What are you watching?

[Guest curry_man2002]

I just had unforgiven 98 dvd arrive and i watched the inferno match between kane and undertaker which is a cool gimmick match.

[brighty 0]

yesterday i watched Flair/Luger from Starrcade 88.

 

Flair makes Luger look like gold. and in times where nowadays matches last 5 minutes on TV its really wierd to see a match where you're 15 minutes in and have it be ALL Luger before Flair starts getting back into it.

 

it also had the stip that Flair could lose the belt by DQ, so of course they teased that a few times, Flair throwing Luger over the top while JoJo Dillon had the ref distracted, and later on the ref got bumped and Flair whacks Luger in the knee with a chair and just beats the crap out of it. Ending is one i love, too. Luger gets the Torture Rack, but his leg gives way and he just collapses, with Flair on top of him getting the feet-on-ropes pin.

[The Decemberists 0]

I'm currently enjoying Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior from Halloween Havoc 98!!

 

 

I haven't seen it before and just felt I really had to at some point. Nice how the half the crowd turns on Warrior early on though.

[Guest Ray]

Chris Benoit vs. Sting - Nitro 9/20/99

Wow, this is one of the most overlooked Benoit matches I've ever seen. It is a truly fascinating one, with both of them nailing their roles related to their station as wrestlers. Sting is above Benoit and that is exactly what they establish, quite clearly, at the start. Benoit goes for a move, it is countered with ease. Benoit hits a move, Sting recovers with ease and a move is hit immediately by Sting with ease. Benoit goes after a body part, which works briefly, but Sting outsmarts him. So on and so forth. Sting henceforth controls the match, dominating Benoit but letting him go on brief comeback runs before cutting him off, until two key mistakes in succession almost lead to his downfall. The final stretch is wrestled as if Benoit is about to knock off Sting, as he takes full advantage of Sting's errors with all the big offense he can muster. Heated nearfalls occur, but here comes Lex Luger to ruin it. The biggest flaw is obviously the horrible finish, but everything before that, aside from a couple of poorly executed moves, is excellent. Great match and very underrated. Needs to be seen.

[Guest JJW]

Starrcade 96 it was interesting to hear the announcers actually acknowledge the world cup of wrestling from the year previous and the 1st 3 matches on the card were wcw vs. new japan and new japan won all 3.

[Guest Lawlerm]

I'm going through all my WWF tapes and converting them to DVD. Should only take like... a year...or two.

 

 

Anyway up today was Wrestlemania 5 which is actually not bad. Decent efforts in Perfect/Blue Blazer, Strike Force/Arn & Tully, Twin Towers/Rocker and a solid enogh main event considering it involved Hogan. It does on the other hand have a 30 minute Pipers Pit segment with Brother Love and someone else i paid no attention to and Hogans second, rambling, egomaniacal Wrestlemania promo in a row.

 

Now is WWF Fan Favourites which opens with Koko B. Ware/Brooklyn Brawler.

 

Oh dear.

 

On a side note Supertape 92 has Macrovision. Dammit.

[Guest dreamer420]

I'm currently in the process of watching every ECW show that I own, which includes every PPV, some random commercial releases, some best of tapes, and the final show ever from Pine Bluff, AK.

 

Today I am watching a tape that has Living Dangerously 1999, and Hardcore Heaven 1999 on it. LD 99 has some decent moments on it. The Lynn/RVD match still rules.

[brighty 0]

Royal Rumble 1990.

 

i really love the Garvin/Valentine submission match (okay they go for pinfalls a LOT, but look past that and there's some cool shit in there).

 

and the actual Rumble match is brilliant, one of the best ever. nearly 15 years later and i was still marking for the Hogan/Warrior confrontation.

[Guest Real F'n Show]

I'm going through all my WWF tapes and converting them to DVD. Should only take like... a year...or two.

 

Good luck with that. A friend of mine and I started doing that with our tapes once, and stopped after like 15 because it was taking so long. Have fun.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Owen Hart vs. Bret Hard - Ironman - 7/9/94

 

-I must admit that this is probably my pick for the best Ironman match in WWF/WWE history. Awesome match, great pacing and selling by both guys. I would recommend that anyone pick this up if you don't already have it.

[Guest Lawlerm]

Royal Rumble 1990.

 

i really love the Garvin/Valentine submission match (okay they go for pinfalls a LOT, but look past that and there's some cool shit in there).

 

and the actual Rumble match is brilliant, one of the best ever. nearly 15 years later and i was still marking for the Hogan/Warrior confrontation.

I absolutley HATE that show!

 

The Rougeaus v. The Bushwhackers in the opener!

Duggan!

Ronnie Garvin!

 

God it's a horrible show. The Rumbles not terrible i spose.

[Guest JJW]

In the past couple weeks I've watched:

 

Summerslam 88

Survivor Series 88,89,90

[Tawren 0]

Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka, 12/31/99 ECW

Wow, I can't believe anybody likes this. They randomly throw out big moves that look great, and then four seconds later they have been no-sold and the other guy is on offense. I'm not going to go back and list everything because goddamn I am not watching this again, but in the first 5 minutes or so they've already burned powerbombs, dives, chair shots, diamond dusts, roaring elbows, and more. The ending tells so much about the ECW fans - as Awesome and Tanaka battle on the top, the whole crowd turns to the left and stares at what I can only assume is a flasher. Oblivious to this, Awesome and Tanaka do the final spot of the match, a backwards superbomb. As soon as the move is hit, the crowd explodes in cheers for something most of them didn't even watch.

