Floyd’s Rant for Wrestemania IV
To be honest I wasn’t looking forward to this show for 2 reasons:
1) It’s not really that good.
2) It’s loooonnngggggggggggggggg (~4 hrs.)
This year after Hogan was pinned cleanly by Andre (fuck you Hogan, you lost, the ref counted 3… live with it), Andre gave/sold the World title belt to Ted Dibiase. The WWF wouldn’t allow it so they declared the title vacant and set up a tournament for the title. I thought the tournament was a great idea but unfortunately all the matches were way to short to be any good.
Show opens and Ventura says how excited he is is for this event and how happy he is to be calling the show with Monsoon rather than Vince McMahon (who he always argued with in SNME). Bob Uecker is here! Awesome, let the jokes begin! He gives a glare to Ventura. Ventura responds by silently holding his fist in front of the Uke’s face.
0. 20-Man Battle Royal – Participants: Sika, Danny Davis, The Killer Bees, Bad News Brown, Sam Houston, The Rougeau’s, The hart Foundation, The Young Stallions, Ken Patera, Outlaw Ron Bass, Junkyard Dog, The Bolsheviks, Hillbilly Jim, Harley Race and George Steele.
Bob Uecker is guest commentator for this match, and he’s pretty hilarious with Ventura. For some reason George “the Animal” Steele starts the match outside the ring and apparently he’s eliminated without even being in the match!?! Maybe he couldn’t take a bump over the ropes ala Iron Sheik in WM 17. Uke says he’s got a date with Vanna White but Ventura says she’s in love with him. It’s weird seeing Ken Patera without blonde/white hair. Final 5: JYD, Harley Race, Bad News Allen, Bret Hart, Paul Roma. Harley takes a 360 bump to be eliminated. Bad News takes care of Roma. Stampede buddies Bad News and Bret Hart team up and after awhile they eventually eliminates JYD. They shake hands and celebrate, looks like their gonna split the win-money and trophy. BUT IT’S A SWERVE!!!! Bad news with a ghetto-blaster to Bret and he dumps him for the win. Bad news receives the trophy and looks pleased until Hart comes back in and smashes the trophy to pieces!! *
I heard this was the beginning of Hart’s singles push, but after discovering they were getting rid of Neidheart, he opted to stay tag teaming for 3 more years. Uke leaves to find Vanna White. After he leaves Ventura says he knows right where she is.
ROUND ONE
1. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan Vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase (w/ servant Virgil and Andre the Giant) – Although I’ve never seen one, I’ve heard these two had some tremendous matches in their Mid-South feud. Let’s see how this one turns out. Funny story, Virgil was named that because it was the first name of their competition’s head booker Dusty Rhodes. Years later Virgil went to WCW and was renamed Vincent, after Vince McMahon. There’s also an interesting rumor on how Virgil got his job but I don’t believe it and good taste prevents me from telling it. Dibiase starts slow but then they start brawling and Duggan wins that, DiBiase takes a nasty bump to the outside. Dibiase’s awesome, he gets better every time I see his matches. Back and forth and Dibiase gets the advantage. Duggan gets a sunset-flip and Ventura is amazed that dumb-ass Duggan actually pulled a move like that out of his ass. Ventura: “Only at Wrestlemania can I be amazed….” Eventually Duggan comes back but Andre cheats and knocks Duggan out for the DiBiase pin. Andre earned his $$ from Ted that match. Wow tons better than I remember but still nothing special. *1/2
2. Dino Bravo (w/ manager Frenchy Martin) Vs. “Da Rock” Don Muraco (w/ training-supplements-supplier “Superstar” Billy Graham) – Ha WTF is Muraco’s music from? It sounds like a 60’s Hercules movie theme that Mystery Science Theatre 3000 shows. 2 big dudes here. Muraco makes a few early mistakes but the commentators cover for him nicely. Once again Ventura tries to explain the Dino Bravo bench press record that he “helped” on. Bravo kicks Muraco off into the ropes.. into a freakin’ hangman’s noose!!! Whoa!… Bravo with a piledriver, nice once too! Ref bump!! Bravo hits his finishing move, the ref goes over and…….. it looks like Muraco won by DQ!?! WTF!?!?! Aha I didn’t notice it like the commentators but Bravo used the ref as a shield drawing the DQ. This match was also alot better than I remember too. But still only *
Kickass promo where Jimmy Hart and Honkytonk put down Uke again. Ain’t no love for the Uke tonight?
3. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat – This is a come-back of sort as Steamboat took a long time off from the WWF are being pissed at McMahon. He brings his son to the ring, Ventura says he’s got cheeks bigger than Bundy. This should be a good one. Steamboat starts off fast and gets his trademark arm drags. Lotsa quick pins for 2, with Steamboat reversing all of Valentine’s moves and we’re back on the arm. Ventura says his pal Barry Blaustein (Director of “Beyond The Mat”) thinks Steamboat’s gonna win the tournament. Valentine’s in the driver seat now and lays the hammer down. Monsoon says: “The external proximal protuberance”, Ventura asks: “What the fuck did you just say?” So Monsoon says “that lump on the back of your head”. Donald Trump is ringside. His wife looks thrilled to be there (not). If I was Steamboat or Valentine I’d take a backdrop over the railing on ‘em. Hammer’s beating the crap out of Steamboat. Chopfest! Back and forth action until Steamboat hits a high cross body, which Valentine’s reverses it for the pin and a small upset! Really good match for the short time allocated. *** Steamboat thanks the fans before he leaves. About 9 months later Steamboat is the NWA World Champion and putting on some of the greatest matches of all-time with Ric Flair.
4. :”The Natural” Butch Reed (w/ manager “Da Doctor O’ Style” Slick) Vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage (w/ luggage Elizabeth) – Da Slickster dance! Much like Dynamite Kid and Terry Funk, Slick was ahead of his time baby!
Ventura’s glad (as am I) that McMahon isn’t doing commentary as he’s worse than Jerry Lawler when it comes to Elizabeth. Seriously it’s no wonder Savage used to be super over-protective with her with Vince’s horny-ass hanging around. Savage tries to use his quickness but Reed uses his power to get the edge. Reed takes smack to Elizabeth, enabling Savage to hit the Flair-slam from the top! Quicker than you can blink he’s on the top rope and gets the elbow drop for the win! 1/2*
Back to the Uke with Bobby Heenan & The Islanders. Heenan puts him down. Yet more Uker hate is unleashed on this show
5. The One man gang (w /manger Slick) Vs. “Bam Bam” Bigalow (w/ Lord Oliver Humperfink)– One Man Gang had a nice run in World Class against the Von Erichs (Hope I thinking of the right guy). He went on too become Akeem the Dream. Bam Bam is a incredibly underrated wrestler. I think the only due he got in the U.S. was a brief run in ECW. One Man Gang starts off quick until Bigalow comes back. High cross body by 350+ Bam Bam! Bam Bam goes to the ropes and Slick accidentally slightly touched the ropes and Bigalow went flying out. Bigalow, what a clumsy Ox. Bell rings? Uhhhh.. Count out win by One Man Gang? Hmmmmm.. That would be fine except Bam Bam got back into the ring in ohhh in about 2 seconds??? Ah well whatever, One Man Gang advances. 1/2*
6. “Ravishing” Ric Rude Vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts (w/ drinking buddy “Damian”) – This is a great opening round match because they were startinjg the feud. Rude’s gimmick was kissing women in the audience. Well one time he kissed Roberts wife so Roberts went ballistic. Rude responded by spray painting Jake’s wife ion his tights. Pretty intense and innovative stuff for its day. Ventura says Rude is the winner of the Jesse “the Body” award. Monsoon asks “What about Ultimate Warrior?” Ventura says: ”His face is too ugly. Looks count too..” Rude’s pretty awesome, he started off terrible but every year he got better and better in every facet of wrestling until he was a great bumper and probably WCW’s best heel until his career-ending injury.
Hmmmmm… actually I guess that feud was after this match. Forget everything I wrote..:-) Jake gets the advantage and works da arm. Roberts goes for the DDT and Rude scurries out of the ring. Heenan hugs him. Rude back in and he takes control after a screwed up Robert’s knee drop. Lonnnnngggggggg wear-down sequence, lasting pretty much the entire match. Roberts finally gets out and they trade moves until the bell rings? Time limit draw! That means neither man advances. Nice start and good ending but really boring in the middle. * Jake tries to ram his snake in Rude’s face, but he escape beforehand. Mean gene asks Vanna White’s opinion on Bob Ukear. Vanna White: “Who?”
7. Non-Tournament match: Herculez Hernandez Vs. The Ultimate Warrior – Monsoons says the retard Warrior breaks the 220 record when he runs to the ring. Staredown and although I never see homophopic stuff in wrestling (like a lot of non-fans), I swear I thought Warrior was gonna give Herc an open mouthed kiss. But see queering don’t make the world work. Warrior tries to skin the cat on the ropes, but he ain’t no Steamboat. Both guys brawl outside the ring. Hercules is completely carrying this match. Herc with the full nelson, Warrior in desperation does the Bret Hart/Steve Austin sleeper-escape thingy in the corner and it ends up with Herc shoulder’s down for the 3 count!! Really not much here. ½*
ROUND 2
8. Hulk “I won’t job to my best friend Andre cleanly” Hogan Vs. Andre the Giant (w/ bodyguard Virgil and executive consultant Ted DiBiase) – These guys received a bye from the first round because of the SNME controversy. Nice video package of the feud is shown. Anyway for those who don’t know here’s what went down. Andre/Hogan II took place at SNME in early 88. Andre had the Hulkster’s pinned, Hogan got his shoulder up, but the ref counted to 3 and Andre won the title!!!!!!! It seemed the ref was the “evil” twin brother of Earl Hepner, of Dave or I dunno whichever.. Anyway he was paid off and Andre gave the title to Ted Dibiase. GM Jack Tunney said no way and the title was vacated. That SNME match was voted PWI’s Best match of 1988 and although it was a horrendous match quality wise, the sheer markout value of seeing Hogan cry like a bitch (seriously it was hilarious!) in front of the largest TV audience ever for a wrestling match was well worth any awards given to it.
Hogan tries to cheapshot right away but Andre’s too quick for him. For absolutely no reason Hogan starts illegally attacking DiBaise and Virgil, jezz what a role model. Maybe it’s roid-rage and he has to beat up people smaller than him. Andre get’s tied upin the ropes, giving Hogan time to rip off his shirt and pose. Hogan gets some shots in but Andre stops him and starts to choke. Andre with the super slow-mo offense. Finally the “training-enhancers” kick in and Hulkster Hulks up!! He punches Andre in the corner and goes for the slam.. But DiBiase with the chairshot to his back! Hehe money , money, money.. Hogan hits Andre with the chair, Andre grabs it and hits Hogan as well (makes a nice “ding” sound off his skull too!). Bell rings. DOUBLE-DQ!!! Wow that was a HUGE upset for this. Hogan runs after DiBiase and Vigil eats a suplex in the floor from Hogan. A very sloppy, lazy and dangerous suplex too. Both guys are eliminated!! Well Andre certainly earned his money again tonight, he got rid of Hogan and took one for the team. That smart strategist DiBiase, his evil plan is working perfectly I tells yeah! Hogan poses for the fans, which lasts longer than the match. ½*
9. Ted DiBiase (w/ out Virgil) Vs. Don Muraco (w/ “Superstah” Bully Graham) – Muraco starts off fast and tries to get a quick pin to advance. Ventura says he taught former WWF Champ Billy Graham everything he knows. DiBiase reverses a move and Muraco is slingshot into the corner post. Now it’s all Dibiase until he misses a reverse top rope elbow. Back and forth and DiBiase gets a nice hotshot which gives him a clean win. Good match **
10. Randy “Macho man” Savage Vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/ manager Jimmy “Da Mouth of the South” Hart). - Dang you know if Steamboat had won, this would’ve been Savage/Steamboat II! All well…Savage starts quick but The Hammer lays the pain down soon. Big chops and Valentine rams Savage into the outside railing. Monsoon says Elizabeth looks worried but I swear every emotion she shows looks exactly the same… boredom.. Valentine goes for his finisher, the Figure-Four, but Savage gets to the ropes. Savage makes a good comeback but the hammer soon stops that. Figure-Four attempt, turned into a small package for a 3 count, Savage wins! Another good round 2 match. **
11. INTER-CONTINENTAL TITLE: The Honkytonk Man (w/ manager Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue) Vs. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake – An enthusiastic Sherri Martel is Peggy Sue byteway, and is a good dancer too! Interesting story about this match: Honky was set to lose his I-C title to Savage at Wrestlemania 4. Honky somehow convined McMahon/refused-to-job-the-title, so Mcmahon instead put Savage in the World title tournament. For the tragic end to this story read the last match in this review.
One of Brutus’s offensive moves is messing up Honky’s hair. You know I never really got Brutus’s barber gimmick. I mean I’d freak out and run too if a roided-up shirtless psycho was running after me with a pair of hedge-trimmers. But I mean what’s next? A plumber? A garbage man? A… Oh wait…Maybe prima donna Brutus thinks a haircut is the worst thing you an do to a person.… Anyway the match is pretty much all Brutus and eventually he gets the sleeper hold! Honky’s out! But Jimmy Hart knocks out the ref!!!! Hehehehe, that’s pretty smart. Brutus signals for a Honky haircut but Jimmy grabs the bag and runs off until Bruti catches him. He cuts some hair offa him! Peggy Sue throws water on Honky to wake him up, and they all flee the ring, Honky’s the loser but still da champ. * Hey I bet Bad News, Koko and Butch Reed had fun calling Honkytonk man “Honky” in the locker room. :-)
Andre says he doesn’t matter he lost cause Hogan’s out, DiBiase’s in, and that’s all that matters. Andre put his hand on Uke’s shoulder. Uke asks Andre to take his foot off his shoulder please. Andre chokes Uke awhile then leaves.
12. The Islanders (Haku & Tama) & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan Vs. The British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware (w /managers Matlida the dog and Frankie the bird) – Heenan comes out in an attack-dog uniform to protect himself, pretty smart. I think Heenan dog napped Matlida to set up this feud. And whatever he did to the dog in his house, … stays in his house.. I always thought the Islanders were a good team, with Tama (The Tonga Kid) being a great bumper. But the WWF’s tag division was so deep at this time they were regulated as a B and C team along with other decent teams like the Young Stallions and The Killer Bees. Anyway expect these last few match reviews to be short as I’m getting burned out by this show.. Back and forth action with all the guys minus Heenan. Once AGAIN crippled Dynamite is the face in peril, which makes no sense to me. Heenan gets some cheap shots ala Danny Davis from last year, then bails. Hot tag to Koko and he cleans house until a Haku crescent kick to da jaw. Heenan gets some rib shots on Koko. But Heenan gets posted! Now all 6 guys get in the ring and with some illegal double-teaming, an unconscious Heenan gets the pin on Koko!! Hennan’s undefeated at Wrestlemania!! Davey boy sicks Cujo-like Matlida on Heenan, but the dog just playfully licks him, and you can see Davey boy laughing at it all. *1/2.
Round 3
13. The One Man Gang (w/ manager Slickstah) Vs. Randy “Macho man” Savage (w/ manager Elizabeth) - One Man Gang got a bye so he’s only wrestled once while Savage has twice. The gang has a huge weight/power advantage. It’s all One man Gang as he kills Savage until Savage with a top rope axe handle. Savage tries to bodyslam Gang, dumb move.. My man Slick gives the bad mouth to Elizabeth, treating her like one of his ho’s who owe him money. One man gang tries to cheat using Slick’s pimp-stick cane, but the ref sees it and DQ’s him! * Gang breaks the cane over Savages head after the match. But Macho gets pay back, dropping an axe handle on gang who splashes poor Slick into a stain on the ring.
14. TAG TEAM TITLES: Strike Force (Chico Santana & Rick Martel) Vs. Demolition (Axe & Smash w/ manager Mr. Fuji) – Demolition started off as a pathetic Road-Warrior’s rip-off, but managed to make their own reputation with their hard work and turned out to be a pretty decent tag team. Demolition proves to be too powerful so Strike Force uses their quickness. Big illegal clothesline give Demolition the advantage and Chico’s getting mauled! Ventura says “I bet Chico wished he was back in Tijuana selling tacos right now”. Classic smart heel wrestling by Demolition. Flying Jalapeno out of nowhere!!!!! Chico makes the hot-tag to Martel who’s a Canadian House O’ fire! He knocks Ax out of the ring and clamps on his dreaded Stan-Hansen Boston Crab on Smash! The ref is busy with Fuji-san and Ax wallops Martel with Fuji’s Cane of Instant Death. 1,2,3 Demolition are the new tag team champs! **1/2
Round 4 – Da Finals
MAIN EVENT TIME!!!!!
Celeb watch:
World title security guard: Robin Leech (he used to have a show snooping in rich people’s houses)
Front-seat warmer: Donald Trump (Rich dude and adulterer)
Guest announcer and Mr. Baseball: Bob Uker
Guest time-keeper and In Ekcellant spellar: Vanna White
15. WORLD TITLE MATCH: Randy “Macho Man” Savage (w/ manager and lover Elizabeth) Vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase (w/ insurance policy Andre the Giant) – Vanna White gives Donald Trump a kiss right in front of his wife. Hehe. Uke gets a kiss too and starts shaking like Hulk Hogan. He’s Hulking up! No wait, he’s fainting… Ted DiBiase got a bye while Savage has fought 3 times so far.
Right off the bat Andre grabs Savage’s leg. Andre does it again, and is pretty good at hiding it. The odds are stacked against Savage!! Savage tries the outside top-rope axe-handle but Andre stands between them. Savage tells Elizabeth it’s too dangerous out here so he sends her to the back. Eventually DiBiase gets the advantage and wears down the already exhausted Savage.. Elizabeth returns with … Hulk Hogan!! Actually I’m pretty sure Elizabeth was going to get George Steele but Hogan laid him out in the back so he could be in another Wrestlemania main event. Andre tries another illegal move but this time Hogan stops him
Meanwhile DiBiase gets the Million-Dollar Dream on!! (Sleeper –hold) It’s over! Ring the bell!! Savage is asleep!! New champ!…………… And then when the ref’s back is turned with Andre, Hogan illegally comes in and waffles DiBiase with the chair!!!!!!!!! DiBiase’s out! Savage goes up, hits the elbow, NEW CHAMP! These guys are perfect opponents but there was no time to have a good match here, plus the emphasis was switched to Hogan/Andre. ** Now here’s the end to the Honkytonk story: since he refused to lose the title, Savage was put into the tournament to win the World title. If Honky had jobbed the title to Savage as originally planned, DiBiase was set to win the World title from Hogan. Instead, because of Honky, DiBiase never became a World Champion.:-(
Thank God this is over. I love seeing these old Wrestlemania’s and all but this show was loooongggg and didn’t have any stand out matches. I’m going to take 2 aspirins and go outside to get some sun.
WM 4 Grade:
Total star rating: 21.5
Total matches: 16
Show Average: *1/2
CMLL 2007
Mistico vs. Averno, 1/6/07
Mistico vs. Perro Aguayo Jr, 3/2/07
Mistico vs . Dr Wagner Jr, 7/27/07
The formula for Mistico's big matches in 2007 seemed to involve the rudo dominating for long stretches, Mistico taking a beating, having his mask torn or ripped off and even blading. The matches were longer and there was a lot of heat. This was effective against Perro and Wagner, since Perro has the offence and gumption to do nasty things to Mistico and his mascot buddy & Wagner is a master at getting heat. Perro loves himself a little too much, but he has a great shit-eating grin and -- when it comes down to it -- a vicious streak. Wagner did all of a dozen moves in their match, but had the crowd eating from his palm. There's a lot to be said for letting heat build. Mistico sold a lot & his offence was limited to comebacks. Whether he blew stuff off, I dunno. He was roughed up pretty good. I probably enjoyed these Mistico matches more than his previous stuff, though I question how long you can book him like this for.
I can't fault the effort in the Averno/Mistico match. They're trying hard to build a great rivalry. They varied the pace and there was a long third fall, but Mistico burnt through his offence. Averno's rudo spots are weak and I still think he matches Mistico's pace too much. One of Mistico's biggest problems is that apart from kicks and the arm submission almost all of his offence is off the ropes, which would be OK if it were used to end a fall or in a third fall diving sequence, but in Mistico's case it's the whole match. He really needs to develop some so-called "mid-range" offence and save his flying for later. I'm sure I'll remember Ciclon Rameriz' tope for longer than all the spots Mistico did in this match & that's bad because Mistico is burning himself out on so many levels.
Javier Cruz vs. Ciclón Ramírez, hair vs. hair, 6/10/94
Javier Cruz was a fucking great worker.
As a technico, he could play a fired up babyface without ever being a dick about it. He'd just act pissed the whole time. As a rudo, he was a dick without being showy about it. Man do I love the black studded glove and the whole scattered wasteland of 1994 CMLL. As for Ciclon Ramirez, well life changes after you drop the mask. He was a great flyer in his day, here he's trying to make his way as a latter day Sangre Chicana & he does a great fucking job of it. He still has an insane tope (one of the best ever, as far as I can tell), but you've gotta make your living a different way after you unmask and his brawling is great. The whole thing is great. Even the fuzzy reception is great. Cruz does a splendid blade job & this is as good a hair match as any other I've seen. Cruz isn't the rudo that an MS-1 or Pirata Morgan was, and Ramirez is not at the level of Chicana or El Dandy (to quote two of the great hair matches), but man do they make it worthwhile.
Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs. Cien Caras, mask vs. mask, 9/21/90
This has got to be one of my favourite lucha matches of all time.
I don't know if either guy could ever work; the stuff they do here is really simple, but the heat is amazing. One of the greatest things about lucha is that two 40 year old guys can have a mainevent with this much at stake. Where losing the mask really means something. The match is beautifully laid out... Caras attacks Rayo on his way to the ring, smashing him over the head with a guitar & from there it's just heat building. Slow, methodical rudo work & crowd inspired comebacks from the technico. Great lucha. And the finish is fantastic -- it comes from nowhere & may not have been an actual three count, but it means the rudo has to unmask & there's a fucking swarm of photographers jumping over each other's backs. Caras has one of the great unmaskings, as he simply refuses to take his mask off & they end up brawling while the photographers scurry for their lives. Magic.
Floyd’s Rant for Wrestlemania III
Attendance for this show is listed at an astonishing 93,173. Most experts place it more around 78,000 nowadays, but the actual number isn’t as important as the fact that a SHITLOAD of people came to see Wrestlemania this year.
Vince McMahon opens the show by welcoming the people. You can practically see the dollar signs in Vince’s eyes. He had to have had a week-long orgasm after seeing the gate and buy rate numbers. America the Beautiful is sung by Aretha Franklin. Pretty voice and very well done, but I prefer when Franklin is rocking and rollin’..
Commentators: Gov. Jesse “the Body Ventura” & Dr. Gorilla Monsoon
Two Guest celebrators: Mary Hart (Entertainment Tonight host) and my all-time favorite Wrestlemania celebrity ever: Bob “I Can’t catch a ball” Uecker.
1. The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk) Vs. “Ace Cowboy” Bob Orton Jr. & Fuji Vice (“Magificant” Muraco w/ manager Mr. Fuji) – Tom Zenk is infamous for having a column during the early Internet days where he always seemed pissed off at wrestling and his misuse. Haven’t seen the page for awhile, maybe Vince sent Mark Henry to shut him up. Martel was a great wrestler who was AWA World Champion right before it’s dying days. Both Can-Am guys are a step ahead and use their speed to throw the bigger heels around early. Orton and Muraco try the old “OK I’ll hold the guy and you hit him but please don’t hit me” routine that only works 1 time out of 100. It doesn’t work here. Heels get control briefly but soon the faces use illegal double-team moves (yes that right, illegal) and get the pin on Muraco. Pretty decent opener, establishing the Can-Am. **
2. Herculez Hernandez (w/ manager Bobby Heenan) Vs. Billy Jack Haynes - Replay of Billy Jack Haynes trying to get out of Herc’s full nelson challenge, yup just like Chris Masters. Jack is an asshole though and attacks Heenan beforehand so Herc clotheslines him and puts the full nelson on, hurting Jack’s feelings. I watched Wrestlemania 2 just yesterday and Herc looks a lot more ripped here. Heenan corrects Mean Gene and calls him Billy “Jerk” Haynes. I never really seen Haynes except for this but he was a big star in Portland I believe. Herc gets a shot out of a corner break and gets the advantage. Wow Hayes with a press slam! Damn... Haynes goes for the full nelson so Herc quickly goes to the ropes. Irish whip and Herc explodes out of the corner with a clothesline. Herc whips Jack a bunch of times in the corner. Hayes makes a comeback and goes for a suplex, but his back is too hurt. smell the psychology. More backwork and Herc gets the full nelson on! But as the commentators point out the fingers aren’t locked. With the crowds help Hayes powers out, but Herc gives him a headshot before he does. Hayes with a comeback, but he’s still hurt. He asks the crowd for more cheers which gives him super powers. Now Hayes with the full nelson!! And this ones hooked on good. Herc gets to the ropes and both guys tumble out. Hayes puts it back on outside! 8….9….10…. Double Count out! Afterwards Heenan distracts Hayes while Herc nails him with a chain-wrapped fist. He keeps hitting him and Hayes blades a good one. Good way to continue a feud but I don’t remember much of them wrestling ever again, which is shame cause I liked this match **1/2
3. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook Vs. Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid & Little Beaver - The Bundy trilogy comes full circle as he’s now tagging with midgets in the 3rd match of the show after main eventing last year. By the way Little Tokyo is my favorite midget if anyone is keeping track of stuff like dat. He’s like the straight man of a comic routine when he always screws things up and apologizes while Littlebrook gets madder and madder. But of course like all guys I like a little Beaver now and then. The rules are only the big guys can be in the ring and only the little guys at the same time. Let’s see how long that’ll last.. Criss cross action into a row-boat move. Ahhh the classic midget moves. Typical midget stuff until Little beaver gets a cheapshot at Bundy so Bundy forces Tokyo to tag him in. UH-OH. MIDGIT THRASHING! Nope Hillybilly Jim gets tagged in. Hillbilly Jim AND both midgets pin Bundy, but he still kicks them all off. Hillybilly gets into trouble and Little Beaver gets another cheap shot. Remember these cheapshots, they’ll come important later. Bundy slaps Hillybilly Jim around some more so Beaver comes in for another cheapshot and this time Bundy’s had enough. In an INSANE visual King Kong Bundy bodyslam then elbowsdrops Little beaver!!!!
Another squash match for Bundy ->
Mean old Bundy goes for the Big Bundy splash but all 3 other midgets team up and drag Little Beaver out before. Bundy is DQ'ed. Not even a match but pretty fun for the midget’s poor pain. Ventura says you can throw out Little Beaver in a garbage bag cause he’s done. *1/2 Mart Hart interviews Macho Man who gives a bad ass promo.
4. JYD Vs. "The King" Harley Race (w/ manager Bobby Heenan) - Uhhh I forgot about this match. But I remember how much I HATE it. It’s a whoever loses must bow to the other. Harley Race has a raspy voice you can only get from 20 years of straight Whisky drinking. For some reason The Uke has a hard on for Moolah (who’s holding the crown.) They start off and JYD quickly knocks Race out of the ring. Harley Race with a kick-ass flying headbutt from the apron to the floor (which JYD avoids)!!!!. Damn I don’t remember that! Anyway it goes back and forth until Harley hits a belly-to-belly and pins JYD clean! ¼* Definitely an upset, with the clean pin and all, but then JYD, after stalling, finally does a half-assed bow and then when Race is looking the other way…. CROWNS HIM WITH A METAL CHAIR!!!???!!! Man! Even as a 8 yrs old JYD fan back then I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do. JYD steals all of the King’s paraphernalia and dances to the crowd. But Harley Race is still listed as the King in my record books.
5. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques & Raymond) Vs. The Dream team (Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brutus Beefcake w/ manager “Luscious” Johnny Valiant) – The Rougeau were a pretty awesome team, but never got to the top with teams like the Hart Foundation, Bulldogs and Demolition hanging around. The Dream Team has a new guy in their stable, Canadian strong man Dino Bravo. Raymond with a hammerlock escape and it just dawned on me, that bad ass bump Davey boy did at Wrestlemania II was probably just a really bad fuck-up on Beefacake’s part. My hate for Beefcake goes up a notch. Dream Team has the advantage and Bobby the Brain Heenan join the commentary and proclaims he’s “Two For Two tonight! And Andre’ll make it 3!” Monsoon reminds him that Bundy lost, but Heenan says that don’t count as he wasn’t out there cause he doesn’t mess with midgets. Meanwhile the match continues as Jacques has Valentine pinned, but behind the ref’s back, Dino hits a top rope bomb to give the Dream Team the win. For some reason Beefcake doesn’t like the cheap win, so his manager/partners leave him. Way too short. ½*
6. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (Hair Vs. Hair match) – Replay of Adonis kicking Roddy’s ass on his own show, so Hot Rod tears up Adonis show “The Flower Shop” in revenge. This is Roddy’s retirement match and whoever loses this gets his hair cut. The crowd gives hPiper huge roar before the match. Piper and Adonis trade belt shots. Adonis with the Flair flip to the outside! Piper drags both Adonis AND Jimmy Hart back in and kicks their ass right back to the outside. Back in and Piper Flair-slams Hart like a projectile onto Adonis. Jesse says Hart is tougher than Uker. Adonis regains control and smacks Piper all round the ring and outside, Hart gets some shots in too. Hart blinds Piper with the Atomizer and Adonis with the sleeper (his finisher) ! Piper fights but it’s no use. Piper’s arm goes down once.. twice and thr.. no it didn’t go down, but Adonis released the hold thinking it did. Meanwhile Beefcake runs in and revives Piper, who puts the sleeper onto Adonis and he’s out! Piper wins. *1/2 Damn ANOTHER terribly unfair win. Now Beefcake helps shave an unconscious Adonis, setting up his “Barber” gimmick that went on for about 3 years. Piper throws Adrian’s hair out to the fans. A fan runs into the ring and Piper shakes his hand, then as he leaves security tackles and handcuffs him.
