Resident Evil

That's cool. Myself, sometimes I'm in the mood for that and sometimes I'm just sick of it especially if it happens too often (as it loses realism). Having someone be face or heel through pure construction of a match is cool too and a refreshing change of pace.

I don't understand how the double team moves looked hokey. I thought they looked great. And I thought Benoit looked great here as well.

Benoit/Scorpio vs the Steiners was fun but it wasn't legit and I'm not exaggerating here 1/20th of the No Mercy match. I went into detail on this match one time. I should go and try to find that. It's buried deep somewhere within my million posts though.

Instead of "what a manuever" we can have "what an angle!"

The No Mercy tag is untouchable in my view and is several steps ahead of any WWF/WWE tag match I've ever seen. The flow of it is superb, the teamwork is excellent and the rollarcoaster ride it gives you is terrific. The tag earlier in the show was fine but it didn't leave you with the mouth hanging to the floor feeling. The knockout punch if you will. I take this over some of the best tag work in other leagues too.

That is true and it seems like the WWE believes in this pretty strongly. Remember when some information leaked on how the commentators were supposed to describe a match.? However, I think they've gone too far. I think Benoit has improved overall on his selling with the best example being the Ironman match he had against HHH so that's a style difference right there. There are little things here and there too with his style. Ed Whalen -- You either loved him or not but for me personally he was the best at getting Benoit over. Ed would kind of shoot sometimes and with those comments I think he helped Benoit out. Ed would always put over Benoit to the max and it came off as very genuine. He was thrilled to see a new star come up and do so well as he enjoyed the journey of seeing a wrestler do very well and improve his craft. It was to the point where if Benoit had ever turned heel I would've been legit disgusted at him for breaking Ed Whalen's heart. Any other time it "didn't" really matter me if Benoit turned heel or face in NJPW, WCW, ECW, WWF, Mexico, CWA and so forth. But if it happened in Stampede, I wouldn't even be able to watch another Benoit match. Tony Schiavone -- Even though he talked about the big stars when the "lesser" stars were wrestling he always seemed to be a fan of Benoit. He always put him over big. Jesse Ventura Makahn Singh -- He only commentated a few Benoit matches but I thought he did a terrific job. He was very similar to Jesse Ventura and almost at the same level. They say it's not what you say but how you say it. Makahn like Jessse was great at both.

The main advantage of the WWF/WWE style for Benoit is that it forced him to become "more selfish". A lot of the times I found that Benoit can be very unselfish and can often go down for the pinfall pretty easily. It doesn't look right when you have someone who's obviously trying harder than their opponent go down in that manner.

Hmm, I'm not quite sure what you're asking here. For signature spots he added on the chop/forearm/repeated kicks to his turnbuckled (new word!) opponent bit which the crowd really took to. I wish he'd bring that back. I'm pretty sure that's not what you're asking about though.

You don't think HBK's newfound attitude is at least somewhat inspired by Terry Funk? Being a Texan is a nice coincidence but the last few matches he had on RAW were certainly Terryesque. Now mind you I didn't say he was better than Terry at being the crazy old man brawler, but he's trying. Also, aren't PPV numbers about the same as they've been the last couple of years? They've been getting people to come to more houseshows, which is good for the wrestler's paychecks I'd gather, but it's hardly a sign of a major upswing. I mean, doesn't Dave constantly beat the drum of PPV buyrates = success? Or does that only apply to non WWE promotions? I think The Thread Killer is just having a hard time coming to grips with someone comparing Michaels to Funk since he apparantly doesn't like Michaels. Correct me if I'm wrong The Thread Killer. All good natured laughing aside, this is why Michaels should be a top part of the card. He draws emotions out of people good and bad. If Michaels is indeed becoming more like Funk, than I might have to check out Raw one of these days.

