Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Memphis by Midnight :: Across the USA

Jerry Lawler vs. Ric Flair (8-14-82) - 5

In his greatest attempt to possess the coveted NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Lawler would beguile Flair into putting the belt on the line in a match that was originally supposed to have Flair facing a jobber, non-title. Jerry's mic skills were on great display here, showing how he could twist his words and seem cool and confident while doing so. Flair thought he had Lawler in the palm of his hand, but Lawler kept hanging in there with Flair, rolling around on the mat and catching Flair for reversals like a bug zapper catches a mosquito. Flair did a great job selling, making Lawler look like a serious threat to his status as champion, and Lawler got his chance to prove his legitimacy as a wrestler and took it. Nice display of grappling and nice display of showmanship.

Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkle (10-25-82) - 7

This match actually took place in ICW, but what the hell, we'll count it. Bock was the champion at this time and Lawler was challenging for his title. Bock kept some great wrist control on Lalwer throughout the first portion of the match, which Lawler made seem like he has about two tons laying on his arm. This made Lawler's come back that much better. Lawler also showed some great intensity by flinging Bock's head to the turnbuckle. Lawler's comeback was also so fully energized it looked like it was happening in fast-forward. Lawler was on his A-Game tonight - and Bock sold like a sleek car salesman: awesomely.

Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkle (11-8-82) (NoDQ) - 4

This match, while it showed some promise and had some fun in ring, had a huge fundamental flaw with it- that being that it was a NoDQ match and neither man really did anything that would garner a DQ, necessarily. The most cheating thing that happened during the match was Lalwer covering Bock's face with a towel. There was a pretty bad ref bump in the match which led to Jimmy Hart coming down and hitting Lawler with a cane. Why? It's NODQ. That flaw really made this match stick out in a sore thumb, but the in-ring was good, especially Bock's famous bumping.

Jimmy Hart vs. Jackie Fargo (11/8/82) - 1

Well this can't be good. We start the match with Fargo whipping Hart with a strap -- something nobody would even want to see for free. The match included whipping, playing "horsey," and de-pantsing. Why didn't I just hit fast forward?

The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane & Steve Kirn) vs. The New York Dolls (2/3 Falls) (11/13/82) - 2

Steve Kirn was the standout of this match -- a fiery temper and high level of intensity made this match. Dream Machine took a hip toss on the floor which HE DIDN'T SELL followed by a bodyslam on said floor that HE DID SELL. What? Post-match after the first fall saw a decent brawl on the outside. The first fall was just too nuts and lacked any cohension and any sense of order.

The second fall seemed to be a bit more coherent for the first minute or so until things started breaking down. Ref had absolutely no control -- that can be good or bad, but in this case it just made the match seem unorganized and added to the "blah" factor. Let me tell you how unorganized this was: first fall was a no decision due to craziness with no winner. Second fall saw The Fabulous pick up the win when Hart interfered. THERE WAS NO THIRD FALL. I think they ran out of TV time. Just no.

Monday, May 30, 2011

CZW Swinging for the Fences - 4/10/10

1) Unbreakable Andy vs. A.R. Fox vs. Aaron Arbo – 5
Didn’t take long for them to start doing highspots with no rhyme or reason. Andy bumps and moves like Jack Evans but looks like he should be in a high school science class. Sloppy reverse rana from Arbo. Fox hit one of the most insane aerial moves I’ve ever seen in my life. Pretty sure he got more air on that than Jordan did in the famous dunk contests with Dominique Wilkens. Not much story telling or selling, just them going from one big spot to the other every few seconds.

2) Notorious Inc. (Devon Moore & Drew Blood) vs. Irish Drive-By (Ryan McBride & Rich Swann) – 4
Match starts off hot with Swann and Moore brawling outside after Swann hit a big dive from the top buckle to the floor and a sick springboard kick off the railing. Referee doing nothing to control the match, just letting Moore and Blood hang out in the ring at the same time. Moore had a botch that got turned into a powerbomb. McBride’s handspring moonsault was pretty cool. Was kind of like the previous match, just going from one spot to the other without much selling. After match, Moore and Blood do the split-up angle. Guess I know what all this was for then.

3) tHURTeen vs. Scotty Vortekz – 4
Thurteen’s punches suck. He throws them with all the confidence of an MMA student afraid to hit the heavy bag without gloves. Standing sliced bread into a backbreaker from Thurteen was crazy! Again, much like the previous bouts, selling was non-existent except when one of them would miss a big move and crash into the mat. Scotty seemed to be saving himself for the main event, trying not to exerte any excess energy. Thurteen’s flippy moves were cool and unlike the prior matches, this actually had a built in story.

4) Nick Gage vs. Egotistico Fantastico – 4
It’s amazing how things have changed in CZW in over a year. Ego is now Robert Anthony and Nick Gage is in jail after robbing a bank last December. Some wild brawling around the ring culminated in Ego eating a cookie sheet in the face. Ego took a hard clothesline and a sick spot where Gage kicked a chair in his face. I liked the use of the chair from both men. Ego taking a backbreaker on two chairs and Ego moonsaulting with a chair on his opponent. Finish came out of nowhere with Ego applying the Taco Pizza move and dropping Gage face first onto a chair. Really fun little brawl. Gage looked like he was going to cry afterward. Maybe you should’ve robbed that bank sooner jackass.

5) Team Macktion (TJ & Kirby Mack) vs. Zero Gravity (C.J. Esparza & Bret Guykia) – 5
Where the hell has Team Macktion been the last few years? Last I remember seeing them, they were working the UWF and TNA co-shows in North Carolina back in ‘07. Bret screwed up big time on a rope walk, slipping twice in a matter of seconds. Nice double-underhook chest breaker from TJ Mack. Nice counter on slingshot powerbomb by Bret from Zero Gravity. Dive spot on the outside typical of these type matches. Zero Gravity’s team name sounds like the name of a stunt team you’d see on “America’s Got Talent”. Esparza slipped on a spot where he was supposed to springboard off the bottom rope and kick one of the Macks. The Mack boys looked good and hit their highspots on the mark.

6) Sabian vs. Adam Cole – 5
Cole looked pretty sloppy in a few spots. I noticed him at one point waiting for a spot to dump Sabian out of the ring and another one where he messed up a spot where Sabian was supposed to whip him into the buckle. His offense was pretty good, getting in a few good dropkicks and some nice chops. Sabian kicked the shit out Cole’s head and just jammed it into a buckle. Crowd completely turned on this halfway through chanting “this is awful”, “end this shit” and booing every kick out. Nice big crossbody from Cole and a good nearfall of a move called the Cole-Lateral off the top rope. I can honestly say that I’ve never heard a crowd turn on anything so fast. Nothing that these two were going to do in the last half of the bout was going to bring the crowd back. Competitive bout but I would’ve liked to have seen a clear winner instead of a draw.

7) The Best Around (T.J. Cannon & Bruce Maxwell) vs. Drake Younger & Eddie Kingston – 4
Color commentator was completely sucking the dick of Best Around. Wow, Kingston did a suicide dive! Drake topped that by doing a somersault from the top buckle to the floor! Drake took a stiff kick to the face from Maxwell. Big mess of legality issues during the face comeback with the participants just running in and out as they please. Eddie seemed to be enjoying kicking and slapping people in face. The backfist/Drake’s landing double team move was nice. Match didn’t go very long, probably around 10 minutes. Nearfalls didn’t have much heat either, crowd popped for the finish with Drake and Eddie winning the belts though.

8) Sami Callihan vs. Jon Moxley – 7
Interesting to note here that both these guys got their start in HWA here in Cincinnati. Brawling section on the outside was ultra stiff. The chops would make Kobashi smile and the punches were hard as concrete. Sami’s slingshot lariat connected flush. Sami’s facials are always fantastic and he’s always in character. He’s definitely come a long way since the 300-pound blob he was in HWA. The headbutt exchange made me want to reach for the nearest bottle of Tylenol it was so stiff. Mox bit Sami so hard in the forehead that he started bleeding. How great were these fucking reversals!! Moxley’s forearms and lariats so damn hard it wasn’t funny. Damn! Mox even broke out a black hole slam! They do the old spot from the Bret/Austin Survivor Series match. Seeing two local boys get stiff with each other in a major indy fed like CZW is a great thing to witness. Probably one of the hardest hitting 2010 indy matches I’ve seen yet.

9) Scotty Vortekz, Drake Younger, & Eddie Kingston vs. Masada, Brain Damage, & J.C. Bailey – Home Run Derby Death Match – 6
Sad to think that Geo and I would be attending a memorial show for J.C. five months after this. Masada turns on Scotty right at the opening bell and attack the injured Danny Havoc with Drake and Eddie making the save and turning it into a six-man tag. I love these style death matches just because it’s just everyone wailing on each other as hard as they can with the most random stuff you can think of such as plastic baseball bats covered in tacks, water coolers shoved on broomsticks, and 2x4’s wrapped in barbed wire among other things. Drake took a shot so hard he got tacks jammed in the top of his dome. Bailey got busted open early on. Eddie ripped his own hand open grabbing a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat. Loved the exchange on the outside where Eddie and Brain Damage traded fists and foul language. Christ! Masada powerbombed Scotty on a chair with the legs sticking up! Poor fucker could’ve been impaled on that shit! Crazy ass tower of doom spot! Eddie and Masada traded some stiff forearms. Danny Havoc said it best on commentary …. “Holy fuck!”.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

New Japan Ism PPV 02/14/10

Sorry folks this is just the 2nd half of the show, but let's review it hard anyways

1) Yujiro & Naito v. El Terrible & El Texano jr - 4
I was digging CMLL's import team, Terrible looked like an illegitimate Manson kid, always screaming and throwing dropkicks like I drink milk- a lot! Also dug all their double teams, felt really natural, but they didn't work a lucha style at all, felt more akin to a slowed down ROH tag. Naito had this blank expression on his face for much of this bout unfortunately and the end was a no-no; blantantly cheating in front of the ref, I know this isn't 80's Mid South but at least show some sembelance of the rules.

2) Masato Tanaka v. Hirooki Goto (Hardcore Rules)- 7
So this was run by Tanaka, felt very similar to his stuff with Mike Awesome years back. Even saw some of the same spots, but in that regards, this worked as Goto is much more fun to watch and has killer lariats. Speaking of, Tanaka eats a lariat like Osama Bin Laden eats a bullet- beautifully. They started out fast, chairs and tables alike but nothing really felt recycled, just painful. Love a good superplex, almost as much as a good breaded mushroom and this one was done on a bed of chairs- Delight. Really fun Outsiders type ending where Tanaka slips a metal pipe in his elbow pad for the sliding D, like something Darry might do fighting in a gang war withe Socs.

3) Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Toru Yano- 5
This didn't go long but I think it was better for it. Yano always has this evil Japanese careless prick villain vibe about him, like an evil government operative that approved vile chemical tests on unsuspecting lizards to create a new Godzilla rival. He does well with that role here, Tanahashi didn't pull this in extra innings like he's prone to do either. His bladejob felt like something Hardcore Holly would have done on Smackdown back in the day, you could mistake it for an angry 6th grader throwing Tropical Punch Kool-Aid in his face.

4) Shinsuke Nakamura v. Manabu Nakanishi- 6
think this finished up Nakanishi's main event run during this time, which actually i really enjoyed. Most of the first section is about going after a limb, working over it, and then trying to fight back without using that limb, which is a Nakamura speciality. Knees, knees, knees, did Leonard Cohen write that song? I bet anytime Rich Franklin sees a Nakamura match, he instantly passes out. Honestly, Nakanishi has always been in the bottom of people I like to watch in New Japan over the years, as Nakamura is one of my favorites in the world, but I won't hand over to personal preferences (even if Nakanishi does ape Kobashi's 100 hand slap poorly) as our wrestling writing colleagues do on Segunda Caida to most Japanese stuff and Shawn Michaels. I know their personal loathing comes from the millions of dollars he's made and trashy women he's boned and having better athleticism at twice their age, but a little professionalism guys. Anyways, Nakamura's face when his Bom Ya knee was countered resonated with me as much as the film The Social Network, which is to say if there ever was a movie made for this generation and comment on how our life has evolved yet we remain the same flawed individuals, yeah both of those things nailed that. Lot of people cite Danielson as a guy they never get tired of watching, for me it's Nakamura, from his violent knees, to his strange behavior in the ring, to his pitch perfect selling, i'm glued. I hate saying even Luger gives more emphasis to his Torture Rack but it's true; Nakanishi doesn't even bend his opponent's back down, but I love his face after he takes a nasty knee to the face, pausing, staring down at the ground, as if thinking "does my brain still work?" Very fun main event.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Best of Pride Fighting Championships 2/9/11

Last year during Every Day May I was a major contributor and a good chunk of my pieces were MMA-related. As an homage, if you will, here on the mothership, allow me to dazzle you with another MMA review:

1. Mirko Crop Cop vs. Heath Herring - Pride 26: Bad to the Bone - 5
2. Minotauro Nogueira vs. Enson Inoue - Pride 19: Bad Blood - 5
3. Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Katsuhisa Fujii - Pride Bushido 5 - 5
4. Sammy Schilt vs. Akira Shoji - Pride 16: Beast from the East - 4
5. Bob Sapp vs. - Yoshihisa Yamamoto - Pride 20: Armed & Ready - 3
6. Tom Erikson vs. Matt Skelton - Pride 17: Championship Chaos - 2

I love this show. Thankfully I've got a DVR and every 6-8 weeks a new episode will randomly appear. This particular episode focuses on the heavyweights. Mirko plays the role of a matador well, sidestepping Herring and avoiding the ground game in favor of a stand-up war. Cro Cop dropped him with a sickening liver kick then pounded him out. Nogueria is so creative on the ground, here, in his first defense of the PrideFC title, he transitioned from hold to hold, until he got one that stuck (triangle choke) and tapped out the Japanese muscleman. Inoue gave a valiant effort though and this is worth seeing for the epic struggle on the mat.

