Loss

BTW, lest anyone be confused, match reviews are now in their own folder.

Right. I still think Awesome was a great athlete, but a horrible worker. And yeah, it was nice to see some good heavyweight spots, and I think it was what was going on in the big two, as you said, that made it seem more impressive.

Yes, can you believe I still haven't seen this match?

I have a master of the TNN match. I remember liking it too, but I also remembered liking this.

Hector wasn't part of the Smackdown Six. Hector never held a title at all. Hector didn't have the #2 MOTY in 2004 for the company. I didn't vote Chavo over Taker, and wouldn't, but the guy is very underrated.

Mike Awesome v Masato Tanaka - ECW Heatwave 1998 I can't believe I used to love this match so much. What was wrong with me? Granted, it's better than a lot of what you'll see in ECW, and it is interesting to see the FMW style worked in the US, but it's a mess, largely because there's no face/heel alignments, no ongoing story and no part where either guy has the other in danger for any length of time. The one thing they do right is build to the powerbomb outside the ring on the table, as they tease it several times before finally delivering it, and there are some terrific death-defying moves, especially Awesome doing a hands-free pescado from the ring to the front row, which is where Tanaka is. This just seemed like an excuse to do as many big spots as they possibly could, though, whereas when they revamped the feud in 1999, they had at least one match that was much tighter and told a story with some semblance of logic. Stay with their FMW matches if this style is your bag.

Bret Hart v Brock Lesnar Davey Boy Smith v Roddy Piper Rick Martel v Taijiri Mick Foley v John Bradshaw Layfield Honky Tonk Man v Eddy Guerrero HHH v Paul Orndorff The Rock v Ted DiBiase 1-2-3 Kid/X-Pac v Shawn Michaels Bad News Brown v Yokozuna Hulk Hogan v Undertaker Chris Benoit v Christian Diesel v Edge Owen Hart v Randy Savage Razor Ramon v Ric Flair Kurt Angle v Rob Van Dam Mr. Perfect v Steve Austin

The parallels to Jericho's title win are definitely there. I don't know how rematches between the two drew, but I know they had lots of 'em.

I'm requesting the following. * Regal v Jericho - Duchess of Queensbury - Backlash 2001 * The evening gown match at King of the Ring 2000 * Hulk Hogan v HHH - Backlash 2002 * The junkyard match from Bash at the Beach '99 * Randy Savage v Dennis Rodman - Road Wild '99 * Sting v Rick Steiner - Great American Bash '99 (the match where they sicked dogs on Sting) * Roddy Piper v Scott Hall - SuperBrawl IX * Ultimate Warrior v Goldust - Good Friends Better Enemies * HHH v Godwinn - IYH 5 - Arkansas Hogpen Match * Hulk Hogan v The Giant - Halloween Havoc '95 (with the mummy coming out) * Hulk Hogan v The Butcher - Starrcade '94 * Sid v El Gigante - Stretcher Match - SuperBrawl I * Undertaker v Giant Gonzales - Summerslam '93

I agree with all your comments on this match. I tend to think it would be remembered as a great angle if it happened with a shorter match preceding it at a Clash instead of on PPV, because it's a great idea for setting up a cage match or something similar, but not so much for being the blowoff to a feud, where people are actually expected to pay to see that finish. Barry's a trooper for getting that haircut, though. Amazingly, his hair was *already* long as ever again by mid 1992.

I think 3-4 months.

