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[Guest wildpegasus]

Benoit/Wellington/Hart vs Smith/Commandoes 11/11/88 Stampede

 

 

 

This is one of Benoit's best tags in Stampede and is a legit ring a ding dong dandy!

 

 

The Commandoes were on a roll as in having good matches around this time coming off of the Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes matches. Smith was on a role having had succesful matches with both Benoit and Wellington. Wellington was on a role of course with the Smith matches. So everybody was coming off of succesful matches and you can tell that in here becasue everybody is trying hard.

 

Can't believe I'm starting to forget this match already. Anyway, Wellington is awesome in this. I mean, you can tell when people are hungry and want to succeed in the ring. Wellington here at the start is so fast and in a span of about 40 seconds looks to be like he's the best wrestler in the world at the time. He hits a beautiful frankensteiner!! off of the ropes and goes for a flying headbutt off of the top rope only to miss. The best part about this is that it's done with so much "eye of the tiger" spirit. As much as you can possably see in the ring.

 

Benoit here is great as well. At the time he seemed to really take a liking to long heel beatdowns and this match is one of the best examples. He stays in the ring for forever and a day until he finally makes the hot tag. There must have been about 3 legit times where Benoit looked like he was going to make a hot tag but it wasn't to be until Smith decides to go for a piledriver on Benoit. However, in an awesome visual Benoit counters into his own tombstone piledriver and makes the tag. This worked pretty well for me as I liked how they kept the "tout de gras" until the very end. You knew it was "over" when Smith hit that piledriver so when an annihilated Benoit manages to counter said counter it made the moment all the more satisying.

 

Than of course all chaos breaks out. Wellington is tagged in but in a scary looking spot is backbodydropped over the top rope hitting his back on the apron. All men are in and Smith and the Commandoes decide to pick on the weakened Benoit by going for the double team spike piledriver (one member of the COmmandoes is one ropes). It hits but Benoit is not the legal man so the reff doesn't count. Wellington comes in, nails a legdrop of the middle rope on Smith and pins him. A satisfying ending because at the time Smith was scared of Wellington and wouldn't have anything to do with himat all in this match unless of course Wellington was weakened up beforehand.

 

 

I love this match and have watched it at least 5 times now. Stampede had a really great rate of work in their matches around this time.

 

 

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

[Guest wildpegasus]

I decided to rewatch a couple of my favourite Benoit vs Smith matches and talk about them.

 

 

BENOIT VS JOHNNY SMITH 6/4/88

 

 

 

This is for the Commonwealth mid heavyweight title and is a rematch from their first bout the previous week. In that bout Smith was 3pds over the weight limit so the title wasn't on the line. This time he has made the limit at 225pds and thus the title is on the line.

 

 

The match is unfortunately JIP about 2 min in. From there we have several very cool exchanges between Benoit and Smith that almost alyways end up with Benoit getting the advantage and Smith bailing to the outside. In fact Smith being a total heel vacates the premises at least 6 times in total. So of course Benoit gets frustrated as anyone naturally would, follows Smith outside the ring only to get caught coming in with some boots to the head by Smith which ends up being a turning point of the bout. Very well done as you can't really blame Benoit at all for being so impatient with the irritating Smith. In fact, one has to admire his patience for lasting this long without going outside the ring to attack Smith earlier.

 

From there we go into a long beatdown by Smith where Smith is mainly doing the pitching and Benoit the catching. Smith is dominatiing and in a sweet heel spot starts slapping an out of his feet Benoit in the face looking for a fight. Benoit here is just fantastic selling the exhaustion and making a brief comeback where he lands on his feet from an attempted Smith elbow. He climbs up to the top rope for a big splash but gets caught on Smith's knees FLUSH (this is the best I've ever seen this done) causing the tide to turn and Smith's focus as he now attacks Benoit's ribs.

This is where the match truly becomes something special as it just turns into a viciously hard fought battle/struggle. With the slapping bit and the knees to the stomach mentioned previously plus a knee to the stomach off of the ropes by Smith which has to be seen to be believed we have ourselves a series of moves that are just criminally well done. The thing is though is that Benoit and Smith don't cheat by just deciding to stiff someone. They just execute these manuevers so well including maybe the fastest crossbodyblock I've ever seen by Benoit later on in the bout that looks more rugged than a million stiff kicks.

 

Makahn Singh who rules on commentary is right on the ball here commentating talking about broken ribs but it gets even better. The next comeback by Benoit features Benoit hitting his own to knee to Smith's stomach off of the ropes in a revenge spot. The thing is this move was so well executed that we're now wondering if Smith has broken ribs as well. In fact Smith is now holding his stomach for a bit giving Benoit some time and just adding to the epic struggle that these two are going through. One of the last comebacks by Benoit is also really indicative of this. Benoit hits a superfast crossbodyblock only for Smith to throw him to the cement off a cover where he than proceeds to slam Benoit on the cement.

 

Throughout the match, Smith is often hitting Benoit with knees to Benoit's injured stomach. It's a little hard to describe but he does it in such an arrogant manner that when he finally misses one you can't help but pop for Benoit. This leads to the beginning of Benoit's comeback after about 10 mins or so of being annihilated. The comeback is lots of fun since we the fans have been anticipating/hoping so long for one. Benoit manages to hit a small package which is a lethal move in this series and than hits some offence. Smith goes for the skullduggery route with some brass knucks as he's now desperate but Benoit counters that via blocked punch. Smith than counters Benoit's punch and we have the end of a controversial bout.

 

 

In conclusion, this is one of my favourite all time matches. Smith is a tremendous heel throughout such as when he's strutting about in the ring after slamming Benoit on the cement, the beginning is chalk full of fun wrestling, the match itself gives off a tremendous hard fought struggle vibe, the execution of everything was spot on including some of the best hit stuff I've seen, the comebacks by Benoit when he is getting beat up are exceptional and the ending stretch/comeback by Benoit is very good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BENOIT VS SMITH 6/24/88 ENGLISH Rounds

 

 

 

This was the climax of the first series of matches between Benoit and Smith. 3 weeks later they had another match but you could tell from watching the TV shows that was never supposed to originally happen.

 

 

As a general rule, I don't like English rounds in wrestling. They almost always are a detriment to a match because they wreck the flow of a match and stop the sympthany of a wrestler getting beaten up as he has a chance to recover. In saying that I must say 1 match that managed to use the Enlish rounds well was the Dynamite Kid vs Marty Jones from England

 

 

These rounds are 5 minutes long with 1 minute rest periods. Benoit has Steve Blackman in his corner and Smith has the weasel.

 

The first round starts off with Benoit dominating Smith with Smith vacating the ring after flurries of offence against Benoit. Really wicked exchanges as Smith would go behind Benoit, take him down to the mat amateur stlye - Benoit than sits out and turns -- Smith than grabs Benoit's legs -- Benoit rotates his body sideways causing Smith to flip on his back which is than proceeded by I believe an armdrag and a dropkick before Smith bails to the outside.

Another highlight has Smith trying to monkey flip Benoit mid ring but Benoit does a cartwheel right beside him at full speed off of the ropes. Smith not to be outdone nips up a second afterwards but it's "all for naught" as Benoit once again nails him causing Smith to bail yet again.

 

Smith is real good here at these beginning portions of the match. At first he's fighting pretty clean but once Benoit starts to get the best of him he'll start backing away in the corner, using the hair for an unfair advantage and than attacking right after backing away in the corner.