[Guest Ray]

Chris Benoit vs. Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW 11/2/97

Once we get past Ohtani's uninteresting legwork segment this match is fantastic. Benoit's offense is mighty impressive here. It's almost Misawa-Kobashi 1/20/97-ish in the way Benoit escalates his moves to try to kill off Ohtani. Crowd goes nuts when he teases a top-rope tombstone piledriver, which is countered, leading to Ohtani's big run of offense and victory. I can't call it great, because the dull legwork really drags the first half down, but the rest is superb.

 

Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart - WCW Nitro 6/22/98

Good match with Benoit trying to outwrestle Bret before moving into a Benoit-as-underdog story. Benoit's big comeback is great and hot and I love it. If you ever wanted to see Bret eat a stiff dragon suplex, here's the one to watch! Don't like the silly finish, and I still have some trouble getting into Bret as a heel, but it's a good match.

 

Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Curt Hennig/Barry Windham - WCW Uncensored 99

Solid match with a hot crowd. Windham brings more offense than I would've expected at this point in his career. I never thought I'd see a crowd pop so loud for Dean Malenko tagging in.

 

Chris Benoit vs. Jushin Liger - NJPW 10/17/99

Very good match. JIP so I can't say much about it. Love the palm strike/rolling germans/brainbuster attempt/bridged german sequnce. Some great nearfalls here. Finish was unexpected and I marked out hard for it.

 

Chris Benoit vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW 1/4/00

This has a bit of a slow start but the latter half is very exciting with a extended period of very good nearfalls. Except for the crossface which was met with silence. Good match nonetheless.

[EL DANDY~! 0]

Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart - WCW Nitro 6/22/98

Good match with Benoit trying to outwrestle Bret before moving into a Benoit-as-underdog story. Benoit's big comeback is great and hot and I love it. If you ever wanted to see Bret eat a stiff dragon suplex, here's the one to watch! Don't like the silly finish, and I still have some trouble getting into Bret as a heel, but it's a good match.

Man, that was a top 5 Nitro match, too. Fuckin nWo...

 

Oh, and for whoever it was asking about the Jumping Bomb Angels:

 

They were one of the top face joshi tags of the 80s. Them, The Crush Gals, Jaguar Yokota/Devil Masami, and any pairing from Dump Matsumoto's Army were the top teams when it came to Joshi in the 80s.

 

ROH 2004 and I've got a bunch of other stuff I still need to watch, so I'll get back this in a bit...

[Guest wildpegasus]

Been watching a ton of Benoit vs Jericho lately. Sometimes complete matches and sometimes just bits and pieces. Here's what I thought.

 

 

Benoit vs Jericho Fall Brawl 9/15/96 WCW -- I caught the last few minutes of this one and enjoyed it a lot. Jericho's comeback was especially well done well over the course of time with a bunch of cool counters. This match wasn't so much about reaching 5 stars as it was roleplaying. It did what it was supposed to do perfectly. Benoit dominates at the beginning (if memory serves correct) because he's on a much higher plane than Jericho. Jericho shows fighting spirit for a "lesser" fighter and makes his comeback until he makes a mistake early in his comeback and Benoit immediatly pounces on that for a victory. It wasn't about doing 5 million kickouts after Jericho's comeback. It was about Benoit showing his dominance over Jericho.

 

Benoit vs Jericho 11/2/96 WCWSN -- Saw a bit of this one. Remember it as being good but not great and kinda short. Benoit's taped up from kayfabe injuries in this one.

 

Benoit vs Jericho 12/30/96 -- Nitro -- I loved this one. Jerico still the signifigant underdog compared to Benoit nails him with a dropkick from the top rope to the floor and lands on his feet. Having cauight Benoit off guard he keeps up the onslaught until Benoit catches a breather by hanging Jericho up on the ropes after countering his leapfrog in a very good spot that was not only a sweet counter but showed the desperation Benoit was in. When Benoit gets a chance he shows his frustration by nailing Jericho with punches for upstaging him. Jericho in the end makes a mistake and Benoit once again like in the Fall Brawl match capatilises on it.

Short match but nice storytelling filled with cool looking offence, counters and intensity.

 

 

Benoit vs Jericho 1/22/98 Thunder -- Pretty good match overall. Jericho is now the cowardly heel so this match is different than the previous ones. Some cool stuff in this one with a well thought out comeback by Benoit. Benoit does the beatdown in the corner which I always love.

 

Benoit vs Jericho 4/29/98 Pillman Tribute

 

This was very good with the late mid and ending section of the match being the definite highlight.

 

Benoit vs Jericho Backlash -- I loved this match. I could watch it a million times over. This is the closest yet that Jericho's been on Benoit's level kayfabe wise. I actually might like this now more than Summerslam. Very intense, cardiovascular/muscular draining match which is what I love to see in my wrestling. It didn't really follow the typical WWE formula either. Great stuff.

