HTQ in TNA’s debut on Spike
The opening video package was great, and it really made TNA seem like something special and, more importantly, different to WWE.
The Impact opening is great too. It looks similar to the opening for Smackdown, but it blows that one out of the water.
First up, AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong, and the crowd treated AJ like a superstar when he came out, and that really came across well on television, which is important. We need more shots of that blonde chick holding the action figures. The match itself was a squash designed to get AJ and his big moves over, and it succeeded in doing that. Christopher Daniels came to ringside to help set up their Iron Man match at Bound For Glory, so TNA are already starting with making the new fans aware of the upcoming major matches.
I liked the Monty Brown video, as short as it was.
Monty Brown’s interview was ok, and I think they need to make something out of the “most territorial, predatorial” line, because it could become a good hook.
The Raven angle backstage was ok, and at least they didn’t just go to it and had Shane Douglas act like he was being told about in his earpiece.
Monty Brown vs. Lex Lovett was a pure squash. The Pounce might not seem like much at first, but neither did the Stone Cold Stunner or the Jackhammer, but those moves got over in the same way The Pounce can; booking it like a death move. Give it a month or so of booking The Pounce like that, and it’ll be over like crazy to the new fans.
I loved the X-Division video. It highlighted all of the big moves from the X-Division, which is exactly what it should be doing.
Petey Williams vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin was a very entertaining, high-impact spotfest, and I think it helped establish the X-Division as something a lot different from the WWE’s watered down cruiserweights. The Canadian Destroyer was showcased, which it needed to be. When they went to a commercial during the match, I liked that when they came back the commercial music was still playing. That was a nice touch that I hope they keep doing.
The backstage deal with Douglas, Zbysko and Ortiz was fine, and I got a laugh out of Zbysko mouthing off to Douglas at the end.
I liked the 3 Live Kru video piece.
Rhyno vs. Jeff Hardy was ok, but if they were going to end it in a disqualification, then I would have put another match in the main event slot that they could have ended cleanly. With that said, at least they did a big angle afterwards to try and take attention away from the non-finish. Rhyno and Abyss could make a great monster heel tag team.
I liked that you heard Hardy get booed because TNA could have easily edited it out, but they didn’t, which I think is important when it comes to letting the fans know that if they don’t like a babyface, you’re not going to censor those feelings.
The NWA Title change looked a little low-rent in terms of setting, but at least it shows that title changes can happen at out of the way places.
Jarrett is meant to be a world champion, so why can’t he dress like one? I skipped his promo, so I have no idea what he said, and I really don’t care what he said.
The 3 Live Kru-Jarrett and Lackey’s confrontation was nice, with the Canadian team coming in because of their association with Scott D’Amore, and The Deadly Brothers were very over with the live crowd. Unfortunately, Kevin Nash was presented as the top star, with his coming out last and hitting his big move last, and that’s not what TNA needs. Nash looked like he was having trouble just standing there let alone walking, and I dread to think how bad his match at Bound For Glory match with Jeff Jarrett will be.
Overall There was more good than bad from the debut. TNA looked very different from WWE, which is they absolutely have to do if they are to show any kind of growth and turn into a potential competitor for WWE. It’s by no mean guaranteed that TNA will evolve into a competitor, but the only chance they have is if they are something totally different to WWE, and I think, for the most part, they succeed with their debut on Spike. The negatives are the obvious, with Jarrett and Nash on top. I can understand TNA wanting ‘star power’ on top to try and draw people in, but couldn’t they have come up with a star who doesn’t look like he’s about to break his legs just from standing still? That doesn’t make them look good when one of the guys fighting over their main title looks like he’s about to fall apart at the seams.
Interesting to see that Vince's match gets the first video package of the opening.
Carlito vs. Masters was better than a lot of people probably thought it would be. Masters messing up a two-count appeared to be down to him thinking it was the finish, as Carlito's cover for the actual pin was the same, but for the finish he used the ropes, and it looked like Masters got confused.
Umaga vs. Flair was a virtual squash match. Funny line from Ross asking how often Flair has been beaten this decisively. If the idea is for Flair to headline Vengeance, he needs a lot of rebuilding, because novelty stuff doesn't draw well if it lacks any kind of value in the first place, and Flair losing like this can only damage whatever novelty value his 'last run' at the WWE title has.
James vs. Stratus was short and nowhere as good as their match last month. The finish was strange, but it probably had a purpose.
Shelton vs. RVD was very good and I'd like to see a PPV rematch down the line. With RVD getting the IC Title, I can see him winning the WWE Title at One Night Stand, something being done to take the WWE Title away, but then RVD keeping the IC Title and somehow that becomes part of the ECW Title.
Kane vs. Big Show wasn't very good, and the angle with the lights and the voice was terrible. This is a storyline, due to the movie tie-in, that is meant to draw money, but angles where you cannot suspend your disbelief, even in the slightest, never draw. And this was an angle that you couldn't even begin to lose yourself in. Just terrible overall.
Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels and 'GOD'. The pre-match was terrible comedy that only someone living in their own little world could come up with and think would mean anything. Making the match No Holds Barred was a great way to steal heat from the main event, the match that IS meant to draw, because it allowed this match to do crazy shit to make the crazy shit in the main event less special. Then again, this company is now solely the vehicle for the ego of two people, one of whom owns it, and the other person being someone who will own it. The match itself, when not hampered by the terrible 'God' comedy, was decent garbage fare until the nonsensical ending, and, unfortunately, it looks like this crap has still got a way to go before it ends.
The main event was a classic example of the guy getting put over the most not the guy winning the match. Cena may have won the match but it was, as usual, Hunter getting put over strong, both with the blade job and by leaving everyone, including the referee, laying. As is standard for Cena matches, the reactions were mixed and very strong, and the idea that some people have that Cena is only getting 'X-Pac heat' was proven to be laughable.
Overall, Backlash was a decent PPV, but not worth the $34.95 that some would have paid for it, and with how the main event got devalued as the event drew closer, I don't see Backlash getting anywhere near the buy rate that you know WWE will expect it to get.
Can someone give me any reason to believe that this angle has any potential upside?
Kevin Nash is one of the most selfish, lazy and unproductive individuals that wrestling has ever seen, and that covers a lot of ground. Everyone knows how arrogant and self-centered he is, and yet TNA, for some reason that defies all logic, is using Nash in angle that essentially buries the X-Division. How does that make any kind of sense?
“Ah, but it’s going to end with Nash putting Chris Sabin over?”
Has nobody seen Nash’s idea of ‘putting someone over’? If you want to see a prime example of how Nash ‘puts someone over’, go and watch a tape of Rey Mysterio pinning him on Nitro a few years ago. Did that help Rey at all? Did it get Rey any more over than he was before? No, it didn’t. It buried him even further and he wound up getting pinned by Nash clean anyway just a few weeks later, so if Rey got anything out of that it was all for nothing anyway.
How is this angle getting over the X-Division, when it seems to involve Nash coming out every week and burying the X-Division? While the weaknesses he points out do have a grain of truth to them, the absolute last thing you ever do to a division that is the cornerstone of your promotion, or at least meant to be, is have a guy portrayed as a superstar, and a heel at that, bring them up and talk about them at length. For one thing, it’s beyond stupid to bring up and highlight the flaws of any of the wrestlers that are meant to be a major part of your company, and it’s also stupid for a heel to say anything that the fans, deep down, know are true. Heels are meant to lie. They aren’t meant to say things that the crowd, however reluctantly they might want to, have to admit are true. But that’s just typical Nash; playing the cool heel, saying all the hel things but doing it with a wink and a nod and getting the people to cheer him. Heels are not meant to do that sort of thing, and Nash is supposed to be a heel.
And let’s even assume that, by some freak occurrence, Nash really does put Sabin over. So what? All he did was a beat someone who openly and proudly admits to being mediocre and past it. How is beating someone like that meant to do anything for Sabin or anyone else? And even if Nash could somehow still go, what does beating him really do to get someone over to any degree, especially after the burial his division has suffered leading up to the ‘big’ moment? Beating Nash doesn’t do anything for anyone, and this angle is just so insufferably stupid and inane that I can’t believe that TNA are going through with it, as they have enough people on staff who watched this same bullshit happen in WCW to know what the end result will be, and I can’t believe that there are actually people out there who think this angle is a good angle to run.
How many buys do you think WM will get, both domestically and internationally?
For comparison's sake, last year's did around 1,000,000 buys total, but only about 650,000 buys, which is very low for WM, were domestic. Do you think international buys can carry the WM brand again, or will the international scene be just as low as the domestic level?
Despite what some people have said, it was monumentally stupid and idiotic, if expected, for Hunter to bury Cena on Raw. You NEVER highlight the legitimate weaknesses of a babyface, especially your top babyface. A heel should never say something that the people can agree with. Hunter did just that, in spades, on Monday, and in one fell swoop cut the legs off of John Cena before their Wrestlemania main event. Yes, this segment, where the heel exposed the weaknesses of the babyface, was meant to draw buys for Wrestlemania. Quite how making your main babyface look like shit is meant to draw, I don’t know, but I don’t think that matters with Hunter. Maintaining his death grip as the top star of the whole company as always taken precedence over building stars for the future. And no, Batista doesn’t count, because he is zero threat to Hunter’s spot. The chances of Hunter doing what he did for Batista with Cena or anyone who could be long-term star are nonexistent.
The new WWE Talent Wellness Program is a step in the right direction, but it’s ultimately just pissing in the wind as long as the real problems, such as the hard road schedule and Vince wanting the kind of look out of his top guys that can only come out of a syringe or bottle of pills, are ignored and brushed under the carpet. Until those issues are tackled, the program, for all its good meaning, won’t do any real good in the long-term.
