leglock. Garvin makes the ropes, but is selling the leg for all it is worth. Valentine going for his second rope elbow gets caught and eats a press slam by a debilitated Ronnie Garvin. Garvin removes the shinguard and threatens to strike the Hammer with it, but in the confusion gets rolled up. Garvin beats him down the aisle way with the HeartBreaker. 

This was an ugly, brutal wrestling contest and I loved it. I will say that stand up wrestling matches like this are not my absolute favorite, but I do liked them every once and a while. This was a great change of pace from 80s WWF tag scene. I can only think that Savage, Backlund and Santana are serious contenders against him for best worker in the WWF 80s. Backlund obviously is missing half of the decade, but he did run on top for the whole first half. I have watched enough Santana to know he can have a few borefests or clunkers even though his stuff with Valentine, Savage and the Islanders is some of the best stuff of the 80s. Savage was not with the company as long as Valentine and Santana, but he obviously had some great stuff and in addition had a main event run. I am sure if started watching Savage again in earnest I would say he is the best, but Valentine is hard to deny with so many great performances.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine w/Jimmy Hart vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble 1990

Valentine and Garvin staged an all-out, NWA-style war in this one. They are two ornery muthafuckas looking to beat the piss out of each other in a match. I loved the boxing bits at the beginning. At first, Valentine wants to leave due to the Hammer Jammer. After TIMMMMBBAAHHHH, he is giving just as good as he gets. He was never a heel to succumb to the WWF heel tradition of getting steamrolled. He would cheat and stooge, but he always dished out punishment too. Ronnie Garvin is such a great striker. This audience reminded me of the Survivor Series '93 audience for the RNRs/Bodies match. They could not make heads or tails, but stiffness is an universal language and eventually the audience started to get into it. The pinfall attempts to get tiresome after a while and yes some do act as reversals, but I think there were still too many. I didn't mind the Hammer Jammer stuff with mocking faces as much as they had established that was the role for the Hammer Jammer. I loved the struggle for each transition as they were laying into each other. It was smart and entertaining to keep going back to that. The head cracking spot was perfect to get the Hammer Jammer off. Say what you will about the mocking faces, once Garvin got in the figure-4 he sold it for all its worth going above and beyond most to sell it the rest of the match. The Flair press slam off the top was a nice nod to the past. Once Garvin got the Heartbreaker off, I enjoyed the WWF-style antics with Jimmy Hart, hitting the Hammer with his shin-guard and slapping on the Scorpion Deathlock for the finish,

I have no idea why Vince let them go on PPV, but I am sure glad he did because this is great match. It is so different for the WWF given how strike-oriented and vicious it is, but still has the WWF touch with the opposing leg braces. It is a great swan song for both men  epitomizing their stiff, vicious style in the ring.
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Since I have been watching singles matches for these tag wrestlers, I thought I would include the rankings of all the singles matches that make the choice cuts. They are as follows:

Best Singles Matches Involving Tag Wrestlers:

1. Bret Hart vs Randy Savage - SNME 11/87
2. Rick Martel vs Tama - MSG 9/87
3. Greg Valentine vs Blue Blazer - Boston 4/89
4. Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - MLG 10/89
5. Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88
6. Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble '90
7. Rick Martel vs Bret Hart - Primetime 10/89
8. Rick Martel vs Tito Santana - SNME 11/89
9.WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vs Tito Santana - SNME 7/90
10. Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase - Odessa 3/89
11. Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 3/86
12 Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - MSG 4/89
13. Rick Martel vs Tito Santana - Main Event 11/90

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was a stand-out character by not being a character. At all, much like his arch-nemesis Tito Santana he was repackaged late in his career with a dye job to be Honky Tonk's tag team partner. However, I do not think this brief one year run changes the fact that Valentine never compromised his in-ring style. He forced WWF wrestlers out of their comfort zone by working heated, intense match, which did not focus on just spots, but rather the struggle for victory. In doing so, he got his opponent, himself and the match over with the fans. He did it his way and by laying the Hammer down.

Next up with will be the wrap up of WWF's biggest tag team, Demolition: Walking  Disaster. 

History of Hart Foundation (1988-1991): Best WWF Tag Team of the 80s?

After watching the complete Hart Foundation tenure in WWF, I have to say this is easily the most overrated tag team that has ever existed. I was just like everyone else who conflated their run with Bret's amazing singles run. Since I was not even born for the majority of their run, I just took it on people's word that this is one of the best tag teams of all time. Having seen the primary source materials, this can not be further from the truth. You would have a hard time convincing me they are even a great tag team at this point. The major point of contention would be the British Bulldogs feud, which I can see someone else liking more than me. If you happen to like that a lot, I can see making an argument for them being great, but there is just not enough meat at all on their resume.

I'm all about Anvil's hat

After the face turn at Wrestlemania IV in the battle royale, Bret Hart went around the horn against Bad News Brown. This is a consistent theme throughout Bret's career is to get him accustomed to singles action because Vince saw long-term potential in him as a major singles draw. In 1988, they worked two big matches against Demolition on TV, but they crushed the Rougeaus around the horn until Royal Rumble '89. The Summerslam '88 match against Demolition is in the running as the best Hart Foundation match, but it is too little to matter in the grand scheme of things as it was just a one-off. In 1989, the Hart Foundation was de facto disbanded if you look at the results. Bret Hart was going around the horn with Mr. Perfect. When he was not wrestling Perfect, he was working matches with heels like DiBiase, Valentine, Martel and Bravo. At Survivor Series '89, he was not even paired with Neidhart, rather he was treated as singles wrestled paired against his normal opponent at the time, Dino Bravo. I still can't place my finger on it and it is driving me wild, but Bret is such a better singles wrestler. His tag matches almost always come off as cold and mechanical. I have yet to find a boring singles match. The Hart Foundation had one-offs with R&B, Powers of Pain, Twin Towers and Brainbusters, but 5 matches on 300 dates does not make a tag team. So now, you had bust feud with the Rougeaus in 1988 and no feuds in 1989. None of this bolsters the Hart Foundation's case.

In late 1989, Vince realized that the singles roster was still too stacked for Bret to be pushed through and he could too easily be lost in the mire. Thus he displayed great restraint and shrewdness by moving Bret back into the tag division where he could bolster his case in a kayfabe sense by winning the WWF Tag Team Titles again. However, the Tag Team Bubble was on the verge of collapse with the Busters departure, Powers of Pain a bust and Colossal Connection a short-term band-aid. The babyface roster had been stacked with Demolition, Rockers and Hart Foundation so that Hart Foundation had no one to feud with anyways in 1989. Vince had to resort to pairing the Hart Foundation as subtle heels to the Rockers, which produced the best series the Hart Foundation had since Strike Force. I never believed the idea was to turn the Hart Foundation heel as that would have fucked up his momentum for his '91 singles push. It was a feud to re-establish the Hart Foundation in the tag division while buying time for Demolition to win the belts back from the Colossal Connection. With Ax on his way out and the need to replace him with Crush, it became a perfect time to turn Demolition heel.