 

Benoit largely dominates until around the 10 min mark where we have a real nice series of moves where Benoit ends up being dropped on his back which causes Smith to start attacking his ribs which along with Benoit's upper body becomes his main point of attack. Smith now is using full blown heel tatics. He does a real smart bit at the end of a round as he throws Benoit in an illegal move over the top rope to the cement floor letting himself rest up while at the same time not allowing Benoit to recover and lose some of his beat up sympthany from the fans.

 

That though is an ecample where I think the round problem can play havoc on you in the ring. The 1 minute rest did take away the possability for a cool out of the ring into the ring counter possability. Also, at the end of the other round time is running out and they may have had to cut a hope spot for Benoit short.

 

Back on track here Smith dominates for about 10 whole minutes and while this portion of the match was not as good as the excellent 6/4/88 match it is still very strong as Smith is that strong of a heel. Smith chokes Benoit like there's no tommorow, slaps him around while he's laying on the mat, takes 10 or so seconds to go back to his corner mid match and dry himself off with his towel, gives out a middle finger and just lets out this aura of complete arrogance with everything he does in the ring. But what I really like about Smith here is he doesn't cross the line into what I like to call a cartoon heel. There's no 10 punch in the corner, no going down with 1 punch all the time or no having your head rammed into the turnbuckle pad 10 times over. That is somthing that has always bothered me in wrestling and thankfully it doesn't happen here. In fact, with just a little bit of tweaking I would've loved to have seen Smith's heel charactor in All Japan.

 

Smith repeatably attacks Benoit's midsection hitting some real nice offence like a military press into a stomach breaker and the absolute *best knee to the stomach off of the ropes that you will ever see in your life. When it's time for Smith to put Benoit away (which I think may have also have to been sped up because of the round style) he goes up for a top rope Vader Bomb splash on Benoit's ribs. The same splash he had beaten other wrestlers with successfully. He nails it but Benoit puts his foot on the ropes. Smith takes it off but Benoit puts it back on again. Benoit is not to be denied.

 

Now this is a part of the match I talked about before. Smith slams Benoit in the middle of the ring and goes for a high range finisher for Stampede with a move that he didn't let out too much as a heel. The top rope flying splash which would surely be the end of the match if he hits it. But maybe the best part here is not the distance Smith gets on the splash but his complete and total arrogance adjusting his kneepads before going up to the top. Smith's all, "I got him. It's beyond over for that little snot nosed punk." Smith didn't defuse the seriousness of the situation by taking too much time but he did manage to beautifully show once again his cockiness getting the viewer against him all the more so the splash (Smith was pulling out the big stops) and the missing of it just means so, so much when you combine the fact that Smith was just nailing Benoit for 10 minutes straight and of course Smith's heelishness. It's almost impossable for someone to be cheering Smith at this point.

 

Benoit's subsequent comeback after the splash is extreamly well done. He hits all sorts of sweet offence including a tremendous backwards top rope elbow drop from the top rope ala Tenyru. Benoit ends up going for it again but the weasel distracts Benoit and Smith in a super spot throws Benoit backwards into the middle of the ring getting the 1/2/3. Smith of course never forgetting who he is uses the tights big time for the win.

 

The end is a huge rollercoaster ride where you find yoursef hoping Benoit will survive to hoping he will win to cursing for Johnny Smith and the weasel. This is done by letting out all the big moves as they stressed the importance of this climatic match. In saying that I must give props for Benoit and Smith for having the patience to make their first "final" match special. Smith's finisher was never used in any of thier 4 previous matches except for when Smith tried it once but Benoit got the knees up. Still he never made contact with it. This was the first time Benoit ever used the backwards top rope elbow which made it truly special. Smith only used the big splash once in the whole series. The finish was something they had never done before. All this made the match feel special.

 

 

In conclusion, I absolutely love this match. The beginning is fantastic, the face/heel structure is very strong with Smith being so arrogant that you have to cheer against him, a long heel control segment which gets you behing Benoit and a super ending that was a fitting end to their first series of bouts. A real hard fought wrestling match is the feeling you get after watching this.

 

 

* I wanted to talk about the knee. I don't know how Benoit and Smith do it but their knees to the stomach to each other off an Irish whip are heads and tails above everyone else I've seen do this manuever. So brutal looking. It must be exceptional timing because I have seen them miss the knee a couple of times.

[Guest wildpegasus]

DYNAMITE KID/DUKE MYERS/GREAT GAMA/DANNY DAVIS/HUEBERT GALLANT

 

vs BRET HART/BRUCE HART/DAVEY BOY SMITH/MR. HITO/KEITH HART

 

10 MAN ELIMINATION TAG 1981 Stampede abouts

 

 

Eliminations can take place not only over by pinfall, submission, disqualifaction or countout but by throwing your opponent over the top rope.

 

We only see a couple of minutes of action where we than proceed to cut away until the 30 minute mark where it's Davey and Bret vs Dynamite/Myers and Gama.

 

The action in this is just great. It's your typical very rough Stampede match with great work ethic and the electric crowd they had at the time. You even had your typical Stampede blood on the mat from a previous bout.

 

Dynamite just brings such an electric spark to his matches and here it's no different. His segments in the ring are full of excitement and its his bumping at the end of this which ends up being one's biggest memory from this bout. Bret and Davey finally come back after being beaten for a while and just take it to DK and Myers who are the tag champs.

DK and Myers just end up leaving and it's due to DK's bumping that this ending is completely believable.

 

Part 1 of Bret Hart's attack -- Dynamite does his trademark upside down flip bump into the turnbuckles and it's one of the most awesome things I've ever seen in wrestling. The heigth was amazing and the speed was out of this world. So much so that I had to rewind it over 5 times with my jaw hitting the floor each time so fast that I almost knocked myself out. There's nobody in wrestling who could've duplicated that.

 

Part 2 -- Bret Hart irish whips DK across the ring into an awating Davey Boy Smith who hits DK on the run with a shoulderblock from the top rope. Full contact. This stuff is occuring in 1981 -82 North America mind you.

 

Part 3 -- Davey Boy slingshots DK into Bret Hart's foot who's in the corner turnbuckle. The height and the timing here were great as this looks like a legit knock out move. Terrific bump.

 

Part 4 -- DK eats one of those piledrivers that Bret loves to do.

 

Yeah, so Dynamite was the ultimate punching bag here and is definitely the best bumper I've ever seen. His timing and athletic ability were just incredible and they helped make the ending of this match a memoarable one. The more you see of Dynamite the more you understand why he ended up being in a wheelchair. This was just a few minutes of one day of about a 38 minute match. The bumping he was doing in Stampede was insane.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I finally saw the Invasion PPV for the first time a couple of days ago. That crowd was nuclear, and I actually played the reaction to the Austin heel turn over and over. Kurt Angle was seriously booked to look like Superman at the end of that match. Anything within 10 feet of him got its ass kicked. The commentary was frustrating to listen to, and the whole night was weird to watch thanks to the full disclosure about ECW and WCW in the four years since. I mean, why would Paul Heyman be a complete stooge? It was neat to see him play the role of "evil mind that drives everyone," but yeesh. Totally neutered. And why the fuck would ECW work with WCW? Those were mortal enemies! I liked that even the refs were going at it. Doing this shit now would be so much better, with WCW being the mole company in this case. I would have really enjoyed a three-way promotional war. You could have faces and heels on all sides, and have the staying capacity to draw until Wrestlemania.