The Spirit Squad is a half-decent opening match comedy gimmick, but it should not include guys like Johnny Jeter or Ken Doane, who actually have the ability to be solid and possible top line members of the roster. The Spirit Squad gimmick is a modernized version of The Red Rooster, in that if it has any length of time, whoever gets saddled with it can never be taken seriously again, no matter how talented he is. Terry Taylor was still a good worker post-Red Rooster, but the gimmick killed his career because was never taken seriously again.
The Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club segment to end Raw was just stupid, pathetic and was yet another example of Vince booking Raw for ego and kicks. Nobody gives a flying fuck about Vince’s ass, his talentless son (it doesn’t take talent to fall onto airbags), or this stupid angle that should have stayed dead. Instead of something that might have helped build real interest, we’re going to be stuck with Shane doing his stupid routine of shitty dancing, over-contrived bumps, and no-selling. And he’s going to be facing a guy who already has that covered. Yes, Shane is wrestling Shawn Michaels at the first return broadcast of Saturday Nights Main Event. The only highlight of this train wreck will be who can do the most nonsensical bumps and who can sell the least. Shawn’s performance here is likely to be similar to his show, and I emphasize the word show, against Hulk Hogan at Summerslam, just turned down a notch or two. Vince might have been fine with Shawn’s business exposing antics against Hogan, but he’ll not stand for that against Shane.
HTQ on Day Three of the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament
Osaka hosted its second consecutive card of action in the G1 Climax Tournament, as Day Three saw a great main event, and some very heated undercard matches.
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Tatsutoshi Goto [2] beat Togi Makabe [0] in (10:11) after a backdrop hold
The veteran Goto gained his first points of the tournament, with a victory over Makabe, who has yet to gain any points.
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Manabu Nakanishi [4] beat Yutaka Yoshie [4] in (13:55) after a Hercules Cutter
Nakanishi handed Yoshie his first loss of the G1 with a Hercules Cutter, and both men now have four points each.
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [6] beat Kendo Kashin [0] in (12:50) after a high kick
The self styled shooter putting forth another strong effort, but Kashin came up short again, as Dangerous K powered out of a cross armbreaker, and struck Kashin hard in the back of the head with a high kick to gain the pinfall victory.
4. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [6] beat Toru Yano [0] in (2:11) after a knee strike
Fujita wasted no time in disposing of young Toru Yano, destroying him with heavy strikes and knees before nailing him sqaure in the jaw with a big knee strike, which knocked Yano out, and getting the win. Yano, like others before him who have faced Fujita in the G1, needed help leaving the ring.
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4] beat Osamu Nishimura [2] in (18:35) after a TTD
Tenzan again in a rematch from the 2003 G1, as he and Osamu Nishimura battled each other in a keenly fought contest. Mr MUGA~ gave Tenzan a hard match, but Tenzan came out on top, using his TTD to put Nishimura down.
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono [3] beat Minoru Suzuki [2] in (14:56) after a shining Yakuza kick
The match I'm most looking forward to seeing just for the atmosphere, as two of the best heels in wrestling went at it in this one. Heel tactics were in full effect here, with both men giving the referee cause to warn them repeatedly during the match. In the end Chono picked up the win, after a back heel kick to the groin left Suzuki vulnerable to the shining Yakuza kick.
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata [5] beat Tatsumi Fujinami [2] in (12:44) after a spinning heel kick
The legend Fujinami gave another great performance here, showing that he could still match skills with the younger talent, but Nagata was still too strong for Fujinami, and a stiff looking spinning heel kick levelled Fujinami and was enough to get the win for Nagata.
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura [5] v Hiroshi Tanahashi [3] went to a draw (30:00) when the time limit expired
The big main event was a rematch from January's big Dome event, as Shinsuke Nakamura took on tag team championship partner Hiroshi Tanahashi. The Osaka crowd started quietly for this one, but they soon got into it as Nakamura and Tanahashi pulled out all the stops, and wrestled a match that some were saying exceeded their match in January. The match was very even, as Nakamura and Tanahashi proved to be equal to the challenge of the other and neither man could seem to gain any real advantage. Nakamura and Tanahashi were fighting over a superplex, and when the bell rang to signify the time limit expiring, they finally fell succumbed to exhaustion, and fell to the mat, showing how hard they had fought. The Osaka crowd gave them a standing ovation, and the tag team champions shook hands after the match, and left the ring together.
After three days of action, the Blocks in the G1 Climax Tournament look like this:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [6]
2. Yuji Nagata [5]
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4]
4. Masahiro Chono [3]
5. Osamu Nishimura [2]
6. Minoru Suzuki [2]
7. Tatsumi Fujinami [2]
8. Kendo Kashin [0]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [6]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [5]
3. Manabu Nakanishi [4]
4. Yutaka Yoshie [4]
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi [3]
6. Tatsutoshi Goto [2]
7. Togi Makabe [0]
8. Toru Yano [0]
Toshiaki Kawada has the lead in Block A, but Yuji Nagata and Hiroyoshi Tenzan are both close behind him, and Masahiro Chono could still be a potential contender as well. Over in Block B, Kazuyuki Fujita is on top, with Shinsuke Nakamura and Manabu Nakanishi and Yutaka Yoshie all within striking distance of the top spot. After Day Four, things may become a lot clearer.
NJPW, 8/8/05 (SXW)
Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kendo Kashin
4. G1 Climax - Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
5. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yutaka Yoshie
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Minoru Suzuki
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Osamu Nishimura vs. Masahiro Chono
8. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Day Four is headlined by a dream match, as Yuji Nagata faces Toshiaki Kawada for the very first time. A win by Nagata would put him atop Block A, but a win by Kawada would firmly place him as Block A leader. Osamu Nishimura takes on Masahiro Chono, with a win by Nishimura almost essential to keep his G1 hopes alive, while a win for Chono would keep him very much in the hunt. Tatsumi Fujinami battles Minoru Suzuki, in what could prove to be the most interesting match of the night. In Block B, Kazuyuki Fujita would seem to have an easy match against Togi Makabe, but this is the G1, and never count anything out. Shinsuke Nakamura takes on Tatsutoshi Goto, and if Goto pulls off one of the upsets he is infamous for, then Nakamura could see his G1 quest hit a big hurdle. Manabu Nakanishi takes on Toru Yano and Yutaka Yoshie takes on Hiroshi Tanahashi, and wins by either man would keep their G1 hopes alive, though a win by Tanahashi would give his G1 the boost it really needs to get going. Elsewhere, Hiroyoshi Tenzan takes on Kendo Kashin, which should be very heated, given that Kashin left New Japan three years ago with Tenzan's best known tag team partner, Satoshi Kojima, and Tenzan isn't one to forget something like that.
Back In Black
You go away for a week or so, and things really did get worse. I didn’t think it was possible, but TSM actually got worse while I was gone. This place was only drenched in idiocy before, but now it’s a full out flood, and the women and children are manning the lifeboats. If anyone has any real gems to point out that should get posted in my blog PM me a link or something, because just a cursory glance over the past week or so of TSM postings has made me reach for the sick bag and I’m not trawling through that crap anymore.
Raw
Carlito and Jericho argue
I had this feeling Piper would show up with what Jericho and Carlito were saying. Piper looks ancient. Hey, how about pushing someone who doesn't need Rogaine? Well, at least it was a surprise.
Chris Masters v Tajiri
"Listen to what Chris Masters is about to get?" That would be apathy, Jerry. The biggest pops from the crowd were for the guy not getting an almost relentless six-month plus push. Even the light "ECW" chant was louder than any reaction Masters got. He isn't getting over, and it's been six-months already. Give it up. End the Masterlock Challenge so this dead weight can be sent back down to OVW so he can get back to school.
Edge, Lita and Snitsky backstage
Matt Hardy better be coming in tonight as rumor suggests, or at least be signed to be coming in soon, or them bringing his name up again is stupid.
HHH update
Well, whoever had three-weeks on how long it would be before Hunter's name was mentioned again, you win. And they're laying the foundations of a babyface turn as well.
Shelton Benjamin v Carlito
Did anyone else get a Sting v Ric Flair vibe off of that no-sell spot from Benjamin early in the match? And did anyone else get a Money Inc. v Natural Disasters vibe off of that lame finish?
John Cena promo
The babyface champion being dictated to by the heel GM? Man, that's a cutting edge and original angle right there. And Cena v Jericho at Summerslam? Didn't one of the pop-up and spyware ridden sites claim that it would be Cena v Edge? You mean they were wrong?
Diva Search
Pass.
Kurt Angle Invitational:
I guess this means that Raw, not only has two talk show segments, but now two segments where a wrestler makes an open challenge. At least the interplay between Angle and Striker was funny. Angle shouldn't be submitting the guys with one second to go. He should be submitting them with one second gone.
Matt Hardy attacks Edge backstage
At least it was executed in a realistic fashion, with Hardy literally coming out of nowhere.
Kane v Edge
Just a backdrop for the Hardy v Edge angle. They are doing it the right way, and executing it like a shoot. No music videos, no catching Hardy on camera behind Edge and Lita, or anything like that. Hardy hits the ring out of shot, and the actual security staff are the ones to try and drag him down. Yeah, it's not a shoot, but the way they are playing things will make it easier for people to suspend their disbelief. The Ring Of Honor mention and the lack of commentary while Matt was getting taken away were a pair of nice touches. While the angle is getting handled like this, the right way, this will get Matt super over.
Piper's Pit with Shawn Michaels
No shirt, just a cross this week for the Holy Roller Kid. Shawn Michaels is not used to this type of reception???. The kiddy chaser was calling the action when Shawn was the hottest heel in the company. What brain surgeon fed Lawler that line? And if Lawler came up with it himself, he's once again made a fool of hmself.