After this, it becomes very easy to understand the booking plans of McMahon. Use Demolition to bridge to Hart Foundation winning the tag titles at Summerslam '90. The fans will now associate Bret Hart as a champion and as a winner in this division. So that way when he transitions to singles, it will be very seamless for him to win the I-C title. At this point, the Road Warriors sign with the WWF, which fucks the Rockers hard and severely hurts their chances of winning the title. The Hart Foundation gains prestige by winning the titles, but once the LOD shows up everyone is a lameduck champion until they would get it next year. The Hart Foundation do not really need to defend it against stiff competition (i.e. Valentine & Honky would suffice) they just need the belts to add to Bret's face heat. The LOD get a Fall Main Event rub by running through all the major arenas beating their "clones" Demolition with the WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior. However, the WWF is not the NWA and instead of establishing the Legion of Doom as a top drawing main event act it only further hurts the Warrior's image as a draw as he is now hanging out with the tag teams. At this time, Nasty Boys just finish having a barnburner with the Steiners at Halloween Havoc '90 in the NWA and WWF gobble them up as their heel transition champions from Wrestlemania VII to the LOD's title victory at Summerslam '91. In the tag division, it was really smart booking as you add to the Bret Hart brand, you have a solid heel transition tag team, the LOD get their titles (sadly the Rockers are left holding their dicks).

Now what about the phantom title change that was supposed to give the Rockers the tag titles in October '90. I agree this is the only timeframe that Rockers could have won the titles as the Hart Foundation got most of the value out of the titles by just winning them and Rockers can get the rub until Wrestlemania VII. However, I think there was more value in Bret Hart than either Shawn or Marty. It was best to just stick with a lengthy Hart Foundation tag title run to propel Bret Hart.

What is really interesting is how people look at the respective legacies of these tag teams. Recently, the Place To Be Nation held a 64-team March Madness style tournament to see who the greatest WWF tag of all-time was. Hart Foundation won. The only reasons, I can figure is that they conflated their greatness with Bret Hart's singles run and they put a ton of stock in the Hart Foundation's two title reigns. Title reigns still matter to smart marks because it is the easiest (though an often faulty) indicator of "greatness" (combination of drawing power, workrate and company confidence). Briefly on why this faulty for the Hart Foundation, I make the argument against their workrate in this blog and they were defending the titles in a dead division with no heels. They were champions just to be champions not to draw as a tag team, but to bolster Bret Hart. I am a big Bret Hart fan and this is not an argument against him, but argument against his bland, boring and mechanical tag team that has had an inflated legacy based on assumptions. It is interesting that the Hart Foundation usually gets this bump from Bret Hart's singles career. Yet, recently on a lot of smart mark boards, there has been a groundswell of support for Shawn Michaels as the greatest wrestler of all time (something I do not even agree with one bit), but yet no conflation to bump up the Rockers (ironically, I think the Rockers might be the greatest tag team of all-times, easily top 5). Why? I have noticed it is the lack of tag title reigns. That is why Vince McMahon is a genius. He had a surefire hit in Bret Hart and he poured everything into him. Years later, you still have smart marks citing this as why the Hart Foundation is the greatest tag team of all time. It was not the Hart Foundation;s work. But Vince McMahon's work that created this legacy. Kids, never forget this. The McMahon Marketing Machine always wins.

Choice Cuts From Hart Foundation's Babyface Tenure:
WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88
Survivor Series '88
WWF World Tag Team Champions Brainbusters vs Hart Foundation -Summerslam '89
The Hart Foundation vs The Rockers - MSG 11/89
The Hart Foundation vs The Rockers - 10/89
Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase - Odessa 3/89
Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - MSG 4/89
Bret Hart vs Rick Martel  - Primetime 10/89

Just missed the cut:
Hacksaw Duggan & Hart Foundation vs Dino Bravo & Rougeaus - Royal Rumble '89

Titles do matter

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WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88

This is a battle between the two best in-ring generals of the WWF Tag Division: Ax & Bret. However, Bret proves that his will is indomitable and this is most definitely a Hart Foundation match, but surprisingly it is their best match I have seen so far. Demolition's trademarks of their opponents needing to double up, their early strength advantage, aimless beatdowns are nowhere to be found. Instead they are replaced by Bret and Anvil having their way with Demolition until Bret runs his shoulder into the post giving Demolition a focused attack.

The beginning of the match is only interesting insofar that it sets the mood that the Hart Foundation is in control and the Demolition have no strength advantage. Anvil eats a knee while running the ropes ala the heel Hart Foundation. That is a short heat segment, before Bret's shoulder eats the post. Bret is a great sympathetic face in peril as the Demolition is relentless on his shoulder. This is the best Demolition control segment so far because their focused attack and being very active in it. Bret gets a clothesline for the false hot tag and then a boot to the face on a charge. Anvil is hot tonight! He dropkicks and slams Demolition at will clearing them from the ring. In my favorite spot of the match, Bret slingshots Anvil over the top rope onto Demolition on the floor. Anvil gets a running powerslam for 2. They do the Anvil slingshot into the corner and that only gets 2. A Bret backbreaker gets 2 and Ax saves. Fuji is on the apron and takes about 7 Anvil blows without flinching until Ax can finally hit Bret with Hart's megaphone. Way to make Anvil look like a chump, Fuji.

Besides Fuji no-selling all of Anvil's punches, this was way better than I expected because I always thought Summerslam '90 match kinda sucked. The beginning could have been helped by using some of Eadie's touches. However, the heat segment and the stretch were all very entertaining and worked well. So far this was the Anvil's best performance.

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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. :)

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 man 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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WWF Tag Champs Demolition w/Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji vs Hart Foundation - 10/88 SNME

This match is more of a backdrop to really kickstart Rougeaus/Hart Foundation feud in earnest around the horn while Demolition works against the Powers of Pain. It is very similar to Summerslam match only in low gear and a generic heat segment. Anvil controls early with a vertical suplex after some double teaming from Demolition. Bret does well for himself for about minute before he falls prey to the awesome might of Demolition. Bret is the best babyface worker that Demolition has faced in terms of selling and Bret gets the Demolition offense over that way. Hot tag to the Anvil, who is as I expected a pretty good hot tag besides the low-flying dropkicks just stick to power moves. He hits his running powerslam, but it gets broken up. Fuji & Hart on the ring apron while the Rougeaus sneak out. Fuji gets decked by Bret and sells. Anvil has Jimmy by the collar, but one of the Rougeaus tosses the meagphone to Ax who nails Anvil for the win in the confusion.