[Guest wildpegasus]

BRIAN PILLMAN vs JOHNNY B. BADD FALL BRAWL 95

 

 

First time ever seeing this and it ruled.

 

It was tough to watch though because the injuries here had definitely caught up to Pillman. He was trying with all his might but his body could only bring him so far. Still, he tried.

 

 

The match itself was not perfect and lacked flow at times but it still worked. Pillman was just great in this. He turns heel slowly in it and it's pretty fun to watch. What is also cool is that the 95 BOSJ tourney must have inspired his moveset here some.

 

They do a lot of "we're equal so we both hit moves at the same time bit" and that's a common theme throughout this. They also kick out of EVERYTHING including their trademark finishers. Nothing's going to work here for either competitor as both are determined not to lose. Each are bringing out stuff that looks special because you weren't seeing too much of this stuff at the time. It's going to take something truly special to win and it eventually does.

 

Pillman destroys himself at the end with a dive through the ropes and an attempted Benoit like clothesline? from the inside of the ring. Than we got the ending where we have the final double knockdown showdown. Both wrestlers put on the speed here emphasing the importance of the situation and duck each other's clotheslines which just builds up the fans' thoughts of who really is superior where our thoughts than peak when we get the ultimate double knockown spot with a super fast double crossbody block. Who ends up being superior in a match of seemingly two equals determined to put on the show of their lives? Watch the match and find out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I'd put my old Benoit vs Lesnar thoughts here too since I changed my old post of this slightly:

 

 

Note about this match -- I believe they edited the time Benoit was in the Brock Lock. I remember having a house show report saying he was in for much longer.

 

Yeah, I love this as it just connected with me.

 

 

 

CHRIS BENOIT vs BROCK LESNAR Smackdown 03

 

I just did this from memory so if I made any mistakes just tell me.

 

 

 

From memory I'll take a stab on why this match is on my favourites list for WWE/WWF matches.

 

Intensity which I'm such a big fan of. Flow too and this match just went so smoothly for me. Always a fan of the big man vs the small man as well. It institutes an immediate story into matches.

 

Start from the top here. Always a fan of what the human body can do I'm already physced up for this bout as soon as Benoit comes down to the ring. It's why I'm such a big fan of one night tournaments -- I like to see people take it to the edge physically. I can sympthasize more with their struggle more. Lesnar starts the match aggresively attacking Benoit as soon as he steps into the ring because Lesnar's fresh and Benoit's worn down from facing Cena earlier on in the bout. Nice touch there. Keep it simple stupid is often the best stragety

 

Benoit gets back on the offensive when he armdrags Lesnar 3 times and clotheslines him over the top rope. In that sequence we see that Lesnar hesitates before deciding to go over on the 3rd armdrag showing me that this match was indeed done on the fly to at least a degree. I kind of like matches on the fly so that probably got me liking the match a little bit better right there.

 

Lesnar regains control and goes into the heel beatdown the face portion of the match. This part of the match I thought was done really well with Lesnar keeping things going along smoothly with shoulderblocks into Benoit's stomach in the corner and hitting Benoit with a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Always a cool move to watch I liked how Benoit got a little comeback tease coming in before running into the tiltawhirl.

 

We then go to commercial I believe and come back with Lesnar hooking Benoit with a submission hold on the mat. After another brief comeback (correct me if I'm wrong) Benoit goes for the same clothesline he hit against Lesnar earlier in the contest. This time Lesnar ducks and Benoit goes spilling to the outside of the ring since Lesnar was prepared for that move because had nailed it earlier on him.

 

Now comes my favourite part of the match. Benoit's struggling on the outside of the ring after Lesnar had violently irish whipped him into the steel stairs. He's hurting getting up (great selling by Benoit here) but baby this is Chris Benoit and he's not going to take that garbage laying down. In a superb spot and one that caught me completely off guard Benoit drags Lesnar out of the ring and proceeds to nail him with forearm after forearm. Like I said before I LOVE intensity and Benoit is super intense here with those forearms and in a revenge spot nails Lesnar with the irish whip into the steel steps giving the heel his just deserts.

 

Lesnar's selling is fantastic here on impact here and he sells it like his back is seizing up on him. This is important because not only is it a super visual but it sets up the next portion of the match where Lesnar has to get breathing room from Benoit and starts to "run away" from him. I loved that because it put Benoit over so much to have a big monstor running away from him. See, what's also tremendous about this is it prolongs the face comeback. Ever since we entered the heel beatdown the face portion of the bout (heel control segment) Benoit's been getting his comebacks. At first it's just a little bit but it grows each time so we the fans have more faith that Benoit's going to eventually make that comeback. Our anticipation is growing for that comeback as well. So here we have Benoit making his biggest comeback yet during Brock's control segment where we finally get Benoit making a substansail comeback and we're all thinking. "Yes this is it. Benoit's back on the comeback trail."

 

Brock's on the run which even gives us more anticipation time for the comeback than normal. Benoit's following him. All's right with the world. But noooo, in another spot I love Lesnar cuts off Benoit with an elbow to the face catching Benoit coming in. Adored that spot. Not only was Benoit's longest comeback cut off but it was done in a real slick way. Benoit believing he has the "coward" on the line gets just a touch overconfident and lets Lesnar just nail him. The big monstor that is Lesnar is not quite dead and this spot here makes sure nobody forgets it.

 

Now Lesnar hits a "deadweight" german suplex which I don't think has ever been done in the WWE. Not only does he hit it but he throws Benoit a considerable distance across the ring!! Lesnar the monstor proves he is very much so as he hits a herculean test of strength and finishes off Benoit's comeback for good. Benoit puts the new move over big time by literally allowing his head to bounce off of the mat in a very dangerous spot.

 

At this point it looks pretty dim for Benoit. After that we have Lesnar running into the turbuckles intensly (Hey, there's that word again) after Benoit only for a weakened Benoit to hit 3 trademark german suplexes which look so awesome because of the size difference. Hit very intensly we are now officialy out of the heel control segment.

 

The crowd erupts for Benoit's stuff here not only because the germans are a cool move hit with passion late in the match but because they and I have been longing for Benoit's true comeback for so long. And they do when Benoit hits the headbutt off of the top rope where the crowd is literally standing on their feet. That's what wrestling is all about. Making your moves mean something.

 

Now going into the final stretch of the bout Lesnar starts frantically clothesling Benoit only for Benoit to put him into a crossface or so we think. Benoit gets him down part way only for Lesnar to simply not go down all the way because of his power advantage. Again reinforcing the fact that Lesnar is the monstor in this particular bout and Benoit the smaller man always has his work cut out from him. Lesnar picks him up but Benoit holds on and spins Lesnar back down into the crossface. (Innovative stuff there, which is another reason why this match rules) A good false tease there that had some cool, new counters, reinforced that Lesnar was stronger than Benoit and a sequence that made the fans pop more than they would have if Benoit had taken Lesnar down no problem into the crossface.

 

During that sequence of moves we had the refferee taken out which would normally make me groan out loud but it wasn't too bad here. It allowed me and the fans to curse the WWE for not allowing Benoit to win the title, it gave Lesnar an escape out of the crossface without actually breaking it and I'd say it partly gave Lesnar reason to snap after the match. Lesnar than hits the F-5 with an added twist as Benoit lands on his back, goes for the cover but only gets two as Benoit kicks out. A super near fall there as me and the fans I believe are conditioned to seeing Benoit never kick out of finishers. This time he did.

