Glass Hand Dissolving: The Fantastics

vs The Midnight Express (Gulf Coast 8/31/1984)

The crowd is super heated for this; they especially want to see The Fantatics get to Cornette, which they tease a few times. It is their pursuit of Cornette that leads them to ending up on the receiving end of some of the Midnight Express' offense, and even some cheap shots from Cornette. Bobby Fulton is on the receiving end of this, and finally fights his way over to his corner and tags in Tommy Rogers. Rogers has some early success, but Condrey grabs a handful of his hair while he's running the ropes. The Midnights work a pretty smothering heat segment on Rogers, with very little shine. Rogers finally gets in some offense, chiefly a dropkick that leaves both he and Bobby Eaton down, which leads directly into a double hot tag. In the midst of all four wrestlers being in the ring, Eaton throws Rogers into the referee. Condrey bodyslams Fulton, but Eaton misses a top-rope elbow drop. The referee rolls into the ring and counts three as Fulton covers Condrey. This is a very solid territory tag team match, between two teams that are at the absolute peak of that style. 

vs Bill Dundee & Dutch Mantell (Memphis 8/4/1985)

I don't really enjoy Memphis wrestling. It's not all bad, but like, if you gave me the 100 greatest Lawler matches of all time, I might like 20 of them, and probably like them less than most people. So, while I don't think this is bad, the sort of Memphis stooging that Dundee, and to a lesser extent Mantell, does just doesn't travel that far for me, and so a big chunk of this being built around Dundee doing that sort of schtick, which is his bread and butter and what the crowd enjoys, just isn't going to be my thing. So, the bulk of this match, doesn't quite do anything for me. The closing stretch is a bit of a mess, but in a good way, so it's not a total loss, but yeah, not my thing, not as good as the last match. 

vs The Sheepherders (JCP 4/19/1986)

This is a Meltzer FIVE STAR match. I've watched it before. It didn't stand out to me, and it didn't make my Top 100 JCP/WCW matches list. But I figured it was worth reevaluating. This is heated, and the brawling is good, but that's about it. There is no finish, despite the fact that the guys spend the whole match disregarding the rules and fighting on the outside; the referee calls for a disqualification after a flagpole gets involved. I think this getting the full five, when five was still full, and then not being available in its entirety for years has done a disservice to this match, because it is a fine match, but it just isn't on the level of the expectations set for it. It is a nice contrast from the standard territory tag match, and a feather in the cap of the Fantastics, but it's not an all-timer. 

vs The Malenkos (AJPW 7/15/1989)

This is six minutes of all action. It never stops or drags; guys pop in and out, break up falls, assist with moves, double-team, it is a real hoot. Malenkos win with a dropkick-assisted German suplex. A great, quick tag match with no heat, no shine, just a quick match with a ton of action. 

vs Harlem Heat (WCW 2/25/1995)

We watched a 1995 Fantastics WCW match against the Blue Bloods earlier, and they still do all the same things, but it is 1995 and the magic is gone. It is shocking to see how much bigger Booker T and Stevie Ray are; they just tower over Bobby and Tommy. The Fantastics get a lot of this match, and do a good job of fitting this match into a pretty standard, but believable underdog match. All of that comes to nothing, as Sherri trips Tommy, Booker T hits a Harlem sidekick, and Harlem Heat get the win. 

Verdict

I recently watched a good chunk of the JCP from 1988, so I came into this holding The Fantastics in pretty high esteem. They aren't the Midnights, but they may be better than the Rock n Rolls, and these 5 don't do anything to dissuade me of that idea. They don't do much to cement themselves as an all-time great team either.