My review was written in February 1988 after watching the show on MGM/UA video cassette.
This wrestling tape documents a number of National Wrestling Alliance matches held in the south last year, spotlighting two editions of "War Games", a clever new-style match involving multiple wrestlers. Though the production values (particularly the sound, with commentary inaudible at times) are not great, the program definitely is entertaining for the fans.
The so-called "War Games" pit two teams against each other with the gimmick that after a 5-minute, one-on-one preliminary, a new wrestler enters every two minutes from alternating teams. This automatically creates an unbalanced count in the ring, so the fans can enjoy one team momentarily ganging up on the other. At the finale, the "Match Beyond" begins with all ten men squaring off until someone cries uncle and submits. Happily, the good guys, composed of the Road Warriors, their manager and the team of Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff (not surprisingly, the Russian is a good guy in Ted Turner's affiliated wrestling league) prevail both times. Another nice touch is the use of two adjacent rings, both fully enclosed (top included).
Highlights of other matches include a very bloody "Lights Out" match (no rules) between Rhodes and archenemy Tully Blanchard, in which the ring is surrounded by barbed wire: a brutal championship match inside a steel cage in which challenger Jimmy Garvin almost pulls off champ Ric Flair's trunks; and very exciting choreography for a title tag team match.
This wrestling tape documents a number of National Wrestling Alliance matches held in the south last year, spotlighting two editions of "War Games", a clever new-style match involving multiple wrestlers. Though the production values (particularly the sound, with commentary inaudible at times) are not great, the program definitely is entertaining for the fans.
The so-called "War Games" pit two teams against each other with the gimmick that after a 5-minute, one-on-one preliminary, a new wrestler enters every two minutes from alternating teams. This automatically creates an unbalanced count in the ring, so the fans can enjoy one team momentarily ganging up on the other. At the finale, the "Match Beyond" begins with all ten men squaring off until someone cries uncle and submits. Happily, the good guys, composed of the Road Warriors, their manager and the team of Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff (not surprisingly, the Russian is a good guy in Ted Turner's affiliated wrestling league) prevail both times. Another nice touch is the use of two adjacent rings, both fully enclosed (top included).
Highlights of other matches include a very bloody "Lights Out" match (no rules) between Rhodes and archenemy Tully Blanchard, in which the ring is surrounded by barbed wire: a brutal championship match inside a steel cage in which challenger Jimmy Garvin almost pulls off champ Ric Flair's trunks; and very exciting choreography for a title tag team match.