7. The Hart Foundation & “Dangerous” Danny Davis (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. The British Bulldogs & Chico Santana – Unfortunately this is after Dynamite’s injury, but I thought he was still awesome considering the severity of it. Danny Davis was a referee who supposedly screwed the Bulldogs and Chico Santana out of their titles. So now this is the revenge/kick-his-ass match. The Harts are the tag team champs here bytheway. The faces start quick (even their dog Matilda!) and clear the ring. Back and forth action until the Harts get the advantage and Dynamite is the face in peril. Man, why on earth have nearly-crippled Dynamite take the punishment? Danny Davis comes in, gets one cheap shot, then tags out. Oooooooooooooooooo the crowd doesn’t like him at all. He’s gonna get beat up real bad real soon.. Eventually Davis make a mistake and the thrashing begins. Ahhhhhhh, OK, now I get why Dynamite was in there, so the other more- healthy two guy can KILL Davis in the tags. All the big moves are used on him, you name it.. Flying Jalapeno…. Figure-Four leglock… Crazy jumping piledriver…. Big ass running powerslam… Somewhere behind the ref’s back Daveyboy gets creamed by the megaphone and Davis gets the pin! Hehehehe. Davis better grow a goatee and change his name before the Bulldogs/Chico find him. Short but fun match. ***
8. “The Natural” Butch Reed (w/ manager “The Doctor of Style” Slick) Vs. Koko B. Ware (w/ manager Frankie) – Hmmmm looking at the size of Reed’s arms, I wonder if he’s really that natural. Koko brings in the 2nd animal to the ring tonight, unless you count Little Beaver. The Doctor of Style is decked out in some sweet threads tonight baby. Unfashionably Moonsoon says there’s not 35$ worth of stuff on him. Koko was pretty good in Memphis but like most good athletes, was misused in the WWF. Didn’t see much of Butch Reed before this, but I heard he was good, he went on later to be half of the NWA tag team Doom with Ron Simmons. Koko uses his speed to get an early advantage but Reed cheats and takes over. Jesse says he remembers when Monsoon cheated against Jack Dempsey in 1926. Koko with a quick comeback but Reed cheats again and gets the pin! Cheating rules! * Koko Pearl Harbors Reed out of the ring, so the heroic Slick defends his wrestler by hitting him with the Cane. Then OUT OF NOWHERE Chico runs out, beats him up, and leaves the poor Slickster running with all his cool threads torn up. Chico should be suspended and fined for such terrible behavior… Same for Buttcake and the JYD…
9. INTER-CONTINENTAL TITLE: Randy “Macho” Man Savage (w/ manager “The Lovely” Elizabeth) Vs. Ricky Steamboat (w/ George “the Animal” Steele in his corner distracting Savage and trying to steal Elizabeth like a date rapist cause he tried it 1,000 times before) – Savage’s double ax-handle off the top rope to the outside was considered so devastating back then that it was almost banned So anyway, Savage hits a double ax-handle to Steamboat, crushing his larynx on the railing!! Steamboat’s career was considered over, but the Dragon made a miraculous comeback and is now back for revenge!! Macho’s I-C reign is well over a year by this point and he even gets a nice ovation from the crowd even though he’s the despicable heel. These two guys are ridiculously fast, especially when compared with the rest of the roster. Steamboat starts quick in his rage but Savage outsmarts him and immediate starts working on the throat. Steamboat comebacks and works on the right arm (the flying elbow arm) in some innovative ways. Savage tosses Steamboat out and keeps kicking his ass and then throwing him back out. More nasty larynx-crushing stuff including an elbow and knee. Back and forth with both guys not keeping the advantage for too long. Lots quick pins and arm drags by the Armdragon, and the ref looks tired. Savage tosses Steamboat out again. It looks like Savage is going for a Count Out win. Top-rope axe handle to the floor!!!!! Savage throws Steamboat back into the ring? Why? Ohh I see, Top rope axe handle! WTF, Only 2? Awesome top-rope slingshot throat umm… thingy that gets a 2. More moves and Steamboat barely keeps getting his arm up at 2.
Steamboat starts a comeback but Savage goes to the eyes, gets a gut wrench, only 2. Savage rushes… HOLY CRAPP!!!! Savage takes a HUGE Shawn Michaels-type backdrop to the floor years before Shawn Michaels was drugged up enough to try it. Now Steamboat goes outside and throws him in for punishment! Steamboat flies over the ref to hit a karate chop for .. 3!!!! Steamboat wins!!! OMG I.. No wait Savage’s leg was on the rope.. The crowd is really getting into this now. Savage tries the same “run back into the ring and nail him coming in” trick he used early but this time Steamboat is ready for it and gets a 2 count. Steamboat tries about 20,000 pin attempts in like 30 sec, always getting a close 2.9999 count every time. How is Savage kicking out these? Savage reverses an irish whip and posts Steamboat. Another irish whip and a ref bump. Dang. Savage to the top, flying elbow drop!!!!! It’s ovah!!!! It’s… Wait…. The ref’s out!!! Dammit! Savage tries to slap the ref awake but no dice. Savage goes out to get the ring bell to nail Steamboat with, but Steele pushes Savage off the top and Savage’s head hits the bell!! (Well not really, he missed, but let’s pretend he did) A semi-conscious Savage picks up the dead Steamboat who suddenly reverse a slam for a 3 count!!!!!!! After 14 months, A New Intercontinental champ!! If I was reviewing this match for the first time I’d give it 4-1/2 stars but I remember seeing it live (on closed circuit) so: ***** Like Steamboat said years ago, Hogan/Andre sold the show. But this match stole the show. I agree though that Steele should join JYD, Beefcrap and Chico in the suspensions.
10. Jake Roberts (w/ snake-handler Alice Cooper) Vs. The Honkytonk man (w/manager Jimmy Hart) – In Robert’s talk show “The Snake Pit” Honkytonk hit him with the guitar. Unlike Jeff Jarrett’s guitars made of powder, back then it was a REAL guitar and Jake was super hurt for real by it. Both Jesse and Monsoon put over Steamboat’s match, I bet Hogan loved hearing that.. The Honkytonk man: A bad wrestler, but a fantastic heel and good seller. The thing I loved about him is that he really thought the fans loved him and thought he was the greatest wrestler in the world, despite how much they booed him. Jake starts quick and slams Honky outside the ring. Ouch. Honky gets the advantage back. Actually Honky isn’t looking as terrible as I remember. Jake gets a clothesline and signals for the DDT. Honky quickly bails. Jake stupidly comes out so Honky rams him in the post and railing. Back in and Honky uses his cousin (Jerry Lawler’s) top-rope fist-drop move. More beating and Jake doesn’t know here he is. Honky goes for the Shake-Rattle-and-Roll (his finishing move) but Jake reverses it in a backdrop! Honky with the top-rope corner fists but Jake reverse it into an inverted atomic drop. Jake’s making a comeback! Honky pleads for mercy! Honky with the Harley Race rocking-horse in the ropes sell. Jake goes for the DDT! But Jimmy Hart distracts him, Honky cheats and… wins!!??!!?? Wow, a lot better than I remembered. **1/2 What a huge upset this was back then, but who knew that joke wrestler Honkytonk would actually defeat Steamboat and go on to become an 18-month Intercontinental champion? Jake Roberts holds Jimmy Hart while Alice Copper brings the snake out (the reptile, not his trouser snake…) and Jimmy Hart shits his pants.
11. The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell & B. Brian Blair) Vs. The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff (w/ manager Slick) – Poor Slick. He comes out in his tattered rags but still hold his head up high. Slick demands that everyone stands up and respects the Russian anthem. Nikolai starts singing and Jim Duggan runs out to stop him and clears the ring. C’mon Vince that should be another suspension right there, where’s security? Ventura says Gorilla was standing for the anthem, but Monsoon denies it. The foreigners start right before the bell but the Bees get the advantage and use some nice double team moves. Duggan is patrolling the ring. Heels with the advantage now and they use their power to soften up Brunzell. The Bees make the hot-tag but the ref didn’t see it so it didn’t stand and Brunzell gets beaten more. Monsoon agrees with Ventura that the ref shouldn’t allow it. See that’s what I liked about Ventura/Monsoon, they’d play good guy/bad guy but agree on stuff like Ventura admitted all the cheating early in the show. Today Coach acts like he doesn’t see shit happening. Sheik with a camel clutch and Duggan runs in and wallops him with a 2X4. Sheik and Nikolai win by DQ. ** Man… If I was the Bees I’d turn heel and beat the living snot out of him. That match was also a lot better than I remembered.
MAIN EVENT TIME!
Celeb watch:
Guest Announcer: Da Uke (w/ jokes galore at his expense by Ventura)
Guest Time keeper: Mary Hart (but can see ring a bell?)
12. WWF WORLD TITLE MATCH: Hulk Hogan Vs. Andre the Giant (w/ manager Bobby “the Brain” Heenan) – Here we go! This is the match! Andre was billed as being undefeated for his entire career (not true). Replay on Piper’s Pit of Andre demanding a title shot after Hogan was “ducking him all these years”. Andre at this time was in REALLY bad shape and needed back surgery, but still toughed it out cause he’s a bad ass. In fact much like Hennig/Bret Hart in 91 and Lesnar/Angle in 03, the loser was the real winner in my eyes for gutting it out like a pimp.
The match starts with the fans GOING CRAZY and a stare-down.Well.. stare-up for Hogan. Push by Andre. Return push by Hogan! Hogan gets the fists in and bodyslams Andre.. No Andre falls on him!! 1.2.3….it’s over!!!! It’s.. and in an infamous moment that’ll come back next year, ref Joey Marella (Monsoon’s real-life son for those interested) only signals 2!!! Wow was that close! Hogan’s hurt! I mean REALLY hurt…. he can’t even stand up. Someone call Life Alert.
Andre methodically (aka slowly) starts beating him up. Andre stands on Hogan’s back!! Andre picks him up and starts beating him up in the corner while Hennan cheers him on. Andre’s dominating. Hogan finds some daylight and makes a comeback, the crowd is going insane!! But he can’t knock the giant off his feet. Hogan goes for a corner clothesline, big Andre with a size 26 boot to da face. It’s Bear hug time!!! The fans are cheering on for Hogan to power out. But… it’s not working… Is Hulkamania over? His arm goes down once.. twice… three time!!!!! WTF?, it was three times ref, he should be out. Bah! Anyway on the fourth time Hogan keeps his arm up. Hogan punches his way out, hurting his hand but still punching. The comeback ends with an Andre chop. One big boot later and Hogan’s on the floor. Andre goes after him. He goes to headbutt Hogan, but misses and headbutts the post!! Doh! Then in one of the most disgusting, despicable moves I’ve ever seen before, Hogan takes the padding off the floor and actually tries to piledrive a crippled man on concrete!!!?!!!! Luckily Karma bites Hogan right in the ass and Andre backdrops him. Back in and Hogan finally drops Andre with a clothesline. Andre gets up and Hogan body slams him! The crowds gone insane!! Hogan with a legdrop. 1,2,3! Damn, looks like Heenan’s been foiled again!… Hogan you were lucky tonight dude. **. Hogan starts posing. I stop the DVD.
Anyone seen the show? What did you think of it?
CMLL 2006
El Hijo del Santo/La Mascara vs. Blue Panther/Tarzan Boy, 1/1/06
Mistico/Negros Casas vs. Averno/Mephisto, 4/14/06
El Hijo del Santo/Negro Casas/Mistico vs. Atlantis/Black Warrior/Ultimo Guerrero, 8/04/2006
El Hijo del Santo vs Perro Aguayo Jr, 8/25/06
Black Warrior vs. Mistico, mask vs. mask, 9/29/06
Negro Navarro/Villano 4/Villano 5 v. Dos Caras Jr./Heavy Metal/Solar 1, AULL 11/2/06
While searching for this stuff, I kept reading that CMLL didn't have a good year in 2006. Still, I liked these better than the matches from 2005.
The Mistico/Casas tag was really good... Probably the best match I've seen in the new style. It helped that the third fall was long & they worked a bit of story into it. It was obvious to all and sundry who was gonna win, but lucha is satisfying like that. Personally I've had a problem with Casas' offence since the mid-90s onwards & I'd love for Averno and Mephisto to have more rudo shtick, but this was great work even if it was aping New Japan juniors.
The Mistico/BW match was also a perfectly acceptable two out of three falls sprint. I think I saw an edited version, but it doesn't matter. As important as masks are in Mexican wrestling culture, the majority of mask vs. mask matches are amazingly shitty, and since the thought of Black Warrior being unmasked leaves me unmoved, this sufficed.
The Santo/Panther tag was weak... Panther's always been a better worker than Santo, IMO, and showed it again in his brief exchanges with La Mascara. Santo's always been predictable, he just gets away with it because even predictable Santo is excellent. As far as being a big match singles worker, he can still bring it in spades. The match with Perro wasn't as good as their match from 2004, but it was good stuff. I kinda get the impression that Perro thinks WWE is cool, though.
Once again, Negro Navarro shows up and is part of a really great, old school trios match. In a sense it was bread and butter stuff, and I was just excited because it built in a way I'm familiar with, but an entire fall of mat wrestling in the latter part of this decade is like mana. It really is.
Floyd’s Rant for Wrestlemania II
Wrestlemania 2 has always been a childhood favorite of mine. IN fact, it’s easily the Wrestlemania event I’ve seen the most times. This year Vince McMahon wanted to do what Jim Crockett did for Starcade and stage a big card in more than one venue. He chose Three, the first being in:
New York:
Ray Charles sings the national anthem. Despite some feedback, does a awesome job on it. Ray Charles > Limp Bisquick any day. Roddy Piper cuts a promo saying if Mr. T knocks him out he will quit wrestling. He also adds a creepy line about saying he “will quit dating girls”, then puts his arm around Orton and says “I’ll stick with you”.
New York commentators: Vince McMahon and Susan Saint James. I still don’t know who the fuck Susan Saint James is and why she’s here, and don’t feel like looking it up after hearing her awful commentary. Seriously I wish I had a Spanish track or something instead of McMahon/James.
1. Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff Vs. “The Magnificent” Muraco (w/manager Mr. Fuji) – I remember seeing some old pre-Hogan-days Muraco and he looked pretty awesome, but he went waaayyyyyy downhill after he had to get big for WWF 80’s day IMO. Orndorff was also really good until his injury. Muraco gets an early slam but Orndorff gets a slam right back for a huge crowd pop. Muraco stomps Orndorff in the corner but Mr. Wonderful quickly gets the advantage and works on da arm. He works the arm for awhile until Muraco gets a Samoan Drop to break the hold. Both guys start slugging it out until they both tumble out of the ring. The ref separates them and someone RINGS THE BELL! THEY RINGS THE F*^#%&ING BELL!… The crowd starts yelling “Bullshit Bullshit!” and without meaning too I am as well. That’s crap. Super short match which is the sad norm for this show, not even a real match DUD
Mr. T cuts a promo and holy crap he reminds me more of Eddie Murphy imitating Mr. T rather than the real deal. You know, I’m not sure what the end of Orndorff/Muracos was, I’m guessing a Double DQ.
2. INTER-CONTINENTAL TITLE: “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/ manager Elizabeth) Vs. George “The Animal” Steele – Savage comes out to the High School graduation theme. Steele was a big player who I think wrestled both Bruno Sammartino and Bob backlund. Steele has a hard-on for Elizabeth. Savage was just awesome here. He was seriously ahead of the curve with just about anybody else in the promotion. One thing I remember about Savage is how fast he was in his matches. George starts running around like a loony so Savage bails. Savage goes in and out of the ring until Steele finally goes after him. Steele catches him and starts biting Savage'sleg! Savage unwisely goes after Steele so George uses his monster ape-like strength to toss him around. Steele goes after Elizabeth to proclaim his undying love, so Savage gets him tied up in the ropes and puts da boots to him. Flying bodypress gets 2 but on the kickout Steele kicks Savage right out of the ring. Back in and back out. Back in and back out. Jesus Christ Savage is spending more time outside then in. Hey wait.. Where’d he go? Savage goes under the ring and Pearl Harbors Steele from behind. Brains over Brawn. Steele simply bites him in the arm. WTF ref!?? Savage takes a bouquet of flowers that was for Elizabeth and slaps the taste out of Steele, so Steele bites his arm again and tries to stuff the flowers down Macho’s mouth! Steele goes to celebrate by eating a turnbuckle. He uses the stuffing as a weapon somehow to blind and suffocate Savage. Macho’s out…. again…. Steele professes his love to Elizabeth which enables Macho to get a top rope axe handle Hehe hell yeah!! Back in and Macho hits a Top-Rope elbow!! 1,2,3 it’s over Macho wins and… wait…..WTF!!!?? Steele kicked out? That’s crap. Anyway Macho cheats with his feet on the ropes and gets the real pin. Steele doesn’t care and keeps eating the turnbuckle to drown his sorrow. I like Steele and all but Savage was completely wasted here, he should’ve fought Santana, or Steamboat or someone who could’ve kept up with him. *1/4
3. Jake ‘the Snake” Roberts Vs. George Wells – Wells and I share the same last name so I automatically thought he was cool, which is a shame cause I never saw him ever again. Anyway Ex-football player Wells (who looks like a roided up Virgil/Vincent) comes out fast and starts pounding Roberts in and out of the ring. Flying football tackle and head butt puts Jake facedown. Flying headscissors by Wells and Jake calls for a time out. Jake is selling really good. Powerslam gets 2. Jezz, Jake is getting mauled. But Roberts get the old Greco-Roman eye-poke. Wells is swinging blindly and walks right into a knee lift and then….. DDT!!!! It’s ovah! Go ahead and bring the casket down and sprinkle Wells’s ashes cause NO ONE gets out of the DDT back then. Jake brings Damian out of the bag and wraps it around George Wells, who foams/pukes at it. This match showed that no matter what happens, one DDT and it’s all over. *
4. Roddy Piper (w/ Bob Orton & Lou Duva) Vs. Mr. T (w/ Haiti Kid & Smoking Joe Frasier) – Replay shows how stupid Mr. T was at SNME where he was outsmarted by Piper and Orton and was whipped like a dog in the middle of the ring. Piper also shaved the Haiti Kid on Piper’s Pit to make him look like Mr. T. Joan Rivers is a guest ring announcer, I bet she pulls a Lillian Garcia and forgets who the wrestlers are.
Guest Judges: Basketball Glass Breaker: Darry Dawkins (cool), Scat-man Cab Calloway (awesome), Judge G. Gordon Lilddy (whatever) , Guest ring announcer……………Herb.. Herb?? Who the crap was Herb!?!?!?! He prances around like a hairdresser and I don’t remember any of these B and C-celebs in the orginal clipped version. This is a boxing match by the way.
Piper starts talking trash that Mr. T tries to ignore. Suddenly they goes nose-to-nose. Ah hell yeah!!! It’s on now biyatch! I’m not going to lie, I love this match. A lot of people call this one of the worst embarresments for wrestling and consistantly give it a negative million stars galore, but when I think of John Cena’s reign, it’s nowhere near as bad.
[Round 1]
They go right at and Piper gets a cheap shot out of out of a break. Mr. T with a Jack Lamotta peek-a-boo defense avoiding Piper who’s swinging like crazy. Round ends with both guys still going at it and the seconds around the ring have to break them up. Pretty even round. Piper walks over between the round and talks more trash..
[Round 2]
Early on the ref and Mr. T notice Piper has a lot of grease on his forhead. Hehehehehehe. Cheater! It’s wiped off and Piper starts getting some combos in. Mr. T gets stuck in the corner and is wailed upon. Mr. T is hurt! He on wobbly legs. He’s knocked down and falls like a tree!!! Rocky II my ass. A-Team huh? Mr. T gets up but Piper keeps up the onslaught, and in fact the crowd starts chanting “Roddy! Roddy!” Mr. T collapses at the bell and gets a standing 8 count. Mr. T is hurt. Roddy dances in victory!
In between the round Orton throws water at Mr. T. This is awesome! It’s like a clown sketch at the circus.
[Round 3]
I laugh again when Roddy starts shuffling around like Piper Ali. Mr. T throws some bombs and Piper gets knocked on his ass in the corner. He looks knocked out!! He gets up by 8. A dazed Piper calls out Mr. T. Now the crowd chants “T! T! T!” Turncoats! Big ass left jab Frasier must’ve taught him, and Piper gets knocked right out of the ring!! Orton’s practically shoving Piper’s semi-conscious carcass back into the ring by 9. Piper somehow lasts the round but is beat up. In between the round and now Mr. T comes over and talks trash to Piper.
[Round 4]
Piper throws a chair at Mr. T to start the round. Both guys are weary and start trading shots at each other. Mr. T’s mouthpiece is knocked out by one. Piper’s getting the advantage! No.. Now Mr. T is!.. Both men are exhausted. What tha..? Piper shoves the ref down.. and bodyslams Mr. T! 10,000 people run into the ring to separate them. Mr. T gets his arm raised in victory so Piper jumps him. The melee continues like a Jerry Springer episode. I was hoping for the Haiti kid to be flung like a discus into the crowd.
Smark rating: *, Fun rating: ****
Overall: **1/2
Chicago:
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Mean Gene Oakerlund, Guest Celebrity Cathy Lee Crosby.
5.WOMEN’S TITLE: “The Fabulous” Moolah Vs. Velvet McIntyre. Yeshh talk about a squash. Moolah gets some hair tosses. McIntyre comes back with some one-footed dropkicks, then goes for a Snuka splash only to belly-flop for the Mollah 1,2,3 pin. DUD
6. Corporal Kirchner Vs. Nikolai Volkoff (w/ manager “Classy” Freddie Blassie) – This is a flag match. Corporal Kirchner is infamous for a bad reason. After leaving the WWF he went to Japan as Leatherface and was jailed for destroying some guys face in a fight, then was blacklisted for nearly killing poor Shoji Nakamaki by legdropping and powerbombing him into a bed of nails. When you gets kicked out of IWA for being TOO violent, you got problems. Nikolai sings the Russian anthem again. I think this is a re-match from a SNME flag match where in a BIG upset Nikolai won. Another ridiculously short match. Corp blades early which is a big deal in Vince McMahon's 80’s WWF, although it’s only a paper-cut sized trickle. The ref gets bumped and Blassie throws in the Deadly Cane of Doom, only for Corp to intercept it and waffle Nikoli for the win! I guess cheating's OK. USA! USA! USA! DUD
7. Football Vs. Wrestlers Battle Royal. This has a lot of NFL football players, capitalizing on the Chicago bears popular 86 Superbowl run. Anyone remember the Superbowl shuffle? HAHAHA that old lady who used to do the “Where’s the Beef” line in Wendy’s commercials had her mic turned off. That was money well spent Vince… Special outside refs: Dick Butt-kiss and “Too Tall” Jones (ex football players/manager). Looks like Ernie Ladd (ex-football and wrestler) is a guest commentator who does a good job. According to Gorilla, the combined weight of all the participants is 5,612 lbs, which is about the same weight as Two King Mabel’s and a side order of Rikishi.
Participants: Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Dan Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, The Killer Bees, The Hart Foundation, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic, Jimbo Covert, William “Refrigerator” Perry, Harvey Martin, Ernie Holmes, Russ Francis, Bruno Sammartino, and Andre the Giant. - Hard to review this match. Refrigerator Perry and Big John Studd go at it. Last 10 or so: Shiek eliminated 3 guys right away. Bill Fralic gets tossed. Bruno backdrops da evil Shiek out. Studd eliminates 180 yr old Bruno Sammartino. Perry tackles BOTH Hart Foundation guys over the top to a huge pop, but they stay in. Perry goes for another tackle but Studd sidesteps him like a matador. Ole! So Perry goes right over the top rope. HAHA But then he gives Studd a congradulary handshake and Studd gets pulled out! STUDD YOU DUMBASS! Four guys left. The Hart Foundation, Russ Francis, and Andre. Double dropkick gets Andre tied up in the ropes. Francis tries to run but the Harts soften him up and toss him. Double team on Andre including a slingshot tackle. They try to toss him but Andre kicks them off. Another slingshot tackle but Bret Hart eats a mouthful of Andre’s boot. Double noggin knocker! And in one of the crazier looking bumps ever, Andre lightly kicks Neidhart, who proceeds to backpedal about 20 steps and eliminate himself! Bret Hart tries to be sneaky and climb to top but gets caught and tossed over the top rope (one-handed too!) by Andre onto Neidhart. Andre wins! Really fun Battle Royal. **
Piper gives another cool promo about Mr. T’s hair and cheating. “I don’t have to shave my head like an Indian and I don’t have to paint myself black”. Hmmmm. Hey Piper. Did you forget that when you fought Bad News at WM 6? Football player Jumbo Covert cries like a little schoolgirl at being thrown out. Sheik gives another undecipherable promo.
8. TAG TAM CHAMPIONSHIP – The Dream Team (Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brutus Beefcake w/”Luscious” Johnny Valiant) Vs. The British Bulldogs (Davey boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid w/manager Captain Lou Albano) – Just to start off, this is my MOTY for 1986. Now there were a lot of better matches this year, Windham/Flair and Fujinami/Maeda quickly come to mind, but this is a big mark-out moment for myself as the Bulldogs finally get their chance at the champs at the biggest show of the year, this time with an outside ref to watch out for the Dream team’s chicanery. For some reason Ozzy Osbourn is ringside. I’m hoping he isn’t too coked up at ringside, as he’s about to see a great match.
Davey Boy and The Hammer start off. Davey quickly tosses Greg 10 ft in the air right on his ass. Slugfest back and forth and I suddenly feel bad for Valentine cause he’s tough and it’ll be him taking the hard shots from the Bulldogs whereas Beefcake hates to get his hair messed up. Dynamite is tagged in and he hits a 65mph shoulderblock on Greg. Super intense snap suplex and the Hammer is seeing stars. Davey boy comes in and hits a vertical suplex for 2. Valentine goes outside to takes a powder (not from Ozzy) from the Bulldog onslaught. Stiff forearms by Valentine and a headbutt into Daveyboy’s chestnutts and now he’s a soprano (Not the gangster). Beefcake enters the ring and the match automatically goes down 2 stars. Beefcake works on the arm, Daveyboy counters by hitting a NASTY military press. I mean Davey bounced about 4 feet off the canvas after slamming Beefcake. Dynamite comes back in and chops the shit out of Brutus. Davey boy back in and he hits a perfect-plex for 2. Standing front facelock and Beefcake makes a smart move by backing up, tagging Valentine and holding Davey boy for a Hammer shot from the top-rope.
Valentine takes over. Monsoon and Gene put over Valentine’s Hall-of-Fame father. Valentine with a headlock but this time Davey returns the favor, backs up and gets a tag while Valentine is stuck. Dynamite and Greg trade stiff shots like they were back in Japan or something. That’s the thing with Dynamite. He would kill himself for his opponent, but he would also KILL his opponent to get a great match. Side back breaker and Dynamite almost gets the 3 but Beefcake makes the save. Lotsa quick double team moves that you never see nowadays. Valentine hits a sit-down piledriver for a close 2. Dynamite’s hurt!! Somehow Dynamite recovers and now all Four men get involved. Davey boy presses Dynamite over his head to throw at Valentine but he recovers and bails from the ring at the last minute. Tag to Davey and a big time Running Powerslam. Man Greg’s getting killed here, what the hell is Beefcake doing? Valentine reverses an irish whip and Davey gets his arm posted. Hammerlock and Beefcake gets a tag and top rope fist drop. Beefcake takes over the hammerlock and in a NASTYASS bump does THIS:
JESUS CHRIST!! ->
They keep working on Davey boy’s arm and Valentine gets a running shoulder breaker. For 1..2.. He pulls him back up!!? What’s he thinking? Ahhh..I think he just wants to punish him some more. Davey boy in desperation whips Valentine into the corner where he hits head to head with Dynamite, who flies off the top right onto the floor (Looked nasty too, shame the camera didn’t get a shot if it). Valentine stumbles backwards and falls on his back, Davey collapses on him for the 1…2… 3!!! Wow that came out of nowhere! Beefcake tried to make the save but the outside ref grabbed his leg. There were better Bulldog/Dream team matches but this was just awesome as the Bulldogs finally got the titles after months of chasing and getting screwed. Dynamite blades just for fun outside. ****1/4
Los Angles:
Commentators: Gov. Jesse da Body Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes and Elvira and Elvira’s boobs.