Shawn can talk good, but he came off as too much of a babyface after what was played off like the ultimate betrayal. The superkick to Piper was to be expected, but to me it clouds the issue with Hogan, because there should be repercussions from it, and that will just take attention away from the Hogan deal. Of course, nothing will likely come of it because of that fact, so why even do it?
And what was Shawn's reason for turning on Hogan? To get a match with him? Was it out of hatred for not stepping down?
Apart from the Matt Hardy angle and the way Angle talked to Martel/Striker, though not how the Invitational ended, Raw didn't measure up to anything.
HTQ on Day Five of the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament
Day Five of the G1 Climax Tournament took place in Shuzuoka today, and it saw a few upsets, and another heated main event, as Toshiaki Kawada and Masahiro Chono faced off for the first time ever.
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Manabu Nakanishi [8] beat Togi Makabe [0] in (9:15) after a Hercules Cutter
Nakanishi giving his G1 hopes a big boost with a win over Makabe putting him further up the table
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura [9] beat Toru Yano [0] in (8:56) with a shining triangle
Nakamura disposed of Yano with relative ease, ending Yano's brief comeback with a shining triangle, which got the submission win
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Kendo Kashin [2] beat Yuji Nagata [5] in (13:00) with a flying armbar
The first upset of the night as Kendo Kashin caught Nagata off-guard with a flying armbar to get his first win of the G1, and Nagata's G1 hopes taking a real hit
4. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [10] beat Yutaka Yoshie [4] in (4:42) after a knee strike
Yoshie's girth did him no favors against the brutal Fujita, who assaulted him from the start, and knocked Yoshie down for the easy three count with a brutal knee to the jaw. Yoshie needed help leaving the ring, as Fujita's brutal style claimed another victim
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami [4] beat Osamu Nishimura [4] in (12:56) with a ground cobra twist
Another upset here as the Teacher Fujinami proved that he could still teach the student a few things, as he was able to take Nishimura down with his patented ground cobra twist and gain a popular, if unexpected, victory
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Minoru Suzuki [6] beats Hiroyoshi Tenzan [6] in (17:52) after three Gotch piledrivers
The second upset in a row and the third of the whole night, as Minoru Suzuki proved he wasn't someone to ever rule out with a stunning win over Hiroyoshi Tenzan, though it took three Gotch piledrivers to finally put Tenzan down for the count
7. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi [7] beat Tatsutoshi Goto [2] in (9:37) with a dragon sleeper
Tananshi put his G1 back in good stead with a win over the veteran Goto, who has been unable to pull off one of his trademark upsets this year
8. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [10] beat Masahiro Chono [3] in (18:59) after a high kick
Another dream match in the G1, and this one was just as heated as Kawada v Nagata. Kawada and Chono went all out as Chono looked to be the one to hand Kawada his first loss in the G1, but it was not to be as Kawada fired off with a brutal shotgun lariat that saw Chono fall to one knee, and Kawada followed up with a precision high kick to the back of Chono's head and Kawada won his second dream match in a row.
After five days of action, the Block standings look like this:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [10]
2. Minoru Suzuki [6]
3, Hiroyoshi Tenzan [6]
4. Yuji Nagata [5]
5. Osamu Nishimura [4]
6. Tatsumi Fujinami [4]
7. Masahiro Chono [3]
8. Kendo Kashin [2]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [10]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [9]
3. Manabu Nakanishi [8]
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi [7]
5. Yutaka Yoshie [4]
6. Tatsutoshi Goto [2]
7. Togi Makabe [0]
8. Toru Yano [0]
Toshiaki Kawada stands firmly atop Block A, and with only two days of group action left, seems a lock to get a spot in the finals. The battle for second place is close, with Minoru Suzuki and Hiroyoshi Tenzan both on six points, and Nagata on five points. Any one of those three could gain the second place spot, so it's a really close race. In Block B, Kazuyuki Fujita leads, but he is by no means certain to win the block or even gain a spot in the finals, as Shinsuke Nakamura, Manabu Nakanishi and Hiroshi Tanahshi are all within three points of him, and any two of them could steal the first and second place spots in Block B, and put the IWGP champion out of the G1 finals stage.
Day Six of the G1 takes place tomorrow in Aichi, and it will make the G1 picture look more clearer.
NJPW, 8/11/05 (Samurai! TV)
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Toru Yano
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe
3. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yutaka Yoshie
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono vs. Kendo Kashin
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Osamu Nishimura
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Minoru Suzuki
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Manabu Nakanishi
The main event of Kazuyuki Fujita v Manabu Nakanishi will play a big part in how Block B could end up. A win for Fujita would assure him of a place in the finals, while a win for Nakanishi will put him in first or second place along with Fujita, depending on how Shinsuke Nakamura fares against Yutaka Yoshie. Toshiaki Kawada faces Minoru Suzuki. A win for Kawada would guarantee his place in the finals, while a win for Suzuki would almost ensure his place in the finals, if other results go his way. Yuji Nagata takes on Osamu Nishiura, and a win for Nagata would give him a great chance of scoring the second place in Block A and a spot in the finals, while a win for Nishimura would theoretically make it possible for him to get the second place spot, but that would still be unlikely. The legend Tatsumi Fujinami takes on Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and if Fujinami can upset Tenzan, he too would have a theoretical if unlikely chance at the second place spot. A win for Tenzan would almost assure him of the second place spot, depending on the result of Kawada v Suzuki. Masahiro Chono faces Kendo Kashin, and with neither man able to make it to the finals, this match is more about making sure they don't finish at the bottom of the table. Hiroshi Tanahashi faces Togi Makabe, and if Tanahashi can avoid the upset then he will keep his hopes alive of a berth in the finals. The action is rounded off with Tatsutoshi Goto v Toru Yano, with at least one man guaranteed of gaining their first points of the tournament.
HTQ on Day Two of the G1 Climax Tournament
Day Two of the G1 Climax Tournament saw a few upsets, and an unfortuante injury that hopefully won't affect the overall tournament too much.
An expected result, if a going a little longer than I thought it would.
Reports are that Makabe tore his left achilles tendon, and it looks certain he will miss the rest of the tournament, which means he forfeits the remainder of his matches.
Another expected result, and if Goto is going to pull off a trademark upset, it looks like it will be a big one, based on who he still has to wrestle.
Not really an upset, though I was hoping Nishimura would win.
This was a bit of an upset, as Suzuki was a favorite of the former New Japan director, so one would expect him not to do so well, but with Suzuki being one half of the GHC tag team champions in NOAH, I presume New Japan are not wanting to upset NOAH a lot by having Suzuki doing too many jobs.
A match anticipated more for the atmosphere than the quality. I still expect this one to be a good match, though, and I can't wait to see it.
I felt this one could have gone either way, but with Tenzan getting the win, it might mean he is beginning his big comeback. Or it could be just another tease of a Tenzan success.
Another expected result, with Fujita brutalizing Tanahashi, and adding humiliation by refusing to pin him when he easily could have done, and instead taking advantage of Tanahashi's injuries with the use of a single-leg crab to get the tap-out victory.
After two days, this is how things look:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [4]
2. Minoru Suzuki [3]
3. Tatsumi Fujinami [2]
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2]
5. Masahiro Chono [2]
6. Kendo Kashin [2]
7. Osamu Nishimura [1]
8. Yuji Nagata [0]
Block B:
1. Yutaka Yoshie [4]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [4]
3. Kazuyuki Fujita [4]
4. Manabu Nakanishi [2]
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi [1]
6. Toru Yano [1]
7. Tatsutoshi Goto [0]
8. Togi Makabe [0]
Kawada leads Block A, with Suzuki close behind, and four guys all in third, with Nishimura in seventh place, and Nagata surprisingly in last place for the Block. Could he be the one to make the big comeback, and not Tenzan?
Block B sees a tie between Yoshie, Nakamura and Fujita on top. Fujita looks likely to end up winning that one, with either Nakamura or maybe Tanahashi in second place. Makabe is in last place with zero points, and his injury may mean he never leaves that position this year.
Day Three is tomorrow, with Goto v Makabe (a likely forfeit win for Goto), Yoshie v Nakanish (Nakanishi to win), Tenzan v Nishimura (I think Tenzan will win, but I would not be surprised with a Nishimura victory), Fujinama v Nagata (Nagata could win to begin his comeback, but don't rule out a Fujinami victory), Fujita v Yano (Fujita to win), Kawada v Kashin (Kawada to win), Chono v Suzuki (I expect Chono to win, but think we might see a draw as well), and Nakamura v Tanahashi (Nakamura to win).
I was 7-1 for Day Two, with the only result I didn't call being Suzuki's victory over Nagata, so I'm doing well so far.
