BMD is an acronym for Brian's Mix Disc, which is running at about number 258 right now, basically Brian's own pet project of passing along discs of stuff that would normally mostly go otherwise unseen, but with his sweet Apple Laptop he's able to burn top quality products of puro, lucha, independent, mma, and interview wrestling related material for the NHO collective to share and enjoy. I like to show him the hard work does pay off once in a while and review some of these discs. This particular one also included a wild and crazy DDT Fantasia show smack dab in the middle of an amusement park, but I wasn't sure of all the participants so I merely sat back and enjoyed that show, where as these four matches will be reviewed rigorously.
1) Kushinobi Kamen v. Ebessan- 2
Kamen is a clown, not a scary one like in It, just a complete goofball, as he and Ebessan seem to be almost tag partners, doing the same kid friendly, balloon passing entrance to the ring. This is straight comedy which both performers were doing very well at, some of the material is just plain goofy, some rests on fans' knowledge of what hold/reversal comes next, but it was all fine. 2 major factors kind of killed my enjoyment of it though; 1 is the match drew on too long, nearing an 18 minute time, that's probably the length of an episode of Community minus commercials, which is hilarious throughout, this however not. My 2nd issue is they tacked on a 7 minute 3rd from the bottom ROH style match into their routine and it just felt so forced, if you're going to do comedy and dance with each other, that's fine, but don't expect me to take your pitiful Shinig Wizard seriously? You're like the 109th best guy to try that move and do the Muto pose with it.
2) Daisuke Sekimoto/ Yuji Okabayashi v. Shadow WX/ Abdullah Kobayashi- 5
First thing, this was a Big Japan show, and not a single strand of Barb Wire or shard of glass was used; as future endeavored tubby Helms used to say, "What's up with that?" Still as a tag match I was digging this. WX seems to have shed the few extra pounds he wore when scarring up his body 2-3 nights a week a decade ago and he had much better ring movement because of it, the sections where he fought Okabayashi were by far the best, with both guys getting the most out of each other. Oka was selling more than anyone and more realistically, Sekimoto was playing up a 80's Vince musclehead where nothing really fazed him and even when he did sell, it was nothing more than a nose crinkle as if to sneeze. But he brought the offense and his T-shirt was just plain money: it simply said "I"m Hard." Abby gave a great near fall every time he got put down and took some hard moves, even if his face showed he barely acknowledged it. Two other cool things was Shadow's snapping punches and the finish that Takayama would be jealous of.
3) Meiko Satomura v. Ran Yu-Yu- 4
Recently saw Meiko in a 2002 tag match and she was the Balls, here she comfortably leads glam bitch Ran Yu-Yu to a decent match. I wasn't a big fan of Ran, her work in going from any transition was just sloppy and ultimately really left this match feeling like an unfinished project, like the fuck seat you helped your neighbor work on over last summer, modeled after George Clooney's character from Burn After Reading. Ran did throw some deadly knees though, and often. If this match had one thing going for it, they weren't holding back on any strikes; I especially loved the sequence where it was almost a stand off and Meiko stopped Ran's dead sprint with a boot that could knock over what's left of the Colosseum.
4) Jado v. Kazuchika Okada- 3
Not a fan of either guy and they didn't do a lot to change my mind; Jado is this junior weight guy who's like a WWE Frankenstein's monster, he now has the small, but ripped bulk of Rey Mysterio, has the certain skin cancer tan of HHH and has the ripped off move set of Kurt Angle circa 2002. Okada is the rookie, but he showed a lot more fire in his selling and when on offense, particularly one spot where he was about to get clothesline in the corner and he screamed intensely. Jado was bumping like a programmed robot. Seemed to be a perfunctory New Japan opening card match.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Henry - WWE SmackDown! 1/8/02 - 4
This is a great example of a short match done right. Explosive, tells a story, gets over the impressively freaky strength of Lesnar, and more. I really like Lesnar's jumping around in-between spots, gets over his athletic background, as though he's just warming up for more. Brock ramming his shoulder into Henry in the corner is frighteningly explosive -- WWE needs this type of unpredictable intensity in a performer today. Henry's vertical suplex is a thing of beauty, and subsequently, Lesnar's sell of it is tremendous, arching up in terror, as though he just awoke from a nightmare where Frank Mir had Sable in a leg lock... nude. Henry does the old fashioned neck hang, hasn't looked that good since I'd do it as Luger to Eddie Gilbert on WCW Wrestling for the NES. Craziest spot in the match was an overhead belly-to-belly suplex by Brock. Lesnar scores the win with the F-5, overall, a great bit of story contextualization, getting over Lesnar's strength in contrast to Henry's work in that field.
We're Taking Requests...
Coming up in the month of June we're asking you, our readers, to send in anything you'd like to see us do a review on. Anything you mail us will be non-returnable, so, don't send over priceless heirlooms (i.e. your grandfather's 8MM territorial reels). We pride ourselves on being open minded, and having a deep appreciation for all things combat, so send over your favorite wrestling event, or some obscure stuff, some MMA, a highlight reel of your best matches from Ring King, hell, an old VHS of you and your kid sister fighting in '89 -- we'll review it! Leave a comment with your e-mail address if you're interested in contributing. Thanks.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
WCW Mayhem 2000
1) Mike Sanders vs. Kwee Wee – 2
2) Evan Karagias & Jamie Noble vs. The Jung Dragons vs. Three Count – 5
3) Jimmy Hart vs. Mancow – 0
4) Big Vito vs. Crowbar vs. Reno – Hardcore Match – 3
5) Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman vs. Alex Wright & Kronik – Handicap Match – 3
6) Shane Douglas vs. The Cat – 3
7) Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Sgt. A-Wall – 2
8) Lance Storm vs. General Rection – 3
9) Jeff Jarrett vs. Buff Bagwell – 4
10) Kevin Nash & Diamond Dallas Page vs. Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo – 3
11) Goldberg vs. Lex Luger – 2
12) Scott Steiner vs. Booker T – Straight Jacket Caged Heat Match – 5
Coming off the heels of a rather un-enjoyable Halloween Havoc, the craziness continues with the second installment of Mayhem. The opener was awful, mainly due to the fact that the Natural Born Thrillers (remember them?) came in and interfered about thirty seconds in. Jindrak interfered directly in front of the ref but it wasn’t called. Then Meng runs down with Paisley and starts fighting with the Thrillers. Ric Flair comes down with security and runs everyone off. More interference by Paisley doing a handspring elbow right in front of the ref. Rest of it was bland offense in an unexciting match in a cruiserweight division that should offer exciting matches. Next bout up was yet another bout in the ongoing series between Three Count, The Jung Dragons, and the former members of each stable, Noble and Karagias. The ref didn’t really do anything to keep control and it broke down into a jumbled mess with everybody doing dive spots and double team moves without any semblance of storytelling or selling. Three Count was great as heels but their act was getting stale as they’d been doing the same schtick since February of that year. Jimmy Hart and Mancow was just as bad as you would think as it was pretty much the same match they’d had at Spring Stampede 2000 with Mancow throwing bad punches and both guys rolling around on the mat. Continuous weak weapon shots highlighted the hardcore match. Why did Crowbar wear a 70s style polyester shirt and some cheap bling out of a prize machine to the ring? There was a brawl to the back and a lame spot at the end with some girl named Marie telling Reno to stop beating on Vito that led to Crowbar getting the win. It felt like a match in one of those shitty WCW Electronic Arts video games. The handicap match was supposed to be Rey, Kidman, and Konnan against Disco and Alex but there was a lame angle earlier in the show where Disco feigned an injury and him and Alex paid Kronik to replace Disco. Kronik agreed to 7 minutes and 30 seconds of work. Sound confused? It was obvious that Kronik didn’t give a shit because they kept checking the stopwatch they brought to ringside with them. This whole thing made the heels look totally inept because right after Kronik left the match, Wright got beat. The best part of the Douglas/Cat match was the very beginning where they brawled around the ring and Cat grabbed Mark Madden by the throat and started choking him to the delight of the very few that were watching the show. Rest of the bout was terrible as Douglas was worse than he ever was by this point and Madden was making fake coughing sounds on commentary trying to sell the fact he’d been choked. This really should’ve been the main event of a Thunder taping.
Second half started off pretty miserable with Bigelow coming out for his match and claiming that he was the winner over Mike Awesome via forfeit. Flair came back out and said “there are 10,000 people here to see you wrestle”, to which the entire announce crew scoffed at, and brought out Sgt. A-Wall to fight Bigelow in a terrible match in which A-Wall set up the table he brought out in the ring and it never got used. Even Stevie Ray, who’s commentary was one of the most enjoyable parts of the show, questioned A-Wall’s logic. Both dudes looked like shit. Afterwards, they did an injury angle with Bigelow which led into the next bout with Bigelow jumping off the stretcher and attacking General Rection from behind. There was an awkward moment where Storm had Rection crotched on the ringpost and the camera cut to Major Gunns for a split-second. When they cut back, Storm was in mid-slide and it looked as if he slid himself into the railing. Storm worked over Rection’s knee but that was quickly forgotten about as Rection climbed to the top rope with ease at the end , not selling anything, and delivered a moonsault to capture the U.S. Title. Next up was a decent bout between Bagwell and Jarrett. Bagwell looked rather good here but a lot of it was negated by Jarrett’s laziness. The whole point of the match was that Jarrett was pissed at Bagwell for destroying his guitars. So to finish, we get unlogical interference from David Flair and a blatant guitar shot which went wood everywhere which the referee didn’t see. This referee must be blind because it’s the same person that reffed the opener that had all the bullshit interference. DDP and Nash got an decent bout out of Stasiak and Palumbo. The beginning of this featured all the Thrillers coming out posing as WCW security and doing more interference until Flair came out with the real WCW security and banished everyone to the back where I’m sure they each got their dick sucked by Leia Meow (aka Kimona from ECW). Match fell apart with legal man issues and Mike Sanders pulling the ref out of the ring after Nash issued out some powerbombs. Luger and Goldberg was a complete four minute squash where Luger looked terrible and could barely move. The main was acceptable on all fronts but had a few logic issues that Stevie Ray was kind enough to point out, such as why would Booker attempt to put Steiner in the straight jacket instead of pinning him? Why was the straight jacket even involved in the first place? The cage barely came into play at all. Booker helped hold this together as Steiner slopped all over the ring. The finishing point with Booker in the Steiner Recliner looked pretty bad but otherwise it was one of the best bouts on the show and that’s not saying much.
2) Evan Karagias & Jamie Noble vs. The Jung Dragons vs. Three Count – 5
3) Jimmy Hart vs. Mancow – 0
4) Big Vito vs. Crowbar vs. Reno – Hardcore Match – 3
5) Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman vs. Alex Wright & Kronik – Handicap Match – 3
6) Shane Douglas vs. The Cat – 3
7) Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Sgt. A-Wall – 2
8) Lance Storm vs. General Rection – 3
9) Jeff Jarrett vs. Buff Bagwell – 4
10) Kevin Nash & Diamond Dallas Page vs. Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo – 3
11) Goldberg vs. Lex Luger – 2
12) Scott Steiner vs. Booker T – Straight Jacket Caged Heat Match – 5
Coming off the heels of a rather un-enjoyable Halloween Havoc, the craziness continues with the second installment of Mayhem. The opener was awful, mainly due to the fact that the Natural Born Thrillers (remember them?) came in and interfered about thirty seconds in. Jindrak interfered directly in front of the ref but it wasn’t called. Then Meng runs down with Paisley and starts fighting with the Thrillers. Ric Flair comes down with security and runs everyone off. More interference by Paisley doing a handspring elbow right in front of the ref. Rest of it was bland offense in an unexciting match in a cruiserweight division that should offer exciting matches. Next bout up was yet another bout in the ongoing series between Three Count, The Jung Dragons, and the former members of each stable, Noble and Karagias. The ref didn’t really do anything to keep control and it broke down into a jumbled mess with everybody doing dive spots and double team moves without any semblance of storytelling or selling. Three Count was great as heels but their act was getting stale as they’d been doing the same schtick since February of that year. Jimmy Hart and Mancow was just as bad as you would think as it was pretty much the same match they’d had at Spring Stampede 2000 with Mancow throwing bad punches and both guys rolling around on the mat. Continuous weak weapon shots highlighted the hardcore match. Why did Crowbar wear a 70s style polyester shirt and some cheap bling out of a prize machine to the ring? There was a brawl to the back and a lame spot at the end with some girl named Marie telling Reno to stop beating on Vito that led to Crowbar getting the win. It felt like a match in one of those shitty WCW Electronic Arts video games. The handicap match was supposed to be Rey, Kidman, and Konnan against Disco and Alex but there was a lame angle earlier in the show where Disco feigned an injury and him and Alex paid Kronik to replace Disco. Kronik agreed to 7 minutes and 30 seconds of work. Sound confused? It was obvious that Kronik didn’t give a shit because they kept checking the stopwatch they brought to ringside with them. This whole thing made the heels look totally inept because right after Kronik left the match, Wright got beat. The best part of the Douglas/Cat match was the very beginning where they brawled around the ring and Cat grabbed Mark Madden by the throat and started choking him to the delight of the very few that were watching the show. Rest of the bout was terrible as Douglas was worse than he ever was by this point and Madden was making fake coughing sounds on commentary trying to sell the fact he’d been choked. This really should’ve been the main event of a Thunder taping.