9. Hercules Hernandez Vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat – Rumor has it that Steamboat was going to take on Bret Hart here, but they switched to Hercules at the last minute. {Sigh}…Herc attacks right away and starts beating the stuffing out of the dragon. Bunch of reversals and the ArmDragon gets his first 2 armdrags. Herc powers out but Steamboat runs around until he gets the arm again and works more on it. Elvira and Jesse mock Steamboat and call him a wuss for wearing a bandanna on his leg. Hey who’s the one wearing the boa here Jesse? Herc gets out again but Steamboat’s way to fast for him and Steamer gets a suplex on the big man. Herc powers out again and this time clothesline the crap out of Steamboat. Herc starts putting the knees to Steamboat’s skull, gets a bearhug, then drops him throat first onto the top rope. Crowd chants “Steamboat! Steamboat!” Steamboat draws power from the fans and tries a desperation powerslam, but Hercules is too fat and almost gets a 3 when he falls on him. Steamboat’s stumbling around the ring like Floyd on one Dollar margarita night. Hercules looks a bit like Eugene to me. Steamboat gets some big time chops in but Herc stops that nonsense with another clothesline, and gets 2. Press slam by Hercules and he didn’t just toss him, but really rammed Steamboat hard into the mat full force. Another press slam and Herc makes dumb heel mistake #24 by going to the top rope. He tries a Herc splash but Steamboat gets the knees up! Steamboat shows him how it’s done and hits a flying bodypress for the 3 count. Alfred Hayes and Jesse argue about the ref’s count speed. **1/2
10.“Adorable” Adrian Adonis (w/ manager Jimmy hart) Vs. Uncle Elmer – This may come to a huge shock to a lot of people, but Adonis was an AWESOME worker back in the day. He was a fat guy but was ridiculously fast and agile, and could sell like a mofo. I’m not sure why Vince punished him, I’ve heard it was either cause he refused to job to people or wouldn’t lose weight. Anyway, he got stuck with the “gay” gimmick but like Repo man and Dusty Rhodes, took a shitty gimmick and actually got over with it. Ughh, but it’s heart-breaking to see Adonis dressed up and acting like this. As for Uncle Elmer, Vince just had a hard-on for Hillbilly wrestlers, maybe he thought he was making fun of Ted Turner of something I dunno..
Elmer starts with a cheapshot and 300lb Adonis hits a freaking Flair flip in the corner! Crazy stuff, it’s like seeing Mark Henry doing Curt Henning-like selling. More crazy-ass bumping by Adonis and he’s flopping around like Rey Mysterio Jr. Adonis is thrown to the outside and Jimmy Hart argues with the ref. Back in and Uncle Elmer starts undressing Adonis. Elmer with a stomach-block or whatever and Adonis flips over the top ropes and gets caught in the ropes. Adonis gets out only to get a huge Avalanche from Elmer! Uncle Elmer Splash attempt misses and Adonis goes to the top rope for a top rope headbutt, Benoit eat your heart out. Adonis and Hart prance around the ring a few times. That bumping was CRAZY but pretty much a squash. *
11. Tito Santana & JYD Vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. – Terry and JYD had been feuding for months and this is the blowoff. Hogan gets his 2nd interview of the card. Terry Funk starts shoving the ref around before the match. Funk was a youngster, only 40 yrs old or so for this match. If you didn’t know that both Terry and Dory are two of the GREATEST wrestlers in history, you need to seriously stop reading this and go find some of their matches….. RIGHT NOW….. JYD starts attacking the Funks so Terry starts throwing chairs into the ring. Terry’s completely insane and Dory has to calm him down. Dory and JYD start off. Dory goes for an irish whip, JYD reverses it, and Dory hits his brother who for some reason falls into the ring like a drunk madman. 5 sec in and this is already awesome. JYD starts bodyslamming both Funks out of the ring. Terry jaws with the fans. Dory gets a cheapshot on Chico, who gets tagged in. So Dory tags in Terry. Terry with some chops but Chico whips him into the ropes. Terry hits the ropes front first and nearly goes over them. It’s hard to describe what’s going on but Funk’s selling is pretty funny/awesome. Funks gets clotheslined right outtra da ring and Chico starts dropkicking Dory who tried to sneak in. Both Funks are out again and Terry’stumbling and punching at ghosts outside. Back in and Terry Funk tries to out punch JYD but ends up being spun around like a top. JYD rams Funk’s head into the turnbuckle 10 times and Terry having trouble standing up. So what does JYD do? He grabs him and rams him 10 more times into the turnbuckle. Another crazy bump to the outside and Terry Funk’s in trouble….. again…
Now it’s Dory Funk Vs. Chico. Dory Funk with European uppercuts. Back and forth on the ropes and Santana hits the Flying Jalapeno!! Terry Funk makes the save but of course gets wailed on some more. They do the Funk’s cool double criss-cross thing, which surprisingly works this time as Santana get a Terry Funk knee in the back. Terry tosses Chico outside where Jimmy Harts gets some boots in. Terry gets a suplex for a long 3 and a pissed-off Funk pushes the ref around, who pushes him back. Another suplex attempt but Chico reverses it. They hit head to head and Terry falls luckily right into his corner where Dory tags in. Dory with a butterfly suplex for 2. Chico tries to get the his corner.. almost there….Nope not quite. More Chico beatdown and Terry goes for a legdrop but misses. Chico’s crawling…. almost there again… almost…there…. Nope not quite. Terry mocks Chico by offering him his hand for a tag, but Chico uses his West Texas football evasion moves and gets the hot tag for JYD!! Terry wraps a chain around JYD when the ref is busy, but JYD is inhuman and no sells it! Terry charges and gets backdropped to the concrete floor! Ouch! JYD slams Terry Funk onto a table.. which breaks.! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! This is crazy stuff for the WWF in it’s day. I think Harley Race had the next WWF table bump (which sadly didn’t go so well), and then it was 10 yrs until Bret Hart did the next one. Uh-oh Terry’s leg is hurt! Jimmy Hart is on the apron and JYD pops him in the mouth. All 4 guys in the ring. Suddenly from stage left a megaphone is thrown into the ring, Terry catches and knock out JYD for the 3! That was an awesomely fun match. If you liked this check out the JYD, Hogan VS. Funks SNME match too. ****
MAIN EVENT TIME!!
12. WORLD TITLE MATCH - Hulk Hogan Vs. King Kong Bundy (w/ manager Bobby Heenan) – This is a Cage match. King Kong Bundy (with Don Muraco’s help) broke Hogan’s ribs at SNME and now the Hulkster gets his revenge inside the confines of the steel cage.
Celeb watch:
Guest Ring announcer: Tommy Lasorda (fat Dodgers coach)
Guest Timekeeper: Ricky Schroeder (B-list actor in Silver Spoons)
Guest referee: Robert Conrad (another TV B-celeb, I hope Bundy squashes him)
Bundy is awesome. His body is shaped like a Milk Dud or a M & M, and looks like he could legitimately snap you in half. Hmmmm just noticed all the security guys around the ring are fat, must be a Union. Hogan enters the ring with his ribs still taped. I’m so glad Ventura is calling this Hogan match. They slug it out and Hogan gets the advantage. Chops and then a big stink Hulkster boot to the head. Because Hogan is such a role model, he uses Bundy’s straps on his outfit to choke him. It’s all Hogan, but he can’t knock the big man off his feet. Bundy gets some rib shots and now Hogan’s hurt! New World Champ in the making? More Rib work and Hogan is in terrible pain. And he’s locked in a cage, so there is no escape! Hogan’s on his back and Bundy goes for the door. Hogan dives and stops him at the last minute. Bundy picks up Hogan and rams Hogan’s back -first into the cage. Bundy tries to escape again but Hogan dives and stops him. Heenan is having a heart attack outside at all these near escapes. Bundy unwraps the ribs and turn-about-is-fair-play as he chokes out Hogan with the bandages. In a smart move Bundy ties up Hogan to the cage and goes to the door! Bundy’s nearly out! But Hogan stops him at the last minute. Now Hogan is making a comeback. He rams Bundy into the cage and Bundy blades! A decent one too for the WWF at the time. Hogan works on the cut and Bundy bleeds more. Hogan throws Bundy around the cage like a pinball. Hogan picks up Bundy, but Bundy falls right onto Hogan with his 400lb + body weight.
Bundy goes for the door! Hogan grabs the tape and chokes Bundy. Bundy goes to the eyes and whips him into the corner. AVALANCE!!! Not only that but big Bundy splash!! It’s over! New champ!! He goes for the door. He’s almost there!! Another dive and Hogan stops him. Bundy lays the shots in and Hulkster starts Hulking up! DAMMIT! F*&$^! Hogan whips Bundy and bodyslams Bundy on the rebound. He hits his silly legdrop and now Hogan climbs the cage. Bundy climbs the turnbuckle to stop him at the last minute. Heenan is trying to stop him from the outside too. Hogan kicks Bundy down and continues climbing. Heenan’s trying to stop him. Bundy crawls to the door. Who will win the race? Hogan drops down and wins at the last minute! Somehow a part of me knows that match wasn’t good but I still liked it. **1/2
After the match Hogan the big mean bully he is whips poor 70lb Heenan (who may or may not have had his nasty neck injury at this time) into the cage. Heenan takes a bump better than Hogan would EVER take, even while dreaming. One atomic Drop later and Heenan bumps right out of the cage. Thankfully they didn’t include an extra DVD just for Hogan’s pose down.
I used to do reviews of shows long ago. Since it's a few months before Wrestlemania I'd figure I'd do a review for every Wrestlemania for those who haven't seen the shows.
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Floyd’s Rant for Wrestlemania I
Show starts off with Mean Gene Oakerlund singing the national anthem. Gov. Jessee da Body says Mean Gene rates right up there with Robert Goulet.
1. Chico Santana Vs. The Executioner – The Executioner is Buddy Rose, which means .. damn! He’s super skinny compared to Rose 2.0 in a few years. In the interview Executioner says he’s going after Chico’s leg that was hurt by Greg the hammer valentine and needed surgery.
By the way, Chico Sanata is one of my all-time favorites. Being Hispanic myself probably scores him points, but he was an awesome worker and even during his 90’s job days always put out a great match for his opponents. Chico starts with a Taco House O’ fire! And dropkicks Executioner outside. Chico works a headlock Man… I miss Gorilla Monsoon’s and Jesse’s commentary… L Chico makes a dumbass good guy mistake and gets beat on for awhile. Executioner works on the leg but Chico counters into a cool pinning move. Chico’s Tacoing up!! Executioner pleads like a bitch but them outsmarts that dumbass Chico again. Executioner goes to the top rope!! Chico catches him! Flair slam off the top! But AGAIN Chico makes a dumbass mistake and Executioner works on da leg. Chico kicks Executioner all the way out where he lands sitting down on a chair. Back in and Chico hits the Flying Jalapeno! Chico uses his nemesis Greg Valentine’s finishing move, the Figure-Four leglock, gets the submission! Really fun opener. **1/2
2. King Kong Bundy (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. S.D. Jones – S.D. stands for Special Deliver and he was a really good jobber in the days. Hey cool, the original I used watch as a kid was clipped and never had these interviews Both Jones and Bundy are pretty good. Shame the interview’s lasted twice as long as the match!! For years afterwards they would say it was a record time of 9 sec. It was more like 20 but still an impressive start to Bundy’s year-long push to next year’s Wrestlemania, as this isn’t the last time we’ll see Bundy. A spatula and mop bucket is brought out for S.D. Jones. DUD
3. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Vs. Matt Borne – Matt Borne would be known more famously as… Doink the Clown I. He was a pretty good wrestler too though back in his Portland and Mid-South days. Both Jesse and Monsoon put over Borne’s father. Steamboat starts quick and gets a headlock. And in a move I haven’t seen in years because today’s wrestlers are too “primma donna” to take it: AN ATOMIC DROP!!!! Borne’s on rubber-legs. Steamboat mocks poor Borne’s pain. So Borne takes over and stomps on the Dragon for awhile. Steamboat goes into “sympathetic sell-mode” AHHAHAHA YES!. Dr. Monsoon gets his first medical analysis in. I had to rewind it 5 times but it was something like this: “What we call an External pertipal octuberance on the back of your head there” instead of just saying “A Karate Chop”.. More fast paced action and counters by Steamboat until hits a flying body press for the win. Another good match. **
4. David Sammartino (w/ Father Bruno Sammartino) Vs. Brutus Beefcake (w/ manager “Luscious” Johnny Valient) – Johnny Valiant looks and talks like that guy Andy Kaufman used to do, Tony Clifton, except with Blond hair:
Bruno looks about 80 here but looks like he could kick both guys asses as well as Beefcake’s lover, Hogan... Big pop from the MSG for big Bruno. Tie up and Brutus shows he’s stronger. Brutus stalls, another tie up and David gets the advantage with smarts and good wrestling. Brutus cries like a whiny runt bitch outside. Back in and more amateur stuff into a front face lock. Ahh..slow 80’s wrestling. If it was Wrestlemania 22 they’d be a top-rope vertebreaker and two broken Spanish announce tables by now. More 20min headlocks, this time by Brutus. David gets out and keeps Beefcake grounded with more restholds, working on the leg/knee. 40min later and Beefcake gets out and starts kicking Bruno’s son’s ass. David waits for the crowd to cheer and he makes a surprise backdrop comeback! He starts laying into Bruti so Brutus throws him outside in desperation where Valiant, in a particularly diabolical move for it’s day, bodyslams him on the floor. 120 year old Mummy Bruno comes around and, to the biggest pop of the night so far, kicks both their asses to earn a Double-DQ. *
5. INTER-CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Greg “The Hammer” Valentine Vs. The Junkyard Dog – JYD is an awful wrestler, but I always really liked him for some reason. JYD swings his chain around and the Hammer bails. Greg Valentine is the son of the legendary Johnny Valentine for those interested, but he was a pretty bad ass wrestler on his own. JYD was a HUGE star in Lousiana before moving to the WWF. JYD thumps him around the ring. WTF, this isn’t boxing ref, stop him or DQ him! The Hammer misses an elbow and JYD does his headbutting routine, knocking Greg out of the ring. Greg works the arm and lays da hammer down with hard forearms before working on the legs. JYD powers out and starts headbutting Valentine so bad he does a Flair flop. Jimmy Hart sticks his nose in and is grabbed by the JYD. This enables Hammer to cheat and get the pin! Chico Santana runs and tells the ref he cheated. The ref buys it and counts The hammer out. JYD wins by Count-Out! That’s CRAP. Greg loses the [kayfabe] winner’s money purse [/kayfabe] cause Chico stuck his nose in, but that’s good fodder for their future feud. Hmmmm, not as good as I remembered. 1/2*
6. TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham w/ manager Capt. Lou Albano) Vs. The Foreign Evil Dudes (Iron Shiek & Nikoli Volkoff w/manager Ayatolla Freddie Blassie) – Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham are both two *extremely* underrated wrestlers. Particularly Windham who may have been the Top 4 or 3 workers in the World from 86-88 or so. Nikoli sings the Soviet National Anthem. Sings pretty good too. So good that the fans throw spitballs into the ring. USA USA USA! The U.S. Express gets a huge pop, but I swear the monkeys in the back jacked up the volume for it. Rotundo and Sheik start off. All-American Mike Rotundo hits a dropkick 10 feet away from Sheik’s face, but Shiek sells it. Quick double-team moves by U.S. Express with the bad guys acting like the Three Stooges and making dumb mistakes and hitting each other. More quick tags and they work on Nikoli’s arm. Nikoli rams Rotundo into Sheiks curley, deadly shoes to get the advantage. Rotundo reverses a vertical suplex but is so beat up he can’t make the tag. The Rotundo beatdown continues. USA USA USA Chant! Monsoon claims there’s 25,000 at MSG tonight. Hehehe I kinda doubt it, but it sure sounds like it, MSG always rocked. Rotundo gets free, lunges, and makes the hot tag! Windham’s clearing house! Bulldog to Nikoli but Sheik makes the save. Rotundo knocks Sheik to the outside. The ref throws Rotundo out while the Shiek sneaks up and hits Windham with the dreaded Cane of Death! (Breaks it too) Windham is knocked the FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFfuck out! 1,2,3,. NEW CHAMPS!!! WTF? Where’s Chico? Why doesn’t he come out and tell the ref what happened? The evil foreigner dudes steal the belts! Fun match but too short. **1/2
Gene Mene asked Blassie where’s your Cane? Blassie: “What Cane!?! I didn’t have no Cane.”…
7. Andre the Giant Vs. Big John Studd (w/ manager Bobbie “The Brain” Heenan) – This is a 15,000$ bodyslam match. If Andre can slam Studd he gets 15,000. If he can’t Andre must retire. Scheme Gene tries to steal some bills from the bag but gets his hand slapped by Studd and Heenan. Typical Andre match from those days. I’ve heard that Andre didn’t like Studd and used to stiff him in the matches. Studd gets a low blow and tries to slam Andre, but hurts his back. Studd you moron. The fans start chanting “Slam Slam Slam!” Slow match with Andre dominating. Andre softens up the leg and GETS DA SLAM!! Andre is awarded the money and starts throwing it to the fans!!! So Heenan sprints in the ring like Carl Lewis and grabs the bag! Fun match cause Andre was in it. but Slooooowwwwwwwwww and Boooooooooooooooring.. 1/4*
8. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP: Leilani Kai (w/ Fabulous Moolah) Vs. Wendi Richter (w/ International Superstar Cyndi Lauper) – Ummm do you have enough makeup there Richter? Jezz you even make Sherri Martel go “GODAMN Girl, that’s a lot!” Sting too. Nice mat work by both girls, especially Kai. Lotsa hair pulling throughout the match. Kai distracts the ref and Moolah grabs Richter’s hair. 40 lb soaking-wet Lauper knocks Moolah on her ass. Kei goes for a Steamboat Flying Bodypress but Richter reverses it (although she screwed it up).. Surprisingly good match. I mean if they did this same match in Japan, Aja Kong would beat their asses up for being so crappy and leave them broken and bleeding in the alleyway, but compared to today’s WWF Women’s matches it was like Flair/Steamboat. **
MAIN EVENT TIME!
The Celebraties are introduced:
Guest Referee: Womanizing Pat Patterson
Guest Ring Annoucner: All around nice guy baseball manager: Billy Martin
Guest Time Keeper: Man’s Man and Pat Patterson’s favorite celeb: Liberace (with the Rockettes watching his back)
Guest Outside Referee: Boxing legend Muhammed Ali
10. World Champ Hulk Hogan & Mr. T (w/ Jimmy Snuka in their corner) Vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper & Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff (w/ "Ace Cowboy" Bob Orton in their corner) – Big pops for the celebs. Piper and friends come out first with a Bag-pipe band playing for them. Ha pretty cool!.. Hogan and T come out to a nuclear pop. Got my money on the heels here. Legit tough guy Liberace rings a super-gay looking bell. Only Manly-man Liberace could get away with sometime so fruity. This match won PWI’s MOTY for 1985, let’s see if it’s any good.
Hogan and Orndorff start off. The crowd is super hot for this. They circle and Piper is jumping up and down for the tag. A tag and now Piper’s in. They circle and now Mr. T’s jumping up and down, screaming for a tag in. WTF is he thinking? He’s not a real wrestler?… Hogan asks the crowd and obliges with a tag to T. . Piper… looks… pissed…. They go nose to nose. Slap by Piper! Slap by Mr .T! Slapfest continues until Piper gets a quick boot and takes that wussy celeb wanna be to the mat. But Mr. T escapes! Piper’s embarresed. Tie –up and Mr. T wins. Piper’s embarrassed again! And… is… MORE… pissed.. He rushes in and Mr. T with a firearms carry into a bodyslam!
Piper rushes again suddenly all six guys jump into the ring for a brawl. Ali comes and around AND TAKES A SWING AT PIPER!!! THEN RUNS AFTER ORTON AND TAKES A SWING AT HIM! THE CROWD IS GOING CRAZY!!! Billy Martin’s laughing at all this crazy shit. The heels are scared at Ali and stay on the outside. Piper then says “Fuck it”, flips off the crowd and they start walking to the back to a chorus of boos..
Referee pat Patterson starts counting them out. Hogan stops him and begs the heels to come back, which they do. They slowly enter the ring and then suddenly charge Hogan only to get a double-noggin knocker. Super Atomic-Drop by Hogan to Piper! Piper’s nutts be all like broken! .. Hogan bounces Pipers head off the mat a bunch of times and they both slug it out until Mr. T is tagged in for a double clothesline to Piper. Mr. T bodyslams and hip tossed both heels. Hogan back in and Piper looks out on his feet. Big boot to Piper and he’s out of the ring. Orndorff sneaks a clotheline to Hogan, knocking him out of the ring too. Outside and Piper hits a chairshot on him!!! This is equivalent to a DDT on broken glass back then. Piper runs when Ali comes over but the damage is already done. Piper looks very pleased with himself and starts getting payback to the Hulkster in the ring. The heels cut the ring in half and taunt Mr .T which lets them double team Hogan. Double-Atomic Drop on Hogan and then a cool Steve Austin looking elbow by Orndorff. Both the heels continue to maul Hogan with quick tags and nice moves. Orndorff goes for a top rope elbow..AND MISSES! Orndorff you dumbass! The crowd is going bananas! Hogan crawls over to Mr. T while a hurt Orndorff goes to tag Piper. Can he make it? Mr. T is tagged in!!!!! But the heels smartly cut him off short and Orndorff and Piper keep him grounded with amateur moves to wear him down. Uh-oh…. Now Mr. T is in for da beating. Mr. T draws power from the fans and explodes for a tags in to the Hulkster! Another double noggin knocker but Orndorff hits a back suplex to end that shit. Orton runs in only to get headbutted out by Snuka. All six guys are in the ring again for a melee! Orndorff has Hogan in a full-nelson! Piper runs after him but is intercepted by Mr. T. The ref(s) try to break up Piper and T, meanwhile Orton sneaks to the top rope for a match and possible career-ending “arm-caste shot” to Hogan. But Hogan moves and he hits Orndorff instead!!!!!!! Snuka knocks Orton outta da ring and Hogan gets the 3 count on Orndorff!! Piper is so pissed and knocks out the ref before leaving. Him and Orton leave an unconscious Orndorff in the ring. He wakes up and looks for Piper and Orton, but they’re gone. This’ll set up their feud including a great SNME match. Yes I’m definitely overrating this main event, and although it wasn’t an Guerrero/Benoit technical clinic, it was a really fun match to watch. ****
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Anyone see the show? If so what did you think of it? Not the best Wrestlemania obviously, but better than any card the WWF had done so far.
CMLL 2005
Mistico vs. El Averno, 2/11/05
Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero, 2/25/05
Dr. Wagner Jr./Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero, 3/12/05
Mistico vs. Perro Aguayo Jr, 5/13/05
El Hijo del Santo/Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero/Averno/Mephisto, 8/26/05
Perro Aguayo Jr, Mr Aguila, Halloween & Damian 666 vs. Pierroth, Apolo Dantes, Mascara 2000 & Universo 2000, 10/14/05
El Hijo del Santo vs. Atlantis, 11/05/05
Halloween vs. Universo 2000, hair vs. hair, 12/02/05
El Hijo del Santo/Negro Casas vs. Averno/Mistico, 12/16/05
El Texano, Negro Navarro & El Signo vs. Super Astro, Ultraman & Solar, IWRG, 02/10/05
OK, so I idolise late 80s-early 90s CMLL and pretty much anything from before then, with this being my first real foray into recent lucha. It's not the lucha I know, so let's see if I can get to grips with it.
Might as well start with Mistico... I wasn't expecting him to be a great worker, so it wasn't much of a surprise... His timing is good & he's unbelievably quick. Gets amazing height. What he really lacks is poise. Back in the days of matwork, technicos would string together a sequence that left the rudos reeling... A rudo would back himself to go mano a mano, they'd trade holds and then -- like pulling a rabbit from a hat -- that show of superior technique... I can hardly remember anything about Mistico vs. Averno, except that the rudo worked at the pace of the technico, matching him hold for hold. I could hardly tell you who upstaged whom, where, what, when... It was all a blur. Shortened matches have really upped the pace. I suppose we're beyond the point where an armbar is magnifico, but Mistico needs to learn rhythm; how to work those spots so they really mean something. If you look at 1984 Atlantis he hardly had it together, but he ended up building a magnificent technico career out of the same repeated spots. It's all about poise.
The Mistico/UG match accomplished a fair bit in 10 minutes & the Perro match was quite good. I don't buy into Mistico as an underdog, but he's a decent technico (which isn't easy) & has the crowd behind him. The act just wears a bit thin after a while. The best lucha always feels like improv, even when it's not. That's something heel Atlantis struggles with. Long serving, excellent technico, but sucks as a rudo. Wagner, on the other hand, is ungodly charismatic. Wagner never used to be this good, now it feels like everything he does is off the cuff. He's gotta be my favourite guy in Mexico.
The Perros/Capos stuff was OK. The hair vs. hair match was... listless. I'm all for broken down rudos working hair matches, so long as they're actually brawling.
I haven't really cared for the Santo/Casas team since they were feuding with Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio, Jr. I don't like the way they bought into the new workrate style... Averno and Mephisto have cool entrances and aren't bad workers, but as rudos they're workrate machines & sadly recyclable. Don't see how they're different from Los Guerreros del Infierno, to be honest.
The Los Misioneros de la Muerte trios is still the best match I've seen from 2005. Once a year Negro Navarro shows up on tape to remind us what real lucha is like.
My thought on Disk #1 (Ranked in order of best-to-worst):
Cream of the crop:
1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) - Whoever loses the fall must leave town. This was supposed to be Hacksaw defending the belts but he couldn't make it so Portland Matt Bourne took his place. DiBiase/Bourne make a good heel tag team. Really fun tag match with an ending so awesome if made it my #1 for the set.
2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) - Super Awesome. Don't know how the feud started but apparently these guys really didn't like each other.
3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) - Somehow Mr. Olympia had turned heel and apparently screwed over Chavo as this is the grudge match. Great match with Mr. Olympia being a bastard heel and Chavo doing good moves to a hot crowd.
Very good too:
4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) - If anyone wanted to know what the Midnight Expresses was all about, this might be the match to show them. Nothing mid blowing but sheer brilliance in working the crowd. How Jim Cornette was never beaten to death in a fan riot I'll never know.
5. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) - Sweet match here. Almost like the stereotypical heel Vs. the stereotypical babyface. Both guys stock goes up for me in this match, especially Mr. Olympia who does a running dive to the outside on the concrete. Good stuff, but again since it's TV too short to really place high for me.
6. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) - The revenge match with Mr. Wrestling II taking the gone Mr. Olympia's place. Good tag match.
Good:
7. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) - Fun tag match. I like the DiBiase/Duggan team and Mr. Olympia continues to be great, reminding me of classic babyfaces like Tito Santana.
8. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) - Never seen Buck Robley before but he looks like a mix of Necro butcher and 70's George Carlin. I'm also guessing Robley didn't have to have testosteroe theory in his later years like everyone else. OMG is a pimp sized bump-master here! For a guy who weighs 8,000 pounds, man he was thowing his body all around the ring and to the outside. Also the entire match the commentators keep saying how much they like Robley and how sad it is that there's no way he can win. They basically start making funeral preperations for him. Which makes his comeback so much better at the end. Just a fantastic small guy/big fat guy story. Lumberjack Dick Murdoch was standing with his back to the camera with a "All japan" T-shirt on which was pretty neat.
9. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) - You wanna talk about fucking crowd heat? Jesus Christ the crowd shaking the entire building during this match. After getting tarred and feathered by the Midnights, Bill Watts brings in a ringer. The dangerous shooter, the masked Stagger Lee. In the unlikely event of his team losing, Jim Cornette has to wear a diaper after the match.
10. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) - pretty cool opening match on the set between two guys i've never seen before. Mike George played a good heel and Bob Roop was awesome with his heel-ishness.
11. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83) - I've seen this match highly praised by everyone over at DVDVR but I can't understand why, and not just best on Disk #1 but a top pick for the entire set. It's a really good match but I dunno, nothing amazing to me. Both Magnum and Mr. Wrestling II have to make big comebacks in an attempt to win the tag titles. Reed looked good here.
Good to OK
12. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) - Never seen Mr. Olympia before. He's the Mississippi Champ here. Mr. Wonderful looks alot more mobile and quick here than in the WWF. Good match, wished it had been longer.
13. Midnight Express vs. Bill Dundee & Porkchop Cash (4/6/84) - ha I liked the team of Porkchop Cash and Dundee. Formulaic Midnight Express match, which means it's good.
14. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82) - Sadly Mr. Olympia's partner couldn't be here, so he got a great replacement in the masked Stagger Lee.
15. Butch Reed v. Iron Sheik (4/8/83) - It's almost weird seeing how unbroken and mobile Sheik was here, doing neck bridges and taking bumps around the ring. There's one memorable part where the ring crew really should've tightened the ropes/turnbuckle more. Plus Shiek was a master at evil heel cliches.
16. Bob Roop vs. Ted DiBiase (4/2/82) - Cool Roop again with his old school heel work. Roop defends his N.A. title. The plus here was some really great mat work you don't see anymore.
OK but ain't no Top 20 or nothin:
17. Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express (No DQ: Tag Titles vs. $50,000) (5/23/84) - Dream match between the soon to be long-time rivals. R N R Expess put up the belts against Jim Cornette's momma's $50,000. Good match but nothing fantastic.
18. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83) - Bockwinkle defends the AWA World title here. Pretty OK match, nothing special.
19. Buddy Landel & Butch Reed vs. Rock N Roll Express (3/28/84) - I'm guessing the R n R Express was new here, as it seemed to be a spotlight for their team. Jim Cornette is at ringside taking notes.
No Sir. I Didn't like it:
20. Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) - Gah! Didnt like this one at all. And this from a JYD fan growing up, plus Bockwinkle/Heenan are one of the greatest twosome ever. If Bockwinkle wins he get's JYD's crown. If the JYD wins this one he gets bump master Heenan in the ring after the match. Too slow here.
***********************
Thought fo' Disk #1:
- Bob Roop was pretty good. A classic heel but who also had a nice technical background.
- Mr. Olympia was awesome, either as a good guy or heel. How come I never of him?
- Hacksaw Duggan's spear is to be feared.
- The tag team matches in Mid-South are great.
- One should not worship false idols. But as far as wrestling goes, Cornette IS a demi-God.
- How the FUCK aren't the Midnight Express in the Hall-of-Fame!?!??
