Wrestling Gold: Vol. 2

This is a DVD Series my friend Brian purchased, featuring insider commentary by Dave Meltzer and Jim Cornette, which becomes annoying because they truly are the 2 biggest wrestling fanboys in the world and they argue incessantly about when Shiek was his most popular or what tights Angelo Poffo wore in 1971. I'm not going into detail on all these matches, just the worthwhile ones.

1 Rock n' Roll Express v. Randy Savage/ Lanny Poffo- I still say "The Genius" is one of the all time best gimmicks and would still get over today, Pofffo sells like a wounded old woman, there is a brutal table bump by Morton that was really famous, needed more time- 5

2 Nick Bockwinkel v. Manny Fernandez- Bockwinkel leads Manny through this and was a good seller, Manny bled well, and they have a false finish, good match- 5

3 Sheik v. Mark Lewin- neither man has anything resembling a physique, not a single wrestling move was executed in this, Lewin over acts more than Catherine Zeta- Jones, pencil shot after pencil shot, huge fireball ended this- 3

4 David & Kerry Von Erich v. Yates/ Killer Karl- Kerry kept all his work on the mat, amateur style, Yates and Kerry aren't communicating whatsoever, Yates has no skills, period, Von Erich's were very hungry, but completely unpolished, Yates is one of the worst wrestlers I have ever seen!- 1

5 Fabulous One's v. PYT's- good back and forth action, stiff table shot, Koko botched something, Keirn was pretty decent in his youth, horrible finish- 5

6 Road Warriors v. Jerry Lawler/ Austin Idol- Warriors are greener than cholorphyll, but stiff, they do sell for Lawler, the crowd was bananas, if you don't learn anything else from Memphis, you certainly learned how to punch- crazy finish into a wild brawl- 4

7 Randy Savage v. Jerry Lawler- Steel Cage- a chicken wire cage looks cheap as all fuck, Savage is killing himself for Lawler, Lawler sells like a broken mailbox, they both bled buckets, interference from random baddies brings down a pretty good match- 6

8 Samoans v. Ted Dibiase/ Bob Roop- Dibiase looked good, the Samoans have the same offense as every other Samoan team in the history of wrestling- 5
9 Bruno Sammartino/ Bruiser v. Ernie Ladd/ Baron Von Rashcke- now, these are some old legendary fucks, Bruiser is stiff, Ladd is stiff, Sammartino is stiff, and well, you get the point, they loved Bruno!, Ladd took a backdrop and he's at least 6'9, the heels are good bumpers, fun to see these guys work- 6
10 Tully Blanchard v. Manny Fernandez- work holds pretty good, Manny bled again, not much here- 4

11 Rick Rude v. Jerry Lawler- Rude was pretty stiff, always was, you can see he was going to be big in this, very short- 3

12 Crusher/ Bruiser/ Little Bruiser v. Blackjacks/ Bobby Heenan- comedy galore, Heenan was running around the ring like the Road Runner on speed, he took some big bumps and bled- 3

TNA Sacrifice – 08/14/05

1. Sonny Siaki and Apollo vs. Mikey Batts and Jarrel Clark – 5
2. Simon Diamond, David Young, and Elix Skipper vs. Sonjay Dutt, Shark Boy, and Chris Sabin – 6
3. Alex Shelley vs. Shocker – 7
4. Lance Hoyt vs. Abyss – 4
5. Kip James and Monty Brown vs. Konnan and The Truth – 3
6. Christopher Daniels vs. Austin Aries – 6
7. Sean Waltman vs. Jerry Lynn – 8
8. Team Canada vs. A.M.W. and The Naturals – 5
9. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe – 8
10. Rhino and Jeff Jarrett vs. Raven and Sabu – 5

This was on of the better T.N.A. pay-per-views to date. The first two matches were small glimpses of largely talented guys. Shelley and Shocker work so well together. Hoyt and Abyss was your typical big man match-up, and the tag team fiasco afterwards was abysmal. Daniels and Ring of Honor mainstay Aries brought the wrestling back to the forefront. Jerry Lynn versus Waltman? Wow! These guys were wrestling each other 10+ years ago in Texas, and still, a decade later they busted out an absolutely fantastic match. Lynn hit a suplex from the apron, pulling Waltman from inside the ring all the way to a brutal landing on the floor. The eight-man tag match was decent, with a few nice bumps highlighting it. Styles and Samoa Joe wrestled an intense and physical match that was great to watch. The main event was such a clash of styles and wrestling backgrounds; Jarrett bled, Sabu blew spots, and Rhino just blew.