HTQ on Day Seven of the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament
Day Seven of the G1 Climax Tournament saw the group stages completed, and we finally found it just who had made it through to the finals
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Togi Makabe [2] beat Toru Yano [2] in (10:08) after a flying hammer
Makabe picked up his only win of the tournament here, and finally scored points
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie [6] beat Tatsutoshi Goto [2] in (11:56) after a diving bodypress
Yutaka Yoshie ends his G1 with a win over the veteran Goto, using his girth to squash him for the three count
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Minoru Suzuki [8] beat Kendo Kashin [2] in (16:27) with a reverse cutback cradle
This was a battle of the submission masters, and Suzuki came out on top by countering a submission attempt into a cradle to get the win
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [14] beat Osamu Nishimura [4] in (24:29) after a running high kick
Nishimura attempted to out wrestle Kawada, looking to avenge his loss in their Triple Crown title match from last year, but Kawada got his second win over Nishimura here, putting Nishimura down for the count with a hard running high kick
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono [7] beat Tatsumi Fujinami [4] in (13:58) after a shining Yakuza kick
Fujinami gave as good as he got here, but the wily Chono was too much for him, and a shining Yakuza kick won the match for Chono
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [10] beat Yuji Nagata [7] in (17:12) after a moonsault
This match would dertermine who finished second in Block A, and so Tenzan and Nagata held nothing back, and the match was incredibly heated. In the end, it was Tenzan who manged to pull off the win, putting Nagata down with a TTD, and following up with a big moonsault to score the pin, and get into the finals
7. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi [10] v Manabu Nakanishi [9] went to a draw (30:00) when the time limit expired
A win was vital for Tanahashi, if he was to keep his slime hopes alive of a spot in the G1 finals. Nakanishi knew this, and fought just as hard to try and spoil those hopes. As the match went on, the crowd rallied behind Tanahashi, the underdog, and were hopeful of seeing an upset. However, it was not to be, and the match wound up going the full 30 minutes, and as a result, Tanahashi would not make it to the finals
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [14] beat Shinsuke Nakamura [11] in (12:55) after a running knee strike
While both Fujita and Nakamura were assure of going through to the G1 finals, the winner here would win Block B, so there was still a lot of pride at stake. The match itself was very brutal, with both men using lots of strikes and submissions throughout, and it looked like it could go either way. In the end, Fujita hit a very wild looking running knee strike to the jaw of Nakamura, putting Nakamura down for the three count, and so Fujita not only won the match, but ended the group stages atop Block B with a perfect record of 7-0.
This is how the blocks finished up:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [14]
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [10]
3. Minoru Suzuki [8]
4. Masahiro Chono [7]
5. Yuji Nagata [7]
6. Tatsumi Fujinami [4]
7. Osamu Nishimura [4]
8. Kendo Kashin [2]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [14]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [11]
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi [10]
4. Manabu Nakanishi [9]
5. Yutaka Yoshie [6]
6. Toru Yano [2]
7. Tatsutoshi Goto [2]
8. Togi Makabe [2]
Toshiaki Kawada ended as Block A winner, and had a perfect 7-0 record. Tenzan's win over Nagata means he finishes as Block A runner-up, and he gets the other Block A spot in the finals. In Block B, Kazuyuki Fujita also ended as the winner with a perfect 7-0 record. Second place in Block B went to Shinsuke Nakamura, who ended with a 5-1-1 record, which is a good to have. Hiroshi Tanahashi will be regretting not being able to put Manabu Nakanishi away, as beating Nakanishi coupled with Nakamura's loss would have forced a play-off between he and Nakamura. Tanahashi must now wait another year to see if he can make it back to the G1 final.
NJPW, 8/14/05 (WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
1. G1 Climax - Block A 1st place vs. Block B 2nd place: Toshiaki Kawada v Shinsuke Nakamura
2. G1 Climax - Block A 2nd place vs. Block B 1st place: Hiroyoshi Tenzan v Kazuyuki Fujita
3. G1 Climax - Final: Winner of Match 1 v Winner of Match 2
The G1 comes to and end tomorrow, as the semi-finals and final takes place at Sumo Hall. The first semi sees another dream match as Toshiaki Kawada meets Shinsuke Nakamura in a battle of former Triple Crown champion versus former IWGP champon. Kawada looks to maintain his perfect G1 record, while Nakamura looks to make it to his first ever G1 final. The other semi sees Hiroyoshi Tenzan take on the man who beat him for the IWGP belt last month, Kazuyuki Fujita. Fujita is going into the match with a perfect G1 record, while Tenzan is looking to make it his third straight G1 final, and win his third G1 in a row. The two winners meet in the finals, and we will see one of these possible matches:
Toshiaki Kawada v Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Toshiaki Kawada v Kazuyuki Fujita
Shinsuke Nakamura v Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Shinsuke Nakamura v Kazuyuki Fujita
Kawada v Tenzan would be their second match of the G1, and their third ever singles meeting. Kawada would go into this match with a 2-0 record over Tenzan, and Tenzan will surely be looking to finally beat Kawada, and win his third G1 tournament.
Kawada v Fujita would be the most interesting G1 final. Both men would go into this final with perfect records of 8-0, and it would see the 'ace' of New Japan take on the big outsider, which would guarantee a heated final.
Nakamura v Tenzan would be a rematch of the bout where Nakamura upset Tenzan for the IWGP title in December of 2003, and Tenzan would no doubt be eager to avenge that stunning loss.
Nakamura v Fujita would be a rematch of their match from Block B and would see Nakamura look to avenge that loss, and stake his claim to an IWGP title shot, by winning the G1 Climax Tournament.
Already part of another entry, I thought this match deserved its own thread:
Hulk Hogan v The Warrior – Halloween Havoc 1998
Billed as an ultra important rematch that the people have been waiting 8 years for, this is actually an exercise in ego placating that has been 8 years in the making. Warrior beat Hogan at Wrestlemania VI back in 1990, and this is Hogan’s chance to get his win back, and all it cost for this ego trip was about $3m, which is what WCW paid Warrior for this match, and maybe a couple of others, before letting him sit at home for the remainder of his deal due to Warrior being totally useless.
This match was straight out of the 80’s, with slow and plodding brawling, if what these two did can even be called brawling. Indeed, the blows that these two men exchanged were so weak, that you’re left wondering why they bothered to sell any of them, when they had all the force of a tortoise’s fart. In the midst of all the sloppy brawling, they squeezed in a few notable spots from their Wrestlemania match, the three main ones being:
1: Nick Patrick getting bumped by Hogan off a criss-cross spot, but in a very comical manner, due to Hogan barely even touching Patrick, and Patrick throwing himself almost halfway across the ring.
2: After more bad brawling, and the N W O B Team of Giant, Stevie Ray and Vincent running in to play pinball for Warrior’s bad punches, Warrior covered Hogan, even though he could clearly see the referee was still down. This allowed Warrior to check on the referee and, and stop me if you’ve seen this before, allow Hogan to sneak up from behind and hit a belly-to-back suplex.
3: Warrior hitting two double ax handles off the top rope, which Warrior was kind enough to warn Hogan about beforehand, as Warrior was heard telling Hogan, “I’m coming off the ropes.”
Somewhere in all this mess, Hogan’s weightlifting belt came into play, with both men using it, and Warrior using it as a makeshift knuckleduster, and getting a little juice from Hogan.
This led up to that spot, where Hogan tried to throw a fireball at Warrior, but totally botched it up in such a laughable fashion that the crowd groaned badly, and it was around this point, or maybe even beforehand, that pretty much all the heat vanished from the arena. Not that the crowd were molten for this abomination to begin with, but what heat this match had had evaporated into nothingness by now.
Remember at the beginning how I said the match was straight out of the 80’s ? Well, so was the finish. Eric Bischoff hit ringside, and jumped up onto the apron and grabbed the referee in a side headlock, which allowed Horace Hogan, who Hulk had beaten down on the previous Nitro, to hit the ring and turn heel by giving Warrior a very gentle chair shot to the back, which Warrior sold like he’d been hit with a shotgun at close range. Hogan made the cover, hooked the tights, and Eric let go of the referee who counted the pinfall, giving Hogan his win, his ego boost, and ending this absolute disaster of a ‘match’.
The Horace Hogan turn on Warrior, when he had just got beaten up Hogan and the B Team the week before, was explained the next night on Nitro as tough love or some other such nonsense.
So, what did Eric Bischoff and WCW get out of paying Warrior $3m so Hogan could get his win back ?
They got the single worst match in WCW/NWA PPV history, and the worst match to ever take place during the WCW v WWF rivalry. This total joke of a wrestling match had absolutely no redeeming features at all. Not even watching Hogan botch a spot in such a monumentally incompetent fashion could give this stinking pile of shit any value. I know why this match took place, but quite why anyone would think fans would give a damn about this match, when the clamor for a rematch had died out almost as soon as the first match had ended, I don’t know. Even if every single demeaning and negative word in the English language was wheeled out, you would still fail to accurately describe this utter shambles of a match.
Rating: Absolute Suck.
I hate idiots. I despise them with a purple passion. If someone is so badly not up to speed on something that they’re going backwards, then they need to get the fuck out of my way and pollute somewhere else with their idiotic, asinine and downright retarded opinions, because I don’t want them anywhere near me. If someone is open that they’re don’t know about something but are willing to learn, then fine, I have no problem with people like that. In fact, I like people like that, because they’re open to learning. But I hate people who clearly don’t now what the fuck they’re talking about wandering around and stinking up the place with every brain fart that they feel the need to inflict on people.
I hate people whose blind, sycophantic, bordering on pathologically obsessive devotion to a certain person leaves them unable and unwilling to be objective. Instead of verbally fellating these people at every turn and making people think you’re hopelessly in love them, which is undoubtedly true in certain cases, why don’t you sad inadequate people try opening up your mind a little ? Why don’t you try, just try a little, to open your tiny little minds to the possibility that the love of your life does not does have the sun shining out of their ass. Try opening up your mind to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, your hero isn’t much of a fucking hero. They’re human, not a god, and they’re not this perfect being that you imagine them to be. Oh sure, they might seem to acquiesce on a point or two and seem to acknowledge the failings of their loved one, but you know full well that they’re just paying lip service, and that in the back of their minds they’re constantly convincing themselves that they are right and everyone else is wrong. People like this need to either get a goddamn life, or find the nearest bridge and taking a fucking swan dive off of it.
