Phil Schneider

I was a little disappointed in this, some fun shtick, but it was pretty long and ground to a halt so they could do comedy spots with the ref. Kind of reminded me of all of the Monterey lucha in the early 2000s which would have awesome on paper matches but the actual match would be full of ref spots and guys mailing it in.

This was the final match of their awesome late 80s early 90s triology, and it is a hell of a finish. Liger starts out the disrespect by slapping Sano in the face, but Sano takes the early lead by piledriving Liger on the floor, ripping his mask and posting him. The rest of the match is this great visual of Liger with his mask ripped off, adding a bunch more red to the iconic red and white outfit. I loved all of Liger's comebacks in this match, he would squirm out of a Sano bomb attempt and hit a crazy dive or a desperation throw, but then get overwhelmed. This was Liger trying to ride a tidal wave, rather then a back and forth battle. Sano was great in this, such a vicious prick, there is a moment where he is just pounding on Ligers bloody head that you can see the joy in his face. I also loved his intelligence, there is a moment where he charges Liger in the corner, Liger moves, so Sano backflips out, Sano knows the kappo kick is coming so he just dives on his stomach to avoid it. Finish may have felt a little abrupt, with the level of punishment, but I dig the tombstone as a death move (Sano did a great post match sell of it) and Liger breaking out his first Liger SSP to close it out was pretty cool. I have a feeling that when I revisit NJ juniors for this project, the less juniory matches will stand out, and this was a great one.

I really enjoyed this, it felt like the worlds greatest Sabu v. Brian Lee match. If someone told you they found an awesome Sabu v. Brian Lee ECW HH on Youtube, you would want to go watch that right? Corbin was pretty great in this, I liked some of his early squashes, but I wasn't sure he had a actually match this good in him. Maybe my favorite spot of the match was him pinning Kalisto's head against the barricade and smashing it with forearms, it felt like the kind of thing Finlay or Ikeda might do. I also loved him stalking Kalisto around the ring trying to squash him with chair shots. Kalisto hit all of his big spots cleanly and they were high risk crazy stuff, it was almost too well executed, Sabu would awkwardly blow one or two of them which makes him finally hitting them even better. Loved that finish too, holy moly that was nasty.

Shockingly fun Texas Death Match (which appears to be just a No DQ match in WWF world) , Putski is a guy who I never liked before and is pretty much universally considered a turd. Putski has a weird overly muscled body and these tiny T-Rex arms, and can really barely move. Larry Z however puts on a heel masterclass, he is bumping all over the ring for Putski's stump arm punches, and flying into tables and chairs. He is also super nasty on offense, laying into Putski with lightning fast punches and at one point removing the turnbuckle and smashing the back of Ivan's head directly into the ring bolt. This kept moving, kept violent and I loved the cheap foot on the ropes pin to escape with a win. Zbyszko is a guy I really like, and while the Regal matches may be better matches, this would be on his superworker submission reel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6k5lbgs2aI Here is the match, I remember Vince seeming nervous on commentary

I am calling it now, everyone in that Black Excellence tweet is losing their belts tonight.

I also love the semi troll move of not even having Kawada v. Misawa in your top 3 for 1994

I love the list, but you got to watch some 2010 and 2011 FUTEN tags!

: I am in the middle here, I like this more then Eric, some of his issues with this don't bother me at all, but I don't think this match is the apex of shootstyle, or among the best matches ever. I had no problem with the match escalating to the strike fest, I totally buy the match structure of two guys battling over mat supremacy, until they lose their tempers and start throwing hands. The final stand up run was awesome, felt like the wildest MMA fights and I liked that the match built to that point. Tamura is great at milking a nine I also don't really have a problem with the little dickish punches, I have seen a ton of great Fujiwara matches where he taunts a guy by slapping him around or lightly kicking him, I was fine with it as a bit of character work, otherwise Yammamoto is pretty dry in this match so it was nice to see him show some flash. However I am totally with Eric on the draw, really deflating finish, it just kind of ended, I wouldn't mind a draw if it came as one guy was struggling to get up after a 9 count, or desperate to escape a submission hold, but this came in the middle of an otherwise unremarkable scramble. It had no climax, it just stopped. The skill level on the matwork here was really impressive, they countered with real speed and explosiveness and there was a bunch of cool dramatic moments, with guys failing to counter and needing to get to the ropes. Still I prefer guile to athleticism in my matwork. My favorite mat wrestlers are old maestros like Fujiwara, Han and Navarro, guys who know all the tricks, they may not have the strength and speed, but they can catch you sleeping. This was very focused on armbars, kneebars and chokes, I would have liked to see a little more wizardry. Even something like the Zach Sabre Jr. v. Drew Gulak match I saw live had guys applying odd counters and cool unique submissions, this was basic stuff done at the highest level, but for best shootstyle match ever I want some pizzaz.