WWF Global Warfare Video (1993)

The tape opens with Jimmy Hart yapping incessantly and we go to the first match …

1) Crush vs. Shawn Michaels - 4
A semi-decent match to include on this tape. Being the Michaels fan that I am, I’m always on the lookout for a good match. This is not one of his best, though. It’s a house show match from Europe, so you can’t really expect anything more.

2) Yokozuna vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan - 2
Why was this match even included on this tape? I’m not even going to waste space on notes for this one. The best thing about this is that a French crowd chanted “U-S-A” for Duggan.

Jimmy Hart returns to talk about songwriting and introduces our next match …

3) The Steiner Brothers vs. Money Inc. - 4
A somewhat decent match between these two teams. Money Inc. consisted of Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) and they were starting to near the end of their year-long domination of the tag team division. The Steiners would eventually capture the titles in the late summer of 1993 after DiBiase and Irwin went their separate ways.

4) Mr. Perfect vs. Samu - 4
While Mr. Perfect constantly delivers solid performances, the same can’t be said about Samu. Whoever had the brilliant idea of putting Samu in a singles match needs to have their employment rethought. Trying to get a decent singles match out of Samu is like trying to get a cat to fetch a stick, it just doesn’t happen.

Jimmy returns and this time he’s on his deck doing a lame white-boy jam to really cheesy music.

5) Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow - 3
Yes, there is such a thing as a bad Bret Hart match and this one is living proof of it. Like I mentioned before, this is a house show match in Europe, so you can’t really expect any classics at this point.

6) Crush vs. Doink - 3
For the record, Doink ruled the earth as a heel. That being said, I was somewhat expecting this to be a good match because I rather enjoyed their contest at WrestleMania 9. Doink bails at Crush gets the cheap C-O win.

More Jimmy Hart. I’ve given up at this point to even try to figure out what he’s talking about.

7) Scott Steiner vs. Irwin R. Schyster - 3
Pretty much a rehash of the earlier tag team contest, not that it was bad by any means. Steiner and Irwin are mainly tag wrestlers so it really makes no sense to me to put two tag wrestlers against each other in a singles match.

8) The Undertaker vs. Yokozuna - 1
Two words: pure garbage! Nothing more, nothing less. Yoko hits UT with the salt bucket for a DQ and no one even remotely cared.

Jimmy closes out the tape by ranting and raving something about Hogan and flexes. Spare me.

This was a little better than the Smack Em Whack Em tape. That being said, it’s really nothing to write home about. There were more matches on this one a less “who gives a crap” segments. Overall, the match quality was better but the final product still sucked. Not recommended.

WWF Smack 'Em Whack 'Em Video

The video opens with Lord Alfred Hayes in a dilapidated building. He says he’s here because The Bushwhackers are going to give us some home improvement tips. Oh dear. Cue the morons and here they come. They strap a pair of oversized goggles and a tool belt on good ‘ol Al and stuff a hard hat down on his head. Whatever. Lord Alfred and The Bushwhackers in hard hats? Kill me now. Plus, whose brilliant idea was it to give the Bushwhackers some tools? That person should be fired immediatley!! Anyways, on with the match-ups …

1) Crush vs. The Berzerker - 2
Yeah, I hate Berzerker as much as you do. Crush was okay in his Hawaiian tough-guy gimmick. Pretty much everything you would expect in a match this bad so I won’t go into great detail. As if I really need to, neither man has that great of a work ethic.

We return to the charade that is Bushwhackers Home Improvement and now they’ve got a sledgehammer. Quick! Everybody duck!! One of them puts a hole in the wall. Which one it is I’m not sure because I never gave a shit about them. Next match … pleeeeaaase!

2) Earthquake def. The Repo Man - 2
Rating: 2 – Well, this tape is off to a rolling start. We’re two for two in the crap department. Props for this match because it’s from Dayton and that’s pretty much the only highlight. No one cared, no one attempted to care. Quake sits on Repo. Next!

More Bushwhackers. Alfred gets electrocuted which sadly is the highlight of the tape so far. Time to fast forward … to …

Cooking Tips With Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji
Gene is with Yoko and Fuji at the local Benihana’s. Need I say more?

Bret “Hit Man” Hart Profile
Now we’re talkin! Gorilla is with WWF Champ Bret Hart outside of some unnamed arena-type building. They talk about how he fought to gain the WWF Title and his ladder match with Shawn Michaels while he was still the Intercontinental Champ. Guess what, that segs perfectly into …

Match #3
3) Ladder Match: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels - 6
For those of you who thought Shawn vs. Razor at WrestleMania X was the first-ever ladder match, think again. This was the first ever ladder match and was actually Bret’s second ladder match as he had competed in one while with Stampede Wrestling up in Calgary. Not the best Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels match ever but not too terrible either. Action starts to heat up and Bret wins? Come on! I definitely was left wanting more out of this one. The shortness of the match brought down the rating somewhat but it’s a recommended match due to historic value and that’s about it.