When people discuss the greatest MMA heavyweights many overlook Igor who amassed an unbelievable 30 fight winning streak. Igor just killed here, big knees, dangerous soccer kicks, etc. Fujii got annihilated but this lacked the competitiveness to be scored higher. I'm very familiar with Schilt from his K-1 stuff, known as one of the best kickboxers of all-time. He's twice as tall as Shoji and this is the sort of freakshow fight you'd only find in Japan. Crowd is roaring "Shoji! Shoji!" Schilt wasting time in his guard was as puzzling as Hurricane Helms' signing with Lucha Libre USA instead of TNA. Schilt looks like a Russian cyborg from an '80's action flick. Punishing finish as Akira ended up being a meat punching bag but this took too long and was so uneven that I can't grade it higher.

Sapp is such a piece of shit now, his fights the last couple years have been jokes, he makes big bank on name alone, but seems scared to engage and about as tough as your elementary science teacher. Back then a bit more vicious, some hard short jabs, throws his weight into knees, etc. The ending barrage is pretty visually impressive. This felt more like a one-sided scuffle behind the bleachers at a high school football game. Billed as Pride vs. K-1, wrestler vs. kickboxer, this was short and silly as Skelton looked about as comfortable on his back as Tiffany did on her first employee meeting with McMahon.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Mid-South TV 1/6/83 + 1/13/83

Mid-South TV 1/6/83
Announcers: Boyd Pierce and Bill Watts

1) Steve “Dr. Death” Williams vs. Tom Renesto Jr. – 2
2) Dick Murdoch vs. Marty Lunde – 4
3) Kamala vs. Art Crews – 1
4) The Great Kabuki vs. Tim Horner – 2
5) Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne vs. David Sammartino & Buddy Landell – 3
6) Mr. Wrestling #2 vs. Gino Hernandez – 3

Episode starts off with a good interview from Mr. Wrestling #2 and then footage of Tony Atlas doing bench presses of 500 and 550 pounds. First bout wasn’t much. Renesto was pretty sloppy looking and Doc took care of him in a brief skirmish. Lunde, the future Arn Anderson, showed flashes of what would soon make him a bonafide legend. He attacked Murdoch before the bell and got some good offense in before Murdoch killed him with a dropkick. Really interesting to see Arn as a jobber. Crews was destroyed in less than a minute by Kamala. Kabuki squash was sort of sloppy. Horner simply sold some moves by just bending over and giving a grimace. Liked the sidekick followed by what Watts called a “karate delivery” on commentary. Landell with dark hair? Doesn’t even look like the same guy! Two long time territorial stars lock up in the main event. Gino looked like a child taking his first dive into a swimming pool when he attempted his finisher. MW2 looked like he had some skills but was just sort of coasting. Dug the kneelift from MW2 to finish.

Mid-South TV 1/13/83
Announcers: Boyd Pierce and Mr. Wrestling #2

1) Kevin Von Erich vs. Mike Bond – 2
2) Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Yoshi Yatsu – 3
3) Mr. Wrestling #2 vs. Hiro Matsuda – 2
4) Tim Horner & Buddy Landell vs. Kamala & The Great Kabuki – 2
5) Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. David Sammartino – 3
6) Chavo Guerrero vs. Gino Hernandez – 4

Bond looked really bad and clumsy, just selling Von Erich’s offense like he was bumbling around in the during a power outage trying to find a flashlight. Sharpe completely sandbagged Yatsu on a simple scoop slam in a screwed up spot. Pretty hard hitting little match, complete difference from anything else on the program. Just two big bulls wailing on each other in a four minute bout. Matsuda’s strikes had a bit of force behind them but MW2 just wasn’t selling. Again, much like the previous MW2 bout, it just seemed like he was coasting. Horner and Landell just just a brief bit of offense in again the wild tandem of Kabuki and Kamala. Dug the before its time enziguri from Kabuki. Not really much to the match though. Biggest thing I noticed out of the Duggan/Sammartino bout is how much David tries to be like his dad. His punches and offense look almost exactly the same. Lots of punches and kicks in this one. Liked the mat work that started off the main event. Chavo had a pretty nice belly-to-belly suplex. Gino wouldn’t really peak until he made it to World Class. Good little finishing segment with a ref bump and Gino taking a chair shot.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Michinoku Pro 6/19/09 Great Sasuke 20th Anniversary!~!~

ken45° vs. Kenbai - 3
Ultimo Dragon, Yapper Man #1 & Yapper Man #2 vs. Kinya Oyanagi, Rui Hiugaji & Satoshi Kajiwara - 5
MEN's Teioh, TAKA Michinoku & Kesen Numajiro vs. Rasse, Takeshi Minamino & Maguro Ooma - 5
Jinsei Shinzaki, Tiger Mask & Dick Togo vs. Shu Sato, Kei Sato & Shinjitsu Tohoku - 5
Jr. Heavyweight Title: Fujita "Jr." Hayato © vs. Great Sasuke - 6

Reflecting back on this, this wasn't a bad match, but it never really took off. The fans didn't seem very connected as it was pretty much Ken45 killing Kenbai. Kenbai took a beating with pride and sold well. Ken hit this nasty finisher that Kenbai sold like death, adding a nice touch of kicking only one leg up at the 3-count.

The team of younger guys were absolutely decimating the Yappers. Now, I've seen a few Yapper matches and I've never really been taken by them, but their performance here was pretty good. They were just eating everything the younger team was dishing out. Yapper #2 was especially good, crawling to get the hot tag to Ultimo, who by the way looked fucking incredible. Quite an impressive showing by all six guys, but the younger team was just so stiff and good that I think they really shined through in this match; however, the Yappers (despite a terrible arm drag botch) really did look good as well.

Teiho looks like he hasn't missed a damn beat. Kind of like the blue man group. Hell, for that matter, Taka still looked awesome as well. This followed the great puro multi-man tag formula of great technical wrestling combined with some great exchanges that reverberated through the concession stands of Korakuen. Minamino seems to have this excellent mean streak about him that if you met him on the crowded Sendai streets, you'd probably plow through the crowd to get the fuck out of his way. PS: sweet hair, bro. Ooma looked like a complete dick in the ring by treating the vet team like dojo boys fresh from the streets, garnering heat. Just a really solid match that went the perfect amount of time.

This broke down really quick. Tohoku squared off with Shinzaki in the ring and looked like an ant going up against a tarantula. Things went to the outside where Shinzaki took some whips into chairs like a motherfucking SlipNSlide. Shu and Kei were bringing it throughout the match, and their sweet skullets were looking brutal. They both connected with the audience really well by yelling at them and getting them fired up. Togo looked jacked as hell and in great shape. He hit some clean as hell offense as well. TM, while he gets a lot of heat online, looked really good and connected with all of his offense. My one gripe is that I wish they would've built to the spring environment a bit more slowly. Oh yeah, get KEN45 the fuck out of the ring or DQ the bastards! Easily could've been a 6 otherwise.

The main event was pretty damn good. I loved the story of the young, brash, hot-headed rookie Hayato taking on the vet Sasuke. Hayato held nothing back and looked to be stiff as hell with Sasuke, really taking it to him with stiff kicks that Sasuke ate reluctantly. I dug the psych during the crowd brawl when Hayato gave a con-chairto to Sasuke's leg, then proceeded to pick apart the leg inside the ring. Sasuke was selling the leg vocally which made it seem that much more real. Sasuke hit his signature dives which hearkened back to those days of '94, too, which made me smile. Props to Hayato sticking it to Sasuke and not taking it easy on him. He gets over that young stiff punk vibe so well. Overall, a well-worked, well paced match that was quite appropriate for Sasuke's 20th.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

StrikeForce 1

IT'S ANOTHER DAY IN THE LOVELY MONTH OF MAY, COMBAT FANS, SO THE CREW AT NHO DOES IT LIKE NO OTHER AND BRINGS YOU YET ANOTHER REVIEW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE. TUNE IN TOMORROW BECAUSE WE'LL BE BRINGING YOU....WHAT'S THAT? ANOTHER REVIEW! BUT FIRST....

Being one of 2 huge MMA fans writing for the blog, we have followed the latest piece of MMA news, being StrikeForce now belongs to the UFC, so I wanted to jump back into their lineage and review their first fight card.

1) Ray Routh v. Crafton Wallace - 3
Not a great fight to start with- Routh with a huge monkeydunk early on but after about 2 minutes, was just searching for oxygen anywhere he could get it. to avoid taking a punch, he pulled his head backwards like a dog pulling away when you grab them by the collar. Crafton took measure and ko'd his Lion's Den ass in the 2nd.

2) Jesse Fujarcyk v. Daniel Puder 5
haha, Puder came out with a t shirt saying "I tapped Angle", wonder how much merch that moved? Still funny. Puder gets rocked right off the bat, wishing he was back doing belly shots with the Miz after Smackdown tapings. Puder warmed up though and just started throwing wild shit and it was working and then cinched in a brilliant choke.

3) Matt Horwich v. Brian Ebersole- 4
So here's the characters, Horwich came out to some D-level Christian rock, beboping with a King James in his hand; Ebersole was on a cell phone call. They called him "the TO of MMA." Ebersole couldn't afford TO's restaurant bill for one night. So the famous judge Cecil Peoples used to be a ref, and a terrible one at that- breaking up tons of ground stuff as the guys were actually working locks and submissions. Didn't make a bit of sense. The announcers were blowing Horwich but he look awful- tried a of submissions, they all looked looser than a Kardashian snatch. Ebersole pretty much controlled every facet of this but in pretty unimpressive fashion.

4) Gilbert Melendez v. Harris Sarmiento- 4
Gil does exactly what he does now, just breaks guys' wills, and Sarmiento was touted as the favorite in this. Gil just pushes him against the cage, works the body, actually Sarmiento tapped to strikes, great young performance as we actually see buck toothed Jake Shields outside with the goofiest expression on his face

5) Krzysztof Soszynski v. Mike Kyle- 2
Real short bout, Krzysztof (from Ultimate Fighter fame, being the guy who shrink wrapped a dude's bed & clothes together) took a low blow and a thumb in the eye and that was it.

6) Clay Guida v. Josh Thomson- 6
This is a classic Guida performance, just overwhelming Thomson like no one else has. He does it all 5 rounds, meanwhile Thomson going for submission after submission, several of them Guida was caught really tightly but as he always has done, he pulls through them somehow. Very exciting fight that didn't take place much on the feet but was still a very fun, tough fight to watch.

7) Cesar Gracie v. Frank Shamrock- 3
Bwaaaaahahahaaaaaaa, He clipped Gracie within 20 seconds and beat that ass. Wow, unbelievable.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

WWF Coliseum Video: "Inside the WWF"

1) The Undertaker vs. Crush – 3
Funny bit during Taker’s entrance where Monsoon and Johnny Polo go back and forth about the virtues of a plastic Undertaker placemat. Quick! Where can I get one of those! Crush sold a DDT like he woke up from an afternoon nap. Pretty slow paced, methodical match. Nice jumping clothesline from Taker caught Crush flush. Hey, that rhymes! Crush didn’t look good at all, only highlight of his night was when he grabbed a chair and worked over Taker.