I was at this match live, loved it, and I may have loved it even more on video. Both live and tape had advantages. Live I could really feel the thud of all of the strikes. These shots didn't have the snap of a Low-Ki kick, they thumped, the sound when they landed wasn't sharp it had a real bass to it. On tape you can really see the close up of the mat work, I could tell that Thatcher was mauling Riddle's foot, but on video you can really see him try to separate the toes and turn the ankle. Thatcher has been hit and miss lately, but having this kind of harrowing violence in his grappling is where he is at his best. There is no test of skills, this is a mean guy trying to use grappling to maim the guy across from him. The no holds barred stipulation came in to play mostly with a lack of rope breaks, there was a bunch of innovative cool looking spots around no rope breaks, including both guys locking in kneebars and rolling off the apron to the floor, and Thatcher using the ropes to choke Riddle out and break a triangle. Finish was also an awesome use of the ropes, as Thatcher hung Riddle by the arm into a hangmans crossarmbreaker. Great stuff, right up there with my favorite Thatcher matches ever, and the best Riddle match of his young career.

I am live blogging this as well over at SC http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/12/evolve-74-live-blog.html

I am doing a live blog of EVOLVE 74 over at Segunda Caida http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/12/evolve-74-live-blog.html

I remember this being really awesome, you should also check out the trios matches setting it up, I remember them being even more violent.

Sure, but I imagine she gets it easily. The Democrats are going to save their fire for truly nutso nominees like Ben Carson, Jeff Sessions and the EPA guy who is suing the EPA

his was the climax of a long feud between Callihan and Kingston, with Kingston bringing in Homicide and Callihan bringing in the Crists (including pulling Jake out of retirement), This was a six-man with Outlaw Inc. bringing in a surprise partner, and it had to be one of the best actual deliveries of a surprise in wrestling history. Ki comes out in a black suit, looking like video game Hitman and starts fucking dudes up. They have a really fun area tour brawl, throwing each other into the sides of walls, leaping off bars, chucking chairs. Callihan smashes Ki's knee inbetween chairs, and when the match goes into the ring, we have Kingston and Homicide battling the Killer Cult with Ki blitzing in on a bad knee to break up pins. There is a near fall and out of nowhere there is this crazy fuck in a suit leaping in with a double stomp. Ki sitings are so sporadic these days, that every time he shows up it is a treat.

Guy is gone, lets not shit on him anymore.

Loss don't worry, listen to the two European straight white dudes, stop whining you will be fine.

Also calling Trump, a candidate who has threatened to extend the libel laws to silence media criticism as a supporter of free speech shows a pretty shocking ignorance of what free speech actually means.

If you watch the clip, he says "Gabe told me not to say anything political, but I don't listen to what people say, here is my gross Trump joke" So not only did he go against what he was directly told, he basically told his boss to fuck off right before he did it.

It is the middle of November already, Fall is almost over. Gimme some Black Terry

I did a road report for that show http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/11/evolve-73-road-report.html

We are doing the All Time MOTY Project over at Segunda Caida, what 50s matches have you watched which are real MOTY candidates?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHsSgSI6640 Great match, Riddle can be a pretty good cocky jerk, but this was Riddle as a babyface fighting a bully and he is awesome at it. Hero is amazing as a bully, and really smacked around Riddle with big elbows and kicks. Hero working over Riddles foot was super nasty, attacking Riddle's feet are getting to be like attacking Kobashi's knees during the NOAH days, but Hero had some of the cooler attacks on Riddle's foot. He really twisted and turned the muscles and bones and I don't see how Riddle wasn't cramping up in the morning. Riddle is great at desperately fighting back, and his submission ability means he is never out of it. Riddle has worked as a KO guy before, but this was really a submission fighter against a big striker, and Riddle is a great Carlos Newton.

The two EVOLVE shows from Baltimore I have been to recently all had fine crowds. Less gross then most Northeast indy crowds.

Gross