"Where it all begins.....Again"*
*what does that mean.....again?
1) The Big Show v. John Cena- 4
The shocking thing here was even 6 years ago when Cena was still starting out, his selling carried a pretty slow drab affair into something I liked watching because of his performance. Story of the match was mindless caveman beating from Show with Cena expressively showing his pain then hitting a big finish out of nowhere. Loved him repping the 1-Up wristbands.
2) Booker T/ Rob Van Dam v. La Resistance v. Dudley Boys v. Garrison Cade/ Mark Jindrak- 3
Book and Rob were wasted here as neither got significant ring time to showcase their talents, but at least they got a pay check to pay their rent for another further month on both of their specialty stores they own. Bubba was stiffing people but his short shorts were an eyesore, mainly due to his knobby knees. Resistance were the beating dummies here and when it broke down, whatever thread of a storyline they were trying to build went right out the window. Did any of the failed Hollywood writers know what Garrison meant before they saddled him with that moniker?
3) Christian v. Chris Jericho- 5
Two of my definite faves in the sports entertainment landscape did battle here to mixed results. They got some time for sure, and for once, I liked Jericho's punches, balled up looping Fred Flintstone shots that told you he was pissed. They totally flopped on the buckle trying to set up for a superplex, so they worked together to get back up in a strange scene. Loved the Impact DDT Christian crushed Jericho's skull with near the end, and the Trish turn was done pretty well, save for Jericho's sloppy sell of the Unprettier after match.
4) Evolution v. The Rock & Sock Connection - 4
Before this match took place, Orton (standing next to partners Flair and Batista) delivered a long winded wooden promo in front of the stairs that they threw Foley down months prior to start the angle. Even more obvious cue card reading than on Jay Leno's faltering mishap of a show.
Foley was super over with the crowd but his performance sadly didn't warrant that adolation. Crowd heat was actually quite good here and everyone was filling in their roles nicely, everything flowed together well, but my glaring problem with this match is was completely made up of punches and clotheslines, i'm talking about to a ridiculous degree. It felt much like what Tiger Woods went through, when all that money and fame and carte blanche got to him, how else was he supposed to blow off steam but have sex with low grade strippers and partime model/cocksuckers? It wasn't his fault, as was the case here, even when a moment would happen where the pace picked up and guys were thinking on their feet, half assed clotheslines or punches like some unseen force was causing them to do it. Inconceivable!
5) Sable/ Torrie Wilson v. Miss Jackie/ Stacy- 1
Not sure what agent's job it was to put this together, but looked like they just watched some WCW Nitro 98 cruiserweight stuff because they had them doing rollup reversals and sunset flip reversals. Dear God I miss Stacy's lower half.
6) Cruiserweight Open (involving Shannon Moore, Ultimo Dragon, Jamie Knoble, Funaki, Nunzio, Billy Kidman, Rey Mysterio, Tajiri, Chavo Guerrero)- 3
If this had gotten some decent time involved could have been something. Dragon finally made it to WrestleMania and MSG and he totally eats it on the way to the ring in a sad but funny moment. Funaki and Akio both neither got one move off before being eliminated which is a shame. Kidman (w/ Dr. Pepper gut) looked like a jumping Marlin trying to execute his Shooting Star splash outside. Rey was on as usual busting out some great shit for his 3 mintues of work, just piss poor how little anyone in the company was behind this match.
7) Bill Goldberg v. Brock Lesnar- 2
One of the greatest examples of two guys shitting all over the fans, people were really keen on watching two of the most dangerous men in the sport (for hurting guys un/or intentionally) do the same to each other but they tried to work a 1981 power man match that had MSG booing out the building. Goldberg hit one cool spinebuster but other than that this was a woesome 17 minutes I spent in front of the TV while Super Mario Brothers Wii was staring me in the face saying " You know you wanna?" " I wanna, Mario, I wanna."
8) Rikishi/ Scotty 2 Hotty v. World's Greatest Tag Team v. APA v. Basham Brothers- 3
Another hodge podge 4 way which saw Faarooq and Rikishi work for about 20 seconds a piece. Felt identical to the one that took place before hand. WGTT pulled off a couple nice sequences but other than that, this was as convoluted and pointless as 10 picks for Best Film Oscar.
9) Victoria v. Molly Holly - 4
I was actually digging this for the most part but again, no time to develop it fully. Molly and Victoria were good on the ground and always enjoy a Northern Lights suplex thrown in there for some Hase love. Neither girl had really good strikes though and the finish was hackneyed at best, Molly selling her haircut while some schmuck dressed like a barber from the 60's complete with candycane pole stood idly by, wondering if his paycheck would cover this months' rent, child support and menthol cigarettes.
10) Eddie Guerrero v. Kurt Angle- 6
Kind of a cool match that never fully reached it's potential. Lots of time devoted to Angle just grinding away on Eddie on the mat, the fast sections were much better becuase Angle can keep up, love how he sells a DDT, probably speaks for why he has such a useless body these days. Both guys execute stuff with a snap and I loved Angle's reaction to the finish afterwards.
11) Undertaker v. Kane- 4
This was kept short, like any kind of government apology and it was for the better. Kane was completely inside his character's mind, despite how requistely screwed up it is (guess i'll have to read that paperback novel to fully find out) Taker wasn't at his peak but much faster than he is these days. Lot of the same recycled spots they used throughout their whole 10 year feud together, watch this match eating some delicious Silician pizza from Bravo's and it will go down even smoother I bet.
12) HHH v. Shawn Michaels v. Chris Benoit - 9
I am shocked myself how great this was, first time I saw this show was in my buddy's sweltering apartment after having wrestled a backyard match myself earlier in the day where I received a nice goose-egg over my eye which had grown to the size of a Reese's Easter Egg cup, so it was hard to gauge it. People might also be turned off by the emotional factor invoved here as this was Benoit's culmination to an 18 year journey of becoming the true top dog in the world of wrestling, so to glorify a psychotic murderous bastard by giving acclaim to this match isn't my point, only to judge on what the match itself consisted of.
I think the thing that most worked in this match's favor is with it being a 3 way, which more often than not, are hurried and obviously ran like 3 seperate singles matches and while this had elements of this, timing was crucial because it helped them never lose their way and keep the 3 men invovled at most times, like it wouldn't just be a clothesline that had someone knocked out for 10 minutes, it would be significant like a table bump. Benoit was pouring on the punishment, chops and headbutts and violent kicks, Trips was selling submission attempts like scorpions were in his underwear or Steph's lawyer just served him with divorce papers and Shawn was kind of the glue that did his usual stuff but didn't take away from the match. Funny how crazy MSG was for Benoit and hated that Shawn could take the belt home instead of the Canadian. Cool moment when Shawn tries the triple German, but he's so largely booed he gives Benoit the reversal to take over and they pop huge. Messy bloody scalp of Shawn was a sight to behold, felt like a German torture flick and was pouring from his balding head like the green goo from Troll 2 and one of his better moments was calling Trips out in the center of the ring. The finish could have been badly executed but another piece of business that worked really well and i def. have to give kudos to all three for pulling it off so well. Still love Eddie coming out to share the spotlight with him at the end, despite either man's pharmaceutical problems or lounge chairs reserved in Satan's den in Hell.
XIX= 54%
XIII= 49%
XIV= 44%
VIII= 43%
II= 43%
XVII= 43%
X= 42%
XX= 40%
XII= 40%
III= 39%
XVIII= 39%
VII= 34%
IV= 34%
V=34%
XI= 34%
IX= 33%
I= 32%
VI= 32%
XVI= 30%
XV= 29%
Friday, February 26, 2010
Nous observons chaque seconde #9
Jessie
oh the white death rains down from the sky and alas, here I am sitting in my cubicle while all I want to do is go home and try and get my daughter to play in the snow, i'll keep my fingers crossed. meanwhile, thinking back to what I saw this weekend: TNA Impact, didn't mind it so bad on this episode, AJ's strong heel persona really stuck out to me and enjoyed he and Joe's exchange a lot, they both had a good handle on their characters and I love guys doing promos as themselves, not scripted, it's so easy to tell between the two. Matchwise, nothing tickled me silly although Pope v. OJ had some cool exchanges and I saw a confidence in Pope that he desperately needed in WWE and Jordan was competing with a looseness he didn't have before, he used to wrestle like a dude with a plunger up his ass (and for those of you who haven't watched WWE in the last 10 years, no that wasn't his actual gimmick). Thougt the Hogan stuff was idiotic as the norm, why go to great lengths and waste TV time telling Eric Young that Hall & Pac can't come in, then you open the door for them to come in against Angle, are they fucking hobos, how does he know they've been waiting outside during the whole 2 hours? my brain froze trying to rationalize it.