 

Benoti vs Jericho 5/4/00 Smackdown

 

Only saw 1/2 of this since that's all I have on tape. This is the bloody match where Jericho busts open Benoit's eye. Not too long but a great match where Benoit goes back to his Stampede roots and hits a sunset flip off of the top rope only to be countered by Jericho. Nice countering in this one and there were some real cool spots like Benoit hoisting Jericho up on his traps, Jerich0 countering the aforementioned move with a small package.

 

Benoit vs Jericho 5/8/00 Raw

 

Good match but a couple of steps down from the Smackdown match. Hurt somewhat by the gimmickry around it.

 

Benoit vs Jericho Submission Match

 

This was very good but not great. Like Backlash it was full of intensity which I loved and it did have some real nice countering such as Benoit countering Jericho's Walls Of Jericho when he was caught up in the ropes and Jericho countering Benoit's offence by kicking at his weak knee. I think it needed some extra time and perhaps more concentration on Jericho getting annihalted since he was the face. Benoit's the heel but he's the one who until the very end is the one in the most trouble and therefore the most sympathetic. He comes off as being the face in this for a good portion of the match. Still a very good match.

 

 

Benoit vs Jericho 5/28/00 Edmonton Handheld -- Good match overall but not up to their ususal standards.

 

 

Benoit vs Jericho 2/3 falls Summerslam -- Loved this one though I may have actually changed my mind and like Backlash better now. This match is too short for 2/3 falls and the ending is both good and bad but the work inbetween I love. The fighting at the beginning, the crossface spot at the end of the first fall, how the armwork came into play during the awesome dragon suplex sequence, Jericho hitting nice credible offecne despite having a bad shoulder and the ending I like. Jericho has Benoit on the run so Benoit in an innovative spot that I say was inspired from a Johnny Smith match in Stampede has to use the ropes in an act of desperation. The coolest thing about the ending was how Jericho's shoulder prevents him from kicking out.

 

 

Benoit vs Jericho 1/4/01 Smackdown -- Really Short but lots of fun

 

Benoit vs Jericho from Toronto -- Good match but I"m not quite sure what to think of it. The beginning and the ending was cool as anything though with Benoit and Jericho reminding me somewhat of the Benoit vs Regal match from New Japan

 

Benoit/Jericho vs Edge/Christian Raw -- This was shortly before the big title match against HHH and Austin. Okay match.

 

Benoit/Jericho vs HHH/Austin Raw -- Very good match where emotion is its strongest strength.

 

Benoit/Jericho vs Edge/Christian Smackdown Title match -- I was fastforwarding through this when I realised, "Hey, this looks pretty good" so I decided to check it out. What a difference when compared to their Raw match as this is signigantly better. Very good match that I would reccomend anyone checking out. I didn't think it'd be this good coming in. Everything is done well here.

 

 

I don't know what my favourite match of Benoit and Jericho is but I would say Fall Brawl, Nitro from 12/30/96, Backlash, the bloody Smackdown match, Summerslam, the ladder match and probably the J Cup (haven't seen in a long time) are their best overall work together.

[cawthon777 0]

I picked up a DVD recorder earlier this week, still trying to mess with it. I'd like to eventually convert all my VHS onto DVD but it's going to take a while and I'm not sure this is the best recorder for the job. Glad I kept my receipt.

 

I've been watching a LOT of Royal Rumbles over the past week or so. So far, from the tapes I have, the only Rumble I haven't gone through and timed out the entire Rumble match for is 91. I may do that later today before the PPV. I think this past week alone I've done 96, 98, 03, 92, 90, 93, and 95.

 

Also picked up some uber cheap DVDs from Amazon. I think with shipping and handling, I didn't pay more than $7 for any of them.

 

- Vengeance 01

- KOTR 00

- Insurrextion 02

- IYH: Rock Bottom

 

I had not seen any of them and my major purpose in watching was just to get mass match details for my website. And now that I have ... I'll probably get rid of them soon. They aren't classics.

[BHK 0]

Benoit/Jericho vs Edge/Christian Smackdown Title match

 

 

What's the date on that?

[Tawren 0]

Benoit/Jericho vs Edge/Christian Smackdown Title match

 

 

What's the date on that?

6/14/01

 

 

All of the following are from the IWA:MS 7/31/04 Stylin In The Summertime show

 

AJ Styles vs Delirious

I'm totally digging Delirious right now. The random yells, the weird mask, the hair, the old school cheating - this guy rocks. This is for the IWA:MS Light Heavyweight title. I think Styles could have done a better job of babyfacing it up, seeing as this was still one of Delirious' first matches as a heel and the crowd was still cheering him. This was worthy of a rewatching because I liked this but can't recall very much, especially in light of what is to come on the tape. I do recall lots of good brawling. Delirious wins after Kid Kash runs in. Seemed about ***, but I'll watch it again and add a better review of it.