 

Brock loses it after that becasue the F-5 is his big move and decides to go out to get a chair because he knows he can't beat the Canadian crippler. Brock swings at Benoit's leg to weaken him up for what he promised to do beforehand. Make Benoit tap out. So he goes for one of the coolest and most evil looking finishers I've ever seen. The BrockLock. Lesnar sits down on Benoit but Benoit won't give up and proceeds to pass out from the pain. Benoit's desire had grown from the Rumble. There was no way he was going to give up this time because that title meant everything to him.

 

 

So just a great match throughout. Very, very intense the whole way through, had more of a realistic feel than most WWE matches, was emotional, had some innovative moves, a finish that was truly memoarable and a superb heel control segment in the middle portions of the bout. This bout definitely seemed to be a setup bout for the future as well because the way this bout went it was designed for future rematches to play off of.

 

The only possable "negative" part of the match would be the missed clotheslines but even that wasn't too bad since Lesnar did hit one early in the match and the attempted clotheslines he hit at the end of the bout kept the intensity high and the flow of the match running smoothly

 

 

 

EDIT

 

Just wanted to talk some more about this match as I was just thinking today about multistage transistions and just plain old 1 move transistions. Multistage transistions are usually cited by people as making a match superior than a match with simple 1 move transistions. And a lot of times that's true but not all the time.

 

In Benoit vs Eddie 11/18/95 there is a tremendous sequence where Benoit and Eddie do the ultimate 1 upmanship battle that ends up with a Benoit clothesline. Perhaps my favourite sequence of moves of all time it added greatly to the match as it fit in so nicely with the 1 upmanship/advanced wrestling/moveset story they were doing that particular night. A one move or a couple of 1 move manuevers wouldn't be as good here and would've hurt the match severely. All about timing I guess.

 

Now I want to take a look at one of my favourite 1 hit moves of all time. The Brock Lesnar elbow to the face which I absolutely LOVE. As I've cited before in the past Benoit was on a comeback trail during the "Brock beat down Benoit" portion of the match. Benoit's comebacks became bigger and bigger until the point where he actually gets the monstor Lesnar on the run. Benoit's confidence is growing and as a result he just gingerly walks in on a beat down Lesnar who's partly slumping in the corner. However, it was all a setup as Lesnar just nails the overconfident Benoit with an elbow to the face. Now this is an example where a 1 move sequence would be better than a multi stage transistional comeback. If say they did something like -- Benoit ducks elbow, goes behind brock, goes for northern lights but can't lift Lesnar up, Lesnar counters with attempted Canadian backbreaker, Benoit lands on his feet staggers a bit until Lesnar with an elbow -- than it would've partlyruint the story and the flow of the match. The 1 hit elbow to Benoit's face was necessary to show that A)Benoit's overconfidence cost him 2)that Lesnar set Benoit up and 3)that the big monstor was never quite tamed and was always ready to strike. Anything more complex would've diluted what Lesnar and Benoit were doing.

 

 

 

Now while some matches are fun and can be full of great multistage transistions sometimes they just have too many of them. Seeing a sequence of counter after counter is often enthralling to watch but the problem in some matches is that it's done so often during certain bouts that it loses its meaning. All the well thought out sequences donn't mean anything if there isnt something more "simple" to show how great the countering later on is. It's kind of like how the mat sections of the New Japan junior matches build up the excitement for the ending portions by letting the match climax. You need something a little bit more tamer than what you're doing at other sections to let your match build and climax. Which brings me to Benoit vs Lesnar. Benoit vs Lesnar didn't do any fancy countering (although they did do some countering that I loved)until Benoit ducks Lesnar's clothesline and attempts to put him into the crossface before finally procuring it a little bit later. By not having any counter, counter, counter, counter stuff in the beginning it allowed this sequence to really mean something. It stands out more and the sequence becomes more entrenched in our memories.

 

That same sequence was also superb in that it showed that Lesnar was still indeed the monstor. Not only the multi stage transistion at the end stand out but it showed Benoit's technical genius and at the same time Lesnar's prevailing power. All in one sequence. Fantastic.

[Si82 0]

Broadstreet Bully Match: Nasty Boys vs. Kevin Sullivan & Cactus Jack - WCW Slamboree '94

 

Man, what a brutal match. I didn't remember just how violent and nuts this match was until I watch it again. It's far better than the Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne match from Spring Stampede the month before and really set the standard for tag team brawls from that point on. I mean, take a look at any ECW tag team brawl and you'll see the infulence of this match. All four guys take a hell of a beating and seemed to be going all out. I can understand that the probably put the other match on the DVD because Jesse is on commentary but it was the superior of the two. I loved watching it again.

[cawthon777 0]

Paul Bearer's Hits from the Crypt

 

Got it cheap from Amazon. Not the greatest CHV thus far but, like I said, it was cheap.

 

HBK / Razor goes just under 20 minutes. Pretty decent work. Bam Bam / Mabel and Jarrett / Luger were crap. Currently watching Quebecars / Shrinkers.

[Si82 0]

Royal Rumble Match - WWF Royal Rumble 1995

 

I have to say that this match was far better then I remember it. In fact, most of the card was pretty good with the exception of I.R.S. vs. Undertaker. The match was pretty much action all the way through with it never letting up. This was likely due to the 60 second intervals between guys instead of the standard two minutes. Does anyone know why they changed it that year? However, the 60 seconds intervals was also meant that there were too many guys in the ring at once and most of them were jobbers. Still a good match though.

 

There is a point of interest during the commentary. When Jerry Lawler makes reference to both Lex Luger and Bret Hart winning the match last year Vince says: "Well, that’ll NEVER happen again, I promise you.". Ten years later and the same thing happens again.

[Si82 0]

Diesel vs. Undertaker - WWF Wrestlemania XII

 

I remembered this as being a good match when I first watched it back in '96. I think I might have watched it once or twice since then. Anyway, thought I would give a watch yesterday and I was surprised to find if it still holds up today. It really is an entertaining big man match between two guys who I thought would stink up the arena. I mean, Diesel seemed capable of having good matches against good workers so I was dreading the match but they really surprised me. Both guys put a ton of effort into the match and it payed off. Probably the first Undertaker match I really enjoyed. Good stuff.

[Guest wildpegasus]

I watched a lot of wrestling during the last couple of weeks.

 

Two matches that moved me were with Williams vs Kawada and Williams vs Kobashi from 9/23/94

 

 

Williams vs Kawada is one of my all time favourite matches. I'm not quite sure of the date though because it's on a comp. Williams was a monstor and I loved how Kawada gradually knocked him down bit by bit until he got the eventual pinfall. Williams was just the perfect champion at the time. Believable, pulling off great matches, tough, charasmatic and strong as anything. I've always been impressed by his work ethic. I don't think people realise how hard he actually works in the ring. This is something that personally always allows me to get into his matches just a little bit more than others.

I liked Williams hulking up here as it gave Williams even more of an invincilibilty factor so when Kawada finally knocked him down it was all the more meaningful. Just a beautiful all time classic bout.

 

Now we step into a more controversial bout. Kobashi vs Williams from 9/94. A definite stepup from their match earlier in the year I enjoyed this one a lot more the second time around.

 

I think the pacing bothered me some the first time. I liked the match a lot but it stopped me from enjoying it as much as I could.

 

This time it didn't bother me as much. After a bit they started throwing out some bombs pretty early in the match. They sold the moves well but but because the moves were so strong it didn't allow the match to feel as important as it could've at the end. This time, that didn't bother me at much. I got into the heavy hitting at the beginning and just imagined the pain both wrestlers were going through trying to win the bout.