Second half started off pretty miserable with Bigelow coming out for his match and claiming that he was the winner over Mike Awesome via forfeit. Flair came back out and said “there are 10,000 people here to see you wrestle”, to which the entire announce crew scoffed at, and brought out Sgt. A-Wall to fight Bigelow in a terrible match in which A-Wall set up the table he brought out in the ring and it never got used. Even Stevie Ray, who’s commentary was one of the most enjoyable parts of the show, questioned A-Wall’s logic. Both dudes looked like shit. Afterwards, they did an injury angle with Bigelow which led into the next bout with Bigelow jumping off the stretcher and attacking General Rection from behind. There was an awkward moment where Storm had Rection crotched on the ringpost and the camera cut to Major Gunns for a split-second. When they cut back, Storm was in mid-slide and it looked as if he slid himself into the railing. Storm worked over Rection’s knee but that was quickly forgotten about as Rection climbed to the top rope with ease at the end , not selling anything, and delivered a moonsault to capture the U.S. Title. Next up was a decent bout between Bagwell and Jarrett. Bagwell looked rather good here but a lot of it was negated by Jarrett’s laziness. The whole point of the match was that Jarrett was pissed at Bagwell for destroying his guitars. So to finish, we get unlogical interference from David Flair and a blatant guitar shot which went wood everywhere which the referee didn’t see. This referee must be blind because it’s the same person that reffed the opener that had all the bullshit interference. DDP and Nash got an decent bout out of Stasiak and Palumbo. The beginning of this featured all the Thrillers coming out posing as WCW security and doing more interference until Flair came out with the real WCW security and banished everyone to the back where I’m sure they each got their dick sucked by Leia Meow (aka Kimona from ECW). Match fell apart with legal man issues and Mike Sanders pulling the ref out of the ring after Nash issued out some powerbombs. Luger and Goldberg was a complete four minute squash where Luger looked terrible and could barely move. The main was acceptable on all fronts but had a few logic issues that Stevie Ray was kind enough to point out, such as why would Booker attempt to put Steiner in the straight jacket instead of pinning him? Why was the straight jacket even involved in the first place? The cage barely came into play at all. Booker helped hold this together as Steiner slopped all over the ring. The finishing point with Booker in the Steiner Recliner looked pretty bad but otherwise it was one of the best bouts on the show and that’s not saying much.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
US/Japan Wrestling Summit- April 13, 1990
All Japan Classics*
* all but the first 2 of these matches took place at the US/Japan Wrestling Summit held in the Tokyo Dome on April 13, 1990
1) Great Kabuki/ Mitsuo Momota/ Giant Baba v. Masa Fuchi/ Haruka Eigen/ ?- 3
It was so weird seeing Momota being able to actually move around, and he looked spry and really good here. Fuchi was team leader on the other side and was taking it to everyone that came in but that hindered his performance, really wasn't giving much back at all. Even Baba sold more than he did. Not a real long match but didn't completely dissatisfy.
2) Tiger Mask II/ Shinichi Nakanov. Miracle Violence Combo- 5
Watching this match makes me think of some of the things I'd hope to do in my life: Climb Mont Blanc, see a live shark in the ocean, titty-fuck Jessica Simpson, and get Oklahoma Stampeded by Doc, now i'll have to mark that off my list. I actually inducted MVC into our, at times, prestigious Hall of Fame group just because they were so damn fun to watch and so brutal.
I actually reviewed this match last year or so off the MVC set and it's just as fun a watch here with Doc & Gordy switching from being brutal monsters to bumping for pleasure to get the good guys over. Nakano showed some fire, but was never given the chance to bring it because of the style of match, think he was not aggressive enough. I love Gordy's surprise facials whenever he gets hit and his intensity more than matches that of Doc. So awesome just watching them run the ropes, not knowing what they have in mind, but it's always a collision.
3) Jake Roberts v. Big Bossman- 5
Bossman was still heel here, both these guys were know for great punches, liked the measured pace they used as well. Jake missing that crucial knee lift was a holy shit moment, love Bossman selling his back like he had an Emperor Scorpion shoved down his slacks. Bossman was working this chinlock at one point that was so loose; i literally could have put a turtle neck sweater on Jake while still in that hold and not touched Bossman's arms. Finish predictable but so was Sandra Bullock's Oscar win, didn't make it any less enjoyable.
4) Tiger Mask II v. Bret Hart- 4
Bret "the Hitman" Hart v. Mitsuharu Misawa- wow could you imagine a purist's dream match getting any better than that fantasy booking? You'd be completely disappointed, just like if you grew up reading Marvel Comics and adoring Wolverine, then saw his solo movie, well maybe not that let down, that was a pretty awful pile of crap, but this wasn't the match you were hoping for. It was basically the first 20 minutes of the Iron Man v. Shawn. All on the ground, lots of armlocks, chinlocks and reversals into the other guy doing it. Got a couple dives, but offensively, this match was about as appetizing as anything made of tofu. As the time expired, they were just running the ropes, as if they were both pedestrians in Manhattan passing each other on 5th Street, I found it as humorous as I did disappointing.
5) Demolition v. Andre the Giant/ Giant Baba- 2
This had to be Andre's last run in the ring, I believe he'd already retired from the ring in WWF so this was probably just a special occasion match. Demoltion, who's theme song rules by the way, were selling more here than they probably had in their previous 3 year run in New York. Baba was booting these guys left and right, bouncing around like rubber balls from the quarter machine in your local delapidated grocery store. Andre figured he'd try and elbow drop but he missed the first time, second connected, the face painted tough guys main offense was swinging their arms down on their opponents back with no particular concern or passion shown.
6) Haku/ Jumbo Tsuruta v. Mr. Perfect/ Rick Martel- 7
This crowd was simply on fire for Jumbo, like they were all getting a free bobblehead after the show.......or perhaps just head. As odd a choice of partner Haku was here, the guy was an awesome worker in the days when he wasn't as big as a Volkswagon. Brawl starts it right off, Jumbo shows who's the man though and just obliterates both guys with jumping forearms. Henning was just a nut here, in any one match you might see a guy take one maybe two crazy bumps, but that was all Henning did, every shot and he was up in the air like a fly ball and crashing to the mat like a meteorite. Love when he and Jumbo traded punches later on. Dropkick school could be taught from this match, it was like dominoes, Henning, Martel, Haku all getting off crisp, beautifully executed dropkicks. Martel brought his tag experience to the match and just cut Haku off like a pissy girlfriend. But when he made that hot tag, all hell broke loose and Jumbo ruled. Awesome finish too.
7) Stan Hansen v. Hulk Hogan- 7
Been wanting to see this for ages. Hulk was business here. Fun, but pointless mat work off the bat, then this turned into a drunken Saturday night after your College football team won the championship. Hogan just paraded Hansen around ringside like a prize pig at a county fair, while bludgeoning him with punches, kicks and chairs. Terribly awry table bump left Hansen bleeding profusely and rubbing his bedhead. On Hansens' turn for offense, he didn't let up because Hulk sold millions of dollars of t shirts and teddy bears to kids across the United States, he treated him like any young dojo boy, just wallop after wallop over the head and mean nasty chair shots as Hogan gigs across the announcer's stack of loose leaf paper with all his notes for the show and his wife's grocery list. Brutal clotheslines highlighted the finishing run like any great puro match Davy Boy Meltz gave 5 stars to in the 00's,so where's the love here? Been noticing how much momentum plays a factor in certain matches and how you can use it to escalate the drama and pace or ignore it and plod along, but they were on the right track here, both men, uglier than a ran over turtle, bloody as a lame Halloween costume your neighbor's wearing and both manlier than Marlon Brando banging 3 chicks while watching Mixed Martial Arts on a 89" Plasma TV while eating a 24 oz. steak. You need to see this more than we need Universal Health Care.
* all but the first 2 of these matches took place at the US/Japan Wrestling Summit held in the Tokyo Dome on April 13, 1990
1) Great Kabuki/ Mitsuo Momota/ Giant Baba v. Masa Fuchi/ Haruka Eigen/ ?- 3
It was so weird seeing Momota being able to actually move around, and he looked spry and really good here. Fuchi was team leader on the other side and was taking it to everyone that came in but that hindered his performance, really wasn't giving much back at all. Even Baba sold more than he did. Not a real long match but didn't completely dissatisfy.
2) Tiger Mask II/ Shinichi Nakanov. Miracle Violence Combo- 5
Watching this match makes me think of some of the things I'd hope to do in my life: Climb Mont Blanc, see a live shark in the ocean, titty-fuck Jessica Simpson, and get Oklahoma Stampeded by Doc, now i'll have to mark that off my list. I actually inducted MVC into our, at times, prestigious Hall of Fame group just because they were so damn fun to watch and so brutal.
I actually reviewed this match last year or so off the MVC set and it's just as fun a watch here with Doc & Gordy switching from being brutal monsters to bumping for pleasure to get the good guys over. Nakano showed some fire, but was never given the chance to bring it because of the style of match, think he was not aggressive enough. I love Gordy's surprise facials whenever he gets hit and his intensity more than matches that of Doc. So awesome just watching them run the ropes, not knowing what they have in mind, but it's always a collision.
3) Jake Roberts v. Big Bossman- 5
Bossman was still heel here, both these guys were know for great punches, liked the measured pace they used as well. Jake missing that crucial knee lift was a holy shit moment, love Bossman selling his back like he had an Emperor Scorpion shoved down his slacks. Bossman was working this chinlock at one point that was so loose; i literally could have put a turtle neck sweater on Jake while still in that hold and not touched Bossman's arms. Finish predictable but so was Sandra Bullock's Oscar win, didn't make it any less enjoyable.
4) Tiger Mask II v. Bret Hart- 4
Bret "the Hitman" Hart v. Mitsuharu Misawa- wow could you imagine a purist's dream match getting any better than that fantasy booking? You'd be completely disappointed, just like if you grew up reading Marvel Comics and adoring Wolverine, then saw his solo movie, well maybe not that let down, that was a pretty awful pile of crap, but this wasn't the match you were hoping for. It was basically the first 20 minutes of the Iron Man v. Shawn. All on the ground, lots of armlocks, chinlocks and reversals into the other guy doing it. Got a couple dives, but offensively, this match was about as appetizing as anything made of tofu. As the time expired, they were just running the ropes, as if they were both pedestrians in Manhattan passing each other on 5th Street, I found it as humorous as I did disappointing.