 

CM Punk vs Matt Sydal

Total "I'm a young up and comer, so fuck you I'm taking your spot" vibe coming from Sydal at the start. Nice spot where Punk forearms and punches Sydal for a while in the corner until Sydal turns it around and does the same on him. Another nice spot that I liked was when Sydal went for a superhuracanrana on Punk but Punk avoided it by...slipping away and walking to the other side of the ring. That led to Sydal being caught in a tree of woe and Punk doing a running kick to his face. Beautiful sequence there. There is lots of good leg work by Punk on Sydal next, which leads into the final body portion of the match. Sydal does a great job with his hope spots, timing them right and continuing to sell the leg while he does it. A problem is that a lot of Sydal's offence focuses on kicks or moves involving the legs, so he has to use them, but he sells it great and never gets a real advantage. A good example of this is when Sydal gets on offense and hits Punk with a springboard double stomp and immediately drops to the ground in pain, and Punk goes back in control. They blow a dragonrana leading into the finish, with Punk not going all the way over right away and thus the pin looking bad, but it doesn't ruin the match. Punk wins with a shining wizard, knocking Sydal out for long enough for Punk to lock in a single leg boston crab. Sydal taps. Really good match, definitely around ***1/4-***1/2.

 

Sabu vs Danny Daniels vs Kid Kash

I dig Sabu and Daniels, but this was not good at all. Sabu is broken down and a shell of his old self, but the crowd is way into him here (makes sense, I'd be too if I saw him live). There are several Daniels/Kash exchanges that the crowd is totally silent for because they are focusing on Sabu, even though he is either down or outside the ring. Anyways, Sabu wins. Not good at all.

 

Arik Cannon vs American Dragon Bryan Danielson

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. This was great. This was fantastic. This was off the charts. There is a vibe much like the Punk/Sydal match going on here, a "I'm the up and comer and I am going to kick your ass" vibe, and they did a great job building a story around that. Lots of stiff European uppercuts and forearm smashes from both men, not just Danielson, and they do a lot of stuff regarding Cannon standing toe to toe with Danielson. There is a segment outside of the ring, and this might be my favorite thing they did in this match, where Danielson chops Cannon into an empty seat (the fans had scattered out of the way). Moments later, momentum has changed and Cannon chops Danielson so hard that Danielson falls through several rows of chairs. Danielson also gets his signature spots in, including the cattle mutilation, airplane spin, and diving headbutt, none of which can put Cannon away. In the end, Cannon wins with two glimmering warlocks (shining wizard to the back of the head). What this match was was a fight to prove that just because Cannon isn't an indy superstar with his own training school, tours with NJPW, and the coolest theme song in the world, doesn't mean he can't beat Danielson. This was a fantastic match. ***3/4.

 

2/3 Falls: Petey Williams vs Alex Shelley

This is for the IWA:MS championship. This kind of fell flat to me because at times it felt like they were going through the motions. Still, these two going through the motions is still pretty damn good. They built the story around Williams' leg and arm being attacked but also around Williams needing to hit his finisher, the Canadian Destroyer. The first fall ends with Williams tapping quickly while in the Border City Stretch, Shelley's main submission move (picture a crossface but with more emphasis on the neck/arm), because he knows he can't afford to stay in it and he has to lose 2 falls to lose. Williams fights back in a quick second fall and makes Shelley tap to his sharpshooter. At this point, it seemed like they would build to a Border City Stretch vs Sharpshooter third fall, but instead they stayed on the Border City Stretch vs Canadian Destroyer story. In the end, Williams wins after a series of reverals out of the Canadian Destroyer (never hit) and he gets a rollup. Solid match, but it was really lacking something. **3/4, maybe ***.

[JoeDirt 0]

Stylin' in the Summertime is a fun show. I was disappointed by the Petey/Shelley 2/3 falls match, but I really loved that Cannon/Dragon match, and Styles/Delirious was a lot of fun too.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Samoe Joe vs Areis for the ROH title -- Didn't do too much for me. They tried though which I respect.

 

2 Cold Scorpio/Williams vs Ogawa/Misawa for the Tag titles -- Okay match. Scorpio can still move and it was interesting to watch his offence in this one

 

Kenta Kobashi vs Mike Awesome -- Their fairly rescent NAOH match. I watched this 2 or 3 times and yes I see tons of places where people will pick on this match's structure. Still, this was a lot of fun with Mike Awesome bringing the power. And he just didn't bring it in a kayfabe sense. He actually brought the power. Awesome powerbombing Kobashi from the outside of the ring to the inside ruled all and the powerbomb from the top was a superb site. Kobashi once again annihilates himself for my pleasure. Lots of fun offence including a nice powerbomb counter and a suicide dive over the top rope but be forewarned. This match isn't for everyone but it certainly was for me.

 

Dynamite Kid vs Bret Hart Stampede From The TWC Special -- Okay to good match. Not nearly as good as their other Stampede match which I love

 

 

Dynamite Kid vs Bruce Hart From The TWC Special -- Short which surprised me. Really good though. Bruce Hart complains that Dynamite's only a puncher and a kicker so this sets up a match where the agreement is there's no punching and kicking. DK of course starts wrestling fairly and even opens up the ropes for Hart to come in. Hart does and DK just explodes on him with punches and kicks before preceding to pin him. Some nice wrestling here by DK.

 

DK/Lochness vs Bret Hart/Keith Hart -- Good match. Lochness is an absolute monstor.

 

Dynamite Kid vs Marty Jones -- great match. Yeah, DK punches to transistion sometimes and some people may not like that but I don't mind. I think it helps his charactor sometimes which brings me to how this is one of the best examples I've seen of turning a crowd against you. I'm not sure on this but I don't think Dynamite was a heel at the start of the match going into this. Yet, by the time it's over he is. He is an absolute jerk in this even using what I normally think is a disadvantage in wrestling the round system to his advantage.