I decided to post my Benoit vs Smith match thoughts from the section of the forum so we can get everything under one roof. BENOIT VS JOHNNY SMITH 6/4/88 This is for the Commonwealth mid heavyweight title and is a rematch from their first bout the previous week. In that bout Smith was 3pds over the weight limit so the title wasn't on the line. This time he has made the limit at 225pds and thus the title is on the line. The match is unfortunately JIP about 2 min in. From there we have several very cool exchanges between Benoit and Smith that almost alyways end up with Benoit getting the advantage and Smith bailing to the outside. In fact Smith being a total heel vacates the premises at least 6 times in total. So of course Benoit gets frustrated as anyone naturally would, follows Smith outside the ring only to get caught coming in with some boots to the head by Smith which ends up being a turning point of the bout. Very well done as you can't really blame Benoit at all for being so impatient with the irritating Smith. In fact, one has to admire his patience for lasting this long without going outside the ring to attack Smith earlier. From there we go into a long beatdown by Smith where Smith is mainly doing the pitching and Benoit the catching. Smith is dominatiing and in a sweet heel spot starts slapping an out of his feet Benoit in the face looking for a fight. Benoit here is just fantastic selling the exhaustion and making a brief comeback where he lands on his feet from an attempted Smith elbow. He climbs up to the top rope for a big splash but gets caught on Smith's knees FLUSH (this is the best I've ever seen this done) causing the tide to turn and Smith's focus as he now attacks Benoit's ribs. This is where the match truly becomes something special as it just turns into a viciously hard fought battle/struggle. With the slapping bit and the knees to the stomach mentioned previously plus a knee to the stomach off of the ropes by Smith which has to be seen to be believed we have ourselves a series of moves that are just criminally well done. The thing is though is that Benoit and Smith don't cheat by just deciding to stiff someone. They just execute these manuevers so well including maybe the fastest crossbodyblock I've ever seen by Benoit later on in the bout that looks more rugged than a million stiff kicks. Makahn Singh who rules on commentary (kind of like Ventura and is probably 2nd place behind Ventura for heel commentary) is right on the ball here commentating talking about broken ribs but it gets even better. The next comeback by Benoit features Benoit hitting his own to knee to Smith's stomach off of the ropes in a revenge spot. The thing is this move was so well executed that we're now wondering if Smith has broken ribs as well. In fact Smith is now holding his stomach for a bit giving Benoit some time and just adding to the epic struggle that these two are going through. One of the last comebacks by Benoit is also really indicative of this. Benoit hits a superfast crossbodyblock only for Smith to throw him to the cement off a cover where he than proceeds to slam Benoit on the cement. Throughout the match, Smith is often hitting Benoit with knees to Benoit's injured stomach. It's a little hard to describe but he does it in such an arrogant manner that when he finally misses one you can't help but pop for Benoit. This leads to the beginning of Benoit's comeback after about 10 mins or so of being annihilated. The comeback is lots of fun since we the fans have been anticipating/hoping so long for one. Benoit manages to hit a small package which is a lethal move in this series and than hits some offense. Smith goes for the skullduggery route with some brass knucks as he's now desperate but Benoit counters that via blocked punch. Smith than counters Benoit's punch and we have the end of a controversial bout. In conclusion, this is one of my favourite all time matches. Smith is a tremendous heel throughout such as when he's strutting about in the ring after slamming Benoit on the cement, the beginning is chalk full of fun wrestling, the match itself gives off a tremendous hard fought struggle vibe, the execution of everything was spot on including some of the best hit stuff I've seen, the comebacks by Benoit when he is getting beat up are exceptional and the ending stretch/comeback by Benoit is very good. BENOIT VS SMITH 6/24/88 ENGLISH Rounds This was the climax of the first series of matches between Benoit and Smith. 3 weeks later they had another match but you could tell from watching the TV shows that was never supposed to originally happen. As a general rule, I don't like English rounds in wrestling. They almost always are a detriment to a match because they wreck the flow of a match and stop the sympathy of a wrestler getting beaten up as he has a chance to recover. In saying that I must say 1 match that managed to use the English rounds well was the Dynamite Kid vs Marty Jones from England These rounds are 5 minutes long with 1 minute rest periods. Benoit has Steve Blackman in his corner and Smith has the weasel. The first round starts off with Benoit dominating Smith with Smith vacating the ring after flurries of offense against Benoit. Really wicked exchanges as Smith would go behind Benoit, take him down to the mat amateur style - Benoit than sits out and turns -- Smith than grabs Benoit's legs -- Benoit rotates his body sideways causing Smith to flip on his back which is than proceeded by I believe an armdrag and a dropkick before Smith bails to the outside. Another highlight has Smith trying to monkey flip Benoit mid ring but Benoit does a cartwheel right beside him at full speed off of the ropes. Smith not to be outdone nips up a