 

The execution and effort was on. Williams worked his BUTT off here and of course it goes without saying Kobashi did as well. But what really got me into this bout was Kobashi "heeling" it up.

 

Kobashi in a super match lost to Williams in September of 93 but only after a super human fighting spirit effort. At the time he was a star but not as big a star as we has here. In 93 he was expected to lose. In 94 he's still the underdog but he's an underdog that has a much better chance of winning.

And I felt the emotion of Kobashi in this. Kobashi wanted to win this. Badly. Very badly. Kobashi here was at the crossroads. His charactor would be put the test and that's a moment I always love in wrestling. What do you do when you reach that patch in life? What road will you take?

 

Kobashi goes into that bout and wrestles cleanly to start off. He does well and this bout gave off more of an impression that he is more of a peer to Kobashi than an underdog hoping against hope that he can pull off a victory. Kobashi hangs with Williams and he does a good job with it. Kobashi can feel it but yet he knows the task ahead of him is humongous.

 

And Kobashi does it -- he goes for the unsportsmanship route. He goes after the knee of Williams but only for one hit. Enough to keep his dream alive of winning the bout. The beautiful part of all this is that Kobashi only uses the knee as a clutch. He doesn't want to win with a "tainted" knee victory since he is a good guy at hart but he will comprosise his values if only for a brief second if it means he still has a chance of climbing that surmountable mountain.

 

Now comes another excellent part. Kobashi has Williams on the run but can't put him away. Williams being the tough hombre that he is starts to make what looks like an eventual comeback. He gets out of the way of a moonsault and Kobashi starts to panic. Once again he sees that brass ring slipping away from his fingers so the knee like it did previously in the night is targeted. Williams immediatly goes to the outside in considerable plan. Kobashi flustered doesn't have a clue on how to make Williams say uncle so he just desperately nails Williams on the outside while trying to think of something.

 

The ending part I love. Kobashi has Williams in the ring and he's still panicking. He's desperate as even his charactor exposing tricks of attacking the knee did not work. He's there trying to hit the spinning chops to the neck on William in a last ditch effort to finally knock the giant Williams down. Williams is like a video game boss who will just not go down. I believe if memory serves correct Kobashi's desperte chop attempts (great choice of a move to show panic) ends up costing him as Williams counters and destroys Kobashi with his backdrop drivers. Kobashi in a selling move I love does his best to get up on his feet but he is now punch drunk. The punch drunk stuff worked very well here as it expressed his panic, desperation and fighting spirit so vividly especially when he tries to use Williams to get himself back on his feet.

 

I just cherished this as I connected so much here with Kobashi, his charactor and how we got to see it unfold when it was put to the test. It was also neat how it was Kobashi's panic attempt that cost him the match. Maybe if he didn't allow his charactor to go the route that it did in the match he could've won. Who knows? Fantastic stuff.

 

Both matches are among my favs

 

 

 

SAMOE JOE vs KENTA KOBASHI

 

Good little match with a super annoying crowd from ROH. Most of the offence looked very good and my definite highlight of the match was Kobashi chopping Joe in the corner where he'd tease reaching muscle failure only to hit Joe with another series of chops. Seeing Kobashi in 2005 here made me realise just how more natural he looks in the ring than most other superstars.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Since I went through a good deal of trouble looking for this I thought I'd post it here so it wouldn't be hard to find it again.

 

 

 

 

BENOIT vs ANGLE ROYAL RUMBLE 03

 

 

Thought I'd give my thoughts on this. Beware though, it's going to be long winded.

 

 

I liked this more the 2nd time I watched than the first time. A lot of what someone gets out of this match is the way you look at it. Looked at from the perspective of what the match is and not what someone wants it to be makes it a better match. Basically it's about a technical/oneupmanship battle between the top two technical superstars in the WWE and one man's quest to obtain this championship. If you watch the match looking at it from that perspective which I believe you should because that's what they were going for I think everybody will enjoy it more.

 

 

The match starts off well enough and turns into a good solid bout. The highlights being some good work by Benoit trying to obtain the sharpshooter on Angle so he can test out his knee which to this point had not really been tested since Angle was only in one bout since recovering from his injury. Similar to the sharpshooter work in Benoit vs Kane from Bad Blood here we have Benoit going for the sharpshooter three times before obtaining it. First time - Angle completely avoids it, 2nd time -- Benoit gets closer to getting it in and the 3rd time he's succesful. Good work there. As a result of all this we now see Angle's knee is indeed healed up which we suspected from the previous Smackdown where Angle was using it with no problems and the rumours from the lockerroom which said Angle was milking the injury. So now it's time to swith battleplans. Good storytelling there. A good start but I don't think it was a truly great start.

 

So now we're at the part of the match where ANgle is dominating Benoit in a heel control segment. Benoit starts to come out of it with a real nice double clothesline spot and this is the point where the bout's excitement proceeds to pick up. As RRR is fond of saying this is a spot that forced the crowd to get involved. A short comeback which is than stopped by Angle's Kyoko Inoue like belly to belly off of the top rope. Right here is probably the first part of the bout where people have trouble with it. Benoit hits 2 germans, Angle hits 1 and than Benoit finishes off the trifecta with his own german suplex before going up for his 2nd headbutt attempt off of the top rope.

 

No selling is the common complaint here but it's not as bad as people tend to think it is. First off in wrestling we are often told that this is what happens when a certain move is used. For example we have to shut off our minds when a frontfacelock is used and pretend it's not a move that is lethal and is a move that can be countered easily. Other days we have to pretend it's a finisher. We also have to shut off our minds about irish whips. Why? Because prowrestling has taught us to do so. We accept it and don't complain too much about it. It's the same thing with the german reversal as Benoit and Angle beforehand told us several times that they can reverse suplexes the way they do (I might also add for people who don't think this spot is believable to reming them that they toned down the amount of suplexes and the sequence wasn't hit too late in the bout and henceforth they were still full of energy). It's not like they're cheating and making a new rule of wrestling. They've already solidified the rule.

 

Angle's belly to belly off of the ropes after the first german sequence is also a sore point with some viewers. Yes, it's a little controversial selling but one also has to remember again that Benoit did take a little time going up to the rope and we still weren't too far into the match.

 

This is the part of the bout where we really start to see the oneupmanship deal come into play which is a big theme of this bout. Benoit says "Fu** you Angle" and Angle does the same thing to Benoit. Their pride about who is the best technical wrestler is on the line as it's always been displayed both in the ring and in backstage skits. Angle's german also serves as a nice momentarily break in Benoit comeback. Angle's belly to belly off of the top rope does fight into this mentality a little bit as well.

 

The match after this point is a long finisher segment with Benoit getting the better of Angle at first and than Angle turning the table and proceeding to get the better of Benoit. An interesting way of doing things.

 

 

 

 

Back to the match, Angle than goes for a second Angle slam with Benoit countering it yet again by landing on his feet in a cool spot. Angle goes for a clothesline immediatly with Benoit countering into a crossface. Angle makes it to the rope. Benoit uses an anklelock to get Kurt off, Kurt than counters to his own anklelock with Benoit than countering to another crossface by turning his body around and using his other leg on ANgle's arm to drive him down to the mat. An improtant spot which will have importance later on in the bout.