**********************
Floyd's Ongoing Mid-South Top 10:
1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82)
2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83)
3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83)
4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84)
5. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82)
6. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83)
7. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82)
8. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82)
9. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84)
10. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81)
***********************
Your thought on Disk#1? Or any of the Mid South matches? Feel free to flame any of picks as long as you discuss why first. ;-)
Just got the Observer in the mail here's the results. Forgive any mispellings, I can't type very well..:
Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year):
1. John Cena (437 #1 votes) - 2,459 pts
2. Bryan Danielson (77) - 928
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (42) - 728
4. Shawn Michaels (32) - 579
5. Takeshi Morishima (41) - 565
6. Mistico (6) - 510
7. Mitsuharu Misawa (33)
8. Cibernetico (28) - 290
9. Kurt Angle (7) - 202
10.Edge (16) - 196
MMA MVP
1. Randy Couture (334) - 2,254
2. Quinton Jackson (105) - 1,446
3. Chuck Lidell (116) - 1,209
4. Frank Shamrock (3) - 353
5. Anderson Silva
6. Geirge St. Pierre
7. Kid Yamamoto
8. Forrest Griffin
9. Yoshihiro Akiyama
10. Masato
Most Outstanding Wrestler
1. Bryan Danielson (434) - 2,646
2. Shawn Michaels (46) - 468
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (62) - 642
4. Naomichi Marufuji
5. Nigel McGuiness
6. Samoa Joe
7. KENTA
8. Takeshi Morishima
9. Edge
10. John Cena
Most Oustanding MMA Fighter
1. Quinton Jackson (157) - 1,554
2. Anderson Silva (151) - 1,508
3. Randy Couture (131) - 1,235
4. Urijah Faber
5. Tyson Griffin
6. Clay Guida
7. George St. Pierre
8. Fedor Emelianenko
9. Matt Serra
10. Kid Yamamote
Best Box office Draw
1. John Cena (331) - 2,299
2. Chuck Lidell (267) - 2,192
3. Mistico (133) - 1,603
4. Randy Couture
5. Quinton Jackson
6. Tito Ortiz
7. Cibernetico
8. Kid Yamanoto
9. Perro Aguayo jr.
10. HHH
Feud of the Year
1. Undertaker Vs. Batista (148) -1,160
2. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (89) - 1,119
3. Briscoes Vs. Steen & El Generico (121) - 1,045
4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels
5. Matt Hardy Vs. MVP
6. Frank Shamrock Vs. Phil Baroni
7. Matt Hughes Vs. Matt Serra
8. Tito rotiz Vs. Chuck Lidell
9. Gran Apache Vs. Billy Boy
10. Vince McMahon Vs. Donald Trump
Tag Team of the year
1. Mark & Jay briscoe (474) - 2,641
2. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelly (58) - 1,132
3. Kevin Steen & El Generico (0) - 690
4. Giant bernard & Travis Tomko
5. Matt & Jeff Hardy
6. Paul London & Brian Kendrick
7. Lance Cade & trevor Murdoch
8. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Dio
9. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori
10. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzaki
Most Improved
1. MVP (305) - 1,966
2. Claudio Castagnoli (34) - 564
3. Tomko
4. Takeshi Morishiam
5. Candice Michelle
6. Jeff Hardy
7. Umaga
8. John Cena
9. Hirooki Goto
10. Batista
Best on Interviews
1. John Cena (151) - 1,243
2. Santino Marella (133) - 1,208
3. Edge
4. Quinton jackson
5. Larry Sweeny
6. Christian Cage
7. Frank Shamrock
8. Tito Ortiz
9. Mr. kennedy
10. Ric Flair
Most Charismatic
1. John Cena (358) - 2,447
2. Quinton Jacklson (158) - 1,491
3. Ciberetico
4. Randy Couture
5. Shawn Michaels
6. Tito Ortiz
7. Mistico
8. Edge
9. Jeff hardy
10. Forrest Griffin
best Technical Wrestler
1. Bryan Danielson (529) - 2,928
2. Nigel McGuiness (15) - 784
3. Yuji Nagata
4. Fit Finlay
5. KENTA
6. Kurt Angle
7. Naomichi Marufuji
8. Mike Quackenbush
9. Shawn Michaels
10. Samoa Joe
Brusier Brody Best Brawler Award
1. Takeshi Morishima (157) - 1,464
2. Umaga (101) - 1,199
3. Samoa Joe (115) - 1,129
4. Fit Finlay
5. Necro Butcher
6. Togi Makabe
7. John Cena
8. Abyss
9. Undertaker
10. Rhyno
Best Flying Wrestler
1. Mistico (162) - 1,394
2. Ricky Marvin
3. jack Evans
4. AJ Styles
5. Pac
6. Matt Sydal
7. Jeff Hardy
8. Matt Cross
9. Dragon Kid
10. Rey Mysterio jr.
Most Overrated
1. Giant Khali (187) - 1,210
2. Mr. Kennedy (80) - 586
3. HHH
4. Bobby Lashley
5. Batista
6. Big Daddy V
7. Randy Orton
8. Kurt Angle
9. Kevin Nash
10. Mistuharu Misawa
Most Underrated
1. Shelton Benjamin (98) - 735
2. Jamie Noble
3. Paul London
4. Alex Shelly
5. William Regal
6. Brian Kendrick
7. Matt Hardy
8. Go Shiozaki
9. AJ Styles
10. Christopher Daniels
Promotion of the Year
1. UFC (280) - 2,479
2. ROH
3. WWE
4. NOAH
5. AAA
6. CMLL
7. New Japan
8. Dragon Gate
9. Strikeforce
10. TNA
Best Weekly TV Show
1. The Ultimate Fighter (390) - 2,463
2. WWE RAW
3. WWE Smackdown
4. AAA
5. CMLL
6. Wrestling Society X
7. NOAH
8. Inside MMA
9 & 10. Bodog Fight Costa Rica & TNA Impact (tie)
Worked Match of the year
1. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (8/25) (118) - 1,199
2. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori Vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi marufuji (7/15) (131) - 1,108
3. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuiness (6/9) - (146) - 1,061
4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (4/23)
5. John Cena Vs. Umaga (1/28)
6. Briscoes Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (9/15)
7. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge Vs. Randy Orton (4/29)
8. Cima, Shingo Takagi & Susuma Mochizuki Vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki (No Date given, ROH match?)
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Hirooki Goto (11/11)
10. Hiroshi Tanahasi Vs. Yuji Nagata (4/13)
Shoot Match of the year
1. Randy Couture Vs. Tim Silvia (3/3) (202) - 1,453
2. Nick Diaz Vs. Takanori Gomi (2/24)
3. Tyson Griffin Vs. Clay Guida (6/16)
4. Frank Shamrock Vs. Phil Baroni (6/22)
5. Frank Edgar Vs. Tyson Griffin (2/3)
6. Chris Horodecki Vs. Shad Lierley (6/1)
7. Forrest Griffin Vs. Maruricio Rua (9/22)
8. Quinton Jackson Vs. Chuck Lidell (5/26)
9. Quinton Jackson Vs. Dan Henderson (9/8)
10. Steve berger Vs. Piotr Jackacynski (No date Given, Costa Rica)
Rookie of the year
1. Eric Stevens (106) - 756
2. Joe Doering (88) - 752
3. Tim Donst
4. La Sombra
5. Cyber Kong
6. Ted DiBiase Jr.
7. Ted McNailer
8. Lince Dorado
9. Seiya Sanada
10. Bobby Dempsey
Best Non-Wrestler
1. Larry Sweeney (382) - 2,269
2. Vince mcMahon (97) - 847
3. Jim Cornette
4. Jim Mitchell
5. William Regal
6. Sharmell
7. Karen Angle
8. Lacey
9. Armando Estrada
10. Generalissimo Takada
Best Television Announcer
1. Jim Ross (325) - 2,257
2. JBL (184) - 1,609
3. Joe Rogan
4. Mauro Ranallo
5. Mike Goldberg
6. Dave Prazak
7. Frank Mir
8. Mike Teney
9. Joey Styles
10. Kenny Bolin
Worst Television Announcer
1. Don West (269) - 2,204
2. Micheal Cole (116) - 1,130
3. Johnathan Coachman
4. Todd Grisham
5. Mike Teney
6. Jerry Lawler
7. Col. Bob Sheridan
8. Joey Styles
9. Taz
10. Leticia Cline
Best Major Wrestling Show
1. ROH Man Up (188) - 1,296
2. WWE Wrestlemania (133) - 1,138
3. Pride 2nd Coming
4. ROH Driven
5. Pride Otoko Matsuri
6. Strikeforce/EXC Judgement Day
7. WWE Backlash
8. UFC 68
9. UFC 66
10. UFC 76
Worst Major Wrestling Show
1. WWE/ECW December to Disremember (12/3/06) - 298 pts.
2. TNA Lockdown
3. WWE Unforgiven
4. TNA Hard Justice
5. UFC 78
6. TNA Victory Road
7. TNA Final Resolution
8. WWE Jugement Day
Best Wrestling Maneuver
1. KENTA's Go To Sleep - 98 pts.
2. Randy Orton's running soccer kick
3. Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer
4. Bryan Danielson's Cattle Mutilation
5. Matt Sydal's shooting Star press
6. Bryan Danielson's elbows
7. Samoa Joe's muscle buster
8. Takeshi Morishima's backdrop driver
9. CM Punks Go To Sleep
10. Shawn Michaels' superkick
Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic
1. TNA Signing Pacman Jones/Making it Rain - 317 pts.
2. Vince mcMahon's death
3. WWE's entire handling of post-benoit re: Steriods
4. Hornswoggle as Vince's illegitament son
5. Giant Khali as World Champion
6. WWE doing Benoit tribute show
Worst Television Show
1. TNA Impact - 476 pts
2. WWE/ECW - 122
3. WWE RAW
4. Wrestling Society X
5. WWE Heat
6. IFL Battleground
Worst Feud of the Year
1. Kane Vs. Big Daddy V - 204 pts
2. VKM Vs. Christy Hemme - 121
3. Eric Young Vs. Robert Roode
4. Batista Vs. Giant Khali
5. Vince McMahon Vs. Bobby Lashley
6. Layla Vs. Kelly kelly
7. Kane Vs. Giant Khali
8. Cody Rhodes Vs. Bob Holly
9. Abyss Vs. Black Reign
10. WWE Vs. Honesty & John Cena Vs. Giant Khali (TIE)
Worst Match of the Year
1. Chris Harris Vs. James Storm (Blindfold match - 4/15) - 149 pts
2. Fake Donald Trump Vs. Fake Rosie O'Donell (1/8) - 119
3. Giant Khali Vs. Kane (4/1)
4. Giant Khali Vs. Horsnwoggle (11/17)
5. Layla Vs. Kelly Kelly (11/27)
6. Monsters Battle Royal Kane Vs. Giant Khali Vs. Mark henry (10/30)
7. Big Daddy V. Vs. Boogyman (9/18)
8. Kane Vs. Mark henry (6/3)
9. Chrsity Hemme Vs. Fat Oily Guy (2/11)
10. Giant Khali Vs. Batista (10/7)
Worst Promotion of the year
1. TNA - 520 pts
2. WWE - 42 pts
3. IFL
4. All-Japan
5. AAA
6. IWA Puerto Rico
Best Booker
1. Gabe Sapolsky - 495 pts.
2. Joe Silva - 128
3. Riki Choshu
4. Michael Hayes
5. Dorian Roidan
6. Vince McMahon
Promoter of the year
1. Dana White - 412 pts
2. Vince mcMahon - 113
3. Cary Siikin
4. Joachim Roldan
5. Paco Alonso
Best Gimmick
1. Santino Marella - 344 pts.
2. Black Machismo Jay Lethal - 52
3. MVP
4. Fetus
5. Takeshi Morishima
6. Matt Classic
7. Delirious
8. King Booker
9. Chris Hero
10. Awesome Kong
Worst Gimmick
1. Black Reign - 203 pts
2. Horswoggle McMahon - 88
3. Pacman Jones
4. Big Daddy V
5. Jillian Hall singing
6. VKM
7. Abyss
8. Fat Oiley Guy
9. Boogyman
10. HG & Giant Khali (TIE)
Best Pro Wrestling Book
1. Hitman by Bret Hart - 266 pts
2. A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho - 237
3. Brody Vs. Larry Matysik
4. Hardcore Diaries by Mick Foley
5. NWA by Tim Hornbacker
6. Lucha Loco by Malcom Venville
7. Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels by Oliver/Johnson
Best Pro Wrestling DVD
1. Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen - 332 pts
2. History of the AWA - 73
3. The Ladder matches
4. Shawn Michaels: heartbreak & Triumph
5. The New and Improved DX
Except for some ROH shows, I think Ive seen most of what I wanted to, so here's my picks for the Top 25 matches of 2007!
********************************************
25. Mitsuharu Misawa Vs. Takuma Sano (NOAH Spring Navigation - 4/28) - Misawa gets in trouble quickly and has to regroup or else he'll lose his GHC World title.
24. Mschif Vs. Awesome Kong (Shimmer Vol. 9 - 4/7/07) - The Awesome Kong invasion continues when she takes on NWA Women's champ Mschif (Non-title match)
23. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge Vs. Randy Orton (WWE Backlash - 4/29) - Fun 4-way for the RAW World title with a great finish.
22. Mistico Vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. (CMLL 2/3 Falls - 7/27) - Wagner beats the crap out of Mistico and even steals his mask after winning the 1st fall! Now Mistico must make the comeback.
21. Takeshi Morishima Vs. Samoa Joe (ROH Fifth Year Festival: NYC - 2/16) - Two fat bruisers pound each other around during Samoa Joe's last ROH tour.
20. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (Death Before Dishonor V: Night 1 - Street fight - 8/10) - Insane Streetfight that goes all over the arena with career threatening bumps.
19. CMLL Cage of death (Mistico Vs. Hijo del Perro Aguayo Vs. Villano V Vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. Vs. Ultimo Guerrero Vs. Hijo de Lizmark Vs. Blue Panther Vs. Atlantis) (CMLL 74th Anniversary Show - 9/28) - Cage match where the goal is to escape the cage until two wrestlers remain. Those two then have a regular match with the loser getting unmasked or head shaven!
18. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio Vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura (NOAH Spring Navigation - 4/28) - Akiyama & Rikio defend the GHC Tag titles in a great match.
17. KENTA & Taiji Ishomiri Vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi (NOAH Summer Navigation - 7/15) - NTV Cup finals between two spot-tastic Jr. tag teams.
16. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama Vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH Winter Navigation - 12/2) - Kobashi dramatically return after 18-months and he gives it his all in this emotional tag team match.
15. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelly & Chris Sabin) (ROH Good Times, Great Memories - 4/28) - TNA invades ROH with the Machine Guns using evil heel tactics to combat the Briscoes double-teaming-ness. If you want to see the two top tag teams of 2007 go at it, here it is.
14. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE RAW - 4/23) - After Randy Orton got kicked from the show, it gave Cena and Michaels more time to work a match, 57 minutes actually. A hot crowd and a back and forth match.
13. Takashi Sasaki Vs. Yuko Miyamoto (Big Japan - Fluorescent Lighttubes Construction Site Scaffold Death Match - 3/14) - Cool deathmatch where both guys take insane punishment but refuse to stay down.
12. Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA (ROH Driven - 6/9) - Danielson/KENTA III is the rubber match and as it never aired on the PPV, could this be considered as the greatest dark match ever?
11. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Castagnoli & Matt Sydal (ROH Respect is Earned - 5/12) - Awesome tag team match with non-stop perfectly timed spots and hot near-falls.
TOP 10!
10. Bryan Danielson Vs. Go Shiozaki (ROH Live in Tokyo – 7/16) - A tremendous sleeper match of the year as ROH visits Japan for the 1st time.
9. John Cena Vs. Umaga (WWE Royal Rumble - Last Man Standing match - 1/28) - Despite broken ribs Cena still defends the WWE World title against the Barbaric Umaga.
8. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (ROH Man Up Ladder match) - The ladder match was banned in ROH after this match. So yeah it's pretty bad.
7. Takeshi Morishima Vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH Manhattan Mayhem II - 8/25) - Danielson finally gets his shot at the unstoppable monster Morishima.
6. Jimmy Jacobs Vs. BJ Whitmer (Supercard of Honor - Cagematch - 3/31) - Hellacious cage match that will settle the feud once and for all!
5. Chris Harris Vs. James Storm (TNA Sacrifice - Texas Death match - 5/13) - Another nasty feud-ending match. An anything goes match between former tag team partners.
4. Yuji Nagata Vs. Togi Makabe (New Japan - 7/6) - Nagata defends his IWGP World title here and Makabe out for revenge from their first match. Makabe's all confident coming in and has no respect for Nagata. He dominates the early portions and inflects ghetto scissors damage. This isn't your grandma's New Japan! The tables turn however as Nagata shows he's tough and both guys end up bleeding all over the place but refusing to lose.
3. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH Driven 6/23) - Whoever wins this match gets a shot at Morishma's ROH World title. Both guys are driven to win.
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Hirooki Goto (New Japan - 11/11) - Tanahasi defends the IWGP title. Tremendous match that went back and forth with Goto getting his knee jacked-up throughout and Tanahasi nearly dying off a move.
1. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH - 1/21) - The Briscoes were defending their newly won GHC Jr. tag titles here to a hot crowd. It's a near constant spotfest for over 25 minutes with the Briscoes trying to retain their title in their first defense and Marvin/Suzuki desperatly trying to keep the titles in Japan.
Since I have time off I've been trying to catch-up with some recommended matches for 2007. In the meantime here's my Top 10 from 2006.
10. Akira Taue Vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH - Tokyo Nippon Budokan Show – 3/5/06) – This was big man (and recent GHC World Champion) Akira Taue thumping on little Marufiji. Marifuji was on a roll so far in the year but he needed a big win over one of the established stars. While maybe not a blow-away match, this one had some awesome spots and Taue was extremely game in allowing Marufuji on offense rather than going the usual NOAH big-guy Vs. little-guy route.
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9. Edge Vs. Mic Foley (WWE Wrestlemania - Falls Count Anywhere match – 5/2/06) – Despite WWE having a less-than-steller year for wrestling, Wrestlemania still has an aura about it as the biggest show of the year, and this was the best show on the card by far. After having a great match against that useless turd Randy Orton in 04, Foley returned again and had a disappointing match against Carlito Cool. So here at Wrestlemania Foley seems determined to appease the salivating sicko fans who want to see him beaten and bloodied just one more time. He brings in the usual WWE diet-hardcore fair like fire, barbed-wire bats and thumbtacks! Thumbtacks by gawd! Edge is my pick for the best WWE Wrestler of the year and he gamely keeps up with Foley by taking some big bumps. Lita’s also here for a beating, perhaps fulfilling a contract stipulation for Matt Hardys return.. A typical Foley hardcore match but it always delivers and had some original stuff in it like a barbed-wired Mr. Sock and Foley outsmarting the Spear. The Flair/Foley I-Quit match may have been more brutal than this but this one was paced better and was more memorable on the bigger stage.
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8. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio Vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH - Summer Navigation 2006 - 7/16/06) – This was the David Vs. Goliath tag match where the two Jr. guys have to survive against the big dudes. Rikio and Morishma dominate portions of the match with the power of their fat but KENTA & Marufuji counter using their quickness and tag teams moves. KENTA and Takeshi Morisihma, two of the future stars for NOAH, especially want to beat the crap out of each other. For such a long match there is not too much of a slow down and the crowd is screaming at the end with all the near-falls and big moves.
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7. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong Vs. The Briscoes (ROH – Unified – 8/12/06) – ROH had a tremendous run of tag team matches in 2006 proving that the art isn’t quite dead yet. (You reading this Vince?) Out of all the great tag matches this is probably my favorite with Strong & Aries defending the straps against ROH’s prodigal sons the Briscoes. The U.K. crowd was red-hot for the match and both teams hit on all cylinders with incredible timing and tag team moves. Lots of brain-killing finishers and near falls made this a match to remember for 2006.
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6. Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) Vs. Blood Generation (Cima, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino) (ROH Supercard of Honor - 3/31/06) – While a very exciting match, I thought this was very overrated and I doubted it would make my final Top 10. But Dammit! Here we are and sadly I can’t deny it as it comes in at #6. :-( All six guys are from the Japanese-based Dragon’s Gate promotion and brought their exhibition match stateside for the ROH fans. The first half of the match was one of the good guy getting beat up with 6-man moves, but this was just a prelude to the quick-as-lightening finish where big spots were popping let and right with near-falls galore. This was like a TLC match, but without Ladder’s and stuff.
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5. Kurt Angle Vs. The Undertaker (WWE– No Way Out – 2/19/06) - It was built up as a MMA “grappler” Vs. “striker” match and while imagining The Undertaker as a supreme-fighting-machine striker is pretty funny, the match exceeded ALL possible expectations for it. Undertaker was incredibly game here selling left and right and taking big bumps including a nasty looking top rope belly-to-belly torpedo driver that he almost died taking. And despite being a shadow of his former self, Angle is still awesome. Lots of counters and reversals here with Taker busting out his big moves and using a triangle-choke as a counter. Angle’s thirsty for blood as he works on the ankle and is going for the tap-out win like a rapid dog. (He even had a chance to retain by count-out but demanded the match to continue so he could submit the phenom) Whoever wins the match gets the Smackdown World title and a main event slot at Wrestlemania.
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4. Bryan Danielson Vs. Roderick Strong (ROH – Supercard of Honor - 3/31/06) – Bryan Danielson always put out great defenses for his title, but it seems like he’s always one step ahead of the other guy and is controlling the match even when he’s losing, ala Ric Flair. Roderick Strong however, comes off as the Anti-American Dragon and gives the true sense that he CAN beat him for the title. It’s simply a matter of time. Danielson’s pasty white skin has a hard time against Strong’s hella-nasty Flair-chops, which loosen fans teeth fillings as they reverberate shockwaves throughout the arena. Also all those goddamn backbreakers can’t be good for his lower lumbar region. Another long match that may bore some fans with its long mat work and wear-down sequences. But if you get into it, it’s an incredible back-and-forth contest with an exciting finale. At the end Danielson almost seems to be buying time to get to another 60:00 minute draw and retain his title.
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3. KENTA Vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH – Autumn Navigation - 10/29/06) – A lot of people didn’t like this match and I think I’ve figured out why. NOAH fans are so accustomed to seeing big guys thump and chop each other around for the World title while the Jr. Heavyweights waste time in the mid-card. 2006 was supposed to be the year of KENTA, but surprisingly it was Marufuji who kicked ass all year long slowly gaining steam until upsetting Jun Akiyama for the GHC World Championship. His second defense was against his tag team partner KENTA. KENTA has history on his side as he scored a big win over Marufuji in their January match. Some nasty big moves like an Asai moonsault over the railing (nearly killing Marufuji) and a slingshot Doublestomp OVER the ropes ONTO THE CONCRETE!! Nasty stiff kicks and concussion-inducing suplexes also litter the 40 minute match. Luckily they both no-sell paralysis and keep on going, throwing everything at each other until both guys are exhausted. These two guys knew each other so well it seems they were thinking 2 or 3 moves ahead with all the counters and reversals. Although the Marufuji experiment only lasted a few month before Misawa won the title, it was a good test run for NOAH putting their Jr. guys on top, and this was the pristine match for perhaps the future of the promotion.
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2. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH – Unified – 8/12/06) – Danielson is the ROH World Champion. Nigel McGuinness is the ROH Pure champion. This was a unification match where the winner would take both belts. The rules were modified so they MUST be a winner (No Count-out or Double DQ crap like that). Also the match is contested under “Pure rules”, meaning if you get in trouble and make the ropes the ref breaks up the move. Each wrestler only has 3 rope breaks though, so after that the ref can’t break the hold. Nigel has a huge home crowd advantage as the match takes place in Great Britain. McGuinness has been close to defeating the American Dragon in previous matches, and now that his Pure title is on the line he has more incentive to win. Could this be the night? Danielson’s beat them all but McGuinness has that “There's NO way I’m going to lose tonight” look in his eyes going into the match.
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Floyd’s 2006 MATCH OF THE YEAR:
Team ROH (Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce, B.J. Whitmer & Ace Steel )
Vs.
Team CZW (Necro Butcher, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Nate Webb & Mystery partner)
(ROH – Death before Dishonor 4 – Cage of Death – 7/15/06)
- After lots of soul searching I still couldn’t find a reason why not. Yup. This is it. The best match of 2006 despite it being a garbage match filled with trashcans, barbed-wire and thumbtacks. All the 70’s mat masters are turning over in their graves right now. The ROH Vs. CZW feud of 2006 was incredible booked. It benefited both promotions giving fans a taste of each new talent and it helped elevate some mid-card guys (Adam Pearce, B.J. Whitmer, Nate Webb, etc…) Throughout the feud CZW seemed to have an edge, winning most of the matches or at least coming out ahead at the end, including out-brawling and winning the big 6-man fight at “The 100th Show” and performing the Passion of B.J. Whitmer at “Arena Warfare”. So this match was made to be the end-all finish for the feud. ROH had the home court advantage, but CZW had the advantage inside their original type of match……. The dreaded…. CAGE OF DEATH!!! The rules are the same as the Wargames, a huge ass cage where two guys from each team start out. After a while a coin is tossed and the winning teams sends in another wrestler for a 2-1 advantage. This continues until all the wrestlers are in the cage and then, and only then, can the match end by pinfall or submission.
The booking of this match was a thing of beauty. Get rid of all the plunder and trashcan shots and we have a great story unfolding that Shakespeare himself would’ve booked. I respect you bookerman! It’s a story of tragedy, betrayal, determination, heroes, villainy and ghetto forks. I don’t want to spoil too much of this match cause I want everyone to watch it, but it had more memorable moments than I can possible remember and despite getting wild at moments, was paced perfectly to tell the story and keep the crowd into it. The match was about 50 minutes long but I swear you don’t even notice it. Also I thought it was pretty cool some of the wrestlers had signature weapons they used in the match (MO’ COWBELL!). A couple of storylines managed to pop out of this too like the B.J. Whitmer/Necro Butcher match and what Cornette does afterwards. Props to all the wrestlers and people involved in the whole ROH Vs. CZW feud which kicked all kinds of ass and culminated in this outstanding Match of the Year for 2006.
.. And that's that! Sorry to TNA fans. I actually saw every PPV they had this year but didn't feel they had a match better than my #10 pick. Maybe I'll do a separate Top 10 TNA matches for 2006 list.
I'd been thinking about doing this for awhile but have never gotten around to doing it. Basically, I"ve always wanted to do a long list of matches where I'd rate them. I had a couple of problems though as I'd always forget matches that I've matched. The second problem is that I"m kind of eh on the star ranking system. I like it and I don't. So after thinking about it, I"ve decided to rate all matches on a personal enjoyment scale. All marks will be out of 10 and even those aren't definite either. A match may also have the same enjoyment rating as another match on here but that doesn't mean I felt the same about both matches. Some matches I may enjoy for their flow while others for their athetic feats and so on.
I have watched an awful lot of wrestling but don't expect every match to be on here. Like I said, I can't remember everything and there will be no match here listed that's under a 6/10. This is a celebration of all my favourite matches and not a place where I"m going to diss matches hence the word favourite.
Leave comments if you want.
Resident Evil's Favourite Matches Ever. Continually updated
1969
Antonio Inoki vs Chris Markoff, JWA 05/16/69 6.5/10 --- Really good spirited battle with the evil villan battling the classic face.
1981
DYNAMITE KID vs TIGER MASK 8.5/10
-- The best bridge of all time? Tiger Mask certainly makes a case for it here.
DYNAMITE KID vs KEITH HART STAMPEDE 8.1/10
-- Very short match but still awesome enough for a lot of enjoyment. Dynamite and Keith go at each other so hard that it would make Kobashi, Misawa and company wince. Dynamite flies off the top of the ringpost onto the floor. I"m not sure on what year this is.
1983
DYNAMITE KID vs TIGER MASK 4/21/83 10/10
-- The best of the series imo as it's easily the most emotional. A terrific ending that does give you a suitable conclusion to the seriesbut still leaves you with the biggest "what if" in wrestling history.
RICKY STEAMBOAT & JAY YOUNGBLOOD vs SGT SLAUGHTER & DON KERNODLE JCP 03/12/83, Cage Match 8/10 -- Very, very good cage match. I also really enjoyed the prematch contract signings.
1986
1987
RICKY STEAMBOAT vs MACHO MAN 1987 MAPLE LEAF GARDENS 9.1/10
-- Excellent match from Maple Leaf Gardens which I think occured in 1987.
HULK HOGAN vs ANDRE THE GIANT WRESTLEMANIA III 8.5/10
-- Awesome match between two legends. The bodyslam heard round the world.
RICKY STEAMBOAT vs MACHO MAN WRESTLEMANIA III 6.5/10
-- Two counts!
1988
RICKY STEAMBOAT vs RICK RUDE ROYAL RUMBLE 6/10
-- Good solid bout
1989
Rip Rogers vs Terry Taylor WCW 9.8/10 Im not sure of the date of this at all but it is one of my favourite matches of all time. I'm a mark for everything here. 2 undercard cards fighting a competitive match but yet there's still hierachary. (lease forgive the spelling of that word) Everything looks really rough with the lighting adding to the effect. This is something I always preffered over the non imposing lighting of the WWF at the time. And I love cheering for Rip Rogers! He should've been world champion.. I always wanted to see the Pillman matches from WCW.
BRIAN PILLMAN/BRUCE HART vs MIDNIGHT COWBOYS aka RIP ROGERS and STAMPEDE 1989 7.1/10 -- JIP big time but it's enough to show a really fun match. Pillman and Rogers both shine in this one with Pillman bringing some insane heigth (Pillman had already been having a lot of injury problems in Stampede) to his flying moves and Rogers working a smart match.