Ric Flair v Sting - NWA Starrcade 1989 While the event itself was an anti-climatic conclusion to a great year for the NWA, the booking for this tournament could not have been any better than it was. Going into this match, if Flair won this encounter by pinfall or submission, he would win the match. If Sting won the match under the same circumstances, he would win the tournament. If the match went to a draw, Lex Luger would be the winner of the tournament, based on the point system. The last time these two faced each other in a high-profile singles match shockingly saw midcarder Sting take Flair to a 45-minute draw; he had never secured a win over Flair, but then again, Flair had never secured a win over him either. The truth remains, however, that Flair was in the middle of the highest point of his career, and defeating Flair would be a daunting task. They deviate from the typical Flair formula here, perhaps helped by the fact that both are babyfaces. Sting keeps up with the champ every step of the way when Flair starts off by taking it to the mat, and Flair even rolls outside, showing frustration. He finds an opening and takes it, benefitted by the fact that he's been in pressure-packed situations far more times than his opponent, and a simple "Whoo!" to the crowd, smirk on Flair's face, or most effectively, applying a fireman's carry and setting him on the middle rope, is enough to at least partially make Sting nervous. The Flair formula comes back into effect after the first five minutes, at which point Flair zones in on the leg. Considering the time constraints of the match, he probably should have started this much earlier and teased the figure four a few times, but time was the enemy of this match in many ways -- it didn't give them the opportunity to fully expand on the story, it didn't give Flair enough time to build the figure four, and they didn't get to the finish in time either, which made for a strange moment where the ringside announcer was announcing time increments every 60 seconds, and they had to keep going anyway, because they hadn't worked completely to the finish. I'm still convinced, however, that the first five minutes of this match are the best five minutes Flair and Sting ever had against each other. This was intended to position Sting in strong fashion heading into 1990, but a knee injury while working an angle that probably shouldn't have even been booked put him on the sidelines, and when he came back, his momentum was largely gone. It's a good match, and Flair raising his hand afterwards is a nice touch, but it's more of a reminder of how things might have been than anything. ***

Jushin Liger v Shinjiro Otani - 03/17/96 (NJPW) This is one of the most heartbreaking matches I've ever seen, I do believe. Otani tries so hard and fights so valiantly, but yet again, his passion is his undoing. That's not to say he hasn't learned anything, because he does go for the kill in situations where he didn't against Samurai, but Liger is a step above Samurai, and that's a lesson Otani has to figure out for himself; it's not really something that can be told or explained. It's going to take more to put away Liger than it would have to put away Sammy, and he's going to have to dig a little deeper to reach his ultimate goal. Liger does a great job of putting over everything Otani does without sacrificing his own credibility. The concurrent holds I loved in Otani/Samurai are prevalent again here, but Otani would eventually learn that Liger has far more at his disposal, with his aerial tactics being every bit as great as his ground game. Going for his arm wouldn't be enough; he might have to take out an arm and a leg, and he didn't really explore that at all. If anything, he can derive satisfaction from knowing that he pushed Liger to the limit, although the point still stands that he could have won the match had he not yet again become lost in the moment. While passion is a key to the success of both overall, and it's even a key to the small victories each obtains in the build to the finish, it's not what will determine who wins and who loses, and he who has the most desire isn't necessarily the better man in this instance. The story in this case is more of Liger doing a much better job of thinking on his feet, because he has more experience doing so, and because he has already been where Otani is at this point, which almost gives him an unauthorized pass inside his opponent's head. The work conveys the story in nearly the best way it can, and while he doesn't emerge victorious, Otani loses nothing except the deciding fall here; in fact, he probably gained more from it than anything, because it taught him an invaluable lesson; a lesson he was closer to learning, but hadn't quite grasped yet. It's impossible to not love Otani, simply because he puts his heart on display so much, not caring who sees, and he leaves everything in the ring. However, Liger was able to win without doing nearly as much, which the challenger realized, as was made evident by him storming out of the ring after realizing what had happened. ****1/2

Jushin Liger & El Samurai v Wild Pegasus & Tokimitsu Ishizawa - 03/09/96 What this match lacks most of all is an interesting beginning. The first half of this match was largely useless and is sort of a snoozefest, which is strange considering the participants. The second half of this match sees them pull together something a little stronger, but the greatness is really only in spurts; it's not consistent. Liger and Samurai are definitely the most established and most over team, and Benoit and Ishizawa do little to challenge that, ignoring the crowd and not really putting sympathy on their opponents. Liger and Samurai dominating Ishizawa for such a long stretch makes sense in terms of hierarchy, but it contradicts the idea of the match having any real suspense. When they finally attempt to give their opponents some credibility, it's a little too late for it to salvage the match, although it does at least create an exciting finish, and the double TKO leading to both making tags is exactly what the match needed at that point in time. The problem was that the work preceding it was shockingly ordinary for these guys, and this isn't anywhere near the best matches to take place that year.

He's writing a movie for WWE films.

Gewertz has always been the guy pushing for comedy instead of skits. He gets blamed for Edge not being able to cut a serious promo, since he put him in comedic skits even after they were trying to push him as a serious competitor, so Edge never got a chance to refine his skill there. He's also been the head writer for RAW since May of 2002. That should mostly speak for itself. 4.1 is not a bad rating in any time period, and it's especially strong for WWE in 2005.

Have you seen a single Terry Funk WWF match you've liked?

