Loss

Why does he need us to ban him? He has sent me PMs to this effect in the past too, almost that exact wording actually. RE, if you have no desire to post, then just don't post.

I feel like I've said this a few times, but this is my favorite RINGS match so far on any yearbook. The opening few minutes where Han contorts Kopylov's knee into some inhumane position is great, but the moment where Han ties his arms into such a pretzel that he almost ends up with a hold on himself is even better. Kopylov ends up getting a surprising upset in a great match.

Last few minutes of what looks like good action, but has a crowd that either is burned out or just isn't buying Doc and Gordy. Doc and Gordy win the tournament and titles.

Not really news that this is a tremendous match. It's been summarized well before. Sting has never looked as good as he looked in these matches. What I will add is that Jim Ross is absolutely phenomenal here. He has bugged me at times on this yearbook, but this is a tremendous call, maybe his best. Sting/Vader was better than Sting/Flair because Flair felt like they had a match that worked and saw no reason to deviate from it. Sting tended to give his best when he was challenged.

This was a heck of a revisit. I remember this being a solid match, but this was way better than I remembered it being. The match was given plenty of time and I think I might even put it ahead of the more acclaimed SuperBrawl tag. Windham plays FIP and does a great job of it. Kind of a low-end WCW MOTYC. It was that good.

The pre-match interview with Bill Watts explaining his wrestling philosophy while Eric Bischoff holds the mic is a bit surreal. Anyway, this match is disjointed as hell, the ref is out of position in several key spots, and the whole thing feels off. Yet I still think they overcome all of that and have a really good match. Liger and Pillman work really well as a team, and Koloff and Liger work well together way better than you'd expect. The criticisms against this match are valid, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Great video of Randy Savage. Now I know where they got it from when they aired it on USWA TV the following year.

This had an awesome finish that put Tamura over strong, even though Albright and Silver won. Tamura kept getting up when you thought he was going to stay down and it made for some great heat. Albright and Yamazaki also ceded most of the spotlight to Tamura and Silver, who worked more of the match than their teammates and made the most of it. Good stuff. I like Mark Silver every time I see him.

Aside from the 5/22 six-man, this is my favorite All Japan match of the year. I don't know if Dave said this was equal to the Can-Ams match, but I actually thought it was better, because the action is equally great, but you also have Kobashi doing a phenomenal job selling a knee injury and all the great Fuchi touches. Everything you can say about the Can-Ams match would apply here (although the crowd, while awesome, isn't quite as great), only this has a little more depth to it. It's definitely the best AJ midcard match I've seen.

Ron Wright, DWB and Paul Orndorff are the guests. They show a pre-taped Garvin promo -- which is really effective. Then we get a GREAT, GREAT highlight video of old Garvin footage, including matches against Andre, Orton, Le Duc and others. The clips are enough to give Ron Wright a near heart attack, and Orndorff and DWB have to calm him down.

I didn't realize Pritchard worked both SMW and the USWA this long. I guess he did this until SMW was running shows regularly enough that he could go there full time. This is probably Pritchard's best interview that I've seen.

Clips of the 7/6 Mid South Coliseum match, which look great as usual, including Lawler throwing something wooden at one of the Moondogs' heads in a brutal spot. The Moondogs regain the tag titles when Lee throws something purple in Jarrett's eyes. We cut to a pre-taped promo of Lawler surrounded by Coca Cola memorabilia. He announces that Fargo is coming back not to referee, but to wrestle this coming Monday night in an anything-goes 6-man tag this coming Monday. Lawler is the best talker of all time. This segues to a Jackie Fargo promo.

