shoe

Man this was just a great match. The punches were so violent. The blood, the weapons. I was squinting watching some of the punches being thrown. From how this was shot, to the punches, one word described this match would be personal.

My thoughts on Andre vs Tank here. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31656-andre-vs-tank-patton-1281/

This was 2 out of 3 falls. We had some comedy early and the 1st few minutes was a lot of fun. Patton blasts Andre with his cast for the finish of the 1st fall. The 2nd fall Andre is pissed. So he's beating Patton. Loved Andre stomping the cast. Fun match 2 1/4*

Night 13 Ibushi vs Fale Fale is using his size to beat down Ibushi. They do a good job of giving Ibushi hope spots only for Fale's size to be too much. This even makes more sense this late in the tourney. They tease a Razor's Edge on the floor, but Ibushi escapes and delivers an Asai Moonsault. It looks like Ibushi is about to make a run, but Fale cuts him off with a Samoan Drop. Some more and eventually it builds to a finish. From a story this was pretty basic, and honestly they needed it to be. 2 3/4* Naito vs Yano Some comedy early. Naito kicking Yano's ass. Some Yano shennanigans. 1 1/2* Styles vs Tenzan AJ with some fun hair pulling. AJ is working another smart match. Tenzan has now busted his mouth. AJ selling the Koppo kick big. Nasty kick in the corner by AJ. Styles working the leg. Calf Slicer!!!!! Followed up by a Figure 4. Tenzan comeback after AJ mocking him. I bought Tenzan's nearfall. I like how the story went back to Tenzan's leg. I bit again on AJ's close call. Yes and I loved that the leg work was paid off. I can't wait to see AJ next month. He can go so many different ways in a match and tell so many different stories. He's a lot like Billy Robinson in that regard. 4* Gallows vs Makabe Hoss fight. Gallows choking Makabe with his own chain. Now he's punching him with it. Big sternum bump into the guard rail by Makabe. Gallows smashes a guard rail and chairs on Makabe. I guess the ref is giving him leeway. Makabe comeback. Gallows bumping good for him. A cursing battle to boot. Gotta give Makabe credit, he's taking an ass kicking, and his strikes seem on point. A fun match. 3* Tanahashi vs Shibata Liking the mat work to start. The battles for positioning is really cool. Very old school build with a modern update. Tanahashi's ankle pick was sweet. Tanahashi doesn't give Shibata a clean break. A nice piece of history in the match. Shibata transitions into an Abdominal Stretch into a Figure 4. I'm really liking the chess build here. Shibata beating Tanahashi down. Tanahashi tricks him and gives a low level drop kick. Dragon Screw by Tanahashi. Tanahashi presses his advantage on the floor. Shibata does a fighting spirit comeback, but at least it's after 2 Tanahashi pussy elbow strikes. Shibata with some nasty work in the corner. A modified Octopus by Shibata. A kick stops Shibata cold. Tanahashi going back to the leg was awesome. This feels epic and a total battle. Super hot finishing sequence. What a match. The finish was perfect NWA champion. 4 1/2*

I look at the most recent upload between Doc and Terry Taylor here. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31655-steve-williams-vs-terry-taylor-72084/

This is for the TV medallion held by Doc. This was commentary free and really helped because the crowd was hot and I felt I was right at ringside. We start with Taylor getting the shine with some nifty arm work. Doc cuts him off eventually and he cranks the headlock. They get a lot of mileage out of the headlocks. The crowd is hot the whole time. Taylor makes a comeback. Eventually it morphs into a brawl on the outside. Taylor is busted open and declared the winner. A really strong match 3 1/2*

Thoughts on Gino vs Nick Kozak 9/8/78 here. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31651-gino-hernandez-vs-nick-kozak-9878/

It was supposed to be David Von Erich but Gino injured him prior so Keven attacks him and we have a brawl Things settle and we have a match prior. It's a basic match, but Gino is good at controlling the action. He also makes Kozak look like he has a chance. 2 1/4*.

Kerry Von Erich vs Gino Hernandez 12/27/84 This was a really good match.In some earlier Gino we saw this opportunistic young punk who wasn't afraid to throw hands. Here he's morphed into this charismatic, big bumping, stooging heel who's a heat magnet. This was 2 rings and they used them. Gino did some cat and mouse spots. It was a fun back and forth bout. By the end Keryy's bleeding. 3 1/4* I think this might be new.

Rock N Roll Express/Duggan vs Doc/Dibiase/Hercules 12/27/84 2 1/2* This is a new one. I found this more fun than good, and a match that was suited better live than for people watching it at home. You had a match going on in each ring, while you had one wrestler in between each ring that could tag in and out to each ring. This is a pretty cool premise and wonder if it started in Houston. I will say their is a lot to digest but super fun stuff.

Jose Lothario vs Gino Hernandez 1/19/79 This is a Texas Death match in a cage and it's amazing. Lothario threw a great punch. Gino shined him up real good.Lothario working the arm was great. Gino bumped big,had a good elbow. This was super hate filled. Gino's knee drops were vicious. Watch this match Asap if you're a fan of smart work. They did an amazing job of miliking the drama. 4*

Count me in loving he 1/7/79 Dusty Rhodes vs Mark Lewin 3 1/2* Just a chaotic brawl with double juice. Both guys use plunder. Dusty with a 2x4 put Duggan to shame. This is the card it's from. So guys who wanted whole cards. Every match has been released so far from this show.

The Buddy Landell vs Butch Reed shoe shine match wasn't much,Now the post match was tremendous fun and made me pop.I think the date on this is 12/7/84.