CACTUS JACK vs NORMAN THE LUNATIC aka MAKAHN SINGH aka a million other identities WCW 7.1/10 -- I've only seen limited Cactus Jack from his initial? run in WCW. Here he gets a lot of offense and proves that he can put a match together at this stage of his career. The very charasmatic Makahn Singh is always capable and proves here that he knows what he's doing too. He deserves much more than being remembered as Bastion Booger.
1990
STEINERS vs NASTY BOYS Halloween Havoc 90 9.2/10
-- 2 tough teams just go out there and obliberate each other. The Steiners just look like they're from another world here if you're just used to watching the WWF. This is the best Nasty Boys match I've ever seen. But it's just not stiffness here. The match is put together well.
1991
ULTIMATE WARRIOR vs MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE Career vs Career 9.9/10 -- This is one of the matches that really stirs me up emotionally. The ending with Savage just crawling out of the ring is epic. I don't know if the WWE will ever be able to top the angle afterwards which is helped tremendously by the match preceding it.
TED DIBIASE vs VIRGIL SUMMERSLAM 9.5/10
-- Very emotional. This was years in the making.
CACTUS JACK vs KENTA KOBASHI ALL JAPAN 6/10
-- The offense is what gets this match up here. Really good match energy on a fam cam. All Cactus Jack fans should make sure to check out the ending on this one.
1992
RICKY STEAMBOAT vs RICK RUDE BEACH BLAST IRONMAN 9.1/10
-- What a bout that managed to put both men over. The ending was especially great with Steamboat surviving an excellent sleeper spot by Rude and than getting the pinfall. Than Rude wrestles "face like" in a last bit high paced desperation effort to tie the hockey game up which is what this felt like at the end. Ending gets a lot of points for being unique and smart.
BRET HART vs RODDY PIPER WRESTLEMANIA VIII 8.9/10
-- Rare face vs face match at the time with some nice storytelling. I love the ringbell spot
BRIAN PILLMAN vs Z-MAN WRESTLEWAR 92 7.1/10
-- Nice match and a good atmosphere. I loved seeing the crowd have sustained heat for a match with the Z-Man since I always was a fan.
NIKITA KOLOFF/RICKY STEAMOBAT vs DR. DEATH STEVE WILLAMS/TERRY GORDY 6.2/10
-- For the most part, one of the most realistic matches I've ever seen. Dr. Death always has these awesome looking amatuer exchanges with his opponents wether it's with Steamboat, Koloff or Kawada.
Sting/Steamboat/Windham/Rhodes vs Rude/Arn/Eaton/Zbyszko, WCW Saturday Night 02/22/92 6/10
-- What I enjoyed about this is how well everyone had their roles down pat in this bout. There is no noticable weak link here in the ring. This brings me back to the days where I was an absolute WCW and New Japan fanatic.
1994
CHRIS BENOIT vs GREAT SASUKE JCUP 94 9.8/10
-- A different feel than the Lyger match earlier in the night and appropiately so. An epic way to end the tournament
JUSHIN LYGER vs GREAT SASUKE JCUP 94 9.8/10
-- This is one of my favourite puroresu matches and is their best match together by a long shot. Great underdog battle here with exciting action all the ways through. Looove the much talked about ending which actually adds to the match.
GREAT SASUKE vs EL SAMURAI JCUP 94 9/10
-- The ending sequence enthralls me especially with Sasuke's talking to the reff at the end which makes the match seem so competitive, real and important
Bret "The Hitman" Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid 07/11/94 9/10
-- Bret defends the title in a beautifully told story where the upstart 123 Kids attempts to take the title away from Bret.
MISAWA vs KAWADA 6/3/94 8.3/10
-- If you're reading this, odds are you know about this match!
1995
CHRIS BENOIT vs GEDO JCUP 95 9.8/10
-- To me the best match of the tournament. I looooved Gedo's selling here of the match he just want through. Gedo crawls through the tournament by the skin of his teeth by getting "lucky" each time. First against Caras and now against Benoit. Fluke move at the end, a controversial 3 count and every mark/smark is cursing Gedo upside down. I really liked Gedo in this tournament.
CARAS vs GEDO JCUP 95 9/10
-- Gedo heels it up and I love it. Always a mark for Caras' submission moves.
BRIAN PILLMAN vs JOHNNY B. BADD FALL BRAWL 95 9/10
-- Face vs face battle where Pillman turns eventually turns into a heel for the match. I love the match finish as it's a fav spot of mine but also how it perfectly into what they were doing
Bret Hart vs Hakushi Raw 7/1995 9/10
-- Memories, this was the match that reminded me of how awesome Bret Hart could be. I enjoyed it as much as the KId match. The spot that has forever stayed with me is Bret deciding he can fly too and does that awesome rope aissisted splash from the ring apron to the floor. Space Flying Tiger Drop!
2000
KOBASHI vs AKYIMA 12/2000 8.5/10
-- I enjoyed the long fought out battle here. Make sure to check out Kobashi's eye at the end of this. Ouch!
2004
SAMOA JOE vs CM PUNK III ROH 7/10
-- Really good match here and one of my favourites from ROH. The work around the sleeper was pretty cool.
2007
Chris Benoit vs MVP Backlash 8.7/10 -- It's hard to talk about any Benoit matches. This was a great match and I can't help but give any match that has the highspot of the flying splash only to be met by the knees a high mark
Chris Benoit vs MVP Judgement Day 9.3/10 -- My kind of match. The fans unfortunately didn't bite into it like they could have but still put together really well. It had a chance for me to be absolutely epic if it had gone on longer. Still a fitting end as this set up another rematch but unfortuanately they didn't get to finish the series.
Fit Finlay vs Ric Flair Smackdown 6/10 -- Really good little match and this makes it because I love how Flair gets revenge on Finlay for attacking his leg by doing what else? Attacking Finlay's leg! Good way to get the crowd into it. It also looks like Finlay has a new leg submission. Flair has improved since a few years ago but I still think he should retire for his own health.
Benoit vs Flair 2/9/04 Raw
Benoit vs Michaels 2/16/04 Raw
Benoit vs Batista 2/23/04 Raw
Benoit/Micheals vs Orton/Batista 3/1/04 Raw
Benoit vs Matt Hardy 3/8/04 Raw
Benoit vs HHH vs Michaels 3/14/04 Wrestlemania XX
Benoit/Michaels vs Orton/Flair/Batista 3/15/04 Raw
Benoit vs Rhyno 3/22/04 Raw
Benoit/Michaels vs Flair/Batista 3/29/04 Raw
Benoit vs Rob Conway 4/5/04 Raw
Benoit/Michaels/Foley/Benjamin vs Flair/Batista/HHH/Orton 4/12/04 Raw
Benoit vs Michaels vs HHH 4/18/04 Backlash
Benoit/Edge vs Flair/Batista 4/19/04 Raw Tag title match
Benoit/Edge vs Flair/Batista 4/26/04 Raw
Benoit vs Michaels 5/3/04 Raw -- Showdown in the Desert -- this is an excellent match
Benoit vs Matt Morgan OVW 5/21/04
Benoit/Eugene vs Cade/Coach 5/24/04 Raw
Benoit/Edge vs La Resistance 5/31/04 Raw
Benoit/Edge vs La Resistance/Kane 6/7/04 Raw
Benoti vs Kane 6/13/04 Bad Blood
Benoit/Jericho/Edge vs Flari/Batista/Orton Elimination match 6/14/04 Raw
Benoit vs Kane 6/28/04 Raw -- Better than Bad Blood it's a shame more people don't talk about this. A definite overlooked match.
Benoit/Edge vs Flari/Eugene/HHH 7/5/04 Raw
Benoit vs HHH from Vengeance 7/11/04
Benoit vs Eugene 7/12/04 Raw
Benoit vs Batista 7/19/04 Raw
Benoit vs HHH Ironman 7/26/04 Raw
Benoit/Jericho/Edge vs Flair/Orton/Batista 8/2/04 Raw
Benoit vs HHH/ORton 8/9/04 Raw
Benoit vs Orton 8/15/04 Summerslam
Benoit vs Orton 8/16/04 Once again the Raw match in better than the PPV match. For whatever reasons Benoit is allowed to cut loose with his moveset here. Very intense, nice story, nice heat and a couple of real slick spots that play off of Summerslam
Benoit vs Tyson Tomko 8/29/04 Sunday Night Heat
Benoit/Regal/Tajiri/Rhyno vs Flair/Batista/La Resistance Raw 9/6/04 -- How many times can Benoit wrestle the same people?
Benoit/Regal vs Flair/Batista 9/12/04 Unforgiven
Benoit vs Conway 9/13/04 Raw
Benoit/Benjamin/Orton vs Flair/Batista/HHH 9/20/04 Raw
Benoit vs Rodney Mack 10/3/04 Sunday Night Heat 10/3/04 -- Benoit vs Batista 10/4/04 Raw
Benoit/Michaels/Edge vs HHH/Flair/Batista 10/11/04 Raw
Benoit vs Michaels vs Edge 10/18/04 Raw
Benoit/Edge vs La Resistance 10/19/04 Taboo Tuesday Tag title match Benoit and Edge win but Edge deserts Benoit mid match
Benoit/Edge vs La Resistance 11/1/04 Raw -- Resistance wins titles
Benoit vs Edge 11/8/04 -- Very good as the match does exactly what it should do
Benoit/Orton/Jericho/Maven vs Batista/HHH/Snitsky/Edge 11/14/04 Survivor Series
Benoit/Benjamin vs Edge/Christian 11/15/04 Raw
Benoit vs Edge Steel Cage 11/22/04 Raw -- Brutal
Benoit in Battle Royal 11/29/04 Raw
Benoit vs Edge vs HHH 11/29/04 Raw -- Benoit looks really great here
Benoit/Jericho vs Batista/HHH 12/6/04 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Batista/HHH 12/13/04 Raw
Benoit vs Viscera 12/27/04 Raw
Benoit vs Batista 1/3/05 Raw -- Their best match together
Benoit vs Edge vs Jericho vs Orton vs Batista vs HHH 1/9/05 New Year's Revolution
Benoit/Jericho vs Christian/Tomko 1/10/05 Raw
Benoit vs Jericho 1/17/05 Raw
Benoit/Jericho/Michaels vs Christian/Edge/Tomko 1/24/05 Raw
Benoit in Royal Rumble 1/30/05
Benoit/Jericho vs La Resistance 1/31/05 Raw
Benoit vs MVP 4/21/07 Vienna Handheld
Benoit vs MVP 5/5/07 Handheld
This is a match list for every Benoit match that you can possably see. It's not a matchlist of every single match he's ever wrestled but rather every match I know of that at one time or another has existed on video tape.
There are going to be mistakes and there are no doubt going to be omissions. If someone wants to correct something feel free to do so and if someone knows about the existence of more matches feel free to speak up. The search for new Benoit matches never ends.
Also, If you have any questions or want to comment about any of the matches go right on ahead.
There are about 7 or 8 Benoit matches that I've heard of but don't know enough about their existence so I didn't put them down. I'm also not familiar with the complete run of New Japan Classics so of course not everything's going to be complete but the list will still be fairly complete.
Stampede dates are in most cases the "arena" dates and not the televison dates. Their matches were shown on more than one channel and as a result you can find different amounts of footage for each match. TSN is the channel that showed the most footage and is the channel Stampede should be watched from
New Japan dates tend to be the arena dates.
WCW matches tend to be the television dates.
ECW matches tend to be the television dates.
Spolers are in this thread because I have made brief comments about some of the matches so beware.
Part 1
Benoit/Patterson vs Moffat/Hammer 11/29/85
Benoit/Patterson vs Assasin/Terminator 12/6/85
Benoit/Cobra vs Moffat/Assasin
Benoit in Battle Royal 12/27/85
Benoit/Bad News Allan vs Singh/Brown 1/3/86
Benoit vs Mephisto JIP Very Early 1986 -- Mephisto is Kawada. Good match.
Benoit/Basserb vs Ron Starr/Honkey Tonk Man 2/28/86 Very good. Honkey uses some shoot style like submissions!!
Benoit/Basserb vs Disalvo Handicap Match 2/14/86
Benoit vs Gama 1/3/86
Benoit/Richie vs Gama/Singh 12/27/85
Benoit/K.Hart vs Honkeytonkman/Cuban Assasin 5/9/86
Benoit/K.Hart vs Scott/Foley 5/16/86
Benoit/Keith Hart vs Kerry Brown & Duke Myres 5/30/86
Benoit/Keith Hart vs Kerry Brown & Duke Myres 6/6/86
Benoit vs Cuban Assasin 12/26/86
Benoit/Hashimoto vs. Sano & Goto 2/5/87
Benoit vs Viet Cong Express #1 3/27/87 Lots of fun. Would look right in place in New Japan.
Benoit/Jeff Wheeler vs Kerry Brown/Duke Myers 4/3/87
Benoit/Hashimoto vs. Chono & Goto 5/14/87
Benoit vs Masa Chono 5/25/87
Benoit vs Funaki 6/9/87
Benoit vs Wellington Stampede 8/14/87
Benoit vs Gama 8/21/87 Benoit backdrops Gama over the top rope
Benoit vs Gama 8/28/97 No DQ title match
Benoit vs Gama 9/4/87 Lumberjack match,
Benoit/Pillman/B.Hart vs Gama/Zodiac/Jason 9/11/87
Benoit/Pillman/B.Hart vs Singh/Zodiac/Jason 9/18/87
Benoit vs M. Singh 9/25/87 KC Houston interferss
Benoit/Wellington vs M. Singh/Jerry Morrow 10/2/87
Benoit/Johnny Smith vs Viet Cong #2/Goldie Rogers 10/9/87
Benoit vs Zodiac 10/16/87
Benoit/Owen vs Jason/Zodiac 10/23/87 -- One of Benoit's top matches in Stampede
Benoit vs Jason 10/30/87
Did some Japan here
Benoit vs Takada!! 11/16/87
Benoit/Holiday vs Singh/Portz 12/25/87
Benoit vs Gama 1/1/88 -- Non title
Benoit vs Gama 1/8/88 -- TItle match
Benoit vs Gama 1/15/88 -- Gama wins by "botched" German
Benoit/Jason vs M. Singh/Rogers 1/22/88
Benoit vs Rip Rogers 1/29/88
Benoit vs Rip Rogers 2/5/88 Smith interferes
Benoit/Smith vs Rip/Brown 2/12/88
Benoit/Smith vs Rip/Brown 2/19/88 Smith "injures" leg
Benoit/Smith vs Rip/Brown 2/26/88 Smith turns
Benoit vs Morrow 3/4/88
Benoit vs Gama 3/11/88
Benoit vs Gama 3/18/88 Title win!
Benoit vs Gama 3/25/88
Benoit vs Assasin 4/1/88
Benoit vs Goldie Rogers 4/8/88
Benoit vs Yang Chung 4/15/88
Benoit vs Yang Chung 4/22/88 -- The Benoit vs Yang Chung matches are very good and even more fun
Benoit vs Rogers 4/29/88 Benoit uses the sunset flip off of top rope
Benoit/Thatcher vs Commandoes 5/6/88
Benoit/Wellington vs Commandoes 5/13/88
Benoit vs Kenny Johnson 5/20/88
Benoit vs Smith 5/27/88 -- Their first match with an ending similar to Benoit vs Jericho from Summerslam
Benoit vs Smith 6/3/88 -- Maybe their best match together. Superb heel domination period by Smith in this. There are two terrific knee shots to the stomach off of an Irish whip here which are the best I've ever seen for that manuever.
Benoit vs Smith 6/10/88 -- M. Singh interferes
Benoit vs Smith English Rounds 6/17/88 --
Benoit vs Smith English Rounds 6/24/88 -- Weasel interference. Arguably their best match. The ending is truly memoarable.
"did not" wrestle 7/2/88
"did not" wrestle 7/9/88
Benoit vs Smith 7/16/88 -- Same match that is on the New Japan Calgary DVD
Benoit vs Gama 7/22/88 Good match
Benoit/Wellington vs Smith/Gama 7/30/88
Benoit/Hart/Pillman vs Smith/Gama/Singh 8/5/88
Benoit vs Assasin 8/12/88
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes 8/19/88 -- The Benoit Idol vs Commadnoes series is perhaps the highlight of Benoit's stay in Stampede. The wrestling, the Benoit/Idol storyline and the interviews are so much fun. The Commandoes are Jerry Morrow and the "Canadian" Cuban Assasin
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes 8/25/88 -- Idol is a very good wrestler.
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes 9/2/88
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes 9/9/88
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes Texas Tornado match 9/16/88
Benoit vs Assasin 9/23/88
9/30/88 -- Apparantly The show of older bouts with Dynamite Kid, Bret and Davey
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes 10/7/88
Benoit/Idol vs Akam/Gama 10/14/88
Benoit/Idol vs Rip/Goldie 10/21/88
Benoit/Idol vs Commandoes 10/28/88
Benoit vs Idol 11/4/88
Benoit/Wellington/Hart vs Smith/Commandoes 11/11/88 -- A ring a ding dong dandy!
Benoit/B.Hart vs Commandoes 11/18/88
Benoit/B.Hart vs Commandoes 11/25/88 No DQ match
Benoit vs Wellington 12/2/88
Benoit vs Rip Rogers 12/9/88
Benoit vs V. Singh 12/16/88 -- Singh is Gary Albright
Battle Royal Benoit/Johnny Smith/Davey Boy/Dynamite Kid and M. Singh are among the participants 12/23/88
Benoit vs Smith 12/30/88 -- JIP which is too bad because the beginnings of the Benoit and Smith matches are always so fun to watch. You can tell Benoit and Johnny Smith were really feeling it that night and the result is a superb match.
Benoit vs Smith 1/6/89 JIP -- One of the Alberta channels has an awesome earlier exchange that TSN doesn't show. However, TSN still shows more footage.
Benoit vs Smith 1/13/89 -- English Death match Only very brief highlights and footage of this are shown because it got too brutal. Highlights are different depending on what channel you watch. This looked very promising.
Benoit vs Gama 1/20/89 -- Gama uses knuckledusters
Benoit vs Gama 1/27/89
Benoit vs Gama 2/3/89 nice pinning sequences at end. You can tell that Benoit was pumped that Dynamite was back in the territory.
Benoit/Wellington vs Smith/Gama 2/10/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Gama/Goldie 2/17/89
Benoit vs Kim Shau 2/24/89
Benoit vs Larry Cameron 3/3/89 Bulldog Bob interferes, Afterwards Dynamite almost does a retirement speech and gives his boots to Ed Whalen to give to Benoit. Dynamite calls Benoit the wrester of the 90s.
Benoit/Davey/Pillman/Richie vs M.Singh/Gama/Albright/Cameron 3/10/89 Big Skip
Benoit vs Goldie Rogers 3/17/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Singhs 3/24/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Singhs Bulldog Bob Brown is reff 3/31/89
Benoit vs Bulldog Bob Brown 4/7/89; may not have been the only match that night
????
????
Benoit/Wellington vs Smith/Hara 4/28/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Commandoes 5/5/89
Benoit vs Cameron 5/12/89 Ron Starr Interferes
Benoit vs Cameron 5/19/89 Starr interferes
Benoit/Wellington vs Cameron/Angel of Death 5/26/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Cameron/Angel of Death 6/2/89 -- Tv Date is 6/19/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Bulldog Bob/Kerry Brown 6/9/89
Benoit vs Smith 6/16/89 -- Tv Date is 7/3/89
????? This might be Benoit vs Kerry Brown 6/23/89 or Benoit/Davey/Rice vs Cameron/Browns 6/23/89 Apparantly Benoit wrestled twice that day
Benoit/Johnson vs Dynamite Kid/Smith 6/30/89 Dynamite bumps like a freak for Benoit despite being crippled in their short exchange including taking a hit on to the cement. I have only seen the short version of this so I'm not sure what Benoit and Dynamite did earlier on in the match. I suspect there's a longer version of this on TSN. Edit -- And indeed there is!
Benoit vs Kerry Brown 7/7/89
Benoit vs Cameron 7/14/89
????? There is a Benoit vs Cameron 7/18/89
Benoit vs Gama 7/28/89
Benoit vs Gama 8/4/89
Benoit vs Gama 8/11/89
Benoit vs Gama 8/18/89
Benoit vs Holiday 8/25/89
Benoit vs Sumo Hara 9/1/89
Benoit vs Holiday 9/8/89
Benoit vs Holiday 9/15/89
?? 9/22/89
?? 9/29/89
10/6/89 -- Benoit is not on card, Tv date is 10/23/89
10/13/89 -- Benoit is not on card, Tv date is 10/30/89
10/20/89 -- Benoit is not on card, Tv date is 11/6/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Goldie Rogers/Mason 10/27/89 -- Tv date is 11/13/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Anderson/Mason 11/3/89 -- Tv date is 11/20/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Zhivago/Anderson 11/10/89 -- Tv date is 11/27/89 -
Benoit/Wellington vs Blackhearts 11/17/89 -- Tv date is 12/4/89
Benoit/Wellington vs Blackhearts 11/24/89 -- Tv date is 12/11/89
Benoit/Sano vs Lyger/Nogami New Japan 2/10/90 -- Benoit's first match back in New Japan
Benoit/Cheetah Kid vs Lyger/Iizuka 3/2/90
Benoit vs Lyger New Japan 3/19/90
Benoit/Sano vs Lyger/liuka 3/22/90
Benoit/Wellington vs Liger/lizuka 6/24/90
Benoit vs Owen Hart New Japan 6/26/90
Benoit/Williams vs Bigelow/Owen Hart 6/30/90
Benoit vs Lyger June or July 90 Local Tv
Benoit/Wellington vs Hase/Sasaki June or July 90 Local Tv
Benoit/Williams vs Muto/Chono 7/3/90 HH
Benoit/Rheingans vs Chono/Sasaki 7/5/90 TV
Benoit/Williams vs Muto Chono 7/5/90 HH
Benoit vs Hiro Saito Limited Footage shown -- 7/6/90
Benoit vs Wellingotn 7/22/90 HH Sapparo Japan
Benoit vs Iizuka 7/23/90
Benoit/Sasaki/Iizuka vs Kid??/Brad Armstrong/???? ?? Not sure who was in this match
Benoit/Kido vs-kid/Armstrong 7/25/90
Benoit/Gotoh/Strong Machine vs Lyger/Sasaki/Koyabashi 8/18/90 Tv date?
Benoit vs Lyger New Japan 8/19/90
Benoit/Hiro Saito vs Lyger/Lizuka 9/7/90 HH
Benoit/Strong Machine vs Hase/Sasaki 9/8/90 HH
Benoit/Villano V vs Owen Hart/Lyger New Japan 10/11 /90 HH
Benoit/Saito vs Lyger/Lizuka -- shown on Classics -- 10/19/90
Benoit vs Osamu Matsuda New Japan 10/31/90 -- Handheld
Benoit vs Lyger 11/1/90 New Japan Junior Heavy Title Match
NOTE -- The next 4 matches are from Vienna in early 1991 on handheld
Benoit vs Johnny Smith
Benoit vs Colonel Brody -- Real good little match. In a cool looking spot Benoit uses the Colonel's extra large mustaches against him
Benoit/Tony St. Clair vs Finlay/Johnny Smith -- This is a terrific match but unfortunately it doesn't last as long as you would hope for.
Benoit vs Cowboy Cruz
NOTE -- The next match is sometime from 1991
Benoit vs Peterson -- Handheld from Bremen
Benoit vs. Finley 2/5/91
Benoit/Finlay/Demolition Axe vs H. Saito/Hase/Sasaki 2/8/91 HH
Benoit/TJ Shin/Kurisu vs Fujinami/liger/B Cat 2/9/91
Benoit/SS machine/Bam Bam Bigelow/ vs Chono/Koshinaka/Lyger 2/11/91
**Benoit/Norton vs Choshu/Saito HH 2/12/91
Benoit/Kurisu/Tiger Jeet Singh vs Fujinami/Koshinaka/Aoyagi 2/14/91 New Japan
**Benoit in tag match from Classics 428 2/16/91
Benoit vs Villano III 3/3/91 UWA Mexico -- Benoit wins WWF title
Benoit vs Honaga HH 4/15/91
Benoit vs Owen Hart 4/18/91 -- Handheld
Benoit vs Casas HH 4/28/91
Benoit vs Honaga 4/30/91 from Classics 445
Benoit/Machine vs Lyger/Muto New Japan 5/27/91 HH
Benoit/Bigelow vs Choshu/Osamu Kido New Japan 5/28/91 HH
Benoit/Miguel Perez Jr. vs Lyger/Koshinaka 5/30/91 HH
Benoit/Strong Machine vs Hase/Sasaki New Japan 6/20/91 New Japan
Benoit/Honaga/Gotoh vs Kobayashi/Koshinaka/Lyger 6/26/91 New Japan
Benoit vs Lyger Mask vs Mask 7/4/91 New Japan
Benoit vs Franz Schumann CWA Handheld 8/91
Benoit vs Finlay CWA Handheld 8/91
Benoit/Norton vs Chono/Saito 9/10/91 HH
Benoit/Armstrong vs Strong Machine/Saito 9/12/91 from Classics 472
Benoit/Brad Armstrong/F Anderson/Machine vs Kobayashi/Akira Nokami/ Yamamoto/Kido
Benoit vs Black Cat 9/21/91 HH
Benoit/H. Saito vs Sahiroshi/Akira Nokami 9/22/91
Benoit/Armstrong/Kokina/Fatu vs Kimura/Kido/Koshinaka/Black Cat 9/23/91
Benoit/Scott Norton vs Nogami/? 10/5/91
Benoit/Scott Norton vs Nogami/? 10/8/91
Benoit/Saito/Norton vs. Choshu/Saito/Nogami 10/10/91
Benoit/Samu/Kokina vs. Choshu/Hashimoto/Nogami 10/12/91
Benoit/Vader vs. Nogami/Chono 10/13/91
Benoit/Samu/Kokina vs Hiro Hase/Keiji Muto/Akira Nogami
Benoit vs Lyger 10/18/91 -- I believe this was the match shown on WCW TV
Benoit vs Villano III UWA Mexico Mask vs Mask 11/3/91
Benoit vs Colonel Brody -- Sometime in 1992 shown on Eurosport
Benoit/Villano III/Dos Caros vs Rambo/Killer/Fishman From UWA sometime in 1992
Benoit vs Villano III UWA 1/26/92
Benoit/Scorpio vs Lyger/Nogami 2/4/92 from CLassics 486
Benoit/Brad Armstrong vs Hashimoto/Nogami 2/8/92 from Classics 488
Benoit vs Lyger New Japan 2/10/92 -- Match where Lyger's ribs are hurt. One of their best matches together
Benoit/Scorpio vs Lyger/Nogami 2/16/92 -- Classics 492
Benoit vs Scorpio 4/16/92 HH -- Benoit is fantastic here
Benoit/Eddie Guerrero vs Nogami/lizuka 4/18/92 HH
Benoit/Casas vs Chono/Nogami 4/19/92 HH
Benoit vs Casas 4/21/92 From Classics 508
Benoit vs Lyger 4/23/92 HH
Benoit/Lyger vs-Iizuka/Nogami 4/24/92
Benoit vs Honaga 4/26/92 NJPW TV On Classics 510
Benoit/Finlay vs Eddie/Casas 4/30/92 HH -- Fantastic unknown match
Liger/Pegasus vs. Samurai/Negro Casas 5/1/92 -- On episode 516 on New Japan Classics -- Very cool match with some spots that help it stand out from the pack
Benoit vs Kanemoto New Japan Challenger Soldier 5/17/92 -- Kanemoto is underneath the Tiger Mask gimmick!
Benoit/Iizuka vsSamurai/Kanamoto 5/21/92
Benoit/Armstrong/Halme vs. Saito/Goto/S.S. Machine 5/25/92
Benoit/Samurai vs Koshinaka/Kobayashi 5/28/92
Benoit/Lyger vs Tony St. Clair/F Anderson 5/29/92
Benoit/Iizuka vs Lyger/Kanamoto 6/1/92
Benoit/Lyger vs Samurai/Tiger Mask 6/2/92
Benoit/Lyger/Kido vs-SS machine/Goto/H Saito 6/20/92
Benoit/Kurisu vs Kido/Kanamoto 6/21/92
Benoit/Wellington vs Lyger/Pillman WCW Clash of the Champions 6/22/92
Benoit vs Super Strong Machine NJPW Classics 6/26/92
Benoit vs El Samurai 7/1/92 JIP on NJPW TV
Benoit/Neidhart vs Lyger/Fujinami 8/6/92 -- Benoit and Neidhart do Hart Foundation moves!!!!
Benoit vs Lyger 8/12/92
Benoit vs El Samurai NJPW 8/15/92 -- Limited footage is shown on the New Japan junior history tape series; also shown on NJPW Classics 536
Benoit vs Villano IV UWA 9/26/92 for the WWF lightheavyweight title -- Reccomended match
Benoit/Villano III/Enrique Vera vs Miguel Perez Jr./Dr. Wagner Jr./El Loco Zandokan UWA 10/3/92
Benoit/Malenko vs Kanemoto/Kojima 10/9/92
Benoit/Lyger vs H. Saito/Honaga 10/18/92
Benoit/Malenko vs Kanemoto/Kojima HH 10/29/92
Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs Jushin Liger/Takayuki Iizuka -- From New Japan Battlezone Space II 11/23/92
Benoit/Malenko/H.Saito/Honaga vs Lyger/Samurai/Hoshino/Kanemoto
Benoit vs Brad Armstrong 1/13/93 -- Clash of the Champions
Benoit vs Bagwell 1/16/93 WCWSN
Benoit vs Scorpio 1/23/93 HH
Benoit vs Johnny Rich 1/23/93 WCWSN
Benoit vs Tom Zenk 1/30/93 WCWSN
Benoit vs Joey Maggs 1/31/93 Worldwide
Benoit vs Itallion Stallion 2/7/93 WCW Main Event
Benoit vs 2 Cold Scorpio 2/21/93 WCW Superbrawl
Benoit vs Lyger AWF Handheld 2/26/93 Excellent match
Benoit vs Johnny B. Badd Tv Title tourney Match 2/28/93 WCW Main Event
Benoit/Malenko vs Lyger/Samurai New Japan 3/9/93
Benoit/Malenko vs Nogami/lizuka 3/20/93
Benoit/Malenko vs Lyger/Samurai 3/23/93 -- New Japan Hyperbattle (New Japan vs WAR) 3/23/93 Tokyo. They actually had two matches in March 93 which can be confusing.