second afterwards but it's "all for naught" as Benoit once again nails him causing Smith to bail yet again. Smith is real good here at these beginning portions of the match. At first he's fighting pretty clean but once Benoit starts to get the best of him he'll start backing away in the corner, using the hair for an unfair advantage and than attacking right after backing away in the corner. Benoit largely dominates until around the 10 min mark where we have a real nice series of moves where Benoit ends up being dropped on his back which causes Smith to start attacking his ribs which along with Benoit's upper body becomes his main point of attack. Smith now is using full blown heel tactics. He does a real smart bit at the end of a round as he throws Benoit in an illegal move over the top rope to the cement floor letting himself rest up while at the same time not allowing Benoit to recover and lose some of his beat up sympathy from the fans. That though is an example where I think the round problem can play havoc on you in the ring. The 1 minute rest did take away the possibility for a cool out of the ring into the ring counter possibility. Also, at the end of the other round time is running out and they may have had to cut a hope spot for Benoit short. Back on track here Smith dominates for about 10 whole minutes and while this portion of the match was not as good as the excellent 6/4/88 match it is still very strong as Smith is that strong of a heel. Smith chokes Benoit like there's no tommorow, slaps him around while he's laying on the mat, takes 10 or so seconds to go back to his corner mid match and dry himself off with his towel, gives out a middle finger and just lets out this aura of complete arrogance with everything he does in the ring. But what I really like about Smith here is he doesn't cross the line into what I like to call a cartoon heel. There's no 10 punch in the corner, no going down with 1 punch all the time or no having your head rammed into the turnbuckle pad 10 times over. That is something that has always bothered me in wrestling and thankfully it doesn't happen here. In fact, with just a little bit of tweaking I would've loved to have seen Smith's heel charactor in All Japan. Smith repeatably attacks Benoit's midsection hitting some real nice offense like a military press into a stomach breaker and the absolute *best knee to the stomach off of the ropes that you will ever see in your life. When it's time for Smith to put Benoit away (which I think may have also have to been sped up because of the round style) he goes up for a top rope Vader Bomb splash on Benoit's ribs. The same splash he had beaten other wrestlers with successfully. He nails it but Benoit puts his foot on the ropes. Smith takes it off but Benoit puts it back on again. Benoit is not to be denied. Now this is a part of the match I talked about before. Smith slams Benoit in the middle of the ring and goes for a high range finisher for Stampede with a move that he didn't let out too much as a heel. The top rope flying splash which would surely be the end of the match if he hits it. But maybe the best part here is not the distance Smith gets on the splash but his complete and total arrogance adjusting his kneepads before going up to the top. Smith's all, "I got him. It's beyond over for that little snot nosed punk." Smith didn't defuse the seriousness of the situation by taking too much time but he did manage to beautifully show once again his cockiness getting the viewer against him all the more so the splash (Smith was pulling out the big stops) and the missing of it just means so, so much when you combine the fact that Smith was just nailing Benoit for 10 minutes straight and of course Smith's heelishness. It's almost impossible for someone to be cheering Smith at this point. Benoit's subsequent comeback after the splash is extremely well done. He hits all sorts of sweet offence including a tremendous backwards top rope elbow drop from the top rope ala Tenyru. Benoit ends up going for it again but the weasel distracts Benoit and Smith in a super spot throws Benoit backwards into the middle of the ring getting the 1/2/3. Smith of course never forgetting who he is uses the tights big time for the win. The end is a huge rollercoaster ride where you find yoursef hoping Benoit will survive to hoping he will win to cursing for Johnny Smith and the weasel. This is done by letting out all the big moves as they stressed the importance of this climatic match. In saying that I must give props for Benoit and Smith for having the patience to make their first "final" match special. Smith's finisher was never used in any of their 4 previous matches except for when Smith tried it once but Benoit got the knees up. Still he never made contact with it. This was the first time Benoit ever used the backwards top rope elbow which made it truly special. Smith only used the big splash once in the whole series. The finish was something they had never done before. All this made the match feel special. In conclusion, I absolutely love this match. The beginning is fantastic, the face/heel structure is very strong with Smith being so arrogant that you have to cheer against him, a long heel control segment which gets you behind Benoit and a super ending that was a fitting end to their first series of bouts. A real hard fought wrestling match is the feeling you get after watching this. * I wanted to talk about the knee. I don't know how Benoit and Smith do it but their knees to the stomach to each other off an Irish whip are heads and tails above everyone else I've seen do this manuever. So brutal looking. It must be exceptional timing because I have seen them miss the knee a couple of times.

