I have a little time, so I wanted to give you guys a little more, hence the DOUBLE SHOT this morning. We have the former Texas Outlaws in separate matches in two of my favorite territories – JCP & Houston Wrestling.

NWA Worldwide 01/02/1988

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff def. Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (champions with JJ Dillon) by DQ in 9:32. Nikita is still bald here but is also noticeably smaller in stature. I like my Nikita baldheaded and jacked to the fucking gills, dammit! I realize I’m probably personally responsible for so many guys of this era dropping dead, and I apologize, but we aren’t far off from crew-cut Nikita, which was the kiss of death for the man. This was very much what you’d expect with Tully and Arn bumping their asses off for the Superpowers. They had two commercial breaks in the middle of this match, so we lost what appeared to be a good chunk. The Horsemen worked over Dusty’s arm and made constant tags and double-teams, drawing a ton of heat. The champions entered pinball mode when Nikita was tagged in, feeding perfectly for the former Scott Simpson. Arn broke up a pinfall attempt on Tully after the sickle and launched Nikita over the top for the VERY fucking lame DQ at 9:32. Fucking Dusty! Ric Flair ran down to make it three-on-two until LEX LUGER ran in for an enormous pop to even the sides and brawl with Arn to the back. I at least liked the concept of the post-match because Lex ended up brawling with a member of the group that turned on him (and Lex was about to work a singles program with Arn) and wasn’t out there specifically to help the babyfaces he had feuded with for a year. Still, I wouldn’t say I like the super lame and predictable finish for this era. The best part is that this was all to sell you a ticket to house show matches where the same thing would happen. Excellent action, but a bad ending. ***1/4

Houston Wrestling 10/08/1982

Dick Murdoch def. Terry Gordy in 11:49. Gordy was only twenty-one here, but still fucking tremendous. He was also in excellent shape. They started slow to build everything, but Gordy mixed in these big, athletic bumps to appease the crowd as the heel. Dick Murdoch, quite the agile big man himself, did three consecutive nip-ups when Gordy had a wristlock. Damn, Murdoch is one of those guys who’s become forgotten far too much as time passes. All their strikes looked good, and Gordy got some pretty good heat working over Captain Redneck. They worked this somewhat non-formulaic, doing more of a back-and-forth thing, making it even better. Murdoch pulled off the prettiest sunset flip that Gordy took so gracefully for a fucking remarkable near fall. They had another near fall when Murdoch got a rollup, but was sent crashing to the floor instead. Murdoch took some really good bumps and did some athletic things for a big man, but Gordy did that with an almost hypnotic agility to watch move around and get from Point A to Point B. The crowd got into so many of the nearfalls; the finish with Murdoch winning with a backdrop and elbow drop at 11:49 was a little flat. Still, watch this now! Two of the best big men ever working their asses off. ***3/4