Glass Hand Dissolving: North-South Connection

 

vs Abdullah the Butch & Brian Blair (NJPW 7/16/1983)

This is surprisingly cordial for an Abdullah match; he and Murdoch fight over a top wrist lock for a significant portion. With that said, you can see a certain urgency, especially from Adonis, when Abdullah is in the match compared to when Blair is in there. It is striking how even Murdoch works with Abdullah; Murdoch almost works a heat on Abdullah at one point, and Blair comes in some approximation of a hot tag. Adonis gets some really good-looking punches off on Blair, follows up with some more strikes, and tags in Murdoch. Murdoch hits a brainbuster, but only gets two. Murdoch tags in Adonis, and Adrian gets overzealous with his strikes and ends up eating an atomic drop. Blair climbs to the top rope, but Adonis throws him off. Adonis goes up to the top himself, hits an elbow, and the three count. This was fine, not the Abdullah match you'd want to see, and Adonis especially looks good. 

vs Rocky Johnson & Tony Atlas (WWF 2/19/1984)

The teams get into it before the bell, and Rocky Johnson is fired up. He's so fired up, Atlas has to calm him down, and won't even let him start the match. Atlas and Murdoch start off, and Atlas takes it to Murdoch early, and Murdoch has to tag out. Adonis kicks Atlas in the gut, and Atlas sells it like the wind has been knocked out of him. He's writhing on the mat, and while he's doing that, Murdoch talks over and elbows him in the head a bunch, and then Adonis comes over and slingshots Atlas' throat into the bottom rope. Adonis takes it to Atlas from here, and goes up to the top rope. Atlas gets to his feet before Adonis comes off the top, Atlas punches Adonis in the gut, and Adonis crotches himself on the top turnbuckle. Johnson finally gets in and clears house. Murdoch fights for a little space, and he tosses Johnson outside of the ring. Adonis comes over and throws Johnson into the timekeeper's table. When he gets back in the ring, Murdoch is ready and unloads with punches. Adonis and Murdoch tag in and out, but they can't ever get the pin. That frustration boils over, and they give up on trying to win; they both just get in the ring and go after Johnson. Tony Atlas comes in to even the odds, and the referee has lost control and has to throw the match out. This was pretty good; there's a perception that Adonis and Murdoch just take turns stooging to impress each other, but that hasn't been the case so far. I would say both of these matches have not been that at all, and Adonis and Murdoch have actually worked with some urgency and malice.

vs Tony Garea & SD Jones (WWF 5/5/1984)

Murdoch and then Adonis take it to Garea, but then Adonis gets caught up in the ropes, and Garea tees off. Murdoch comes in to save Adonis, which buys Adonis enough time, but Murdoch eats a few shots doing it. Adonis and Murdoch tag in and out and continue to work over Garea. Murdoch grabs a headlock and attempts to grind Garea down, but after a bit Garea fights out and grabs an abdominal stretch, which brings Adonis over to break it up. In all the action, Garea gets to the corner and tags in SD Jones, but the ref doesn't see it. While the referee is taking care of Jones, Adonis and Murdoch gang up on Garea. Murdoch is working over Garea, but Garea gets enough room to kick Murdoch off, which ends up with Murdoch over near SD Jones. Murdoch goes over to knock Jones off the apron, but Jones nails Murdoch with a headbutt, and Murdoch sells it like he got shot. This is where we see Murdoch and Adonis stooging to the nth degree, just bumping like crazy, which is entertaining, and when they cut off Jones, it makes that moment stand out. We see the team's finish, where Murchoch hits a backbreaker and then Adonis hits a running Bret Hart elbow, which is a great finish. Murdoch follows that up with an elbow of his own and the match is over. You see where the stooging might take away from some matches, but man, I loved it here. They just make the hot tag seem like the most impactful thing in the world, like the world is on fire, and then they cut it off and start kicking ass. I wish we had longer matches from these guys. 

vs Mil Mascaras & SD Jones (WWF 6/15/1984)