Not a match to go out your way to see, but it does kickstart the number 3 tag team feud with Rockers/Busters and Demolition/Powers Of Pain at 2 and 1. Finally the tag team division looks healthy again after a pretty dismal 1988.
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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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I don't know about you, but I need a break.

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I am not able to put my finger on why just yet, but the proof is in the pudding. Bret Hart is a way better singles wrestler than he is a tag wrestler. All his tag matches have left me feeling underwhelmed. The following two matches from early '89 against DiBiase and Hennig demonstrate Bret was ready for Primetime in 1989. It is for the best Vince waited to give Bret the proper push he deserved in 1991 rather than be allowed to wallow in the WWF midcard mire from 1989-91. It is that level of patience that is missing from Vince nowadays. On the same token, he no longer uses the tag division effectively so that he can afford to be patient. However, it was this uncertainity that really hurt Bret from 1988-1990. The Hart Foundation was positioned behind Demolition and the Rockers as the number 3 babyface tag team and this start-stop hurt his match output I feel.

Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiasie - 3/89 Wrestling Challenge
This felt like a NWA Touring title defense. As I have pointed out in the past, due to the compressed nature of the WWF style, each segment is shorter. This match had the feel that Bret was a plucky challenger and Ted the dominant champ rather than equals. Bret spent most of 1989 in singles action. Dont be fooled by the PPV tag team matches in 1989. When Bret was on the road, this was a test drive for his 1991 singles push. Vince saw something early with Bret, but this maybe Vince's greatest push because he did such a great job with the slow burn. DiBiase was on his way down, but was still a big deal and he just fashioned the Million Dollar Championship. Yet, this match went to a double countout thats a big deal.
Bret starts off red hot and is looking to get DiBiase off balance early. He goes for a lot of big moves early thinking that this was his best chance to beat DiBiase was to catch him unawares early with Russian Legsweep, atomic drop, crossbody, small package. DiBiase, visibly flustered, takes a powder twice to collect himself and break Bret's momentum. I really liked the shine. Eventually DiBiase moves out the way and Bret does his crossbody of the ropes spot that always looks nasty and Bret milks it for all its worth. Great transition to heat and a great staple of Bret's stock bumps. DiBiase works his heat segment well pressing his advantage and showing his confident demeanor as the Million Dollar Champion. DiBiase even hit a elbow off the second rope that is more rare than a Flair success off the top rope. Ted delivers a fist drop and a vertical suplex gets 2. Bret gets his own vertical suplex, which is a good hope spot. DiBiase hits a belly to back suplex to quash that. A DiBiase backbreaker gets two; Bret grabs a small package for two again. It feels like DiBiase is in control, but Bret is not going away. I loved all the cradles. DiBiase gets another fist drop and he works an active chinlock. Double clothesline sends both men to the mat. Bret gets a press slam off the top. I feel at home, now. Bret executes his backbreaker/elbow combo for 2. Bret high knees the turnbuckle. Thus DiBiase goes to work over it with the Spinning Toehold inevitable he gets kicked off to the outside so Bret follows him out with a plancha. Slugfest ensues and a double countout results. Bret actually gets the better of Ted in the post-match antics, which indicates that Vince definitely had confidence in him.
I think this is DiBiase's best match in WWF better than the Savage matches. There was some really great action here and an excellent story told by both men. Each man played their parts well as DiBiase looked so self-assured and Bret plays such a great, plucky face in peril. The finish sequence was beautiful as everything logically connected. ****

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Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - 4/89 MSG

This felt like a Nick Bockwinkel AWA title defense with Perfect letting Hart get more offense in than DiBiase and making them appear as equals. Perfect worked a more rugged style than he usually did in the WWF and also added the King of the Mountain segment for maximum effect. Bret once again played such a great face, but this time did not feel as plucky rather as confident challenger.

I really liked the opening shine segment. Bret has a such great offensive arsenal and he always puts it on display in singles matches. One of my favorite spots was Perfect missing a drop toe hold. It was a nice touch and I wished there were more spots like that sprinkled into matches. Bret goes for a lot of pinfall attempts early. I like always trying to win mentality. He even busts out his crucifix pins. They do a bodyslam->kickoff symmetry sequence. My absolute favorite spot of the match is Bret trips Perfect and pushes him down and Perfect falls flat on his face with authority. It was such an excellent spot. Hennig, much like DiBiase, takes a walk to collect himself and break Bret's momentum.

Perfect gets back in and when the opportunity presented itself in the corner, Perfect clocked Bret with a straight right. Perfect gets a big kneelift and a wicked chop sending Bret to floor. They play King of the Mountain as Perfect wont let Bret back in. This climaxes with Bret taking his bump off the apron onto the railing. Perfect only gets two of it. He hits a standing dropkick sending him back to the floor. Perfect decides to use the spinning toe hold. I thought they could have set this up better like in the DiBiase match where Bret injured his knee first. Bret kicks off Hennig into the post and he sells it well perfectly. smile.gif

Bret is relentless on the arm and his offense looked great. He was really capitalizing on his newfound advantage. However, he commits the cardinal sin of wrestling by going for another crucifix pin and Perfect dumps him hard onto mat. Perfect is still selling the arm and cant press his advantage. Perfect uses the hair to stop Bret's abdominal stretch. Bret pushes Perfect out of the ring on a rollup attempt and follows up with a plancha. Here comes the big Bret comeback: Perfect spins out on an atomic drop, vertical suplex, backbreaker and elbow, but time limit expires.

I, much like, Lord Alfred totally forgot about the time limit and was totally engrossed in the action. Bret wants five more minutes, but Perfect blindsides him. Bret ends up getting the better of him and sends him packing. That is twice that Bret was allowed to get the symbolical victory over two top heels. This was a great action-packed match. I would say the heat segment dragged a little bit more in the Perfect match, but I thought work through King of the Mountain and the Bret's comeback were done excellently. I would give this match the nod over the DiBiase, but it is close. In any event, both are great showcases of all three men and prove that Bret was ready to be a major singles player as early as 1989.
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Bret Hart vs Greg Valentine 5/89 Meadowlands

Bret Hart was just ostensibly a tag wrestler at this point as he was splitting his time in a program with Mr. Perfect and wrestling random matches with Neidhart against random tag teams. Outside a small program with Powers of Pain isolated to Primetime and the Rockers program at the end of the year, Bret's main focus was against Mr. Perfect and other midcard heels. I think Vince's booking restraint at this point is genius and displays how good used to be. He would never be that patient anymore. After two really awesome matches against DiBiase and Perfect, the bar was set high for the Hammer. I believe Valentine outclasses both DiBiase and Perfect in the WWF so I had really high hopes for this one. However, this came off as one of Bret's more pedestrian matches. I was not expecting a brawl per se, just something a little bit more hard-hitting. DOnt get me wrong, Valentine definitely laying in his shots and Bret gave as good as he got, but did not reach the fever pitch I wanted.