Benoit vs Dean Malenko AWF Handheld 4/3/93 -- Malenko decides to have some fun and turns from face into heel at the beginning of the match. Fanstasic heeling by Malenko
Benoit vs Lyger AWF Handheld 4/4/93 Excellent match
Benoit/Eaton vs Zenk/Gunn 4/20/93 WCWSN
Benoit/Eaton vs Joey Maggs/Mike Winner 5/2/93 WCW Worldwide
Benoit vs Regal 5/8/93 HH
Benoit/Eaton vs Coles 5/22?/93 WCW Power Hour
Benoit/Bobby Eaton vs Scorpio/Bagwell Slamboree 5/23/93
Benoit vs Orihara 5/26/93 Clipped
Benoit vs Malenko 5/28/93
Benoit vs Ohtani 5/29/93
**Benoit vs Scorpio Classics 576 6/5/93
Benoit/Honaga vs Lyger/Ohtani 6/6/93
Benoit vs Lightning Kid 6/8/93 Clipped
Benoit vs Yuji Nagata 6/9/93
Benoit vs Finlay 6/10/93
Benoit/Scorpio vs Black Cat/Nakanishi 6/11/93
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 6/12/93
Benoit vs El Samurai 6/14/93 BOSJ FInal
Benoit/El Samurai vs Ultimo Dragon/Dean Malenko 6/15/93
Benoit/Eaton vs Coles 7/24/93 WCWSN
Benoit/Eaton vs Flair/Anderson 7/25/93 WCW Main Event
Benoit vs Tiger Mask #3 8/3/93 New Japan
Benoit/Eaton vs Slashinger/Shanghai Pearce 8/7/93 WCWSN
Benoit vs Lyger IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title match 8/8/93 -- TV date is 8/21/93
Benoit vs Erik Watts WCW HH 8/15/93
Benoit vs Erik Watts WCW HH 8/17/93
Benoit/Eaton vs Nasty Boys 8/22/93 WCW Worldwide
NOTE: There is a Benoit/Eaton vs Pillman/Whindam match that was shown on the international version of Worldwide in the UK. I do not know the date
Benoit/Eaton vs Sting/Davey 8/29/93 WCW Worldwide
Benoit/Eaton vs Thunder and Lightning 8/29/93 WCW Main Event
Benoit/Orndorff vs Sting/Rhodes 9/25?/93 WCW Power Hour
Benoit/Lyger vs Chono/Hashimoto 10/15/93 Tag Tourney
Benoit/Lyger vs Norton/Hercules 10/19/93
Benoit/Lyger vs Muto/Hase 11/1/93
Benoit/Lyger vs. Takayuki Iizuka/Akira Nogami 11/4/1993
Benoit/Max Moon/Scorpio Jr. vs Liger/Takayuki Iizuka/Akira Nogami 1/30/1994
Benoit vs Ohtani 2/16/94 HH New Japan
Benoit/Max Moon vs Ohtani/Samurai -- Limited footage shown on Fighting Spirit 94 tape; 2/17/94. This is also available on Classics
Benoit vs Sabu Handheld 2/19/94 -- 2 different handhelds exist of this. THe Benoit vs Sabu matches matches are a great example of the quality of worker Benoit was.
Benoit vs Lawler NWA Handheld 3/26/94
Benoit/Lyger vs Steiners 4/4/94; Tv date is 4/16/94
Benoit vs Black Tiger 4/16/94 J Cup
Benoit vs Gedo 4/16/94 J Cup
Benoit vs Sasuke 4/16/94 J Cup
Benoit vs Terry Funk -- handheld from the NWA 4/23/94
Benoit vs Ohtani BOSJ tourney 5/26/94 Awesome match, a show of complete unselfishness
Benoit vs Ishizawa 5/28/94 Clipped
Benoit vs Finlay 5/30/94 Clipped
Benoit vs Malenko 6/1/94 HH -- Better than their 93 BOSJ match. Terrific counters.
Benoit vs Black Tiger 6/6/94 Clipped but a good portion shown
Benoit vs Delphin 6/8/94 -- New Japan Classics #656
Benoit/Malenko/Black Tiger vs Samurai/Ohtani/Ishizawa 6/13/94
Benoit/Black Tiger vs Dean Malenko/Brad Armstrong NJPW Classics 6/15/94
Benoit/El Vampiro/El Rayo de Jalisco vs Negro Casas/ManaNegra/Pierroth Jr. 7/8/94 Tv date is 7/24/94
Benoit/El Vampiro/El Rayo de Jalisco vs Silver King/El Texano/El Dandy 7/8/94 Tv date is 7/24/94
Benoit/Atlantis/El Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Pierroth Jr./Bestia Salvaje/Emilio Charles Jr. 7/15/94 Tv date is 7/31/94
Benoit/El Vampiro vs Pierroth Jr/Emilio Charles Jr. 7/22/94 Tv date us 8/6/94
Benoit/El Vampiro vs Silver King/El Texano 7/29/94 Tv date is 8/13/94
Benoit vs Sabu Handheld 8/5/94 -- Match where Beniot does the suicide dive into a steel chair
Benoit vs Al Snow NWA handheld 8/7/94 -- If I could quote deathvalleydriver this match is a million billion stars. Benoit and Snow wrestle their hearts out in front of hardly anyone. Different than their famous ECW counter as Snow is more on Benoit's level kayfabe wise here. Definite reccomendation.
Benoit vs Scorpio 8/27/94 NWA Heavyweight Tournament -- Only shown in highlighted form
Benoit vs Chad Austin ECW 8/28/94
Benoit vs Nishimura ECW 8/28/94
Benoit/Norton vs Power Warrior/Hawk 9/19/94 New Japan
Benoit/Chono vs Nogami/lizuka 9/20/94 New Japan HH
Benoit/Chono vs Nogami/Fujinami NJPW 9/22/94 -- Very little footage shown on New Japan Maso Chono Premium Issue tape
Benoit/Norton vs Steiners 9/23/94 -- Very good to great match.
Benoit/Muto vs Lyger/Choshu 9/24/94 -- Lyger screws his ankle up
Benoit/Steiners vs Hase/Choshu/Fujinami 9/26/94 HH
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 9/27/94 1 night Junior Tournament
Benoit vs Honaga 9/27/94 Finals and maybe the most overlooked Benoit match ever
Benoit vs Ricky Moore ECW ?????
Benoit/Ohtani vs Sasuke/Black Tiger 10/9/94 -- Excellent match
Chris Benoit/Shinjiro Otani vs Dean Malenko/Tokimitsu Ishizawa 10/18/94
Benoit/Ohtani vs Sasuke/Black Tiger 10/18/94 -- Excellent match
Benoit vs Ray Oddesy ECW 10/18/94
Benoit vs Tazz ECW Time limit draw 10/25/94
Benoit vs Sabu "10/25/94" TV???? On one of the TV shows they show highlights of a Benoit vs Sabu match where Benoit attacks Sabu's broken ribs and the match is called off. The same ribs that were injured shortly before in the Mick Foley vs Sabu match where Sabu moonsaults the guardrail.
Benoit vs Sabu Broken Neck match ECW 11/5/94
Benoit vs 2 Cold Scorpio -- ECW HH 11/5/94 -- This occured after the Sabu broken neck incident.
Benoit/Santana/Scorpio vs Estrada/Blue Panther/La Parka WWC 11/6/94 - Benoit and Panther tear it up-
Benoit/Atlantis/El Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs Pierroth Jr./Bestia salvaje/Emilio Charles Jr. 11/7/94 TV
Benoit vs Scorpio; handheld match with the brick wall 11/9/94
Benoit/Black Tiger/Hamada/Cat vs Aguayo/Sagrada/Santo/Mexicano Clipped on New Japan Commercial tape 11/21/94
Benoit vs Honaga 11/25/94 End shown on Junior History Tape
Benoit/Norton vs Steiners 12/11/94
Benoit/Ohtani vs Scorpio/Samurai 12/12/94 HH
Benoit/Samurai/Scorpio vs Black Tiger/Saito/Hamada 12/13/94 HH
Benoit vs Hack Myers 12/27/94 TV
Benoit vs Scorpio ECW 1/24/95 Tv Date -- Scorpio hits a Pele kick and goes low blow crazy against Benoit
Benoit vs Tazz Handheld ECW from Flagstaff 2/3/95
Benoit vs Al Snow ECW Double Tabes 2/4/95
Benoit/Malenko vs Sabu/Taz ECW Return of the Funker 2/25/95 -- Very fun match
Benoit/Ohtani vs Kanemoto/Black Tiger NJPW 3/7/95 -- The finish here plays a role in the upcoming championship bout between Benoit and Kanemoto. Benoit cuts a promo after the match is over!
Benoit vs Kanemoto -- 3/13/95 Benoit has one of his best preformances here
Benoit/Eddie vs Honaga/Hamada 3/19/95
Benoit/Malenko vs Tazz/Rick Steiner vs Public Enemy 4/8/95 ECW
Benoit/Ohtani vs El Gran Hamada/Kanemoto 4/13/95; Tv date is 4/22/95
Benoit/Norton vs Steiners NJPW Battlewonderland 4/23/95
Benoit vs Hase from North Korea 4/28/95
Benoit vs Scorpio from North Korea 4/29/95
Benoit vs Scorpio Fukuoka Dome 5/3/95
Benoit/Malenko vs Whipwreck/Smiley 5/19/95 Clipped
Benoit vs Ohtani 6/25/95 BOSJ Tourney
Benoit vs Black Tiger 7/4/95 -- "Unknown" classic between the two. From NJ Tokon V Special VOL. 28 Best of the Super Jr. II Commercial Tape
Benoit vs Samurai 7/7/95 -- Fantastic match which is one of Benoit's best that doesn't follow the typical formula of a New Japan junior match. Benoit is a machine in this
Benoit vs Black Tiger 7/13/95 -- One of their best
Benoit vs Ohtani 7/13/95 BOSJ
Benoit/Hamada vs Sabu/Black Cat Handheld 7/31/95
Benoit/Scorpio vs Steiners 8/26/95 ECW -- Arena date, match is clipped
Benoit vs Regal NJPW 9/23/95
Benoit vs Kanemoto 9/25/95 IWGP juniorheavyweight title fight -- Beautiful match and one of Benoit's best preformances
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCW Nitro 10/16/95 WCW Redebut match
Benoit/Malenko vs Eddie/Guerrero/J.L. Nitro 10/23/95
Benoit vs Mark Starr Pro 10/28/95 -- Good stuff
Benoit vs Alex Wright WCWSN 10/28/95 -- Very good bout
Benoit/Malenko vs Blue Bloods Havoc Night 10/29/95
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero Nitro 11/6/95
Benoit vs Scott D'amore 11/11 or 10/21 Worldwide presumably
Benoit vs Sasaki Nitro 11/13/95 -- Energetic sprint
Benoit vs Vern Henderson Pro 11/18/95
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCWSN 11/18/95 -- Classic match. Benoit and Eddie's best against each other in WCW
Benoit vs Otis Apollo Worldwide 11/19/95
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCWSN 11/25/95 -- Rematch from the previous week's classic bout
Benoit vs Sasaki World War 3 11/26/95
Benoit vs Quatermain Pro 12/2/95
Benoit/Pillman vs Caasanova/Lancaster WCWSN 12/9/95
Benoit vs Black Bart Worldwide 12/10/95
Benoit/Malenko vs Sabu/Hiro Saito NJPW 12/11/95
Benoit vs Jericho War 12/13/95
Benoit vs Gedo War 12/13/95
Benoit vs Rad Radford Stu Hart Tribute Show 12/15/95, There are two versions of this
Benoit vs Regal Pro 12/16/95 -- Benoit and Regal baby
Benoit vs Lyger Starrcade 12/27/95
Benoit vs Regal Nitro 1/1/96
Benoit/Flair/Anderson/Pillman vs Kanyon/Starr/Lancanster/Maggs Pro 1/6/96
Benoit vs Alex Wright Nitro 1/8/96 -- Great
Benoit/Pillman vs Sawyer/Quatermain Pro 1/13/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 1/14/96 Worldwide and the Prime, Prime may be 1/21/96 -- The Worldwide version shows more footage. Reccomended match.
Benoit/Pillman vs Harlem Heat Main Event 1/14/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCWSN 1/20/96
Benoit/Pillman vs Scott/Steve Armstrong Worldwide 1/21/96 -- Really good
Benoit vs Becker Pro 2/3/96
Benoit vs Macho Man WCWSN 2/10/96 -- FOR TITLE, Flair and Arn interfere
Benoit/Pillman vs Bario Brothers Worldwide 2/11/96
Benoit vs Joey Maggs WCWSN 2/17/96
Benoit vs Johnny B. Badd WCWSN 2/24/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCWSN 3/2/96
Benoit/Pillman vs Pat Tanaka/Collins Worldwide 3/3/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero WCWSN 3/9/96
Benoit/Ishizawa vs Lyger/El Samurai NJPW Classics 3/9/96
Benoit/Norton vs Lyger/Hashimoto New Japan 3/13/96; tv date is 3/23/96
Benoit/Lyger/Samurai/Hamada vs Taka Michinoku/Shinjiro Otani/Koji Kanemoto/Tokimitsu Ishizawa 2/3 falls 3/14/96 -- Yet another in the great series of New Japan junior bouts. Definite Reccomendation, This match is from Valis #31
Benoit/Booker T/Stevie Ray vs Hashimoto/Hirita/Nishimura 3/17/96 -- Match is from New Japan Classics
Benoit vs Ohtani WCW Cruiserweight championship match from NJPW -- 3/20/96; tv date is 4/6/96 -- Superb ending
Benoit/Lyger vs Ohtani/Kanemoto 3/26/96 -- Highlights of ending and aftermatch are shown on New Japan juniorheavyweight history tape
Benoit vs Dave Sullivan WCWSN 4/13/96
Benoit vs Alex Wright WCWSN 4/27/96
Benoit vs Brad Armstrong Worldwide 4/28/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 4/29/96 Nitro
Benoit vs Babarian WCWSN 5/4/96
Benoit vs Brad Armstrong Pro 5/18/96
Benoit/Sullivan vs Fargo/Hayner WCWSN 5/19/96
Benoit vs J.L. 5/24/96 BOSJ New Japan
Benoit vs Collins Worldwide 5/26/96
Benoit vs El Samurai NJPW Classics 5/28/96
Benoit vs Alex Wright Handheld World Peace Festival from LA 6/1/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero Worldwide 6/2/96
Benoit/El Samurai vs Ohtani/Takiawa from Classics 6/12/96
Benoit vs Sasake Worldwide 6/16/96 -- Fun match
Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan Bash at the Beach PPV 6/16/96
Benoit/Anderson vs American Males Nitro 6/17/96
Benoit/Anderson vs Rock'n'Roll Express WCWSN 6/22/96
Benoit vs Black Tiger NJPW 6/11/96; Tv date is 6/22/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero Worldwide 6/23/96
Benoit vs Long Pro 6/29/96
Benoit/Anderson vs Rock'n'Roll Express WCWSN 6/29/96
Benoit/Flair/Mongo/Arn vs Gomez/Renegade/Gibson/Morton Nitro 7/1/96
Benoit vs Cobra WCWSN 7/6/96
Benoit/Anderson vs Sullivan/Giant Bash at the Beach 7/7/96
Benoit vs Sgt. Craig Pittman 7/8/96 Nitro
Benoit/Flair/Anderson vs Wright/Cobra/Starr WCWSN 7/13/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 7/15/96 Nitro
Benoit vs Bubba Rogers WCWSN 7/20/96 -- Nice match.
Benoit/Flair/Mongo vs Sting/Luger/Savage Nitro 7/22/96
Benoit/Mongo/Flair/Anderson vs American Males/Powers/Chavo Guerrero WCWSN 7/27/96
Benoit/Flair/Mongo vs Sting/Luger/Savage Nitro 7/29/96
Benoit vs Brock Pro 8/3/96
Benot vs Macho Man WCWSN 8/3/96
Benoit/Anderson vs Powers/Gomez Worldwide 8/4/96
Benoit vs Wright 8/5/96 Nitro
Benoit vs Dean Malenko 8/10/96
Benoit vs Ron Studd Nitro 8/12/96 -- Benoit prepares for the Giant and hits a superplex off of the top rop on the very tall Studd
Benoit vs Giant Clash 8/15/96
Benoit vs Gomez Pro 8/17/96
Benoit/Flair/Anderson/Mongo vs High Voltage/Gomez/Renegade WCWSN 8/17/96
Benoit vs Bobby Eaton Nitro 8/19/96
Benoit/Mongo vs Sting/Luger Nitro 8/26/96
Benoit vs Pittman Worldwide 9/1/96
Benoit/Mongo/Flair/Arn vs Meng/Sullivan/Rogers/Babarian Nitro 9/2/97 -- 3rd match on Benoit Tape D
Benoit/Anderson vs Faces of Fear Worldwide 9/8/96
Benoit vs Ron Studd Main Event 9/8/96
Benoit vs Bobby Walker WCWSN 9/14/96
Benoit vs Powers Main Event 9/15/96
Benoit/Mongo vs Lex Luger Nitro 9/16/96
Benoit/Animal vs Muto/Rick Steiner 9/20/96 -- Arena date
Benoit/Anderson vs Rock'n'Roll Express Worldwide 9/22/96
Benoit vs Mr. J.L. Pro 9/22/96
Benoit vs Lyger 9/23/96 -- This is Lyger's return match from brain surgery
Benoit vs Rick Steiner Nitro 9/30/96
Benoit/Mongo vs Rock'n'Roll Express WCWSN 10/5/96
Benoit vs Juventud Guerrera Worlwide 10/13/96 -- One of the best short matches you will ever see! Full of cool offence. The story is excellently executed with Benoit trying to catch Guerrera while Guerrera tries to pull off the upset.
Benoit vs Pittman WCWSN 10/19/96
Benoit vs Powers Worldwide 10/20/96
Benoit/Anderson vs Nasty Boys Pro 10/20/96
Benoit/Anderson vs Hall/Nash Handheld from California 10/24/96 -- Benoit/Anderson are the heels as the crowd is decisively in favour of Hall/Nash
Benoit/Anderson vs Konnan/Sullivan Handheld 10/25/96
Benoit vs Pittman WCWSN 10/26/96
Benoit vs Jerry Lynn Worldwide 10/27/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero Nitro 10/28/96
Beniot vs Lex Luger Handhled 11/1/96
Benoit vs Jericho WCWSN 11/2/96
Benot vs Hector Guerrero Nitro 11/4/96
Benoit vs Morrus WCWSN 11/9/96
Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett Nitro 11/11/96
Benoit vs Hector Guerrero 11/16/96 WCWSN - Night of locker room attack
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero Nitro 11/18/96
Beniot vs Kevin Sullivan HIghlights from Baltimore 11/23/96
Benoit in World War 3 PPV 11/24/96
Benoit in World War 3 PPV 11/26/95
Benoit vs Juventudd Guerrera WCWSN 11/30/96
Benoit vs Rick Steiner Worldwide 12/1/96
Benoit vs Regal 12/2/96
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero -- 12/23/96
Benoit vs Renegade Pro 12/28/96
Benoit vs Wallstreet Worldwide 12/29/96
Benoit vs Jericho Nitro 12/30/96 --
Benoit vs Jarrett Nitro 1/13/97
Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan Nitro 1/20/97
Benoit vs Sullivan Clash of Champions 1/21/97
Benoit vs Hugh Morrus Nitro 1/27/97
Benoit vs Konnan 2/3/97 Nitro
Benoit/Mongo vs Chavo??/Jarrett 2/10/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Billy Pearl 2/15/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Roadblock 2/17/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Billy Kidman 2/22/97 Pro
Benoit vs Rick Fuller -- 2/22/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Sullivan Death Match -- 2/23/97 Superbrawl
Benoit/Lyger vs Ohtani/Takiawa New Japan -- 3/8/97.
Benoit/Lyger/Samurai vs Ohtani/Takiawa/Kanemoto 3/15/97
Benoit/Piper/Mongo/Jarrett vs Hogan/Hall/Nash/Savage vs Luger/The Giant/Steiner WCW Uncensored 3/16/97
Benoit vs Kidman -- 3/17/97 Nitro -- Jetlag means nothing to Benoit!
Benoit vs Hugh Morrus -- 3/31/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Malenko -- 4/6/97 Spring Stampede
Benoit vs Ice Train -- 4/7/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Powers 4/12/97 Pro
Benoit vs Scotty Riggs -- 4/12/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Sullivan -- 4/12/97 NJPW Tokyo Dome;match is clipped
Benoit vs Babarian -- 4/13/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Mark Starr Pro 4/19/97
Benoit vs Fuller Worldwide 4/20/97
Benoit vs Bunkhouse Bunk -- 4/26/97 Pro
Benoit vs Regal -- 4/28/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Big Al -- 5/10/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Mike Enos -- 5/12/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Enos -- 5/17/97 Pro
Benoit vs Meng -- 5/18/97 Slamboree Death Match #1
Benoit vs Babarian -- 6/2/97 Nitro
Benoit vs David Taylor Worldwide 6/7/97
Benoit vs Bobby Walder -- 6/14/97
Benoit vs Meng -- 6/15/97 Great American Bash Death Match #2
Benoit/Flair/Mongo vs Chono/Bagwell/Norton 6/30/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Fuller 7/5/97 WCWSN
Benoit/Mongo vs Steiners 7/7/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Sullivan 7/13/97 Retirement Match Bash at the Beach
Benoit/Flair vs Hall/Nash 7/21/97 Nitro -- Benoit is awesome in this.
Benoit vs Jarrett 7/26/97 WCWSN Benoit wins by DQ
Benoit/Mongo vs Texas Hangmen 7/28/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Syxx 8/4/97 Nitro
Benoit/Mongo vs Villano IV/V 8/9/97 WCWSN
Benoit/Mongo vs Jarret/Malenko Elimination match 8/10/97 Road Wild
Benoit/Mongo vs Steiners 8/11/97 Nitro
Benoit/Mongo vs Eddie/Jarret 8/18/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Hector Guerrero 8/23/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Jarret 8/25/97 Nitro Jarrett wins
Benoit vs Eaton 8/30/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Scott Armstrong 8/31/97 Pro
Benoit/Mongo vs Eddie Jarret 9/1/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Dr. Wagner Jr. 9/10/97 New Japan
Benoit vs Hector Guerrero 9/14/97 Worldwide
Benoit/Henning/Flair/Mongo vs NWO War Games 9/14//97
Benoit vs Dr. Wagner Jr. 9/17/97
Chris Benoit/Jushin Liger/El Samurai/Kendo Kashin vs Chris Jericho/Shinjiro Ohtani/Koji Kanemoto/Tatsuhito Takaiwa 9/22/97 - Niigata, Japan -- Fantastic match from New Japan Valis #40
Benoit/Lyger/Samurai vs Jericho/Dr. Wagner Jr./Kanemoto 9/23/97
Benoit vs Henning WCWSN 10/4/97
Benoit vs Henning 10/6/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 10/20/97 Nitro
Benoit vs VK Wallstreet 10/25/97 Worldwide
Benoit vs Fit Finlay 10/27/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Ohtani 11/2/97 Fukuoka Dome New Japan
Benoit vs Saturn 11/10/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Syxx 11/15/97 Worldwide
Battle ROyal 11/23/97
Benoit vs Sickboy 11/24/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Kidman 12/1/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Blaze 12/6/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Lodi 12/8/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Riggs 12/15/97 Nitro
Benoit vs Van Hamer 12/22/97
Benoit vs Saturn 12/27/97 WCWSN
Benoit vs Saturn 12/28/97 Starcade
Benoit vs Van Hammer 12/29/97 Nitro
Part II
Benoit/Mongo vs Riggs/Saturn 1/5/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Konnan 1/10/98 Worldwide
Benoit vs Malenko 1/12/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Janetty 1/19/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Jericho 1/22/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Raven 1/24/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Raven 1/24/98 WCW/NWO Souled Out II
Benoit/Malenko vs Jericho/Eddie 1/29/98 Thunder
Benoit vs DDP 2/5/98 Thunder
Benoit vs David Sierra 2/7/98 Worldwide
Benoit vs Raven 2/7/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Raven 2/12/98 Thunder
Benoit/Makenko vs Jericho/Eddie 2/16/98 Nitro
Benoit/DDP vs Raven/Saturn 2/19/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Raven Handheld From Vegas Clipped? 2/20/98
Benoit/Malenko vs Enos/Bloom 2/21/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs DDP 2/22/98 Superbraw
Benoit vs Raven 2/23/98 Nitro
Benoit vs DDP Thunder 2/26/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Raven 2/28/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Riggs 3/2/98 Nitro
Benoit/DDP vs Raven/Saturn 3/9/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Black Cat 3/14/98 Worldwide
Benoit/Malenko vs Chavo Guerrero Jr./Jericho 3/14/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs DDP vs Raven 3/15/98 Uncensored
Benoit vs Raven 3/16/98 Nitro Spring Break
Benoit vs Norton 3/19/98 Thunder
Benoit/DDP vs Saturn/Van Hammer 3/21/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Booker T 3/23/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. 3/26/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Booker T Nitro 3/30/98
Benoit vs Konnan 4/9/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Eaton 4/11/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Glacier 4/13/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Norton 4/16/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Booker 4/19/98 Spring Stampede No time limit
Benoit vs Henning 4/20/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Disco Inferno 4/27/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Jericho 4/29/98 Brian Pillman Memorial Show
Benoit vs Booker T Handheld Tv title match 5/1/98
Benoit vs Booker T 5/2/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Booker T 5/11/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Robbie Rage 5/14/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Finlay 5/17/98 Slamboree
Benoit vs Booker T 5/25/98 Nitro First Match of "Best of 7" series
Benoit vs Booker T 5/28/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Booker T 5/30/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Booker T 6/1/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Booker T 6/4/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Horrowitz 6/6/98 Worldwide
Benoit vs Booker T 6/8/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Booker T 6/11/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Booker T 6/14/98 Great American Bash
Benoit vs Finlay 6/15/98 Nitro -- Great, probably their best match against each other although thier 97 Nitro bout may have had more of a fight to the death kind of feel to it.
Benoit vs Eddie 6/18/98 Thunder
Benoit vs Bret Hart 6/22/98 Nitro
Benoit/Mongo vs Wright/Inferno 6/25/98 Thunder
Benoit/Mongo vs Booker T/Stevie Ray 6/29/98 Nitro
BENOIT HAS ELBOW SURGERY
Benoit vs Finlay 7/18/98 Worldwide
Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs Disco Inferno/Wright 10/19/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Hart 11/16/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Enos 11/21/98 Worldwide
Benoit in Battle Royal 11/22/98
Benoit vs Norman Smiley 11/23/98 Nitro
Benoit vs Prince Iaukea 11/28/98 WCWSN
Benoit/Malenko vs Eddie Guerrero/Chris Jericho 11/29/98 Brian Hildebrand Tribute Show
Benoit/Mongo vs Raven/Kanyon 12/3/98 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Armstrongs WCWSN 12/5/98
Benoit vs Kanyon 12/10/98 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Adams/Vincent 12/19/98 WCWSN
Benoit vs Iaukea???? Not sure about this at all
Benoit vs Horace Hogan 1/4/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Whindam 1/7/99 Thunder
Benoit/Mongo vs Henning/Whindam 1/14/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Enos 1/17/99 Souled Out
Benoit/Flair/Mongo vs Norton/Ray/Vincent 1/21/99 Thunder
Benoit/Flair/Mogo vs Hogan/Hall/Nash 1/25/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko vs Henning/Whindam 2/1/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Scott Hall 2/1/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko vs Hayashi/Van Hammer 2/11/99 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Adams/Vincent 2/13/99 Worldwide
Benoit/Malenko vs Finlay/Taylor 2/15/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko vs Adams/Horace Hogan 2/18/99 Thunder Very good Steel Cage match. Benoit hits his first and most meaningfull headbutt off the top of the cage and the fans go crazy.
Benot/Malenko vs Henning/Whindam 2/21/99 Superbrawl
Benoit/Malenko vs Henning/Whindam 2/21/99 Superbrawl
Benoit vs Hart 3/1/99 Nitro -- Reccomended match. Benoit tranistions via brawling and a couple of knees to the stomach off of irish whips. It doesn't sound like it but it's one of the most memoarable, intense transistions I've ever seen.
Benoit/Malenko vs Didorderly Conduct 3/11/99 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Henning/Whindam 3/14/99 Uncensored
Benoit/Malenko vs Babarian/Morrus 3/15/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko vs Henning/Whindam 3/20/99 WCWSN
Benoit/Malenko vs Raven/Saturn 3/22/99 Nitro Spring Break -- Handicap match until Raven decides to help Saturn. Benoit/Malenko are now heel while Saturn and Raven are faces.