ROH Proving Ground proved that 2009 was a low mark in their history, Night one was an epic disaster from the overwrought Black v. Richards main event to the joke of Albright kicking out of like 4 NIgel fins in a very boring match. Steen/ Generico v. Dark City was good but i felt like they were subbing them out for the same worked match they do with the Briscoes. Aries got more out of the comedy match with Necro than most would but I still wasn't entertained. Night 2 however was a lot more satisfying. I'm a Lynn fan from way back, kind of fun trying to see him keep up with young dude Osborne, who's not fully ready. YRR match served it's purpose but Rinauro is a joke. The Dark City six man v. Strong/Stevens/Albright was an abomination of my time, it never ended and so many things went wrong, I was about to drop my head in my deep fryer. 2nd half was quite good though, Aries did a tremendous job with Brad Attitude, classic NWA title match formula where you make the nobody look like he could be world champion, lots of praise there. Danielson v. Generico always put out great work (loved their PWG World Title match from a few years back) and the comedy before hand was lighthearted and very endearing, loved how Generico was totally in character during the whole thing and actually made me want to see Danielson v. Bison. Finish was killer. Overall I didn't love the main event but thought DLo and Nigel both brought the heat with their strikes and big bumps.
Adam
I thought the Springer segment on Raw was absolutely terrible. It just came off as useless and pointless when they could've used that time to build the pay-per-view. Plus, the whole thing with Lawler at the end of it with him trying to cover it up as a rib just made me scratch my head. The Bret thing was lame. Some random blonde backs into Bret's limo? Wouldn't any smart driver check their mirror before backing out? Michael Cole selling the injury as "the worst day of Bret's" life was absolutely ludicrous.
I'm looking forward to watching the final ECW. I think Goldust/Yoshi vs. Miz/Show should be fun. Plus we have Christian/Jackson in an extreme rules match.
Brian
I wanted to see some of the horryifying bird creature Shibaten so I watched him (vs. Rei, vs. Quackenbush) on YouTube. The bout versus Rei is barely two minutes, but quite fun, with Shibaten establishing a knack for quality selling and being fully into his character (i.e. Ophidian from Osirian Portal). It was fun watching puro nerd Quackenbush in one of his first tours of Japan, but didn’t seem particularly at home in Michinoku Pro, his elaborate arm work seemed ultimately futile and derivative.
I finished TNA Against All Odds ’10, at the library now printing out schoolwork, so can’t be bothered to comment in any great detail. Overall, a forgettable show, per the norm with the rest of TNA’s recent pay-per-view output. I’m going to watch last night’s ROH on HDNet when I get home and some ’09 BattlArts.
Jessie
I also caught some of that bird freak, like one of Rodan's illegimate children, but he had great movement inside the ring and added a unique quality to the Quack match which would have been pretty boring with all his technical prowess on display. Also caught most of the Feb. NOAH Differ in Navigation show, Masao Inoue's comeback match was nothing to be proud of, just jovial joke spots and a strange likeness to a plumper younger Chono. Enjoyed Morishima's performance in his tag encounter, it went to a 30 minute draw and totally felt like it because it lost direction several times, but there was some hard work done and fun dynamic to see former partners Mori and Sasaki do battle. Also watched a few pimped Lucha matches, one featuring Black Terry who is older than The Nile River, but it was such a change of pace from normal pro wrestling and even Lucha with his technical stuff, you could tell it was so natural to him how to perform all those moves and make them work within the context of the match he was doing. Also decided to see who this Negro Navarro guy is I hear mentioned on the Segunda Radio show but only found a quick 3 minute clip on "You Tube XL" the version on Wii online in between playing the Ice level in the new Mario, some fun armdrags but not enough to form a real opinion. Will be watching final ECW and TNA's Against All Odds at some point this week too.
Brian
I just finished iMPACT! Quite a baffling, befuddling show. Samoa Joe losing clean to Orlando Jordan? Subsequently, Joe later abducted in a white van? Hogan passing the torch... to fucking Abyss? I did like the Young Bucks/Red/Kaz vs. Kendrick/Williams/Machine Guns sprint -- quite fun. Angle vs. Daniels was about as good as a one minute match you'll see. Also watched Superstars, and damn, that Knox vs. Mysterio main was a lot of fun, quite developed with defined acts, some believable nearfalls, etc. I'll definitely be finding time over the weekend to watch a few DVDs.
Jessie
Over the weekend I began the WM project....again, with 20, review forthcoming. Also saw a few matches for download including Marufuji v. Devitt and Tanahashi v. Okada both from New Japan. Brian alerted me to some rube online who had the first one rated at 1/2 star, which tells me he seriously needs to dig himself out of the large hole he currently lives in that's called "Internet Trend follower" and give the match it's due. The inherent flaw of the match is all the obvious setups to moves, it happens again and again, and if that's the argument could see a case for someone not enjoying it, but the crowd loves it that's for sure. I liked their rope stuff, where they both used bouncing off the ropes and momentum to duel each other on who hits first, and it's not overdone stuff like in Dragon Gate, really nasty bumps through out incl. Marufuji's sidewalk slam bomb and Devitt wiping out Richards style except more hurty. Didn't care much for the Okada match, has a good look and physique but need to pull something out of him performance wise, match was way too long for what it wanted to accomplish and Marufuji would be best served working with higher talent. my impression is he may sink instead of swim in the states.
Also caught some of the ballyhooed Hulk Hogan DVD unreleased set, Bob Backlund carried Hulk to a very well done match that nearly hit the 30 min. mark, some good old fashioned "out move the big brute" stuff, then selling his ass off in a armlock that he basically maneuvered Hogan in for, JR & King both comment on Hulk being green but his enthusiasm is certainly there. Loved the Mr. T & Hulk skit in the health food store as well, Hogan was trying to hold back laughter as T threw carrot juice, wheat grass and other assorted stuff in his basket.
Brian
I've been simultaneously watching ROH End of An Age and WWE Insurrextion '03. So far on the ROH end of things, Kenny King vs. Petey Williams was a touch longer then needed to be, I feel like Petey often has a lost expression on his face, goes through the motions, etc. Williams' movement is good, but his storytelling ability is rather poor; King, on the other hand, has a big upside and lots of potential. Erick Stevens vs. Rasche Brown was also forgettable, save for some big, explosive offensive bits courtesy of Stevens. We hadn't seen Brown really bump yet in ROH, nice to see him get stuffed and tossed on his bald head a couple times. Lastly, saw KENTA vs. Tyler Black; this will be contested by arguing fans, some will love it, others loathe it. I was rather indifferent. Some crazy, athletic spots, big superplex, dazzling kicks, flying, etc. Selling, as one may guess, wasn't the strong suit, each guy would temporarily sell things, but nothing extended, i.e. Black rallying back from near death far too many times for my tastes.
Insurrextion '03 has been an odd little show, kind of underwhelming, all things considered. Jazz vs. Trish Stratus was surprisingly good; much better than the majority of Diva output the last four years. Trish was good at sympathetic selling, while getting wrenched in holds, etc. Booker T vs. Christian wasn't up to my expectations. Booker seemed a bit selfish, something I've heard of him as a worker, not particularly going out of his way much at all for Christian. The Canadian looked decent, though, although lacked the spark and confidence that made him shine in 2009. I turned off the TV midway through RVD/Kane vs. La Resistance last night, will finish it later. Dupree has loads of personality, strutting around like a peacock, etc. I think he belonged in the WWE. I'd rank him up there with Palumbo (and maybe Grimes) as guys that they dropped the ball on. RVD's move set was the same as any other of his matches you could randomly pick, cartwheeling and sommersaulting without any rhyme or reason.
Jessie
Finished disc 1 of the Hulk Hogan Secret set.
Hulk/ JYD v. King Kong Bundy/ BJ Studd- I think i enjoyed the visual of two iconic competitors acting like two kids hopped up on Pixie Sticks and Lollipop Rings than most of what transpired in the match. Hulk v. Bundy sections worked, the big man bumped for him, and had good movement but Studd was as lackadasical as a T Rex with imsomnia.
Hulk visits the Snake Pit- pretty pedestrian interview where Roberts basically shoved the fact Andre will win down our throats and showed off the belt he could win which was pretty damn long, Hulk took posession of it for a few moments before abritrarily throwing it into a water-less pool where some giant pythons were slithering.
Hulk v. Kamala- I've enjoyed the point of view from Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on these matches, Lawler seems a lot more relaxed and isn't worried about one liners and JR loves to give history. Match was nothing basically, Hulk preening around acting as if those weenie chops were giving him problems. Makes you appreciate where wrestling has come from and where it is now because Kamala got by on very little skill or talent.
Hulk v. Killer Khan- both men were more unsightly than moldy mushrooms in your "crisper" box in the fridge but this was enjoyable. Think they tangled in New Japan years before. Hulk took some huge bumps from Khan's chops, and he worked over Hulk with a nasty nerve pinch, he was up for selling but not apt for it, bumbling awkwardly around the ring as Hulk ran through his move set, so far probably the most digestible thing off this disc, wrestling wise for the average fan.