The beginning was some by the numbers Bret control work with a chinlock and wristlock. After a headbutt, Valentine feigned doing his TIMBAAAAAH, but instead stood frozen until Bret's dropkick. Valentine chucked Bret out of the ring. Bret really milks out on the floor and they play King of the Mountain for a bit. I think Bret really liked that in 1989. Bret is a really good sympathetic face and Valentine is great when he is on top. So the match picks up here as Valentine is really laying in his stuff. Valentine is the Patron Saint of Clubbering because he is so damn good at it. Valentine whiffs on a second rope elbow drop. Bret mounts his comeback and shows a lot more fire. He headbutts Valentine again and pushes him over TIMBAAAAAAAH! Bret gets his backbreaker and goes for his second rope elbow, but Mr. Perfect distracts him. Valentine catches him with a high knee and stomps on his ankle repeatedly. Bret is really milking this and he attempts to crawl away that is such a great moment of helplessness. Bret is able to muster up enough to kick Valentine off on the figure 4 sending him into the post, but the bell rings before the 3 count registering.

They were doing a nice slow burn with Bret Hart going to draws with a lot of mid-card heels and it was a good booking decision. The match picked up once Valentine took control and the finish was really well-done, but I felt overall it could have been better. I would liked some more meaty exchanges. Bret is really proving his worth as an underdog babyface.
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WWF World Tag Team Champs The Brain Busters vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '89 Non-title

Non-title due to this match being signed before Busters' title victory. The Busters just loved to bump and sell for WWF babyfaces. Maybe, it was not Eadie's fault at all, it may just be how the Busters wanted to work. Like I am not a person to claim heels need to be a faces level because they really should not. The babyfaces should be better except the heels utilize nefarious tactics, but at the same time heels should not be out and out jabronis. I didn't mind this match as much because we do get a heat segment (on Anvil, weird), but still the Hart Foundation gobbled them up. At first, I felt a bit hypocritical for enjoying this match a lot more than the Demolition matches especially after raising such a big stink. At the end of the day, I rather watch Bret Hart's offense than Demolition's offense. I still don't think it is one of the elite tag team matches of 80s WWF, but it is still very good. I would actually put it around the Summerslam '89 six-man tag in terms of quality.

The Hart Foundation establishes the arm-based attack on both Busters each time they come in. The best spot of this segment really encapsulates Bret and something I never really thought about. Arn executes a drop toehold into a hammerlock, but rides high and Bret counters to a headlock. Bret just has this look on his face that was just like one big eye-roll and I immediately thought of Tenryu. Bret is amazing at displaying contempt for his opponents. He is one of the few wrestlers that is not only condescending on the mic, but is actually condescending in the ring also. Bret does an excellent top wristlock bridge transitions into the Busters double top wristlock spot that always gets a huge pop. Arn blindsides Bret, but this was not the transition as Bret is back on offense. However, Arn pulls Tully out of the way and Anvil eats the turnbuckles. We get the Anvil FIP, which is weird and no spinebuster. It is decent stuff, but you know it can be better. They do Arn's head collision spot and Bobby's facial expression that makes it. Then the Hart Foundation sliding knee on the apron is the transition. After watching basically every major Hart Foundation match, I marked out that Bret did that to transition. I have watched this match twice before and I never even batted an eye. This time I was like "Of course that was the transition. That's genius!" Bret kicks some serious Tully ass and then runs through Tully. It is breaking loose in Tulsa and Anvil is slingshotted in (love that spot) and then slams Bret onto Tully. Heenan distracts the ref and Arn second-rope elbow costs Hart Foundation the match as AA gets the pin. The nice little touch is he uses Bret's arm to cover his head so that ref won't notice. smile.gif

This is a really fun match, but like a lot Hart Foundation matches I have watched, but it feels mechanical and exhibition-y at the beginning. However, it is still a fun match that is enjoyable. I am just happier with the idea that Bret Hart vs AA & Tully exists more than it in practice. I know one of the things that people go after the Rockers for not having that money feud, but Hart Foundation did not have one from 1988-1991 that's pretty incredible. It was just how WWF tag scene was booked with Demolition going from POP, Towers, Busters, Colossal Connection, but they pretty much leave all the other tag teams to float in the wind.

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Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect w/The Genius - 10/89 Primetime Wrestling

This was a great TV match that highlighted two superstars that were definitely on the rise. I didn't feel like this was a AWA title defense, but more two hungry wrestlers looking to show each other up. Bret hiptosses Perfect to start who busts out his spin out bump. Perfect misses his drop toehold like in the MSG match, but this time Bret points it out and mocks him with some exaggerated applause. Then they work a side headlock, but they keep it entertaining with each wrestler pulling the other's hair liberally (my favorite part of the match). Perfect powders out and comes back. They run the same spot as from MSG where the ref tries to get a clean break in the corner and Perfect capitalizes with a cheapsot. Perfect with a vicious high kneelift. He chops away on Bret and they do a brief King of the Mountain. Perfect starts to mock Bret and Bret starts mounting his comeback, but ends up taking the Bret Bump to give Perfect a 2 count. Perfect biels him by the hair. Perfect goes on top only to get crotched. Here comes bump-a-rama. I love his oversell when Bret kicks the back of his leg. Perfect goes nuts with a reverse atomic drop sell that looks more painful than the actual move. Dolph aint got nothing on this guy

Bret biels Perfect by the hair twice and second time Perfect posts himself. I love that payback spot! Bret starts to get frustrated as he cant negotiate the pinfall. Bret sends Perfect on the floor and they do some fighting outside. It really demonstrates how underutilized the area around ring was in the WWF when the NWA used it so effectively. Bret gets his reverse sunset flip, but Perfect pulls his trunks and pins Bret for the victory.