Benoit/Malenko vs Kidman/Rey Mysterio Jr. 3/29/99 Nitro from Canada
Benoit/Malenko vs Hayashi/Chavo 4/1/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Raven 4/8/99 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Kidman/Rey Mysterio Jr. 4/17/99 WCWSN Reccomended match
Benoit/Malenko vs Scott/Steve Armstrong 4/19/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko/Kidman vs Raven/Saturn/Mysterio Jr. 4/22/99 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Disorderly Conduct 5/1/99 WCWSN
Benoit/Malenko vs Texas Hangmen 5/6/99 Thunder
Benoit/Malenko vs Rey Mysterio Jr./Kidman vs Raven/Saturn 5/9/99 Slamboree
Benoit/Malenko vs Raven/Saturn 5/17/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko vs Konnan/Rey Mysterio Jr. 5/19/99 Brian Pillman Memorial Show
Benoit vs Buddy Lee Parker 5/24/99 Nitro
Benoit vs DDP 5/27/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Flair 6/3/99 Thunder
Benoit/Saturn vs DDP/Bigelow 6/7/99 Nitro
Benoit/Saturn vs DDPnyon 6/10/99 Thunder -- Changes into tag after a Saturn vs DDP match
Benoit/Saturn vs DDP/Kanyon 6/13/99 Bash at the Beach
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn/Bagwell vs DDP/Kanyon/Flair/Piper 6/14/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko vs Taylor/Finlay 6/24/99 Thunder
Benoit/Saturn vs Regal/Taylor 6/28/99 Nitro
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Page/Kanyon/Bigelow 7/5/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Kanyon 7/8/99 Thunder -"unknown" match that was better than last year's bout. Very good.
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Juventudd/Chavo/Psicosis 7/10/99 WCWSN
Benoit/Saturn vs DDP/Bigelow 7/11/99 Bash at the Bash -- Extreamly fun match.
Benoit/Saturn vs Henning/Whindam 7/19/99 Nitro
Benoit vs David Flair 7/26/99 Nitro
Benoti/Saturn/Malenko vs Flair/DDP/Kanyon 7/29/99 Thunder
Benoit vs DDP 8/2/99 Nitro
Benoit vs DDP 8/5/99 Thunder
Benoit vs David Flair 8/9/99 Thunder
Benoit vs DDP 8/14/99 Road Wild
Benoit vs Disco Inferno 8/16/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Psicosis 8/21/99 WCWSN
Benoit vs Rick Steiner 8/23/99 Nitro
Benoit/Saturn vs Sid/Steiner 8/26/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Flynn 8/30/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Malenko 9/6/99 Nitro
Benoit/Saturn/Douglas vs Regal/Taylor/Adams 9/9/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Enos 9/11/99 WCWSN
Benoit vs Sid 9/12/99 Fall Brawl
Benoit vs Malenko 9/13/99 Nitro -- Excellent, classic intense match.
Benoit vs Rick Steiner 9/13/99 Nitro Tv Tile Match
Benoit vs Sting 9/20/99 Nitro -- Very good
Benoit vs Lash LeRouz 9/25/99 WCWSN
Benoit vs Ernest Miller 9/27/99 Nitro -- Good match
Benoit vs Blaze 10/2/99 WCWSN
Benoit vs Bret Hart 10/4/99 -- Great, underappreciated match
Benoit vs Brian Knobbs 10/7/99 Thunder -- Reccomended match
Benoit/Hart vs Luger/Steiner 10/11/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Lyger 10/17/99 New Japan Great match. The Tv date is 11/6/99
Benoit/Lyger vs Ohtani/Takiawa 10/19/99 New Japan Great match. The Tv date is 11/13/99
Benoit vs Rick Steiner 10/24/99 Havoc -- Good match
Benoit vs Malenko Last Man Standing match 10/25/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Sid Thunder 10/28/99
Benoit vs Malenko Steel Cage 11/1/99 -- Nitro
Benoit/Saturn vs Sid/Steiner 11/4/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Madusa 11/8/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Darsow 11/13/99 WCWSN
Benoit vs Scott Hall 11/15/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Bagwell 11/18/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Jarrett 11/21/99 Mayhem
Benoit vs Hart 11/21/99 Mayhem
Benoit vs Malenko Flag Match 11/22/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Jarret vs Sting 11/29/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Lyger 12/2/99 Great match but it's really only "1/2" of a match
Benoit vs Riggs 12/4/99 WCWSN
Benoit vs Nash 12/6/99 Nitro
Benoit/Sid/Dustin vs Hall/Nash/Jarrett 12/9/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Devon Storm 12/11/99 WCWSN -- Good match
Benoit vs Jarrett Bunkhouse Brawl match 12/13/99 Nitro
Benoit/Sid vs La Parka/Vincent/Ron and Don Harris/Henning 12/16/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Jarret Ladder Match 12/19/99 Starrcade
Benoit vs Jarret Ladder Match 12/20/99 Nitro
Benoit vs Hart 12/23/99 Thunder
Benoit vs Tenzan 1/4/00 New Japan Tokyo Dome
Benoit/Sid vs Jarret/Nash 1/12/00 Thunder
Benoit vs Sid 1/16/00 Souled Out -- Title Match, Benoit's last bout in WCW
Benoit vs HHH 2/3/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn/X-Pac/HHH vs Rock/Too Cool/Jack/Rikishi 2/7/00 Raw
Benoit vs Rikishi 2/10/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock 2/14/00 Raw
Benoit vs Test 2/21/00 Raw
Benoit vs Kane 2/24/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Too Cool/Rikishi 2/27/00 No Way Out
Benoit vs Tazz 2/28/00 Raw
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Jericho/Too Cool 3/2/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock Steel Cage 3/6/00 Raw
Benoit/Saturn vs Rock 3/9/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Saturn vs Venus/Test 3/13/00 Raw
Benoit/Saturn vs Hardys 3/16/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho 3/20/00 Raw
Benoit vs Angle 3/23/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Eddie vs Jericho/Chyna 3/27/00 Raw
Benoit vs Jericho vs Angle 4/2/00 Wrestlemania
Benoit vs Tazz 4/3/00 Raw
Benoit vs Rikishi 4/6/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Rikishi/Taylor/Tazz 4/10/00 Raw
Benoit/Malenko vs Hardys 4/13/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Holly 4/16/00 Sunday Night Heat
Benoit vs Show 4/17/00 Raw
Benoit vs Angle 4/20/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Road Dogg 4/24/00 Raw
Benoit/Saturn vs Jerico/Tazz 4/27/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho 4/30/00 Backlash -- Great, hard fought wrestling match/fight -- IC title match
Benoit vs Tazz 5/1/00 Raw
Benoit vs Jericho 5/4/00 Smackdown IC title match
Benoit vs Angle 5/6/00 Insurrextion
Benoit vs Jericho 5/8/00 Raw IC title match
Benoit vs Godfather 5/11/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock Submissioin match 5/15/00 Raw
Benoit/Holly vs Jericho/Venus 5/18/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho Submission match 5/21/00 Judgement Day
Benoit vs Venus 5/22/00 Raw
Benoit vs Regal 5/25/00 Brian Pillman Memorial Show -- Fantastic, hard hitting wrestling/fight match. One of the best examples ever of two wrestlers professional wrestling instead of two wrestlers trying to professional wrestlr
Benoit vs Angle 5/25/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho 5/28/00 Edmonton -- Handheld match
Benoit vs Holly 5/29/00 Raw
Benoit vs D Lo Brown 6/1/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rikishi 6/4/00 Heat
Benoit vs Road Dogg 6/5/00 Raw
Benoit vs Jeff Hardy 6/8/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Venus vs Jericho vs Holly 6/11/00 Heat
Benoit vs Matt Hardy 6/12/00 Raw -- Great, Better than their 03 Smackdown bout
Benoit vs Kane 6/15/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs X-Pac 6/19/00 Raw
Benoit vs Rikishi 6/22/00 Smackdown -- IC title bout
Benoit vs Rikishi 6/25/00 King of the Ring
Benoit vs Rikishi 6/26/00 Raw
Benoit/Venus vs Rikishi/Eddie 6/29/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho IWA Summer Auttidude Show Summer/?/00
Benoit vs Eddie 7/3/00 Raw -- Short but oh so much fun
Benoit/Edge/Christian vs Rock/Eddie/Chyna 7/5/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock 7/10/00 Raw
Benoit vs Eddie/Chyna 7/12/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Edge/Christian vs Farooq/Bradshaw/Rock 7/17/00 Raw
Benoit/HHH vs Rock/Jericho 7/20/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock 7/23/00 Fully Loaded
Benoit/Angle vs Rock/Kane 7/24/00 Raw
Benoit/Stratus vs Jericho/Lita 7/27/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Dudleys 7/31/00 Raw
Benoit/Show vs Rock/Kane 8/3/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock No DQ 8/7/00 Raw
Benoit/Val Venus vs Jericho/Eddie 8/10/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Undertaker 8/14/00 Raw
Benoit vs Steve Blackman 8/17/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Edge/Christian vs Jericho/Hardys 8/24/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho 2/3 falls 8/27/00 Summerslam
Benoit/Test/Albert vs Jericho/Farooq/Bradshaw 8/28/00 Raw
Benoit vs Undertaker 8/31/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Kane 9/4/00 Raw
Benoit vs Rikishi 9/7/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Kane vs Rock/Undetaker 9/11/00 Raw
Benoit/Kane vs Farooq/Bradshaw 9/14/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Kane 9/18/00 Raw
Benoit/Kane/Angle vs. Rock/HHH/Undertaker - Smackdown 9/21/00
Benoit vs Undertaker vs Kane vs Rock 9/24/00 Unforgiven
Benoit vs The Rock 9/25/00 Raw
Benoit/Angle vs HHH/Rock 9/28/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Kane vs Rock/Rikishi 10/2/00 Raw
Benoit vs Jericho 10/5/00 Smackdown
Benoit/X-Pac vs Jericho/HHH 10/9/00 Raw
Benoit/Saturn vs HHH Road Dogg 10/12/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Road Dogg 10/5/00 Sunday NIght Heat
Benoit vs Angle vs HHH vs Rock 10/19/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs HHH 10/22/00 No Mercy
Benoit vs Road Dogg 10/23/00 Raw
Benoit/Malenko vs HHH/Road Dogg 10/26/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs HHH 11/2/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Saturn/Malenko/Eddie vs Road Dogg/HHH/Chyna/Billy Gunn 11/6/00 Raw
Benoit vs Jericho vs Kane vs Undertaker 11/9/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Saturn/Malenko/Eddie vs Chyna/Rock/Austin/Gunn 11/13/00 Raw
Benoit vs Rock 11/16/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Austin 11/20/00 Raw
Benoit/Kane vs Jericho/Austin 11/23/00 Smackdown
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Jericho/Hardys 11/27/00 Raw
Benoit/Kane vs Jericho/Billy Gunn 11/30/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Undertaker 12/2/00 Rebellion
Benoit vs Bob Holly 12/4/00 Raw
??Benoit vs Blackman 12/10/00 Heat
Benoit vs Bill Gunn 12/10/00 Armeggodon
Benoit vs Gunn 12/11/00 Raw
Benoit/Saturn vs Hardys 12/14/00 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jeff Hardy 12/18/00 Raw
Benoit 12/21/00 Smackdown Check listings on this
Benoit/Malenko vs Hardys 12/25/00 Raw
Benoit vs Matt Hardy 12/28/00 Raw
Benoit vs Test 1/1/01 Raw
Benoit vs Jericho 1/4/01 Smackdown
Benoit/Malenko/Saturn vs Jericho/Hardys 1/8/01 Raw
Benoit/Edge/Christian vs Jericho/Dudleys 1/11/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho Ladder match 1/21/01 Royal Rumble
Benoit/Big Show vs Jericho/Rock 1/22/01 Raw
Benoit/Rikishi/HHH/Haku vs Undertaker/Kane/Austin/Rock Handheld from MSG 1/27/01
Benoit/HHH vs Rock/Austin Handheld from Phily 1/28/01
Benoit vs Rock vs Big Show vs Jericho 1/29/01 Raw
Benoit vs Dinsmore 1/31/01 OVW
Benoit vs Crash Holly 2/4/01 Heat
Benoit vs Snow 2/5/01 Raw
Benoit/Saturn vs Hardys 2/8/01 Smackdown
Benoit/Saturn/Terri vs Hardys/Lita 2/12/01 Raw
Benoit vs Austin 2/15/01 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Austin/Rock 2/19/01 Raw
Benoit/Eddie vs Jericho/X-Pac 2/22/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie vs Jericho vs X-Pac 2/25/01 No Way Out
Benoit/Eddie vs Credible/X-Pac 2/26/01 Raw
Benoit vs X-Pac 3/1/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Saturn, than Malenko, than Eddie in a gauntlet match 3/8/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 3/12/01 Raw
Benoit vs Haku 3/18/01 Sunday NIght Heat
Benoit/Angle/Regal vs Jericho/Rock 3/19/01 Raw
Benoit/Angle vs Rock 3/22/01
Benoit/Hardys vs Angle/Edge/Christian 3/26/01
Benoit/Test vs Angle/Eddie 3/29/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Angle 4/1/01 Wrestlemania
Benoit vs Angle/Regal 4/5/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho 4/9/01 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Angle/Regal/Edge/Christian 4/12/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Regal 4/16/01 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Dudleys Table match 4/19/01 Smackdown
Benoit/Jericho vs Angle/Regal 4/23/01 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Angle/Regal Regal's Queensbury rules 4/26/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Angle 30 minute submission match 4/29/01 Backlash
Benoit vs Angle 2/3 falls Insurrection 5/5/01
Benoit vs Edge 5/10/01 Smackdown
Benoit/Jericho vs Edge/Christian 5/14/01 Raw
Benoit/Rikishi vs Angle/Regal 5/17/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Angle 2/3 falls with stips 5/20/01 Judgement Day
Benoit/Jericho participate in tag team turmoil 5/20/01
Benoit/Jericho vs Austin/HHH Tag Title match 5/21/01 Raw -- great, emotional match
Benoit/Jericho vs Dudleys vs Hardys vs Edge/Christian TLC III 5/24/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Austin Heavyweight title match from Calgary 5/28/01
Benoit vs Austin Heavyweight title match from Edmonton 5/31/01 -- Fantastic, emotional match
Benoit vs Big Show 6/4/01 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Farooq/Bradshaw, Big Show/ , Austin McMahon gauntlet style 6/7/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Angle Steel Cage 6/11/01 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Edge/Christian 6/14/01 Smackdown -- Very good match, better than the 5/17/01 match
Benoit/Jericho/Spike Dudley vs Austin/Dudleys 6/18/01 Raw
Benoit/Jericho vs Dudleys 6/21/01 Smackdown
Benoit vs Jericho vs Austin 6/24/01 King of the Ring -- Benoit's last match before he goes for neck surgery
Benoit/Eddie vs Dudleys 7/1/02 Raw -- Benoit's return match and a nice match to boot
Benoit vs Bubba Ray Dudley 7/8/02 Raw
Benoit/Big SHow/Nash/X-Pac/Eddie vs Booker T/Goldust/Rob Van Dam/Spike & Bubba Ray Dudley 7/8/02 Raw
Benoit/Eddie/Regal vs Spike/Jeff Hardy/Bubba Ray Elimination match 7/15/02 Raw
Benoit/Eddie vs Bubba/Spike Tables match 7/21/02 Veangeance
Benoit vs Booker T 7/22/02 Raw
Benoit vs Van Dam 7/29/02 Raw -- Match is for the IC belt
Benoit/Eddie vs Rock/Edge 8/1/02 Smackdown -- Benoit and Eddie jump ship
Benoit/Eddie/Angle vs Cena/Mysterio Jr./Edge 8/8/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rock 8/15/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Eddie vs Rock/Edge 8/22/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Van Dam 8/25/02 Summerslam IC match Smackdown vs Raw
Benoit vs Rikishi 8/29/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Undertaker vs Angle 8/29/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Doug Basham 9/4/02 OWV
Benoit/Eddie/Angle vs Undertaker/Rikishi/Edge 9/5/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rikishi 9/12/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Palumbo/Gunn 9/19/02 Raw
Benoit vs ANgle 9/22/02 Unforgiven
Benoit vs Angle vs Mysterio 9/26/02 Smackdown -- Great match
Benoit vs Mysterio 10/3/02 -- Reccomended match
Benoit/Angle vs Cena/Kidman 10/10/02 -- Overlooked match
Benoit/Angle vs Eddie/Chaveo 10/17/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Mysterio Jr./Edge 10/20/02 No Mercy -- Best tag I've ever seen on North American soil
Benoit vs Angle 10/24/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Eddie/Chavo 10/26/02 Rebellion
Benoit vs Edge 10/31/02 Smacksown
Benoit/Angle vs Edge/Rey 2/3 falls 11/7/02 Smackdown -- Not as good as No Mercy but still fantastic
Benoit vs Eddie vs Edge 11/12/02 Super Tuesday
Benoit vs Angle 11/14/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Edge/Rey vs Guerreros 11/17/02 Survivor Series
Benoit vs Chavo 11/21/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle vs Eddie/Chavo 11/28/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Edge vs Angle vs Eddie 12/5 Smackdown
Benoit/Kidman vs Guerreros 12/12/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 12/15/02 Armegdeddon
Benoit vs Angle 12/19/02 Smackdown
Benoit vs Big Show 12/26/02 Smackdown
Benoit/Edge vs Haas/Benjamin 1/2/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Benjamin 1/9/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Edge vs Haas/Benjamin/Angle 1/16/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Angle 1/19/03 Riveting, edge of your seat match Royal Rumble
Benoit vs Haas 1/23/03 -- Pretty good match
Benoit/Edge vs Haas/Benjamin 1/30/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Angle 2/6/03 Smackdown -- Too short but it's still clear they have lots of ideas left. The visual of Benoit doing the cuthroat with the bleeding eye should've been put on the starting of Smackdown
Benoit vs A-Train 2/13/03 -- This is an underrated series and the matches ideally should be watched one after each other.
Benoit vs A-Train 2/20/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Lesnar vs Team Angle 2/23/03 No Way Out
Benoit/Rhyno vs Matt Hardy/Shannon Moore 2/27/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Haas/Benjamin 3/6/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Eddie/Chavo 3/13/03 Smackdown -- Maybe the most overlooked match of the year. Reccomended pick up.
Benoit vs Benjamin 3/20/03 Smackdown
Benoit/ vs A-Train/Big Show 3/27/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Haas/Benjamin vs Eddie/Chavo 3/30/03 Wrestlemania
Benoit vs A-Train 4/3/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rhyno 4/10/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Jeter/Dinsmore vs Conway/Damaja/Doug Basham OVW Spring Breakout 4/11/03
Benoit vs Cena #1 Contender tourney finals 4/17/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Nunzio 4/24/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Stamboli/Palumbo 5/1/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs The Big Show 5/8/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno/Kendrik vs Cena/Stamboli/Palumbo 5/18/03 Judgement Day
Benoit vs Matt Hardy 5/22/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Sean O'Haire 5/29/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Cena 6/5/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Bashams 6/12/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rhyno 6/19/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Bashams 6/28/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Bashams 7/3/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Rhyno vs Hardy/Moore 7/10/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Matt Hardy 7/17/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 7/27/03 Veangance -- US title match
Benoit vs Doink The Clown 7/31/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero which turns into Benoit/Tajiri vs Eddie/Rhyno 8/7/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie vs Tajiri vs Rhyno 8/24/03 Summerslam
Benoit vs A-Train 8/28/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs A-Train 9/4/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Rhyno 9/11/03 Smackdown -- Pretty good match
Benoit/Mysterio Jr. vs Rhyno/Tajisri 9/18/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Big Show Handheld from MSG 9/20/03
Benoit vs Haas 10/2/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Bradshaw vs A-Train/Bashams 10/9/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Doug Basham 10/16/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs A-Train 10/19/03 No Mercy
Benoit/Angle vs Cena/A-Train 10/23/03
Benoit/Angle vs Cena/A-Train 10/30/03
Benoit/Angle vs Show/Lesnar/Morgan/Nathan Jones 11/06/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Cena vs Lesnar/Show 11/13/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Angle/Holly/Cena/Bradshaw vs Lesnar/Show/Jones/A-Train/Morgan 11/16/03 Survivor Series
Benoit vs Nathan Jones 11/20/03 Smackdown -- Good match, Benoit hits a super impressive dropkick off of the top rope
Benoit vs Morgan 11/27/03 Smackdown
Benoit in Battle Royal 11/27/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Cena 12/4/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Lesnar 12/4/03 Smackdown -- Personal favourite of mine as I loved the intensity, flow and the moveset.
Benoit vs Palumbo 12/18/03 Smackdown
Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero 12/25/03 Smackdown
Benoit/Cena vs Nunzio/Stamboli/Palumbo 1/1/04 Smackdown
Benoit in mini Royal Rumble match with FBI 1/8/04 Smackdown
Benoit/Cena vs Lesnar/Rhyno/Morgan/Show 1/22/04 Smackdown Overlooked match
Benoit in Royal Rumble 1/25/04 Royal Rumble
Benoit vs Mark Henry 2/2/04-- Benoit's first match back on Ra
I've been watching a Ted DiBiase compilation, covering his time in WWE, and the one thing that stuck out for me is that it became clear how Ted managed to wear his neck out to the point he suffered the herniated disc in 1993 that ended his career. In all of his matches with Randy Savage, when Savage would snap his throat across the top rope, Ted would take the resulting bump by falling backwards and then arching up using his shoulders and forcing himself to roll backwards, with all the weight going on his neck. He'd do that at least once or twice a match with Savage, and considering the run they had he had to be doing that an awful lot in 1988. And it's not just in that spot in the Savage matches that Ted takes the bump; whenever he goes for his missed reverse elbow off the second rope, where he faces away from ring, he takes that same bump when he lands. It doesn't look like a dangerous bump, and it looks very ordinary today, but watching those matches and knowing that Ted was doing that night after night for six years, and what the end result was, it makes you wince a little every time he takes that bump.
I know wrestlers gain career ending injuries from all sorts of bumps, some more crazier than others, but this was an ordinary looking bump that Ted did almost every night of the year. It makes it a little different, the bump being an ordinary one that he took nightly, rather than a crazy one he did once in his life.
Stolen completely from Loss. I like putting together lists, so I'm going to do one of the top wrestling matches by year, according to me. I left out matches that were significantly edited. I'll post additions at the bottom and will occasionally change or remove the status of a match. Comments appreciated, because I'd love to re-watch some of these, but generally don't have the motivation to do so without a good reason (too many unwatched matches kicking around).