5) Demolition v. Andre the Giant/ Giant Baba- 2
This had to be Andre's last run in the ring, I believe he'd already retired from the ring in WWF so this was probably just a special occasion match. Demoltion, who's theme song rules by the way, were selling more here than they probably had in their previous 3 year run in New York. Baba was booting these guys left and right, bouncing around like rubber balls from the quarter machine in your local delapidated grocery store. Andre figured he'd try and elbow drop but he missed the first time, second connected, the face painted tough guys main offense was swinging their arms down on their opponents back with no particular concern or passion shown.
6) Haku/ Jumbo Tsuruta v. Mr. Perfect/ Rick Martel- 7
This crowd was simply on fire for Jumbo, like they were all getting a free bobblehead after the show.......or perhaps just head. As odd a choice of partner Haku was here, the guy was an awesome worker in the days when he wasn't as big as a Volkswagon. Brawl starts it right off, Jumbo shows who's the man though and just obliterates both guys with jumping forearms. Henning was just a nut here, in any one match you might see a guy take one maybe two crazy bumps, but that was all Henning did, every shot and he was up in the air like a fly ball and crashing to the mat like a meteorite. Love when he and Jumbo traded punches later on. Dropkick school could be taught from this match, it was like dominoes, Henning, Martel, Haku all getting off crisp, beautifully executed dropkicks. Martel brought his tag experience to the match and just cut Haku off like a pissy girlfriend. But when he made that hot tag, all hell broke loose and Jumbo ruled. Awesome finish too.
7) Stan Hansen v. Hulk Hogan- 7
Been wanting to see this for ages. Hulk was business here. Fun, but pointless mat work off the bat, then this turned into a drunken Saturday night after your College football team won the championship. Hogan just paraded Hansen around ringside like a prize pig at a county fair, while bludgeoning him with punches, kicks and chairs. Terribly awry table bump left Hansen bleeding profusely and rubbing his bedhead. On Hansens' turn for offense, he didn't let up because Hulk sold millions of dollars of t shirts and teddy bears to kids across the United States, he treated him like any young dojo boy, just wallop after wallop over the head and mean nasty chair shots as Hogan gigs across the announcer's stack of loose leaf paper with all his notes for the show and his wife's grocery list. Brutal clotheslines highlighted the finishing run like any great puro match Davy Boy Meltz gave 5 stars to in the 00's,so where's the love here? Been noticing how much momentum plays a factor in certain matches and how you can use it to escalate the drama and pace or ignore it and plod along, but they were on the right track here, both men, uglier than a ran over turtle, bloody as a lame Halloween costume your neighbor's wearing and both manlier than Marlon Brando banging 3 chicks while watching Mixed Martial Arts on a 89" Plasma TV while eating a 24 oz. steak. You need to see this more than we need Universal Health Care.
Monday, March 15, 2010
NHO Poll #4
It's time for the monthly poll! Please, if you're going to participate by voting, leave a comment with an explanation for your choice in hopes of generating some pertinent discussion.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
J Crown Tournament
August 2-5, 1996
Tokyo, Japan
This was the tourney held to combine all the top Junior titles in the world, and the winner would hold 8 titles simultaneoulsy, don't think it lasted more than a couple years though.
1st round
1) Great Sasuke (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion) v. Masayoshi Motegi (NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion)- 6
Awesome start as Motegi just unloaded on Sasuke even before the bell. His attack was relentless, like ABC's Dancing with the Stars commercials, really mean strikes and leg work dominated the bulk of his attack. I do like Sasuke's beaten man selling, like he's searching for water in a desert, crawling around, gives more credence to his comeback moves. The pace and story they set right from the bell made this fun to watch, as well as sets up for Sasuke's leg injury that would plague him throughout the tourney.
2) Jushin Liger (British Junior Heavyweight Champion) v. Ultimo Dragon (WAR Junior Heavyweight Champion)- 2
This was one of those flash losses Liger does every so often, was really looking forward to them going "full tilt boogie" as me and my friends used as lingo back in the day. Really gnarly somersault outside though on Liger that made him bend over backwards even more than he did at Kazuo Yamazaki's limbo party in '99 that he never truly recovered from, as a man.....
3) Shinjiro Ohtani (UWA Lightheavyweight Champion) v. Negro Casas (NWA Welterweight Champion)- 4
I was really looking forward to this match, as both are still kicking ass to this day but the match suffered from a lack of mixed styles that never came together. Ohtani was a step off in keeping up with Casas quick matwork and rope spots and Casas' offense really wasn't holding up in the Japanese style, some loose holds and other misc. items kept this from really working overall. Casas had several much better matches with Liger earlier in his Japanese touring days.
4) El Samurai (WWF Lightheavyweight Champion) v. Gran Hamada (WWA Junior Lightheavyweight Champion)- 5
Now this match was all about grinding each other out and pouring on the pressure on the match. The whole first half saw them exchange armbars and just exert control over the other; neither guy was really selling up the standards I usually credited them for, Samurai at some points just trying to get his mask situated instead of making me believe his arm was being ripped off. I love Hamada's high flying act, something about a chubby bear cub of a man flipping over other people's heads that puts a smile on my face. Samurai was really great at getting momentum going with offensive moves and his reverse DDT's never looked sweeter.
2nd Round
5) Ultimo Dragon v. Shinjiro Ohtani- 8
My god, i haven't been this into a performance since watching oil mogul Daniel Plainview. This was the Ohtani show, in big bright marquee spotlights. Off hand, i have to think this is his best performance I've ever seen. Dragon while high on the list of scientific pro wrestling acumen, doesn't emote a lot when on defense, struggling to stay in the match but he didn't need to , Ohtani was selling his ass off for him. They went at it fast for the whole first 10 minutes, both guys breaking out all their top shelf shit, the Asai, the springboards (both the spinning kick and the back of the head dropkick, assassin style) and fun brawling outside to boot. It's when Ohtani took back control, he Hulk'd up better than the skullet sporting gas head ever did! We saw a whole wide range of emotion from near tears to Native American War dances when he thought he had the match won, and big near falls were the highlight of the whole 2nd half, especially the part where they were using each other's big moves for them, didn't make you cringe like when that was done every week in the Attitude era. Just a once in a lifetime match for him.
6) Great Sasuke v. El Samurai- 6
Okay these are two awesome dudes, don't know them personally, but i'm willing to bet they are really fun to play board games with and are probably the two most hung guys with masks on. I've always loved Sammy's brutal offense, not usually pretty but very effective, his short elbows, powerbomb where he just drops you as soon as he hoists you up. Sasuke was brilliant selling the knee again here, and more desperate crack addict willing to give you brains for a hit selling, Sammy's cut off dropkick on the knee was sweet about 11 minutes in or so. Would like to see more of these guys against each other.
Finals
7) Great Sasuke v. Ultimo Dragon- 5
This match didn't hold water for me, especially after just watching a semi finals where we saw two distinctly different but hard fought wars. I think it suffered from both guys' wrestling styles being so similar and both predominantly faces. The highflying was on par with some of the other stuff, especially the killer Asai, and all the techincal stuff from the open was cool but the ending really was a let down and the match as a whole wasn't that special in my eyes. Didn't even notice Sasuke's knee bothering him again that much here and Dragon is an amazing performer, but as ass beater, he just doesn't measure up so a few flaws going on here but still was a competently worked match with both men showing why they made it to the finals.
Tokyo, Japan
This was the tourney held to combine all the top Junior titles in the world, and the winner would hold 8 titles simultaneoulsy, don't think it lasted more than a couple years though.
1st round
1) Great Sasuke (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion) v. Masayoshi Motegi (NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion)- 6
Awesome start as Motegi just unloaded on Sasuke even before the bell. His attack was relentless, like ABC's Dancing with the Stars commercials, really mean strikes and leg work dominated the bulk of his attack. I do like Sasuke's beaten man selling, like he's searching for water in a desert, crawling around, gives more credence to his comeback moves. The pace and story they set right from the bell made this fun to watch, as well as sets up for Sasuke's leg injury that would plague him throughout the tourney.
2) Jushin Liger (British Junior Heavyweight Champion) v. Ultimo Dragon (WAR Junior Heavyweight Champion)- 2
This was one of those flash losses Liger does every so often, was really looking forward to them going "full tilt boogie" as me and my friends used as lingo back in the day. Really gnarly somersault outside though on Liger that made him bend over backwards even more than he did at Kazuo Yamazaki's limbo party in '99 that he never truly recovered from, as a man.....
3) Shinjiro Ohtani (UWA Lightheavyweight Champion) v. Negro Casas (NWA Welterweight Champion)- 4
I was really looking forward to this match, as both are still kicking ass to this day but the match suffered from a lack of mixed styles that never came together. Ohtani was a step off in keeping up with Casas quick matwork and rope spots and Casas' offense really wasn't holding up in the Japanese style, some loose holds and other misc. items kept this from really working overall. Casas had several much better matches with Liger earlier in his Japanese touring days.
4) El Samurai (WWF Lightheavyweight Champion) v. Gran Hamada (WWA Junior Lightheavyweight Champion)- 5
Now this match was all about grinding each other out and pouring on the pressure on the match. The whole first half saw them exchange armbars and just exert control over the other; neither guy was really selling up the standards I usually credited them for, Samurai at some points just trying to get his mask situated instead of making me believe his arm was being ripped off. I love Hamada's high flying act, something about a chubby bear cub of a man flipping over other people's heads that puts a smile on my face. Samurai was really great at getting momentum going with offensive moves and his reverse DDT's never looked sweeter.
2nd Round
5) Ultimo Dragon v. Shinjiro Ohtani- 8
My god, i haven't been this into a performance since watching oil mogul Daniel Plainview. This was the Ohtani show, in big bright marquee spotlights. Off hand, i have to think this is his best performance I've ever seen. Dragon while high on the list of scientific pro wrestling acumen, doesn't emote a lot when on defense, struggling to stay in the match but he didn't need to , Ohtani was selling his ass off for him. They went at it fast for the whole first 10 minutes, both guys breaking out all their top shelf shit, the Asai, the springboards (both the spinning kick and the back of the head dropkick, assassin style) and fun brawling outside to boot. It's when Ohtani took back control, he Hulk'd up better than the skullet sporting gas head ever did! We saw a whole wide range of emotion from near tears to Native American War dances when he thought he had the match won, and big near falls were the highlight of the whole 2nd half, especially the part where they were using each other's big moves for them, didn't make you cringe like when that was done every week in the Attitude era. Just a once in a lifetime match for him.
6) Great Sasuke v. El Samurai- 6
Okay these are two awesome dudes, don't know them personally, but i'm willing to bet they are really fun to play board games with and are probably the two most hung guys with masks on. I've always loved Sammy's brutal offense, not usually pretty but very effective, his short elbows, powerbomb where he just drops you as soon as he hoists you up. Sasuke was brilliant selling the knee again here, and more desperate crack addict willing to give you brains for a hit selling, Sammy's cut off dropkick on the knee was sweet about 11 minutes in or so. Would like to see more of these guys against each other.
Finals
7) Great Sasuke v. Ultimo Dragon- 5
This match didn't hold water for me, especially after just watching a semi finals where we saw two distinctly different but hard fought wars. I think it suffered from both guys' wrestling styles being so similar and both predominantly faces. The highflying was on par with some of the other stuff, especially the killer Asai, and all the techincal stuff from the open was cool but the ending really was a let down and the match as a whole wasn't that special in my eyes. Didn't even notice Sasuke's knee bothering him again that much here and Dragon is an amazing performer, but as ass beater, he just doesn't measure up so a few flaws going on here but still was a competently worked match with both men showing why they made it to the finals.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Nous Observans Chaque Seconde #10
Jessie
Very busy weekend but got a lot watched, start with CZW's High Stakes show, caught the Danny Havok/ Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan/ Jon Moxley match with 100 stips attached, this was good hardcore wrestling. It didn't need buckets of blood, or people wrapped in barb wire, but was hard fought and people were getting hurt. Thought all 4 guys did a good job, Callihan is so enveloped in his character it's so fun to watch, his selling, along with Moxley's is top notch, on par with some of the best in the states, Orton, Cena, etc. Necro's 2009 in ROH was abysmal, in my opinion, but here we saw some of what made him, sick nasty bumps, street fight mentality, and nasty brutal punches, I think there's a fan base for him v. Foley as a dream match, i'd love to see it. The finish was pretty, ah, well let's jus say if you're a fan of Japanese Blood Operas, you'll dig it!