We join this match in progress, with SD Jones hitting a big arm drag on Adonis and tagging in Mascaras.  Murdoch comes in and stomps on Mascaras to break up a submission on Adonis. Murdoch tags in to make things legal, and grabs an arm. Mascaras sneaks out of the hold and applies a full nelson. Murdoch backs him into the corner, and on the break takes it to Mascaras. He grabs an arm and tags in Adonis, and he goes back to the arm. Quick tags keep Adonis and Murdoch fresh, and they need to be because Mascaras continually arm-drags out of the hold. Adonis and Murdoch start to double-team Mascaras, which brings in Jones, but the referee works to send him back to his corner, which opens Mascaras up for more attacks from Adonis and Murdoch. Murdoch goes back to the arm, but Mascaras fights over to his corner and tags in Jones. Jones goes after Murdoch, and Murdoch begs off; Adonis tries to sneak in and blindside Jones, but SD is too smart for him. SD Jones gets a bit overzealous, and Murdoch cuts him off with a kick to the gut. Murdoch takes over, grinding SD Jones down; he tags in Adonis, who hits a running powerslam, but only gets two. Jones fires up for a second, but Adonis cuts him off, and tags Murdoch back in. Murdoch is back on top, but Jones nails a couple headbutts and gets to his corner to tag in Mascaras. Mascaras takes it to Murdoch, and then Adonis when he tags in. Adonis gets trapped in the ropes, and when he gets himself out, he pouts out of the ring, leaving Murdoch to contend with Mascaras. Mil gets a bit overconfident and goes after Adonis with Murdoch still in the ring, which ends with Adonis and Murdoch double-teaming Mascaras. Mascaras has to crawl over to his corner, but he gets in there, and in comes SD Jones. Adonis starts to stooge big here; he's bumping all over. SD Jones starts running the ropes, and Adonis pops up and grabs a sleeper. Mzxcaras has to come in and break up the hold, which the referee has to address. That creates an opening for Murdoch to hit a knee drop off the top rope; Adonis goes for the cover, and Mascaras tries to break it up, but doesn't get there in time.

vs Jack & Jerry Brisco (WWF 11/24/1984)

This isn't the longer, more hyped version of this match, which is good, but something I've already seen. Jack and Murdoch start off, and Jack Brisco uses arm drags to get the advantage, and tags in Jerry. Jerry is in control, but is totally suprised with Murdoch leapfrogs him coming off the ropes, and that allows Adonis to come in. Adonis comes in and runs full speed into Jerry's amateur wrestling spots. Jack comes in and Adrian stooges for Jack for a bit before tagging in Murdoch. Jack grabs Murdoch's arm and gets to work. Murdoch pulls Jack's hair to get out of the hold, and goes to town with elbows. Murdoch hits an Oklahoma Stampede for a count of two. Adonis tags in; he and Murdoch get a double elbow, which Adonis follows up with the running Bret Hart elbow, but only gets two. Murdoch hits an elbow, but only gets two. Murdoch goes for a big back body drop, but Jack rolls out and grabs a pinning combination. Adonis has to come off the top rope to break it up; Jerry runs in to even up the odds, and all four are in the ring, Briscos hit double leap frogs, followed by double drop kicks, and double figure-four leg locks. I don't like those kinds of convoluted team spots; I don't like them in lucha, even if I give them more grace, and I don't like them here; they just show the seams a bit too much for me. This is short and never really gets going, and I hated the finish. Not a highlight. 

Verdict

A pretty solid tag team. The types of matches we have aren't the sort that you can really make an all-time great team, and I don't know if they have an argument at all in that regard, but this is one of the more enjoyable teams thus far. We see there's a bit of a formula in some of the matches, but it works. Both guys can bump and stooge, both guys can grind and pummel guys in the heat segments, and both guys have good and convincing offense. They have all the parts; if they were a team for longer, or had a larger resume of longer matches, they might be a top-tier team. They aren't, but they're still a very good team.