 

This was a real cool sequence which keeps the oneupmanship/technical battle going between the two. The first crossface starts the Benoit onslaught and starts to get the crowd thinking that Benoit just might win. Than in one of my favourite spots of the match. Angle holds on to the ropes -- So what does Benoit do? Put an anklelock on which makes perfect sense since that's a move that'll make you let go of the ropes instinctively. A perfect excuse to go from point A to B and to give Angle a chance to counter into his own anklelock with a sweet counter. With Benoit's counter into his 2nd crossface we see the crowd starting to buy the possability that Angle might submit even more. One other important thing here is that Benoit and Angle's anklelock were brief. If they were longer it would've been a problem with the match in my opinion but they kept them short which was smart. It allowed the emphasis to stay on Benoit making Angle submit by not allowing Angle too much time to recover between the crossfaces. That way the hope of seeing Angle submit is kept strong. The sequence here once again excelled in the oneumpmanship story they had going on during the bout.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match again we have Angle countering the crossface in a brand new spot. The bannana split. Than senconds later Benoit once agains has Angle in a crossface before we see Angle attempt a peterson roll. Benoit rolls through but Angle counters that into an Angle Slam. Benoit kicks out.

 

Awesome sequence here made better by the fact that they're playing off of their previous work. With the Benoit countering into yet another crossface after the bannana split it really makes the crowd believe that Benoit's going to do it here and bring home the gold. Like I mentioned earlier it's important that Angle only counter briefly here. It does two immediate things. It keeps the oneupmanship deal going and at the same time makes the crowd's belief that Angle might tap out grow extreamly strong. Angle never has a chance to legitimally recover. It's boom, boom, boom, boom!

 

I mentioned the playing off of their previous stuff. Benoit had already developed the roll through to the attempted peterson roll by Benoit but Angle had never countered the roll through of the peterson roll. And here he does in big time fashion with an Angle slam. Enough to get an exciting pinfall on Benoit because the match has been going on for a while. Also enough to get Benoit down for awhile because ANgle was in big time trouble beforehand.

 

Here though we see probably the biggest problem of the match. Missed clothesline attempts into the crossface. Done too often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match. Angle hits the anklelock. Benoit counters with a forward roll which causes Angle to hit the turnbuckles. Benoit attempts a german but Angle counters with an elbow to Benoit's head. Angle goes for a german but Benoit counters with a great looking roll up.

 

Once again the oneupmanship deal. Another great sequence which nobody should have any problems with it. Angle has gotten the anklelock a couple of times now but never for too long. Enough to get the fans a little worried and to start wearing down Benoit's energy health meter. Still, nothing too serious. So far during the finisher segment which has been going since the belly to belly off of the top rope it's been Benoit dominating with Angle holding on but still hitting enough stuff to weaken Benoit's health meter and put him in trouble. (also helped out by the fast pace of the match)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match. Benoit hits a german, Angle hits a german and than Benoit hits the tout de gras. An awesome overhead german suplexes which ends with Angle face down on the mat. Benoit goes up to the top rope and hits a flying headbutt. Angle kicks out only for Benoit to attempt a standing crossface. Angle rolls through, proceeds to hit Benoit with an innovative two hit combo of an inverted powerbomb into the top turnbuckle followed by the 2nd angle slam of the match.

 

Fantastic sequence here. First off the oneupmanship deal in never more obvious than it is here. Benoit hits 1 german, Angle hits 1 german but than in a hunongous screw you to Angle; Benoit hits the superb overhead release german suplex where I bleieve Angle and Benoit clunked heads. Now my favourite part of the match. Benoit who's now worn out from the match "crawls" over to the turnbuckles and proceeds to hit one of the longest headbutts I've ever seen him do. What makes this so great is a couple of different reasons. First off, it took Benoit three attempts to hit the headbutt so by the time he hits it the crowd HAS to pop for it. Real nice wrestling physcology there. The second reason goes back to that tremendous interview Benoit did on Smackdown where he talked about how much the title meant to him. See, it's one thing to say you're going to do somethnig. I'ts another thing alltogether to say you're going to do something and not only do it but do it with so much recklessabandon and enthusiasm that it becomes contagious to the viewer. Benoit proved through a herculean feat of athleteic prowess that he REALLY wants the title. It doesn't get better than that.

 

Now after Benoit hits the headbutt off of the tope he goes for the crossface on Angle who's down on the mat getting up. Benoit I believe did the same thing at Unforgiven so this time Angle's ready for it and counters by rolling through.

 

Now with the 2nd Angle slam we have the most believable fall of the match where a lot of people were scared to death that it was over. A second Angle slam which was proceeded by work on Benoit's head with the release german, Benoit's own headbutt which hurt him more than usual, a turnbuckle planting and an Angle slam. definitely a tremendous nearfall made even more dangerous and believable by the previous damage to Benoit's head. You can't help but pop like mad for the pinfall when Benoit kicks out. Angle also does a good job displaying Benoit's determination here by pounding the mat with his fist. Benoit's proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't bluffing when he did that backstage interview segment on Smackdown.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match. Benoit hits the crossface one last time. Angle counters into the anklelock once again. Benoit trys countering but Angle holds on. Eventually, Angle wins with a laying anklelock.

 

 

 

At this point Angle has taken over the momentum in the finisher segment that started with the belly to belly off of the top rope abouts. This part of the bout is similar to the parts proceeding it where Benoit had the advantage on Angle. This time however it's Angle constantly taking it to Benoit.

 

All right, Benoit hits the crossface one last time. He's hit it a lot and ANgle is bodering on sustaining too much finisher damage but I don't think they went overboard here. Anway, I felt the crossface worked here because it just seemed that Benoit would have to win with it this time and it showed that Benoit was always a constant threat. The whole arena was chanting "Tap, tap, tap" so obviously it worked! The crossface also served as a great excuse for Angle to go from working on Benoit's upperbody to working on his ankle since at that point of the match it wouldn't have made too much sense for Angle to voluntarily go after the ankle. So the crossface represents a logical way to get from A to B and give the match even more time to show Benoit's determination to win this thing by not giving up to Angle's onslaught.

 

After Angle gets Benoit into the anklelock we find ourselves watching some emotionally charged smart wrestling. A couple things I loved about this. First off there's learnt match physcology here. Remember Benoit countering to a crossface by turning his body around and using his other leg on ANgle's arm to drive him down to the mat earlier in the match? Well Benoit does it here once again in a desperate attempt to get out of the anklelock but Angle's learnt that trick and refuses to go down to the mat! And he maintains the anklelock! Also during this sequence Benoit turns around and kicks Angle off of the anklelock momentarily getting Angle off of his foot. Angle though goes right back to the foot like a shark smelling blood. So what does Benoit do? Kick him off again of course but this time in a tremendous looking visual Angle maintains his grip, rolls over and gets Benoit right back into the anklelock! Once again, in ring learnt physcology!

 

2nd thing I loved about this was the way constant pressure was put onto Benoit's ankle. This is an advantage that submission wrestling has over non submission wrestling. With non submission wrestling you'll often find wrestlers can recover a bit inbetween moves so for me anyway the sympthany is not as strong as it could be with submission wrestling like we saw here in this match at the end and the part of the match where Benoit was constantly putting Angle into the crossface. The constant pressure that Angle had on Benoit's ankle at the end of the match never gives me a chance to breathe. I feel Benoit's pain level going up and up with no real break (though there were teased breaks which I really liked) so my smpthany just climbs and climbs for Benoit getting me more involved into the bout.