 

The ending of this is really hot with some sweet action which has Dynamite even combing a little bit of attempted rulebreaking action to get some more heat. And it works because the fans are really into this, the announcer who is normally subdued in his talking you can tell is marking out and it's a really electric atmosphere. Reccomended match especially for people who like characterization in their matches.

 

 

 

Dynamite Kid vs Fujinami New Japan Pro Wrestling -- I still have to see this in its complete form. My two versions of it are both edited. This does look absolutely fantastic with Dynamite in a great moment being an absolute jerk walking away from a Fujinami plancha.

[Guest Ray]

The Rockers vs. Buddy Rose/Doug Somers - AWA 9/2/86

Now that's some real tag team wrestling. Nasty heels, spunky faces, and a super-hot crowd that hates/loves them respectively. A crazy, bloody brawl. Very good. If only it had a finish.

 

The Rockers vs. Buddy Rose/Doug Somers - AWA 12/25/86

Liked this, though not as much as the previous. Rockers get their revenge in another bloody brawl. Coolest moment - an OLD LADY in the crowd flipping off Rose/Somers. Now that's making the fans care about your work.

 

The Rockers vs. The Intruder/Iron Mike Sharpe - WWF 6/18/88

The Rockers' WWF debut. A three minute squash, which is exactly what it should be. The Rockers outsmart and outwrestle them at every turn. They get to show off their offense and the crowd eats it up. Good for what it is.

 

The Rockers vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard - MSG 1/23/89

Now we're talking! This one's great. The hot face opening lasts for about eight minutes and The Rockers bring a ton of neat spots to own Arn & Tully. Heels try various double-team moves and have them reversed by The Rockers. Real fun segment. Arn & Tully bail repeatedly to think of a way to gain control, which they finally do in a sneaky way. Shawn and his many teased comebacks as face-in-peril are GREAT. Excellent build to the hot tag. Love this.

 

The Rockers vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard - SNME 3/11/89

This was hot, and I mean HOT. Real good face-in-peril tag action, similar to 1/89, but I think I prefer the first. It wasn't as heated, but it was longer and the spots were a bit more creative. Still this is very good. These guys all have the tag formula nailed and I love it.

 

The Rockers vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard - WWF 3/18/89

This had a nice start, with The Rockers working holds - headlocks, wristlocks, armbars - simple work but done well and it gets the point across. Then it's clipped and it returns with Shawn in peril. Bah, I hate it when they clip the transition! The rest is solid leading to a good hot tag, then a poor finish. Good but the clipping and bad finish make it a lesser match than the previous two.

 

The Rockers/Tito Santana vs. Rougeau Brothers/Rick Martel - Summerslam 1989

This was fun. Work is basic but they bring the drama and heat. Martel is hilarious here - cocky as all hell when he's beating down Santana and instantly turns coward when the hot tag is made. Crowd eats it up.

 

The Rockers vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard - SNME 11/25/89

More greatness from these teams. Some will have a problem with doing three falls in ten minutes, but at the pace they were working I can't say it bothers me. Starts with Tully and Jannetty trading holds before the speed up for the finish. Second fall is crazy. Ton of good spots crammed into a small period and it drives the crowd nuts. Shawn tries to repeat a move and it backfires leading to a fall. Third is mostly Shawn in peril before they take it home in a real hot segment. This was a hell of a feud.

 

The Rockers vs. The Hart Foundation - MSG 11/25/89

Loved this. It's a very simple match, but it had me marking out for things like an uppercut countered into a backslide and a bodyslam into a small package, so I have to say they succeeded. Start is mostly a face/face technical match. Neidhart did some nice power/speed work with The Rockers early. Of course the Harts go heel and take over. Bret is real good during the heel beatdown. Very intense (look at those uppercuts and standing headbutts). After the hot tag there's a good, long nearfall section that I was digging the hell out of. This did have a few problems - it's a MSG match, so they aren't going all-out as they would on national TV. There are some slow spots (ie Neidhart's bearhug and facelock). The heat is average at best until the nearfall section. And it ends in a time limit draw. I don't know if everyone would love this, but I certainly did. I need to see their SNME match again.

 

The Rockers vs. Powers of Pain - MSG 1/15/90

This is an interesting match because it tells a simple story - The Rockers are faster and the Powers of Pain are stronger. They stick to these themes and that's all you need to know. The Powers aren't good wrestlers but they manage to hold up their end by bringing a decent amount of power moves, and the match is short enough to not expose them. Probably ***-ish at best but worth a look for the solid story.

 

The Rockers vs. The Hart Foundation - Saturday Night's Main Event 4/28/90

I actually have to say this was a bit of a disappointment. It's exciting and real hot, but it was too short and obviously doesn't have a finish. Very good while it lasts. If I could combine the heat in this with the work they did in 11/89 we'd have a great one.

 

The Rockers vs. Demolition - Saturday Night's Main Event 7/28/90

Another good one. Great opening, as usual, with The Rockers pulling out a nice set of spots - dual headscissor takedowns, double hiptoss/elbow drop/nip-up, dropkick into rana among others. Transition is a huge lariat to Jannetty on the outside. The heel beatdown segment leaves something to be desired. Demolition just doesn't bring the power moves they should. Jannetty's hope spots are well done, though. Shawn's hot tag and the nearfall section is very good, but Demolition does the "switch with the third guy" spot to win, which a lot of people won't like. I am, again, very impressed by The Rockers.

