Loss

This is the only Adam Pearce match I've ever seen.

19 years ago today, we had Clash of the Champions on TBS going head to head with Wrestlemania IV. Pretty historic day for Savage's title win, Demolition winning the WWF tag titles, a Hogan/Andre encounter, Sting becoming a superstar, Windham and Luger winning the tag titles and a great MX/Fantastics match. It doesn't really seem like it was that long ago, but the business has truly changed quite a bit during the last two decades. I remember watching that first Clash as a kid. You knew you were seeing something special with Sting really going from midcarder to big star, and he pretty much rode the wave of momentum from that match for a pretty long time. Of course, I had no idea about the turmoil the NWA created for themselves that day by putting on such a great show. It's estimated that they cost the WWF $4 million in revenue that day by running a free show opposite Wrestlemania, but they also infuriated the cable companies, who lost a nice chunk of money off of the stunt. Crockett was really on his last legs by this point anyway, with Flair/Luger really being the only big match on the horizon and by the end of the year, wrestlers were quitting on pretty much a weekly basis. Ted Turner shortly breathed a lot of energy into the company, but the story of WCW is pretty well known, and it obviously didn't end well. Just seemed like a good day to reflect, especially if you frame the first Clash as some type of inciting incident for a lot of the changes that would take place in wrestling for the rest of 1988, the effects of which are still being felt in some indirect ways today.

Who were the Samoans that were in ECW?

Jim Breaks v Steve Grey - World of Sport 06/27/79 This was a pretty spectacular match that was on its way to becoming one of the greatest matches of all time before the totally weird finish where Grey loses his balance and falls outside the ring, necessitating a quick finish and title change. Everything before then is truly awesome, both Breaks working in the heel act to great heat, selling Grey's unique offense like a pro and building some great drama, and also Grey doing oddball things like walking handstands to counter side headlocks and basically using Breaks' face as the pedals on a unicycle to counter a short-arm scissors. British wrestling is way cool. Still the MOTY for 1979 for me in spite of the horrid finish, as it's preceded by 27 minutes of awesome.

The Santo/Brazo match almost felt like a more violent version of Liger/Samurai at times, with Oro going crazy on Santo to start and Santo making a late rally and then forcing his opponent to get his just desserts. Two guys that really understand how to create visuals, create doubt over the outcome (despite the finish being a bit obvious) and wrestle for a big audience and create big drama are always a blast to watch, and Santo is really among the best at it.

Azumi Hyuga & Meiko Satomura v Misae Genki & Nanae Takahashi (NEO, 02/18, Kawasaki, Japan) What's shown of the match is really good, but it's clipped to pieces and no finish is on the download I watched unfortunately. Satomura especially looked great. Hopefully this will come out in full at some point, but even clipped, it was still a really good tag team match.

I'd say he looks no older than Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan.

Marty Jones v Pete Roberts - World of Sport 06/27/79 This was the opener of a show from Wembley Arena, and what a terrific match it was. All sorts of Tiger Mask/Dynamite Kid-style offense and pacing a few years before that feud even got off the ground. I've seen three Marty Jones matches in my life, and they've all three been great (****+ if you like the star ratings), so he's off to a good start with me. Pete Roberts is pretty awesome also, but this is really the Marty show for me because he adds so much really strong heel schtick into all the super-paced athletic stuff. I was thoroughly impressed, and if this match is any indication, it's really worth wading through all the 70s Stampede and British stuff we can find to figure out if Sayama and Dynamite are the ones that created the style, or the ones that popularized it. Who influenced who? Mal Sanders v Chato Pastor - World of Sport 06/27/79 I have no idea who either guy is, but they had a hell of a match that was wrestled in that same style, only without the great heel scthick to bring it all together. The most modern wrestling style in the late 70s was most likely taking place in Europe, not Japan or the US, if this pair of matches are any indication. Look forward to watching Jim Breaks v Steve Grey and Marc Rocco/Steve Logan v Chris Adams/Pat Patton from the same show in the near future. First, I need to catch up on all the lucha stuff posted at DVDVR, though, to avoid Phil killing me.