 

The ending was a sure bet highlight of this bout too. It set up a rematch down the line beautifully as the laying anklelock just screams for a Benoit reversal. It also capped off Angle winning the oneupmanship game that was being played throughout the match. The laying anklelock also plays into the interview piece Benoit did on Smackdown a few weeks beforehand. There was no way Angle was going to beat Benoit using conventional means. He had to bring something new out to take Benoit down. Something he wasn't expecting. And of course as we all know he did.

 

 

So in conclusion, although this match isn't perfect I think it's strong enough to be a classic. The counters, the moveset, the oneupmanship, the technique, *the drawing of the fans in via wrestling (when they had some odds stacked against them), the learnt physcology, the emotion and the workrate all make it very memoarable. At least 4 1/4 ** though I'm not a big fan of the star rating system at all.

 

 

 

 

*About drawing the fans in -- I think I'll talk some more about that. Once we get into that extended finisher sequence I think what works is that the match does a great job of making you think Benoit can do it over and over again when he hits the crossfaces. The momentarily interjections of Angle getting out of those only to get back in again work well in that respect too. It obviously worked because the fans were chanting "tap, tap, tap".

 

Than we got the ending of the bout which is the same and the opposite of Benoit putting Angle in the crossfaces. This time it's Angle putting Benoit into the anklelock only for Benoit to get quick breaks of relief. This like earlier in the bout causes the fans to go "no, no, no" followed by "yes, yes, yes".

 

But personally perhaps my favourite suck the fans bout in moment was when Benoit finally hit the headbutt as I described earlier

[TNABaddboi 0]

I've been on an old school WWE kick lately, so I've download a bunch of Hogan era matches recently. Here the ones that I've watched in the past few days:

 

Hogan-Warrior from WM6: This show was my first exposure to wrestling, and this match probably is the reason I'm still watching to this day. Easily one of Warrior's top 3 best matches ever and everything a face/face match should be. Ventura was great on commentary here, not in the telling jokes kinda way he normally was, but in a "wow, we're watching something special" kinda way.

 

Warrior-Savage from WM7: If the Hogan match isn't Warrior's best match ever, than this surely is. And the angle afterwards was everything Kurt/Stephanie could have been, i.e a soap opera-y story that was so dopey that it could only suck in women.

 

Hart-Perfect from Summerslam 1991: This show has always been one of my favorites. I'm not sure why, because the only hot match was this one, but I watched this show so much in my mark days that I ruined the tape. Anyway, this was definitely Bret's coming out party, and knowing the condition of Perfect's back made it all the more enjoyable in my recent viewing. And Bobby Heenan was genius on commentary.

 

Hogan-Undertaker from Survivor Series 91 and Tuesday in Texas: I'd never seen either of these matches until I downloaded them, but it was so interesting watching how much Taker's character changed over the years when I did finally see them.

 

The 92 Rumble Match: Other match I'd heard alot about but never seen. When I finally saw it, I couldn't believe this match didn't make Flair a face. They stacked the deck against him and he overcame all the odds, with Heenan putting him over at every turn and Monsoon talking about how impossible it was. I think if they ran that story with a heel at a Rumble now, they'd be the face by the time we got to Wrestlemania.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Edge and Christian vs. The Brood (Hardy's) at No Mercy in 1999

 

This was the ladder match that broke them from the pack. It's a good stuntfest, but it does not hold up today. The crowd only reacted to the big stunts and were silent otherwise. Jim Ross tried his best to put the match over, while Jerry Lawler kept talking about looking up Teri's skirt earlier in the evening, and pretty much ignored the match. If you have fond memories of this, don't watch it again.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Yeah, that match has been outdone so many times since, and these matches don't have a whole lot in the way of psychology, so I can see why they wouldn't hold up today.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Steve Austin vs. Triple H, also from No Mercy

 

It's the standard WWF main event of that era, with the majority of the match taking place outside of the ring and there being almost no wrestling. The match doesn't even get to the ring until about eight minutes in. A funny spot saw them in the crowd and Hunter goes to pedigree Austin but Austin upends him and catapults him into the referee, sending him flying. The funny part is that right as they're going through all this, a fan, who is inches from all this, picks up his magazine and starts reading. He casually glances at them in mid spot, and then goes back to his magazine, completely ignoring it when Austin sends Hunter into the referee. The rest of the match is your usual WWF brawl, with all the usual shortcuts, and run-ins. Watch it if you want to see Hunter get his long awaited pinfall win over Austin, but otherwise you can live without seeing it.

[Guest Psycho_Freak]

Cash Flo VS Ian Rotten - IWA Mid South King of the Deathmatches 1997.

Pretty Good Match

[snuffbox 0]

Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase - From the Bret dvd

 

This is a really fun match, even without the commentary. With something like Gorilla and Jesse talking over it it might even be better...but if it was going to be something like Lord Hayes, Sean Mooney, etc than its much better as is. Too bad DiBiase was hurt before he could ever have a world title program with Bret...couldve been some classics. Their interaction at Survivor Series '90 was quite good as well...best stuff on that ppv, in fact.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer from ECW's Three Way Dance

 

This match is the usual brawl between these two, and it actually holds up very well. It has the usual stuff from an ECW brawl; arena wide action, lots of international objects, and frequent audience participation. Raven bleeds a lot and the action never really stops, so that part of it doesn't get boring. The finish is well executed, and the audience never dies, so if you like good brawls, then you'll probably like this a lot.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen, Texas Bullrope Match, Starrcade 1990

 

I remember liking this a lot more as a kid. The crowd, who had been on and off through most of the show with pretty good reason, were hot for Luger, as much as I can remember him being for some time. The brawling didn't really seem to go anywhere and Luger didn't really sell anything more than a minute after it happened. But, I still love the finish. They pretty much duped everyone in the crowd into thinking they were going with the refbump and screwjob, which got them a big pop for the reversed decision.

[Si82 0]

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: The Steiner Brothers vs. The Heavenly Bodies - WWF Summerslam 1993

 

I just watched this match for the first time in over ten years and it was a real surprise. A really fun, well executed tag match with some great moves and Dr. Tom bumping like a madman for the Steiners. All that and Jim Cornette going crazy on the outside too. A real forgotten gem.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Tito Santana vs. The Undertaker (Barcelona, Spain in October of 1991)

 

http://www.youtube.com/w/Tito-Santana-vs.-...=tito%20santana

 

Watch the deadman eat 3 piledrivers before getting knocked out by his own urn in one of Santana's last matches before becoming El Matador.

 

Credit: Graham Cawthon

[DangerousDamon 0]

ROH Steel Cage Warfare

Jay Lethal vs Samoa Joe

 

Lethal's frustration at not being able to get the upperhand over Joe culminates in him going apeshit on Joe's leg with a chair. At first, Lethal has a look of disbelief over what he has done to his mentor, but by the end of the match, Lethal turns into a giant prick by kicking Joe in the leg after he defeated him.

Joe's selling of his leg was excellent in this match, as was his selling of being hurt by what his protege had done to him after the match.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

Rock vs. Brock - SummerSlam 2002

 

Man, is the Rock the biggest company man ever, or what? Match was alright, but both guys looked they were moving at half their normal pace. The People's Elbow spot was great. Would've been even better had Brock just F5'd him right there. And I still can't believe the crowd turned on the Rock like that. What the fuck is with New York and turning on babyfaces?

[Guest wildpegasus]

American Dragon vs Chis Hero

 

 

Well, ths was somewhat of a surprise. Very good match and is up there with Ki vs KENTA for me as my fav ROH bout. There were a few different things I didn't like about it but it had a fun enough heel control segment, several hard fought cool looking counters (definitely the highlight) and spirited comebacks by Dragon to make it a thumbs up bout overall.