Thanks Gordi. This is just my list of favorites though. Lots of others would have a couple of the Benoit/Malenko vs Raven/Saturn matches as well as the "famous" cut away match of Benoit vs Regal. Remember the first match is one that has to be watched in context. WCW was having lots of great matches at the time but none that looked like this so this sticks out. The ending with a dragon suplex had not been seen in North America since I don't know when. Maybe since Fujinami in the early 80s but there aren't going to be too many fans remembering that. But it's the way the ending is done. Armstrong is on a comeback and it really looks it's the start of trouble for Benoit. However, Benoit does the irish whip counter which makes one subtly think "what other cool new tricks does this guy have?" only for that feeling to be upped in a major way when he nails the devestating dragon suplex. Head bumps and athletic bridges weren't common than so it's a big shock when it happens. Most of it all, it leaves you with the feeling that this new guy is so dangerous that he can beat you at any given time. Imo, there's no better way that that to debut a new wrestler. Also check out the headbut Benoit hits on Armstrong before he hit the inside to the outside clothesline. Armstrong I believe blocks two of Benoit's punches (one left and one right which was cool since you start to think Armstrong's safe now) in typical face fashion only for Benoit to do something new and hit him with a headbut. Again, it gives you the feeling of Benoit being special.

Edit -- This is in the wrong folder, isn't it? Can someone please move it if it is? I was working on this in my blog but never ending up putting it here. Since I'm one of the top Benoit fanatics on the web, I thought I'd do this to celebrate my favorite wrestler. I also hope people will find it interesting in seeing some insight into what type of matches I like as Benoit's stint in WCW covered a lot of ground. I'm already second guessing myself on lot of these matches. The first 2 are absolute locks though and will be definite frontrunners for an overall list someday. Next up, will probably be New Japan. As some may remember, I once did a top 30 favourite WWF/E Benoit matchlist. At that time, I said I'd do a bunch of other lists as well. Well, WCW is proving to be insanely tougher to figure out than the WWF so I've been struggling to do this. There are tons of matches where I can't really say I liked one over the other. Although Benoit may have had some better high end matches in the WWF/E I think he had more awesome moments and consistant matches in WCW as every match there is one you want to keep on videotape. The WWF style has proven to be both an advantage and a disadvantage to his work. I wasn't able to get this accurate as I want because I can't watch everything again but I'm going to try to do my best. Feel free to leave comments WP's TOP 30 FAVOURITE BENOIT MATCHES IN WCW. 1)BENOIT vs BRAD ARMSTRONG 1/13/93 -- Clash of the Champions In first place comes one of the few matches that I deem perfect. Everything is beautifully executed. Armstrong is looking great as always. There is a sense of mystery and intrigue on what this mysterious Canadian can do in the ring. Pieces of this are seen throughout the match until we get to the end of the end of the match where in one fall swoop we are blown away by a 2 hit combo which is Benoit's irish counter followed by the dragon suplex. Mouths are wide open in the audience as they have never seen anything like that. They can't believe it. Beautiful flow in this one which has to be mentioned as well but perhaps the lasting memory in this is Benoit's middle rope clothesline from the middle rope to the ring apron on Armstrong to the concrete floor. Watching this live, I could not believe how tough, original and insane Benoit was for doing this. The awesomeness of this was perhaps only exceeded by the sheer beauty of the move. It has never looked as good since but I wouldn't want it to be since it'd taint my memories of this bout. My favourite Benoit WCW match. 