 

The Rockers vs. The Barbarian/Haku - Wrestlemania VII

I'm honestly running out of nice things to say about The Rockers. This is just another good, hot, well-worked 10-minute tag team match. If a babyface team in WWE today could work this well they'd be the talk of the town.

 

The Rockers vs. Legion of Doom - Prime Time Wrestling 12/28/91

This is one of the best three minute matches I have seen. Just an insanely heated and super-fast-paced match that even manages to have a power/speed theme! Really, really wish this was a longer match. For three minutes and thirty seconds I don't think they could've done better. The quick ending of course came to further the Rockers' breakup angle, as this was their last TV match.

 

 

The more I watch the more apparent it is that Shawn Michaels was an amazing babyface tag team wrestler. He knew the formula like the back of his hand, he knew how to bring unique and creative spots for the hot opening, he excelled at building sympathy, and he was superb at teasing comebacks/hope spots before the hot tag. Really impressive work. Some might not dig these as much as I, because they are basic matches and somewhat dated, but I think they're all worth a look.

[Guest NateRizzle]

Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles - NWA:TNA 2/13/05

 

The opening portion, while not anything extraordinary, is fun. Styles catches Daniels with the dropkick he previously avoided taking him to the floor, and then takes him out with a hurracannranna off the apron. The two have a nice strike war on the floor, but run into the ring to break the ten count. From here, Styles decides to focus his attack on the left arm of Daniels. Styles does a good job of showing his persistence, going back to the arm every time Daniels transitions out of it. Styles arm drags Daniels to the floor, hits him with a STIFF~! dropkick between the ropes and then takes him out with a springboard plancha.

 

Back in the ring, Daniels pulls the referee in Styles' path and then shoves him rib first into the guard rail. Daniels' control segment showcases him working over Styles' ribs, taking any advantage he can get. Styles catches Daniels with a roaring lariat, and catches Daniels with a series of flashy spin kicks and lariats. Styles is looking for the first fall here as he hits Daniels with his backflip inverted DDT, the Styles special neckbreaker, and an attempt at a 450 splash. Daniels catches the injured ribs with his knees, and then puts Styles down with the Angels Wings, again on the ribs for the first fall of the match.

 

Daniels is now in full asshole heel mode, and is ruthless on the ribwork. They do a very nice false transition with Daniels cutting off the comeback catching a charging AJ Styles with the abdominable stretch.

 

Styles does a surprisingly good job of selling the ribs. It's not incredible selling or anything, but if Styles had sold like this in RoH on 2.14, the Pure torunament probably would have been tons better. I do have a small gripe with Styles' high impact moves. He comes down hard on his ribs after the handspring elbow and the springboard forearm, but he doesn't really put it over as well as he should.

 

Daniels takes over once again, hitting Styles with his own quebradda DDT. Daniels hits his blue thunder driver, again coming down on the ribs of AJ. Styles makes his comeback with the pele kick that I normally hate, but in this case it works to show Styles' desperation at this point. Styles does a great job of conveying the desperate feeling with his forearms. Daniels goes for the Last Rites, but Styles counters and hits Daniels with the Angels Wings for a great near fall. Styles then ties it up with a school boy counter out of a back drop suplex attempt.

 

They make their way to the floor, and Daniels busts AJ open on the ring post. Daniels rolls Styles back into the ring which I don't understand considering he could have taken a count out fall. Daniels then tenaciously goes after the cut, again taking any opportunity he can. The final minute is great. AJ Styles hears Borash call for one minute remaining, and goes all out with a flurry of right hands. Styles goes for a big lariat, but Daniels catches him with the Complete Shot, and the Koji Clutch. Styles is able to survive the final forty seconds without submitting.

 

Sudden death, and Daniels is right back on the cut. Daniels makes the mistake of putting Styles in his element on the top rope, and Styles takes Daniels over with a hurracannranna roll through Styles Clash for the pinfall. Styles did a good job of putting over the blood loss and the rib work when he lifted Daniels for the Clash too.

 

Not only is this the best match in NWATNA's short history and the best Daniels vs. Styles match I've seen thus far, but it's also the best match of Christopher Daniels' career. See this.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Oh man, I loved this. I have not seen a match that has had this much of a big feel to it in a long, long time. The crowd, the heat and the genuine emotion were amazing to behold. You can just see it in the crowd's faces and body movements on how big and important this match is to them. It just grabbed me emotionally on just how much they were into this and that was on top of the emotion I was already feeling. So I was feeling pretty good about this one. Like I was watching something epic. And indeed, I was.

 

And now to the match. First off, I was happy to see that Kobashi and Misawa were moving around better than I thought they would coming in.

 

Second, I thought they did a good job of creating an epic feeling here. The "no selling" at the beginning I really liked as it struck me as the top 2 warriors giving it all in one last final battle to see who truly once and for all is THE man. The whole viciousness of the entire bout also added to the epicness of it. I'm just sitting here in amazement on what these two guys can do to each other and still get up. The whole fight to the death feeling.