Finally! I finally got to see the Triple Tier Cage Blowfest that Hogan and Savage threw for themselves back at Uncensored 1996. Here's the concept for you blissfully ignorant folks: Hulk & Macho enter a cage with roughly 10 dudes in it and they beat them all up and that's exactly what hapenned, you had some awesome dudes in this too, like Arn, Flair, Meng, etc. followed by some terribly shitty workers such as Luger, Jeep Swenson, and Tiny Lister (loved you in Friday, dude!) The inner workings of the cage, as well as the downright worst selling i've seen this side of Tower of Doom, really propel this to be one of the most giant fucking T Rex turds i've ever seen. This was part of an ill fated comp idea of every match where Hulk & Macho either team up or fight against each other, it was at points, quite agonizing. One awesome thing though, is the build up for the match takes place on Nitro, where Hulk & Macho are at first fighting off the Horsemen and Kevin Sullivan, well Pillman was in full blown Loose Cannon mode and just attacks Savage with a verocity we've never seen from Logan in any "X" title movie, these two are literally trying to kill each other, Hulk, unsuccessfully tries to pull Pillman off numerous times, only for them to no sell each other's chops, it's fucking brilliant and i was cracking up watching it.
Finally, Battlarts from 05/14/99, won't comment much on the show as a whole, overall, it was lacking, my favorite fight was Sano v. a young Minoru Fujita, awesome transitions, crazy suplexes and nasty kicks, as well as cool submissions throughout, some other highlights was Ikeda busting Bobby Backlund's nose and crushing his soul, disappointing main, and a fun juniors match early on. Also finished SD!, not much of note, Kane continues to wear down 15 years of hatred i've harbored with an awesome realistic finish on McIntyre and Edge works himself slowly back into competition and it's better than most of his main event output from 2009.
Brian
Midterm week really kicked my ass, presented on Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, wrote a seven-page literary analysis, etc. I did manage to watch some of my beloved "grappling theatre". IGF's GENOME11 from 2/11/10 was a lot of fun. Taka Kunou rocks a karate gi like no other, but it was Hikaru Sato's relentless knee strikes that pulled me into their match. Ultimo Dragon looked like he hadn't missed a beat in over a decade, sprinting with former PWG starlet TJ Perkins, although, Asai looked pretty gassed post-match, still a solid performance and gives me hope. Minowa Man and Necro Butcher was a great brawl, lots of nasty shots, like popping each other in the ribs with short jabs, etc. Necro bleeding all over Minowa was a nice visual. I'd been watching Minowa in DREAM so it was cool to see him in this sort of setting. Takayama vs. Predator was right up my alley, Yoshihiro's face looks more and more like The Toxic Avenger's. Maybe he should bring a mop to the ring? You could bring in Tamon Honda and have him work a Dr. Killemoff gimmick and run a Toxic Crusaders-inspired program. I really loved Terkay shoving Takayama onto his ass awkwardly at the beginning. Sapp vs. Barnett, fuck, what can I say? Sapp's offense is so laughable, plus, after seeing some of his '09 MMA fights I've lost all respect for the guy -- getting your ass beat in by Bobby Lashley and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou? And Fedor wants Barnett -- seriously? Dude's over in Japan badly selling double ax handles. Main event was good, Ogawa's lanky ass getting assimilated was enjoyable, and Nakajima and Sawada taking turns slapping each other in the face with their feet was spectacular.
Also, watched Kong & Toyota vs Satomura & Ayako Hamada, GAEA 9/20/02. One of the best matches I've watched this year easily. Such great action, real phenomenal tag wrestling, you've got Manami before she'd broken down completley, Aja is Aja, Hamada I haven't seen a lot of pre-TNA and she blew me away, and Satomura is quickly rising into my all-time favorite wrestlers list. Meiko bumps around and it is just insane how good she looks taking a beating here, not wrestling bumps, flat back and all that wrestling school 101 shit, she looks as if you went into a strangers' house and started throwing them around the place, flying all over and killing herself for our pleasure. There's double teams, nearfalls galore, fantastic selling, building action, etc. You need to see this match.
Very busy weekend but got a lot watched, start with CZW's High Stakes show, caught the Danny Havok/ Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan/ Jon Moxley match with 100 stips attached, this was good hardcore wrestling. It didn't need buckets of blood, or people wrapped in barb wire, but was hard fought and people were getting hurt. Thought all 4 guys did a good job, Callihan is so enveloped in his character it's so fun to watch, his selling, along with Moxley's is top notch, on par with some of the best in the states, Orton, Cena, etc. Necro's 2009 in ROH was abysmal, in my opinion, but here we saw some of what made him, sick nasty bumps, street fight mentality, and nasty brutal punches, I think there's a fan base for him v. Foley as a dream match, i'd love to see it. The finish was pretty, ah, well let's jus say if you're a fan of Japanese Blood Operas, you'll dig it!
Finally! I finally got to see the Triple Tier Cage Blowfest that Hogan and Savage threw for themselves back at Uncensored 1996. Here's the concept for you blissfully ignorant folks: Hulk & Macho enter a cage with roughly 10 dudes in it and they beat them all up and that's exactly what hapenned, you had some awesome dudes in this too, like Arn, Flair, Meng, etc. followed by some terribly shitty workers such as Luger, Jeep Swenson, and Tiny Lister (loved you in Friday, dude!) The inner workings of the cage, as well as the downright worst selling i've seen this side of Tower of Doom, really propel this to be one of the most giant fucking T Rex turds i've ever seen. This was part of an ill fated comp idea of every match where Hulk & Macho either team up or fight against each other, it was at points, quite agonizing. One awesome thing though, is the build up for the match takes place on Nitro, where Hulk & Macho are at first fighting off the Horsemen and Kevin Sullivan, well Pillman was in full blown Loose Cannon mode and just attacks Savage with a verocity we've never seen from Logan in any "X" title movie, these two are literally trying to kill each other, Hulk, unsuccessfully tries to pull Pillman off numerous times, only for them to no sell each other's chops, it's fucking brilliant and i was cracking up watching it.
Finally, Battlarts from 05/14/99, won't comment much on the show as a whole, overall, it was lacking, my favorite fight was Sano v. a young Minoru Fujita, awesome transitions, crazy suplexes and nasty kicks, as well as cool submissions throughout, some other highlights was Ikeda busting Bobby Backlund's nose and crushing his soul, disappointing main, and a fun juniors match early on. Also finished SD!, not much of note, Kane continues to wear down 15 years of hatred i've harbored with an awesome realistic finish on McIntyre and Edge works himself slowly back into competition and it's better than most of his main event output from 2009.
Brian
Midterm week really kicked my ass, presented on Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, wrote a seven-page literary analysis, etc. I did manage to watch some of my beloved "grappling theatre". IGF's GENOME11 from 2/11/10 was a lot of fun. Taka Kunou rocks a karate gi like no other, but it was Hikaru Sato's relentless knee strikes that pulled me into their match. Ultimo Dragon looked like he hadn't missed a beat in over a decade, sprinting with former PWG starlet TJ Perkins, although, Asai looked pretty gassed post-match, still a solid performance and gives me hope. Minowa Man and Necro Butcher was a great brawl, lots of nasty shots, like popping each other in the ribs with short jabs, etc. Necro bleeding all over Minowa was a nice visual. I'd been watching Minowa in DREAM so it was cool to see him in this sort of setting. Takayama vs. Predator was right up my alley, Yoshihiro's face looks more and more like The Toxic Avenger's. Maybe he should bring a mop to the ring? You could bring in Tamon Honda and have him work a Dr. Killemoff gimmick and run a Toxic Crusaders-inspired program. I really loved Terkay shoving Takayama onto his ass awkwardly at the beginning. Sapp vs. Barnett, fuck, what can I say? Sapp's offense is so laughable, plus, after seeing some of his '09 MMA fights I've lost all respect for the guy -- getting your ass beat in by Bobby Lashley and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou? And Fedor wants Barnett -- seriously? Dude's over in Japan badly selling double ax handles. Main event was good, Ogawa's lanky ass getting assimilated was enjoyable, and Nakajima and Sawada taking turns slapping each other in the face with their feet was spectacular.
Also, watched Kong & Toyota vs Satomura & Ayako Hamada, GAEA 9/20/02. One of the best matches I've watched this year easily. Such great action, real phenomenal tag wrestling, you've got Manami before she'd broken down completley, Aja is Aja, Hamada I haven't seen a lot of pre-TNA and she blew me away, and Satomura is quickly rising into my all-time favorite wrestlers list. Meiko bumps around and it is just insane how good she looks taking a beating here, not wrestling bumps, flat back and all that wrestling school 101 shit, she looks as if you went into a strangers' house and started throwing them around the place, flying all over and killing herself for our pleasure. There's double teams, nearfalls galore, fantastic selling, building action, etc. You need to see this match.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Raw vs. Impact - 3/8/10
Two shows live head-to-head on Monday night, with Hogan and Flair main eventing the opposition show … what is this, 1996?
Impact:
1) Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. A.J. Styles & Ric Flair – 1
2) Doug Williams vs. Daniels vs. Kazarian – 4
3) Taylor Wilde & Sarita vs. Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love & Tara – 1
4) Sting vs. Rob Van Dam – 0
5) Eric Young vs. Syxx-Pac – 2
6) Jeff Jarrett vs. Beer Money – Handicap Match (w/ Mick Foley as referee) – 2
7) Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. A.J. Styles & Ric Flair – No DQ Match – 4
Well, Impact started off with the advertised main event. Watching Hogan selling A.J.’s pele kick like he stumbled while walking down the street was quite amusing. Then we get Sting interference, a heel turn that actually suprised me, and a bloody beat down of the faces. Match wasn’t too long, maybe two minutes but the angle coming out of it was really good. The X-Division bout served as a good showcase for first time viewers. Kazarian did some flippy stuff and there were a few double pin spots but nothing that any long-time viewer hadn’t seen before. The match ended in a confusing way. Instead of Williams pinning Kazarian, he pinned Daniels and then Shannon Moore ran down with Bischoff awarding him an X-Title shot at the pay-per-view. So Kaz loses his shot without being pinned? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Only notable thing coming out of the women’s match was that the Beautiful People won the Knockout’s Tag Titles. Well, that and Daffney hitting Tara with the Knockout’s title belt. Other than those two items, the match was 90 seconds of awful. RVD made a suprisingly un-suprising debut when Taz gave it away on commentary by asking Tenay what he was doing at 4:20 in the afternoon, a joke and reference that was probably totally lost on Tenay. He got the pin in 9 seconds with the crowd going completely apeshit. Sting completely no-sells everything after the match and beats the piss out of RVD for about five minutes with a ball bat.
Next up, was an impromptu bout between Young and Syxx-Pac that lasted a whole minute until Young won with a piledriver. Syxx-Pac totally botched it and fell in a heap when Young tried to clothesline him over the top to the rampway. I wish he would go back to Mexico. The handicap match was bizarre as there was no angle leading up to it during the entire show until Jarrett was talking with Storm before the bout and they started brawling. And where the hell did Foley come from? He hadn’t been mentioned once on the entire show and yet he randomly appears during the Jarrett/Storm brawl and refs the match? And Beer Money are heels now? The finish was really odd where Foley handed Jarrett a barbed wire bat which was then confiscated by referee Slick Johnson who counted the fall after a low-blow on Jarrett. I think it just served as a reminder that Russo is still writing the show. The main event was a fun little bout, mainly more for novelty than anything else. I can’t believe that Hogan and Flair are still wrestling each other on my TV in 2010. Flair and Hogan both gigged, with Flair’s entire head almost soaked in blood by the end of the bout. Hogan has no mobility and could barely do anything more than throw punches and a big boot. The entire match was based around Hulk’s daughter Brooke being concerned for her dad’s health. However, triumphantly, as is the norm in every Hogan match, he hit the big boot and fed A.J. to Abyss for the pin. Afterwards, another beat-down ensues until Jeff Hardy made the save for the faces.