2)BENOIT/WELLINGTON vs PILLMAN/LYGER WCW Clash of the Champions 6/22/92 The battle of the Stampede kids in WCW. The flow of this is a good part of why it is up so high. However, I want to talk about why this match struck a cord with me. At this point I knew about Lyger and how awesome he was. Than there was this Canadian kid (I had actually seen him once before and was very impressed) who apparantly was his biggest rival and had routes similar to the Hit man. You better believe that grabbed my attention. My intrigue was up. This guy had to be good if he was fighting against Lyger. Than Benoit starts bringing out these cool manuevers I loved. An enzuguri and a clothesline which I had to rewind a million times. An attempt of a suplex off the top rope. Even better than the moves though was the intensity. At that time I knew Benoit was suffering from jet lag and after this he'd probably have to go right back to Japan. There was no taking it easy here though. I hadn't ever seen intensity like that and when Benoit took one of the worst neck bumps I ever saw I was than sold. Benoit was wrestling with more passion than I'd ever seen anyone do so before. A sick bump on the concrete, an insane neck bump, originality (to me), extra force in everything he did and than even at the end of it he was still going all out with an intense chop war with Pillman. All while under the influence of jet lag. This was just one day of his life. This struck me as very inspirational still does to this very day. 3)BENOIT vs EDDIE GUERRERO WCWSN 11/18/95 The finish is one of the most believable I've seen in wrestling and capped off what was a super match. There could be no winner here because each man was just too good that night. 4)BENOIT vs BRET HART 10/4/99 This is the tribute match for Owen Hart. I was glad to be able to see it in full and thought it came off as a very hard fought battle. There is some really smart work built into this one. 5)BENOIT vs BRET HART 6/22/98 Nitro This is their first match together and one I stayed up to about 2 in the morning to watch. I loved how the whole match told a strong story. However, it is the ending stretch that puts this match up so high as it is supremely terrific. Intensity doesn't give it justice as Benoit just blasts Hart with germans, a dragon suplex, short arm clothesines and an insane superplex off of the top rope. Benoit struggling to his feet after the superplex is an amazing visual. 6)BENOIT vs MALENKO 9/13/99 Nitro Intensity. Oh, how I cherish my intensity. 7)BENOIT vs EDDIE GUERRERO 10/20/97 Nitro Speaking of intensity. Wow! From the match and the crowd. The best 10 and under minute match ever?? Possibly. This is as good or better than anything they've done in Japan. The only thing is that it's shorter. A commercial break is inbetween the middle of this but it still rules. People are jumping out of their seat for an armdrag. An armdrag! Everything is put together well and it would take a lot time to explain the little things on why everything they do makes it come across so well. I especially like the ending in this because it was different, protected Benoit and brought out of a lot of emotion in me. "If only Eddie hadn't gotten so lucky(but yet it wasn't all luck as he suckered Benoit in)" His cocky persona even amplies those feelings. I can't say enough about this match. This was I feel when Eddie was at his absolute best. 8)BENOIT/MALENKO vs HORACE HOGAN/BRIAN ADAMS Steel Cage 2/18/99 This is a very good bout that is commonly forgotten about. It's strong throughout and than flourishes at the end. Shiavone on commentary does a good job on picking up on this. This of course marks the first headbutt of the top of the cage by Benoit. It is by far the most meaningful headbut he ever did as it was setup very nicely. I was standing up watching Benoit scale the cage live. This is imo Benoit's most emotional climax he had in a WCW match. 9)BENOIT vs BRET HART 3/1/99 Nitro This is a really cool bout. It features some extremely intense moments such as Benoit kicking to transistion (you HAVE to see this) and just chopping Hart with some of his best chops ever. Strong work throughout. 10)BENOIT vs MALENKO 8/10/96 I am a fan of endurance so this match makes it up here. It's a lot of fun to watch and it's mesmorising to see how well conditioned Benoit is in here. 11)BENOIT VS MALENKO 1/12/98 Nitro This was during the Raven feud. Yet another example of an intense match filled with cool reservals. I mark like mad for the short arm scissors reversal every time. Also the inverted suplex. 