Gorilla and Bret talk it up again. Banana man (gorilla … banana, get it!) mentions Bret’s tough challenges while defending the WWF Title and Kamala. Aw shit.

4) Bret Hart vs. Kamala - 3
Hey, Kamala gets bumped up from shitty to forgettable. Once again, though, it’s a Kamala match so no one really cared. Thankfully, Kamala did the WWF a favor and jumped to WCW, where no one still cared! That makes this tape 3 for 4 in the crap department.

Back to Gorilla and Bret where the G-Man hypes the upcoming match and gets Bret’s thoughts.

5) Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair - 6
This match was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Savage, Undertaker, and others were not viable championship options at this point so the decision was made to put the title on Hart. The reason they took it off of Flair was because he had been suffering from an equilibrium problem for the past few weeks. So we get Flair vs. Hart for the WWF Title. Should be a good match, right? Wrong. They manuever through an average match and Hart defeats Flair to win the title in his home country and gets a mega-pop from the crowd. I believe that this was the first time that Flair and Hart ever met. Don’t quote me on it. Like I said, an average match and I was expecting lots, lots more from this. Just like the ladder match that was shown earlier, this bout is recommended for historical value only.

We close out with Gorilla and Bret and go back to …

Lord Al and The Bushwhackers. Al is pissed about being electrocuted. Bushwhackers decide to give up electricity for plumbing and drench Al with ice cold water. He gets pissed again and rightfully so and we get …

6) The Undertaker def. Razor Ramon - 3
At this point, I don't care about this because the tape has been so horrid. Razor opens up a can of haul-ass and Undertaker wins by the big C-O.

The Bushwhackers sit Alfred down in front of a TV and and promise him all his favorite matches. Hopefully, for his sake, the matches on this tape aren’t included that group. Thankfully, just like an Ernest Miller match, it’s over.

If this tape cost anything more than what I paid for it I would’ve left it on the shelf. This tape is only recommended for Hart vs. Flair and for the Ladder Match, which also happens to involve Hart. If you have some insane desire to see these matches, then you should own this tape. Otherwise, avoid at all costs.

WWE Sunday Night Heat – 09/04/05

1. Rob Conway vs. Matt Striker – 4
2. Rene Dupree vs. Michael Patrick – 3
3. Kerwin White vs. Tajiri – 5
4. Eugene vs. Johnny Parisi – 2
5. Viscera and Val Venis vs. The Heartthrobs – 4

Two relatively forgettable squashes followed by a fair Tajiri versus Kerwin rematch. Eugene is a horrible character, and this match is a great example why they should pull the plug on it. The main event was fine for a short tag team bout, but didn’t have enough to it to warrant a higher rate.

WWE Sunday Night Heat – 08/28/05

1. Antonio vs. Val Venis –4
2. Matt Striker vs. Russell Simpson – 2
3. The Hurricane vs. Johnny Parisi – 2
4. Tyson Tomko vs. Maleek John – 0
5. Tajiri vs. Kerwin White – 4

This was a pretty average edition of Sunday Night Heat. Tomko got zero points in his quick squash; his finishing kick was brutal, but the construction of the match was pathetic. Some decent workers got screen time, but not enough to warrant anything worth watching. Tajiri’s kicks were nice per usual, but the rest of his match was forgettable; thus giving Antonio and Val the honor of the best match, a relatively decent little bout with few highlights.

WWE Smackdown! – 08/25/05

1. Randy Orton vs. Hardcore Holly - 5
2. Johnny Nitro vs. Heidenreich - 1
3. Christian and Booker T vs. Super Crazy and Psicosis - 3
4. Mr. Kennedy vs. Funaki - 3
5. Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, and Eddie Guerrero – 6

Orton versus Holly was a very nice opener; they started off with some rest holds, but ended up doing some nice build-up stuff. The finish was weak, but otherwise I liked it. Nitro and Heidenreich had a horrendous excuse for a match, with Heidenreich looking completely goofy marching around the ring totally ignoring Nitro’s offense. The tag team match features four talented workers I enjoy, but it was disappointing, thus since it was so below my expectations I felt I grade it deservedly. Kennedy and Funaki was usual squash fare. The main event was entertaining, but only gave us a glimpse of each guys’ talents. I would have rated it lower, but enjoyed the unexpectedly clean finish.