Raw:
1) Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, & Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox, Katie Lea Burchill, & Maryse – 2
2) The Big Show & The Miz vs. John Morrison & R-Truth – 0
3) Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes – Handicap Match – 3
4) Evan Bourne vs. William Regal – 1
5) John Cena vs. Vince McMahon, Vladimir Koslov, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, and Batista – Handicap Gauntlet Match – 1
Raw was quite the lackluster show in terms of match quality, with nothing garnering above a “3” and nothing besides the Shawn/Undertaker segment to start off the program worth checking out. The divas match was fine for what it was, that being another six-diva throw-away tag bout in a seemingly endless series of six-diva throw-away tag bouts on Raw. Fox falling face first to the outside and Eve locking in an armbar submission were the highlights. The tag bout was nothing but Morrison and Truth coming in and beating up the heels in order to get some interest in the tag title match at WrestleMania. The handicap match really didn’t do anything for me. These three are stuck in a direction-less feud with no clear end in sight. Clearly, nobody seemed motivated to ratchet the match up to get the audience emotionally invested in it. Plus, like the Energizer bunny, it kept going and going and going. Orton did the job and Cody and Ted posed afterward. I wish they would start going somewhere with this or all three of these guys will lose their steam. My last crap was longer than the Bourne/Regal match. Only notable thing was Bourne winning with the shooting star press. Speaking of shit, that’s the perfect way to describe the so-called “main event”. Cena and McMahon were introduced by guest host Criss Angel (side note: this guest host stuff has run its course and needs to be abolished) and then McMahon decided to make in a handicap gauntlet match. Rules were never explained and people would come down hit a move or two and disappear. Wonder if Criss Angel had anything to do with them disappearing? Mark Henry being a part of this was never explained aside from the fact that Cole mentioned that he was friends with Cena. Batista then comes down, destroys everyone, and helps McMahon get the pin on Cena in a capper to a pretty run-of-the-mill show.
Impact:
1) Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. A.J. Styles & Ric Flair – 1
2) Doug Williams vs. Daniels vs. Kazarian – 4
3) Taylor Wilde & Sarita vs. Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love & Tara – 1
4) Sting vs. Rob Van Dam – 0
5) Eric Young vs. Syxx-Pac – 2
6) Jeff Jarrett vs. Beer Money – Handicap Match (w/ Mick Foley as referee) – 2
7) Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. A.J. Styles & Ric Flair – No DQ Match – 4
Well, Impact started off with the advertised main event. Watching Hogan selling A.J.’s pele kick like he stumbled while walking down the street was quite amusing. Then we get Sting interference, a heel turn that actually suprised me, and a bloody beat down of the faces. Match wasn’t too long, maybe two minutes but the angle coming out of it was really good. The X-Division bout served as a good showcase for first time viewers. Kazarian did some flippy stuff and there were a few double pin spots but nothing that any long-time viewer hadn’t seen before. The match ended in a confusing way. Instead of Williams pinning Kazarian, he pinned Daniels and then Shannon Moore ran down with Bischoff awarding him an X-Title shot at the pay-per-view. So Kaz loses his shot without being pinned? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Only notable thing coming out of the women’s match was that the Beautiful People won the Knockout’s Tag Titles. Well, that and Daffney hitting Tara with the Knockout’s title belt. Other than those two items, the match was 90 seconds of awful. RVD made a suprisingly un-suprising debut when Taz gave it away on commentary by asking Tenay what he was doing at 4:20 in the afternoon, a joke and reference that was probably totally lost on Tenay. He got the pin in 9 seconds with the crowd going completely apeshit. Sting completely no-sells everything after the match and beats the piss out of RVD for about five minutes with a ball bat.
Next up, was an impromptu bout between Young and Syxx-Pac that lasted a whole minute until Young won with a piledriver. Syxx-Pac totally botched it and fell in a heap when Young tried to clothesline him over the top to the rampway. I wish he would go back to Mexico. The handicap match was bizarre as there was no angle leading up to it during the entire show until Jarrett was talking with Storm before the bout and they started brawling. And where the hell did Foley come from? He hadn’t been mentioned once on the entire show and yet he randomly appears during the Jarrett/Storm brawl and refs the match? And Beer Money are heels now? The finish was really odd where Foley handed Jarrett a barbed wire bat which was then confiscated by referee Slick Johnson who counted the fall after a low-blow on Jarrett. I think it just served as a reminder that Russo is still writing the show. The main event was a fun little bout, mainly more for novelty than anything else. I can’t believe that Hogan and Flair are still wrestling each other on my TV in 2010. Flair and Hogan both gigged, with Flair’s entire head almost soaked in blood by the end of the bout. Hogan has no mobility and could barely do anything more than throw punches and a big boot. The entire match was based around Hulk’s daughter Brooke being concerned for her dad’s health. However, triumphantly, as is the norm in every Hogan match, he hit the big boot and fed A.J. to Abyss for the pin. Afterwards, another beat-down ensues until Jeff Hardy made the save for the faces.
Raw:
1) Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, & Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox, Katie Lea Burchill, & Maryse – 2
2) The Big Show & The Miz vs. John Morrison & R-Truth – 0
3) Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes – Handicap Match – 3
4) Evan Bourne vs. William Regal – 1
5) John Cena vs. Vince McMahon, Vladimir Koslov, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, and Batista – Handicap Gauntlet Match – 1
Raw was quite the lackluster show in terms of match quality, with nothing garnering above a “3” and nothing besides the Shawn/Undertaker segment to start off the program worth checking out. The divas match was fine for what it was, that being another six-diva throw-away tag bout in a seemingly endless series of six-diva throw-away tag bouts on Raw. Fox falling face first to the outside and Eve locking in an armbar submission were the highlights. The tag bout was nothing but Morrison and Truth coming in and beating up the heels in order to get some interest in the tag title match at WrestleMania. The handicap match really didn’t do anything for me. These three are stuck in a direction-less feud with no clear end in sight. Clearly, nobody seemed motivated to ratchet the match up to get the audience emotionally invested in it. Plus, like the Energizer bunny, it kept going and going and going. Orton did the job and Cody and Ted posed afterward. I wish they would start going somewhere with this or all three of these guys will lose their steam. My last crap was longer than the Bourne/Regal match. Only notable thing was Bourne winning with the shooting star press. Speaking of shit, that’s the perfect way to describe the so-called “main event”. Cena and McMahon were introduced by guest host Criss Angel (side note: this guest host stuff has run its course and needs to be abolished) and then McMahon decided to make in a handicap gauntlet match. Rules were never explained and people would come down hit a move or two and disappear. Wonder if Criss Angel had anything to do with them disappearing? Mark Henry being a part of this was never explained aside from the fact that Cole mentioned that he was friends with Cena. Batista then comes down, destroys everyone, and helps McMahon get the pin on Cena in a capper to a pretty run-of-the-mill show.
Monday, March 8, 2010
IWA Mid-South: Eddie Gilbert Memorial Show 1997
1) Tower of Doom v. Justin St. John- 1
2) Kip Morris v. Bull Pain- 3
3) Tracey Smothers/ Ace Madison v. Gator McAllister/ Rico Beatty- 1
4) Ricky Morton v. Tommy Rich- 3
5) Ian Rotten v. Mad Man Pondo v. Ox Harley (Four Corners of Pain)- 3
6) Debbie Combs v. Luna Vachon- 4
7) American Kickboxer v. Tarek the Great- 5
8) Vladimir Koloff v. Vampire Warrior- 1
9) Dory Funk jr v. Tommy Gilbert- 6
10) Terry Funk v. Doug Gilbert (Chain Match)- 5
This isn't quite what you would think of when imagining a heartfelt tribute show for a passing wrestler, the arena small and taped together (although lighted well), about 150 fans, dressed in various hunting, NASCAR, and Bud t shirts and a ragtag group of performers who all cut promos in a row about Eddie, telling old stories, anecdotes, etc., one of the more puzzling ones was Ian Rotten himself, the owner of Mid South, talking about how it honors him to put on this show even though he "didn't know Eddie, per se," and how it took him 2 years to put this show together- which is a little hard to swallow as you watch the tape and look around the arena, looks like it could have came together in a moment's notice, there's nothing special about the show in any way, but oh well, onto the matches.
Our first bout features perennial slob Tower of Doom (who used to put on shows near our hometown, to which a few of us once provided the barb wire for their main event, as Tower himself proclaimed, "wow this is 3 pronged, we don't even use that!") working St. John, a John Tatum wannabe with short, cropped hair and a beer gut. The announcers put over St. John as an "indy darling" but I couldn't even imagine his mother calling him "darling." He looked completely lost inside the ring ropes and worse yet, he had Doom pounding away on him, giving absolutely nothing back at all, Doom disregarded all attempts at having an even contest. I did get a chuckle when St. John's dome got split by a ridiculously hard chair shot that quite possibly could have instantly Benoit'd him.
Next up one of my old buddies from Global, Bull Pain, who i have to say looked quite decent here. He took huge bumps, especially one to the outside, bouncing off the apron like a rock skipping across a creek. Morris was supposedly a rookie, only in the business for 3 years, but he was def. upwards of 40 years in age, guess he got that DDP start, as I'm sure he's back filing paperwork at a Chevy dealer again. Pain also had a good looking vaunted punch and he gave a competitive match out of pud Morris, only marred by an ongoing angle with Tommy Rich I gave no credence to.
This was a joke, very unfunny, George Lopez level. Smothers actually looked spry and hit a few good sequences, but his weathered opponent Gator (who was also doing commentary for the whole show) was stiff and unpliable. Their partners were two non-wrestlers, i'm sure working some kind of authority person angle, but it just all sucked to the 10th degree. This had nothing to do with memorializing anyone, just giving 4 shitheels a measley paycheck to waste at the local watering hole that night.
This was an interesting match where you had two old school NWA guys trying to match what they saw on ECW the week before, this started out with a crowd brawl, and if you're not there live, they blow on tape, this was no exception, Rich nearly couldn't get down a row of chairs because of his overhanging gut. In the ring, i found more to dig, besides Morton's ability to keep the same hair style for over 2 decades, he also sold stuff well, with kicking the mat a lot, and writhing in pain and grasping his face. Rich was slow in everything he did, but all his stuff to a fallen Morton was cool, hard knee drops, accurate fist drops, both guys did the blade but the finish was as uncreative and flaccid as the last Van Halen album.
A famous indy match staple in the late 90's was the Four Corners of Pain Match, basically a knock off of a Japanese hardcore match where painful objects are waiting for you on the ground outside each of the 4 sides of the ring. Here we had the usual ones: barb wire, thumbtacks (never shown), glass bulbs, and mouse traps. Harley kind of interjects himself into the match and he's working a better than hardcore gimmick which has been done to death, but despite his Harley Davidson repairman look, he sells with charisma and injects some character into this match. Pondo could still somewhat get his body up for a full on hiptoss at this point and Rotten brings the meanness with punches but was he really ever that good? Not seeing it here. Harley gets sucked into the spirit of Eddie Gilbert by doing a plancha outside onto his two opponents laying in the Wire pit, but his legs get caught up by the top rope and he eats concrete floor like a bowl of Ramen noodles and goes down on Al Snow's old girlfriend "Barbie Wire" like she's a $50 Thai hooker, guarantee he got dysentery after that. You know how most announcers try to cover up botched spots to preserve the illusion? not these two, Hahahaha, they lose their fucking marbles and laugh their asses off at the idiotic move. The rest of this goes down like any other match you've seen just like it, wash, rinse, repeat.