Jake was the star of the match. We don't get a finish. Jake was great at the start with teasing the DDT, he was great as FIP. He was a great rag doll gaining tons of sympathy. It was great watching him punching the mask of Humongous. Then selling the damage to his hand. Totally dug the eye poke to get seperation,

This match made the Mid-South set. Taylor was one of the few guys like a Steamboat or Windham who could work holds with Flair. WatchingFlair work underneath Taylor working holds is pretty interesting because Flair is one of the best at not sitting in holds. He's looking for outs or counters. Taylor moves from the wristlock to the headlock. Ric looks to go after the leg to counter.In a cool moment, Taylor cranks the headlock and that stops that idea. Taylor goes back to the head lock in a good piece of story telling. Hip toss by Flair looks to give Flair some momentum.Flair does it a couple of times. Taylor blocks a 4th one and gives one to Flair. Flair manipulates Taylor into the corner and it's time to go to school. Taylor tries to fire up, but Flair cuts him off. Taylor finally explodes. It looks like Taylor has the match in hand, but Flair gives him a low blow. We have morphed from a technical battle into a battle of stiff chops. Flair is a nice touch shows Taylor how you work an arm. Flair getting serious heat from the crowd by using the ropes for leverage. Taylor is pretty great in his selling. Taylor makes a comeback Flair feeds him. Screw job finish. 4 1/2*

Houston loves them some Fantastics. Grey is a guy I haven't seen that much of. I've seen him as a jobber in JCP and seemed pretty good. We get a pretty fun Fantastics shine. Gilbert's sell job of a Fulton punch was over the top greatness. The Fantastics are great at targeting Gilbert's arm. Gilbert is great at putting little wrinkles in things. Grey trips up Fulton to set up the heat. The crowd immediately gets behind the Fatastics. The heat segment was pretty solid. Hot tag goes right into a flash pin. This was good stuff, and a real fun Gilbert performance. 2 3/4*

We are JIP about 6 minutes in. This is Flair touring champ match. I enjoyed Flair's arm work in this. I liked how Flair used TA's momentum to toss him to the outside to set up his heat. The finish was sloppy in the sense that it was reversed.. I loved the post match with Wahoo kicking ass. 4*

I believe this has never been seen. This was just a battle. The announcing put their history together so it made sense for this World Title Match to seem more personal. This was gritty. Both guys with brutal chops. Flair's 1st sell of the job was tremendous. His whole body gyrated from the force. Wahoo is 1st to bleed. Not to be outdone, Wahoo takes a bite out of Flair's forehead and spits the plasma out and Flair's bleeding. That was disgusting. I loved this match. A perfect example of non formula Flair. Their wasn't long heat and shine segments. This was just a fight. 4 1/4*

Thoughts on Doc and Taylor are here. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31641-terry-taylor-vs-dr-death-steve-williams-83184/

'This was for the T.V Title Medallion. Taylor is a guy who is a versatile worker. He was good working on top.Doc when he worked on top. .was pretty pedestrian. This was just a real basic match. 2 1/2*

Thoughts on the Guerreos vs Lothari/Madril here. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31640-hector-chavo-guerrero-vs-jose-lothario-al-madril-72084/

This was pretty interesting. Like what they did was great, but it would have been better if they did things at differently. Still we got a good match. I loved the shine sequences. The Guerreros were great at stooging it up. What we were missing was an extended heat sequence instead of all the little heat sequences we got. 3*

I'm not sure about Taylor/Darsow. TA-Ted was on Monsters of the Mat.

Hercules Hernandez(Mr. Wrestling 3) d. Mr. Wrestling II 7/6/84 The Pretty Young Things d. Pat Rose & Hans Schroeder 7/6/84 Terry Taylor vs Krusher Kruschev 7/6/84 Buddy Landell vs Al Madril 7/6/84 Guerreros vs Hacksaw Duggan/Jose Lothario 7/6/84 Butch Reed/Ernie Ladd vs Sonny King/Terry Taylor 7/6/84 Ted Dibiase vs Magnum TA 7/6/84

Night 11 Elgin vs Nagata Elgin growing out the beard has really helped him as a serious ass kicker. We get some battle of positioning. Nagata in control and works the arm. Elgin cuts him off. We get a springboard splash by Elgin. He follows up with his killer delayed suplex. Nagata begins a comeback. Nice nearfall off a Elgin Leaf Blower. Nagata with a pretty sequence. Big nearfall off an Elgin inside out suplex. The match felt a little long. Still was a good one. 3* Honma vs Anderson Meltzer mentioned in a recent Observer that Honma's early attempt at the headbutt has turmed into a comedy spot. I agree. Honma is selling early. Anderson's forearm burns are nasty. Honma gets seperation to get caught again. Honma was on top for a bit. 2 3/4* Kojima vs Goto I like Goto's hood.Goto on top focusing on the neck. Tides have turned and now. Kojima on the neck. Big elbow drops. Kind of played out how I was expecting. I was hoping for some fresh ideas. We got quite a bit of forearm exchanges to fill the time. Which Goto's seemed pretty week in comparison to Kojima's Still these guys worked hard and had a good match. 3 1/2* Nakamura vs Takahashi I liked Nak coming to the ring looking for the girl. Sneak attack by Takahasi early. Takahashi going after the arm. Takahashi's work on the arm is solid. Nak with a comeback. It gets cut off by Takahashi going after the bad limb. Nakamura's striking is too much 2 1/2* Okada vs Ishii Some working of holds to start. Okada looks to have control. Okada focusing on the neck. Okada besting Ishii on the floor. This is turning into a slug fest. Okada back to the neck. Okada with a nasty looking version of a camel clutch. Ishii delivers a nasty elbow in the corner. An awesome counter to Red Ink. Stiff drop kick by Okada. Great kick out of an Ishii lariat. Big counter of an Ishii Brain Buster into an Okada drop kick to the neck. The German into the Rain Maker was awesome. 4*