2) Marty Jannetty & Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels & Diesel – 4
Things took a while to get going with Shawn stalling at the start and Diesel and Razor taking forever to lock up. Razor took a shot to the buckle and sold it like he had one too many cervezas, not that that’s much of a stretch for him anyway. You can tell it’s the mid-90s as Diesel is rocking a mullet. Jannetty took a hard ass boot from Diesel. Crowd popped for the hot tag and then legal man issues took over. Razor won with a chokeslam! Nice.

3) Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow – 4
Only a minute or two in and Tatanka must’ve slipped on some ice or something because he missed Bigelow’s shoulder tackle by a good six inches but bumped for it anyway. Pretty nice DDT by Tatanka. Bigelow got in a couple good moves. Tatanka looked completely awful. He laid outside forever, like he was waiting for the Republican controlled House to pass a bill in the Democrat controlled Senate, and oversold Luna’s kicks. Gorilla references the EXTERNAL OCCIPITAL PROTUBERANCE!!!! Yes!! Tatanka busted out a nice Samoan drop on the floor. Pretty long match, sloppy at points, but not bad.

4) Bret Hart vs. Adam Bomb – 4
Did Johnny Polo just come out of the shower because his outfit looks like he’s got a bathrobe on. Even DiBiase on commentary says “I’m giving Johnny Polo some money so he can buy some new clothes.” Bret really worked to make Bomb look good. Bomb punched the ringpost, sold it for a bit, then completely forgot about it. Bret took a beating forever. Pretty basic bout here with neither guy really going balls out.

5) Randy Savage vs. Doink – 3
For a mid-90s bout, this was pretty wild as the action kept going in and out of the ring. Doink did a double ax off the top to the floor. The heel Doink character was awesome. This was really in the same vain as the previous Bret/Adam Bomb match. Savage took a beating throughout out the match and getting in some offense here and there. Second Doink runs down and they do the old switch-a-roo and some lame stuff with Savage convincing the ref there were two Doinks. Yuck.

6) Razor Ramon vs. Ludvig Borga – 3
For present day fans, Borga is comparable to Vladimir Koslov. A big guy, foreign dude with very limited offense who got pushed to the sky immediately and then got shoved back down the card almost as quickly. Nice tease of a suplex to the outside by Borga. Borga’s offense consisted primarily of punching and slamming. Big back suplex from Razor off the second rope. Wait, a false finish, a ref bump, AND a Dusty finish in the same match? That was uncreative and completely unnecessary.

7) Shawn Michaels vs. Lex Luger – 5
Man, Shawn was bouncing around like a red rubber dodgeball, getting good mileage out of a shoulderblock and a clothesline. Luger was really fired up, hitting his big moves with a crispness that I haven’t seen out him in a really long time. Crowd was just eating Luger up and loved his every move. Shawn got a good side kick. Lame finish with Shawn bailing and getting counted out. Brawl with Luger and Diesel brawl post-match wasn’t bad.

8) Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna – Steel Cage Match – 5
In the grand scheme of things, Yokozuna is really overlooked. For a guy his size in his prime, he was one of the most mobile and agile big men ever. Fun stuff here where Bret got tossed halfway across the ring, Yoko took a hard shot into the cage, and Bret took a hard whip into the buckle. Nice tease with Bret scraping and clawing trying to get out of the cage through the door and Yoko having a death grip on him. Bret tried a bulldog which ended up with Yoko falling backwards and looking more like a neckbreaker in execution. Yoko sold a shot with a wood bucket like a fish flopping out of water. Why did the referee run in and count a fall? Yoko just laid by the door for the finish waiting for his spot and just suddenly woke up and made his way out of the cage.

Monday, May 23, 2011

WCW Clash of the Champions #19

Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko vs. Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff - 4

After watching this, I wasn't sure where to go. I felt as though Ricky's performance was acceptable and his selling was on good display, but a couple of glaring botches really held this match back. Steamboat went for a head scissor on Dean, but Dean kind of just fell on his ass and Steamboat hit the buckle. It was a nice cover-up. Steamboat later went for a bulldog on Joe, I believe, and Joe dropped waaay to early and it looked, as the Spaniards would say, el terrible. Koloff dominated in the match, throwing Dean and Joe around like Hungarian rag dolls. Again, nothing I would say is worth watching, but not actively bad, either.

Rick Rude & Steve Austin vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell & Z-Man - 5

Hot as hell start with Z-man and Austin. Rude looked amazing in the match, really showing his dominance in the ring. Z's selling was quite good. Rude hit this release vertical suplex on Z, which Z sold by arching his back like someone on steroids doing yoga. The match started to feel like a squash as it went on, which led to a happy surprise as Bagwell would come back, ultimately to be cut off. As the match went on, the story of the dominating veteran heel team became apparent as Bagwell and Z just couldn't do anything to get the upper hand. Enjoyed that storytelling. Bagwell's hot tag was great - so much energy. Great dominating feel to the match for the heel team, and a great display of showmanship by the face team.

Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. The O'Days - 3

Gordy and Doc just kept beating the shit out of the Australian father and son team. Gordy hit this sick, sick Saito suplex on the old man. I think they forgot they were in WCW and not AJPW. I mean, you can hit that shit on Taue but not these guys! What a squash!!! I really don't remember the last time I yelped watching a WCW match. SICK!~ Kind of an embarrassing showing for the Australians.

Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson - 6

Really looking forward to this. I dig the hell out of all four of these guys. Arn went to the top rope, only to be met by a REALLY BAD LOOKING drop kick by Windham. Like, Lady Gaga meat dress bad. Eaton was... eatin' some nice looking elbows from Rhodes. He kept hitting the ropes and coming back for more only to take a really nice look bump over the ropes. I really enjoyed Rhodes' hot tag and the subsequent offense eating by the heel team, along with the cheap heat from Arn with blatant chokes. Really nice nearfall, too after Arn hit the spinebuster, but was distracted by the brawl on the outside between Eaton and Windham, feeding into a delish finish of Eaton going up for the leg drop, missing, and eating a bulldog by the son of a son of a plumber. Excellent~!

The Silver Kings vs. Freebirds (Hayes & Garvin) - 4

Silver Kings looked crisp as hell. Everything they did was done with confidence and fluidity. You'd expect Kings to be treated in a similar way as the O'Days, but they got quite a bit of offense in and really showed what they could do in the ring. The finish was worked a bit awkwardly, as both men ended up hitting their own guys (Hayes hit Garvin, SK 1 hit SK 2) in two moments of miscommunication. Hayes rolled up SK 1 in a small package for the win. I wish SK would've at least tried to kick out a bit or kick his legs, instead of sitting there taking the pin like a child being sat in the corner for time out.

Brian Pillman & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington - 6

Man alive this was a boatload of fun. All four of these guys brought it tonight. This match just had that incredible NJPW junior heavyweight feel to it. Liger looked as good as he always has, working so well with Benoit you'd think they were on the same brain wavelength. Wellington looked good, too, busting out offense on the apron while Benoit was in the ring (including this nice heel kick that Pillman sold great). Pillman was working tight and snug, but was putting over Benoit and Wellington's offense huge by bumping his ass off. This match flowed like the wine at Stephanie McMahon's baby shower. Just a really awesome match.

Hiroshi Hase & Akira Nogami vs. The Headhunters - 3

For what the Headhunters were (not the 500 lb. Headhunter, by the way), they worked well with the Japanese team. Hase and Nogami started the match out strong by beating the shit out of Headhunter 1, who was only able to get hit a couple of clotheslines and a side slam. I felt an emotional disconnect coming from the fans because of the unfamiliarity with the teams, which is a shame because the Japanese team is great. We were basically witness to a burial of the Dominican Republic team of the Headhunters via a double German suplex. Meh.

The Steiners vs. Terry Gordy and Steve Williams - 5

I'm fully prepared for some hard-hitting action, here. This was just pure, uninhibited hatred and power. To say that all four of these guys laid everything in would be an understatement. Gordy and Rick got into this fist fight that looked incredible. There was just so much brutality and brawling happening. Looked so great. There was a great element of power wrestling to this match featuring two of the strongest teams on the card. Williams looked to be pissed tonight and was stiffing the hell out of Scott. I believe there was a huge botch as the end in which Terry went for a chop block on the awaiting Scott Steiner, but instead Williams basically fell over and on top of Scott. That was just not good looking at all. That held it back for me, but all in all it was a good match.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

IWA Deep South Carnage Cup VII


February 26, 2011
Cullman, AL

The show starts off with all the tournament participants cutting promos on each other and the state of Alabama. I’d estimate about 50-75 people in the building that looks like some kind of industrial school classroom. This just screams low-grade.

1) Chris Dickinson vs. Jonny Mangue – Thumbtack Kickpads Match – 3
Mangue tries some submission that he saw on an MMA show and looks like hell. Dickinson plays a really good prick heel and has some decent kicks. Mangue does a german suplex through a table that the announcers say “JFK used in the Cuban Missile Crisis”. Pumphandle slam from Dickinson into some tacks ends this mess.

2) Pinkie Sanchez vs. Jimmy Feltcher – Carpet Strip Mayhem Match – 1
Feltcher makes me want to vomit. He’s a really obese guy doing an Adorable Adrian Adonis character in a one-piece that looks like it came from Bastion Booger’s closet. Yokozuna was more in shape than this dude! Feltcher strips and rubs oil on himself during a dance-off spot and I feel like jumping off my third story balcony. Feltcher’s only highlight on offense was powerbombing Pinkie in the corner through some carpet strips. Big spot of the match was botched big time as Pinkie accidentally fell through a makeshift palate of strips and Feltcher took a shitty knee first bump off the second buckle to follow. Annoucers compare Pinkie lightly tossing Feltcher off the second buckle to Hogan bodyslamming Andre. That’s about as ridiculous as this match.

3) Danny Havoc vs. Matt Tremont – Smash, Pow, B@M! Match – 4
These two are the first two that the crowd has reacted to the entire night. Match started with Havoc brutalizing Billy Gram with some light tubes until Tremont comes in and relieves Gram of his spot. I love watching Havoc just destroy people in these type matches. Holy Christ! Havoc broke a fucking plastic water cooler of Tremont’s head! Did I just see a DDT on a VCR? Nice bunch of tacks that Tremont would up with stuck in his buzz cut covered dome. Wild spots involving a shopping cart with Havoc taking a t-bone suplex on it and Tremont taking a damn superplex onto the cart with light tubes on it! I love unneccesarily crazy bumps like that. Fun bout and a stark change from the lame junk that proceeded it.

4) Viper vs. Devon Moore – Barbwire Boards and Weapons Match – 2
Viper has about the same enthusiasm as the carpet in your living room. How bad is it when Viper screws up a simple punch involving a chair? Moore has to blatantly jump for Viper during a spot on the apron. These announcers are so terrible, rambling on about if Jim Duggan killed vampires and doing stupid unfunny jokes. Two notable spots in this one. First, Viper takes a back bump off the apron through a thing that looked like a headboard from a bed wrapped in barbed wire. Second was Moore doing a nice swanton onto Viper with a barbed wire board on top of him. Not good by any means.

5) Neil Diamond Cutter vs. David Day – Pits of Hell Match – 3
How convienient that a ladder and a table were set up by the Coke machine that Neil bumps off of through the table to which the crowd starts a “you suck” chant. For some reason, they started wrestling on the mat after whacking each other with assorted deathmatch objects. I laughed heartedly at this peculiar spot where Neil was supposed to take a back drop into a pit of salt. However, he ends up catching the rim of the pit, looking at it strangely as if it started speaking in Latin to him, and then giving a loud scream like his dick was in a vice. Highlights of this on were Day taking a sick DDT into a tray full of some green objects and Neil hitting a falcon arrow type move into some tubes set up on a ladder.

6) John Rare vs. Spider Boodrow – SAW Deathmatch – 3
The announcers claim this is based upon the Saw film franchise. Funny, I don’t remember there being steel chairs and boards covered in razors in those films. Rare just literally stabbed this Spider character in the bicep with a very sharp object. Quick, someone call the medics! Oh, wait, there aren’t any. These two are just meandering around with random crew members handing in ladders and tables. A tepid brawl takes them to the Coke machine used in the previous match, this time with a razor board covered table in front of it. These two decide it’s a good idea to jump through it which results in Spider cracking the back of his head on the floor. I would’ve been more impressed if Rare was able to master his theme song, “This Calling” by All That Remains, on expert drums using double bass pedals on Rock Band.

7) Phil Macchio vs. Jeremy Flynt – 1
Flynt gets ZERO reaction coming out, trying to get the fans to sing and none of them are even remotely interested. Macchio looks like some karate school burnout. Jackie Chan would’ve kicked this scrub across Asia and back. I think the only offense that Flynt knows are chops. Sloppy ass german suplex from Flynt. Neither guy looked the least bit interested and the only reason the crowd popped at the end was because the match was over.