Brian
I watched Steve Corino/Kevin Steen vs. Alex Payne/Bobby Dempsey from ROH on HDNet 2/08/10. Corino seemed sluggish, only real good facial he gave while selling was after a big Bobby splash. Payne botched two things real badly, surprised it made air, as they should have edited his amateurishness out. He flubbed a leapfrog then botched a hurricanrana. Dempsey had some fire, yelling at Corino to hit him again, but this was mostly about the heels roughing up Payne. I also checked out Rico vs. Goldust from Insurrextion '03. I cracked up at one point, while selling punches Goldie started doing his tourettes routine, stuttering and spasming. Rico bumped around, but would pop up far too quickly after each bump, no prolonged selling which made him look like a superhero not a fashion designer. All in a all, a kind of fun, throwaway bout.
Jessie
Watched the first NXT. You just have to laugh at the concept, in a way, Miz talking to the live TV audience, even addressing them, Danielson flubbed a line or two but came off as real, and unscripted which is more than refreshing, but let's not forget the "pro" Miz's flub either: dry as the Mojave Devert? Didn't see a lot I liked in the tag, Christian and Carlito working the same spots they did Monday, but I loved how Tarver sold the flying uppercut and Killswitch. One thing i don't get: if you're a boxer/MMA guy why are you doing all those wrestling punches and moves? he didn't go for a Knockout punch once. Otunga's match was a huge squash and one of them burnt the finishing move, so that was a dud. Then Danielson v. Jericho- seriously, we seriously get this on free TV? Awesome! It was a good little tv match too, besides Danielson falling backwards when taking a enzugiri, and the table spot was just brutal, but how come Danielson got up first? Liked his leg lock and Jericho always uses the old version of the Liontamer against younger guys. Fun first episode has me intrigued to see the upcoming weeks.
Also watched the All Japan six man main event with the pornstars- Muto/ Funaki/ Hama against the Voodoo Murderers, or what's left of them. Strange they chose Hama to do the heel beatdown on, wasn't truly as effective as it could have been because you're having to seriously disbelieve reality to watch it, Hama is easily 550, jelly rolls popping out of his trunks everywhere so for him to be hurt by Hate's weak leg kicks is a hard pill to swallow. Muto looked springy hitting his moves but the Wizard becomes more tame by the day. I did chuckle at his super hero comeback after getting frenched by the hot Asian hoe with the large boobies bouncing everywhere. This wasn't offensive nor will it stick in my crawl for very long. Also sort of watced Marufuji v. Nakajima, Savannah was unusually unruly during it so hard to get into the match, but long submission sections i didn't expect; the kicking sections were fun, but how many superkicks can one guy take to the face before we start asking ourselves, how is he standing? Marufuji is in top athletic form, but he totally waits for every single move and is a very spotty wrestling, maybe ROH rubbed off on him. Nakajima still needs seasoning but is progressing, aggresiveness he has no problem with, taking the time to sell properly and craft a coherent story every match out is something he'll have to learn over the long haul.
Brian
Adam said he was going to chime in tonight, but, since he hasn't, I'm going to jump back into the mix. Tonight I watched Sachie Abe, KAZUKI & Megumi Yabushita vs. Kaori Yoneyama, Emi Sakura & Aoi Kizuki -- far too short to be anything, but, for the brief time it lasted, it was full of adorable but not expertly executed triple-teams. We also watched what was supposed to be the last-ever IWA Mid-South show in Kings of the Crimson Mask 2. Only 6 matches, guess Ian couldn't pay anybody else to show up. Jimmy Jacobs randomly working one up from the bottom of the show, doing an uninspired dog collar chain match with Michael Elgin (replacing the absent Corp. Robinson). World champ Dingo worked second from the bottom -- who booked this? Oh, the crackhead with the Grinch tatt, I got it. There was a really ludicrous hardcore four-way of Chris Havius vs. Mephisto vs. Dixieland Destroyer vs. Joey Grunge. Never heard of any of those guys before? Don't worry. You're not alone. I'd never seen any of these guys, but good lord, looks like they just rounded up four slobs from the local truck stop and gave them some weapons to bludgeon each other with. Dixie Destroyer was a 500lbs. beast wearing overalls and a confederate flag lucha mask. Semi-main of Mickie Knuckles/Jon Moxley/Sami Callihan vs. The Hooligans was an extended beatdown, as the crowd favorites beat and bloodied the Hooligans, especially their requisite Spike Dudley in Neil Diamond Cutter who earned his $15 of pay taking the ass-whooping of the century. Main event was No Rope Barbwire, Electrified Light Tubes, Fans Bring The Weapons Match: Mad Man Pondo & Ian Rotten vs. Viper & Elkview Adam. A big pile of shit it was. Pondo's gut is larger than ever, a clean-shaven Ian makes him look even more like a molester, Viper looked like a gargantuan Justin Credible (sold better, though) and Elkview Adam, albeit post-match Rotten blew on the mic, didn't impress me a lick. So that's your fed's finale after 13 years? Bwahahaa!!!11!!.1 fucking idiots -- Oh wait, William Regal is on Superstars I'm going to go watch that now..
Adam
Picked up a few new DVDs at Half Price Books last night, including one called "AAW Taste of Violence" which features some real terrible wrestlers and lots of phantom selling. There was one match that was a hardcore match between Venom, a scrawny kid who looks about 17 and is wrestling wearing a Spiderman Venom t-shirt, stone washed jeans, and skater shoes, and a wrestler named Wolverine, who goes about 275 with a goatee and is probably the 2,657th low-level independent wrestler to use that name. The match was full of comedic errors including Wolverine bumping on a piece of plywood and Venom doing a balcony dive and crashing through a table. There was another match which had Hannibal, a complete rip-off of the Anthony Hopkins movie character, against two dudes who are blatantly ripping off the Mean Street Posse. Hannibal did some type of shit spinning kick that I rewound multiple time and laughed really hard at. There are no notable names on the show but I got it out of curiosity. A thorough review of this awful crap will be forthcoming.
Also, got together with Brian and Geo and watched IWA-MS King of the Crimson Mask 2009, which was touted as the final IWA-MS show at the time. Highlights of this comedy masterpiece included a 450 pound hillbilly in overalls and a conferdate flag mask getting his back lashed open with a crap ton of light tubes and Ian Rotten stumbling around, sticking his ancient face in wherever he can, and cutting promos about the company and putting people over. The main was awful and featured Rotten and Mad Man Pondo teaming up to "wrestle" Elkview Adam & Viper in what can only be described as a complete clusterfuck. Afterwards, Ian and Pondo worked the stick and bored the shit out of everyone. I do want to see some more IWA-MS though, just to see if there's even anything from the past few years in that shit company worth watching. Brian, pass that along to me as I would like to take some notes on it.
Finally, watched a random and brief bout from a DVD called "Grand Masters of Wrestling" (which can be found in the $1 bin at your local Wal-Mart) which featured a bloated Iron Mike Sharpe and King Kong Bundy. The match was terrible, probably one of the worst matches I've watched in a long time with Sharpe and Bundy just stalling and trying to spots they did 20 years ago to no avail. The biggest annoyance was that the crowd noise was dubbed in in what seemed like a five minute loop. Bundy was randomly counted out. The crowd was in such a zombie state that even if they were forced to give a shit, they probably wouldn't have.
Brian
Nothing from iMPACT! was too notable, Kaz v. Kendrick was fun, but in PWG they would have gotten triple the time. Finishing off ROH End of An Age this morning. D-Lo Brown vs. Roderick Strong, first D-Lo ROH bout I've actively enjoyed. Basically them just pounding the hell of each other, lots of great chops, but cheap fin. I surprisingly enjoyed the Brent Albright/Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli/Joey Ryan Street Fight. Pretty chaotic and at times sloppy, but fun 'till the end. One of Ryan's better ROH performances, pretty game to eat stuff, but nowhere near the level of his '09 PWG stuff (see v. Chris Hero). I really like one spot: the heels were seated in chairs in the front row, and Colt did a backflip off of the guardrail and just crushed Claudio. Hey!! Ryan gave Cabana a Mustache Ride off of the top onto a pile of chairs -- Cabana sold it like he was sharing a bed with his brother and felt a boner poke him in the back. Ending was a (flying) Butt Butt through a table, but Iceman Parsons did a spit take on that one!!!
oh the white death rains down from the sky and alas, here I am sitting in my cubicle while all I want to do is go home and try and get my daughter to play in the snow, i'll keep my fingers crossed. meanwhile, thinking back to what I saw this weekend: TNA Impact, didn't mind it so bad on this episode, AJ's strong heel persona really stuck out to me and enjoyed he and Joe's exchange a lot, they both had a good handle on their characters and I love guys doing promos as themselves, not scripted, it's so easy to tell between the two. Matchwise, nothing tickled me silly although Pope v. OJ had some cool exchanges and I saw a confidence in Pope that he desperately needed in WWE and Jordan was competing with a looseness he didn't have before, he used to wrestle like a dude with a plunger up his ass (and for those of you who haven't watched WWE in the last 10 years, no that wasn't his actual gimmick). Thougt the Hogan stuff was idiotic as the norm, why go to great lengths and waste TV time telling Eric Young that Hall & Pac can't come in, then you open the door for them to come in against Angle, are they fucking hobos, how does he know they've been waiting outside during the whole 2 hours? my brain froze trying to rationalize it.
