Great Moments in Babyface History: 1991











Rob Zakowski* vs Rikki Nelson, 9 August 1991, Taylorsville, NC (South Atlantic Pro Wrestling)

  • That moment when career babyface Nelson (in black trunks) played heel in a match against rookie babyface Zakowski (in blue), who later in the decade turned heel under a different name. In a way it's one of those two-ships-passing-in-the-night moments.
  • That moment when any two junior-heavyweight babyfaces square off against each other in the squared circle, both blond, both muscular with a marshmellow-y coating of baby fat, both apparently capable of sweating on command.
  • That moment when one of these two babyfaces is Rikki Nelson, who had already made a pretty good career of getting the shit kicked out of him by the likes of Ivan Koloff, Dick Murdoch, and Bobby Eaton, among others.
  • That moment when referee Brandon Watson finds not just one, not two, but three opportunities to squeeze himself between the two well-oiled bodies of Nelson and Zabowski (see the first GIF, above, for the third opportunity)--that moment when I realize I sorta pissed away my one and only shot as ref.
  • That same moment when Nelson aims a balled-up fist at Zakowski's face but Zakowski beats him to the punch, but the ref sees only Zakowski breaking the rules and misjudges the situation--"a tremendous blow in the corner," the ringside commentator says, setting my heart aflutter.
  • That not-so-great moment when I realize this match is not going to end the way I would like it to.
* shortly before he became Rob Van Dam


Comments

  1. They're so very young and in their prime! As you know, I think that jobbing is a huge waste of talent! For me, this match shows why. Nelson in particular.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes I saw this match appear on YouTube and was glad to see it again. I had it on VHS tape decades ago and probably wore out the tape rewinding and re-playing. They're both so scrappy and cute and aggressive, like puppies romping around.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This match doesn't appear in either of their histories at Cagematch. Rob is shown using this gimmick only from mid-June to mid-July 1991. None of his five such matches involved Rikki.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I did find these three matches between them listed on Wrestlingdata:

    Taylorsville
    1991/08/09 @ Taylorsville, North Carolina (United States of America)
    Rikki Nelson vs. Rob Zakowski had no winner because of a time limit draw
    SAPW @ Gastonia

    1991/08/10 @ Gastonia, North Carolina (United States of America)
    Rob Zakowski defeated Rikki Nelson

    SAPW @ Lincolnton
    1991/08/14 @ Lincolnton, North Carolina (United States of America)
    Rob Zakowski defeated Rikki Nelson

    ReplyDelete


  5. I nearly missed these two:

    SAPW @ Albemarle
    1991/08/01 @ Albemarle, North Carolina (United States of America)
    Rikki Nelson (c) vs. Rob Zakowski had no winner because of a time limit draw [SAPW Junior Heavyweight Title]





    SAPW @ Sanford
    1991/08/08 @ Sanford, North Carolina (United States of America)
    Rikki Nelson (c) vs. Rob Zakowski had no winner because of a time limit draw [SAPW Junior Heavyweight Title]

    ReplyDelete
  6. Personally, I think that I'd have preferred seeing the Albemarle and Sanford time limit draws rather than any of the three wins by Rob.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Archive

Show more