The Blue Blazer vs. Mr. Perfect
So after returning back to 1985 for the Vintage Vaults and spending most of our time in the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden, we finally venture outside of the Garden and into the Meadowlands Arena. The reason was because the Garden was being renovated and we won’t be back in the building until the fall, but we do still have this show here at the Meadowlands to air on the MSG Network. As I mentioned at the previous MSG house show, there were a lot of guys on the roster that were in an interesting position and looking to step up in the midcard. We already talked about Mr. Perfect who was clearly being positioned as one of the top heels in the midcard, but one guy that was in an really interesting spot at this point was the Blue Blazer. Even though he had clearly shown that he was one of the best in-ring workers at the time, it was pretty clear there was no room for him at this point and he wouldn’t last much longer after Wrestlemania. He was still in a good spot where he could have good matches with other guys, but more often than not he would be putting guys over and making them look strong with one of them being Perfect which he already did back at WM V.
Since their match back at Wrestlemania, they would face off again in Italy on 4/8 which Perfect would win, and then Perfect would spend the rest of April working with Bret Hart with their matches usually going to time limit draws. Blazer would mainly work the TV tapings and both men were part of a battle royal on 5/1 in Hamilton, and Perfect would continue to work with Bret while Blazer would face Greg Valentine on the house shows. It was interesting to see them face off again here instead of their regular opponents, and in an even more interesting turn Bret would face Valentine at this show so they could’ve easily flipped the matches though you knew both would still be good regardless.
This was a good match to open the show and Perfect was pretty hot as a heel while Blazer got a good pop from the crowd. The two men square off to start the match and they lock up with Perfect backing Blazer into the corner, but Blazer blocks a shot and winds up for a punch only for the ref to stop him. They lock up again with Perfect hitting an armdrag and they lockup again with Perfect hitting a hiptoss, and they lock up a third time with Perfect hitting a fireman’s carry and he taunts Blazer as they exchange shoves. Perfect backs Blazer into the corner and hits a chop only for Blazer to reverse a whip into the other corner, and he hits a hiptoss and a slam on Perfect before hitting a dropkick that sends Perfect to the outside. Perfect regroups on the floor before returning to the ring and they lock up with Blazer hooking a headlock, but Perfect gets a shot in and hooks a headlock of his own until Blazer whips him off and hits an armdrag. Perfect regroups in the corner and they lock up again with Blazer hitting a slam and a dropkick that sends Perfect to the outside again, and Blazer hits a baseball slide on Perfect and pounds on him before going up top only to miss a dive as he lands on the floor. Perfect pounds on Blazer and throws him back into the ring as he stomps on him and he pounds on him, and he hits a snapmare and a neck snap on Blazer before posting for the crowd and he drives the knee into Blazer’s head. Perfect hits a kneelift on Blazer and hooks a submission on before pounding on him, and he hits a standing dropkick on Blazer and stomps on him as Blazer falls through the ropes to the floor. Blazer gets on the apron and Perfect pounds on him before ramming him into the buckle, and Blazer returns to the ring as Perfect kicks at him repeatedly and stomps on him before hooking an abdominal stretch on. He kicks at Blazer and rams him into the buckle before hitting a snapmare and stomping on him, and he slaps Blazer in the head repeatedly as Blazer tries to battle back only for Perfect to whip him into the corner though Blazer catches him with a boot to the face. Blazer goes up to the middle rope and hits a missile dropkick on Perfect before stomping on him in the corner and pounding on him, and he hits a standing dropkick on Perfect and goes up to the middle rope as he drops an elbow on him for a two count. Blazer hits a backdrop on Perfect who begs off in the corner and Blzaer stomps and pounds on him before kicking at him, and Blazer hits a kneelift on Perfect and then he hits a backbreaker for a two count. He pounds on Perfect and knocks him down before going up top and hitting another missile dropkick, and he whips Perfect into the corner only for Perfect to catch him with a boot to the face. Blazer reverses a whip and hits a powerslam for a two count as he pounds on him, and Perfect reverses a whip and Blazer ducks a shot only for Perfect to hoist him up and hotshot him on the top rope before hitting the Perfect-Plex which gets the three and he wins the match.
The match itself was pretty good as both men worked hard and put on a solid match though it was a slight notch below their match at Wrestlemania. It’s pretty interesting since this match was longer than the match at Wrestlemania and you would figure that they would put on a better match with more time, but it didn’t quite reach the same level of the Wrestlemania match. That’s not an indictment on this match because it was still a very solid match for the 11 minutes that it got, and as I mentioned this was a solid choice to be the opener of the show. This was a good showcase for Blazer as he got some good shine in the match while Perfect worked in his usual offense, and they still had pretty good chemistry as Perfect gets another clean win over Blazer. The crowd was into the match and Blazer, but are not happy when Perfect gets the win. Perfect gets the win over Blazer to open up the show and both men move on.
Final Grade: ***