ROH Proving Ground proved that 2009 was a low mark in their history, Night one was an epic disaster from the overwrought Black v. Richards main event to the joke of Albright kicking out of like 4 NIgel fins in a very boring match. Steen/ Generico v. Dark City was good but i felt like they were subbing them out for the same worked match they do with the Briscoes. Aries got more out of the comedy match with Necro than most would but I still wasn't entertained. Night 2 however was a lot more satisfying. I'm a Lynn fan from way back, kind of fun trying to see him keep up with young dude Osborne, who's not fully ready. YRR match served it's purpose but Rinauro is a joke. The Dark City six man v. Strong/Stevens/Albright was an abomination of my time, it never ended and so many things went wrong, I was about to drop my head in my deep fryer. 2nd half was quite good though, Aries did a tremendous job with Brad Attitude, classic NWA title match formula where you make the nobody look like he could be world champion, lots of praise there. Danielson v. Generico always put out great work (loved their PWG World Title match from a few years back) and the comedy before hand was lighthearted and very endearing, loved how Generico was totally in character during the whole thing and actually made me want to see Danielson v. Bison. Finish was killer. Overall I didn't love the main event but thought DLo and Nigel both brought the heat with their strikes and big bumps.
Adam
I thought the Springer segment on Raw was absolutely terrible. It just came off as useless and pointless when they could've used that time to build the pay-per-view. Plus, the whole thing with Lawler at the end of it with him trying to cover it up as a rib just made me scratch my head. The Bret thing was lame. Some random blonde backs into Bret's limo? Wouldn't any smart driver check their mirror before backing out? Michael Cole selling the injury as "the worst day of Bret's" life was absolutely ludicrous.
I'm looking forward to watching the final ECW. I think Goldust/Yoshi vs. Miz/Show should be fun. Plus we have Christian/Jackson in an extreme rules match.
Brian
I wanted to see some of the horryifying bird creature Shibaten so I watched him (vs. Rei, vs. Quackenbush) on YouTube. The bout versus Rei is barely two minutes, but quite fun, with Shibaten establishing a knack for quality selling and being fully into his character (i.e. Ophidian from Osirian Portal). It was fun watching puro nerd Quackenbush in one of his first tours of Japan, but didn’t seem particularly at home in Michinoku Pro, his elaborate arm work seemed ultimately futile and derivative.
I finished TNA Against All Odds ’10, at the library now printing out schoolwork, so can’t be bothered to comment in any great detail. Overall, a forgettable show, per the norm with the rest of TNA’s recent pay-per-view output. I’m going to watch last night’s ROH on HDNet when I get home and some ’09 BattlArts.
Jessie
I also caught some of that bird freak, like one of Rodan's illegimate children, but he had great movement inside the ring and added a unique quality to the Quack match which would have been pretty boring with all his technical prowess on display. Also caught most of the Feb. NOAH Differ in Navigation show, Masao Inoue's comeback match was nothing to be proud of, just jovial joke spots and a strange likeness to a plumper younger Chono. Enjoyed Morishima's performance in his tag encounter, it went to a 30 minute draw and totally felt like it because it lost direction several times, but there was some hard work done and fun dynamic to see former partners Mori and Sasaki do battle. Also watched a few pimped Lucha matches, one featuring Black Terry who is older than The Nile River, but it was such a change of pace from normal pro wrestling and even Lucha with his technical stuff, you could tell it was so natural to him how to perform all those moves and make them work within the context of the match he was doing. Also decided to see who this Negro Navarro guy is I hear mentioned on the Segunda Radio show but only found a quick 3 minute clip on "You Tube XL" the version on Wii online in between playing the Ice level in the new Mario, some fun armdrags but not enough to form a real opinion. Will be watching final ECW and TNA's Against All Odds at some point this week too.
Brian
I just finished iMPACT! Quite a baffling, befuddling show. Samoa Joe losing clean to Orlando Jordan? Subsequently, Joe later abducted in a white van? Hogan passing the torch... to fucking Abyss? I did like the Young Bucks/Red/Kaz vs. Kendrick/Williams/Machine Guns sprint -- quite fun. Angle vs. Daniels was about as good as a one minute match you'll see. Also watched Superstars, and damn, that Knox vs. Mysterio main was a lot of fun, quite developed with defined acts, some believable nearfalls, etc. I'll definitely be finding time over the weekend to watch a few DVDs.
Jessie
Over the weekend I began the WM project....again, with 20, review forthcoming. Also saw a few matches for download including Marufuji v. Devitt and Tanahashi v. Okada both from New Japan. Brian alerted me to some rube online who had the first one rated at 1/2 star, which tells me he seriously needs to dig himself out of the large hole he currently lives in that's called "Internet Trend follower" and give the match it's due. The inherent flaw of the match is all the obvious setups to moves, it happens again and again, and if that's the argument could see a case for someone not enjoying it, but the crowd loves it that's for sure. I liked their rope stuff, where they both used bouncing off the ropes and momentum to duel each other on who hits first, and it's not overdone stuff like in Dragon Gate, really nasty bumps through out incl. Marufuji's sidewalk slam bomb and Devitt wiping out Richards style except more hurty. Didn't care much for the Okada match, has a good look and physique but need to pull something out of him performance wise, match was way too long for what it wanted to accomplish and Marufuji would be best served working with higher talent. my impression is he may sink instead of swim in the states.
Also caught some of the ballyhooed Hulk Hogan DVD unreleased set, Bob Backlund carried Hulk to a very well done match that nearly hit the 30 min. mark, some good old fashioned "out move the big brute" stuff, then selling his ass off in a armlock that he basically maneuvered Hogan in for, JR & King both comment on Hulk being green but his enthusiasm is certainly there. Loved the Mr. T & Hulk skit in the health food store as well, Hogan was trying to hold back laughter as T threw carrot juice, wheat grass and other assorted stuff in his basket.
Brian
I've been simultaneously watching ROH End of An Age and WWE Insurrextion '03. So far on the ROH end of things, Kenny King vs. Petey Williams was a touch longer then needed to be, I feel like Petey often has a lost expression on his face, goes through the motions, etc. Williams' movement is good, but his storytelling ability is rather poor; King, on the other hand, has a big upside and lots of potential. Erick Stevens vs. Rasche Brown was also forgettable, save for some big, explosive offensive bits courtesy of Stevens. We hadn't seen Brown really bump yet in ROH, nice to see him get stuffed and tossed on his bald head a couple times. Lastly, saw KENTA vs. Tyler Black; this will be contested by arguing fans, some will love it, others loathe it. I was rather indifferent. Some crazy, athletic spots, big superplex, dazzling kicks, flying, etc. Selling, as one may guess, wasn't the strong suit, each guy would temporarily sell things, but nothing extended, i.e. Black rallying back from near death far too many times for my tastes.
Insurrextion '03 has been an odd little show, kind of underwhelming, all things considered. Jazz vs. Trish Stratus was surprisingly good; much better than the majority of Diva output the last four years. Trish was good at sympathetic selling, while getting wrenched in holds, etc. Booker T vs. Christian wasn't up to my expectations. Booker seemed a bit selfish, something I've heard of him as a worker, not particularly going out of his way much at all for Christian. The Canadian looked decent, though, although lacked the spark and confidence that made him shine in 2009. I turned off the TV midway through RVD/Kane vs. La Resistance last night, will finish it later. Dupree has loads of personality, strutting around like a peacock, etc. I think he belonged in the WWE. I'd rank him up there with Palumbo (and maybe Grimes) as guys that they dropped the ball on. RVD's move set was the same as any other of his matches you could randomly pick, cartwheeling and sommersaulting without any rhyme or reason.
Jessie
Finished disc 1 of the Hulk Hogan Secret set.
Hulk/ JYD v. King Kong Bundy/ BJ Studd- I think i enjoyed the visual of two iconic competitors acting like two kids hopped up on Pixie Sticks and Lollipop Rings than most of what transpired in the match. Hulk v. Bundy sections worked, the big man bumped for him, and had good movement but Studd was as lackadasical as a T Rex with imsomnia.
Hulk visits the Snake Pit- pretty pedestrian interview where Roberts basically shoved the fact Andre will win down our throats and showed off the belt he could win which was pretty damn long, Hulk took posession of it for a few moments before abritrarily throwing it into a water-less pool where some giant pythons were slithering.