 

 

Oh yeah, and the crowd sucked. Unreal how bad they were.

[Si82 0]

Steel Cage Match: Edge vs. Matt Hardy - WWE Unforgiven 2005

 

A great match, in my opinion. I'll admit, at first I didn't have high hopes for this match following the one at Summerslam. However, once it started I was hooked. The crowd heat was amazing and both guys really put the effort in.

 

It started well with some back and forth action. Then Edge took over and focused on Matt's head, which was a nice call-back to Summerslam. Eventually Matt made the comeback and got his revenge on Lita before the match moved into the finish. More back and forth action followed by Matt's awesome legdrop from the top of the cage. Great stuff.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Manami Toyota/Toshiyo Yamada vs. Combat Toyoda/Megumi Kudo FMW

 

 

Joshi puroresu matches are the hardest matches to review. AJPW, WCW, ECW, WWF or NJPW tend to be a lot easier. The reason being is that so much action and emotion happen in joshi puroresu that it would take forever and a day to comment on it all.

 

 

This here is one of those matches. Action filled from start to end there's never a moment to catch your breath. It's go, go, go and go until someone can't go anymore. That being said this match depsite going 100 miles an hour always has some kind of focus. There's a real nice build to it and it has lots of smart wrestling moments in it in particular some really good false teases of a lot of stuff. Of course it's full of the typical awesome offence you'd expect in joshi puroresu and there's a real nice moment here at the end of the match where Yamada realises Toyota is in trouble and just goes crazy beating up Kudo and Toyota complete with a barrage of boos from the crowd.

 

There's not too much negative about this match at all. In fact, it's a lot better than the Dreamslam match between the two teams so don't let that deter you from automatically making a judgement call on the quality of this match. My main gripe watching this is that I just wasn't yonger watching this for the very first time. I envy anyone doing so. Terrific match, make sure to give it a watch.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Been watching some stuff lately

 

3 or 4 really dissapointing matches but I'm only here to talk positive

 

 

Jamie Noble vs Roderick Strong -- The starting's kind of eh but this really picks up towards the end and ends up being one of if not the best ROH match I've ever seen. Not too many people agree with but I think Noble's the best wrestler ROH ever had.

 

Eddie vs Bradshaw Cage Match -- Very good, one of Eddie's better matches in the WWE.

 

 

Kerry Von Erich vs Ric Flair WCCW cage match with Hayes as an additional reff

 

THis was great and it's matches like this that make me rethink my rankings for the best wrestlers ever. For anyone who tires of the Ric Flair formula watch this match because the bout breaks out of it.

 

Flair has great mannerisms in the ring here which drag you into the match and Von Erich was no slouch here either in this department. In fact, a lot of the greatness of this bout is due to Von Erich. He does all sorts of neat stuff like punching away at Flair's knee and concentrating on attacking Flair's bloody head. And his selling after getting hit with the steel cage door is terrific. Reccomended match and hopefully this will be part of the deathvalley nomination list.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Rock'n'Roll Express vs Minnesota Wrecking Crew Steel Cage from 1985 I think

 

 

This match alone is almost better than any match on the WWF DVDVR set. Going in I didn't think the match would be as good as it was as I was underestimating the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. The match starts off kind of eh but once Gibson gets the tag into Morton and Morton gets the crap beaten out of him the match picks up. A lot of that was due to Morton's well known selling ability. The Andersons work on both his head and his arm area well enough to the point where it's hard not to get behind Morton. One thing you'll find different watching this match in comparison to matches of today is the amount of times Morton was cut off from making the hot tag. I had lost count but it was a lot and it was refreshing to see so many hot tags cut off for the simple fact that it was different.

 

There were moments during the face in peril section that were tremendous. The Andersons did a good job of pulling things out of their hat to beat up Morton's arm. They kept on upping the ante which is something I like to see in my matches. There were some moments in the Morton beatdown that were just okay though and I felt they became more visible just because the other parts were so good. The ending was fine but it felt a little anticlimatic after everything else that went down. Still, the match was great and it should be checked out. You can find it on www.youtube.com Do a search for Arn Anderson and you should find the match.

[Guest wildpegasus]

BENOIT/MALENKO vs RIGGS/ENOS WCW Nitro 99

 

Tournament match for the WCW tag titles. This was the second bout of the evening for Benoit and Malenko as they had wrestled Taylor and Finlay beforehand. This one here was pretty good. It had a solid enough beginning and really picked up after the commercial break. This bout reminded me of the one one thing that's holding back the WWE tag division -- Double team tag team moves --

Anyway, back on topic this match had spots which kept you guessing and more of a struggle/realness vibe to it than most tag team matches. I thought that was the strong suit of the bout. Both teams felt like a tag team unit who were really concerned about each other. Props to the spots around Benoit's headbutt and Enos' slam of Malenko crossbody off the top rope. That told everyone in the arena -- "Yeah, we're here to party"

 

 

BENOIT/MALENKO vs VAN HAMMER/KAZ HAYASHI Thunder 99

 

Match is fine but it suffers from each time switching from face to heel all the time.

 

 

BENOIT vs DDP Superbrawl

 

Very, very good to great bout. Cool moves, reversals and a story that was pretty much right on with what they were doing at the time. Every move made sense here. The pop of the crowd and the literal holding of their breath while Benoit hit the third german suplex into a bridge is the type of crowd reaction you will often not see. It just goes to show how you over Benoit was at the time with the crowd and how bad they wanted him to finally win the big one. That's as real a reaction you will get in a bout.

 

 

BENOIT vs RAVEN vs DDP Triple Threat PPV match

 

Pretty good with a really good ending. Good story throughout and they somehow found a way to make a triple threat flow smoothly. They didn't have the unrealistic 3rd man stay down for too long factor in this bout

 

 

JUMBO TSURUTA vs RIC FLAIR 6/8/82

 

Eh, people can say there were a few problems here and there but screw that -- This match was incredible and is now among my upper echelon of fav bouts. This is only my 2nd Flair vs Tsuruta bout I've seen and both of them so far just ruled it. To put into perspective I'll take this over many of either man's commonly cited best bouts.

 

Flair works his BUTT off as usual and Jumbo does too. Each wrestler is full of life, Flair and Jumbo's offence both look great and they really build the excitement up around the figure fours area of the bout. It's than brought down some only for it to escalate again at the end. Loved the ending as this may be the best I've ever seen that ending done. Watch this one yesterday. It's available on youtube

 

FLAIR vs BRUISER BRODY from St. Louis

 

The famous match. They've both had better.

 

 

FLAIR vs FUNK Great American Bash 89

 

Very good bout which could've been great but it just never hit the flow you wanted it to do for a classic. Still a must see.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I watched Supercard of Honor from ROH, and it really is a must-see show. The overall card just blows away anything WWE or TNA have done this year. From top to bottom you've got great angles and great matches. The two most talked about matches are the Dragon's Gate trios match and Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong. Dave Meltzer gave the DG match ***** and it more than deserves it. It starts off slow and builds to a tremendous climax with one incredible spot after the other. The match has timing, teamwork and, and I know some people will refuse to accept this, great psychology. This is one match you really have to see. Danielson/Strong goes 56 minutes and while not quite as good as the DG match it's still really great. It's such a change from the mainstream to watch two guys go out there and just wrestle.