Glass Hand Dissolving: Chris Adams & Gino Hernandez

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vs Kerry Von Erich & Mike Von Erich (WCCW 11/26/1984)

I went back and rewatched this like 5 times, because none of it really stood out, besides a few minor things: Mike Von Erich is bad, it is what it is, there's not a whole lot you can do with him, he can't even really sell compellingly. The Von Erich, by design, eat up a lot of any match they're in, so anything like this is going to have a certain ceiling on it. Chris Adams looks really good beating up Kerry. Outside of those things, this is a match, and I think so much of this team's resume being against the Von Erichs is going to put them at a disadvantage.

vs The Great Kabuki & Scott Casey (WCCW 5/5/1985)

Two matches in, and I'm starting to think Gino Hernandez is a guy whose reputation exceeds what you see in the footage. I just don't see it, in the ring anyway. On the other hand, Chris Adams is great. He is compelling in the ring, his stuff looks good, and he can get beaten up when it's called for. I have a certain esteem for Kabuki, especially in World Class; he carries the promotion before the Freebirds show up. He's fine here; Scott Casey is something less than that. This is a fine match, but nothing worth writing home about. 

vs Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich (WCCW 9/22/1985)

Another match where Gino is there, and not bad, but everything that stands out is done by Chris Adams, and almost all of that stuff is with Kerry. The Tulsa crowd is hot for this match, and Kevin and Kerry work to keep them that way. They don’t spend a lot of time on defense and pretty much take it to the Dynamic Duo. Another fine but not outstanding match. 

vs Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich (WCCW 10/28/1985)

This is for the vacant tag team titles. The Dynamic Duo got their heads shaved in the month since the last match. It has really added a wrinkle to their act that they really didn't have before. Both guys were and still are over as heels, and they wrestle like heels, but not like a heel team. The masks allow them to do that in a way that gives the match an added layer that the earlier matches were missing. The Von Erichs also show a little more ass here, not a lot, but the underhanded tactics of the Duo get the best of them more here. Adams switches out for Gion after Gino is in the claw for a while. He hits the superkick and pins Kevin with a handful of tights to win the tag titles. Hands down the best match so far, not quite, but almost an entirely different team with the masks. 

vs Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich (WCCW 11/28/1985)

I thought the previous match, the first with the masks, was the best of this set. This is probably the worst. A lot of that is that the format, with two extra referees but no rules in the cage, makes everything lack cohesion. Guys pair off, they fight, nothing happens, and then they might swap opponents, or not. There’s some mask pulling, some claws, some superkicks, and it’s not like the crowd isn’t hot; it’s just a lot more of the personalities involved and not the match.

Verdict

So, I've seen the TV, the Dallas stuff anyway, of this run. As the part of that weekly TV, the Dynamic Duo are a strong team that really do add quite a bit. They pretty much are the MVPs of 1985 and a big part of 1984. As a team in the ring, and in the environment they are in, in terms of of working with the Von Erichs in Texas, they are fine, but the situation requires, or maybe makes it easy, matches to take on a certain structure or element that just isn't going to be something that stands out from a strictly wrestling persepective. 

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