Hulk v. Kamala- I've enjoyed the point of view from Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on these matches, Lawler seems a lot more relaxed and isn't worried about one liners and JR loves to give history. Match was nothing basically, Hulk preening around acting as if those weenie chops were giving him problems. Makes you appreciate where wrestling has come from and where it is now because Kamala got by on very little skill or talent.
Hulk v. Killer Khan- both men were more unsightly than moldy mushrooms in your "crisper" box in the fridge but this was enjoyable. Think they tangled in New Japan years before. Hulk took some huge bumps from Khan's chops, and he worked over Hulk with a nasty nerve pinch, he was up for selling but not apt for it, bumbling awkwardly around the ring as Hulk ran through his move set, so far probably the most digestible thing off this disc, wrestling wise for the average fan.
Brian
I watched Steve Corino/Kevin Steen vs. Alex Payne/Bobby Dempsey from ROH on HDNet 2/08/10. Corino seemed sluggish, only real good facial he gave while selling was after a big Bobby splash. Payne botched two things real badly, surprised it made air, as they should have edited his amateurishness out. He flubbed a leapfrog then botched a hurricanrana. Dempsey had some fire, yelling at Corino to hit him again, but this was mostly about the heels roughing up Payne. I also checked out Rico vs. Goldust from Insurrextion '03. I cracked up at one point, while selling punches Goldie started doing his tourettes routine, stuttering and spasming. Rico bumped around, but would pop up far too quickly after each bump, no prolonged selling which made him look like a superhero not a fashion designer. All in a all, a kind of fun, throwaway bout.
Jessie
Watched the first NXT. You just have to laugh at the concept, in a way, Miz talking to the live TV audience, even addressing them, Danielson flubbed a line or two but came off as real, and unscripted which is more than refreshing, but let's not forget the "pro" Miz's flub either: dry as the Mojave Devert? Didn't see a lot I liked in the tag, Christian and Carlito working the same spots they did Monday, but I loved how Tarver sold the flying uppercut and Killswitch. One thing i don't get: if you're a boxer/MMA guy why are you doing all those wrestling punches and moves? he didn't go for a Knockout punch once. Otunga's match was a huge squash and one of them burnt the finishing move, so that was a dud. Then Danielson v. Jericho- seriously, we seriously get this on free TV? Awesome! It was a good little tv match too, besides Danielson falling backwards when taking a enzugiri, and the table spot was just brutal, but how come Danielson got up first? Liked his leg lock and Jericho always uses the old version of the Liontamer against younger guys. Fun first episode has me intrigued to see the upcoming weeks.
Also watched the All Japan six man main event with the pornstars- Muto/ Funaki/ Hama against the Voodoo Murderers, or what's left of them. Strange they chose Hama to do the heel beatdown on, wasn't truly as effective as it could have been because you're having to seriously disbelieve reality to watch it, Hama is easily 550, jelly rolls popping out of his trunks everywhere so for him to be hurt by Hate's weak leg kicks is a hard pill to swallow. Muto looked springy hitting his moves but the Wizard becomes more tame by the day. I did chuckle at his super hero comeback after getting frenched by the hot Asian hoe with the large boobies bouncing everywhere. This wasn't offensive nor will it stick in my crawl for very long. Also sort of watced Marufuji v. Nakajima, Savannah was unusually unruly during it so hard to get into the match, but long submission sections i didn't expect; the kicking sections were fun, but how many superkicks can one guy take to the face before we start asking ourselves, how is he standing? Marufuji is in top athletic form, but he totally waits for every single move and is a very spotty wrestling, maybe ROH rubbed off on him. Nakajima still needs seasoning but is progressing, aggresiveness he has no problem with, taking the time to sell properly and craft a coherent story every match out is something he'll have to learn over the long haul.
Brian
Adam said he was going to chime in tonight, but, since he hasn't, I'm going to jump back into the mix. Tonight I watched Sachie Abe, KAZUKI & Megumi Yabushita vs. Kaori Yoneyama, Emi Sakura & Aoi Kizuki -- far too short to be anything, but, for the brief time it lasted, it was full of adorable but not expertly executed triple-teams. We also watched what was supposed to be the last-ever IWA Mid-South show in Kings of the Crimson Mask 2. Only 6 matches, guess Ian couldn't pay anybody else to show up. Jimmy Jacobs randomly working one up from the bottom of the show, doing an uninspired dog collar chain match with Michael Elgin (replacing the absent Corp. Robinson). World champ Dingo worked second from the bottom -- who booked this? Oh, the crackhead with the Grinch tatt, I got it. There was a really ludicrous hardcore four-way of Chris Havius vs. Mephisto vs. Dixieland Destroyer vs. Joey Grunge. Never heard of any of those guys before? Don't worry. You're not alone. I'd never seen any of these guys, but good lord, looks like they just rounded up four slobs from the local truck stop and gave them some weapons to bludgeon each other with. Dixie Destroyer was a 500lbs. beast wearing overalls and a confederate flag lucha mask. Semi-main of Mickie Knuckles/Jon Moxley/Sami Callihan vs. The Hooligans was an extended beatdown, as the crowd favorites beat and bloodied the Hooligans, especially their requisite Spike Dudley in Neil Diamond Cutter who earned his $15 of pay taking the ass-whooping of the century. Main event was No Rope Barbwire, Electrified Light Tubes, Fans Bring The Weapons Match: Mad Man Pondo & Ian Rotten vs. Viper & Elkview Adam. A big pile of shit it was. Pondo's gut is larger than ever, a clean-shaven Ian makes him look even more like a molester, Viper looked like a gargantuan Justin Credible (sold better, though) and Elkview Adam, albeit post-match Rotten blew on the mic, didn't impress me a lick. So that's your fed's finale after 13 years? Bwahahaa!!!11!!.1 fucking idiots -- Oh wait, William Regal is on Superstars I'm going to go watch that now..
Adam
Picked up a few new DVDs at Half Price Books last night, including one called "AAW Taste of Violence" which features some real terrible wrestlers and lots of phantom selling. There was one match that was a hardcore match between Venom, a scrawny kid who looks about 17 and is wrestling wearing a Spiderman Venom t-shirt, stone washed jeans, and skater shoes, and a wrestler named Wolverine, who goes about 275 with a goatee and is probably the 2,657th low-level independent wrestler to use that name. The match was full of comedic errors including Wolverine bumping on a piece of plywood and Venom doing a balcony dive and crashing through a table. There was another match which had Hannibal, a complete rip-off of the Anthony Hopkins movie character, against two dudes who are blatantly ripping off the Mean Street Posse. Hannibal did some type of shit spinning kick that I rewound multiple time and laughed really hard at. There are no notable names on the show but I got it out of curiosity. A thorough review of this awful crap will be forthcoming.
Also, got together with Brian and Geo and watched IWA-MS King of the Crimson Mask 2009, which was touted as the final IWA-MS show at the time. Highlights of this comedy masterpiece included a 450 pound hillbilly in overalls and a conferdate flag mask getting his back lashed open with a crap ton of light tubes and Ian Rotten stumbling around, sticking his ancient face in wherever he can, and cutting promos about the company and putting people over. The main was awful and featured Rotten and Mad Man Pondo teaming up to "wrestle" Elkview Adam & Viper in what can only be described as a complete clusterfuck. Afterwards, Ian and Pondo worked the stick and bored the shit out of everyone. I do want to see some more IWA-MS though, just to see if there's even anything from the past few years in that shit company worth watching. Brian, pass that along to me as I would like to take some notes on it.
Finally, watched a random and brief bout from a DVD called "Grand Masters of Wrestling" (which can be found in the $1 bin at your local Wal-Mart) which featured a bloated Iron Mike Sharpe and King Kong Bundy. The match was terrible, probably one of the worst matches I've watched in a long time with Sharpe and Bundy just stalling and trying to spots they did 20 years ago to no avail. The biggest annoyance was that the crowd noise was dubbed in in what seemed like a five minute loop. Bundy was randomly counted out. The crowd was in such a zombie state that even if they were forced to give a shit, they probably wouldn't have.