 

In the end of course we have Kobashi winning which was so, so important as he finally proves he's the man and takes the torch away from Misawa. He has finally proven he's better than Misawa and he didn't do it by a fluke rollup or something similar. He just simply outmanned him which is the only fitting end to a match like this. If Misawa had won this, the match wouldn't have been as good. This was Kobashi and his fans' night.

 

Now be warned. This match isn't for everyone. Some of the hardcores won't like the construction of this at all.

 

 

I won't give this a star rating because I know there will be a bunch of sooky babies crying over it so I'll just give it an enjoyment rating.

 

9.5/10 -- Great, heat/emotion filled, fight to the end, final changing of the guard, epic contest.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

King of the Ring 2001 -- Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle

I never saw this match before. Shane surprised me a couple of times with some good wrestling moves, he's so much better then his dad in the ring. Sadly Shane needs weapons. I loved it when Angle German Suplexed Shane through the glass. And then he tried to do it again through another one and it didn't break two times so he just decided to smash Shane through the glass face first, pretty sick. Good match, Angle owns.

8.5/10

 

WCW Slamboree 1999 -- Goldberg vs. Sting

I expected a squash but Sting got some nice offense in, and he dominated for a short time too. Goldberg messed up a big spot, it looked horrible. I didn't like the ending with all the interference, not a good match, bit dissapointing.

6/10

 

WrestleMania X-8 -- Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock

This match had sooo many mixed reactions from the crowd it was just awesome. A must see match although it wasn't a good match from a wrestling perspective but did ya expect a 5 star match?! One word: HUGE.

9/10

 

Royal Rumble 1995

Many see this as maybe the worst Rumble of them all. I actually enjoyed the match. HHH was in the Rumble a pretty long time, I felt the announcers ignored that a bit. I loved when Vader was owning the place and he should have stayed in longer. Bit predictable to see Shawn Michaels win it, but it was cool to see the young HBK again.

8/10

[Guest Colcollazo]

Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit, RAW: 11/20/00

 

Interesting, interesting, interesting match. Austin from the start goes out there to outwrestle Benoit and actually manages to do it by doing small stuff like a fujiwara armbar, toehold takedown etc. And Benoit doing more brawling than usual, the switch up here is very entertaining and makes the match. Not to mention, the always crisp execution by Benoit and solid charcterizing by Austin doing some impressive "wrestling". His best at that point since before the neck injury. ***1/4-***1/2.

[Just John 0]

I pulled out the Eddie DVD for a string of ****+ matches.

 

Eddie vs. Jericho (Fall Brawl 97): Excellent match that many probably would never see if not for this DVD. Eddie puts on a clinic of how to work the back and breaks out some SICK submissions. Toward the end, both guys start to work the high-impact moves with Jericho hitting a nice release german and double powerbomb, and Eddie lands a solid urinage that puts the rock bottom to shame. The match starts off a little slow, but it really picks up and is well-paced. Definately one of Jericho's better matches, but just another day at the office for Eddie.

 

Eddie vs. Rey (Halloween Havoc 97): I love this match. The pacing picks up and slows down depending on who is in control, and creates the illusion of both guys using strategy. There are also some great counters from Eddie (Cartwheel into a belly to back, springboard hurricanrana into a back breaker), and some amazing spots from Rey (backflip DDT, Springboard dragonrana to the floor). Just an awesome match, especially for not breaking 15 minutes.

 

Eddie vs. Lesnar (No Way Out 04): This is a great match that I always get into. Brock shows his dominance and why he was the next big thing at one point. Eddie is ompletely underrated, but fights back using a smart attack on Lesnar's knee. Goldberg interferring and the ref bump slowed the match down, but it's still great to watch. I mark on the inside when Eddie wins.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Cuban Commandoes vs Hashimoto/Yang Chung Stampede 1988

 

I enjoyed this one. It wasn't a ring a dong dandy but it was certainly fun. This is a brutal one as the Commandoes stretch out Chung with a couple of nasty submission moves that are similar to Kawada's stretch plum but yet more deadly looking. In an awesome spot that I haven't seen before one of the Commandoes just pull back on one of Chung's arms while the other still has him in the aforementioned Kawada like submission that was just so taylor made for someone like Ozaki to preform. After awhile Chung manges to get the tag in and Hashimoto goes wild with 6 or 7 of his famous kicks to the chest on Jerry Morrow. His comeback is very brief however as the Commandoes reverse a double attempt of the irish whip from the Japanese team. I believe the Commandoes get disqualified here as the idea is that they're too out of control in their heelish ways and indeed they are. They annihilate Chung and Hashimoto complete with Hashimoto taking an insane double DDT on the cement floor from the Commandoes.

 

However, all is not lost for the good guys as Pillam and Benoit come in for the save chasing the Commandoes away.

 

So, in the meantime and in between time this has been another edition of WP's general wrestling match thoughts

 

 

 

Johnny Smith vs Randy Thatcher 1988

 

 

Watching more of Smith lately in Stampede I've been noticing a couple of tricks he was using in the ring at the time. This was in the buildup for Benoit vs Smith. Fun match where Smith finishes off Thatcher with a Vader bomb not from the middle rope but from the top rope. He was using this as a finisher at the time so this is an extra little tidbit of information that should be thought of when watching the Benoit vs Smith matches.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Well, I've been watching a lot of Stampede stuff lately and have seen about 6 Johnny Smith vs Wellington matches.