8) Danny Havoc vs. Devon Moore – Light Tube Doors Match – 3
This might actually be good. Havoc got a huge ass gash on his back from taking a bump onto a light tube covered door on top of two garbage cans. Havoc threw Moore off the top rope and the announcers give out a loud WOOO and say “shades of Ric Flair.” Flair never took a bump through a bunch of light tubes like Devon Moore just did. He didn’t need to. I was kind of hoping for a lot of bloodshed and violence but that didn’t happen as this was only a few minutes long and thorougly disappointing.

9) Chris Dickinson vs. Pinkie Sanchez – Loose Light Tubes and Weapons Match – 2
Crowd brawl accomplishes nothing as they just throw some shoddy punches and take out some table selling beads and girl scout necklaces. Not sure that southern wrestling fans are exactly the target audience for that type of material. Funny spot where Dickinson tries to straighten a table leg but accidentally stomps on a light tube and gets glass in his eye. The table used at the end was completely indestructable when two straight moves failed to break it. Terrible looking pump-handle slam finally breaks the table and we get … a disputed finish with a restart? Wish this tournament would restart with better workers. Pinkie put Dickinson in a figure-four and the inept referee counts a fall to cap off this one.

10) John Rare vs. Neil Diamond Cutter – Exorcist Deathmatch – 3
Did the announcers just say that Neil was a “poor man’s Evan Bourne”? That’s the most absurd statement I’ve heard during this show, and believe me, I’ve heard quite a few. Rare wants to be Thumbtack Jack so bad, almost like he saw a Best of Thumbtack Jack compliation before the show and decided that he wanted to emluate him. Neil is insistent on taking bumps through light tubes and that just completely destroys his back. Anytime Rare wasn’t breaking tubes over Neil’s head, he just laid on the match for most of the match like a corpse. Wonder if that might be a better line of work for him.

11) 7-Man Hardcore Rumble – 1
Our participants are Kornerstone, Backwoods Rebel, Dusty McWilliams, Body Drop (a midget by the way), Mayhem, Sloppy J, and Damien. The majority of them look like they just stumbled out of the moonshine stills of the Ozarks. Sloppy J hits one of the worst stunners in recorded history. McWilliams screws up a spinebuster and the announcers put it over as the biggest move ever. Nothing here but people whacking each other with light tubes and throwing awful punches.

12) Chrisjen Hayme vs. Freakshow – 2
Exchange on the floor in the opening minutes wasn’t bad. Hayme played heel and did a good job of riling up the few fans who care and bumping around for Freakshow. Freakshow kicks out of nearfalls like he was woken up suddenly from an afternoon nap. Hayme took some green mist from Matt Tremont where the end result looked like he got slimed on an episode of Double Dare. Afterwards, Billy Gram cuts a completely indecipherable promo and his goons beat up a few of the dudes from the hardcore rumble, all while some scrawny guy in the crowd wearing a bright yellow Papa John’s Pizza t-shirt goes apeshit over the proceedings.

13) Pinkie Sanchez vs. Neil Diamond Cutter vs. Matt Tremont – Tables, Ladders, Light Tubes, and Chairs Match – 3
I noticed during the entrances that the crowd has thinned out considerably. Tremont comes in from outside of the building to replace Havoc during another promo from Billy Gram where noboby could understand him. Neil gets eliminated right away after a sick piledriver. Some giant ladder contraption is set up with a bunch of light tubes under it. Quite obvious to me that Pinkie is just coasting through and counting the minutes until he can leave Alabama and get back to the respectable land of CHIKARA. Tremont dove through a tube covered table just for shits and giggles and I laughed uproariously. Pinkie dives off the ladder contraption with a whoopie cushion move where he almost breaks his tailbone to win the “prestigous” Carnage Cup trophy and close out one of the worst deathmatch tournaments in recent memory.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

WWF Monday Night Raw 11/27/95

1. Rad Radford vs. Ahmed Johnson - 2
2. Tomoko Watanabe and Aja Kong vs. Alundra Blayze and Kyoko Inoue - 6
3. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. John Chrystal - 1
4. Undertaker vs. Sir Mo - 5

Ahmed throws more body shots in the corner then Dixie Carter's allowed the boys to drink off of her stomach. They blow a spot where Radford was supposed to stay bent forward to take an ax kick but inexplicably stood up so Ahmed had to pull a hamstring to stretch and kick the shit out of Rad's bulbous head. Next, the match I dug this DVD up to see, did not disappoint. Blayze and Inoue hit a nice double dropkick on Kong. Inoue exhibits the best selling I've seen on my TV in weeks -- such pathos. Blayze tags in and tries to summon her best joshi impersonation by doing some hard open-hand shots to Tomoko's face but Watanabe ain't no bitch and answers back by brutally pummeling her. Alundra goes on to hit a stiff enzuguri on Kong. Kong's spinning backfist makes Johnny "Bones" Jones' look like a kid on a playground playing pretend.

Chrystal shakes out the cobwebs similarly to Kazuo Yamazaki but the comparison ends there. John eats the Pedigree as voraciously as Stephanie laps up Hunter's sperm. Matches like that one are the reason STDs want us dead. I figured Sir Mo always played Eduardo Saverin to Mabel's Mark Zuckerberg but maybe Mo needs a proper reevaluation as he was fucking awesome here. Mo starts off eating Undertaker's methodical offense with zest doing these great bulging eyes like Eddie Murphy. DiBiase on the floor trips up Undertaker which leads to this great, explosive clothesline by Mo that sends him to the floor. I loved Mo selling pain in his hand after punching Taker and that stupid Phantom of the Opera mask he was sporting. Mo sells a match-ending chokeslam like a man being tasered on Police Women of Cincinnati. A billion stars.

As an added bonus, here's an embedded video of the women's tag bout so you can see it for yourselves!:


Aja Kong & Tomoko Wannabe vs Alundra Blayze & Kyoko Inoue

Friday, May 20, 2011

Queue Slayer #2

Every couple months Jessie and I do this thing we affectionately dubbed "Queue Slayer". What we do is pick 6 completely random wrestling shows or DVDs, we both watch and rank all the matches, then we post our scientific findings here. We have thousands of DVDs in our collection so this exercise allows us to sift through some of that footage and give things an honest appraisal. Enjoy!

Brian

1. Madison Eagles vs. Cheerleader Melissa - 7 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
2. Ayako Hamada vs. Tomoka Nakagawa - 6 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
3. Minoru Suzuki/Super Tiger II vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Mitsuya Nagai - 6 (RJPW "BRAVE of LEGEND" 6/17/10)
4. Trik Nasty & TJ Phillips vs. Jason Kincaid & Eric Darkstorm - 5 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
5. Jessie McKay vs. Nicole Matthews - 5 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
6. Tiger Shark vs. HIROKI - 5 (RJPW "BRAVE of LEGEND" 6/17/10)
7. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan vs. Psicosis & La Parka - clipped - 5 (ECW 10/28/95)
8. Ayumi Kurihara vs. Daizee Haze - No Countout Match - 4 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
9. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Rocco Rock - clipped - 5 (ECW 10/28/95)
10. Riki Choshu/Great Sasuke/Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Tenyru/Tatsumi Fujinami/Ultimo Dragon - 5 (RJPW "BRAVE of LEGEND" 6/17/10)
11. Alexander Otsuka, El Gran Hamada & Akifumi Saito vs. Masao Orihara, Black Shadow & Kendo Nakazaki - 4 (RJPW "BRAVE of LEGEND" 6/17/10)
12. Marty Jannetty vs. Black Cat - 5 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
13. Nevaeh vs. Sara Del Rey - 4 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
14. Marty Jannetty vs. Raven #1 - 5 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
15. Michael Facade vs. Zac Vincent vs. Flip Kendrick vs. Shiima Xion - ZERO G Scaffold Match - 5 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
16. Misaki Ohata vs. Portuguese Princess Ariel - 4 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
17. Tiger Mask (Sayama) vs. Black Tiger (RJPW "BRAVE of LEGEND" 6/17/10) - 4
18. Marty Jannetty vs.  Dean Malenko - 4 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
19. Marty Jannetty & 1-2-3 Kid vs. Quebecers - 5 (WWF Raw 1/10/94)
20. Super Rider vs. Hayato Mashita - 3 (RJPW "BRAVE of LEGEND" 6/17/10)
21. Marty Jannetty & Chris Adams vs. Barbarian & Hugh Morrus - 4 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
22. Mad Man Pondo vs. Yuko Miyamoto - 4 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
23. Marty Jannetty vs. Louie Spicoli - 4 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
24. "Ciclope" (Dean Malenko), Evan Karagias, Damián 666, El Dandy, El Grio, Juventud Guerrera, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Marty Jannetty, Billy Kidman, Lenny Lane, Psicosis, Silver King, Super Calo, Johnny Swinger, and Villano IV - Cruiserweight Battle Royal - 4 (WCW Slamboree '98)
25. Serena Deeb vs. Kellie Skater- 3 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
26. Sarita vs. Taylor Wilde - 3 (TNA Xplosion 11/24/10)
27. Allison Danger vs. Leva Bates - 4 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
28. Vance Desmond vs. Eugene - 4 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
29. Danny Boy Collins vs. Fit Finaly - 4 (Mick McManus' World of Wrestling)
30. Marty Jannetty vs. Chris Benoit - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
31. Rachel Summerlyn & Jessica James vs. Athena & Bonesaw - 3 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
32. Marty Jannetty vs. Raven #2 - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
33. Marty Jannetty vs. Barry Horowitz - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
34. Marty Jannetty vs. Scott Steiner - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
35. Marty Jannetty vs. Vincent - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
36. Mikey Whipwreck vs. Sandman - Ladder Match - 3 (ECW 10/28/95)
37. Cactus Jack vs. Tommy Dreamer - clipped - 3 (ECW 10/28/95)
38. Supreme vs. Jon Moxley - 3 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
39. Marty Jannetty vs. Lenny Lane #1 - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
40. Rockers vs. Steve Lombardi & Terry Gibs - 3 (WWF Wrestling Challenge 6/19/88)
41. Irish Airborne vs. Incoherence (Hallowicked & Frightmare) - 4 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
42. Marty Jannetty vs. Horshu - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
43. Marty Jannetty vs. Brian Adams - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
44. Skull Murphy & Kendo Nagasaki vs. Steve Adonis & Pete Roberts - 3 (Mick McManus' World of Wrestling)
45. Rockers vs. Iron Mike Sharpe & The Intruder - 3 (WWF Superstars 6/18/88)
46. Battle Royale - 3 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
47. Marty Jannetty vs. Lenny Lane #2 - 3 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
48. Jamilia Craft vs. Cat Power - 3 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
49. Marty Jannetty vs. Perry Saturn - 2 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
50. Marty Jannetty vs. Williiam Worthy - 2 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
51. Steve Grey vs. Johnny Saint - 3 (Mick McManus' World of Wrestling)
52. Taylor Made vs. Melanie Cruise - 2 (SHIMMER- WOMEN ATHLETES Vol. #33)
53. Marty Jannetty vs. Chris Jericho - 2 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
54. Mal Sanders vs. Steve Grey - clipped - 2 (Mick McManus' World of Wrestling)
55. Marty Jannetty vs. Frankie Lancaster - 2 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
56. JT Smith vs. El Puerto Ricano - 1 (ECW 10/28/95)
57. Marty Jannetty vs. Konnan - 2 (Best of Marty Jannetty in WCW)
58. Dances with Dudley vs. Hack Myers - 1 (ECW 10/28/95)
59. Zach Gowen vs. Ultimo Drunko - 1 (IWA East Coast "Legacy of Brutality" 11/6/09)
60. Clive Myers vs. Johnny Saint - clipped - 1 (Mick McManus' World of Wrestling)
61. Pitbulls vs. Tony Stetson & Don E. Allen - 0 (ECW 10/28/95)

Well, we call this thing Queue Slayer but this time around we didn't really "slay" it but more or less trudged through it whilst both being supremely busy with other projects (both of blog and non-blog nature). Still, gave us an opportunity to tackle a bunch of diverse shit and that's the name of the game. I like games. I especially like Journey to Silius so why not try it after reading this?

The first thing I watched was the IWA East Coast (i.e. IWA Eat Toast). This sort of bottom of the barrel (not the drum used to toss at villains in Double Dragon) independent show can sometimes be a chore but I found this one fairly enjoyable. Sure, it had travesties, like Ultimo Drunko and regrettably an Irish Airbourne tag match, but it redeemed itself with the sleeper hit of this edition of QS the Nasty/Phillips vs. Kincaid/Darkstorm tag. I believe I passed this disc on to Geo or Adam so whoever has it in their possession now... cheers!

