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| The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Barry Orton |
Fare thee well, Barry. We hardly knew ye.
5. Barbarian John Nord Vs. Shawn Michaels (3/22/85)
Watch Here
Watch Here
Oh shit, I should do some research before going into this. Nord the Barbarian is The Berzerker? Man, I feel like my mind is going to be blown while going through this library time and again while making the connections to these ridiculous WWF/E characters. Common knowledge for every wrestling historian? Probably - but new to me. I LOVE The Berzerker.
I do think this VHS A Day in the Life of Nord The Barbarian (1987, available on Amazon and Vimeo) will help me (and you) greatly with our collective wrestling history knowledge and thirst for entertainment. Watch it, please.
Anyway, this match. I have to imagine it's only on the website because it features Shawn Michaels from 30 years ago, at age 20. If you're wondering, he doesn't get a single move in. The video starts with Nord wailing on Shawn, before picking him up with one arm and giving him a pretty gnarly bodyslam. Nord is huge in this match. He's big in the VHS video and was big as The Berzerker, but he is Goldberg-like peak athlete scary looking here. Nord destroys Shawn in a minute or so with a full nelson. 0.5 Stars.
6. Barry Orton Vs. Dr. Death Steve Williams (6/8/84)
The coding on the website is wonky for this match (and a few others I've come across, so the video doesn't show up - but it DOES exist, through the Cleeng server. My link should take you there if you have an NWA Classics account.
Our sweet prince Barry Orton doesn't stand a chance against babyface Steve Williams here. This match is prior to Williams getting huge and teaming up with DiBiase, so he is a little more frumpy, a little more friendly and whole lot less Dr. Death here. His offense is actually pretty terrible, and while I know it took Dr. Death a while to become what people would consider a GOOD worker in the ring, his style in this match barely makes sense (where it did against the Guerreros a year later). He's this huge, wide dude and his main offense is jumping elbow smashes to a standing opponent. I'm sorry, but Steve Williams should throw huge punches, huge clotheslines and throw his opponent all around the ring, not do arm bars and jumping elbow smashes.
Barry gets a few offensive moves in here and there, a back elbow, some knees, but this is almost all Dr. Death, who wins with the Oklahoma Stampede, without the turnbuckle (boo). This match didn't do much for me, but the crowd was great. Don't worry Barry - we'll always have the Leaping Lanny battle. 1.25 stars
7. Two-Ring Battle Royal (12/27/84)
I'm a sucker for battle royals. They almost never deliver anything resembling quality, but from a an entertainment standpoint with wrestling, I've always grown up with the belief that if I can see ALL my favorite wrestlers at the same time, then it's gotta be a great match. Obviously, this isn't the case - but I still have a soft spot for battle royals and the mystery of just who will win.
This is a "two-ring" battle royal, which means you have to get thrown from the first ring into the second ring and then eliminated out of the second ring. I don't know if that means you CAN'T get eliminated to the floor from the first ring or not. Usually these come down to the last person in the first ring squaring off with the last person in the second ring. Also of note: There must be multiple ways to be eliminated, Kamala gets counted out, Buddy Landell/Rip Oliver (Bruce Tharpe can't decide who it is) gets pinned, and some people go through the middle ropes. This isn't the Royal Rumble, this is Houston, baby!
The talent in this match is pretty unbelievable though: Ted DiBiase, Jim Duggan, Ernie Ladd, Buddy Landell, Kerry Von Erich, Hercules Hernandez, Gino Hernandez, Kamala, Steve Williams, Los Guerreros, The Rock N Roll Express, Iceman King Parsons, Butch Reed, Jack Victory, Wahoo McDaniel, Billy Jack Haynes, etc. It's really cool to see all these folks together.
The match itself is mostly forgettable: It's only about 10 minutes long and is mostly punches, kicks and elbows with an occasional throw or slam. It comes down to Butch Reed, Hercules and Buddy Landell, though Tharpe calls him Rip Oliver. It's a dude with blond hair and stubbly beard, and he doesn't win; the important thing. Butch Reed DOES win, which is foreshadowing for our next installment of NWA Classics reviews. He cuts a pretty amazing 80s promo in the ring after his victory, calling out Landell and Kamala and is clearly over as a babyface. Entertaining enough, but nothing special. 2.0 stars.
This wasn't the best set of matches ever, but I'm still being entertained by the whole endeavor and I'm pretty sure we'll have some great matches coming soon.
Next Time: Butch Reed takes on all comers!
The match itself is mostly forgettable: It's only about 10 minutes long and is mostly punches, kicks and elbows with an occasional throw or slam. It comes down to Butch Reed, Hercules and Buddy Landell, though Tharpe calls him Rip Oliver. It's a dude with blond hair and stubbly beard, and he doesn't win; the important thing. Butch Reed DOES win, which is foreshadowing for our next installment of NWA Classics reviews. He cuts a pretty amazing 80s promo in the ring after his victory, calling out Landell and Kamala and is clearly over as a babyface. Entertaining enough, but nothing special. 2.0 stars.
This wasn't the best set of matches ever, but I'm still being entertained by the whole endeavor and I'm pretty sure we'll have some great matches coming soon.
Next Time: Butch Reed takes on all comers!
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