12)BENOIT vs EDDIE GUERRERO WCW Nitro 10/16/95 WCW Redebut match Out of this world stuff with Benoit and Eddie shocking everyone watching. Great execution, speed, limb work and reversals. It is perhaps best know for the powerbomb though as Eddie's head bounces twice of the mat while his body doesn't. In retrospect, it's even more dangerous because we now know how dangerous that is. 13)BENOIT/FLAIR vs HALL/NASH 7/21/97 Nitro A match like this can demonstrate why it is a good idea to have card placements for wrestlers and not have every match contain 15 finishers. Benoit was obviously talented back in the day and despite not being on the top of the card you knew that the fans knew it too. You can sense them wanting him to break away from the pack. I knew I did. This is why this match because so interesting, exciting and emotional. Hall and Nash are two of the big guys who pretty much don't lose. What can a small little wrestler down further in the card like Benoit do against two big guys? We're going to find out! as the anticipation grows while Benoit is on the outside of the ring waiting for the hopeful hot tag. Well, Flair eventually manages to tag Benoit in who than not only finds ways to take the big guys down but believable awesome ways at that. Benoit is taking it to the man and the crowd knows it too as they go insane at the awesome visual of Benoit countering Nash's powerbomb at the very last second. The match leaves you frustrated as Nash ANNIHILATES Benoit who loses but it also leaves you hope as we can say it was only because Flair couldn't save Benoit. You also have the outs of saying Benoit may have had his foot underneath the rope, the Outsiders got lucky and it was 2 on 1. So the match at the end of it swings your emotions around wildly coupled with feelings of frustration afterwards. For that, this match gets up really high. 14)BENOIT vs DDP SUPERBRAWL VII I think this is a little underrated. It was a strong match and wrestled exactly the way it should've been at the time 15)BENOIT vs EDDIE GUERRERO -- 12/23/96 Tourney For US Belt Benoit shows a lot of personality here which is fun to see. Him talking and pointing to the camera after hitting a powerbomb is professional wrestling at its best. It's nice to see the crowd very much into this one. 16)BENOIT vs MENG -- 5/18/97 Slamboree Death Match #1 This is an overlooked fight which features a nice story being told. I marked hard as usual for Benoit's intensity. 17)BENOIT vs FIT FINLAY 10/27/97 Nitro What a fight to the end type feel this one had. The most vicious flying headbutt Benoit has ever done just leaves you going "wow". 18)BENOIT vs FINLAY 6/15/98 Nitro I couldn't decide between this and their 97 Nitro bout. 19)BENOIT vs BOOKER T 6/11/98 Thunder This finished off very heated and was followed by a respect angle that I loved. The one move that I wish Benoit would still do is his repeated kicks in the corner bit. Here it's done at the very end of the match where it appears Benoit is just getting serious/frustrated/warmed up. I love the work ethic. 20)BENOIT/SATURN vs DDP/BIGELOW/KANYON Bash at the Bash 99 A very well done 3 on 2 match that shows how unfair an advantage like that is. 21)BENOIT/SATURN vs DDP/KANYON 6/10/99 Thunder I thought the ending of this was exciting so here it is. I like the surprise elements of this bout. 22)BENOIT vs HENNING 10/6/97 Nitro Benoit the underdog is now on his own fighting for the honor of his comrades. This gets up on my fav lists for seeing Benoit fight like only he can and subsequently seeing Henning get motivated by this who ups his game to take down Benoit. 23)BENOIT vs KIDMAN 12/1/97 Nitro Everyone take note on how an inverted suplex should be done. That's one of my fondest memories of Benoit in WCW. Very fun bout here with Kidman hitting a mini shooting star press on the outside and Benoit being the machine he is. 24)BENOIT/FLAIR/SATURN vs DDP/BIGELOW 6/7/99 Nitro I think this was the match where Flair leaves Benoit in the ring and a retired Arn Anderson decides to take action into his own hands before Saturn decides to come down. If you can't get worked up when Double A gets up on the apron than you have no heart. 25)BENOIT vs KEVIN SULLIVAN Bash at the Beach PPV 6/16/96 Terrific bout that has proven to more than hold up over the years. They manage to bring the aura of hatred, freshness and realism. 26)BENOIT vs JERICHO FALL BRAWL 96 This is a very strong bout that makes a lot of sense while watching it. Jericho challenges Benoit and gets over by doing so but they don't upset the card hierarchy. 27)BENOIT vs 2 COLD SCORPIO 1/23/93 HH I think this is probably rated too low. A drooling and maybe the best example of what these two were capable of. It would've been better with "5 more minutes" 28)BENOIT vs BOOKER T 6/14/98 Great American Bash For the dragon suplex!! 29)BENOIT vs 2 COLD SCORPIO Superbrawl III Strong bout between the 2 high flyers 30)BENOIT vs EDDIE GUERRERO 1/14/96 Worldwide Seamless wrestling from the two masters. There's a point in here where Benoit just says "I've had enough of this" and does one of his awesome clotheslines to Eddie. Remember. Feel free to leave comments. This was an extremely hard task to do. _________________