This match was a lot of fun mixed comedy well throughout with all the hair pulling at the beginning and then Perfect overselling like a madman. I recall I really liked their April 1989 MSG draw but I have not seen that in five years (I wrote this review five years ago, but I re-watched it just now). The finish really encapsulated that idea with it being nip and tuck only Perfect was willing to go the extra mile and cheat to get the victory. ****
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Rick Martel w/Slick vs Bret Hart - Primetime 10/89

Martel getting funky with Slick is pretty much why wrestling is better than any form of entertainment. We start early with Martel showboating and dancing. Bret is just shaking his head. Martel cartwheels out of a back body drop attempt and does his little dance. TREMENDOUS~! They do some counter wrestling and Martel proves hes still got it with a cool drop toehold. I am a drop toehold mark. Once again Martel parade s himself. Martel again floats over on Bret in the corner and goes to showboat and Bret has enough and levels him with a clothesline. Fucking brilliant opening that paid itself off excellently with a clothesline. Bret works over the arm and everything loosk crisp as always. Martel is game and keeps him moving and is selling well. Martel thumbs him in the throat, a heel Martel staple, to set up his heat segment, but we dont get all of it because of commerical. Fuck. Martel is just relentlessly working over the back with strikes and a Camel Clutch and lots of well-timed showboating. Incredible struggle over the Boston Crab. Martel tries put it on three times gets spun out twice and each time adds an elbow or backbreaker before he can get it on. I love that sense of struggle really puts over Martels' finish, Bret's will to win and Martel as a wrestler. On each failed attempt, Martel gets frustrated. Just really great work again. Bret makes the ropes, but Martel thinks he has won, before getting more frustarted. Bret powders as Martel does jumping jacks. Ruh roh, pride before the fall. Martel clotheslines the ringpost when he tries to follow Bret out. Bret starts hitting his stock offense and is going for covers after each move trying to get the victory at any moment. Martel takes an excellent over the top turnbuckle and Bret is just pouring on the pinfall attempts. Bret blocks the atomic drop and gets his own. He hits a dropkick as time runs out and it is a draw. The draw was the standard 1989 singles finish for Bret Hart, who really being put in a ton of singles matches with the mid-card heels to build his credibility. Bret's push to the top is the greatest slow-burn push ever by McMahon. I loved the beginning and the middle of this match and the finish was fun, but not at the level of how good the rest of the work was. One of the best Bret singles matches of 89 and a great Martel match.

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Bret Hart vs Dino Bravo - 10/89 London

Dino Bravo blows a lot of spots. He is pretty awkward in the ring. He relies on some boring holds. I don't care. I love Dino Bravo. He is hilarious and he puts so much effort into all his matches that he is a total guilty pleasure of mine. This is a pretty decent carry job by Bret, but you could he is pretty frustrated with Dino and his inability to do his spots. Some of the problems were with the layout as the transitions were pretty poorly done and felt very forced, which is unusual for Bret matches as usually everything progresses pretty logically.

Dino establishes he is stronger than Bret and with every shove off he celebrates like he has beaten Hulk Hogan. When Bret hits a cross body block to get Dino off his feet, the crowd pops huge. I will say the crowd was rabid for this match from beginning to end. London absolutely loved Bret. Bret slugs Dino on the apron and he goes for a walk threatening to leave. Bret does pretty decent arm work keeps it varied and moving. Dino is blowing spots left and right during this portion. Bret does his stomp to the midsection to a huge reaction. At this point, Dino just sort of takes over, which I hate as a transition. They play King of the Mountain until Bravo slingshots Bret off the apron into the guardrail. I love that bump. Dino hits a sweet gutwrench suplex for 2. Bret looks like he is revving up takes a wicked version of the Bret Bump. He was fucking flying into those turnbuckles. Bret timed his hope spots well, but Dino would stop his momentum with some power holds like the bearhug. Dino goes on top and gets caught with a strike to the midsection. Really, Bret that was your babyface transition spot???? Dino bumps and sells really well for Bret and his usual offense. The crowd is lapping this up with a spoon and they are just mad for the Hitman. Bret dropkicks Bravo to the outside and follows him out with the plancha. Between the plancha and the guardrail bump, Bret was pulling out some big spots for London. Suck up. smile.gif Bravo pulls him off the apron back onto the floor. Bravo looks gassed and Bret comes back in with a reverse sunset flip that is reversed with trunks to give Bravo the duke. Where I have seen that before? smile.gif

It is not a match, I wanna watch again. Dino really has no business going anywhere near 20 minutes, but if this was around 10 minutes this could have been a fun TV spotfest. Bret busted out some of his big guns and Dino was entertaining. It is nothing to go out of your way to see, but a fine match nonetheless.
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She sure makes a BIG IMPRESSION~!

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The Rockers vs Hart Foundation MSG 11/89

This match is equitable without trading spots back and forth with not rhyme or reason. If there is one thing that is Bret's bread and butter it is the face vs face matches. He is an incredible subtle heel. Most babyface vs babyfaces matches establish a sense of equality between the combatants. Heels are usually inferior in some way to their face counterpart which incites their underhanded tactics. Not to be disappointed, this match at the beginning is very symmetrical. Bret hits a move. Marty hits that move. Bret misses an elbow. Marty misses an elbow. So on and so forth, you can sense that brimming tension from experience you just are waiting for the Hart Foundation to get so frustrated they cheat. It is that tension that keeps you in suspense becuase just dont know when it is going to happen. Anvil actually has a really good sequence with Shawn. Shawn attempts to shoulderblock Anvil, but cant. He smartens up and tries a high cross body and Anvil catches him, but Shawn rolls through into a pinning combination. Once again, there is that sense of frustration. Anvil just needs to get a hold of this quick little bugger and Shawn is frustrated that Anvil is so much stronger that it creating such an obstacle. When Marty comes in, he gets steamrolled and Anvil feels like he finally go it. Then Marty hits a drop toe hold into a front facelock. Marty breathes a sigh of relief and Anvil is like "Fuck, again". Anvil gets frustrated tags out and Bret misses an elbow. Eventually Bret gets an atomic drop and he tags in Anvil. Finally, Bret has enough and he slides and buries the knee in Shawn's back while he is running the ropes, vintage Hart Foundation. It blows off Act One of the Tension.

One thing I really like about this is that while it is super segmented like most Bret matches there is more of a sense of struggle. Shawn is not just a rag doll for the Harts he is fighting back and getting pinning combination of the Harts. He just cant get to his corner. Anvil is working the lower back with power holds and Bret is employing his usual crisp offense. Shawn is easily the best FIP they have ever had. This is the best Hart Foundation heat segment I have seen. Anvil misses the slingshot splash and they got me on that one.Instead, it was a missed elbow by Bret that gave SHawn the opportunity for tag to Marty.

