Wiskwoski/Rose vs Mayne/Bass - 2/3 falls - 12/3/77
All I saw was the third fall and the post match but man it's awesome. It starts with Rose and Ed dissecting Bass' back (presumably they had just gotten the second fall with the Robinson backbreaker; that's how these often go). Bass is really good at making things look like a fight. He gets the hot tag and Mayne gets opened up on the outside after his crazy corner bump. They REALLY target the wound. REALLY target. Wiskowski hits something like seven falling headbutts in a row and eventually they get DQed for hitting the ref during a double team. After that it totally breaks down with all four guys killing each other AND the refs (one of which being Dutch Savage so he fights back). It ends with Savage holding up the belts and Buddy cutting a great promo talking about how he's catching his own blood in his hands. This sets up a final match where the losers leave. I also saw a bloody Moondog chewing on glass.
Wiskowski/Rose vs Skip Young/Snuka 2/3 falls - 12/10/77
This is non title. A lot of great heel teamwork on Young. Good southern style stuff. Rose and Wiskowski were really a force here. The ref would look away for a second and that's all the time they'd need to do something heinous. Young comes back with some real fancyfoot work to take a fall. The second fall has a hot tag to Snuka and him doing his thing before picking up the win with a full nelson. Post match has Ed being a pretty dull racist heatseeker Rose being a quick on his feet racist heatseeker.
Rose vs Snuka - January(?) 1978
I love the stalling in this because there's a level of cowardly desperation you never see from the usual suspects. Rose just DIVES out of the ring at top speed to get away. When we finally get in the ring we get lots of Snuka athleticism (Which is a little more impressive in 78 than a few years later) and Rose eating a bunch of arm drags and rope running for him. Rose does such great little things. He'll get a "hope" spot, by subtly grabbing the hair. He doesn't get an edge up on Snuka without some little factor working into it. He's so good at both showing ass and seeming devious. Or being devious and THEN showing ass. Snuka does a surprisingly good job really wrenching the arm and Rose makes him look like a million bucks in the selling. This is basically a comedy match where Rose keeps getting a leg up only to get immediate comeuppance. It climaxes with Rose tossing Snuka off the ropes when he goes for the Superfly splash too early only to get tossed off himself a moment later. i thought for sure that was going to be a transition so it was a funny, surprising moment.
They pull the real transition a minute later with Snuka missing a cross body, though at this point there's only two minutes remaining on the time limit. Rose hits a lot of offense quickly but still sells the earlier punishment. He's really selling everything Snuka does here too, whether it be a kick out or a snap roll up. It makes everything have more meaning in this setting. Snuka takes back over and keeps trying to go for a finish whether it be the full nelson or a cradle, but the time runs out.
This isn't what i'd rank against other more competitive matches as a great match, but Rose and Snuka basically did everything that they were supposed to and they did it well and it had exact effect it was supposed to which was to whet the crowd's appetite for the Buddy/Ed vs Snuka/Ventura match on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment