Monday, September 16, 2013

Grand Masters of Wrestling Vol. 1

To read Brian's take on this same show from '08 click here!

This is a DVD series that Brian found in the bargain bin of Walmart years and years ago. The intro music for this is completely cheesy, right out of a 90s syndicated TV show and the building this was filmed in is probably a high school gym somewhere. Immediately, I know this isn't going to be good.

1. Ace Darling vs. Dangerous Devon Storm - 3

Storm looks like the typical high school jock in a lot of 90s teen movies with the blond hair and shades. If you're trying to envision someone, think of the character "Wade" from Halloween 4. Yeah, I know that was an obscure cinema reference but it's the best I could do. I’m not sure if this is the same Devon Storm that’s known as Crowbar so if someone could clue me in on that, it’d be appreciated. Some nice high risk moves, including a somersault plancha from Storm that the play-by-play guy erroneously called a “moonsault”. Darling looks and feels very generic and would make a good TV jobber with his basic design tights. Storm hit a nice springboard leg lariat and a moonsault, which I should note was correctly called by the announcer. I should note that Ken Patera is on color and seems totally bored. A very basic top rope frankensteiner fro Ace ends this. A fairly good match but nothing too outstanding.

2. Iron Mike Sharpe vs. King Kong Bundy - 1

Sharpe looks about fifty pounds heavier than his WWF run and, as my wife noted, “looks like a really bloated Jerry Lawler”. A FUCKING HUGE King Kong Bundy replaces Kamala, who was originally supposed to be in the match, and immediately my expectations went higher. There wasn’t a lot to see except for both guys pounding on each other. Bundy nailed Sharpe with a nice big splash in the corner. I’m noticing a trend here, none of these legends seem are taking bumps at all. Match ends in a double count-out and Bundy yells “what the hell, man” to the referee and then just walks away. My thoughts exactly.

3. Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs. The Metal Maniac - 3

With a name like Metal Maniac, I expected someone to come out clad in armor or at least something somewhat resembling the Silver Surfer. Instead, we get a guy who looks like a Kona Crush rip-off with Ultimate Warrior facepaint, about a hundred extra pounds, and a MASSIVE mullet. Surprised to see Snuka on this DVD but I guess he’ll take whatever bookings he can get. I’ll admit it, I never really was a big Jimmy Snuka fan so this match is really doing nothing for me, however this was a little better than I expected it to be, mostly thanks to the Maniac. These guys work a headlock spot for what seems like forever and Maniac took a wild bump off the top rope. Snuka didn’t deviate from his moveset any, doing his typical assortment of chops and high flying.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's definitely the same Devon Storm, because he and Darling probably wrestled each other about a million times on the indies in the late '90's.

Anonymous said...

Also, Ace Darling WAS a jobber for the WWF as part of their short-lived Light Heavyweight title division.

Brian said...

Anonymous: Thanks for the comment(s). Brian here, I reviewed the show years ago as well and was aware of the Storm/Darling connection.

http://neverhandover.blogspot.com/2008/06/grand-masters-of-wrestling-1.html

Adam said...

Anonymous --- Thanks for the info. I thought it may have been the same guy but the blond hair and shades threw me off.