The 2nd half of this show picks up with a women's match, now mind you, you'd be hard pressed to hit on either of these ladies even wearing the foggiest pair of beer goggles but that didn't take away from their performances. Combs worked snug, lots of real sharp forearms, even a tight headlock sequence was used (which Luna used a cool rollup out of). Luna scored big at one point with a splash directly to Comb's already mashed face in a cool spot, this was a good use of 10 minutes.
This battle is of two old Southern Ohio indy stalwarts before Kickboxer became Izzy High and Tarek looked 100% toothless redneck. They showed off some mat wrestling in the beginning, where the announcers kept teasing their aerial ability while totally ignoring calling the match. A couple illconceived intricate spots crept in, but for the most part this all came together very succintly. The dives were spot on, the big moves built up accordingly and Kickboxer broke out a finish off the top rope that was pretty devastating which we don't see anyone do currently although i imagine Shelton Benjamin may try it off the top of a 25 ft ladder at this years' Wrestlemania in yet another attempt to be noticed. Daddy issues?
Vladimir (whom i met in a Walmart as a teenage) is apparently the older uncle of Nikita who only occasionally wrestles while mostly watching soccer on TV and consuming Cheetos by the bagfull; he barely fit into his XXL singlet. Vampire Warrior was the beloved Gangrel in matching blacksweatshirt and pants. What could actually be seen of this match was more rancid than the odor eminating from Luna's lower half after a day of riding roller coasters at a Six Flags in the middle of summer, but for the most part the absolutely abysmal camera work (during an extended crowd brawl that wouldn't end) did us the favor of missing nearly the entire match. Maybe we're better off for it.
As old school as Ovaltine, this match was where it's at! Dory still showed why he was a top champion for years and years, having a certain poise in the ring and moving with a viscosity that was a little reminiscent of prime Kurt Angle. And he hit hard too. Gilbert was a little lower on the pole of workmanship but was holding his own, executing some nice suplexes, trading rough forearms and all the intricate rollups Dory was using. Tommy, though, would sometimes just lay in moves, and you could see his chest rising up and down, desperately trying to regain some breath while Dory was constantly working, whether on defense or offense. The ending was satisfying and the match got a standing ovation, really fun stuff.
Our main event was going the way of the earlier match where it was all fighting through the fans, with no clean shots of what was going on, all you could see was Terry bleeding and wobbling to and fro like a kid's goofy toy. The stipulation of the chain was worked identical to a strap match where you had to touch all 4 corners, but in a funny notion to me, they only used it when they got near the end. Gilbert was sloppy though, not showing any of the charisma or ring saavy his brother had and Terry wasn't in full blown psycho mode, nor did he really have his working boots on. I did love the agonizing expression on Terry's face as Gilbert tried to reach his 4th corner while the chain was wrapped around the hardcore legend's mouth. Cool Memphis piledriver on a chair that was more Lawler than Gilbert was another highlight, but whatever tickles your turtle.
Overall this show picked up some steam as it neared the end, but I wouldn't call it a success anymore than I would of the ongoing 2010 census or idea to feature 10 films for a Best Picture award. But i still had fun viewing the show, for it's absurdity in some parts, it's wide array of characters and workers and just the fact that pro wrestling people don't know any other way to honor someone who was passed than putting on spandex tights and punching someone else in the face, I mean, is there anything more touching than that?
2) Kip Morris v. Bull Pain- 3
3) Tracey Smothers/ Ace Madison v. Gator McAllister/ Rico Beatty- 1
4) Ricky Morton v. Tommy Rich- 3
5) Ian Rotten v. Mad Man Pondo v. Ox Harley (Four Corners of Pain)- 3
6) Debbie Combs v. Luna Vachon- 4
7) American Kickboxer v. Tarek the Great- 5
8) Vladimir Koloff v. Vampire Warrior- 1
9) Dory Funk jr v. Tommy Gilbert- 6
10) Terry Funk v. Doug Gilbert (Chain Match)- 5
This isn't quite what you would think of when imagining a heartfelt tribute show for a passing wrestler, the arena small and taped together (although lighted well), about 150 fans, dressed in various hunting, NASCAR, and Bud t shirts and a ragtag group of performers who all cut promos in a row about Eddie, telling old stories, anecdotes, etc., one of the more puzzling ones was Ian Rotten himself, the owner of Mid South, talking about how it honors him to put on this show even though he "didn't know Eddie, per se," and how it took him 2 years to put this show together- which is a little hard to swallow as you watch the tape and look around the arena, looks like it could have came together in a moment's notice, there's nothing special about the show in any way, but oh well, onto the matches.
Our first bout features perennial slob Tower of Doom (who used to put on shows near our hometown, to which a few of us once provided the barb wire for their main event, as Tower himself proclaimed, "wow this is 3 pronged, we don't even use that!") working St. John, a John Tatum wannabe with short, cropped hair and a beer gut. The announcers put over St. John as an "indy darling" but I couldn't even imagine his mother calling him "darling." He looked completely lost inside the ring ropes and worse yet, he had Doom pounding away on him, giving absolutely nothing back at all, Doom disregarded all attempts at having an even contest. I did get a chuckle when St. John's dome got split by a ridiculously hard chair shot that quite possibly could have instantly Benoit'd him.
Next up one of my old buddies from Global, Bull Pain, who i have to say looked quite decent here. He took huge bumps, especially one to the outside, bouncing off the apron like a rock skipping across a creek. Morris was supposedly a rookie, only in the business for 3 years, but he was def. upwards of 40 years in age, guess he got that DDP start, as I'm sure he's back filing paperwork at a Chevy dealer again. Pain also had a good looking vaunted punch and he gave a competitive match out of pud Morris, only marred by an ongoing angle with Tommy Rich I gave no credence to.
This was a joke, very unfunny, George Lopez level. Smothers actually looked spry and hit a few good sequences, but his weathered opponent Gator (who was also doing commentary for the whole show) was stiff and unpliable. Their partners were two non-wrestlers, i'm sure working some kind of authority person angle, but it just all sucked to the 10th degree. This had nothing to do with memorializing anyone, just giving 4 shitheels a measley paycheck to waste at the local watering hole that night.
This was an interesting match where you had two old school NWA guys trying to match what they saw on ECW the week before, this started out with a crowd brawl, and if you're not there live, they blow on tape, this was no exception, Rich nearly couldn't get down a row of chairs because of his overhanging gut. In the ring, i found more to dig, besides Morton's ability to keep the same hair style for over 2 decades, he also sold stuff well, with kicking the mat a lot, and writhing in pain and grasping his face. Rich was slow in everything he did, but all his stuff to a fallen Morton was cool, hard knee drops, accurate fist drops, both guys did the blade but the finish was as uncreative and flaccid as the last Van Halen album.
A famous indy match staple in the late 90's was the Four Corners of Pain Match, basically a knock off of a Japanese hardcore match where painful objects are waiting for you on the ground outside each of the 4 sides of the ring. Here we had the usual ones: barb wire, thumbtacks (never shown), glass bulbs, and mouse traps. Harley kind of interjects himself into the match and he's working a better than hardcore gimmick which has been done to death, but despite his Harley Davidson repairman look, he sells with charisma and injects some character into this match. Pondo could still somewhat get his body up for a full on hiptoss at this point and Rotten brings the meanness with punches but was he really ever that good? Not seeing it here. Harley gets sucked into the spirit of Eddie Gilbert by doing a plancha outside onto his two opponents laying in the Wire pit, but his legs get caught up by the top rope and he eats concrete floor like a bowl of Ramen noodles and goes down on Al Snow's old girlfriend "Barbie Wire" like she's a $50 Thai hooker, guarantee he got dysentery after that. You know how most announcers try to cover up botched spots to preserve the illusion? not these two, Hahahaha, they lose their fucking marbles and laugh their asses off at the idiotic move. The rest of this goes down like any other match you've seen just like it, wash, rinse, repeat.
The 2nd half of this show picks up with a women's match, now mind you, you'd be hard pressed to hit on either of these ladies even wearing the foggiest pair of beer goggles but that didn't take away from their performances. Combs worked snug, lots of real sharp forearms, even a tight headlock sequence was used (which Luna used a cool rollup out of). Luna scored big at one point with a splash directly to Comb's already mashed face in a cool spot, this was a good use of 10 minutes.
This battle is of two old Southern Ohio indy stalwarts before Kickboxer became Izzy High and Tarek looked 100% toothless redneck. They showed off some mat wrestling in the beginning, where the announcers kept teasing their aerial ability while totally ignoring calling the match. A couple illconceived intricate spots crept in, but for the most part this all came together very succintly. The dives were spot on, the big moves built up accordingly and Kickboxer broke out a finish off the top rope that was pretty devastating which we don't see anyone do currently although i imagine Shelton Benjamin may try it off the top of a 25 ft ladder at this years' Wrestlemania in yet another attempt to be noticed. Daddy issues?
Vladimir (whom i met in a Walmart as a teenage) is apparently the older uncle of Nikita who only occasionally wrestles while mostly watching soccer on TV and consuming Cheetos by the bagfull; he barely fit into his XXL singlet. Vampire Warrior was the beloved Gangrel in matching blacksweatshirt and pants. What could actually be seen of this match was more rancid than the odor eminating from Luna's lower half after a day of riding roller coasters at a Six Flags in the middle of summer, but for the most part the absolutely abysmal camera work (during an extended crowd brawl that wouldn't end) did us the favor of missing nearly the entire match. Maybe we're better off for it.
As old school as Ovaltine, this match was where it's at! Dory still showed why he was a top champion for years and years, having a certain poise in the ring and moving with a viscosity that was a little reminiscent of prime Kurt Angle. And he hit hard too. Gilbert was a little lower on the pole of workmanship but was holding his own, executing some nice suplexes, trading rough forearms and all the intricate rollups Dory was using. Tommy, though, would sometimes just lay in moves, and you could see his chest rising up and down, desperately trying to regain some breath while Dory was constantly working, whether on defense or offense. The ending was satisfying and the match got a standing ovation, really fun stuff.
Our main event was going the way of the earlier match where it was all fighting through the fans, with no clean shots of what was going on, all you could see was Terry bleeding and wobbling to and fro like a kid's goofy toy. The stipulation of the chain was worked identical to a strap match where you had to touch all 4 corners, but in a funny notion to me, they only used it when they got near the end. Gilbert was sloppy though, not showing any of the charisma or ring saavy his brother had and Terry wasn't in full blown psycho mode, nor did he really have his working boots on. I did love the agonizing expression on Terry's face as Gilbert tried to reach his 4th corner while the chain was wrapped around the hardcore legend's mouth. Cool Memphis piledriver on a chair that was more Lawler than Gilbert was another highlight, but whatever tickles your turtle.
Overall this show picked up some steam as it neared the end, but I wouldn't call it a success anymore than I would of the ongoing 2010 census or idea to feature 10 films for a Best Picture award. But i still had fun viewing the show, for it's absurdity in some parts, it's wide array of characters and workers and just the fact that pro wrestling people don't know any other way to honor someone who was passed than putting on spandex tights and punching someone else in the face, I mean, is there anything more touching than that?