I don't know if WCWSN (I hope I'm remembering that correctly) is the best match they had because I've only seen parts of their other matches. All I know is that the match freaking rules and is a personal top 100 fav of mine which is saying something. And in the end that's all that counts is that it freaking rules. I know they showed this on one of the early editons of the Canadian WCW Power Hour show. Classic face/heel stuff done to perfection with Pillman in his physical prime. JR and Paul Heyman are commentating and they do a great job here as well imo. You don't want me to spoil the match, do you? I'm trying not to talk about it so I won't ruin it.

Actually, it isn't and I'm kind of surprised you'd say that. I consider Loss a good friend and I would never troll him. What really inspired this was Michaels, Macho Man and Benoit's crawling back to his feet after hitting a superplex against Bret Hart in their 6/98 match. Very true. Speaking of walking down to the ring, I'm reminded of Eddie Guerrero in 97 as a heel. Awesome stuff.

Thoughts as they come to my head Body Language in wrestling. Here's a topic that I think should be talked about more but isn't. Why? Because it's very hard to. Sure there are obvious body language signs but often times there aren't. They can hit us square in the face but we'll still don't know what hit us. Someone can mention to their friend how they knew someone was nervous/confident/attracted to them/happy/sad/distant or magnetic. Ask them how they know this and they'll say "I don't know." Obvious or subtle, it's something that's very difficult to describe which is amazing for something that hits us so hard. We'll see this in wrestling as well. Someone will say "I think Michaels is better than say wrestler X" but not really be able to make a case for it. This is one aspect of the game where I think a wrestler like Michaels shines at and actually makes him better than some of the wrestlers that are thought of to be better in the upper echelon IWC community. It's hard to describe this so a fan can just end up flustered in an argument saying something like "He is just better" and he ends up playing the opinion card. We do end up talking about somewhat. Sometimes we call it "facials" or "in ring charisma" or selling or wrestling for the person in the back row of the audience in comparison to someone in the first row. But I feel it's always looked over and its importance neglected when we talk about wrestling. Some of it is almost impossible to talk about such as the subtle stuff when you're watching it on TV. I described in one post how important the Macho Man's pointing to the sky was in helping his career out and how it helped make his matches more epic. I have mentioned before how brilliant a move Tiger Mask's dancing taunt is and how it makes him a better wrestler etc. But it's just not that pointing to the sky bit that helps Savage out. Everything he did in the ring was strong body language wise and contributed to him being a super wrestler. In fact, for this department I would say he was top 10 of all time. A higher ranking than most would give him as an overall wrestler as the SC list demonstrated. I have discovered that the body language thing is a strong factor in me thinking who the best wrestlers are. Who I end up liking and who I end up not caring about. I also think it plays a big factor with the crowd. Some stars who I feel are tremendous at the body language and because of it should be even thought of in higher regards when it comes to wrestling: Macho Man Randy Savage The Rock -- An example of an exaggerated body language user Steve Austin Dynamite Kid who's super at the subtle and the non subtle stuff Shawn Michaels which is why he is as popular as he is once you leave the IWC upper echelon Chris Benoit whose intense body language matches his charactor so, so well. The Lyger Anyone have any thoughts