 

 

Wellington is a wrestler that had a lot of tools in his arsenal. In a lot of ways he's like Benoit. (Smith is like Benoit and Wellington too) He's got fantastic speed, a great and very similar moveset, can bump, is a hard worker and is around the same size as Benoit. He's also capable of putting on a great match.

 

 

The first Smith vs Wellington match I saw was pretty good. The second was a ring a ding dong dandy. The next 3 or so weren't as good but were still fun. Still, there is always cool stuff in the matches to keep you interested. The 6th match I saw was

 

 

SMITH VS WELLINGTON STAMPEDE September (I'm too tired to look for the date now) 1988

 

HAIR vs HAIR match

 

 

Often in Stampede you would have match week after week with the same two combatants. Something would happen each week in order to keep the feud going.

Smith is the Commonwealth Mid Heavyweigh champion here. Wellington before this feud started was a somewhat signifigant underdog. Often Wellington was a glorified, talented jobber for bigger stars on the card. Pretty similar to what Jericho is now. Wellington manages to draw Smith in their "1st" bout (1st as in being their series of about 5 weekly matches) on TV which is a big accomplishment. He also manages to pick up a non title win and by the time this match occurs Smith has to yet to get a victory over Wellington. Tempers are starting to flair and as a result we get this hair vs hair match. Not 2005 like wrestler hair but long, crazy like 80s wrestling hair!

 

The match itself I enjoyed an awful lot and I consider it a legit ring a ding dong dandy. As people here have probably seen in All Japan, Smith is fantastic at doing those cool sequences of moves to start off a match. In Stampede it's no different (Ray can attest to this) as Smith is always involved in a sequence of cool looking moves which almost always result in him taking a powder before repeating the process. With Wellington it's really fun as he's game for this and his speed is fantastic. So wether it's a shoulderblock, crisscrossing, the Dynamite feed of picking up your opponent's feet only to do a flip, Wellington's amazing armdrag of Smith off of the ropes or whatever else it's just plain old cool to watch.

 

To tell you the truth, the beginnings of these matches are all getting mixed up in my head after watching so many but I do remember how Smith finally takes over on offence here. **It's a cool spot where Wellington does the DK chest bump into the turnbuckle (amazing how much moves and spots Benoit, Smith and Wellington did that were influenced by Dynamite) followed by Smith hitting a nastly looking belly to back suplex. Wellington makes a tiny comeback but Smith than completes the crossover his own control segment by snap suplexing Wellington on the concrete floor.

 

Smith proceeds to do the pitching (Stampede term for dishing out the offence) and Wellington the catching (Stampede term for getting hit by your opponent's offence) for awhile. Smith evens hit Wellington with the splash he was using as a finisher at the time (Think Vader bomb not off of the middle rope but off of the top rope) but picks up Wellington before the reff can count to 3 which was pretty cool because of 2 reasons. Smith not only wants to punish Wellington but he wants to make sure his hair gets cut by putting him to sleep. Well of course that plan goes awry and Wellington gets back on offence for awhile. Wellington gets some pitching in and now its Smith doing the catching. Wellington in a cool spot also refuses to pick up Smith when he could've possably had a 3 count a couple of times. Wellington than himself decides he wants to put Smith to sleep as well just to make sure that Smith would get that haircut which brings us to the end of the bout.

 

The end here was pretty cool and even featured Wellington lowblowing Smith while Smith had Wellington in the sleeper. The low blow really surprised me here because that's something Wellington doesn't really do so it comes off here as a good show of desperation. Wellington goes for another kick but Smith catches his foot and pushes him backwards only for *Wellington to do the Cobra backflip and land on his feet!!!!!!!!! Smith goes for a desperate sleeper/punch attempt only for Wellington to duck and put the sleeper on Smith. Smith tries to escape a couple of times but Wellington holds on and on complete with Wellington and Smith doing the same sleeper spot that Bret and Davey would do years later at Summerslam 92. Smith ends up going nighty bye and Wellington picks up the win! Really cool ending sequence.

 

* One of the cool things about Wellington is that he'd just do some really incredable move that you wouldn't think was coming such as this backflip. Wellington and like Benoit has done before know that the super cool highflying moves are more memoarable when done not that often and by a guy that's not really considered a high flyer. I've also seen Wellington pull off A-Train's derailer finisher!!!!, the finish that Lyger used against Benoit in their first match of 1992 and the Tiger Mask leg sweep.

 

** Forget how right now but this spot is also important because when Smith tries to do it again later on Wellington counters and I believe it singals a turning point in the match.

 

 

Back to the match or I should say the aftermath the local hairdresser comes in to cut Smith's hair but it's not to be as Wellington gets attacked by some of the Stampede heel dressing room. Goldie Rogers than blocks the Stampede entrance door so nobody can rescue Wellington. Wellington of course than gets his hair cut in a REAL haircut. In fact it's even worse than a real bald haircut because the heels leaves little patches of hair on Wellington's hair so it's all uneven. Afterwards, we hear from the faces which I think eventually leads into a 6 man tag match.

 

 

So, in the meantime and in between time this has been another edition of WP's general wrestling match thoughts. Bye now!

[Guest news_gimmick]

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