1970
Antonio Inoki vs Dory Funk Jr. (9/2/70, ***3/4)
1973
The Destroyer vs Mil Mascaras (10/9/73, ****1/4)
1974
Mil Mascaras vs The Destroyer (7/25/74, ****1/2)
1976
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Terry Funk (6/11/76, ****1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jack Brisco (8/28/76, 2/3 Falls, ****)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Giant Baba (5/1/76, ****)
1977
Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (8/29/77, ***3/4)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Harley Race (6/11/77, 2/3 Falls, ***1/2)
1980
Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (2/5/80, ****)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dick Slater (5/1/80, ****)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dick Murdoch (2/23/80, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dick Murdoch (3/5/80, ***1/2)
1981
Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. (12/13/81, ****1/4)
Bob Backlund vs. Sgt. Slaughter (3/21/81, ***1/2)
1982
Bob Backlund vs. Adrian Adonis (1/18/82, ****1/4)
Bruiser Brody vs. Dory Funk Jr. (3/21/82, ***3/4)
Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask (8/5/82, ***3/4)
Tiger Mask vs. Bret Hart (7/30/82, ***1/2)
1983
Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask (4/21/83, ****)
Stan Hansen & Brusier Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (12/12/83, ***3/4)
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (1/6/83, ***3/4)
Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood vs. Sgt Slaughter & Don Kernodle (3/12/83, ***1/2)
Ric Flair vs Harley Race (11/24/83, ***1/2)
1984
Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik (6/16/84, ****)
Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch vs. The Brisco Brothers (12/28/84, ****)
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (12/5/84, ***3/4)
Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda (9/11/84, ***3/4)
Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs. Bob Backlund/Brian Blair (7/7/84, ***3/4)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (12/5/84, 25:36 of 27:19 shown, ***1/2)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada (10/22/84, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Nick Bockwinkle (2/24/84, ***1/2)
Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (9/7/84, ***1/2)
1985
Jaguar Yokota vs. La Galactica (2/27/85, ****1/2)
Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo (8/22/85, ****1/2)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (9/11/85, ****)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (9/11/85, ***3/4)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (7/17/85, 10:23 of 15:15 shown, ***3/4)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda (3/2/85, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Super Tiger (9/6/85, ***3/4)
Dump Matsumoto & Rosy Moreno vs. Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo (1/5/85, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/8/85, 11:23 of 15:04 shown, ***1/2)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (1/7/85, ***1/2)
Ricky Steamboat vs. Bob Orton Jr. (7/20/85, ***1/2)
Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat (6/21/85, ***1/2)
Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/24/85, ***1/2)
1986
Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Umanosuke Ueda/Kantaro Hoshino (3/26/86, ****1/2)
Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees (2/17/86, ****1/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Keiichi Yamada (5/1/86, ****)
Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (7/27/86, ****)
Nobuhiko Takada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido (12/8/86, ****)
Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Shiro Koshinaka/George Takano/Kantaro Hoshino (9/16/86, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. The Cobra (6/17/86,***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (8/7/86, ***1/2)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Shiro Koshinaka (9/19/86, ***1/2)
Ricky Steamboat vs. Jake Roberts (8/9/86, ***1/2)
1987
Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (1/20/87, ****1/2)
Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka (3/20/87, ****1/4)
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage (3/29/87, ****)
Yukari Omori vs. Lioness Asuka (4/15/87, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka (3/26/87, ***1/2)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (8/20/87, ***1/2)
1988
Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (12/16/88, ****3/4)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu (10/28/88, ****1/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (11/10/88, ****1/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiro Hase (3/11/88, ****1/4)
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (8/13/88, ****)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Tiger Mask (3/9/88, ****)
Akira Maeda vs Gerard Gourdeau (8/13/88, ****)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Bob Backlund (12/22/88, ***3/4)
Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (5/12/88, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (2/4/88, ***3/4)
Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka (2/7/88, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (6/11/88, ***1/2)
1989
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (6/5/89, ****3/4)
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (4/2/89, ****3/4)
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (10/11/89, ****1/4)
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (5/7/89, ****)
Yoji Anjoh vs Masakatsu Funaki (6/14/89, ****)
Masakatsu Funaki vs Tatsuo Nakano (7/24/89, ****)
Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Liger (7/13/89, JIP, 10:56 of 13:48 shown, ****)
Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (8/1/89, JIP 11:04 of 15:26 shown, ****)
Akira Maeda vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (8/13/89, ***3/4)
Yoji Anjoh vs Minoru Suzuki (10/25/89, ***3/4)
Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (5/21/89, ***3/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (9/20/89, ***3/4)
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjoh (8/13/89, ***3/4)
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (5/4/89, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (1/10/89, ***3/4)
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase (3/16/89, ***3/4)
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Super Strong Machine & George Takano (3/16/89, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (10/25/89, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu (8/6/89, ***1/2)
Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi (10/6/89, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (1/7/89, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (2/23/89, ***1/2)
Yoji Anjoh vs Minoru Suzuki (4/14/89, 13:41 of 19:39 shown, ***1/2)
1990
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (9/1/90, ****3/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (1/31/90, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Masa Fuchi/Akira Taue (10/19/90, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (6/8/90, ****1/2)
Southern Boys vs. Midnight Express (7/7/90, ****1/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (6/21/90, ****)
Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams (4/19/90, ****)
The Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase (9/14/90, ****)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (2/9/90, ***3/4)
Steve Williams vs. Toshiaki Kawada (JIP, 13:27 of 16:22 shown, ***3/4)
Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (3/6/90, ***3/4)
Genichiro Tenryu & Ricky Fuyuki vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask II (1/14/90, ***3/4)
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (4/19/90, ***1/2)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (1/16/90, ***1/2)
Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen (4/13/90, ***1/2)
1991
Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (10/21/91, ****1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada (10/24/91, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue (11/29/91, ****1/2)
Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono (8/11/91, ****1/4)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa (4/20/91, ****1/4)
Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (3/3/91, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy (6/1/91, ****1/4)
Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi (9/27/91, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy/Steve Williams (12/6/91, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams (07/24/91, ****)
Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (8/26/91, ****)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki (10/6/91, ****)
Ric Flair/Larry Zbyszko/Barry Windham/Sid Vicious vs. Sting/Brian Pillman/Scott Steiner/Ric Steiner (2/24/91, ****)
Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (9/1/91, ****)
Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi (9/23/91, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (11/24/91, ****)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono (8/9/91, ***3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue (1/15/91, ***3/4)
Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (5/24/91, ***3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams (6/16/91, ***3/4)
Stan Hansen/Danny Spivey vs. Terry Gordy/Steve Williams (12/4/91, ***3/4)
Mitsuhara Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (09/24/91, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada (4/6/91, ***1/2)
Bull Nakano vs Yumiko Hotta (1/23/91, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (10/27/91, ***1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi (1/27/91, ***1/2)
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue (4/18/91, ***1/2)
Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen/Danny Spivey (9/1/91, ***1/2)
The Great Muta vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (9/23/91, ***1/2)
1992
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (11/26/92, ****3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (10/21/1992, ****1/2)
Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada (8/15/92, ****1/2)
Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (4/30/92, ****1/4)
Kyoko Inoue vs Akira Hokuto (1/4/92, ****1/4)
Kyoko Inoue vs Akira Hokuto (11/26/92, ****1/4)
Vader vs Sting (12/28/92, ****1/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (2/10/92, ****1/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman (2/29/92, ****)
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (12/13/92, ****)
Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog (8/29/92, ****)
Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (4/5/92, ****)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright (9/21/92, ****)
Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Liger (8/12/92, ****)
Hiroshi Hase vs Great Muta (12/14/92, ****)
Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuhara Misawa (08/22/1992, ****)
Bull Nakano & Aja Kong vs. Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada (8/15/92, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama (12/04/1992, ****)
Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (3/4/92, ****)
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi (3/22/92, ****)
Masa Chono vs. Keiji Muto (8/11/92, ***3/4)
Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong (11/26/92, ***3/4)
Vader vs. Sting (7/12/92, ***3/4)
Jumbo Tsuruta/Masanobu Fuchi/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi (1/12/92, JIP, 19:30 of 26:00 shown, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright (5/8/92, ***3/4)
Stan Hansen vs Mitsuharu Misawa (4/17/92, ***1/2)
Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota & Sakie Hasegawa (5/24/92, ***1/2)
Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita (5/24/92, ***1/2)
Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper (4/5/92, ***1/2)
Jumbo Tsuruta & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (1/2/92, ***1/2)
1993
Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (4/2/93, *****)
Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (7/29/93, *****)
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (4/11/93, ****3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (06/01/93, ****1/2)
Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (1/30/93, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (3/27/93, ****1/2)
Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue (10/10/93, ****1/2)
Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada (2/28/93, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (2/28/93, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (7/29/93, ****1/4)
Steve Williams vs Mitsuharu Misawa (9/3/93, ****1/4)
Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (4/16/93, ****1/4)
Vader vs. Sting (2/21/93, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen (3/30/93, ****1/4)
Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi (1/26/93, ****1/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu (8/8/93, ****1/4)
Kyoko Inoue vs. Shinobu Kandori (8/25/93, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (12/3/93, ****)
Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai (10/9/93, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Yoshinari Ogawa (7/2/93, ****)
Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (6/13/93, ****)
Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi (8/31/93, ****)
Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (4/11/93, ****)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto (12/10/93, ****)
Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu (8/8/93, ****)
Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki (4/2/93, ****)
Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (8/25/93, ****)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Vader (12/5/93, ***3/4)
Akira Hokuto vs. Rumi Kazama (8/25/93, ***3/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Power Warrior (12/13/93, ***1/2)
Akira Hokuto vs. Yumiko Hotta (8/21/93, ***1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen (5/21/93, ***1/2)
Vader vs. Cactus Jack (10/24/93, ***1/2)
Kenta Kobashi vs Terry Gordy (5/21/93, ***1/2)
Kyoko Inoue/Takako Inoue/Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong/Kaoru Ito/Infernal Kaoru (8/21/93, ***1/2)
1994
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (6/3/94, *****)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (5/21/94, ****3/4)
Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada (8/18/94, ****3/4)
Aja Kong vs Yumiko Hotta (1/24/94, ****3/4)
Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams (9/3/94, ****3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Steve Williams (4/16/94, ****1/2)
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (3/20/94, ****1/2)
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (1/24/94, ****1/2)
Wild Pegasus vs. Great Sasuke (4/16/94, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (4/11/94, ****1/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Steve Williams (10/22/94, ****1/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue (4/1/94, ****1/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiro Hase (12/13/94, ****1/4)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright (8/18/94, ****1/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Great Sasuke (4/16/94, ****1/4)
Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue (1/24/94, ****)
El Samurai vs. Great Sasuke (4/16/94, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (12/10/94, ****)
Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs Dynamite Kansai & Yumiko Hotta (8/24/94, ****)
Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong (11/20/94, ****)
Kyoko Inoue vs. Dynamite Kansai (11/20/94, ****)
Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue (3/27/94, ***3/4)
Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (12/10/94, ***3/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Super Delfin (6/18/94, ***3/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu (2/17/94, ***3/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu (6/15/94, ***3/4)
Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue (10/9/94, ***3/4)
Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (11/20/94, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Gary Albright (6/10/94, ***1/2)
Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid (07/01/94, ***1/2)
Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boys (5/22/94, ***1/2)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Shiro Koshinaka (8/7/94, ***1/2)
Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Manami Toyota (3/3/94, ***1/2)
Aja Kong vs Yumiko Hotta (12/4/94, ***1/2)
1995
Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (6/9/95, AJPW Double Tag Titles, *****)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (1/24/95, ****3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (4/15/95, ****1/2)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue (4/8/95, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (3/26/95, ****1/2)
Jushin Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon (12/95, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (7/24/95, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (4/6/95, ****1/4)
Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue (7/24/95, ****1/4)
Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog (12/17/95, ****1/4)
Koji Kanemoto vs. Shinjiro Otani (7/13/95, ****1/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Gedo (12/95, ****1/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Gary Albright (10/25/95, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (4/12/95, ****)
Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi (3/21/95, ****)
Lionheart vs. Wild Pegasus (12/95, ****)
Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Otani (12/95, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (9/10/95, ***3/4)
Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (10/15/95, ***3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (12/9/95, ***3/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto (5/3/95, ***3/4)
Bret Hart vs. Diesel (11/19/95, ***3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (10/25/95, ***3/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Gran Naniwa (12/95, ***3/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto (8/15/95, ***3/4)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki (1/4/95, ***1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (3/4/95, ***1/2)
Ric Flair vs. Keiji Muto (8/13/95, ***1/2)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama (3/21/95, ***1/2)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Vader (4/20/95, ***1/2)
1996
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (12/6/96, *****)
El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani (1/21/96, ****3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (5/96, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (7/9/96, ****1/2)
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani (3/17/96, ****1/2)
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (11/17/96, ****1/2)
Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Ultimo Dragon (8/4/96, ****1/2)
Shinjiro Otani vs. Wild Pegasus (3/20/96, ****1/2)
Black Tiger vs. Wild Pegasus (6/11/96, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (11/29/96, ****1/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue (3/31/96, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (3/31/96, ****1/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger (6/12/96, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (5/24/96, ****1/4)
Antonio Inoki vs. Vader (1/4/96, ****)
Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko (8/10/96, ****)
TAKA Michinoku/Koji Kanemoto/Shinjiro Otani vs. Gran Hamada/El Samurai/Jushin Liger (4/5/96, ****)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu (8/2/96, ****)
Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue (7/24/96, ***3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (11/22/96, ***3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi & The Patriot (11/22/96, ***3/4)
Jushin Liger vs. Dick Togo (British Jr. Title, ***3/4)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shinya Hashimoto (4/29/96, ***1/2)
Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada (5/24/96, ***1/2)
1997
1 Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa (1/20/97, *****)
2 Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa (10/21/97, *****)
3 Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani (2/9/97, ****3/4)
4 Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (12/5/97, ****3/4)
5 Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (4/19/97, ****1/4)
6 Hiroshi Hase vs Kenta Kobashi (8/26/97, ****1/4)
7 Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (3/23/97, ****1/4)
8 Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (3/30/97, ****)
9 Jushin Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon (1/4/97, ****)
10 Mitsuharu Misawa & Hiroshi Hase & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama (9/26/97, ****)
11 Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuharu Misawa (6/6/97, ***3/4)
12 Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (4/19/97, ***3/4)
13 Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (9/6/97, ***3/4)
14 Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (4/2/97, ***1/2)
15 Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (7/25/95, ***1/2)
16 Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto (6/5/97, ***1/2)
17 Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako (8/22/97. ***1/2)
1998
Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada (6/12/98, ****3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (10/31/98, ****1/2)
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (6/5/98, ****1/2)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (8/2/98, ****1/2)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (3/29/98, ****)
Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuharu Misawa (1/26/98, Triple Crown, ****)
Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi (7/24/98, Triple Crown, ****)
Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (1/25/98, ****)
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Stan Hansen & Vader (12/5/98, ***3/4)
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (10/11/98, ***3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (4/18/98, ***3/4)
Shinjiro Otani vs. Ultimo Dragon (1/4/98, ***3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuharu Misawa (5/1/98, ***1/2)
Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi (9/11/98, Triple Crown, ***1/2)
1999
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (6/11/99, ****1/2)
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (1/7, 17:28 of 25:58 shown, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (10/23/99, ****1/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (1/22/99, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader (5/1/99, ****)
Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (10/4/99, ****)
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (3/6/99, ****)
Vader vs Kenta Kobashi (4/16/99, ***3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (7/23/99, ***3/4)
Ayaka Hamada/Mika Akino vs Mima Shimoda/Etsuko Mita (12/11/99, ***3/4)
Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue (6/4/99, ***3/4)
Raven & Saturn vs. Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit (4/11/99, ***1/2)
CIMA vs Minoru Fujita (10/19/99, ***1/2)
Ryuji Yamakawa vs Tomoaki Honma (6/20/99, ***1/2)
2000
1 Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (12/23/2000, ****1/2)
2 Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuharu Misawa (2/27/00, ****)
3 Vader vs Kenta Kobashi (2/27/00, ****)
4 Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi (8/6/00, ****)
5 Kensuke Sasaki vs. Toshiaki Kawada (10/9/00, ***3/4)
6 Masa Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (12/14/00, ***3/4)
7 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs Vader & Steve Williams (2/20/00, ***3/4)
8 Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada (1/17/00, ***3/4)
9 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue (8/5/2000, 2/3 Falls, ***1/2)
10 Toshiaki Kawada vs Genichiro Tenryu (10/28/00, ***1/2)
11 Genichiro Tenyru vs. Kensuke Sasaki (1/4/00, ***1/2)
12 Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs. Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami (1/4/00, ***1/2)
2001
1 Jushin Liger vs. Minoru Tanaka (6/4/01, ****1/4)
2 Minoru Tanaka vs. AKIRA (5/28/01, ****)
3 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Satoshi Kojima (6/6/01, ****)
4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Mike Barton & Jim Steele (12/11/01, ****)
5 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (7/27/01, ****)
6 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (4/18/01, ****)
7 Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea vs. Osamu Nishimura & Tatsumi Fujinami (10/28/01, ****)
8 Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata (3/2/01, ***3/4)
9 Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toshiaki Kawada (1/4/01, ***3/4)
10 Keiji Muto vs Genichiro Tenryu (6/8/01, ***3/4)
11 Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata (1/4/01, ***3/4)
12 Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (9/16/01, ***3/4)
13 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Naomichi Marufuji (12/9/2001, ***3/4)
14 Takehiro Murahama vs. Minoru Tanaka (4/20/01, ***3/4)
15 Keiji Muto & Jushin Liger vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Nishimura (10/19/01, ***3/4)
16 Yuji Nagata/Osamu Nishimura/Takashi Iizuka vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Satoshi Kojima/Scott Norton (4/20/01, ***3/4)
17 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (4/11/01, ***1/2)
18 Taiyo Kea vs. Genichiro Tenryu (3/3/01, ***1/2)
2002
Masayuki Naruse & El Samurai vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (9/23/02, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata & Jun Akiyama (2/17/02, ***3/4)
Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito (10/19/02, ***3/4)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Genichiro Tenryu (7/17/02, ***3/4)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Osamu Nishimura (2/16/02, ***3/4)
Osamu Nishimura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (8/10/02, ***3/4)
Jushin Liger/Great Sasuke/Tiger Mask IV vs. Dick Togo/Gedo/Jado (1/4/02, ***3/4)
Yuji Nagata vs. Jun Akiyama (1/4/02, ***3/4)
Great Sasuke/Jinsei Shinzaki/Dick Togo vs. TAKA Michinoku/Gran Naniwa/Kaz Hayashi (11/8/02, ***3/4)
Masahiro Chono vs. Yuji Nagata (10/26/02, ***1/2)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (8/4/02, ***1/2)
American Dragon vs Low Ki (3/30/02, ***1/2)
Samoa Joe vs Low Ki (10/5/02, ***1/2)
American Dragon vs AJ Styles (11/9/02, ***1/2)
2003
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Jun Akiyama (8/17/03, ****1/2)
Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito (6/06/03, ****1/4)
Makai Mask IV & Makai Mask V vs. Yutaka Yoshie & Hiroshi Tanahashi (7/09/03, ****)
AKIRA/Super Crazy/HEAT/Masahito Kakihara/Tiger Mask IV vs. Minoru Fujita/Gedo/Koji Kanemoto/El Samurai/Jushin Lyger (2/16/03, ****)
Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi/Akitoshi Saito/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tamon Honda/KENTA/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Kenta Kobashi (5/14/03, ***3/4)
Doug Williams vs. Chris Daniels (3/22/03, ***3/4)
Tamon Honda vs. Kenta Kobashi (4/13/03, ***1/2)
Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle (1/19/03, ***1/2)
Kazunari Murakami vs. Yuji Nagata (12/10/02, ***1/2)
Osamu Nishimura vs. Yuji Nagata (2/02/03, ***1/2)
2004
CM Punk vs. Samoe Joe (10/16/04, ****3/4)
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kenta Kobashi (4/25/04, ****1/2)
CM Punk vs Samoa Joe (12/4/04, ****1/2)
Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi (9/10/04, ****1/4)
Bryan Danielson vs Samoa Joe (10/2/04, ****1/4)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki (12/12/04, ****1/4)
Takeshi Rikio & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta Kobashi & KENTA (11/28/04, ****1/4)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (8/15/04, Final, ****1/4)
Mark Briscoe vs Colt Cabana vs Austin Aries vs Homocide vs Bryan Danielson vs Samoa Joe (6/24/04, ****1/4)
Low Ki & Bryan Danielson vs Samoa Joe & Jushin Thunder Liger (11/6/04, ****)
Brock Lesnar vs Eddy Guerrero (2/15/04, ****)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (11/03/04, ****)
Austin Aries vs Samoa Joa (12/26/04, ****)
Low Ki vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (9/10/04, ****)
Austin Aries vs Bryan Danielson (8/7/04, ****)
Jay and Mark Briscoe & Jimmy Rave & John Walters vs Alex Shelley & Jack Evans & Austin Aries & Roderick Strong (5/22/04, ****)
Takeshi Rikio vs. Kenta Kobashi (3/06/04, ***3/4)
CM Punk vs Samoa Joe (6/12/04, ***3/4)
Great Sasuke & Dick Togo & Nobutaka Moribe vs Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka & Macho Pump (8/22/04, ***3/4)
SUWA vs. Magnum Tokyo (2/08/04, UDG Title, ***3/4)
Bryan Danielson vs Jushin Thunder Liger (11/5/04, ***3/4)
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA (4/03/04, ***3/4)
KENTA vs. Kenta Kobashi (10/09/04, ***1/2)
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (12/5/04, ***1/2)
Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi (7/10/04, ***1/2)
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA vs. Akitoshi Saito & Takashi Sugiura (11/28/04, ***1/2)
Kurt Angle vs Eddy Guerrero (3/14/04, ***1/2)
2005
Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiosaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (11/5/05, ****3/4)
Kenta Kobashi & Makoto Hashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (8/19/05, ****1/2)
Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita (5/7/05, ****1/2)
Low Ki vs. KENTA (12/17/05, ****1/4)
Bryan Danielson vs. James Gibson (9/17/05, ****1/4)
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (12/11/05, ****1/4)
KENTA vs. SUWA (9/18/05, ****)
Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe (10/1/05, ****)
Roderick Strong vs. Bryan Danielson (10/29/05, ****)
Kenta Kobashi & Homicide vs. Low Ki & Samoa Joe (10/2/05, ****)
Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (6/23/05, ****)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA/Makoto Hashi (4/2/05, ****)
James Gibson vs. Austin Aries (4/16/05, ****)
Naomichi Marufuji & Minoru Suzuki vs. Akitoshi Saito & Takashi Sugiura (9/11/05, ****)
Chris Daniels vs. James Gibson vs. Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (8/12/05, ****)
KENTA vs. Mushiking Terry (10/28/05, ****)
CM Punk & Spanky vs. Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal (3/12/05, ****)
Kenta Kobashi vs. Takeshi Rikio (3/5/05, ***3/4)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (3/26/05, ***3/4)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Toshiaki Kawada (2/16/05, ***3/4)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2/20/05, ***3/4)
Chris Daniels vs. Samoa Joe (11/5/05, ***3/4)
KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (7/18/05, ***3/4)
Roderick Strong vs. Bryan Danielson (11/5/05, ***3/4)
Spanky vs. Bryan Danielson (4/2/05, ***3/4)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura vs. Richard Slinger & Low Ki (8/27/05, ***3/4)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata (4/19/05, ***3/4)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Mohammed Yone vs. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki (4/17/05, ***3/4)
Low Ki & Homicide vs. Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal (8/13/05, ***3/4)
KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji/Kotaro Suzuki/Ricky Marvin vs. Takashi Sugiura/Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Makoto Hashi/SUWA (4/17/05, ***3/4)
James Gibson vs. Homicide vs. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe (7/8/05, ***3/4)
Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle (4/3/05, ***3/4)
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Minoru Suzuki (8/11/05, ***1/2)
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (8/7/05, ***1/2)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Kensuke Sasaki (11/19/05, ***1/2)
Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal (12/3/05, ***1/2)
Black Tiger vs. Koji Kanemoto (10/30/05, ***1/2)
Shinsuke Nakamura & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata (1/30/05, ***1/2)
Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Naomichi Marufuji (7/18/05, ***1/2)
Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (7/18/05, ***1/2)
Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (8/13/05, ***1/2)
Chris Daniels vs. CM Punk (7/23/05, ***1/2)
Minoru Suzuki vs. Mohammed Yone (9/18/05, ***1/2)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano (8/4/05, ***1/2)
Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura (6/5/05, ***1/2)
Kenta Kobashi/Mohammed Yone/Go Shiosaki vs. Takeshi Rikio/Takeshi Morishima/Naomichi Marufuji (2/20/05, ***1/2)
Takeshi Rikio/Mohammed Yone/KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama/Genichiro Tenryu/Go Shiosaki (5/17/05, ***1/2)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Keiji Muto (7/26/05, ***1/2)
Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide (2/19/05, ***1/2)
Colt Cabana vs. Austin Aries (2/19/05, ***1/2)
2006
Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson (8/5/06, ****1/2)
Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji (4/23/06, ****)
KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio (NOAH 7/16/06, ****)
Samoa Joe/Adam Pearce/BJ Whitmer/Ace Steel/Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli/Nate Webb/Necro Butcher/Eddie Kingston (7/15/06, ****)
Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA (12/2/06, ****)
KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson (9/16/06, ***3/4)
Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson (8/12/06, ***3/4)
Roderick Strong vs. Bryan Danielson (3/31/06, ***3/4)
Kenta Kobashi vs. KENTA (3/5/06, ***3/4)
Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker (2/19/06, ***3/4)
Necro Butcher vs. Low-Ki (4/1/06, ***3/4)
Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA (10/29/06, ***3/4)
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Akira Taue (3/5/06, ***1/2)
Yuji Nagata vs. Giant Bernard (4/30/06, ***1/2)
Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson (6/3/06, ***1/2)
Colt Cabana vs. Bryan Danielson (8/26/06, ***1/2)
Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Takashi Sasaki (3/31/06, ***1/2)
Lance Storm vs. Bryan Danielson (4/1/06, ***1/2)
Edge vs. Mick Foley (4/2/06, ***1/2)
Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson (10/28/06, ***1/2)
Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson (2/25/06, ***1/2)
Genki Horiguchi/Ryo Saito/Dragon Kid vs. CIMA/Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino (3/31/06, ***1/2)
William Regal vs. Chris Benoit (10/8/06, ***1/2)
Kenta Kobashi & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Katsuhiko Nakajima (2/11/06, ***1/2)
Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels (4/13/06, JIP, ***1/2)
2007
CM Punk vs. John Morrison (9/4/07, ***1/2)
2012
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito (3/4/12, ****1/2)
Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (2/12/12, ****)
2013
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (1/4/13, ***1/2)
Here's my ballot from the DVDVR 1980's Other Japan project, with a few comments on some of the matches (mostly early ones before I got lazy).
1. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (11/10/88 UWF)
2. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (8/13/88 UWF)
3. Akira Maeda vs Gerard Gourdeau (8/13/88 UWF)
4. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (9/11/85 UWF)
5. Nobuhiko Takada vs Bob Backlund (12/22/88 UWF)
6. Yoji Anjoh vs Masakatsu Funaki (6/14/89 UWF)
7. Masakatsu Funaki vs Tatsuo Nakano (7/24/89 UWF)
8. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (12/5/84 UWF)
9. Akira Maeda vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (8/13/89 UWF)
10. Yoji Anjoh vs Minoru Suzuki (10/25/89 UWF)
11. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (5/21/89 UWF)
12. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjoh (8/13/89 UWF)
13. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (5/4/89 UWF)
14. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (1/10/89 UWF)
15. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (10/25/89 UWF)
16. Super Tiger vs Nobuhiko Takada (9/6/85 UWF)
17. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (9/11/85 UWF)
18. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (5/12/88 UWF)
19. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (7/17/85 UWF)
20. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda (3/2/85 UWF)
21. Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda (9/11/84 UWF)
22. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/8/85 UWF)
23. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (12/5/84 UWF)
24. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada (10/22/84 UWF)
25. Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi (10/6/89 FMW)
26. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (1/7/85 UWF)
27. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/24/85 UWF)
28. Yoji Anjoh vs Minoru Suzuki (4/14/89 UWF)
29. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (9/7/84 UWF)
30. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Masakatsu Funaki (5/4/89 UWF)
31. Nobuhiko Takada vs Marty Jones (2/18/85 UWF)
32. Yuko Miyato vs Minoru Suzuki (5/4/89 UWF)
33. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Osamu Kido (9/6/85 UWF)
34. Akira Maeda vs Super Tiger (1/7/85 UWF)
35. Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (2/21/85 JPW)
36. Osamu Kido vs Akira Maeda (7/21/85 UWF)
37. Super Tiger vs Nobuhiko Takada (7/21/85 UWF)
38. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (8/29/85 UWF)
39. Super Tiger vs Marty Jones (3/2/85 UWF)
40. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (2/18/85 UWF)
41. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (7/24/89 UWF)
42. Super Tiger/Joe Malenko vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido (5/25/85 UWF)
43. Masami Soronaka vs Scott McGhee (12/5/84 UWF)
44. Nobuhiko Takada vs Masami Soronaka (3/2/85 UWF)
45. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Osamu Kido (2/18/85 UWF)
46. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Yoji Anjoh (5/21/89 UWF)
47. Osamu Kido vs Akira Maeda (1/29/85 UWF)
48. Minoru Suzuki vs Johnny Barrett (10/1/89 UWF)
49. Ryuma Go vs Atsushi Onita (4/30/89 Pioneer)
50. Rusher Kimura vs Alexis Smirnoff (11/22/80 IWE)
51. Mighty Inoue/Higo Hamaguchi vs Carlos Plata/El Doberman (11/27/80 IWE)
52. Bob Backlund vs Masakatsu Funaki (5/21/89 UWF)
53. Carlos Plata/El Doberman/Goro Tsurumi vs Higo Hamaguchi/Isamu Teranishi/Mach Hayato (11/22/80 IWE)
54. Super Tiger/Akira Maeda vs Nobuhiko Takada/Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/23/84 UWF)
55. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Chris Dolman (11/29/89 UWF)
56. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Hiro Saito/Shunji Takano/Super Strong Machine (11/2/85 JPW)
57. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (5/25/85 UWF)
58. Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi (6/2/89 Ultimate Karate Ikki Kajiwara Memorial)
59. Shozo Kobayashi & Haruka Eigen vs Mighty Inoue & Isamu Teranishi (6/29/80 IWE)
60. El Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo (4/11/84 UWF)
61. Mighty Inoue/Higo Hamaguchi vs Spike Huber/Rocky Brewer (7/25/80 IWE)
62. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda (7/13/85 UWF)
63. Tarzan Goto vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (12/4/89 FMW)
64. Higo Hamaguchi/Isamu Teranishi/Mach Hayato vs El Cobarde/Herodes/Goro Tsurumi (3/26/81 IWE)
65. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (10/22/84 UWF)
66. Osamu Kido vs Super Tiger (7/8/85 UWF)
67. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Jack Snuka (9/11/84 UWF)
68. Osamu Kido vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/25/85 UWF)
69. Cuban Assassian/Phil Lafleur vs Super Tiger/Osamu Kido (10/22/84 UWF)
70. Carlos Plata/El Doberman vs Mighty Inoue/Mach Hayato (11/1/80 IWE)
71. Super Tiger vs Osamu Kido (8/29/85 UWF)
72. Atsushi Onita/Dick Murdoch vs Masanobu Kurisu/Jos LeDuc (12/4/89 FMW)
73. Jimmy Backlund vs Mitsuteru Tokuda (10/6/89 FMW)
74. Killer Khan vs Stan Hansen (??/??/86 JPW)
75. Pete Roberts/Akira Maeda vs Keith Hayward/Osamu Kido (12/5/84 UWF)
Rusher Kimura vs Alexis Smirnoff (11/22/80 IWE)
- I doubt this will be a popular pick, but I liked it. There was a lot of very, very basic and deliberate matwork, but it wasn't inactive matwork . Sometimes one hold would be held for 2 or 3 minutes at a time, but both guys would constantly try to fight their way out of those holds, and eventually, it turned into a solid and focused leg attack from Smirnoff. I'll take basic and deliberate combined with active and focused any day.
Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda (9/11/84 UWF)
- I loved the back and forth in this match. Great counters and great momentum swings made this really dramatic for me.
Masami Soronaka vs Scott McGhee (12/5/84 UWF)
- This was perhaps the most realistic match on the set so far. A lot of chain/amateur wrestling going on here, with both guys working for holds, and moving along in a realistic and smooth way. For how great of an amateur Kurt Angle was, these two seem to have a better grasp of how to translate that style into the pros.
Pete Roberts/Akira Maeda vs Keith Hayward/Osamu Kido (12/5/84 UWF)
- A complete bore for 25 of the 30 minutes this match went. Lifeless matches aren't a big deal when they're short, but when they're long, it's just painful. Maeda did nothing except kill one of the first exciting sequences of the match. The other three only picked up their game during the last 10 minutes or so. There was little or no direction, focus or action and it lasted 30 minutes.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (12/5/84 UWF)
- Absolutely brutal. The early portions of the match are peppered with some great mat sequences, with both guys working for holds, transitioning to other holds when those weren't working and just looking really believable in general. Then Tiger starts killing Fujiwara with kicks. For about seven minutes. This was actually good and bad in that it was silly that Tiger was allowed to kick the hell out of Fujiwara while he was down and supposedly taking a ten count. If a ten count is going to be used for knockdowns, the other guy can't be allowed continue beating his opponent after the opponent gets knocked down. It ruins the point and drama of the knockdown. The whole finishing sequence would have been better if Fujiwara was taking the beating on his feet, along with making a few more attempts at a comeback. But I can't complain too much, since this is still early UWF, and the workers were still perfecting the style.
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (12/5/84 UWF)
- This was more or less a better version of Tiger vs. Maeda from 9/11/84. A great swing match, where both guys had their moments. Great, fluid matwork early, awesome transitions from one move attempt to the next and a fantastic back and forth stretch run where the outcome was very much in doubt.
Osamu Kido vs Akira Maeda (1/29/85 UWF)
- Maeda actually sold a bit. Early portions were very dull, as Maeda was in control for 95% of the first 10-15 minutes. Things picked up at various points, but the work was never more than good. Ends up being merely decent, which is a lot better than I thought it would be after the first few minutes.
Nobuhiko Takada vs Marty Jones (2/18/85 UWF)
- Good bit of fun here, with some clever reversals, great body language from both guys and a neat mini-story revolving around the headscissors. Not much drama, just a solidly worked, shoot-style wrestling match.
Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (2/18/85 UWF)
- Not such a great first 15 minutes, although it wasn't all bad. Things got really good when Yamazaki was allowed to make his comeback and get in some quality offense. Most of the match was mediocre, but the stretch run made it good enough to get a decent placement on the list.
Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (2/21/85 JPW)
- This was one of those matches where they don't waste any time in moving the match along, as Tenryu tried to bomb Choshu out of there right at the start, which made the whole match seem like a stretch run. If the sort of work these guys did was at the end of 15-20 minutes of build, this would be a MOTYC. As it was, it's just merely good, but a lot of fun regardless.
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (5/25/85 UWF)
- This was way too clipped, showing only six of nineteen minutes. What I saw was mostly good, and was enough to put it over some of the weaker matches, but I didn't see enough for this to really get a good placement.
Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/8/85 UWF)
- The main point here was that Fujiwara is a prick, and that makes Takada angry. Angry Takada decides to kick the crap out of Fujiwara, but that doesn't really stop Fujiwara from being a prick. Short match, but it had a nifty story and it was a ton of fun.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (8/29/85 UWF)
- There was some nifty matwork here which led to some bizarre positions, along with a couple of neat counters. The match never really got hot, and the ending was somewhat abrupt, but it was still a solid match due to how good the early portions were.
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (9/11/85 UWF)
- Tough call between this match or their 12/5/84 match, but I went with this one. The early portions of this match were hit or miss and weren't as strong as their previous encounter, but the stretch run was a lot better. Only problem was that it may have gone on a little too long. In any case, this match seemed like a blueprint for UWF2, as this was worked much like the bigger UWF2 matches, with a lot of knockdowns, comebacks and tons of drama.
Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (8/13/88 UWF)
- Takada was actually heeling it up here, twice kicking Yamazaki while he was down, along with punching him right in the face. The opening 5-10 minutes of this match was full of neat little spots and story sequences like that. Later, Takada started going after Yamazaki's leg but couldn't put him away. One complaint is that the dragon suplex wasn't treated well, as it didn't even get a close near-fall, and it wasn't sold very well either. Finishing sequence was incredible and the actual finish was incredibly hot. Excellent match.
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (11/10/88 UWF)
- Incredibly dramatic and epic match. Both guys were just whaling on each other by the end. Really great story, with Takada getting the worst of it early, and only being one knockdown away from losing, only to reverse the tide and storm back for the win. The finish was just beautiful, as they were drilling each other with their best shots, and it was only a matter of who would go down first. Maeda's selling was fantastic and it was the best performance of his that I've seen.