I hate religion. I think that any belief system that tells you that you can go to a so-called heaven but only if you believe in this or that particular deity, or give all of your money to a person or other conglomerate, is an absolute joke, and I really think that if people find the need to believe in a mystical being to give their lives meaning or order really need to examine themselves. Let me clue you in on something folks. The only faith you need is a faith in yourself. Not in some mystical being high in the sky. Not in some ‘prophet’ from 2000 years ago or whenever. Just yourself. If you want to believe that some mystical force is guiding your actions and leading on a path of ‘righteousness’, then go right ahead. But if you wake up and realize it’s all one big con game don’t come crying to me, expecting me to give a shit. I tried telling you what the score was, but you were too interested in believing in someone that isn’t there rather than someone who is, that being you.
Buff Bagwell recently gave an interview where he said that Spike Dudley didn't belong near a wrestling ring. I guess that's why he lasted over 4 years in WWE Buff, while you got fired after less then 4 weeks. And how did you make use of your time in WWE Buff? You were late for every training session at Titan Towers, ruined what might have been a decent Invasion storyline by entering your typically sub-par performance, missed house shows and had your mother calling in sick for you, and, oh yeah; got bitchslapped by The Hurricane. So, while a guy who had 'no business' being near a wrestling ring was making a decent, albeit low-level, six-figure income for 4 years, you were restricted to making about $1,000 a shot on the Indy scene, when you could get booked. Life must suck for you Buff, knowing that Spike Dudley was on national television while you were scratching with the chickens.
Is it just a coincidence that some of the most nonsensical stuff posted is from people who clearly either don't know what they are talking about, or are desperately trying to hold onto some misguided bias?
Earl Hebner was fired this past week, apparently for selling merchandise without permission. I'm sure Hebner can find solace in the fact that, after Montreal, he got a raise to $500,000 a year, meaning he's earned around $3.5m or so since then.
After the huge negative reaction to the terrorist angle on Smackdown two weeks ago, UPN told WWE that Muhammad Hassan can no longer appear on Smackdown. Subsequently, it's now been confirmed that the Hassan character will be dropped altogether, with his match against Undertaker this Sunday presumably being his swan song. I'm probably going to talk about this one in a little more depth in a future blog entry, so I'll just say for now that the people who blindly defended this angle, and most of the people defending it were doing so blindly, probably have no clue how much damage that terrorist angle really did, but I doubt they even care about that.
Another RVD thread, and another round of people showing their bias and a lack of understanding of wrestling. This is another subject that I'll cover in a future blog entry, but suffice it to say that, yes, in some ways RVD is overrated, but to write him off for that is incredibly short-sighted. And the comparison to Shelton Benjamin is funny for all the wrong reasons,
There's a Smackdown PPV this weekend. No, really, there is a PPV this weekend, though you might not know it. There isn't one match on the card that I'm interested in seeing. I'm sick of JBL in the main event, and even if Batista beats the shit out of him and pins him clean, which he should, I don't want to see it, because I've zero desire to see JBL in the main event. Animal and Heidenreich v MNM? MNM should win, and they should beat Animal, but knowing Animal's hatred of doing jobs, it'll be the guy sticking around who does the job. Undertaker v Hassan might be interesting, in that with WWE having to drop the Hassan character, I'm wondering if Vince will try and get one last tasteless angle out of dropping the character.
I was sad to hear that Lord Alfred Hayes passed away a few days ago. For me, Hayes was the most underrated commentator of the 80's. He called the matches with an air of legitimacy, treating everything that was going on in the ring as if it was real, and he did it in a way that didn't insult your intelligence either. He made it a lot easier to listen to matches if Gorilla Monsoon was calling the action as well, because Gorilla was really terrible from around 1988 onwards, and Hayes was good at offsetting him.
Also sad to see the passing of Shinya Hashimoto. Hashimoto was a favorite of mine in the 90s, due to his punishing style of heavy kicks and chops, as well as his hot comebacks. One of my favorite matches of 1996 was his match against Riki Choshu in that years G1 Climax tournament. It didn't have any insane moves or crazy spots, but it was filled with intensity and emotion, and the crowd were going nuts as Choshu had to hit Hashimoto with I think it was 9 lariats before Hashimoto could get pinned. I remember that G1 for Hashimoto, who was the IWGP Champion at the time, doing the clean job in all three of his matches, and in doing so creating three fresh challengers for the IWGP Title, but the real beauty is that the nature of the matches meant Hashimoto was still crazy over with the fans, and so everybody won.
Well, I didn't like how the real G1 Climax Tournament was booked this year, so I decided to give it a go myself. Let me preface this by saying that I laid this all out last week, so anything that anybody else has said about what should have happened since then, or even before, had no bearing on how I booked things. What I'll do is list the line-ups and running order of all right days of the G1, and then post the 'results' on a daily basis. Comments, questions or predictions are welcome.
HTQ on Day Two of the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament
Osaka was the venue of Day Two of the G1 Climax Tournament as the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium played host to the first card of back-to-back events at the facility. There were no upsets today, but we got a really heated main event.
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie [4] beat Toru Yano [0] in (7:14) after a diving bodypress
Yutaka once again relies on his girth, and it scored him a win against Yano, who at least tried hard.
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Manabu Nakanishi [2] beat Tatsutoshi Goto [0] in (10:31) after a Hercules Cutter
Goto lasting longer than you might think, but Nakanishi was too strong and determined, and he ended the match just past the ten minute mark with a Hercules Cutter,
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Osamu Nishimura [2] beat Kendo Kashin [0] in (14:46) with a ground cobra twist
MUGA~ won out in this match, as Nishimura reversed an attempted guillotine choke, and scored the pin with his patented ground cobra twist.
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [4] beat Tatsumi Fujinami [2] in (12:17) after a shotgun lariat
The most intriguing match of the night saw the legendary Fujinami able to hold his own against Dangerous K, but Toshiaki Kawada turned things up after the ten minute mark, and levelled Fujinami with a hard shotgun lariat to get the victory.
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata [3] beat Minoru Suzuki [2] in (18:40) after a wrist clutch exploder suplex
This was the best wrestling match of the night, as Nagata and Suzuki battled back and forth on the mat, with both men apprently looking to get a submission win. Nagata changed strategy though, and it got him his first win of the G1, as a wrist clutch exploder put Suzuki down for the three count.
6. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura [4] beat Togi Makabe [0] in (8:56) with a cross armbreaker
Makabe putting up a fight against Nakamura, but the former IWGP Champion was too much for him, and Nakamura took Makabe down into a cross armbreak to get the submission win.
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2] beat Masahiro Chono [1] in (19:03) with the Anaconda Vice
Former tag team partners went at it in this match, as Tenzan and Chono battled it out in a fiercely competitive match. They met in the 2003 G1, and Tenzan won the match there, and Tenzan was victorious here as well, being able to put Chono down with his Anaconda Vice.
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [4] beat Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] in (12:12) after a knee strike
The most heated match of the night, with Tanahashi putting up the fight of his life against the man who beat him for the vacant IWGP title last year. The crowd really got behind Tanahashi, but the might of Fujita was too much for Tanahashi today, and Fujita knocked Tanahashi silly with a brutal knee to the jaw to get the win. After the match Tanahashi needed to be helped to the back, as the knee appeared to have knocked him for a loop.
After two days, the standings in the G1 Climax Tournament look like this:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [4]
2. Yuji Nagata [3]
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2]
4. Osamu Nishimura [2]
5. Minoru Suzuki [2]
6. Tatsumi Fujinami [2]
7. Masahiro Chono [1]
8. Kendo Kashin [0]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [4]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [4]
3. Yutaka Yoshie [4]
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi [2]
5. Manabu Nakanishi [2]
6. Togi Makabe [0]
7. Tatsutoshi Goto [0]
8. Toru Yano [0]
Toshiaki Kawada leads Block A with two wins, while Yuji Nagata is in second place with one draw and one win. Tenzan, Nishimura, Suzuki and Fujinami are all tied behind them on two points, with Chono in seventh place with one point, and Kendo Kashin in last place. In Block B, there is a three-way tie for first place, with Kazuyuki Fujita, Shinsuke Nakamura and Yutak Yoshie all with four points. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Manabu Nakanishi are behind them with two points each, and Togi Makabe, Tatsutoshi Goto and Toru Yano anchoring the table with all three yet to score.
Tomorrow sees Day Three action, and it once again takes place in Osaka:
NJPW, 8/7/05 (WPW/NJ+IWTV Internet)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Togi Makabe
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie vs. Manabu Nakanishi
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kendo Kashin
4. G1 Climax - Block B: Toru Yano vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Osamu Nishimura
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono vs. Minoru Suzuki
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yuji Nagata
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Day Three is headlined with a rematch from January's big Dome event, as the IWGP tag team champions face off with Shinsuke Nakamura taking on Hiroshi Tanahashi. A win for Nakamura would cement his status as contender to win the Block, while a win for Tanahashi would put him in contention at last. The biggest match in Block A as far as standings go is Hiroyoshi Tenzan v Osamu Nishimura, with a win for either man placing them right near the top of the table. Tatsumi Fujinami takes on Yuji Nagata, and a win for Nagata will see him in at least second place, and if Toshiaki Kawada falls to Kendo Kashin, Nagata would top Block B. The most interesting match from an atmosphere and personality standpoint will be Masahiro Chono v Minoru Suzuki, as both men are great heels, and this one could split the crowd.
HTQ on Day Six of the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament
Day Six of the G1 saw some hot matches, and cleared up things as far as the top of Block A is concerned, but left everything else wide open.