I didnt think the crowd was in step with Marty, but it was a good hot tag by Marty. He was focused on getting pinfalls as opposed to big spots, which I think fans are used to. Backslides, cross bodies, and sunset flips not vicious holds, but quick barrage to try win the match and again a lot of suspense. When Bret grabs with a double leg takedown and stomps him in the gut. Finally breaking the momentum of Marty. He sells the breather so well. It expresses "I weathered that storm. Damn that little fucker is fast". Bret ducks and Marty high cross bodies nothing but the concrete floor in a nasty bump. Marty tags out quickly. Shawn gets steamrolled by Anvil and bumps out of control for that one. Still only 2. Now standing dropkick by Shawn gets 2. It is just a barrage of nearfalls back and forth between Shawn and Bret. Shawn wrangles Bret into an abdominal stretch. Anvil comes in break this up and Marty is hot comes in shove Anvil. Bell rings signaling a draw. Both teams go at it, but mid card babyfaces come out to break it up. The tension comes to boiling point, but it is not allowed to spill over

I think I talked by myself into liking this as my favorite Hart Foundation match. The Demolition match is close, but this one is a well-structured three Act play. You see the frustration that neither team can get the advantage, which ends with Bret burying the knee in Shawn's back. Act II is FIP, which has the usual tension of when will Shawn get the tag. Act III was a just a barrage of nearfalls where you were wondering who would get the duke and if maybe someone's temper would get the best of them. Instead we were robbed of a finish, but in a good way that made you want to see it climax later.
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Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart 2/90 Wrestle Challenge

The Anvil does the world's most clumsy job giving Bret's shades to a kid. I hope he was not the ring-bearer at anyone's wedding. They do some basic face vs face wrestling to prove they are equals. Bret busts out the sequence from their MSG match where Bret does a reverse atomic drop and hits a clothesline. Hey Bret misses an elbow too. Deja vu. Bret does his euro uppercuts into backslide sequence. Now they do Bret's backbreaker countered into a slam sequence. Bret is making Shawn look really good here, not a total knock on Shawn, but an observation. They fight over a vertical suplex in the ropes. Neither one wants to break. Shawn shoves Bret and Bret hits Shawn with a straight right. Marty gets on the apron and hits Bret with a straight right and it breaks down to a melee. It definitely presented an interesting angle on TV between two biggest face teams besides Demolition. At this point, the roster was way too babyface heavy and this shook things up.

The Rockers vs Hart Foundation SNME 4/90

They basically work the sprint version of their MSG match, which hurts the feel of the match a lot. They are literally doing the same spots as the ones from the MSG match. If I am calling out Marty doing a drop toehold that's pretty pathetic. I had seen this match before because it was on the Bret Hart DVD and I always really like it, but now seeing the "complete" match from MSG, this took a huge hit from me. Since they are trying to get all the spots in, the match loses that tension that was building in the MSG match. Instead, they are just transitioning between spots with no breathe. Bret's sliding knee no longer feels like the climax to a great opening act to the match, but rather just another move. Now if they constructed new spots and created a new match for their sprint then I would judge it on its merits. Instead, it is just the clipped down version of the MSG match. For example, Rockers/Busters matches for the most part seemed unique. Of course, the big change in this match and the MSG match is the appearance of Demolition. Bret gets distracted first and Shawn dropkicks Bret to the outside and Demolition acts like lumberjacks. Marty's hot tag is pretty much the same though Anvils misses his slingshot splash here instead of the heat segment. They do the Anvil tossing Shawn onto outside when he kicks out as the spot to lead to Demolition getting involved. They look to send Shawn back in, but Marty, ever the hot-head, punches Ax. The match breaks down into a melee.

Having seen the "full" version, this match seems like a let-down. As a sprint, it is fun because they cram a ridiculous amount of spots into the match, but less is more in this situation. I would put this firmly behind the Rockers/ Busters SNME sprint.
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Hart Foundation vs Powers of Pain - Wrestlefest '90

It is worth noting that the Hart Foundation are once again talking about winning the tag titles foreshadowing that Bret has returned solidly to the tag ranks.The short answer is no with a caveat. This would be a very good match if Warlord did not suck out loud. The Rockers made Warlord look good by making him take some bumps early and bumping huge for him. Bret actually makes him sell arm work. Yes it should be on Warlord for sucking, but Bret should recognize this and adapt. God if Barbie just had a different partner. The way Warlord just sat in those arm holds was just embarrassing to watch. Counter to this was Barbie/Anvil battle of the bulls and then Bret crawling through Barbie's legs to let Anvil clothesline him. This was some fun face shine, but gets bogged down once Warlord is in there. The transition was lame as it was Warlord just picking up Bret and giving him a backbreaker. Warlord wrung his arm at least. Barbie hit his wicked sweet headbutt and big boot to Bret. Watching all this Bret reminds me how great his selling is. For so long I was focused on how amazing his offense was for a North American wrestler. Bret hits a boot in the corner and the Anvil is hot. Fuji trips up Anvil and a melee ensues. Fuji hits Warlord with his cane and Anvil beats the count for the victory. POP try to get their heat back, but Bret apprehends the cane and goes to town.

Nothing worth going out of your way to see, but it is pretty decent. The second best Powers of Pain match I have seen, not that is high praise.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition (Smash & Crush) vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam 1990 2 Out of 3 Falls

This ain't Eadie's Demolition as they are treated like any other heel tag team. There is none of that sense of struggle that Demolition usually imposes on its opponents. Instead of the Hart Foundation are having their way with the "Mighty" Demolition even Bret is able to manhandle both members of Demolition at once. It begins with some basic arm work on Smash, which Bret always make look good even when it is perfunctory. Crush catches Bret on a cross body attempt and Bret takes a blind boot to the head when running the ropes and I felt the heat segment coming, but instead he tags out to Anvil. Bret back in and a melee ensues with Bret coming out the better. Anvil gets wiped out on the outside, but Bret is in command with a Russian Legsweep, backbreaker, second rop elbow, but Crush breaks it up. They hit Demolition Decapitation to win the first fall. This first fall even though Demolition picked up victory made them feel like generic also-rans. Hart Foundation was definitely piloting the match and looking good.

Second fall does its job, but it is a bare minimum effort. Weak, weak heat segment on Bret. Bret clotheslines and struggles to tag in Anvil. Anvil running powerslam gets two and then Bret slingshots Anvil into Smash in the corner. Hart Attack, but Crush leaps on the ref to prevent the pinfall only to get DQ. Stupid finish to a lame fall. Ax hurries out in the intermission to hide under the ring.

Third fall was a little better as up until this point it had been a Hart Foundation squash. Crush wipes out Bret before the fall and Bret sells on the outside, but this does not last for long as Bret immediately is back on offense. Anvil shoulderblocks Smash and slams Bret on top for two. Smash and Ax switch. Finally the match picks up as Ax pulverizes Bret with his double ace handles. He gets a two off the Bret Bump and Crush executes a nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Crush detains Anvil while they repeatedly double team Bret on the outside and they finally get some heat on this match. Road Warriors come out to a massive pop to break up Demolition Decapitation. Anvil does his slingshot shoulderblock on Crush while Bret tabletops him for the three and their second World Tag Team Championship.