First, they show clips of their 7/6 match at Mid South Coliseum, which I wish was available in full because the clips look really good. This match is good, but I was really wanting it to be better, because they gave them 20+ minutes (I'm assuming, the match went through a commercial break that was edited out), and the title was on the line. There was some really good stuff. Working holds translates well in a studio setting because the details are picked up on more. Gilbert and Morton work the holds well, with Gilbert verbally complaining about Morton trying to break his "sore thumb" and the struggle for holds looking pretty good. The match expires due to TV time, and at this point, Gilbert has him in the figure four. The match is declared a draw, and Gilbert asks for five more minutes because he had him beat. Within two minutes of returning to the ring, Morton gets the pin and presumably, the title! But Gilbert points out that he never signed a match for five more minutes and Eddie Marlin is stuck having to return the belt to Gilbert. Marlin signs an immediate return match for the coming Monday at Mid South Coliseum, with Morton being allowed to pick any stipulation he wants. All Morton wants is "an official referee". Gilbert signs the contract, then Marlin asks who the ref will be, and Morton says it will be his dad, Paul Morton! Gilbert is livid because he thought Paul Morton was dead! I liked this whole segment and really think if there's a DVDVR 90s project, this match needs to make a Memphis set. It's the longest USWA studio match on a yearbook so far, and it's solid stuff. It's just not great. With the time they were given, I was hoping that it would be.

Razor is having dinner and the waiter dares bring him a check and he flips his lid. What made me laugh is that this sounds like it would be a real Scott Hall incident.

Everything was sold well and the match was paced well. But sadly, I thought it was on the boring side, despite that they were doing everything right. They definitely wrestle an aggressive style, and the big picture seems to be advanced nicely, but this just felt like they were holding back the whole time for some reason. I like deliberate wrestling, but this was almost too deliberate. It needed to be on the yearbook, if for no other reason than to put Dream Rush in its proper context, but I'm fine not watching it again. The last five minutes or so were better, but not spectacular, and I don't think there was enough build to the finish. I think my first instincts would be to compare this to Toyota/Yamada, mainly because like Toyota and Yamada, these are two rivals that ended up teaming later in the year to defend their promotion. But this isn't really similar as a match. Where Toyota and Yamada was a rivalry, Kansai/Oz feels more personal. While Toyota and Yamada teamed while feuding, Oz and Kansai really didn't at this point. There is the overarching similarity of two wrestlers that have been to hell and back together -- as teammates and foes -- but that's really where the comparisons should end.