RJPW ran wild over my top ten with three selections. I thought, generally, this event had some of the better finishes and forward-thinking booking which I look for in my favorite pseudo sport. I loved, loved, loved the tag with the BattlArts guys and liked the Tiger Shark bout a good deal including the ballsy suicide dive to the floor. Then in #10-11 I had both of the big six-men tags which were more fun then my recent discovery that Mountain Dew Pitch Black is back.

SHIMMER Vol. #33 was a bright spot on the menu. The majority of the show was fine and good but the last third of the event was just jam-packed with awesomeness. Madison Eagles vs. Cheerleader Melissa was my superlative #1 and a great "main event" style match with big nearfalls, drama, etc. It was so good it hurt and that's not paronomasia -- I actually had to watch it from a wheelchair. Hamada vs. Nakagawa was right up there with it's hard-hitting explosiveness. McKay/Matthews and Kurihara/Haze both got much love from me and I enjoyed some of the lesser ranked stuff off of the show also like the return of Serena Deeb (and her humongous rack).

Jessie's three choices for this incarnation were all lacking in one way or another but that's the crux of these assignments. The ECW show was all over the place and just further cemented their decaying memory in my mind. It had several unnecessary squashes, its twi best matches was neutered by editing, and then there was that weird deal during the Dreamer bout where it was intercut with footage of him talking in a dark room inexplicably cutting away from the in-ring action.

The WoS stuff from Britain was a big disappointment. It wasn't the poor quality of the dubbed footage, nor the uniqueness of the style, or anything, it was simply bad or nonexistent finishes all across the board which drove me insane. The Finlay bout was the best of the batch although felt sort of exhibition-like. The first Saint bout when to a draw, where Johnny was too busy turning himself into a pretzel and joshing in jest to ever look like he was trying to win, then it was decided by a coin toss of all things! Other matches had ref bumps, odd rulings, etc. and I just didn't connect with it at all.

The Marty in WCW comp. came out of nowhere and while it did get repetitive I actually liked it more than I'd imagined I could. There's a few obvious standouts for me, the Black Cat bout, which saw Marty get punched right in the teeth, the first Raven bout from an episode of Thunder where Marty took a nutty bump into the ringpost on the floor, and the Malenko match. It was interesting to note he broke pretty much even in terms of wins and losses so it was intriguing trying to figure out the hierarchal booking and context while working through it.

Overall, a fun romp, not unlike Summer Wars, and similar to the film, afterwards I felt both closer to my fellow man yet distrustful of the power of unchecked technological power so not sure how that happened but we'll have another installment of Queue Slayer in a couple months which promises to be the biggest, most beastly yet.

Jessie

1. Madison Eagles v. Cheerleader Melissa (SHIMMER 33)- 6
2. Fit Finlay v. Danny Boy Collins (Mick McManus England)- 6
3. Riki Choshu/ Great Sasuke/ Daisuke Sekimoto v. Genichiro Tenryu/ Tatsumi Fujinami/ Ultimo Dragon (Real Japan 5th Ann)- 6
4. Misaki Ohata v. Porteugese Princess Ariel (SHIMMER 33)- 5
5. Rey Mysterio jr/ Konan v. Psicosis/ La Parka (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 5
6. Trik Nasty/ TJ Phillips v. Jason Kincaid/ Eric Darkstorm (IWA East Coast)- 5
7. Ayako Hamada v. Tomoka Nakagawa (SHIMMER 33)- 5
8. Marty Jannetty v. Lenny Lane #1 (Best of Marty in WCW)- 5
9. Minoru Suzuki/ Super Tiger II v. Yuki Ishikawa/ Mitsuya Nagai (Real Japan 5th Ann Show)- 5
10. Marty Jannetty v. Chris Benoit (Best of Marty in WCW)- 5
11. Athena/ Bonesaw v. Rachel Summerlyn/ Jessica James (SHIMMER 33)- 4
12. Vance Desmond v. Eugene (IWA East Coast)- 4
13. Serena Deeb v. Kellie Skater (SHIMMER 33)- 4
14. Marty Jannetty v. Black Cat (Best of Marty in WCW)- 4
15. Daizee Haze v. Ayumi Kurihara (Shimmer 33)- 4
16. Marty Jannetty v. Dean Malenko (Best of Marty in WCW)- 4
17. Skull Murphy/ Kendo Nagasaki v. Steve Adonis/ Pete Roberts (Mick McManus England)- 4
18. Mad Man Pondo v. Yuki Miyamoto w/ Terry Funk as Ref (IWA East Coast)- 4
19. Jessie McKay v. Nicole Matthews (SHIMMER 33)- 4
20. Taylor Wilde v. Sarita (TNA Xplosion)- 4
21. 1-2-3 Kid/ Marty Jannetty v. Quebecers (WWE Raw 93)- 4
22. Irish Airborne v. Hallowicked/ Frightmare (IWA East Coast)- 4
23. Tommy Dreamer v. Cactus Jack (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 4
24. Marty Jannetty v. Louie Spicoli (Best of Marty in WCW)- 4
25. WCW Cruiserweight Battle Royal Slamboree (Best of Marty in WCW)- 4
26. Mikey Whipwreck v. Sandman Ladder Match (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 3
27. Marty Jannetty v. Lenny Lane #2 (Best of Marty in WCW)- 3
28. Naveah v. Sara Del Ray (SHIMMER 33)- 3
29. Mal Sanders v. Steve Grey (Mick McManus England)- 3
30. Marty Jannetty/ Chris Adams v. Hugh Morrus/ Barbarian (Best of Marty in WCW)- 3
31. Alexander Otsuka/ Gran Hamada/ Akifumi Saito v. Masao Orihara/ Black Shadow/ Kendo Nakazaki (Real Japan 5th Ann Show)-
32. Original Tiger Mask v. Black Tiger (Real Japan 5th Ann. Show)- 3
33. Marty Jannetty v. Raven #1 (Best of Marty in WCW)- 3
34. 2 Cold Scorpio v. Rocco Rock (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 3
35. Tiger Shark v. HIROKI (Real Japan 5th Ann. Show)- 3
36. Marty Jannetty v. Raven #2 (Best of Marty in WCW )- 3
37. Battle Royal (IWA East Coast)- 3
38. Rockers v. Iron Mike Sharpe/ The Intruder – 3
39. Steve Grey v. Johnny Saint (Mick McManus England)- 2
40. Marty Jannetty v. Barry Horowitz (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
41. Marty Jannetty v. Vincent (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
42. Marty jannetty v. Chris Jericho (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
43. JT Smith v. El Puerto Ricano (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 2
44. Clive Meyers v. Johnny Saint (Mick McManus England)- 2
45. Allison Danger v. Leva Bates (SHIMMER 33)- 2
46. Michael Façade v. Zac Vincent v. Flip Kendrick v. Shiima Xion Zero G Scaffold (IWA East Coast)- 2
47. Jon Moxley v. Supreme (IWA East Coast)- 2
48. Super Rider v. Hayato Mashida (Real Japan 5th Ann. Show)- 2
49. Marty Jannetty v. Konan (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
50. Rockers v. Steve Lombardi/ ? – 2
51. Marty Jannetty v. Frankie Lancaster (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
52. Marty Jannetty v. William Worthy (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
53. Marty Jannetty v. Perry Saturn (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
54. Dances with Dudley v. Hack Myers (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 2
55. Marty Jannetty v. Horshu (Best of Marty in WCW)- 2
56. Marty Jannetty v. Scott Steiner (Best of Marty in WCW)- 1
57. Pitbulls v. Tony Stetson/ Don E Allen (ECW Arena 10/28/95)- 1
58. Marty Jannetty v. Brian Adams (Best of Marty in WCW)- 1
59. Cat Power v. Jamilia Craft (SHIMMER 33)-1
60. Taylor Made v. Melanie Cruise (SHIMMER 33)- 1
61. Ultimo Drunko v. Zach Gowan ((WA East Coast)- 1

For this 2nd round of our new project, we chose to even go further off the map and while the first couple discs I watched yielded somewhat pathetic results in the end the project was another enjoyable experience. I’m going to run down my top 12 and some thoughts:

Miss Madison has been showing up a lot lately, esp. in Chikara and the guys are digging her. This is my first look at her and she’s up against the always fun to watch Cheerleader Melissa. This match is interchangeable with most men’s main events, Melissa took her beating like a queen, her selling was down pat and Eagles, while not having any of the qualities Vince looks for in hiring a big breasted, short, tan chick for his promotion, she had everything you’d want out of a wrestler. She had good pace, extremely tall, and knew how to work both ends of a match, offense and defense. Some big falls near the end had this going over most of WrestleMania’s output from this year and that ain’t no lie!

I actually dug the hell out of this match from England, we all know of Finlay’s greatness, here it’s on display along with character; he has this Native American heel woman, plump all over, who rubs out his legs pre-match and interferes liberally as Finlay bumps all over the place for Danny Boy. Some great juice and a fun 3 act story all put this near the top of my list.

This legends 6 man tag was just a visual treat for my eyes. Besides Sekimoto and most Tenryu, I grew up either studying the other 4 guys legends or watching them fight in the rings of New Japan. I loved watching this, I didn’t see any blown spots, not that it would have mattered, as just seeing these 6 great competitors interlock was enough fun for me to warrant any longtime puro fan to watch this. Some highlights were Tenryu lighting up the youngster Sekimoto with nasty punches, Fujinami still looking like he could main event any puro show in the country, and Ultimo’s exchanges with Choshu were really fun. Loved Sasuke’s new look, guys looks in pretty good shape too.

Ariel looked scarily like that rumored love child of Harvey Whippleman & Bertha Faye but she can work for a biggun. Ohata was all about the arm locks, and with Ariel’s size and Ohata’s tenacity, her fighting for locks then fighting to get an actual submission off this horizontally challenged woman told some of the best narrative on any of these discs.

ECW gets on the board with a clipped match featuring 4 of the most stellar Lucha practicioners this side of a bingo hall. Just watching the highlights of this had me salivating to have been in that arena on that night, so I would know the full conclusion of this epic. From what we can see, the AAA dudes took full advantage of their hardcore surroundings. As the new owner of the ECW arena spoke so prophetically, “new owners, same shitty food” well with ECW, same lower standards when they actually have something good on the card.

This was the surprise of the set for me, as Eric Darkstorm was the standout on this show. The whole card was a mixed bag of slobs and high spot artists, these 4 guys got a huge chunk of time to tell a back and forth tag team storyarch and it was damn fine. Darkstorm looked like he was playing a Native American warrior without all the usual accessorizing stereotypical gimmicks on him. He wrestled barefoot though and I loved the look. My fave thing here was the break up of the pins w/o this breaking into a match where all 4 guys are roaming the ring brawling, ala WWE style.

The two pure Japanese women tore it up here, as Hamada got a pass from Orlando, away from 2 mins of work each month and watching the constant ego stroking around there to actually come work a match. I loved her aggressiveness and there were some huge spots in this one. Just straight up pure hard hitting Puro action, just with boobs.

I can’t quantify what exactly I liked about Marty v. Lenny, as watching 20+ matches from Jannetty’s catalogue in ’98, it’s a little like doing a day’s worth of laundry, it’s the same cycle. Lenny though still had that bright eyed look as if he could really be a big star in this business until it was beat out of him by jobbing for 3 years straight on WCW Sat. evening programming I think only me and Brian were viewing. Their styles meshed pretty well and Jannetty looked game to the make the youngster look very good.

This match is also involved in our Nitro project, I know Brian’s aired some misgivings about it, but it had nasty Benoit beatings on capable Jannetty to sell it and I bought it. There’s some interference near the end, but it didn’t bother me from the earlier 5-6 minutes of fast paced action.

Another Real Japan offering, this mostly featured those fun loving shoot fighters from the BattlArts promotion. It was nice seeing a match of theirs without that one strange camera angle. Suzuki fit in perfectly well amongst them and I was into Ishikawa, a guy many pimp as amazing, but I’ve never seen too many performances I really loved, But this was it, his unique counters, always moving into the advantageous situation, despite his wispy air waving like a field of wheat I was loving watching his performance.

This was the SHIMMER opener of the card and I liked the characters: Athena’s got some attitude, like a late night customer at Burlington Coat Factory who’s switching tickets on Baby Phat purses and she’s super athletic, sort of like a Sharmell that could work. Bonesaw is greener than the Easter eggs I dyed with my daughter this weekend but had some nice physical touches. The Jessica & Rachel show were exactly what this card needed to open: fast paced, energetic chicks who like to eat a clothesline. This also got a lot of time and was for the better, as a 2-3 min. run through spots kind of sprint would have put me off and not shown me anything these 4 were capable of, but instead, I was pleasantly surprised.