Brian
Nothing from iMPACT! was too notable, Kaz v. Kendrick was fun, but in PWG they would have gotten triple the time. Finishing off ROH End of An Age this morning. D-Lo Brown vs. Roderick Strong, first D-Lo ROH bout I've actively enjoyed. Basically them just pounding the hell of each other, lots of great chops, but cheap fin. I surprisingly enjoyed the Brent Albright/Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli/Joey Ryan Street Fight. Pretty chaotic and at times sloppy, but fun 'till the end. One of Ryan's better ROH performances, pretty game to eat stuff, but nowhere near the level of his '09 PWG stuff (see v. Chris Hero). I really like one spot: the heels were seated in chairs in the front row, and Colt did a backflip off of the guardrail and just crushed Claudio. Hey!! Ryan gave Cabana a Mustache Ride off of the top onto a pile of chairs -- Cabana sold it like he was sharing a bed with his brother and felt a boner poke him in the back. Ending was a (flying) Butt Butt through a table, but Iceman Parsons did a spit take on that one!!!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
WCW Clash of the Champions 25 & 30
The Never Hand Over crew were working on a project to individually watch and rank every Clash of the Champions match ever, then collectively, tallying up the votes and preparing the ultimate list. With finishing my last semester of college, having a baby on the way, other projects, etc. I felt realistically that we weren't going to get it done anytime in the conceivable future. I did watch two shows, though; here's my rankings and reviews from those shows:
Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 5
Started off fast and furious, Pillman wasting no time, etc. Brawling on the floor, some nice chops and shots by both, Brian takes a sick bump off of the rampway throat-first on the guardrail. The crowd was fired up for this and that helped. What I didn't like is it almost moved too fast, which kind of made sense in terms of their story, but made the match seem less good, not a lot of time for selling, etc. Also, in the end, came apart a bit, Pillman visibly calling spots, Austin landing knees-first on a splash from the top, and the manager cheating the face finish had just been done the match before this.
Ric Flair vs. Vader - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 5
This was a quick glimpse of better stuff they'd do later. Highlights were Flair's selling, obviously, screaming bloody murder after being suplexed into the ring from the apron, etc. Ric also laid into Vader, backing him into the corner, throwing a variety of viscous chops and shots. The finish sucked dong, Flair thinks he won the championship, Vader's foot was on the rope, so we don't get a legitimate finish which felt like a blatant plug to order their next pay-per-view or whatever.
Arn Anderson vs. Johnny B. Badd - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 4
Badd wrestled with more confidence and poise here than I remembered him for.. - Arn as always pitch-perfect in heel role, bumping for Badd, didn't really do any over his over-the-top stuff (begging off, crybaby faces, etc.) which I missed.. - finish was convoluted with Arn being knocked out of the ring, revived with a pitcher of ice water, a game of chase around ringside, etc. sort of a mess
Harlem Heat vs. Stars & Stripes - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 4
Heat had lots of charisma, Booker had most explosive offense of the show, real nice kicks, etc. - Bagwell was fairly innocuous but a bit bland as babyface in peril.. - Patriot didn't offer much at all, lazy arm lock, uninspired punching.. - Crowd was pretty hot for the finish, although it appeared to had to attempt it twice to get it right, with Sherri taking a bump off the apron
Steve Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 4
Regal gives a masterful performance, some of the most snug offense of anyone on the roster at the time, good timing, facials, etc. Badd does his best keep up, but this wasn't given enough time to really materialize into something recommendable, and the copout cheating finish felt abrupt and passe.
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Kevin Sullivan and The Butcher - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 4
Parts of this were ferociously stupid.. - Started off bad.. - Hogan's punches in corner, so weak.. - Butcher was in-ring for majority and came off real limited.. - So dumb, Savage "wakes up" an unconscious Hulk by dropping an elbow from the top, his finisher, on him? - Savage had more fire and charisma than anyone, no surprise.. - Sullivan worked Randy over outside, liked Kevin's violent tendencies, and Savage sells his ass off, Heenen compares him to Jell-O at one point which was apt.. - Crowd was into ending even though all of our intelligences had been insulted.. - Vader, post-match, mixes it up in Cosby sweater and rips his dress slacks.. - going to be a long plane ride back to Denver in coach..
Nasty Boys vs. Sting and British Bulldog - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 3
I was looking forward to this but it rather sucked.. - Right off the bat Rick Rude runs out and gives Davey a "Rude Awakening" on the rampway.. - Smtih sells it like he's doing an impersonation of himself circa 2K9.. - Nasty Boys bump around the ring but are routinely picking themselves back up to get into position for the next thing (inc. after both taking Bulldog's powerslam finisher).. - No continuity in the selling.. - Saggs flying elbow puts this to bed?
Dustin Rhodes vs. Paul Orndorff - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 3
I was disappointed here. The guys didn't have much chemistry together, lots of middling grappling, no real emphasis or direction to the mat work either, the long headlocks, etc. weren't part of a bigger story, just tiring filler. The best selling in the match came from Assassin #1 at ringside eating some Dusty shots. Roll-up finish was dogshit.
Sting vs. Avalanche - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 3
Tenta was decent in control segment, didn't work the crowd much save for a Hogan-like pose that got some heat.. - Thought it was stupid Sting rolled around selling the whole match then all was forgotten when he got on offense.. - guest ref Guardian Angel wouldn't call for the bell which lead to an amusing post-match brawl with Sting
The Equalizer vs. The Shockmaster - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 2
Equalizer controlled the bulk of it, no real transitions to speak of on offense though, just laying in uninspired stuff and not giving anything time to sink in or mean anything. 'Ol Uncle Fred had some decent selling going on facially, but this was fodder and his finisher looked dumber than he did when he fell through that wall.
Bobby Eaton vs. Alex Wright - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 3
Wright seemed a bit uncomfortable doing stuff on the mat, i.e. arm work, etc. - Eaton led him through the paces but didn't exude much personality doing so.. - Best bump was Bobby dodging a flying attack and Alex eating the ropes
Rick Rude vs. Raod Warrior Hawk - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 2
A shitty match, guys were working at half-speed, only went a few minutes and ended suddenly in a disappointing double countout. Hawk no-sold Rude's clothesline outside the ring and just generally didn't sell for shit.
Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 5
Started off fast and furious, Pillman wasting no time, etc. Brawling on the floor, some nice chops and shots by both, Brian takes a sick bump off of the rampway throat-first on the guardrail. The crowd was fired up for this and that helped. What I didn't like is it almost moved too fast, which kind of made sense in terms of their story, but made the match seem less good, not a lot of time for selling, etc. Also, in the end, came apart a bit, Pillman visibly calling spots, Austin landing knees-first on a splash from the top, and the manager cheating the face finish had just been done the match before this.
Ric Flair vs. Vader - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 5
This was a quick glimpse of better stuff they'd do later. Highlights were Flair's selling, obviously, screaming bloody murder after being suplexed into the ring from the apron, etc. Ric also laid into Vader, backing him into the corner, throwing a variety of viscous chops and shots. The finish sucked dong, Flair thinks he won the championship, Vader's foot was on the rope, so we don't get a legitimate finish which felt like a blatant plug to order their next pay-per-view or whatever.
Arn Anderson vs. Johnny B. Badd - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 4
Badd wrestled with more confidence and poise here than I remembered him for.. - Arn as always pitch-perfect in heel role, bumping for Badd, didn't really do any over his over-the-top stuff (begging off, crybaby faces, etc.) which I missed.. - finish was convoluted with Arn being knocked out of the ring, revived with a pitcher of ice water, a game of chase around ringside, etc. sort of a mess
Harlem Heat vs. Stars & Stripes - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 4
Heat had lots of charisma, Booker had most explosive offense of the show, real nice kicks, etc. - Bagwell was fairly innocuous but a bit bland as babyface in peril.. - Patriot didn't offer much at all, lazy arm lock, uninspired punching.. - Crowd was pretty hot for the finish, although it appeared to had to attempt it twice to get it right, with Sherri taking a bump off the apron
Steve Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 4
Regal gives a masterful performance, some of the most snug offense of anyone on the roster at the time, good timing, facials, etc. Badd does his best keep up, but this wasn't given enough time to really materialize into something recommendable, and the copout cheating finish felt abrupt and passe.
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Kevin Sullivan and The Butcher - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 4
Parts of this were ferociously stupid.. - Started off bad.. - Hogan's punches in corner, so weak.. - Butcher was in-ring for majority and came off real limited.. - So dumb, Savage "wakes up" an unconscious Hulk by dropping an elbow from the top, his finisher, on him? - Savage had more fire and charisma than anyone, no surprise.. - Sullivan worked Randy over outside, liked Kevin's violent tendencies, and Savage sells his ass off, Heenen compares him to Jell-O at one point which was apt.. - Crowd was into ending even though all of our intelligences had been insulted.. - Vader, post-match, mixes it up in Cosby sweater and rips his dress slacks.. - going to be a long plane ride back to Denver in coach..
Nasty Boys vs. Sting and British Bulldog - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 3
I was looking forward to this but it rather sucked.. - Right off the bat Rick Rude runs out and gives Davey a "Rude Awakening" on the rampway.. - Smtih sells it like he's doing an impersonation of himself circa 2K9.. - Nasty Boys bump around the ring but are routinely picking themselves back up to get into position for the next thing (inc. after both taking Bulldog's powerslam finisher).. - No continuity in the selling.. - Saggs flying elbow puts this to bed?
Dustin Rhodes vs. Paul Orndorff - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 3
I was disappointed here. The guys didn't have much chemistry together, lots of middling grappling, no real emphasis or direction to the mat work either, the long headlocks, etc. weren't part of a bigger story, just tiring filler. The best selling in the match came from Assassin #1 at ringside eating some Dusty shots. Roll-up finish was dogshit.