Half year stuff. Wrestler of the Half Year: Stan Hansen. He's carried the Triple Crown and had good to great matches with Jumbo, Misawa and Kawada. Of all the champs in major promotions (Sting, Flair, Savage, Choshu), he's been the best. Most Outstanding Wrestler: Either Jushin Liger or Negro Casas. It's a tough call. Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi are there too, but it's hard for me to rank them against each other. At this point in the year, they are all sort of running together in my head. I think I like Kawada's matches with Jumbo and Hansen better than the singles matches Misawa or Kobashi have had with either of them, but I think that's too narrow a criterion to use to pick a favorite. Tag Team of the Half Year: This one is a little tougher. The Steiners have had some great matches, but Jumbo & Taue would probably get my vote. (I really didn't intend for this to be an AJ-heavy list.) Feud of the Half Year: Jarrett & Lawler vs Moondogs for booking and action, but it needs a new twist quickly or it's in danger of getting stale. Best on Interviews: Jerry Lawler, followed by Eddie Gilbert. Buddy Landell would be competitive here if he had more stuff. Same for Arn Anderson. Promotion of the Half Year: All Japan has produced the most great matches, but CMLL isn't far behind, and the high-end stuff is generally as good or better than the best of AJ. There isn't as much of it, which is either yearbook editing or truth. Hard to say. I really like WCW a lot during this time, but they aren't at the level of the other two promotions, as much as I'd like them to be. They just aren't. WCW booking is really unfocused, and matches are just thrown out there, but forgotten about on the next TV. It would be awesome if all those fun TV matches were referenced later, or the result was part of the bigger picture somehow. On the flip side, WWF booking has generally been very good and there have been some good matches, so they've been more balanced. But because of the cartoon nature of everyone in the company, it sometimes feels like a parody of a wrestling promotion (a good one) than an actual wrestling promotion. Best babyface: Jerry Lawler is the best at saying what fans are thinking. Sting has been pretty over in every match or segment he's been in, but most of his great matches wouldn't come until the second half of the year. Steamboat has been red hot and had some really good matches, but he's also been more aggressive than the usual Steamboat. Savage has been terrific, but the in-ring has been spread out. Santo has been awesome. Tough to pick one. Best heel: Negro Casas has been outstanding. The Moondogs and Richard Lee deserve mention in this category. Rick Rude was having a career peak. I think I'll go Rude, but it's close. Most Improved: Steve Austin, without a doubt. He kicked it into high gear around early May after being a passenger in some excellent matches early on. My top 25 matches of the half year, in order, are below. If I rank the order slightly different come the end of the year, please don't jump on me, as I will give it much more thought then than I did here. Consider this a snapshot of an opinion with about 10 minutes of thought. #1 - Silver King, El Texano & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Dr Wagner Jr & Rambo (UWA 02/29/92) #2 - Jushin Liger vs El Samurai (NJPW 04/30/92) #3 - Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko (WCW Wrestle War 05/17/92) #4 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 05/22/92) #5 - Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat (WCW Beach Blast 06/20/92) #6 - Jushin Liger vs Norio Honaga (NJPW 02/08/92) #7 - Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat (AJPW 05/25/92) #8 - Cien Caras, Mascara Ano 2000 & Sangre Chicana vs Konnan, Perro Aguayo & Rayo de Jalisco Jr (CMLL 03/01/92) #9 - Octagoncito, Misteriocito & Mascarita Sagrada vs Espectrito, Piratita Morgan & Pequene Pierroth (CMLL 04/17/92) #10 - Jushin Liger vs Pegasus Kid (NJPW 02/10/92) #11 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (WCW Clash of the Champions XIX 06/16/92) #12 - El Hijo del Santo, Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Negro Casas, Horace Boulder & Tim Patterson (WWA 05/16/92) #13 - El Hijo del Santo vs Espanto Jr (UWA 05/14/92) #14 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 06/05/92) #15 - Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Larry Zbyszko (WCW SuperBrawl II 02/29/92) #16 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 05/30/92) #17 - Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Bart Vale (PWFG 06/25/92) #18 - Blue Panther vs Love Machine (CMLL 04/03/92) #19 - Aja Kong vs Bull Nakano (AJW 04/25/92) #20 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 01/21/92) #21 - Silver King, El Texano & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Dr Wagner Jr & Mike Lozansky (UWA 02/16/92) #22 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue (AJPW 01/24/92) #23 - El Canek vs Dos Caras (UWA 02/02/92) #24 - Jeff Jarrett & Jerry Lawler vs The Moondogs (USWA Kennett, MO 01/17/92) #25 - Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Yusuke Fuke (PWFG 02/24/92)

All of my dates I got from Jeff Lynch's TV list. That's what I have done for every set. If that's not reliable, providing a better resource would be appreciated.

Fresh meat This. The Divas exist for morale.

I haven't had a problem watching Benoit matches, but it took a while. I don't begrudge anyone who had no issue with it. It's not really a moral issue at all. It's an issue of personal comfort.

Sting hypes the Great American Bash against Vader.

Watts announces that there are too many titles in WCW, and that from here forward, there will be only one title in each division. At the end of July, the U.S. tag titles will be retired, so whoever has the belts at the end of the month will be the last champs. Dick Slater and the Barbarian are out to issue a challenge. Slater can't form a coherent sentence.

Austin and Paul E. are doing a bragging promo following a squash about how Austin could beat Windham in five minutes. Barry comes out and calls his bluff and challenges him to get in the ring. Watts gets the referees out of the way who are trying to restore order and tells them to hook 'em up! Okay action, but I really like the whole presentation of this more than anything.

The famous line where Cactus says when Steamboat feels that lump in his throat, it won't be emotion, it'll be his liver.

This was going great until Tim Horner interrupts things. Buddy Landell is an awesome promo.

Gilbert comes out for an interview happy to be wrestling Ricky Morton because for once, he's not wrestling some goody-goody guy. Morton comes out to take exception, saying he's wrestling in some places where the people haven't liked him much and he hasn't liked the people, but that's not and has never been true for Memphis. Gilbert is furious that Morton likes the people. They end up in the ring and Morton gets the best for a minute or so then Gilbert bails. Morton is underrated on the mic. I liked this.