By virtue of everything else being sub-par this one makes it on; Eugene, still running with the gimmick I’m sure he was ready to quit this business over when he was saddled with it 7 years ago, has toned it down and sticks to mat wars when he’s in the ring. I didn’t get a strong sense of Desmond, as it was obvious Eugene was running the match but he didn’t seem inept. Paced well and a simple finish, I couldn’t ask for much more.

Bottom 5:
The worst of the worst, the Pitbulls opened up their respective show and plowed through their opponents much like I’d imagine they would with Francine’s gaping holes in the seedy motel they were staying in that night while Johnny Mnemonic played on Cinemax in the background…..Jannetty v. Adams had no business in a WCW ring, as Adams sneered and snarled around a shitty moveset finishing off Marty in record time so they could make their 7:00 pm nose candy pickup……Cat Power couldn’t get a date if she paid her own prostitution fees, nor can she work; her opponent Jamila looked absolutely ridiculous and the commentators trying to put over her weak strikes and “heart” almost made me read the Hulk Hogan autobiography again to get some truthiness back in my system…..Taylor is a trainee, but is no more a wrestler than Sarah Palin is a decent human being. To make this a decent match, she needed someone more on a Misawa level not a Melanie Cruise level……..Drunko was just that, some sad jerkoff in a mask who should have been left in the alley where he was found. Gowan looked like a LeBron James caliber athlete next to him and a Nelson Mandela caliber human. The comedy in this was so bad even Blue Meanie would cringe watching it

Thursday, May 19, 2011

WWF Sam Houston Coliseum 11/6/86

AHH May 19th!~

Dan Spivey vs. Moondog Spot - 3

Between Spivey's flowing locks of mullet-y blonde hair and the shear abundance of dead skin cells residing on the face and head of Moondog Spot, I can't imagine what to expect here. I noticed that Spot's selling was really held back because it's very difficult to see his face. He may as well be wearing a mask. Luckily, Spot was able to come through with a few nice sells, particularly after receiving a head to the turn buckle and bouncing down to one knee. Spivey played the babyface here, but whatever kind of positive heat he garnered from the fans seemed rather forced. The in-ring wasn't all that great as it was rather slow, and not the good kind of methodical slow, either.

Butch Reed vs. Steve Gatorwolf - 2

Reed's presence in the ring reverberated to the cheap seats. This guy was just must-see. I really enjoyed his character and heel persona. Going up an enhancement talent like Gatorwolf showed Reed's ability to get himself over with the crowd as an arrogant prick, too, as he was able to take liberties with Gatorwolf. The match really showed nothing in terms of in-ring except that Gatorfield can do a job and that Reed's persona is rather incredible, but if I were rating this strictly due to the match quality, it was bad.

Tito Santana vs. Jake "Don't Do Drugs" Roberts - 6

After seeing the placings on the Queue Slayer, I'm definitely looking forward to this. You can't expect a bad match from these two during this period of time, so I'm quite pumped. Jake's selling of Tito's strikes were great. He'd clutch at his face like his eye popped out. This match was a very typical yet good 80's style wrestling match featuring a clear cut heel and face. Jake did such a great job by pulling out heel tactics like illegal holds, using the ropes for leverage, etc. On the other end, Tito's exhausted performance really put over the fact that the 20 minutes that the match went was 20 minutes of hell for Tito. The squirms of his body while Jake cut off his air supply were to die for. Well done.

Dino Bravo vs. Dick Slater - 4

This match was interesting. It started off slow, but as time moved on, Slater started to get this really nice brawling attitude and started to take it to Dino harder and harder as the match moved on. I enjoyed Dino's offense because he looked taken aback by the tenacity of Slater. The finish came out of nowhere, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but even the ref looked confused. Now that is bad. Dino looked so top heavy during the match that I got the impression every breath he was taking was a battle in and of itself.

Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik - 5

This was fun as well. The face team of Kid and Smith got some great sympathy, particularly Kid, as he was isolated from his partner and was being picked apart by the evil foreigners... yeah I said it. Smith's hot tag was hotter than hell and looked great. Volkoff & Sheik played up the heel tactics very well and got such insane heat from the crowd. Kid had some great offense, in particular this rolling pin combination that looked really slick on such a big guy as Volkoff. Sheik looked good as usual, but I can't watch him put a camel clutch on anymore without hearing him mention sodomy in my mind. Both teams took their time and made sure to lay it all out there in the ring in a nicely-paced match that flowed very well.

Mike Rotundo vs. Moondog Rex - 3

This match struck me as more of a buffer in between the two title matches. I can't really say that this match had much bearing or impact on the event, but it was just one of those matches that was just there. I think that the audience felt the same way judging by their reactions... or lack thereof. This isn't to say that Rotundo didn't look good. He looked fine. Think of it this way: a space shuttle getting ready to take off, the engine's start smoking, but no fire comes out and we get nowhere. Yeah.

Randy Savage vs. Junkyard Dog - 3

In a match that I was sure was going to end this event strong, I was let down by the heel persona of Macho Man being much more important than the actual match itself. Macho Man's main point here was to get over the fact that he was a champion of cowardice by hiding behind Elizabeth in multiple attempts to avoid JYD. I mean, this really isn't the way you want to close a show, leaving such a sour taste in the mouths of the people who paid money to see this. The match ended in a double count out, but Savage laid in a great double axe handle that tickled my fancy; however, see rocket ship simile above.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

SHIMMER - Vol. 1

I borrowed this DVD from Tim a long time ago (years now) and stumbled upon it while searching for some discs the other day. I’ve never seen a SHIMMER DVD and the closest I’ve come to this promotion is when I witnessed Tim getting beat up at the ROH merchandise table by Allison Danger. Wonder if this will be anything like that?

1) Tiana Ringer vs. Shantelle Taylor – 4
Decent little match here and pretty much what you would expect from the first bout on the promotion’s first show. Both girls looked good. Ringer had a nice set of submissions she used during the bout but Taylor’s selling left a bit to be desired. I’m guessing Ringer was supposed to be the heel but I’m not sure. The spot where Ringer was supposed to set Taylor up on the top turnbuckle was botched, probably because Ringer didn’t have enough strength to get her up there. Taylor presented everything you’ve seen from her as Taylor Wilde in TNA. Nice top-rope dropkick at the end from Taylor.

2) Team Blondage (Krissy Vain & Amber O’Neal) vs. Cindy Rogers & Nikki Roxx – 3
Team Blondage is the indy equivalent to TNA’s Beautiful People. The first few minutes are pulled straight from the book “Heel Stalling for Dummies” which I understand was written by Larry Zbyszko. For what they lack in in-ring skills, they make up for in character. Rogers seemed rather bland to me but threw some stiff clotheslines off the hot tag. Roxx, known as Roxxi in TNA, didn’t really show me much during the bout. Basic tag formula here and nothing to get excited about.

3) Rain vs. Ariel – 4
I remember the first time I saw Rain. It was on that terrible Vince Russo abortion called Ring of Glory and she was horrid. I’m still not a fan of her work but I dig her vocals in the ring. Ariel’s spunkiness reminds me of this religious chick I took out on a date one time in high school. Rain controlled the majority of this bout with her simplistic offense. Ariel had a nice victory roll and a tornado DDT. I liked the spot where they were briefly exchanging elbows. Wasn’t expecting much out of this but Ariel managed to get a good match out of Rain so I applaud her for that.

4) Lexie Fyfe vs. Christie Ricci – 3
Ricci tried to do a springboard arm drag but nearly slipped and failed miserably. Fyfe looks like a mean old broad that you wouldn’t want to mess with. Prazak on commentary says that she debuted in 1995. Never heard of her before. Ricci did some nice selling to the back but I happened to have liked her work in Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” better. Oh, wait … that was Christina Ricci. Fyfe hits a shitty looking TKO which Prazak calls an Attitude Adjustment. Worst match thus far.

5) Cheerleader Melissa vs. MsChif – 6
The inverted Texas Cloverleaf from Melissa was fucking amazing. MsChif was literally bent it half. How does MsChif follow that up? By botching a spot where she was supposed to slide under Melissa and in the same motion bridge into a submission move. Well, she got the submission part of the move off but messed up on the slide under portion. MsChif tired a spinning backfist that would make Aja Kong cry it was so bad. Melissa bent MsChif over the railing similar to the way Jericho bent Benoit over a ladder at Royal Rumble ’01 and pulled her arms through the gaps in a pretty cool spot. Melissa hit a sit-out powerbomb that made Prazak wet his pants. Really good match here, very physical with Melissa busting out a few innovative moves and MsChif holding her own after an early miscue.

6) Beth Phoenix vs. Allison Danger – 4
Yes, this is the WWE Beth Phoenix and yes, Bryce Remsburg is the referee. Criss-cross spot made Beth look like an idiot. Phoenix looked goofy too many times for my liking here, at one point kissing Bryce after appyling a hold to Danger. Danger’s offense looked decent but really didn’t have the same fire that the offense in the last bout did. To Beth’s credit, her heel tactics such as using wrist tape to choke Allison and telling the crowd to shut up while they were clapping, were acceptable for a small show like this. After the ten-minute mark, I had the feeling they were working towards a draw finish but shortly after that, Allison pinned Beth with a sloppy reversal of a roll-up. Very bland match.

7) Sara Del Ray vs. Mercedes Martinez – 5
Things stayed pretty simple to start off with, exchanging mat holds and what not. After that, stiff ass forearms and chops were on the menu. Good move by Martinez dropping her opponent’s head on her knee out of a death valley driver. Big spinebuster by Martinez. Some good selling by both parties on submission moves. Martinez took a bunch of kicks from Del Ray and just collapsed like a sack of flour. Damn good powerbomb by Del Ray. Martinez dropped Sara straight on her shoulder on a German suplex. Prazak said this was east coast vs. west coast to which Allison Danger countered “It’s like a rap feud.” Seriously? Tell me she didn’t just say that. Big submission attempts at the end but all for naught since the match went the time limit. Prazak and Allison were selling this as an epic on commentary. While this was a good match, it was far, far from “epic” territory.

8) Lacey vs. Daizee Haze – 6
Really? This is the main event? Lacey playing heel here and doing some great vocal selling of a simple hammerlock. I chuckled at the spot where Lacey spit a giant loogey on one of the virgin basement dwellers in attendance. Noticed Lacey blatantly calling spots. Daizee took a crazy backwards bump off the top rope. Lacey’s boston crab sucks. Sit down on that shit, yo! Daizee’s selling got better as the match went on. Damn! Spin kick knocks Daizee all the way into Wisconsin! This seemed to suffer from the main issue plaguing a lot of ROH undercard matches at this time with a ton of nearfalls off of big moves. Finish was good with Daizee hitting the heart punch and the Mind Trip. Suprisingly good match. I can’t believe my words here, but I’m actually going to recommend this match. Yep, you read it right. I’m actually recommending that you seek out a Lacey match.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

CZW "Blood Pressure: Rising"

1. Sabian vs. Rich Swann - 1
2. Drew Blood vs. Pinkie Sanchez - 4
3. Devon Moore vs. Cole Calloway - 3
4. H8 Club vs. The Best Around -1
5. Carter Gray vs. Drew Gulak - 2
6. Ruckus vs. Greg Excellent - 5
7. Egotistico Fantastico vs. Ryan McBride - 4
8. Drake Younger vs. Dingo - 7
9. Jon Moxley vs. Brain Damage - 7
10. Sami Callihan vs. Trent Acid - 5

So, recently I became the proud (or reluctant?) owner of all the '07-'10 CZW shows. I've for discernible reason chosen mid-'09 as a good an era to jump into as any. Let's see what happens, shall we?

Opener was fairly insipid, like two min. long, Swann's still a bit wet behind the ears but showed off some fun acrobatic, flippy shit. I guess his parents got their money worth for gymnastic class, and to think Rich's dad said it'd stunt his manhood. Next match was fine, physical, I liked it a tad more than their pimped bout from the 10th anniversary show (which I reviewed here), less outright bullshit here. Never heard of Calloway but, of all the guys' working a flaming queer gimmick, he's really got it down, complete with holes in his trunks where his ass cheeks reside and a t-shirt that says "tiny penises make me giggle". Moore plays a great freaked out homophobe, probably not a stretch or a compliment to his acting ability. Commentary guy says Devon's Shooting Star Press is the best in the business. I guess he hasn't seen, well, anybody else's.