This was a really lackluster affair that felt like more of a squash match for the Hart Foundation than a dramatic title bout. If they wrestled the match like the third fall and really made use of the three man advantage this could have been something a bit more. Instead, it seemed clear that Bret was set to be a big star and Demolition was on job duty for the LOD so the match really reflected their momentum on the pecking order at this time. Summerslam '88 is definitely the match to watch between the two biggest WWF Tag Teams of this era.
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The Rockers vs Hart Foundation - 2 Out of 3 Falls 10/90

I feel like I should watch this again because it was late at night and my brother watched it with me. Normally, I watch these matches by myself with undivided attention, but my brother, who I enjoy watching RAW with often has a lot of questions, which distracts me. Though he did point how dead the crowd was. I thought this match was overly long. Usually the SNME 2 out of 3 Falls match are like 10 minutes, which bothers me to end. So I was happy in that this match went a more appropriate length given the stipulation however I felt like they lost the story of the match after the rope break and just started throwing things out there, which made it feel long.

First good thing as this was not a carbon copy of the MSG, which makes sense as this is the direct continuation of their SNME match and it feels like the continuation. You have spots where the wrestlers are learning from each other. The Rockers double team Bret, but duck the Anvil's clothesline and hit a double superkick. Bret still gets them with a double noggin knocker and Anvil hits his double clothesline. I marked pretty hard for the Rockers' duck and at that point, I thought this match was going to be pretty great. Marty is then tentative to go toe to toe with Anvil. He knows that Anvil usually steam rolls him so he gets started then hooks the ropes. Rockers end up on top with a double dropkick. The Rockers are learning from their mistakes and the Hart Foundation is not adapting. Rockers really get the best of the Hart Foundation with their double team moves. They double Irish Whip Anvil into the ropes knocking Bret off the apron. A double bodyslam should set up the double fist drop, but Bret breaks it up. Anvil gets the Oklahoma Slam on Shawn and Shawn does the Flair Flip in the corner. Bret gets frustrated after a nice series of moves: backbreaker, Russian Leg Sweep and a piledriver. This allows Shawn to tag Marty and Marty sits down on a Bret sunset flip to get 3. The first fall was incredible. The Rockers looked smart. They learned from the previous encounter and kept the Hart Foundation off balance. Once, Bret got into a groove he thought he had the fall won and then the Rockers pulled it out and he was fuckin pissed, really well-done.

Bret is right on the attack as he is hot over the ending to the fall that he thought he had in hand. Bret and Marty really jockey for position on a suplex. They double team Bret again, but Anvil clears the ring with just his presence. Bret then sits in a front facelock, which my brother points out is boring. I have to agree. At some point, the top rope breaks by Marty. Bret gets wicked flustered slapping on a chinlock as you can see him trying to figure out what to do. Bret then takes the bump of the match as he takes his usual front-first bump into the turnbuckles, but only the bottom two and it looked sick. Marty's superkick gets two, but Bret hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bret bodyslams Anvil on top, which brother thought was pretty cool. Hart Foundation hit Demolition Decapitation for 2 and Shawn breaks up a Rocket Launcher. Bret hits a belly to back suplex, which sets up the Hart Attack to pick up the fall. I think if they cut out the beginning of this fall and just had the Hart Foundation pour it on it would have been better. The rope breaking made some of the spots look very awkward.

Ring crew fixes the ropes.

Hart Foundation gets the sliding knee in here and Anvil hits a back body drop. Bret is pressing the advantage with European uppercuts, but no backslide by Marty. Instead, Bret cross bodies the ropes, a dangerous proposition given that the ropes had just broken. At this point, I thought they just started throwing things out there as they sort of take turns hitting spots. I think the idea of was to create drama with both teams trading blows and never knowing when the match would stop. I just thought this looked too choreographed and they did not transition well between spots. Bret matches usually have good logical progression and the first two falls show that, but not the final fall. The final sequence sees Anvil suplexing Bret onto Marty's knees. Yet, Anvil clears the ring and they look to hit Hart Attack Shawn interrupts and Marty gets the pin. It just seemed like a mess as you have the Rockers injuring Bret, but the Anvil reclaims control only for Shawn to intervene.

I just thought the match overstayed its welcome and plus the rope problems make this a disappointing match as the first fall started off so promising. Actually the first fall by itself would have been a classic match. The two additional falls dragged it down as they lost that fell that this match was a continuation instead they just started throwing things out there.
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By 1989, it was evident that WWF tag team bubble was on the verge of collapse with Demolition, Rockers and Hart Foundation all on the babyface side with no matching heels teams. Then with the LOD coming in it just became so lopsided that you had the Hart Foundation defending against Rhythm 'n" Blues (Greg Valentine & Honky Tonk Man) around the horn in the Fall & Winter '90. I wanted to see some of these matches, but I could not find anything complete, which is too bad as I am a big Hammer fan.

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WWF World Tag Team Champs Hart Foundation vs Legion of Doom - 3/12/91

I'm surprised this match even exists as these are the two biggest babyface tag teams in the WWF at the time. It was inevitable LOD were going to win the tag titles soon just as it was inevitable that Bret was going to rocket up the singles ladder. Thus you have one team on its ascent and the other headed to its disintegration because of that they didn't need to keep the Hart Foundation as strong and Bret was always willing to heel it up in these situations. Bret is such a great heel in face vs face matches. It is a really unique talent that he possesses. This match is the Hart Foundation's guile versus the unadulterated power of the Road Warriors and it was much better than I expected. The LOD really had their working boots on and Hart Foundation seemed game for this match.

The match begins with Animal and Anvil proving that they are even in power game with no man gaining an advantage. This is the typical start to face versus face matches to establish equality between the participants. Animal does manage to bowl the Anvil over with a shoulder block, but both Animal and Anvil tag out. Bret and Hawk is also even stevens as Bret escapes a military press and Hawk escapes Bret rollup attempt. When Bret gets dumped to outside he is more frustrated than hurt. Bret hits a swinging neckbreaker, but gets thrown off during a pinfall attempt. Bret pissed tags out to Anvil.

Bret buries a blind knee to Hawk's back and then stomps him in the gut on the outside. That is some really nice progression from the Hitman. If you can beat 'em, cheat 'em. Hawk does really well in this face in peril. He does not immediately sell like he is dead. Instead the life slowly drains from Hawk's disposition. In the beginning, Hwk is still trying to bury shoulders into the Hitman in the corner, but by the end of the segment he is on jelly legs, which is some really smart wrestling from Hawk. Whenever, Hawk gets testy they always apply a front facelock to keep him from Animal to contain the explosiveness of Hawk. Bret comes over and punches Animal. This is some of the best heel work from the Hart Foundation I have seen. HART ATTACK! Animal saves. Bret slingshotted into corner. Hawk Moves! Bret Bump! Hawk clotheslines Anvil and HOT TAG TO ANIMAL!