This match was missing a lot, but one thing it certainly wasn't missing was athleticism. Some of the sequences are breathtaking in both pace and scope, and that seems to be their calling card, to a point where it's a fault of the match. They're unable to create any type of engaging story that can sustain itself, instead keeping the focus on how many moves they can pull off and how fast they can wrestle. The good thing about that is that while they teeter on the border of being indy-ish in match layout, they never go in that direction completely, simply because Liger and Eddy are two of the best highspot artists of the era. They have trouble sustaining heat whenever they take it to the mat, and they do spend a lot of time on the mat, working sequences that are proficient but arbitrary at best, and there's really not anything that unifies the match and keeps it cohesive. Very fun to watch as a spotfest, but it's not quite at the level it should be considering the participants. They would top themselves later. ***

El Samurai v Shinjiro Otani - NJPW 01/21/96 One of the keys to a great wrestling match is that the holds are earned, not given, and that definitely applies in this case. There is a struggle for every move and every counter from the very beginning until the very end, with both having a clear strategy -- destroy one part of the opponent's body, and refuse to let up until the goal is accomplished. This was the start of a great journey for Otani in 1996, a journey that wouldn't see him catapult himself to The Man status within the juniors division, but the reasons for that had absolutely nothing to do with the booking not pushing him in that direction. The intended subtleties in this match are every bit as distinct as the more direct work, which is a major accomplishment in itself, and goes to show how well the story being told was communicated. The matwork here, from both, is incredibly high-end, and the great thing about the holds, moreso than the holds themselves, is the counters to those holds. Never once in American wrestling have I seen a wrestler counter a hold by applying his own hold at the same time, giving them both a sense of control, but I saw that here many times, and it's a simple, effective way to establish parity in a way that's not quite as shopworn as some of the other, more established sequences. The more established holds are teased constantly in the mat work, which nicely builds anticipation for the moment when the hold is finally locked in. This also nicely conveys the point that no hold will be locked in without a fight -- determination is the one thing both have in spades, and the aggression and focus is pretty amazing on both sides. Sammy will not settle for anything less than absolutely destroying Otani's arm -- he wants a submission and eventually gets a submission. Otani is just as relentless on Sammy's leg until he gets ahead of himself and changes his game plan. The crowd acknowledges Sammy's win, but it's obvious they're rooting for Otani to come through; he fails to cover immediately after taking the match to the air, and they come unglued, screaming for him to move in for the kill. It's that lack of killer instinct and desire to show off, pointing to the crowd to do yet one more big move, that ends up costing him the victory in the end. You can feel the window closing when he doesn't take advantage of the opening he created, showing that the ability to secure big wins is definitely there, but that Otani got lost in the moment, and it ultimately cost him. His emotions overcame his better judgment, and until he learned to control that, he was going to repeatedly come up short. ****3/4 -- and *possibly* (I'm not totally committed to this) the best NJ juniors match ever

Jushin Liger v Koji Kanemoto - NJPW 01/04/96 This match never seemed sure where it was going. One can argue that it was an attempt at making Koji look good, as he controls the early stages of the matwork and dominates most of the match. However, with Liger winning, that sort of defeats the purpose of the build. One could also argue that this was an attempt at making Liger sympathetic, but Liger, in 1996, was the kingpin of the division, with or without the belt, and Kanemoto taking it to him without Liger getting much in the way of offense isn't fooling anyone. That's not say Liger's selling is bad, but it is ineffective -- the match suffers the same fate that many juniors matches do on dome shows, as the crowd pops for little. Liger can be credited for thinking on his feet to try to get the crowd involved, but he has to go to desperate measures to do so -- performing three consecutive brainbusters just to run a mid-match false finish is excessive any way you slice it. The only time they're ever really able to involve the crowd is when Kanemoto goes to the top rope, which eventually destroys the build, as Kanemoto's frequent trips to the top rope are wrestling's equivalent of getting holes punched in one's Subway card, chasing that elusive free sandwich. The attitude is there from both, and the work is almost there, but picking an idea and sticking with it -- being patient -- seemed to be a radical thought process for this one.

Edge More good matches in the time frame.

Demolition Ax Diesel's title run was a disaster, and if you factor in Eadie's time as Masked Superstar, he was the better worker as well.

Christian Bigger run with more impact and more good matches than Funk. Had Terry stuck around, this wouldn't be an issue.

Chris Benoit Another tough call, but I think Tito will get his due in this tournament one way or another.