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Toru Yano [2] beat Tatsutoshi Goto [2] in (8:45) with a high angle cradle
Yano gained his first points of the G1, with a minor upset of the veteran Goto
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi [9] beat Togi Makabe [0] in (9:34) with a dragon sleeper
Tanahashi continued his march to the top of Block B with a win over Makabe, leaving Makabe with no points so far in the G1
3. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura [11] beat Yutaka Yoshie [4] in (13:21) with a cross armbreaker
Nakamura had some trouble with the girth of Yoshie, but in the end he was able to take the mighty Yoshie down and get the win with a cross armbreaker
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono [5] beat Kendo Kashin [2] in (14:56) after three Yakuza kicks
Mr August made his points total more respectable with this win over Kashin, who looks set to finish Block A last.
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [8] beat Tatsumi Fujinami [4] in (16:09) after a TTD
Fujinami gave Tenzan a tough match here, using his experience to keep Tenzan down, but Tenzan was able to bounce back and hit a big TTD to get a much needed win
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata [7] beat Osamu Nishimura [4] in (20:04) with a Nagata Lock III
The best pure wrestling match of the night, as Nagata and Nishimura traded holds and submissions looking for the win, and it was Nagata who was able to pull out the victory, using his Nagata Lock III to get the win
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [12] beat Minoru Suzuki [6] in (17:41) after a shotgun lariat
Toshiaki Kawada was sternly tested by Minoru Suzuki, as Suzuki seemed to confound Kawada with his unique ring style. Suzuki almost pulled out the win a few times, but Kawada turned things up, and was able to put Suzuki down for the count after a very loud shotgun lariat
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [12] beat Manabu Nakanishi [8] in (10:03) after a series of knee strikes
This match was short, but very brutal, as Fujita and Nakanishi just pounded away with some very hard chops and kicks. Nakanish tested Fujita, using amaresu to try and take Fujita down and tire him out, but Fujita powered up like a rising beast, and struck Nakanishi with a series of big knee strikes, before finally hitting one to the face of Nakanishi, putting down and firmly out for the win. Nakanishi was another victim of Fujita's brutal style, as he needed help to leave the ring, like all of Fujita's opponents have so far.
After six days of action, this is how things look in the blocks:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [12]
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [8]
3. Yuji Nagata [7]
4. Minoru Suzuki [6]
5. Masahiro Chono [5]
6. Tatsumi Fujinami [4]
7. Osamu Nishimura [4]
8. Kendo Kashin [2]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [12]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [11]
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi [9]
4. Manabu Nakanishi [8]
5. Yutaka Yoshie [4]
6. Toru Yano [2]
7. Tatsutoshi Goto [2]
8. Togi Makabe [0]
Toshiaki Kawada has won Block A, and now cannot be caught. He has booked his place in the finals, with his opponent yet to be determined. The fight for second place in Block A is wide open, with either Tenzan or Nagata in a position to get that coveted second spot in the finals. In Block B, Kazuyuki Fujita is guaranteed to be in the finals, with the only question being if it will be as Block B winner or runner-up. Shinsuke Nakamura can win the Block still, and Hiroshi Tanahashi can still force a play-off for second place, depending on how Day Seven matches turn out.
Day Seven takes place the day after tomorrow in Tokyo, and we will find out the matches that will make up the G1 finals:
NJPW, 8/13/05 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kendo Kashin
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Osamu Nishimura vs. Toshiaki Kawada
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masahiro Chono
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata
7. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
The big main event is the first ever meeting of Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuyuki Fujita. A win for Fujita would see him win the Block, and place him in the finals. A win for Nakamura would mean both Nakamura and Fujita make it to the finals. If Fujita wins and Hiroshi Tanahashi wins his match against Manabu Nakanishi, then Tanahashi and Nakamura would have to face each other again to decide who makes it through to the finals stage. However, should Tanahashi lose to Nakanishi, then Fujita and Nakamura will both go through to the finals, regardless of who wins their match. In Block A, Toshiaki Kawada takes on Osami Nishimura in a rematch of their Triple Crown title match from last year, and with Kawada already getting enough points to win Block A, and Nishimura only on four points, their match will have no bearing on who makes it through to the finals from Block A. Hiroyoshi Tenzan takes on Yuji Nagata. If Tenzan wins or draws, then he will make it to the finals as the runner-up of Block A. If Nagata wins, then he will be the runner-up of Block A, and make it to the finals. The other G1 matches will not have any bearing on who makes it to the finals, so only pride will be stake, though the matches will be no less intense. Togi Makabe must at least draw with Toru Yano if he is to get any points at all in this years G1, and Kendo Kashin must beat Minoru Suzuki if he is to finally move off of the bottom of Block A. If Nishimura upsets Kawada, and Fujinami can at least draw with Chono, then Kashin will end up bottom of Block A, regardless of whether he beats Suzuki or not. Rounding off the action, Yutaka Yoshie takes on Tatsutoshi Goto, who will be making one last attempt at pulling off one of his trademark upsets.
“Mark”, “smark”, and “smart” are three of the most prevalent labels given to groups of fans that gather online to talk about wrestling. We’ve seen them for years, we’ve all used them at one time or another and I hate all of them and every label like them.
To me, the only label a wrestling fan should be given is “fan”. There’s no such thing as a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart” fan. There is either a good fan or bad fan. A good fan either knows what he’s talking about, or admits to not knowing much about the subject at hand and accepting that there are people who know about some things better then he does. A bad fan doesn’t know what he’s talking about and cannot or will not admit to this and refuses to accept that their knowledge of the subject at hand is limited. A good fan will be open to different points of view and will listen to disparate opinions and respond with a well thought out and reasoned response that intelligently puts across their point of view and, hopefully, intelligent discussion is the result. A bad fan will get very angry and irritated at having their faults pointed out. They’ll get defensive, will probably start insulting people, and drag the discussion down in a vain attempt to maintain the illusion, if only in their own mind, that they really do know what they’re talking about.
You can keep making comparisons between good fans and bad fans, and the differences between the two should be obvious, but there is a better reason to stop labeling people as a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart” fan than the fact that any such label is inaccurate. The moment you label a person or a group of people with a tag like “mark”, it instantly becomes easier to dismiss their opinion or point of view out of hand because you’ve distanced yourself from the fact that the person with that opinion is a person with a mind and could have the intelligence to bring a reasonable point of view and instead have grouped them in with a segment of people that, to you, don’t have an opinion that matters as much as other people, and that’s a dangerous thing to do when you want an intelligent discussion. Dismiss people for being bad fans if you want, because bad fans are just that, bad. But don’t dismiss someone because you think they’re a “mark”, “smark”, or “smart”. You never know what you could be missing out on.
Wrestlemania thoughts
The tag match was ok, though it wasn’t anything special and I’m guessing that Carlito and Show didn’t get the belts because Carlito and Masters are set to split up soon and they’d rather have a team that is sticking together be the ones to get the belts. Not that it matters, because whoever do get the belts will be getting squashed within a month by a useless relative of someone in power.
MITB was pretty good but not as good as the MITB from last year. Shelton Benjamin was the star of the match, like last year, and did some great spots. The crowd was hot for RVD and they popped big for his win.
The Batista-Orton deal seems to foreshadow what, at least for this week, is the preferred main event for Smackdown at Wrestlemania 23.
Benoit and JBL was not the PPV quality match that they had been reportedly having at house shows, but they didn’t get a lot of time. It was decent, but that’s about the best you can call it.
Edge and Mick Foley had my MOTN with a great hardcore match. Lots of great spots and the finish will be in the WM highlight reel for years to come. It was far better than Foley’s match with Orton a couple of years ago because there was a lot more done.
The backstage deal with Booker T, Sharmell and the freaks was funny at first but it ended up feeling like a bad SNL skit. Ted DiBiase looked a lot like Jimmy James from Newsradio.
Skimmed most of Booker and Boogey Man, but I don’t think I missed a lot.
The women’s match was surprisingly good until the finish got blown beyond all hope. The real story was the crowd turning on Trish huge and Mickie becoming, for at least one night, a super over babyface.
Vince looked like a walking cartoon character.
The casket match appeared to be better than it had any right to be, and Mark Henry looked ok. Not good, but ok. Undertaker was feeling it, especially after his big running dive.
Vince and Shawn had a capable affair, but it certainly wasn’t as good as Vince and Hogan from 2003 and I don’t think it got as much heat as it should have done for such a strongly pushed program. They covered up as best they could for Vince’s weaknesses and the big finish capped things off nicely.
The SD main event had some “WTF?” booking with Angle getting a visionary tap out on Rey, which keeps Angle strong but kills Rey, especially after he tapped out rapidly on Smackdown last week. Angle looked tiny and his physical transformation over the last year or so is very sad but not unexpected.
The time of the match was totally unforgivable. Would it really have killed Vince and Hunter to shave 5 minutes off of their respective matches and give these three the time to have the great match that they seemed more than capable of delivering? The finish got a good pop which was a surprise considering that the crowd booed whenever Rey or Orton were on offense.
I skipped the Playboy match or whatever that nonsense was called.
Hunter and Cena had a far better match than I think anyone was expecting. With a minimal amount of gimmickry, Hunter and Cena had a really good match, excellent for Cena, and it had an incredible atmosphere with the pro/anti-Cena fans never staying quiet for long if at all. The finish was initially a surprise but it wasn’t much of when you stop and think about the turmoil and second guessing going into the WM weekend when it came to the top matches and their finishes. I’ll give Hunter credit for doing what I don’t think anyone predicted and tapping out clean. I know people want and can’t wait for Cena to turn heel, but Dan Wahlers made an excellent point in his latest column when he pointed out that a lot of the backlash against Cena is because it’s a rebellion thing and the fans are bucking against the system. Once booing Cena is the ‘correct’ reaction it’s not being cool or rebellious to boo Cena then it is likely that the reactions to him will stop being so loud and compelling. The best thing to do right now is to keep him babyface because it’s the ideal way to maintain the huge reactions he gets and to keep people wanting to pay to see Cena, whether it’s to boo him or cheer him.