Harley Race v Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 01/20/78 Really an outstanding match. Not quite an all-time classic, and I'm sure there are other matches from the year that are probably better, but there are plenty of things to love here. One thing that I think I've overlooked about 1970s matches before now is that going outside the ring is really a false finish in itself, due to the huge number of DCORs at the time. In this match, I think the rolls outside and double countout teases are really good, especially since they do give the audience a decisive finish anyway. Some of Harley Race's spots are just so amazing - like using an AJW-ish bridge to kick out of a side headlock pinning combo and those headbutts look great. They were still building matches around the vertical suplex as a death move at this point in time, but it's nice to see big offense put over for a change, in contrast with so much of the wrestling you see today where they can pull off these amazing spots, but move on so quickly that the audience doesn't even really have time to appreciate it for what it's supposed to be. Jumbo's spinning toehold is awesome, and I love the psychology of Jumbo's second neckbreaker attempt not working because Race was the vet and wasn't going to eat the same offense twice. I will also point out that Jumbo gets the favorable edit with the first two falls both joining in progress with him in control. God Bless Dan Ginnetty for uncovering this a while back.

Impressive indeed. Bruno is obviously the big draw of all the names listed, although they did a nice job capturing the late 70s and early 80s WWF with the card they put together.

It's been quite a while since I've watched any wrestling match more than once. I have thousands of wrestling DVDs and no biases against promotions or styles, so I'm always out to see everything, or at least everything good. The lack of bias works to my disadvantage, because it leaves so much wrestling out there for me to watch most of the time that I'd rather see something I haven't seen that intrigues me for the first time than see something I have already watched and already know is great. I think I found the match that may have changed that for me. A popular sentiment you often find on wrestling message boards is that there is no such thing as the perfect wrestling match. I've read it, and said it. Bracito De Oro, Cicloncito Ramirez & Mascarita Magica vs Damiancito El Guerrero, El Fierito & Pierrothito from 10/03/97 has made me think I was wrong. As wrestling fans, finding a show that has something for everyone is a bit of a challenge. WCW came close to achieving this at their peak, and other promotions have had some amazing runs at times, but even then, you basically know that you're getting a pretty specific style from a specific promotion. That's why I was surprised to find this "something for everyone" vibe that only a few wrestling *cards* have in one wrestling *match*. There's something here for you if you're a fan of wrestling that makes sense, has heat and builds to a hot and decisive finish. There's something here for you if you're a fan of clear babyfaces and heels. There's something here if you really enjoy matwork, and there's something here if you just like to see talented guys go all out and bring some spectacular high flying. For a match with some really out-of-this-world dives and an amazing fast pace, calling it a spotfest would be selling it short. It's more Michinoku Pro than Michinoku Pro ever managed to be, but this is more than a great mat-based match, a great spotfest, a great trios match or even a great lucha match. This is a great wrestling match, and it's probably more accessible and easy to follow and enjoy than just about any match I've ever seen. I doubt if most people will love this match for the same reasons, but I do think almost everyone will love the match. I'm going out of town for vacation for a week, and the timing of this really sucks, because I'm really wanting to make it a point to see as much of this as possible and don't want to miss out on the voting. When I come back, I hope to catch up on downloads and hopefully I won't miss too many of the polls.

Yeah, I downloaded everything and have it on my computer ready to watch already, and plan on trying to get to most of it tonight. I'll be out of town for vacation for a week after tonight, so I want to make sure I watch as much as possible.

Obviously, this and Bad News Allen are much less scandalous than some of the other deaths that have taken place the past few years, but these are happening at such a rapid-fire pace lately that it's hard to even notice. I believe there have been four wrestling deaths in the past week. Just insane.

I'm still trying to figure out my dream show. I know 4 of the matches I want to use, but I'm trying to keep the show from going 8 hours when all is said and done. I'm now thinking of the ideal interpromotional card for the WWF and WCW when both were peaking in popularity -- 1998-ish, say -- and what matches I'd put on there and how long they'd go though.

I agree that this was a really good match, and I'd put it above the No Mercy match as well. Sadly, I haven't seen it since it aired live, but I have the full seasons of Raw and Smackdown for 2002 on the way, so I can go through all of that.

All I've seen is '96 stuff, which I'm guessing is why I haven't really seen the Pro-style and comedy stuff too much that's been mentioned as being a big part of the style.

