09/06/1996 World Championship Wrestling 

The Kansas Jayhawks def. Ole Anderson & Arn Anderson by DQ in 10:02.  

Here we have Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers playing a wrestling tag team from Kansas against two of the Four Horsemen. I love Dutch and liked Jaggers in different places, but this team, as babyfaces in this incarnation, was a waste of both. As far as this match itself went, Dutch and Jaggers dominated for a good eighty percent of it, ironically similar to the way the Andersons normally would, with some holds and working body parts, only without the intensity of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. JJ did commentary, and one thing I always enjoyed about JJ when he sat in was that he called the action mostly straight and had no problem admitting when his men were in trouble. He was putting over Dutch and Jaggers pretty strongly since they were still relatively newcomers in JCP. Dutch got the hot tag from Jaggers and was pretty fucking fired up, but it didn’t take long for Ole to come off the top with JJ’s shoe on Dutch for a lame DQ. The match was solid, but very one-sided, and the finish was awful. **1/2 

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09/20/1986 NWA Worldwide 

NWA National Title Match: Wahoo McDaniel def. Tully Blanchard by DQ in 12:27 

Tully was fucking awesome here, bumping around for Wahoo’s chops like no one’s business. Unlike the guys today, Blanchard sold the mighty blows by powdering outside and selling like his body was hurt. Wahoo’s history in the territory is DEEP, so the crowd was going wild for him throughout, no matter what he was doing. Wahoo took a great posting when Dillon distracted him, and Tully snuck behind him on the floor. Later, JJ got on the apron with his shoe, and Wahoo grabbed him, causing the referee to break it up. Tully took advantage by nailing Wahoo with a piledriver (illegal in the territory) behind the ref’s back. When it looked like Tully was going to walk away with the title, Tommy Young came out and talked to Randy Anderson, and the call was reversed due to the piledriver. I didn’t mind the DQ as much here because it wasn’t done nearly as lazily as the Andersons’ match. Plus, Tully worked his ass off for the legend here. ***1/2 

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07/01/1986 JCP Great American Bash 

NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair (C) def. Hawk by DQ 11:43

This show was held at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the first city on the Bash tour, drawing a paltry 10,900 in the stadium setting. This match was the pair’s first singles, and while they certainly would go on to have better, you can see the early template of their future bouts. Hawk was still learning how to sell, and his offense was very limited, as he used a press slam at three different points in the just-over-eleven minutes. Flair bumped and sold his ass off, working incredibly hard to make it work, and did a good job making the match passable overall. There was a spot where Flair ducked a Hawk shoulder tackle, and the Roadie knocked down Tommy Young. Hawk hit a kind of convoluted vertical version of Abyss’s shock treatment move, where he drops his opponent onto his shoulder from a backbreaker position. Tommy Young recovered and called for the bell, and the fans thought he was awarding Hawk the title, and they went wild. Tommy even walled over to Hawk with the title, DROPPED his arms, and walked over to Flair and raised his hand. Jesus, that was stupid. Not only was the Dusty finish in itself, but a clear accident by Hawk was an even worse way to do it. The match was still decent due to Flair, but the finish was the shits. **

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