Sting vs. Avalanche - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 3
Tenta was decent in control segment, didn't work the crowd much save for a Hogan-like pose that got some heat.. - Thought it was stupid Sting rolled around selling the whole match then all was forgotten when he got on offense.. - guest ref Guardian Angel wouldn't call for the bell which lead to an amusing post-match brawl with Sting
The Equalizer vs. The Shockmaster - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 2
Equalizer controlled the bulk of it, no real transitions to speak of on offense though, just laying in uninspired stuff and not giving anything time to sink in or mean anything. 'Ol Uncle Fred had some decent selling going on facially, but this was fodder and his finisher looked dumber than he did when he fell through that wall.
Bobby Eaton vs. Alex Wright - (Clash of the Champions XXX) - 3
Wright seemed a bit uncomfortable doing stuff on the mat, i.e. arm work, etc. - Eaton led him through the paces but didn't exude much personality doing so.. - Best bump was Bobby dodging a flying attack and Alex eating the ropes
Rick Rude vs. Raod Warrior Hawk - (Clash of the Champions XXV) - 2
A shitty match, guys were working at half-speed, only went a few minutes and ended suddenly in a disappointing double countout. Hawk no-sold Rude's clothesline outside the ring and just generally didn't sell for shit.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
All Japan Champion Carnival 1995 Part 3
1) Takao Omori v. Kenta Kobashi- 5
I swore i knew the results beforehand but Kobashi really made me believe the upstart was going to upset him here. Really well paced match with some high impact suplexes and hard nosed clotheslines. Got better as it went on actually, they strayed away from a lot of unnecessary ground work, although Omori did go to the arm as usual, as if when you get in a car and just start driving and don't have a clue where you're going. Good start to final disc.
2) Jun Akiyama v. Akira Taue- 4
Only thing noteworthy in seeking out here is the most brutal torturous Abdominal Stretch in the history of the planet Earth, the rest of this was just Taue pummeling Jun like he was a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay.
3) The Eagle/ Dan Kroffat/ Johnny Ace v. Yoshinari Ogawa/ Giant Baba/ Stan Hansen- 3
This was just a smattering of humanity. Went on way too long to function as anything more than a throwaway match. Hansen was selling the whole time as if he had appendicitis. Kroffat especially leary of hurting Baba, but Ace had no problem chopping that taught thin piece of skin over his skeletal frame. Ogawa was a speck.
4) Mitsuharu Misawa v. Toshiaki Kawada- 6
Another great entry in their lexicon. The way those two could operate around each other was like two guys opening up the sails on a large sailboat, complete teamwork in sync, the reversals were the thing to watch here, and Kawada trying, actively trying to break Misawa's nose. Kawada's Germans are no doubt dangerous, but also sloppier than Slimer taking a deuce. Picture perfect elbow suicido here, miss you Mits.
5) The Eagle/ Dan Kroffat/ Johnny Ace v. Jun Akiyama/ Kenta Kobashi/ ?- 5
There was a skinny as fuck dude on the Puro team who got bitched out from the go by Kroffat, he was rail thin and totally untrained by my eye. But this match worked on more levels than previous six man becuase it was contested more under tag psychology, even giving us our beloved ROH close breakups at the end, except the illegal guys were still going back to their corners afterwards, who said playing by the rules couldn't give you that warm feeling in the pit of your stomach? Ace was commander here again, just taking liberties with all who opposed him, even the Eagle looked competent matching strikes and offense with Kobashi. Really fun match here.
6) Takao Omori v. Toshiaki Kawada- 4
This is a fail. Kawada doesn't have the nuturing guidance to push Omori through this match looking like roses. He kind of dead weighted a lot of the kids' stuff and really didn't give him the right offense to make this a contest, just flat back bumps after every punch or kick or what have you. And there were a few pointless outside spots that left me scratching my head. Not even brutal Kawada showed up for this although the finishing run was well done even if not worthy of it's bestowed.
7) Stan Hansen v. Doug Furnas- 3
This was the drizzling shits pretty much, Furnas looked totally inept, even stumbling when trying to execute a stomp and he did these shoulderblocks that McLovin would have laughed at. Hansen kind of meandered like a blind mule until he hit the lariat, which didn't disappoint.
8) Mitsuharu Misawa v. Akira Taue- 6
Really disappointed this wasn't their finals match, so we got the 30 minute draw, so it did work in that regards where it felt like both guys were really giving it all they had to pull out the win even down to the last second where neither man could keep going. Taue was totally pushed here as the younger Baba, the similarities are frighteningly similar, the Wall-esque forehead, the giant leg offense, the withered Master look (as the character from the fantastic film, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring) , so after you watch this you like it for it's physicality, which Taue brought in spades with his giant handling of Mits, who also didn't hold back on elbows (when did he ever?) but lacked the genuine spark of a Kawada match, which I just watched an hour before this. The big outside spots took forever to set up and the payoff wasn't worth it, don't like the context of how submissions are also utilized during the end, but highspots they know like the back of their regularly lotioned hands and that carried this match to recommendable standards.
I swore i knew the results beforehand but Kobashi really made me believe the upstart was going to upset him here. Really well paced match with some high impact suplexes and hard nosed clotheslines. Got better as it went on actually, they strayed away from a lot of unnecessary ground work, although Omori did go to the arm as usual, as if when you get in a car and just start driving and don't have a clue where you're going. Good start to final disc.
2) Jun Akiyama v. Akira Taue- 4
Only thing noteworthy in seeking out here is the most brutal torturous Abdominal Stretch in the history of the planet Earth, the rest of this was just Taue pummeling Jun like he was a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay.
3) The Eagle/ Dan Kroffat/ Johnny Ace v. Yoshinari Ogawa/ Giant Baba/ Stan Hansen- 3
This was just a smattering of humanity. Went on way too long to function as anything more than a throwaway match. Hansen was selling the whole time as if he had appendicitis. Kroffat especially leary of hurting Baba, but Ace had no problem chopping that taught thin piece of skin over his skeletal frame. Ogawa was a speck.
4) Mitsuharu Misawa v. Toshiaki Kawada- 6
Another great entry in their lexicon. The way those two could operate around each other was like two guys opening up the sails on a large sailboat, complete teamwork in sync, the reversals were the thing to watch here, and Kawada trying, actively trying to break Misawa's nose. Kawada's Germans are no doubt dangerous, but also sloppier than Slimer taking a deuce. Picture perfect elbow suicido here, miss you Mits.
5) The Eagle/ Dan Kroffat/ Johnny Ace v. Jun Akiyama/ Kenta Kobashi/ ?- 5
There was a skinny as fuck dude on the Puro team who got bitched out from the go by Kroffat, he was rail thin and totally untrained by my eye. But this match worked on more levels than previous six man becuase it was contested more under tag psychology, even giving us our beloved ROH close breakups at the end, except the illegal guys were still going back to their corners afterwards, who said playing by the rules couldn't give you that warm feeling in the pit of your stomach? Ace was commander here again, just taking liberties with all who opposed him, even the Eagle looked competent matching strikes and offense with Kobashi. Really fun match here.
6) Takao Omori v. Toshiaki Kawada- 4
This is a fail. Kawada doesn't have the nuturing guidance to push Omori through this match looking like roses. He kind of dead weighted a lot of the kids' stuff and really didn't give him the right offense to make this a contest, just flat back bumps after every punch or kick or what have you. And there were a few pointless outside spots that left me scratching my head. Not even brutal Kawada showed up for this although the finishing run was well done even if not worthy of it's bestowed.
7) Stan Hansen v. Doug Furnas- 3
This was the drizzling shits pretty much, Furnas looked totally inept, even stumbling when trying to execute a stomp and he did these shoulderblocks that McLovin would have laughed at. Hansen kind of meandered like a blind mule until he hit the lariat, which didn't disappoint.
8) Mitsuharu Misawa v. Akira Taue- 6
Really disappointed this wasn't their finals match, so we got the 30 minute draw, so it did work in that regards where it felt like both guys were really giving it all they had to pull out the win even down to the last second where neither man could keep going. Taue was totally pushed here as the younger Baba, the similarities are frighteningly similar, the Wall-esque forehead, the giant leg offense, the withered Master look (as the character from the fantastic film, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring) , so after you watch this you like it for it's physicality, which Taue brought in spades with his giant handling of Mits, who also didn't hold back on elbows (when did he ever?) but lacked the genuine spark of a Kawada match, which I just watched an hour before this. The big outside spots took forever to set up and the payoff wasn't worth it, don't like the context of how submissions are also utilized during the end, but highspots they know like the back of their regularly lotioned hands and that carried this match to recommendable standards.