Wrestlemania 22 was better than 21 because, while the peaks might not have been as high as last year, the valleys weren’t as deep, and the whole show was more solid. I don’t think it was worth $50, but it was a better PPV than most people thought it would be.
I enjoyed this PPV a great deal, and more so than any wrestling PPV for a very long time. The last PPV of any kind that I've been this excited about both while watching and afterwards was UFC's Unfinished Business from last year. As far as wrestling goes, the last PPV to have this kind of buzz about it was WM X7. Since then, wrestling has been totally lacking the kind of emotional connection that allows for this kind of reaction, and the fact that a promotion that has been dead for five years elicited such a response while WWE is getting so apathetic that the people who hate it can't even be bothered to rip into it is sad in so many ways.
The matches were mostly secondary, which would have been obvious going in had people thought about it. The only real standout matches were Tanaka v Awesome and Dreamer and Sandman v The Dudley's. The rest were just kind of there, with Storm v Jericho was the most enjoyable of the undercard matches. Benoit v Guerrero was a letdown in some ways, and really came off as filler, but in no way was it bad. I know some people have torn into that match something fierce, but those people should take a look at themselves and think about things a little more clearly, rather than trying to be some sort of 'super smart smart fan' or whatever their gimmick is.
The highlights were easily RVD and Paul Heyman's promo's, with RVD shattering the myth that he can't speak. If anyone thinks RVD can't talk after his promo at ONS, then must be really wanting to believe a myth that everyone else has had the good sense to see through. Heyman's speech was great stuff, and, again, showed how great someone can talk if you let them talk about a subject they are genuinely into and really want to talk about.
Joey Styles was great on commentary, while Foley wasn't all that hot, which you could tell he was aware would be the case going in, and he stayed in the background for most of the PPV. The highlight for Styles was his shooting on Mike Awesome during his match, and when Eric Bischoff was at the commentary table for the show ending angle, and Styles just tore into him with, "You are without a doubt the worst goddamn color commentator I ever heard in my life.” For me, that was the line of the night, as it came out of nowhere, and there was no real set up to it, unlike with RVD's and Heyman's stuff, though that was still great.
There were a few minor points I didn’t like about the PPV, most notably Steve Austin leading the ECW charge against the WWE ‘Crusaders’ and him getting the last attack on Bischoff, but they were minor enough, and the strong points strong enough, such as Sabu showing up, that this PPV is the easiest thumbs up I’ve given to a wrestling PPV for so many years that I don’t even remember the last one.
Given the intelligence, or lack thereof, displayed in a lot of the posts made here, I’m often wondering how the people behind them have the capability to breathe, let alone operate a computer.
Vengeance PPV
I’ve seen clips of the PPV which is all I care to see of it. The Foley/Flair angle looked well execute and as heated as anything WWE have done in a while that didn’t involve John Cena. Flair bled like crazy, which, to be blunt, is about the only thing he can do and not look like the 57-year-old that he is. RVD’s WWE Title match against Edge, apart from being criminally placed in the middle of the card, looked pretty good, and from Jim Ross’s comments after the pin, it seems like Van Dam’s win was booked purely to surprise people because it was felt the original plan was too well known. I ignored the DX vs. Spirit Squad main event, because I have less than zero interest in anything DX-related. It also didn’t help that DX have humiliated and embarrassed the Squad, and Vince McMahon, for three weeks in a row, so quite why they expect people to pay for what they’ve already seen for free I don’t know. The highlight for me was Fake Kane pinning Real Kane clean in the middle of the ring. Why? Well, it’s because of…
Fake Kane storyline gets dropped
Less than 24-hours after Fake Kane beat Real Kane, clean, the entire character and storyline was dropped, due to the complete apathy the Vengeance crowd had for their match the night before. I can’t remember if this has happened before, where a wrestler was put over a big name clean and then promptly got dropped and the whole angle scrapped. What makes it funny is that the deal got dropped because the crowd didn’t care about it. The crowd has crapped on a lot of angles and storylines before but the usual Vince McMahon MO is to push back even harder and force the angle or storyline down peoples throats. My guess on why things happened differently this time is that Vince wasn’t happy with the first angle to begin with, and probably from the get go he was looking for some reason to end it. With the crowd at Vengeance sitting on their hands for the Fake Kane vs. Real Kane match, that gave Vince the out he was looking for, and the whole mess, which was meant to stretch until Wrestlemania, was dropped.
’ECW’
This week, it was revealed that Vince McMahon is going to turn ECW into a complete WWE-style third brand and anything even remotely resembling the original ECW is going to slowly dropped. It seems Vince was upset with how the current ECW is faring and has decided against doing something different with it and instead ECW is going to be more of the same. While it’s not a surprise that Vince is turning ECW into the WWE ‘C’ show, it is a little baffling that this is happening; 4-hours a week of WWE-style programming isn’t exactly setting the world on fire as it is, so quite why another hour of the exact same product is expected to fare any differently, I don’t know. The best thing to have done with ECW, which meant it had zero chance of being done, is to have made it into a ROH/TNA-style product, with the emphasis on the wrestling, with angles and storylines as the garnish to the main course of in-ring action. From a business standpoint, it makes more sense to offer two different styles of product, because then you can draw in the Sports Entertain fans with Raw and Smackdown and you can bring in the wrestling fans with ECW. That way, you’re getting more pieces of an already small pie and you can make more money. With ECW being made into another WWE-style brand, it’s going to attract the same viewers who would have been attracted by Raw or Smackdown, and there’s only so many of those viewers around right now. Instead of gaining new viewers, WWE may either split the viewers they have into three groups, or simply burn them out altogether to where they stop tuning it completely.
Kenta Kobashi has cancer
My thoughts are with Kobashi right now. Kobashi has long been one of my all-time favorite wrestlers and I’m really hoping he pulls through. My first thought on finding out about his condition was what happened with Shinya Hashimoto, who was another favorite of mine. We can only hope that Kobashi’s story has a happier ending.
Best of the NWA on TBS
This is a 13-part 26 disc set that covers the highlights of the NWA on the TBS Superstation from 1985 to 1988. You can get it from infamous trader Bob Barnett at www.bobbarnett.com
Disc 1-1
The first disc starts off with a segment from World Championship Wrestling, which sees Ric Flair and Magnum TA in the studio and it starts the build of the Flair vs. Magnum TA feud. It’s a short segment, and it sees Flair tooting his own horn in his usual style and Magnum responding with how he doesn’t need all the refined things Flair has, because he does his talking in the ring. The main thing you can tell from this is that Magnum is clearly nervous when it comes to doing an interview.
Next up is the ending of a Ric Flair squash, with Magnum on commentary. After the match, Flair confronts Magnum and offers to face him right there and then in the ring. Naturally, Magnum gets in the ring, and so does Flair, but then Flair leaves to tell David Crockett and Tony Schiavone that Magnum doesn’t need to suffer a major upset right now and because he’s thinking of Magnum’s best interests he’s walking away.
Another confrontation between Flair and Magnum is up, and Flair is chiding Magnum for not keeping his mouth shut and trying to embarrass him. Flair dares Magnum to pay the price and put up or shut up, but that when Magnum is ready for it “I’ll let you know, daddy.” Magnum brings up that Flair was the one who called him out last week but Flair walked away. Flair winds up telling Magnum that he’ll make his chimes ring, and Magnum brings up that he hasn’t yet had his shot but when he does he’ll show Flair what he can do. Three segments, less than 10 minutes, and you’re already wanting to see the match. It’s so simple and yet so effective.
Another Magnum TA promo, and this time he gets interrupted by Ric Flair, who says that Magnum is in line for a shot and we’re waiting to find out of he’s ready to play major league ball. Flair tell Magnum to stick around for a while because Flair s going to show him how great he is.
The ending of Flair beating Sam Houston sees Flair not release the figure four and Magnum TA, who is doing commentary, runs in and breaks the hold and faces off with Flair. Flair backs off and Magnum follows him to the floor but Flair just walks away to the back.
Now it’s the aftermath to a Magnum TA squash, and he and Flair face off again. Flair tells Magnum he needs to dress up and even offers to have some clothes made for him but Magnum grabs Flair and tells him to back off. Magnum goes to the ring and calls Flair out again but once again Flair backs off. They wind up in the ring and Flair attacks Magnum as he enters the ring and beats him up a little before walking away. When David Crockett tells Flair he wouldn’t let him get into the ring Flair tells him to talk his mother.
Tony Schiavone interviews Ric Flair who again promotes himself in the only way he can. Flair says he’s put together a video of the four most memorable moments in his career. The first one his is win at Starrcade 83, the second is his title win over Kerry Von Erich, the third is his win over Dusty Rhodes at Starrcade 84, and the fourth is his attack on Magnum TA the week before. Flair says Magnum lacks class and to show there are no hard feelings he’s had his tailors make a suit for Magnum TA and tells Tony to give the suit to Magnum. Flair then goes to the ring for a squash match and, almost inevitably, Magnum TA comes to the broadcast position. Tony gives Magnum the suit from Flair and tells him what Flair said. After Flair wins the match, Magnum takes the suit into the ring and seems to appreciate it before tearing it apart as Flair looks on in silent anger. Flair goes to walk away before charging at Magnum only to get caught with the belly to belly suplex. Magnum walks off leaving Flair in the ring. When Flair finally gets out he rants at the broadcast position a little before leaving.