Wait, that H8 Club shit was a match? Not really. Gage and Hatred just took liberties on TBA and while fun to see those guys bludgeoned there was no finish or anything. Next match was as flavorless as an air-flavored jellybean, something I'm sure Wonka created in his spare time. Gulak was not yet the arrogant pussy role he portrays now, just a dude with bedhead and a bad Kurt Angle ankle lock.

Show started picking up a bit here, Ruckus and Excellent, a match on paper that didn't sizzle but actually not bad at all. It was a BotB qualifier and it actually felt like both guys wanted the win with some nice nearfalls and build. Egotistico and McBride, didn't try to steal the show, but still fun. McBride stole Ego's cape and aped his superhero dive into the crowd spot.

Next three matches were all quite good and I don't know how or why things shifted, as I've seen almost all of the '10 CZW, and while they feel more like a wrestling company now, here everyone was just doing insanely dangerous and crazy shit to each other. Maybe when Zandig was still running things people just were nuttier. Dingo was the IWA MS champion and an invader or sorts. Crowd seemed pretty hostile as was Zandig or someone who popped up once or twice on commentary and buried Ian Rotten. Dingo and Younger really just had a nasty match, no hardcore junk, just big bumps and a lot of their signature stuff except onto steel chairs and other things that just looked extremely painful. Dingo took some unbelievable bumps in this. The guy's way overlooked.

The Moxley match was nuts. He was born, raised, lived, and wrestled in my home area and I never really knew how he made his way to CZW. You can tell here that there was no shortcut. Brain Damage was not holding shit back. These guys did the, bar none, sickest fork spots I've ever seen. Just jamming it deep into each other's foreheads and both spraying blood all over the damn place. I felt bad for Moxley, like this was some sort of sick initiation, but if so he passed with flying colors. Damage has some of the meanest, stiffest right hands in wrestling. He was just drilling John with some shots that'd KO Tim Sylvia. Main event was less intense and exciting as what preceded it, more of a meandering brawl, with Acid returning here, I hate to say it, but you could kind of get the sense he already had one foot in the grave. There was chairs scattered all over the ring, so many in fact if they were dicks it would have been Melina's mouth. Callihan used an electric lift to drop a legdrop from the ceiling in an awesome finish to a match that wasn't great.

Monday, May 16, 2011

CHIKARA - King of Trios 2011 MEGA-REVIEW~! All Three Nights!

Here we are. The CHIKARMY are creaming their collective pants -- King of Trios is here!

Let's take a look at the teams.

-Team Michinoku Pro (Great Sasuke/Dick Togo/Jinsei Shinzaki)
-Team Osaka Pro (Atsushi Kotoge/Daisuke Harada/Ultimate Spider, Jr.)
-Team Dragon Gate (Super Shisa/Akira Tozawa/Kagetora)
-Team Minnesota (1-2-3 Kid/Arik Cannon/Darin Corbin)
-Manami Toyota/Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw
-The Colony (Fire Ant/Soldier Ant/Green Ant)
-F.I.S.T. (Icarus/Chuck Taylor/Johnny Gargano)
-The Osirian Portal (Ophidian/Hieracon/Amasis)
-Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz/Marshe Rockett/Willie Richardson)
-The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield/Sugar Dunkerton) with Matt Classic
-Sinn “Kizarny” Bodhi & The Batiri (Obariyon/Kodama)
-A trio representing the BDK captained by Tim Donst (Donst, Delirous, Jakob)
-Team Australia (Tama Williams/Percy/Kabel)
-TNA star Amazing Red with the Maximos!
-The Spectral Envoy (Hallowicked/Frightmare/UltraMantis Black)
-Team 3.0le! (El Generico, Scott “Jagged” Parker/Shane Matthews)


Let's get this going! Spoilers ahoy!
The DVD opened with a ode to Larry Sweeney. Still can't believe it happened. Twelve large, brother! Glad they did this.

Night One:


Team 3.0le! (El Generico, Scott “Jagged” Parker/Shane Matthews) vs. The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Ophidian, Hierecon) - 5

As the match got underway, I suddenly had the realization that a singles match between Jonathan Gresham (Hierecon) and Generico would be absolutely delicious. Generico's energy was through the roof tonight. His connection with the crowd was great as always. I loved the eye poke spot Generico busted out. We got the most spectacular dance-off that nearly had tears rolling down my face as it ensued. Generico, my God, Generico is hot tonight. His dancing is off the chain, serving his opponent left and right. There was a "wave" spot in the match, featuring all six men linking hands with the fans, doing the wave. This went a bit longer than it needed to. It took a bit of time to get going with the actual match, but the comedy warmed the crowd up, and the action commenced. 3.0 were hitting some great double team maneuvers, including an assisted spear and lung blower, both of which Ophidian took with pleasure as evident by his good selling of the maneuvers. Gresham hit this absolutely great chin buster that he busts out every now and again. Loved it. Ophidian's moonsault got some sick distance, hitting it perfectly. Great sprint near the end to cap off the match. I did think that the comedy went a bit long, and I could've done without the "wave" spot, but overall it was a good opener.

To the Quarter-Finals: The Osirian Portal

Team Australia (Tama Williams/Percy T./Kabel) vs. FIST (Chuck Taylor/Icarus/Johnny Gargano) - 2

This was really bad. FIST tried working with these guys but it just didn't work. Prior to the match, Tama stated in a promo that the team had been studying FIST for months... he lied. Team Australia didn't know left from right when working with FIST as was evident by their inability to know what was coming next. The lanky Percy T. was thoroughly unimpressive, as was the behemoth Kabel, who rocked a Slipknot mask. Eww. Tama looked alright, but still was lost in the shuffle. Nothing clicked here and it was actually slightly embarrassing to watch. Bet Quack wants his plane ticket money back. See ya in Perth, Aussies.

To the Quarter-Finals: FIST

Team BDK (Donst/Delirious/Jakob) vs. Da Soul Touchaz (Willie Richardson/Marshe Rocket/Acid Jaz) - 4

Whoever said that Willie Richardson can't move needs to watch this match. His speed was up and brother busted out a drop kick! Willie was thoroughly impressive as he busted out some great right hands on Jakob, who was impressing me with his stumbling and selling. His match with Green Ant from Tar Swamp left a really bad taste in my mouth, but he kind of made up for it here. Donst needs to hit the gym as he's looking tubbier than the Michelin Man as of late. He hit this terrible leg sweep on Jaz into the corner that was so sloppy. Rocket (my favorite member of Touchaz) busted out a sweet assisted dive and hit the guardrail Benoit style on his back. Tursas' run-in worked, but the fin sucked. Delirious didn't do crap in this match -- go fig. Match was just kind of there, but it's furthering the Touchaz/BDK feud which is okay by me -- hopefully the blowoff will be much better than this match.

To the Quarter-Finals: Team BDK

The Amazing Red/Los Maximos vs. Manami Toyota/Quackenbush/Jigsaw - 7

This match was off the chaaaaiiin! Jigsaw's selling throughout the match was consistently good and I was digging what I was seeing. Quack hit this really great submission on Red in which hit flipped him upside down, held him in the air, and wrenched his body. Wish he would've held it on longer. The double palm strike by Toyota/Quack must have been great for Quack. He's a super Joshi dork so I'm sure he dug it. Quack was taking it to Red, who was bumping around like the madman that he is, especially after taking a DDT on the ring apron. Frankie Kazarian needs to get a damn notebook and jot some of this down, because Maximos hit this Flux Capacitor-like move on Quack that was utterly sickening. The back and forth sequences in the match were amazing and reminded me of that AJW-style match breakdown that we all love. Topping off the match with Toyota hitting that ever-so-delicious moonsault, Jig hitting an elbow drop and Quack doing that pose that Sweeney always did. Great match topped off with a really special moment. Loved it.

To the Quarter-Finals: QuackSaw/Toyota

The Spectral Envoy (Ultramantis Black/Hallowicked/Frightmare) vs. Team Dragon Gate (Super Shisa/Akira Tozawa/KATEGORA) - 4

The singles match of Tozawa and Frightmare would be amazing, just saying. Tozawa brought that fiery energy that I love to see. His indy work in PWG is amazing, so I was excited to see what he could do here, especially against Frightmare. Tozawa and Frightmare had this great face off - they are just so evenly match and wrestle so similarly that you CANNOT NOT book this match. The only awkward moment in the match between the two was an awkward DDT by Frightmare on Tozawa. KATEGORA looks damn impressive with his striking and maneuvering in the ring. Brian and I were wondering how many enzuigiris he gave the monkey a while back. Hallowicked and Mantis' performance in this particular match wasn't any more special than any other performance they've recently had, but nothing was actively bad. Again, Tozawa's energy was just off the chain, hitting his patented "run up the ropes head butt" and screaming to the crowd. While Shisa was the most underrepresented on team DG's side, his code-red was very smooth and his offense flowed well.

To the Quarter-Finals: Team DG

The Throwbacks/Matt Classic vs. Team Osaka Pro (Atsushi Kotoge/Daisuke Harada/Ultimate Spider, Jr.) - 5

Sugar and Kotoge had some shtick to start the match, featuring a race inside the ring and Kotoge shooting a basketball. Once all that was said and done, the match got underway and was flowing nicely. Spider Jr.'s pantomiming shooting webs got a chuckle out of all of us, as he played the part quite well. Harada's offense was great -- his armdrag on Dunkerton into Classic looked incredible. Let's talk about Classic -- he was on tonight. His comedic timing was great (as Colt's usually is). He teased a dive off the top rope, but was too scared and went for a little splash instead. Colt's performance was rather classic. Team O-Pro's double teaming worked really well in the match, Harada looked particularly good in his part. Overall, the match was a success and came off great.

To the Quarter-Finals: Team O-Pro

Sinn Bodhi/The Batiri vs. The Colony - 4

Obariyon was killing it with the mat wrestling. Where did this guy come from?! I love the Batiri! Kodama's striking was rather great as well, hitting some sick knees to the antennas. Kizarny looked gassed halfway in, and honestly the match would've been better without him slowing it down. The Ants had their typical match, finishing it off with a really high assisted dive by Fire Ant. A decent back-and-forth element and sweet wrestling by the Batiri was overshadowed by Kizarny's performance.

To the Quarter-finals: The Colony

Team Minnesota (1-2-3 Kid/Arik Cannon/Darin Corbin) vs. Team Michinoku Pro (Great Sasuke/Dick Togo/Jinsei Shinzaki) - 6

Man, Waltman looked really great tonight. He shaved that disgusting facial hair and came in without a ratty bandanna. His selling throughout the match was the best of any man, and that's saying something with the likes of the M-Pro team in there. Corbin hit his usual slo-mo spot. It was here that Sasuke caught me off guard - he played the part amazingly. He was also laying in his strikes on Corbin really well, especially a stiff kick to the back of Corbin's head. Waltman worked with Shinzaki and sold his rope walk better than anyone I can recall as of late. Waltman also hit a really sick dive! Dude is on fire tonight. Togo wasn't outdone by his buds, though. His selling was just as good as Waltman's. Togo really played up his glassy-eyed selling throughout the match and I was digging the hell out of it. Sasuke's deathmatch career started to show as he took a sickening flop onto an upright chair. This match was nuts and crazy good. Watch it.

To the Quarter-Finals: Team M-Pro
Match Avg: 4.6

See: SAT vs. Quacksaw/Toyota; Throwbacks vs. O-Pro; Team Minnesota vs. Team M-Pro

---Night Two---

Colt Cabana vs. Archibald Peck - 4

Peck has a lot of energy in the ring and definitely qualifies as a showman, overselling shoulder tackles and bumping on the mat like an upset Terry Gordy. The comedy worked really well here because it was different from a lot of Cabana matches in that Peck seemed to be going along with it and milking it for all that it was worth. Fans were really getting into him. By no means was it a match for the ages, but it worked well in the entertainment category.

FIST vs. Team Osaka Pro - 6

Icarus worked the crowd to a T in this match, doing everything an more to make them hate him and his tattoo. Gargano's in-ring seems to be getting sharper and sharper every time he steps in the ring, especially with his striking. O-Pro brought that great lucharesu aspect to the match, hitting the ropes faster than the patrons of Philadelphia hit the cheese steak stand. Spider was isolated throughout the match more than Barrow, Alaska in the dead of night, and continued to look the ring like a lost cat. FIST kept heeling it up in the corner with cheap shots on Spider. Really found myself wishing the hot tag would've gotten a bigger pop, but instead (to borrow a quote from Jess) was frigid. In non-typical lucharesu fashion, team O-Pro made sure to really lay their shots, especially Kotege's running knee to the back of Taylor's head, Spider's drop kick on Icarus, and Harada's KNEE TO THE FACE on Taylor that made me go nuts. Everything just clicked here and worked great.