Friday, March 5, 2010
WWE Superstars 3/4/10
1. Kofi Kingston vs. Chavo Guerrero - 3
2. Evan Bourne vs. William Regal - 6
3. Kane vs. Mike Knox - 3
4. Chris Jericho vs. Goldust - 5
This was definitely the best episode thus far this year of wrestling's most criminally underrated show. Chavo bleds the hard way and had to be pampered by the ref like a child that got a "boo boo" on the playground. What would Ed Farhat have said? Each guy did some pointless arm work, lead nowhere, but Guerrero rose to the occasion leading Kofi through the match, looked particularly fired up after he broke free of the referee's healing hands (John Coffey, anyone?), and his rolling koppo kick was titties. Kingston (as usual) looked bad and I hated the finish where Chavo dodged one "Trouble In Paradise" kick but then stood there frozen while Kofi did a second one and got beat. Bourne and Regal was a great WCW Worldwide main event in the best way possible. Regal's maestro selling was on display here, eating Bourne's explosive offense in all sorts of weird ways, selling a jumping kick to the back like he just stood up for the first time after a twelve-hour bus ride. Regal was nasty on offense, all his short, ugly uppercuts and shots looked expertly gnarly. Regal's one of the few guys who could emote three or four different facial (and hence emotional) reactions to being taken over in a headscissors: shock, disbelief, embarrassment, and anger all wrapped up into one fleeting moment. Knox and Kane was fun the short time it lasted, two huge dudes clubbing each other, Mike's crossbody continues to amaze, and his selling Kane's chokeslam like death was spot-on psychology. Jericho and Goldust was great fun, too. This was your best 2010 Goldust performance. Towards the end, face paint almost all gone, I swore I had a "Natural" Dustin Rhodes sighting in early-'10 as once he got fired up I couldn't distinguish between his two perennial personas. Jericho's most famous trope is his counters, here he had several key ones, my favorite being catching Goldust who was coming from the top in mid-air with a spectacular dropkick. Dustin wasn't shabby in that department himself, cutting off Jericho in mid-run with a snapping powerslam that'd cure Steve Williams' cancer. A really, really good show.
2. Evan Bourne vs. William Regal - 6
3. Kane vs. Mike Knox - 3
4. Chris Jericho vs. Goldust - 5
This was definitely the best episode thus far this year of wrestling's most criminally underrated show. Chavo bleds the hard way and had to be pampered by the ref like a child that got a "boo boo" on the playground. What would Ed Farhat have said? Each guy did some pointless arm work, lead nowhere, but Guerrero rose to the occasion leading Kofi through the match, looked particularly fired up after he broke free of the referee's healing hands (John Coffey, anyone?), and his rolling koppo kick was titties. Kingston (as usual) looked bad and I hated the finish where Chavo dodged one "Trouble In Paradise" kick but then stood there frozen while Kofi did a second one and got beat. Bourne and Regal was a great WCW Worldwide main event in the best way possible. Regal's maestro selling was on display here, eating Bourne's explosive offense in all sorts of weird ways, selling a jumping kick to the back like he just stood up for the first time after a twelve-hour bus ride. Regal was nasty on offense, all his short, ugly uppercuts and shots looked expertly gnarly. Regal's one of the few guys who could emote three or four different facial (and hence emotional) reactions to being taken over in a headscissors: shock, disbelief, embarrassment, and anger all wrapped up into one fleeting moment. Knox and Kane was fun the short time it lasted, two huge dudes clubbing each other, Mike's crossbody continues to amaze, and his selling Kane's chokeslam like death was spot-on psychology. Jericho and Goldust was great fun, too. This was your best 2010 Goldust performance. Towards the end, face paint almost all gone, I swore I had a "Natural" Dustin Rhodes sighting in early-'10 as once he got fired up I couldn't distinguish between his two perennial personas. Jericho's most famous trope is his counters, here he had several key ones, my favorite being catching Goldust who was coming from the top in mid-air with a spectacular dropkick. Dustin wasn't shabby in that department himself, cutting off Jericho in mid-run with a snapping powerslam that'd cure Steve Williams' cancer. A really, really good show.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
WWE NXT 3/2/10
1. Darren Young vs. David Otunga - 1
2. Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan - 3
3. Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel vs. William Regal and Skip Sheffield - 2
The thing that hurt the opener was its ending. Young did some spinning move that was supposed to end with his opponent landing face-first, Otunga took it on his shoulder, though, and then, bizarrely sold the back of his head during the pin and afterwards. I hope he watches it back on his DVR in his palatial suite with Jennifer Hudson and realizes his folly. Barrett is huge, very physically impressive, but didn't get a good handle on his abilities here. Bryan looked great, though, in some ways better than in his performance the previous week against Chris Jericho, landing a really terrific flying knee off the apron. I liked how he fell off of the rope when attempting a springboard, the agent that put this match together was wise to include that, as it lead perfectly into their finish. The main event dragged a bit, I enjoyed Regal verbally abusing Sheffield, and laughed loudly when while selling a "Twist of Fate" William somehow ended up looking like a pre-schooler doing a front roll during inside recess. Gabriel had some presence and I'm interested in seeing more of his stuff, preferably singles matches as '10 Hardy isn't really my cup of tea.
2. Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan - 3
3. Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel vs. William Regal and Skip Sheffield - 2
The thing that hurt the opener was its ending. Young did some spinning move that was supposed to end with his opponent landing face-first, Otunga took it on his shoulder, though, and then, bizarrely sold the back of his head during the pin and afterwards. I hope he watches it back on his DVR in his palatial suite with Jennifer Hudson and realizes his folly. Barrett is huge, very physically impressive, but didn't get a good handle on his abilities here. Bryan looked great, though, in some ways better than in his performance the previous week against Chris Jericho, landing a really terrific flying knee off the apron. I liked how he fell off of the rope when attempting a springboard, the agent that put this match together was wise to include that, as it lead perfectly into their finish. The main event dragged a bit, I enjoyed Regal verbally abusing Sheffield, and laughed loudly when while selling a "Twist of Fate" William somehow ended up looking like a pre-schooler doing a front roll during inside recess. Gabriel had some presence and I'm interested in seeing more of his stuff, preferably singles matches as '10 Hardy isn't really my cup of tea.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Clash of the Champions 10, 13, 18, 24
Clash of the Champions Project
(13) Butch Reed v. Ric Flair- 7
Reed looked really comfortable holding the control here and just bouncing Flair all over the ring, he used several moves over and over again though, nice bridge up in middle, crowd going ape shit, Reed basically just kicks Flair’s ass at one point with nasty streetfight punches, crazy ending sequence when done right makes the match all the better
(18) Steiner Brothers v. Vader/ Mr. Hughes- 6
Total high impact, with not a lot of great selling. All crazy suplexes and clotheslines from all guys. Top rope belly to belly on Vader off top was just insane.
(10) Steiner Brothers v. Doom (Title v. Mask)- 6
This wasn’t pretty by any means, but hard hitting. Steiners were well served to be paired with Doom who could pace well, except stalling. Simmons was a freak for bumping here, Scott’s baby face beat down was emotionless but fun, Rick provided a chuckle in finish.
(24) Ricky Steamboat v. Paul Orndorff- 6
Orndorff cuts a great pace for beginning, love the cover, chinlock, other move, cover combo, really gives match importance. Dragon with a crazy plancha and nice after sell on his own suplex, Orndorff selling is spot on, good near falls same fin as Mania 3
(18) Dustin Rhodes/ Barry Windham/ Ron Simmons v. Arn Anderson/ Bobby Eaton/ Larry Zybyzsko- 5
Heels are working in total Horsemen mode, all cheap shots/ behind the ref’s back stuff. Windham showed tons of intensity here and was major focal point of revenge, looked great, esp. lariats. Eaton was MVP bumping everywhere, and throwing major punches with Rhodes. Finish didn’t really make sense though.
(10) Dr. Death v. Samoan Savage- 5
The prematch amublance skit was beyond absurd, Cool All Japan clotheslines from both guys, Doc had crowd into this one, even during long neck pinch segments. Good stomping from samoan as well, looked real, Doc’s eye rake bump outside was silly
(18) Sting/ Ricky Steamboat v. Steve Austin/ Rick Rude- 5
Good buildup to start, the first section laid perfect groundwork for stellar match, the heat sections on Ricky weren’t very hot, even though he looked decent with selling. Rude’s over the top selling gave a lot back to match, finish was badly conceived and looked even worse in ring than on paper.
(18) Cactus Jack v. Van Hammer (Falls Count Anywhere)- 5
Foley with 2 sick bumps near the beginning, a really unique look to the match, brawled backstage, Hammer’s athleticism helped him keep up, and looked like he belonged, nice carry job by Foley but Hammer kept up.
(24) Vader v. Davey Boy Smith- 5
Vader takes nutso vertical suplex right away on ramp way, then continues to eat meaty bumps throughout. Bulldog sort of emotion-less on his back, can’t emote much of anything except overdose. Vader gives his usual near fall section to Bulldog, who can’t get the crowd behind it as well.
(13) Buddy Landell v. Brian Pillman- 5
Beginning is great sprint, showcasing both guy’s talents, chops from both men are stinging, love Landell’s knee cut offs, cool ramp bump with springboard, big bumps from both in fun match
(18) Marcus Bagwell/ Brian Pillman v. Terry Taylor/ Tracey Smothers- 5
Great opening, Pillman leads by ex. To rookie, Bagwell as green as an unripe banana, way off cue. Pillman’s chop were devilish. Heels lost focus after beginning and their offense section was not good, esp. Smothers.
(24) 2 Cold Scorpio v. Bobby Eaton- 4
Eaton eats 2 Cold’s stuff, but looks very protected. Nice reversals and execution on all his stuff, he and 2 Cold both throw bombs though, middle was pretty boring, but 450 is always cool.
(24) Arn Anderson/ Paul Roma v. Steve Austin/ Lord Regal- 4
Regal’s vocal selling really stood out, Austin tenacious on his attack and just bumping all over the place, Funny Arn moment, where he takes shot at Austin, and even after sells his hand. Roma’s selling is inconsistent but he’s trying to keep up, 80’s hokey manager finish
(10) Road Warriors v. Skyscrapers- 4
Cool Animal v. Callous exchanges, trying some Juniors stuff, impressed with animal’s dropkick, Loved Mark’s armbar reversal on Hawk, usual sick corner post bump from Hawk, Callous is great bumper here and led to crazy aftermath
(10) Brian Pillman/ Tom Zenk v. MOD Squad- 4
More of a match than Main on this show, Basher was good at his bumps, Pillman’s instincts were much more honed than Zenk whose selling was off and on, liked bulldog reversal of fortune and Pillman’s sell of it, nasty double back breaker from MOD’s, Spike was useless here, ugly finish too
(10) Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Ole Anderson v. Buzz Sawyer/ Great Muta/ Dragon Master (Steel Cage)- 4
More of an angle than a match, crazy brawl though, Sawyer group getting crazy cheers, esp. Muta, who played it up, Arn really only one to be working a match, Ole & Sawyer not a lot of selling, DM sold DDT like a ton of bricks at finish, Flair more into spitting on Sting than performing
(13) Freebirds v. Southern Boys- 4
This was a fun sprint, almost became a Freebirds formula match of ducking in and out, some cool punches & hiptosses, ending was neat ironic finish that worked
(10) Norman v. Kevin Sullivan (Falls Count Anywhere)- 3
Really stiff brawl, potatoes left and right, crazy attempt at suplex outside on Norman, fun brawl that went backstage, but ending was ruined because it was a worked ending we didn’t see in women’s restroom
(13) Michael Wall Street v. Starblazer- 3
WS really precise strikes and timing on his moves, liked Star’s vaunted punches, so so dropkicks he used too often, finish was bungled though, recovered with flat move to end
(24) Rick Rude/ Equalizer v. Dustin Rhodes/ Road Warrior Hawk- 3
Rude awesome on selling and getting heat for his opponents, he and Dustin show a lot of chemistry together, Equalizer is beyond awful, botches a neck breaker, unorganized brawl leads directly into the finish as if Hawk just took over running the match
(10) Mil Mascaras v. Cactus Jack- 3
Exhibition basically, Mil just schools Cactus on ground and gives no offense back to him, Cactus’ chair bump outside was worst of comedy, nasty power bombing of himself outside from Cactus
(13) Big Cat v. Brad Armstrong- 3
Brad using very realistic selling and quick harsh bumps to display Cat’s power, threw a good dropkick, he made this short match
(18) Johnny B. Badd v. Richard Morton- 3
Nigel-esque posting from Badd, really nasty shot there. Match was lean on offense, Richard’s slower than before, punches looked awful, terrible ending, just tacked on and bad
(13) Nasty Boys v. The Youngbloods- 3
Had potential, both teams timing was way off on some moves but the YB’s were trying to bump to make up for it, interference ended this prematurely
(24) Sting/ Ric Flair v. Colossal Kongs- 2
Sting basically squashes the team within 30 seconds, with huge body slams & punches, this becomes a quick super hot molten squash
(18) PN News v. DDP- 2
Good effort by Page, pulled off some good bumps even though News’ offense was sloppy. Kind of like blind leading blind, no real ring leader, very short.