A Few Late ‘09/Early ‘10 HWA Matches
Ok, so I’ve been keeping tabs on the HWA the past couple of months and noticed something … they can go from really good to really bad in the span of a few weeks, as evidenced by the 12/19/09 and 1/29/10 shows (both of which were good shows) and this past week’s Wednesday show (2/17/10, which was downright hideous). The Wednesday night shows are held on the fourth floor of an ancient opera house with paint peeling off the ceiling, plastic over the windows, and a eerie staleness in the air. So here are some notes on a few matches that have stuck out in my mind over the past month or so.
Norwood Street Fight: Brian Beech vs. Ron Mathis (World War 3, 12/19/09) - 3
Beech legitimately dislocated his shoulder in the first 90 seconds after throwing a simple punch. Mathis showed some fire but didn’t really impress me all that much. The match featured your standard brawl in the hallway with rubber trash cans and assorted weaponry. There was no apron on the ring and from our vantage point in the second row we could clearly see Beech do a blade job and then throw said blade under the ring. Mathis was playing the heel and really made you hate him. Not so much because of his character, but because of his shoddy ring work. The finish was Mathis executing a giant spot on Beech off a turnbuckle through an ancient looking table. Afterwards, Beech cut a promo about how he was leaving now that he lost. Good riddance.
Aaron Extreme vs. N8 Flames (Sorg Opera House, 1/27/10) - 2
These two are the scrawniest dudes I’ve ever seen wrestle on a live show. Extreme is so tiny that if he went on a diet, he would go from skin and bone to just bone. Flames spelling his name like that is just an insult. I did some research on Aaron and found out that he used to work for that terrible fed that I ripped apart back in the spring of ‘08 (whose name I won’t mention because it would only inflate their egos). They botched a simple slam and damn near killed each other on a few highspots. They did what they could and didn’t impress a soul. This was like what it would be if Stevie Wonder had ever led Ray Charles through an art museum (think about that for a moment).
Four Way TLC Match: Irish Airborne vs. The Hybrids vs. Drake Younger & Scotty Vortekz vs. Aeroform (All or Nothing, 1/29/10) - 6
Wild match here with Drake piledriving one of the Hybrids on top of the bar in the first few minutes of the match. I saw the Hybrids in a four-way elimination bout back in December and they brought nothing to the table. This is the first I’ve seen of Aeroform as a team and they came across as a bit spotty but fun to watch. Drake made this match. Just killing people with chair shots and brawling all over the ring area. The false finish in which they eliminated the two non-HWA teams from the match was stupid. The final act saw a few table spots and the Airborne retain the HWA tag belts, which are actually replica WCW world title belts. If this ever sees the light of day on a DVD release, it’s worth at least one watch, maybe two if you dig Drake Younger like I do.
King Vu vs. “Madness” Chris Hall (Sorg Opera House, 2/17/10) - 1
This started off fine but once the ref got bumped in the first few minutes, things quickly deteriorated faster than New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They brawled on the floor and one of them got shoved into a chair and nearly took out some obsese girl and her infant child. The whole situation pretty much filled the room with a weird vibe and numerous lariat and spinebuster sequences bored the crowd to death. The finish should have come after a giant superplex from the top rope but no, it came on a shitty roll-up from Vu. Another mind-boggling aspect of the match was the fact that the referee laid on the mat for a good ten minutes without any of the other referees coming out to carry him to the back or take control of the match. Seeing a match like this really makes me re-think the posssibility of going to their weekly live shows again.
Friday, February 19, 2010
ROH on HDNet 2/15/10
The show started with a video package on the Erick Stevens and Necro Butcher feud. Stevens' line about not caring if Necro's kids go hungry was particularly well-crafted, enunciated with bitter avarice. I think the production staff has improved since the show's inception, this was done in a more intimate style, similar to the interviews in UFC countdown specials, and as a result engaged me more than the majority of recent in-ring angle development on bigger programs like WWE Raw.
1. Erick Stevens and Joey Ryan vs. Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston - 3
They utilized Adam's favorite visual technique, the split-screen, to follow the action of dual brawls. Ryan, in his usual hubris, looked good selling whips into the barricades. Later, Joey got a plastic bag over his head via Necro and I had a flashback to Funk/Flair. Erick had a wild look in his eyes while holding Kingston in a chinlock -- I'm liking his new, mean-spirited heel persona. Lots of work on Eddie's ribs which he sold with gravitas. I loved Stevens' eating of Necro's big shots in the corner, but the countout finish was bullocks.
2. Rasche Brown vs. Christian Moreno - 1
Complete and utter squash with Brown gaining the win using the "Burning Hammer" to put away the slob. My last piss lasted longer and was more meaningful.
3. Cheech and Cloudy vs. Andy Ridge and Sonjay Dutt - 2
Cheech was getting worked over for a lengthy section, his selling was moderately good, but in comparison, was mediocre compared to Cheech Marin's in Cannonball Run II. Sonjay isn't bad as an obnoxious heel, seems to fit him well, but Ridge needs mentored by a guy like R-Truth to make it to the "NXT" level. Andy gets pinned and Dutt attacks him post-match. No real bumps or sequences of note in this one.
4. Delirious vs. Kevin Steen - 4
Steen went for a "Sharpshooter" early but Delirious countered by kicking up at Kevin from the ground, Steen's subequent stumble I believed about as much as I did neighborhood kid Timmy's portrayal as one of the Three Wise Men at the church pagent. I know Steen's somewhat familiar with gold, but those that chubby Canadian know anything about myrrh or frankincense? The story early was Steen dodging the lizard to infuriate him. Steen's sell of a hard whip into the ringside barricade, clutching at his meaty shoulder and shaking his hand for feeling, was better than any moments from last year's Orton/Triple H WrestleMania main event. Kevin swatting at the nasty, wispy bangs of a ringside girl (guy?) was highly amusing to me. Delirious sells an enzuigiri-like kick by adjusting his elbow pad? I wonder if he teaches that one to the ROH trainees:
"Hey! Good job, Alex. But, next time, instead of clutching at your head, why don't you try tugging on your elbow pad? Maybe just a little bit."
"But he just gave me a DDT?"
Steen tumbled taking a Delirious somersault from the top turnbuckle to the floor with all the grace of the Swabbies on Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy. I think Kevin is more believable in this new role of fat asshole. A good nearfall off of a Steve Corino distraction, but it's Steen countering a "Shadows Over Hell" by catching him in a "Crippler Crossface" to get the victory. Best offering on this episode, but, still nothing worth seeking out here. Delirious' act is incredibly stale.
1. Erick Stevens and Joey Ryan vs. Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston - 3
They utilized Adam's favorite visual technique, the split-screen, to follow the action of dual brawls. Ryan, in his usual hubris, looked good selling whips into the barricades. Later, Joey got a plastic bag over his head via Necro and I had a flashback to Funk/Flair. Erick had a wild look in his eyes while holding Kingston in a chinlock -- I'm liking his new, mean-spirited heel persona. Lots of work on Eddie's ribs which he sold with gravitas. I loved Stevens' eating of Necro's big shots in the corner, but the countout finish was bullocks.
2. Rasche Brown vs. Christian Moreno - 1
Complete and utter squash with Brown gaining the win using the "Burning Hammer" to put away the slob. My last piss lasted longer and was more meaningful.
3. Cheech and Cloudy vs. Andy Ridge and Sonjay Dutt - 2
Cheech was getting worked over for a lengthy section, his selling was moderately good, but in comparison, was mediocre compared to Cheech Marin's in Cannonball Run II. Sonjay isn't bad as an obnoxious heel, seems to fit him well, but Ridge needs mentored by a guy like R-Truth to make it to the "NXT" level. Andy gets pinned and Dutt attacks him post-match. No real bumps or sequences of note in this one.
4. Delirious vs. Kevin Steen - 4
Steen went for a "Sharpshooter" early but Delirious countered by kicking up at Kevin from the ground, Steen's subequent stumble I believed about as much as I did neighborhood kid Timmy's portrayal as one of the Three Wise Men at the church pagent. I know Steen's somewhat familiar with gold, but those that chubby Canadian know anything about myrrh or frankincense? The story early was Steen dodging the lizard to infuriate him. Steen's sell of a hard whip into the ringside barricade, clutching at his meaty shoulder and shaking his hand for feeling, was better than any moments from last year's Orton/Triple H WrestleMania main event. Kevin swatting at the nasty, wispy bangs of a ringside girl (guy?) was highly amusing to me. Delirious sells an enzuigiri-like kick by adjusting his elbow pad? I wonder if he teaches that one to the ROH trainees:
"Hey! Good job, Alex. But, next time, instead of clutching at your head, why don't you try tugging on your elbow pad? Maybe just a little bit."
"But he just gave me a DDT?"
Steen tumbled taking a Delirious somersault from the top turnbuckle to the floor with all the grace of the Swabbies on Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy. I think Kevin is more believable in this new role of fat asshole. A good nearfall off of a Steve Corino distraction, but it's Steen countering a "Shadows Over Hell" by catching him in a "Crippler Crossface" to get the victory. Best offering on this episode, but, still nothing worth seeking out here. Delirious' act is incredibly stale.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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