To the Semi-Finals: FIST

Rey de Voladores – Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Pinkie Sanchez vs. El Generico vs. Marshe Rockett - 6

Sabre was killing Pinkie to start the match, working over his knees by slamming them into the mat and generally owning Pinkie on the mat. I was digging this match because the more it progressed, the stiffer and more brutal it got -- by Sabre Jr, if you couldn't guess. He was just being a jerk by twisting Generico's finger while in an armbar. The more and more I think about it, Sabre Jr. vs. Generico would be an amazing singles match. Pinkie brought that unstable mental patient quality to the match by jumping around like a squirrel on speed and screaming like a banshee. We got the typical heel ref Sabado antics which took away from the match, but it got Pinkie a lot of heat and worked well. The ending to the match was the best part and alone was amazing, with Generico hitting the top rope brainbuster on Sanchez. If you watch this, keep an eye out for Pinkie's sell of this because it was seriously one of the best I've seen.

The Osirian Portal vs. Team Dragon Gate - 6

This match worked so well it was ridiculous. We followed a really great building formula that started off with a ground-based attack by both teams and moved on from there, keeping elements of submission wrestling laced throughout. I was digging Amasis' performance throughout the match. Normally, Amasis is my least favorite member of the Portal (I still enjoy his work), but here his showmanship really shined through. As he ascended the rope for a body press, Tozawa got his knees up and Amasis took a splash right onto Tozawa's patellas that looked gnarly. Amasis' selling was incredible, screaming in agony and begging for the tag. As the match progressed I suddenly realized something: Team DG is the perfect team. Kagetora brings the striking game, Shisa brings the lucha element, and Tozawa balances the two and compliments both styles. Match was just really smooth and worked great.

To the Semi-Finals: The Osirian Portal

Arik Cannon vs. Eddie Kingston - 4

Both guys were busting out their big offense early on, with Cannon hitting Total Anarchy on Kingston, who was draped over the guardrail on the outside. Kingston's selling was yet again in a "A" category, with winces and grimaces galore throughout. Kingston took a Saito suplex and landed on his shoulder, and continued to sell it as the match continued and even after the bell ring. Little touches like that are why he's so great. It didn't get a lot of time which garnered its rating, but the ending was great with an ode to Sweeney as both men embraced and draped a Sweet'n'Sour t-shirt of the ropes.

Team BDK vs. The Colony - 2

Aaaaand here's your runt of the litter. This match stunk. Not only did it not go anywhere, it took forever to get there. This BDK team looked really horrendous throughout the match. Now, I'm not the biggest Colony fan, but they do bust out some great performances every now and then... this wasn't one of them. Bad timing, bad in-ring, no flow. Bad match for this caliber of a show.
To the Semi-Finals: The Colony

Rey de Voladeores number dos: Frightmare vs. Obariyon vs. Red vs. 123 Kid - 4

This match was really a showcase for Waltman. He got huge pops and everyone was digging his work and chanting, "You still got it." I have to say I agree. Obariyon was the mega-heel in the match, getting booed by the fans and basking in all the glory. Kid kept hitting those nice spinning kicks in the corner and nearly took Obariyon's nose off with a particularly stiff looking one. The eliminations started going fast after Red got taken out. I wasn't particularly sure what to think because by no means did I dislike the match, but it wasn't anything to write home about if you feel me. Ya feel me? Ya fallow me, cam'ra guy?

Quacksaw/Toyota vs. Team M-Pro - 6

Alright so here we've got something I've been wanting to see for a long time: Quack mixing it up with the M-Pro guys -- especially Sasuke. Loved the mat wrestling between Shinzaki and Quack -- definitely something great to witness. Togo was playing up his heel persona, grabbing Toyota by the hair and laughing at the crowd. Toyota busted out a dive off the top rope that looked sweet, along with working with Quack for a double palm strike on Sasuke that looked like it knocked him into next week. I've also determined that Sasuke gets jollies from being in pain. The dude took a senton onto an open chair laying on it's side. In my opinion, the finish fell a bit flat by the time it came around after teasing it for a couple of minutes, with Sasuke hitting a powerbomb on Quack while Toyota and Jig were in submissions. Really cool feel throughout the match with the veteran element to the match.
To the Semis: Team M-Pro

Match Average: 4.6

Watch: FIST vs. O-Pro, first Voladores match, Portal vs. Team DG, M-Pro vs. QuacksawYota


---Night Three---

The Osirian Portal vs. The Colony - 4

I feel that The Colony is more in their environment in this match working with a seasoned team they are used to. The mat wrestling in the beginning of the match was working really well and was a sight for sore eyes after the last Colony/BDK match the night prior. Both teams were taking their time and it was showing. To say these two teams are evenly matched is a huuuuge understatement. There was this awkward roll through spot with Amasis and Green Ant in which Green Ant rolled through into a pinning combo only to get up and whip Amasis into the corner. That's like ordering a compendium and all the single issues of The Flash franchise -- flashiness without function. Things started to breakdown and both teams started hitting their offense. Gresham had a glaring botch with Soldier ant after going for a knee strike that featured more collapsing than a Jenga tournament, but made up for it with a smooth-as-silk shooting star press. Solder hit a neck breaker from the top rope that seemed like it took an unnecessarily long time to execute. I found myself really expecting more from this match, which didn't deliver on the level it should have.
To the Finals: The Colony

FIST vs. Team M-Pro - 6

Sabado reffing a non-BDK match again? That's like Peter Parker being drawn by the DC boys. Gargano was probably having a nocturnal emission being in there with Shinzaki -- JG is quickly becoming my favorite member of FIST. His bumping was great on the praying rope walk. The M-Pro boys were taking it to FIST with all kinds of great offense, featuring a double stomp on Icarus' chest cavity by Shinz that Taylor and Gargano sold on the mat while Icarus clutched his pecs. Sasuke was the lamb led to slaughter in the match, taking the brunt of FIST's offense and getting the fans behind him all the while. The progression in the match had great build with a really great crazy element from Sasuke, who hit a senton on Icarus who was sitting on an opened chair. I just loved the bumping by FIST, especially Gargano. As the match continued, we'd get some great heel offense from FIST, featuring one of the best heat-gaining mechanisms in the biz: powder in the eyes! M-Pro got a huge ovation for their weekend contributions, as well they should have.
To the Finals: FIST

Ultimate Spider, Jr. vs. Jigsaw - 3

A real tit-for-tat, anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better type of match, with both guys showing their athletic prowess in the ring. Action moved at a quick pace, but didn't involve too many high spots, which surprised me. Found myself wishing Jigsaw would've laid in his offense a bit throughout. "Filler" defined right here.

Tag Gauntlet - 4

Jaz/Willie work excellently together. Loved their combo offense including a shoulder block/DDT combo on Cannon. I found myself laughing to death when Corbin came in to face Willie -- like a red-headed, pasty squirrel that had been fed too many sugar cubes by the neighborhood children. Willie hit The Pounce on Corbin and sent him soaring, with Cannon hitting the roll-up and eliminating the Touchaz.
Enter: The Batiri.. who own. These dudes took control and whipped Corbin like a red-headed step-child...wait. Cannon was stiff as all get out with Kodama, nailing him with a sickening lariat among other things. Batiri hit a combo finisher of a back cracker/Super DDT that Corbin made me shake my head at -- he basically no sold the back cracker in order to get up to take the DDT. Yuck. Peace, Corbin and Cannon.
Enter: The Throwbacks who hit some pretty decent offense including a dragon suplex, only to have Obariyon nail Hatfield in the crotch and get DQ'ed.
Enter: Haze/Del Rey. Haze needs more body fat. This is getting ridiculous. Del Rey hit the Royal Butterfly suplex on Hatfield for the quick pin. Someone get a neck brace for Hatfield?
Enter: Mother-freaking DARKNESS CRABTREE and Matt Classic. Really glad to see Crabtree back. He needs his walker, evidently. The shtick had me rolling between Class and Crabtree. It worked because it broke the match up and lasted the perfect amount of time. Haze hit Crabree with a German. See you on Sunday, Gramps.
Enter: The Roughnecks. Everyone was digging Brodie. RN came in, took names, and decimated the female BDK team. Peace, Haze, got eat some fettuccine or something.
Enter: Team O-Pro who were tearing it up in the ring like they owned the place, eliminated Grizz with a pin.
Enter: Team DG. Two choice lucharesu promotions in Japan (their no M-Pro, though) mixing it up in the ring. We got a typical back-and-forth match between the two teams with all the typical spots, with Team O-Pro going over Team DG to get the points. Success, victory, love for team O-Pro!

Madison Eagles vs. Manami Toyota - 7

So I'm pretty much having an epileptic fit over here because I dig the hell out of both of these chicks. This match ruled. Madison brought it more than I have ever seen her bring it before. If her performance isn't stepping up to the plate, then I don't know what is. Toyota brought her A-game to the match, hitting some sick offense, folding the already Eagles in half like a broken accordion. Thank God for this match, it went the perfect amount of time and had head drops rivaling some of the great 90s AJW moments. Watch this, but clean up after yourself.

Akira Tozawa vs. Eddie Kingston - 5

Hello! Tozawaw has mixed it up with Hero, Steen, and others in PWG, so let's how did he do with a singles match here in Philly? Damn good. Kingston is a 90s AJPW mark - we can all tell by his high impact offense in the ring and general puro heavyweight style throughout his matches. Tozawa doesn't belong in Dragon Gate. He's too good. Book this kid in the main at the Kingdom show in 2012. It'd be delicious. This particular match had me torn though, because while the action was really good in the ring, the match wasn't given enough time to unfold properly. I would've much rather seen the match build and build and culminate in that great sprint that 90s AJPW is so well known for. Nevertheless, what we got was good, but it could've been better f they'd have been given the appropriate amount of time to tell a story, but instead, we got a mix between the speedy DG style and the classic puro heavyweight style. Still a really cool feel to the match, but it could've been so much more.

RdV Match: 123 Kid vs. El Generico - 7

You want to talk about emotion? This match had it. While Waltman did botch the top rope brainbuster, I had nearly forgotten about it by the time the match was over because the emotion and magical atmosphere was just running so high that nothing could put a damper on it. Waltman showed how much he could go over the last two nights, but this performance was one hell of a success story. He hung in there with Generico and put on a hell of a match. What a cool element, too: a top indy guy facing an innovator of 90s. Generico appeared to be working stiffer than usual, and Pac was returning the favor gladly, taking his head off a couple of times with spinning kicks to repay Generico for those ever-so-lovely Yakuzas in the corner. The final sprint to this match was something in itself to behold and must be seen to believe. When Generico hit the top rope brainbuster, there was a Vesuvius-level eruption in the Asylum that buried the city of Philadelphia like Pompei. My God, what a moment. What a weekend for Waltman. What a tourney!

KoT Final: FIST vs. Colony - 5

I honestly didn't know what to say here for a while and had to think about what I was going to write. Finally, I started typing so what you see here is what you get. This wasn't the best KoT final ever for a few reasons. The first was the botches. FIST had a couple that were quite glaring, especially Icarus' failed attempted at an out-of-the-ring Shirnui that looked like ass. Second, that last match was a hard act to follow, no doubt, so that was another cloud in the sky during this particular bout that I think caused me to not enjoy it as much as I should have. Third, there was a lag in the middle of the match that was glaring, but I will say that I was happy with Green Ant's performance. Back a YLC of 2010, Green Ant had to have a plate and bar implanted in his arm, or so say the announcers. Whether or not he really did is beside the point because his selling was top notch as FIST worked over the battered arm of Green Ant. This pleases me much. The final sprint was good and honestly, that mixed with Green Ant's performance saved the match. We culminated with a super assisted splash from the top rope by Fire Ant that looked great to top of a match that had it's problems, but nonetheless worked in the end.

So that's KoT 2011 -- a very good tournament indeed. I feel like that positive definitely outweigh the negative, and that overall it was a great success. Well done, boys.

Match Average: 5.1

Watch: FIST vs. M-Pro; Eagles vs. Toyota; Toz vs. Kingston; Kid vs. Generico

CHIKARAWESOME Tracking:

"King of Trios: Night 3" - April 17, 2011 (5.1)
"Creatures from the Tar Swamp" - March 13, 2011 (5)
"Chaos in the Sea of Lost Souls" - January 23, 2011 (4.75)
"King of Trios: Night 2" - April 16, 2011 (4.75)
"King of Trios: Night 1" - April 15, 2011 (4.6)
"Caught in a Cauldron of Hate" - February 19, 2011 (4.5)
"Clutch of Doom" - February 20, 2011 (4.25)
"Operation Big Freeze" - March 12, 2011 (4)