Another Flair promo, with Flair wondering if he might not grow old as World champion and have to just hand it to someone. Magnum TA comes out to confront Flair and tells him he doesn’t think Flair can beat him and bets $1,000 that Flair can’t beat him in 10 minutes. Flair accepts and the two go to the ring. The two have a pretty hot match that almost predictably goes the full 10 minutes. The post-match sees Ole and Arn Anderson, who came out to do commentary part way through the match, jump Magnum from behind and they and Flair beat Magnum up before Dick Slater and Buzz Sawyer hit the ring and run them off.
Next up is one of Jim Cornette’s first promo’s on TBS, and it sounds like it came after the debut Midnight Express on TBS. Cornette talks up the Midnights and their success as part of the Cornette family empire. Cornette is on fine form here, getting in a couple of good insults against Tony and the fans.
Another Jim Cornette promo now and this one was later on in the same show. Cornette starts off by insulting the studio fans once again. Cornette tells us that it hurt him to see the jobber the MX had beaten up staggering around hurt after the match so from now on he’s going to have someone at ringside to carry them to the back.
Next is the finish of Brett and Buzz Sawyer versus the Rock and Roll RPM’s, with Jim Cornette on commentary, and one of the Sawyer’s rolls up Tommy Lane for the win. The RPM’s and Sawyer’s fight after the match and the Sawyer’s get another pinfall over the RPM’s. Cornette goes to ringside and tells at the Sawyer’s and Buzz Sawyer tells Cornette to get out the MX. The Midnight’s come out and an impromptu match takes place. It doesn’t last long before The MX knock Bret Sawyer from the ring and leave Buzz Sawyer laid out in the ring.
The pace picks up now as we see Ric Flair confronting Ivan Koloff at the broadcast position during a Nikita Koloff match and the two trade heated words before Nikita attacks Flair from behind and throws him into the ring. Koloff tries to beat Flair up but Flair gets the upper hand until Ivan interferes. The advantage doesn’t last as Dusty Rhodes runs out to even things up. With his clothes torn up, Flair cuts a raving promo and tells Koloff that they’ll meet up again.
Jim Cornette cuts another promo and insults a number of people, including the Sawyer’s, Dusty Rhodes and the Rock and Roll Express, where Cornette makes it clear the Midnight Express are coming after the World tag titles.
Ric is out for a promo and he has words for Nikita Koloff, telling him that “we’ve only just begun”, Dusty Rhodes, telling him not to interfere in his business again and not to think the tension between them is over, and he also has words for Buddy Landell.
We get another promo from Ric Flair, this time hyping a steel cage match against Nikita Koloff in the Omni. In a neat touch, he does it ‘behind’ a graphic of a steel cage that covers the whole picture.
Jim Cornette is out again and, after insulting Tony Schiavone, telling him he looks like an unmade bed, Cornette insults freeloaders and bemoans having to pay taxes to subsidize them. After a break the interview continues, and Cornette again has words for the Rock and Roll Express, the Sawyer’s and Dusty Rhodes.
Jim Cornette is back for another promo, this time building up his feud with Jimmy Valiant and his Street People. Cornette also finds time to insult Rocky King and Big Momma.
A trifecta of Cornette as he’s out again for another promo, this time with insults aimed at Rock and Roll Express, Dusty and Magnum TA and Jimmy Valiant and Rocky King, bringing up that nobody has beaten the Midnight Express.
Once again it’s time for more Cornette as he interrupts Schiavone and Crockett. Cornette talks about all the steamy fan letters that the MX are receiving and Cornette tells the women sending them that he doesn’t allow the MX any extracurricular activity, so they’ll be disappointed.
Fifth Cornette promo in a row now, as Cornette once again insults Jimmy Valiant, his Street People, and Big Momma, building up their ongoing feud.
Make that the sixth promo from Cornette now, as he once again has words for Jimmy Valiant and Rocky King. You can tell it’s the 80s as Cornette calls King, who is black, Buckwheat, which I don’t see happening on television today.
A non-Cornette segment at last and it’s the first big angle of the set as we see the first half of the angle where the Andersons and Ric Flair broke Dusty Rhodes’ ankle in the cage. In this part, we see Dusty run-in and send the Russians, Krusher, Ivan and Nikita, packing and the clip ends with Flair apparently offering his hand up to Dusty. It then cuts to the studio where Jim Crockett is with Tony and Ric Flair and Crockett asks Flair to explain the tape they’ve just seen. Flair doesn’t really answer except to go off on not having any challengers so Crockett walks off. After a commercial Flair is still in studio and Tony is once again asking Flair about what happened in the cage. The perennial babyface announcer David Crockett chimes in and presses Flair to answer. Flair says he is the best but David responds by asking if Flair thinks Dusty is the best and if that is why he did what he did. Flair brings out Arn Anderson, who is the National champion, and Flair parades the belts they both have. They can cut to a taped interview conducted by David Crockett with Dusty’s doctor about the ankle injury. The doctor tells us Dusty suffered a third degree ankle sprain and he describes it as a very serious and injury.
Time for a Ric Flair promo and this time he’s talking about Tully Blanchard in less than flattering terms, so this is clearly before the formation of the Horseman. Flair also has a few word for Buddy Landell, who is in the ring, with his manager JJ Dillon, and he also talks about Magnum TA and Nikita Koloff. Flair finishes up by informing Landell that he’d lend him one of his robes but Landell would get lost in the arms.
Tony Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes, in a cast, at ringside. However, the interview doesn’t last long as Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard attack Rhodes, knocking him down and Arn actually steals Rhodes’ World Television title belt.
A Ric Flair promo is next and it’s an expanded version of David Crockett questioning Flair about what happened in the cage where Flair and the Anderson’s broke Dusty’s ankle.
Jim Cornette is out again and talks about Jimmy Valiant having a drug problem in that when he’s in with the MX he gets “drugged from one end of the ring to the other”. A few more insults get thrown the way of Valiant, Rocky King and Big Momma.
The next segment starts up in the middle of an MX squash with Jim Cornette on color commentary off and on. The squash is entertaining as all MX squashes are and Cornette is funny on commentary. After the match the MX keep beating up their opponents, one of whom is Rocky King, so this naturally brings in Jimmy Valiant. Valiant gets beat down before a mysterious lady enters the ring and decks Bobby Eaton, knocking him silly. A post-skirmish promo from Valiant sees him ask for the mysterious lady to get in contact with him.
A Jim Cornette promo is up and Cornette once again tears into Jimmy Valiant and the Street People. Cornette says he’s going to prosecute the mystery woman and he’s going to demand police protection from Jim Crockett Promotions because of the woman.
A change in direction now as we see an angle where Baby Doll offers Magnum TA her business card and he responds by forcing a kiss on her. With babyface announcer David Crockett screaming that Baby Doll likes it, Doll pulls away and TA grabs her tearing her top and then Tully Blanchard jumps TA from behind and the two have a short but very stiff brawl but the action cuts back to the studio before we see too much.
It’s back in the studio again for another Jim Cornette promo and, after bragging about being PWI manager of the year for 1985. talks about an incident between the MX and the R and R Express and we get tape of what went down, with the MX jumping the RnR’s after a squash match where the MX leave Morton laying. Cornette once again vows the MX will be the NWA world tag team champions.
Another Jim Cornette promo again and he complains about not being happy when he should be, after all he’s the manager of the year and the RnR’s have been laid out, because the RnR’s fans have been writing to him and complaining about what the MX did to Ricky Morton.
Ric Flair is out for a promo and he’s accompanied by the sounds of The Wanderer by Dion. Flair talks about a female fan in the parking lot asking him to come out in jeans like Magnum TA does and Flair says he might just do that one day. Flair then talks about, accompanied by the relevant clip, of an attack by Flair, Arn and Tully on Ron Garvin that gets interrupted by Dusty Rhodes and winds up with Garvin knocking Flair out with a punch. Flair gets aggravated by David Crockett and tells him that they have to show the tape simply to show that Flair is a normal human being on his worst day. Flair also tells the girls that if they see him driving along they should turn around, get in line, and the Nature Boy will make them into big girls.
Jim Cornette is in the studio now and he’s got a copy of the Cornette family history and he informs us that the Cornette’s have always been successes. Cornette then talks once again about what they’ve done to he RnR’s and tears into them too.
A squash match is next with Bobby Eaton facing Wee Willie Wilkens, who is as short as his name suggests. With Jim Cornette chiming in on commentary from time to time, David Crockett accuses him of having the singles match so Dennis Condrey can protect Cornette at ringside. The highlight of the match is Cornette yelling moves at Bobby for him to perform on Wilkens. Bobby ends the match with a kneedrop off the top and then he and Dennis beat Wilkens up a little more before the RnR’s hit the ring to run the MX off and, for some bizarre reason, Ricky Morton throws Wilkens out of the ring when you’d think, as a babyface, he’d help the guy up.
Ric Flair promo now and, strangely for Ric, he’s wearing jeans, which he says he’s doing because when you’re as good as he is you can once in a while go against the norm, which is the suits he usually wears. After the fashion shows, Flair has words for Ron Garvin and their imminent encounter and makes reference to Garvin becoming a US citizen and says that when he beats Garvin it means he’s beaten an American.
Another Jim Cornette promo is up and he once again talks about the RnR Express and we see tape of another incident between the two that sees the MX jump the RnR’s after a squash match and Cornette winds up lashing Ricky Morton across the back with his belt.
In preview of a special upcoming ‘dream match’, which will see the Rock and Roll Express defend the NWA world tag titles against the Midnight Express we see the Rock and Roll Express beating Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khrushchev for the belts in July of 1985.
The introductions of the match take place but the match itself is on disc 1-2 and that is where we will pick up later.