Animal fills his victims full of dread with shoulderblocks. They set up for Doomsday Device but thwarted by Anvil. Bret hits a backbreaker on Animal and slingshots Anvil onto him. They go for a Rocket Launcher attempt and Animal catches and pins Bret!?!?!??!?!? It is not so weird they would job out the champs given that they not only lose the titles soon and also disband, but it seems weird they would let the LOD pin them clean. It was not announced as non-title so I was really taken a back by the finish. They all shake hands after the match.

I liked that match a whole lot and thought everybody played their roles perfectly. That may have been the Hart Foundation's best heel tag team performance and it was when they were ostensibly babyfaces. The LOD looked great here and it is one of the better matches I had seen them in as Hawk really delivered an inspired performance as the FIP.
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WWF Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs Earthquake & Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart MSG 3/15/91

Just weeks before, the Hart Foundation's clash with Jimmy Hart's Nasty Boys, Jimmy Hart leads Earthquake and Dino Bravo to soften up the Hart Foundation. I always liked when there was intra-stable continuity as sometimes it just seemed liked all wrestlers had in common was their manager. It is cool to see them work together. Even though, I have become quite the mark for Dino Bravo, Earthquake really impressed me in this match as this was the first Tenta match I have ever seen. I could see how that Summerslam 1990 match with Hulk Hogan could be fun and I should watch sometime down the line.

The beginning starts with the usual, perfunctory heel in peril arm work on Bravo. Bravo seems awfully subdued and Hart Foundation dont use much in the way of speed to overcome him they just impose their will. Hart Foundation were working too much as a superteam at this point. Bravo is able to get a reverse atomic drop, but Quake misses an elbow. Bret whips Anvil into Quake in their corner. Melee ensues and Bret is caught by Earthquake and slammed hard into the post. This where the match picks up.

I would be remiss not to mention that at some point, Lord Alfred says the term "cock-a-hoop", which has me, Gorilla and the Brain saying "What!?!?!" sounds like a pretty bitchin' term once I looked it up. Good job Al! Speaking of the Brain, he gets spit on my Bravo when he misses the Anvil, but Brain still defends him now that's commitment. Quake throws his weight around while Bravo gets a piledriver for 2; Anvil saved. Quake slams/elbow is broken at 2 by Anvil. Earthquake stares a hole into the Anvil. Quake slam again gets broken up. Bravo hits the bearhug.

False hot tag leads to the heels double slamming Bret. Quake jumps around to simulate an earthquake, but Anvil bulldozes him over. The Hart Foundation execute a double slam and Anvil slams Bret into Dino for the victory.

I really like the heat segment in this match as the offense was entertaining and Bret is such a good face in peril. I liked that Earthquake stood his ground and made the Harts work for it rather than how they treated Bravo as their jobber. There was actually no comeback, which was different. Bret was not afraid to change pace at his own expense. In the Demolition match Anvil looked like the world-beater and here he was again saving Bret's ass. Bret was also a fan of not always using their finish to end matches, which gave his matches a sense of unpredictably. Nothing to go out of your way to see, but further proof that Hart Foundation had improved since their heel days. Still Bret is much better singles wrestler.
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WWF Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs Nasty Boys w/Jimmy Hart - Wrestlemania VII

I love the Nasty Boys gimmick as lunkhead, cartoon goons. They remind me of the goons in the Power Rangers in a good way. Wrestling needs more teams like the Nasty Boys. For all intents and purposes the Hart Foundation were done after this and this was pretty fitting way for them to go out in a pretty mediocre match. So much of the Hart Foundation run has either been overrated or just generic. Bret was such a better singles wrestler maybe because he tried harder or had better competition or just knew how to structure his matches better in that environment. The Hart Foundation was a real disappointment. The Nasty Boys are actually pretty good in this match in terms of bumping, but holy shit was their heat segment the shits.

The match starts with Bret firing off moves on the Nasties with Knobs bumping a lot better than I remember he could. Knobs goads the Anvil in and Anvil shoulderblocks everyone to a big pop. I know Neidhart had drug problems, but if they gave the New Foundation a bit of a better name and a better push they could have been pretty good. Bret does the 10-count punches in the corner, which I have never seen him do. Did the Nasties actually contribute a spot? Bret hits his Russian Leg Sweep into the second rope elbow gets a 2. Knobs cracks Bret in the back of the neck and Sags capitalizes with a backbreaker. Then in a heat segment that felt interminable the Nasties put Bret into a succession of reverse chinlocks. Knobs accidentally hits Saggs with the megaphone. Anvil is a house afire one last time. Sags is able to save Knobs on a powerslam. Jimmy Hart's hopes for tag team gold remain alive. Bret chases Sags and Sags collides with Knobs in a funny spot. They hit the Hart Attack on Knobs , but ref is busy detaining Bret and they hit Anvil with Jimmy's motorcycle helmet for the win. Jimmy Hart's celebration is one for the ages.

The Nasty Boys were perfect transitional champions for the Legion of Doom, which were heirs presumptive to being the babyface ace tag team fucking the Rockers over in the process. The match was pretty much by the numbers and having watched the Halloween Havoc '90 match with Nasties and Steiners you see how much the WWF style can handcuff you. The Hart Foundation had a solid, but uninspiring six year run and if Bret never made it big they would be mentioned like the Bulldogs a good little team.
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The Rockers vs Hart Foundation Tokyo Dome 3/91

See Rockers vs Hart Foundation MSG 11/89. They basically do the same match verbatim only performed worse and with a finish. The Dome is not feeling this match and there is pretty much zero heat for this. The Rockers looked stoned. Bret looks wicked sick and very pale. Neither team seems very into match and just do the same spots from the MSG 89 match with no passion. The only difference is Hart Foundation add some attacks to heel it up a bit more, but to no avail the whole match feels perfunctory. The finish is that Bret rolls through Shawn's cross body and is able to get the win this time. Ostensibly because Bret was more over in Japan than the Rockers since he has worked there. Watch the 11/89 MSG match.

A team underwhelmed me throughout their tenure goes out with a whimper.
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Re-reading all of this, I acknowledge this is a bit harsh. I stand by everything I say about the booking and how well-executed it is by McMahon. However, there was a lack of great work from the Hart Foundation. Part of it is due to the Hart Foundation basically being non-existent in 1989 and a lack of game opponents save for the Rockers in this era. I do not think this is a run that is a blight on Bret Hart's career, but a series of wasted years. When you are vying for greatest wrestler you can not afford wasted years. He is undeniably a great singles wrestler throughout this run and when they pulled the trigger he surely made the most of it. However, as a tag wrestler he leaves a lot to be desired.

Up next will either be Demolition vol. 2: Walking Disaster or The Best of The Dream Team: The Hammer Swings Down.