As someone who hasn't really watched a huge amount of BattlARTS up until this point, what did that promotion do that made them different? Would you consider it UWF style or would you consider it something else?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/s...p208032007.html Of course, none of these guys have been signed for this show, but this is pretty funny. I say this thread can be a catch-all in the future for total fabrications like this.

I'm not sure the Villanos match was the lesser match, as most people seem to think. This was wildly chaotic and tons of fun. This reminded me a lot of a Dump Matsumoto match from the mid-80s, with all the mask ripping really feeling like hair cutting in a Dump match. I also loved all the fakeout spots in the first caida. I was a bit surprised at how heated this became, considering how non-threatening and fun loving everyone seemed early on. More storyline than match at times, but really strong storyline put over exceptionally well. The sequence and payoff with the rope and the double clotheslines was out - standing, and the American-style sequences at the end were great! I've seen 80s lucha matches where the DDT is ultimately meaningless and never leads to anything - even when done 10 times in a row, and here, it's a late match hope spot from the Villanos and gets a good nearfall. Also really enjoyed the sunset flip attempt and the camera work adding to the drama. You see a reversal into a sunset flip attempt out of the corner, with the camera focused on both refs counting at the same time, and it's so picturesque that you swear you're seeing the finish, and then there's a kickout and it totally surprises you. Awesome match, just barely nudges out the 2/05 match for me.

I love the actual wrestling style, but I hate that they can't just follow traditional pro wrestling rules. It's often mentioned how modern and advanced the UWF style is, but it really feels like a throwback to the days when there was a bit more mat wrestling. Obviously, the mat wrestling has evolved, but seeing a match that feels like a shoot and isn't is really a bare bones version of what wrestling is supposed to be at its best. Every style, even the ones that are as far from this as possible, operates with the goal of making the audience suspend their disbelief. I like that the style has big ups and big downs -- in the sense that they'll do something exciting and then bring the match down to let it sink in before doing something else big a few minutes later, but I like my pinfalls and submissions in wrestling, and adding TKOs, downs, etc. into it just really feels like Code of Honor-style bullshit that detracts from the match instead of helping it.

This has been done in the past, but thought it might be fun to revisit. Construct the ultimate wrestling card, based on matches that have actually occurred that you've seen in the past. Guidelines would be as follows: (1) No wrestler can appear more than once. (2) No title can be defended more than once. (3) Show can not exceed 3-3 1/2 hours in length. Put them in the order they would go on the card with explanation of why you put specific matches in specific spots, and keep things in mind like putting heels over too much, repeating exact finishes and also not creating such a great opener that the rest of the show pales by comparison. Ultimately, the main event should feel like the climax, and there should be "break" matches that aren't bad, but do give the audience a chance to breath. I'll post mine shortly.

I watched the 2/10/05 match and thought it was really great. Texano impressed me, but I was honestly impressed with everyone. Many lucha trios matches seem to be about individual performances, and they're better at certain times when certain people are in. I was really impressed, however, with the chemistry everyone had here, and how seamless the match was as the pairings changed. This didn't feel like Super Astro or Texano or whoever carrying the workload -- it felt like a true match between teams instead of three talented guys going against three talented guys. It's hard to pinpoint exact moments and spots that really drive that home, but it's great that there's no anticipating of the match getting better or worse as it goes along based on who is in the ring. I also really liked the layout of this one, as you get awesome matwork in the first fall, followed by a faster-paced and shorter highspot-based second caida, followed by a really strong final stretch. This is a really good match I think for a lucha novice to get his feet wet, just because it's a pretty basic and effective build to a finish that's pretty easy to follow. Really nice stuff, and some pretty cool variety (matwork and big highspots) on display as well. I'd actually consider this among my favorite matches of 2005.

I'll probably participate in that. I think between the DVDVR lucha tournament, Bix's Memphis and maybe some other stuff to watch (finally going through the Jeff Lynch BattlARTS Best of set, perhaps), I should be watching some great stuff.

I think Kevin Dunn is generally a bright guy who happens to be really, really, really, really, really into WWE's mindset, especially since he is one of the people who helped create it.