Would the Undertaker turn much of the crowd against Cena?

Funny how freshening up your character will do that. He's been the do gooder born again Christian since his return except for that program with Hogan, and even that was more of a vintage HBK hissy than actual character development. Even in DX he's still been the naiive guy that HHH has to trick into leaving the room so he can make dirty jokes. Angry brawler HBK who's not Mr. Nice Guy anymore is a refreshing change. He's got a real reason for hatred now, and mofos are going to pay. He's not dressing like it's 1996 anymore and I think that is going to help get him over more than anything else. He was quickly getting to almost Al Bundy "I scored 3 touchdowns in one game" levels of hanging on to the past. I stil hate the nip-up thing, but I just accept that it's just one of those things like Hulking Up that you just have to let slide or you'll go insane. nip-ups aren't that bad. It's not as if they take up that much extra energy or something. Lots of other moves theoretically take away more from you than the nip up.

Shawn Michaels, the darling of the internet again?

I too am a big fan of Whindam. A natural athelete with in ring charisma. My favourite matches of his are a match he had against Steamboat, the match he had against a bloody Pillman on WCWSN and the TV title match he had against Johnny B. Badd in the computer challenge. I love the ending of that one where Whindam connects with one of the best small packages I've ever seen in my life. It's up there in beauty with Benoit's inside cradle and Edge's unbelievably awesome small package (Rip Rogers would like that line) near fall at the legendary 2003 No Mercy tag.

Someone who despises the ROH crowd as much as I do. It's good to have you around Rudo. Did this happen in ROH or TNA?

Jim Ross also helps the match with his commentary on it.

You have to watch their WCWSN match. The one where Pillman has the bloody eye.

Back in 1991 this was surreal watching this if you were just watching North American wrestling. The new moveset, different style, anticipation as you were watching the happen,atmosphere and the intensity made the match seem 10 times more real than what was usually going on in WCW at the time. 1000 times if you count the WWF. The already mythical Steiner brothers who were so more amazing than their peers facing off against a team that was seemingly on their own level was mind blowing. This match was one of the biggest eye openers on what wrestling can be that the North American audience has ever seen.

The reviews don't 'miss the point'. There shouldn't be 'a point'. People should watch matches and get what they get out of them, not get something they're supposed to get. There IS supposed to be a point: Wrestlers do X at Y point in the match to get Z reaction. Not always. A lot of times X is done just because it is what you're good at.

I enjoy your reviews. It's great to hear someone be so honost and straightforward in them. I'd be interested in seeing reviews on your fav matches of all time.