(13) Tom Zenk v Brian Lee- 2
Really short match, both guys threw some decent strikes, missed cross body probably hurt
(13) Sgt. Krueger/ Col Deklerk v. The Beast/ Kahlua- 2
Give me the alcoholic treat anytime over this green horn, some ultra stiff shots were the only redeeming quality about this, Deklerk’s style didn’t match this at all, Beast pulled off some nasty slams, but almost everyone here looked amateurish
(13) Steiner Brothers v. Magnum Force- 2
Just a brutal squash, nothing more
(18) Freebirds v. Big Josh/ Brad Armstrong- 2
Garvin mis-stepping a lot in this, team work non existent, just tagging in and out, opening musical act was beyond terrible. Armstrong not his usual decent self either, Josh was sloppy.
(13) Lex Luger v. Motor City Madman- 1
Mad Man barely knew how to bump, he kept spinning around, Luger about killed him with a suplex though
(18) Vinnie Vegas v. Thomas Rich- 1
Short match, nice finish, Rich sold it well, only 3 moves long.
(13) Sid Vicious v. Nightstalker- 1
Some slow striking and unknown arm work here, dangerous back suplex from Sid, Big Cat interferes in his 3rd app. Of show, really silly pin using plastic Halloween ax
(24) Johnny B. Badd v. Maxx Payne- 1
Badd’s clotheslines define pussy, and wearing easily the most ridiculous mask in history, one good rollup segment but finish was a missed splash, huh?
(13) Butch Reed v. Ric Flair- 7
Reed looked really comfortable holding the control here and just bouncing Flair all over the ring, he used several moves over and over again though, nice bridge up in middle, crowd going ape shit, Reed basically just kicks Flair’s ass at one point with nasty streetfight punches, crazy ending sequence when done right makes the match all the better
(18) Steiner Brothers v. Vader/ Mr. Hughes- 6
Total high impact, with not a lot of great selling. All crazy suplexes and clotheslines from all guys. Top rope belly to belly on Vader off top was just insane.
(10) Steiner Brothers v. Doom (Title v. Mask)- 6
This wasn’t pretty by any means, but hard hitting. Steiners were well served to be paired with Doom who could pace well, except stalling. Simmons was a freak for bumping here, Scott’s baby face beat down was emotionless but fun, Rick provided a chuckle in finish.
(24) Ricky Steamboat v. Paul Orndorff- 6
Orndorff cuts a great pace for beginning, love the cover, chinlock, other move, cover combo, really gives match importance. Dragon with a crazy plancha and nice after sell on his own suplex, Orndorff selling is spot on, good near falls same fin as Mania 3
(18) Dustin Rhodes/ Barry Windham/ Ron Simmons v. Arn Anderson/ Bobby Eaton/ Larry Zybyzsko- 5
Heels are working in total Horsemen mode, all cheap shots/ behind the ref’s back stuff. Windham showed tons of intensity here and was major focal point of revenge, looked great, esp. lariats. Eaton was MVP bumping everywhere, and throwing major punches with Rhodes. Finish didn’t really make sense though.
(10) Dr. Death v. Samoan Savage- 5
The prematch amublance skit was beyond absurd, Cool All Japan clotheslines from both guys, Doc had crowd into this one, even during long neck pinch segments. Good stomping from samoan as well, looked real, Doc’s eye rake bump outside was silly
(18) Sting/ Ricky Steamboat v. Steve Austin/ Rick Rude- 5
Good buildup to start, the first section laid perfect groundwork for stellar match, the heat sections on Ricky weren’t very hot, even though he looked decent with selling. Rude’s over the top selling gave a lot back to match, finish was badly conceived and looked even worse in ring than on paper.
(18) Cactus Jack v. Van Hammer (Falls Count Anywhere)- 5
Foley with 2 sick bumps near the beginning, a really unique look to the match, brawled backstage, Hammer’s athleticism helped him keep up, and looked like he belonged, nice carry job by Foley but Hammer kept up.
(24) Vader v. Davey Boy Smith- 5
Vader takes nutso vertical suplex right away on ramp way, then continues to eat meaty bumps throughout. Bulldog sort of emotion-less on his back, can’t emote much of anything except overdose. Vader gives his usual near fall section to Bulldog, who can’t get the crowd behind it as well.
(13) Buddy Landell v. Brian Pillman- 5
Beginning is great sprint, showcasing both guy’s talents, chops from both men are stinging, love Landell’s knee cut offs, cool ramp bump with springboard, big bumps from both in fun match
(18) Marcus Bagwell/ Brian Pillman v. Terry Taylor/ Tracey Smothers- 5
Great opening, Pillman leads by ex. To rookie, Bagwell as green as an unripe banana, way off cue. Pillman’s chop were devilish. Heels lost focus after beginning and their offense section was not good, esp. Smothers.
(24) 2 Cold Scorpio v. Bobby Eaton- 4
Eaton eats 2 Cold’s stuff, but looks very protected. Nice reversals and execution on all his stuff, he and 2 Cold both throw bombs though, middle was pretty boring, but 450 is always cool.
(24) Arn Anderson/ Paul Roma v. Steve Austin/ Lord Regal- 4
Regal’s vocal selling really stood out, Austin tenacious on his attack and just bumping all over the place, Funny Arn moment, where he takes shot at Austin, and even after sells his hand. Roma’s selling is inconsistent but he’s trying to keep up, 80’s hokey manager finish
(10) Road Warriors v. Skyscrapers- 4
Cool Animal v. Callous exchanges, trying some Juniors stuff, impressed with animal’s dropkick, Loved Mark’s armbar reversal on Hawk, usual sick corner post bump from Hawk, Callous is great bumper here and led to crazy aftermath
(10) Brian Pillman/ Tom Zenk v. MOD Squad- 4
More of a match than Main on this show, Basher was good at his bumps, Pillman’s instincts were much more honed than Zenk whose selling was off and on, liked bulldog reversal of fortune and Pillman’s sell of it, nasty double back breaker from MOD’s, Spike was useless here, ugly finish too
(10) Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Ole Anderson v. Buzz Sawyer/ Great Muta/ Dragon Master (Steel Cage)- 4
More of an angle than a match, crazy brawl though, Sawyer group getting crazy cheers, esp. Muta, who played it up, Arn really only one to be working a match, Ole & Sawyer not a lot of selling, DM sold DDT like a ton of bricks at finish, Flair more into spitting on Sting than performing
(13) Freebirds v. Southern Boys- 4
This was a fun sprint, almost became a Freebirds formula match of ducking in and out, some cool punches & hiptosses, ending was neat ironic finish that worked
(10) Norman v. Kevin Sullivan (Falls Count Anywhere)- 3
Really stiff brawl, potatoes left and right, crazy attempt at suplex outside on Norman, fun brawl that went backstage, but ending was ruined because it was a worked ending we didn’t see in women’s restroom
(13) Michael Wall Street v. Starblazer- 3
WS really precise strikes and timing on his moves, liked Star’s vaunted punches, so so dropkicks he used too often, finish was bungled though, recovered with flat move to end
(24) Rick Rude/ Equalizer v. Dustin Rhodes/ Road Warrior Hawk- 3
Rude awesome on selling and getting heat for his opponents, he and Dustin show a lot of chemistry together, Equalizer is beyond awful, botches a neck breaker, unorganized brawl leads directly into the finish as if Hawk just took over running the match
(10) Mil Mascaras v. Cactus Jack- 3
Exhibition basically, Mil just schools Cactus on ground and gives no offense back to him, Cactus’ chair bump outside was worst of comedy, nasty power bombing of himself outside from Cactus
(13) Big Cat v. Brad Armstrong- 3
Brad using very realistic selling and quick harsh bumps to display Cat’s power, threw a good dropkick, he made this short match
(18) Johnny B. Badd v. Richard Morton- 3
Nigel-esque posting from Badd, really nasty shot there. Match was lean on offense, Richard’s slower than before, punches looked awful, terrible ending, just tacked on and bad
(13) Nasty Boys v. The Youngbloods- 3
Had potential, both teams timing was way off on some moves but the YB’s were trying to bump to make up for it, interference ended this prematurely
(24) Sting/ Ric Flair v. Colossal Kongs- 2
Sting basically squashes the team within 30 seconds, with huge body slams & punches, this becomes a quick super hot molten squash
(18) PN News v. DDP- 2
Good effort by Page, pulled off some good bumps even though News’ offense was sloppy. Kind of like blind leading blind, no real ring leader, very short.
(13) Tom Zenk v Brian Lee- 2
Really short match, both guys threw some decent strikes, missed cross body probably hurt
(13) Sgt. Krueger/ Col Deklerk v. The Beast/ Kahlua- 2
Give me the alcoholic treat anytime over this green horn, some ultra stiff shots were the only redeeming quality about this, Deklerk’s style didn’t match this at all, Beast pulled off some nasty slams, but almost everyone here looked amateurish
(13) Steiner Brothers v. Magnum Force- 2
Just a brutal squash, nothing more
(18) Freebirds v. Big Josh/ Brad Armstrong- 2
Garvin mis-stepping a lot in this, team work non existent, just tagging in and out, opening musical act was beyond terrible. Armstrong not his usual decent self either, Josh was sloppy.
(13) Lex Luger v. Motor City Madman- 1
Mad Man barely knew how to bump, he kept spinning around, Luger about killed him with a suplex though
(18) Vinnie Vegas v. Thomas Rich- 1
Short match, nice finish, Rich sold it well, only 3 moves long.
(13) Sid Vicious v. Nightstalker- 1
Some slow striking and unknown arm work here, dangerous back suplex from Sid, Big Cat interferes in his 3rd app. Of show, really silly pin using plastic Halloween ax
(24) Johnny B. Badd v. Maxx Payne- 1
Badd’s clotheslines define pussy, and wearing easily the most ridiculous mask in history, one good rollup segment but finish was a missed splash, huh?
Monday, March 1, 2010
NHO Hall of Fame Class of 2010: Inductee #3
It's the first of the month, so you know what that means ... time for another HOF inductee. So, now allow me to unveil the latest inductee ... Masato Tanaka!
(photo credit: http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/)
His battles with Mike Awesome in ECW and FMW are legendary and his career has recently seen a rebirth in New Japan with matches against Hirooki Goto and Yuji Nagata. He is a former ECW World Champion, a 2-time ECW Tag Team Champion, and has held numerous titles in FMW, WEW, and World-1.
My first recollection of Masato Tanaka was when I saw his match against Mike Awesome from November to Remember '99 and my jaw dropped. I had never seen anything like that match at the time and it's still one of my favorite ECW matches to this day. Anytime I saw Tanaka on ECW, I would always stop and watch to see the incredible amounts of punishment that he would take. So, with that being said and the fact that he's still one of my favorites today, it is with great pleasure that I induct Masato Tanaka into the NHO Hall of Fame.
(photo credit: http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/)
His battles with Mike Awesome in ECW and FMW are legendary and his career has recently seen a rebirth in New Japan with matches against Hirooki Goto and Yuji Nagata. He is a former ECW World Champion, a 2-time ECW Tag Team Champion, and has held numerous titles in FMW, WEW, and World-1.
My first recollection of Masato Tanaka was when I saw his match against Mike Awesome from November to Remember '99 and my jaw dropped. I had never seen anything like that match at the time and it's still one of my favorite ECW matches to this day. Anytime I saw Tanaka on ECW, I would always stop and watch to see the incredible amounts of punishment that he would take. So, with that being said and the fact that he's still one of my favorites today, it is with great pleasure that I induct Masato Tanaka into the NHO Hall of Fame.
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